"But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear!"
Alex resisted the urge to snap at River that she should have double-checked. First of all, the woman was panicked and as much as Alex didn't like her, she needed to cut her a little slack. And second of all, she was starting to get a good idea of why these Angels were here. It was a small idea, but she had a feeling she was on the right track to getting the right answer.
"Could they have been there already?" Amy suggested, unknowingly echoing Alex's thoughts.
The Doctor considered her question. Like Alex, he was thinking too and he was pretty sure he had a good idea on what had taken place. "The Aplans," he said. "What happened? How did they die out?"
"No one knows," River answered.
Alex swallowed as all the dots connected. "We know," she said grimly.
Octavian eyed the statues critically. "They don't look like Angels," he observed. He's got a point, Alex thought. They're all beaten down and rough-looking. There must be another reason the ship crashed here. The Angel on board the Byzantium crashed the ship here on purpose. But why?
"And they're not fast," Amy pointed out. She looked at the Doctor pointedly. "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."
"Look at them. They're dying, losing their form." The Doctor flashed his light over one, taking it all in. "They must have been down here for centuries, starving."
"Losing their image?" Amy repeated.
"And their image is their power," Alex mused.
Beside her, the Doctor was thinking this over too. Suddenly, the two looked at each-other. "Power," Alex repeated. The Doctor nodded and the two simultaneously cried, "Power!"
Amy stared at the two of them as though they were crazy while River simply rolled her eyes, used to this behavior. "Doctor? Alex?"
"Don't you see?" Alex cried. Amy shook her head and Alex turned to the Doctor. "Explain, Doctor!" she urged.
The Doctor was only too happy to comply. "All that radiation spilling out the drive burn! The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident."
"It was a rescue mission," Alex jumped in, "for the Angels."
"We're in the middle of an army," the Doctor finished, "and it's waking up."
River, without moving her eyes or flashlight from the Angels, announced, "We need to get out of here fast."
Octavian turned to his little walkie-talkie. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please! Any of you, come in!" he ordered, his voice expressing worry and fear, although Alex knew he was the type of person who would try not to let it show.
"It's Bob, sir," Bob came in. His voice echoed in the still cavern. "Sorry, sir."
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you?" Octavian demanded. "All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active."
"I know, sir," Bob replied. "Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir." Alex frowned. Bob sounded way too calm for someone who had just discovered that his friends and colleagues were dead. He almost sounded detached and unemotional, as if this was something that happened all the time. Something's happened, she deduced.
The Doctor quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie, ignoring the look of outrage on the Bishop's face. Alex wondered if he sensed something was wrong as well. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor."
"I'm talking to—" Octavian started, but the Doctor held a hand up.
"Where are you now?" the Doctor demanded, ignoring Octavian for the time being.
"I'm talking to my—" Octavian started again, but the Doctor finally acknowledged him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!" he snapped. He really had no time for pleasantries today, not in this circumstance.
"I'm on my way up to you, sir," Bob answered, his voice still calm, like he was reading off stock market quotes. "I'm homing in on your signal."
The Doctor smiled. "Ah, well done, Bob," he complimented. "Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob. What did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
The Doctor frowned. Well, that's not good at all! He thought. He glanced over and sensed that Alex was thinking the same thing, judging by the worried and inquisitive look on her face. "That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
Oh, shit, Alex thought. Her brain had been working everything out and she now had a good idea on what had happened to Bob.
"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs?" Octavian asked, hopeful. "We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at the Bishop's naivety. "Oh, don't be an idiot," he retorted. "The Angels don't leave you alive."
Alex went over and grabbed the communicator from the Doctor. "Bob, keep running," she advised. She needed to know what the heck had happened to Bob. There was something wrong with him and she needed to know whether her guess was right or not. "But tell me, how did you escape?"
The Doctor watched her, impressed with her determination. But that impressment took a back burner when Bob corrected, "I didn't escape, ma'am. The Angels killed me, too."
Alex sucked in a breath and the Doctor took the communicator back from her. "What do you mean, the Angel killed you?"
"Snapped my neck, sir," Bob calmly replied. "Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
Alex reached over and pressed the talk button. "If you're dead, how can we be talking to you?" she asked.
"You're not talking to me, ma'am. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
"So when you say you're on your way up to us. . ." The Doctor trailed off, already knowing the answer.
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes," Bob confirmed. "No way out."
"Then we go through the wreckage!" Octavian declared. He turned to the clerics. "Go! Go, go, go! All of you, run!"
Everyone raced past, but Amy and Alex lingered, watching as the Doctor didn't move from his spot. "Doctor?" Amy urged. She hoped he would follow them; without him, they were pretty much screwed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he dismissed her with a flick of his hand. "I'm coming. Just go, the both of you! Go, go, go!"
Alex pushed Amy on and turned back to the Doctor. She watched as Octavian stepped towards them. The Doctor sighed. "Yeah, called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's no way we could've saved your men." Alex gave him a sympathetic look but based on Octavian's glower, it appeared that the bishop still wasn't very pleased.
"I know that sir, ma'am," he replied. "And when you've both flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." He gave them a final sour look and then walked off.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Alex turned to the Doctor. "What religion does the bishop represent?" she asked casually.
The Doctor stared at her. "Uh, I'm not sure." He looked inquisitively at her. "Why?"
Alex gave him a wry smile, showing that she was mad instead of happy. "Because I think I'm starting to understand that whole religious persecution thing," she retorted.
The Doctor shook his head and eyed the Weeping Angels. "I didn't think you had a religion," he remarked, his gaze never wavering. The idea of Alex worshiping anything was a little hard to believe. She just didn't seem to go that way.
"I was christened in a Catholic church," Alex explained. She copied his movements of watching the reforming Angels. "I never go, but I still identify with it." She pressed herself against the Doctor's back, feeling comfort from his presence. Unknown to her, the Doctor was also relishing in the fact that she was nearby, even though it was insanely dangerous for her. "So what's our next move?"
"Your move is to go with Amy and River," he told her. There's no way I'll let her get killed by one of these monsters, he thought to himself.
"Never knew you were a comedian, Doctor," Alex smartly retorted. Like hell she was leaving him!
He groaned. "Alex," he started.
"Don't lecture me!" Alex snapped. She turned to him, knowing that the Weeping Angels were still too weak to do anything drastic to her. "We are currently in a bloody tomb with Weeping Angels that, according to you, can either strangle me or put me back in time." She smiled slightly. "Trust me. The safest place for me in this situation is right beside you."
He smiled despite himself. It was so much safer for her if she was far away from him, yet somehow, he just wanted to keep her attached to his hip all the time. If they had had more time, he would have tried to ponder this a little more, but alas, they didn't. He brought the communicator to his lips and asked, "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the . . . ship?"
"Yes, sir," Bob affirmed. "And the other Angels are still restoring,"
The Doctor nodded, his suspicions confirmed. "Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you!" He put the communicator in his jacket pocket and grabbed Alex's hand, pulling her along. As they ran, they passed Amy, who was leaning up against a wall.
"Don't wait for us!" the Doctor told her as he and Alex raced past. "Go, run!"
"I can't," Amy objected. She cast a look down at her hand which was currently clutching a rail like it was a lifeline as the Doctor and Alex skidded to a stop and turned around. The Doctor reached out and tried to grab her hand, but Amy flinched. "No, really, I can't!" she cried, her voice slightly fearful.
"Why not?" the Doctor questioned.
"Look at it!" Amy urged. "Look at my hand! It's stone!" The Doctor looked down. It was a perfectly normal hand.
Beside him, Alex tried to look as well, but as she did, a giant burst of pain blasted in her head and she fell back against the wall. "Goddamn it," she groaned, sinking down to the floor. She shut her eyes and buried her head in her knees. This pain was worse than it had been during the Star Whale encounter. It felt like something was attacking her mind and her mind was pretty much going all nuclear war on it.
Amy's eyes widened as she watched Alex slink to the floor. Noticing her alarmed expression, the Doctor turned around and saw Alex's predicament. "Ally!" he cried, kneeling down next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, raise your head," he soothed. Alex bit her bottom lip as she lifted her head up. She felt the metallic taste of blood hit her tongue but as long as she wasn't concentrating on this brain-pain, she didn't care about a bit lip.
The Doctor worriedly watched her pained expression. He grabbed his torch and shined the light into her eyes. Surprisingly, Alex didn't object to this, just confirming that she was ill. He stood up and did the same to Amy. He tutted worryingly. "You two looked into the eyes of the Angel, didn't you?"
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried," Amy defended.
"Ditto," Alex said, still too weak to say much of anything.
"Amy, listen," the Doctor begged. "It's messing with your head. Your hand isn't made of stone."
"It is!" Amy insisted. Honestly! Why couldn't he see it? From Amy's point of view, it certainly looked as though her hand were made of stone. "Look at it!"
"It's in your mind," the Doctor argued gently. He glanced over at Alex, who seemed to have recovered somewhat, before turning back to Amy. "I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."
"I can't, okay?" Amy snapped. Why didn't he get it? "I've tried and I can't. It's stone."
All of a sudden, their flashlights began flickering. Alex scooted up to where she was leaning against the cavern wall, ready to run if necessary. She looked at the Doctor, eyes wide, as he said, "The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn these lights off and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it. Concentrate! Move your hand!"
"I can't!"
"Then we're all gonna die," Alex muttered, but it was loud enough for Amy to hear and give her a look.
"You and the Doctor are not going to die!" Amy protested.
The Doctor glanced behind Amy for a second before turning back to her. "They'll kill the lights," he told them. Their flashlights flickered again and Alex stiffened as she saw two Angels come up behind Amy.
"You've both gotta go," Amy urged. "You know you have! You've got all that stuff with River and that's all gotta happen! You know you can't die here!"
"Time can be rewritten," the Doctor told her. "It doesn't work like that." I'll die, but I won't let Alex or Amy die, he thought. He would be upset if Amy died, but even more so if Alex died. If he had had the time, he probably would have thought about why this was so but since they were being pursued by Weeping Angels, he pushed it aside.
The lights flickered again and Alex yelped in spite of herself as she saw the Angels had crawled closer, reaching for them. Hearing her friend react, Amy turned around and gasped. The Doctor nervously watched them as well. None of the trio allowed their eyes to stray away from the stone monsters inching towards them.
"Keep your eyes on it," he instructed. "Don't blink."
"Run!" Amy insisted. In spite of her predicament, she wasn't about to let her two best friends die trying to save her.
"You see, I'm not going. I'm not leaving you here, Amy," the Doctor defied. Knowing Amy was keeping an eye on the Angels, he turned back to Alex. "Alex, run! Go to River. The Angel has clearly done something to you and it'll be safer with her and the clerics."
Alex gave him a dark look. "Doctor, I'm fine now! It was just a passing thing. Besides, I'm not leaving Amy and you are certainly not going to stop me!"
"I don't need you two to die for me!" Amy interrupted, before the two could start fighting like they had on Starship U.K. "Do I look that clingy?" Then, sensing Alex was about to say something snarky, added, "Shut up, Alex."
Alex rolled her eyes and tried to tell the sarcastic section of her brain to shut it so she could think. "You can move your hand," she insisted gently. Maybe Amy would listen to her.
Amy had an incredulous look on her face, even though she knew Alex couldn't see it. "It's STONE!" she screeched.
"It's NOT stone!" the Doctor and Alex snapped together.
The lights flickered again and Amy sought for a way to get those two stubborn idiots to safety. Never mind her; Alex was suffering from the Angel on the screen and the Doctor needed to tend to her. "You've gotta go," she urged them as the lights flickered once again. "Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them!"
The Doctor sighed. "Amy Pond, you are magnificent," he told her, tapping his forehead to her head. "And I'm so sorry."
Alex's eyes widened and she gaped at the Doctor. Was he truly serious?! No, no, not happening, Alex decided. Over my dead body will he abandon Amy here! I'll make it IMPOSSIBLE for him to leave here without her!
Amy was slightly calmer than Alex. She breathed deeply and nodded. "It's okay," she replied. "I understand. You've got to leave me."
"Oh, no," the Doctor shot back. Behind him, Alex's eyes relaxed slightly and her thoughts about wringing his neck went away. "I'm not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this." Alex watched, shocked, as the Doctor quickly leaned down and bit Amy's hand. Amy screamed and yanked it away. As she gave him a disgusted look, Alex laughed maniacally.
He grinned at Amy, completely oblivious to her sneering. "Ah! See! Not stone!" he crowed triumphantly before pulling her behind him. "Now run!"
Amy just stared at him incredulously. "You bit me!" she cried.
"Yeah, and you're alive!" he reminded her.
"I've got a mark!" Amy continued, holding out her hand for Alex to look at. "Look at my hand!"
"Yes, and you're alive!" the Doctor growled while also resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he stared at the Weeping Angels in front of him. "Did I mention?!"
But the fact that he had bitten her refused to leave Amy's mind. It was pretty much the epicenter of her thoughts right now. "Blimey! Your teeth! Have you got space teeth?" she accused.
"Amy, alive!" Alex cut in, now completely recovered from her laughing fit. "All we're saying."
~Living the Life of Ally~
"Yeah, it's the Angels," the Doctor announced as he, Amy, and Alex came into the chamber under where the wreckage of the Byzantium was. The clerics, Octavian, and River were all waiting for them. "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."
Octavian grimaced. "Which means we won't be able to see them," he guessed. As if on cue, the lights flickered again along with the Gravity Globe.
"Which means we can't stay here," the Doctor concluded.
"Two more incoming," Octavian reported.
River looked at the Doctor expectantly. "Any suggestions?"
"The statues are advancing on all sides," Octavian grimly announced. Everyone stared up at the wreckage. Maybe we can climb up to the wreckage, Alex thought. That bubble was quickly burst though when Octavian explained that they didn't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium.
River groaned. "There's no way up, no way back, no way out."
Alex simply stared at her. Unlike River, Alex hadn't given up yet. She wasn't going to go down without trying. "Well, aren't we Miss Optimistic?" she sneered.
River sighed and ignored her. "No pressure," she said, turning to the Doctor, "but this is usually when you have a really good idea."
"There's always a way out," he murmured, staring off into the distance. Suddenly, he brightened up and exclaimed, "There's always a way out!"
"Doctor? Alex?" Bob's voice rang out from the communicator. "Can I speak to the Doctor and Alex, please?" Well, he's polite, I'll give him that, Alex thought wryly. She stepped closer to the Doctor and felt peaceful as he looped an arm around her shoulders.
The Doctor pulled the com out of his jacket pocket and spoke into it. "Hello, Angels. What's your problem?"
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly." Then, as an afterthought he added, "Sorry, sir, ma'am."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. Before he could reply though, Alex beat him to it. "Why are you telling us this?" she demanded.
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?" the Doctor asked.
"I died in fear."
The Doctor and Alex tensed up and looked at each-other, both of them deadly silent. Above them, the lights flickered ominously, almost telling them that they were doomed.
"I'm sorry?" they both said. This time, River didn't even react. She was too busy watching them worriedly to pay too much attention to their simultaneous speaking.
"You two told me my fear and faith would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down. I wouldn't have died if Alex had realized there was a filter on the Angels." Alex flinched, feeling guilty, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Doctor.
Behind them, Amy leaned in to whisper in River's ear. "What are they doing?" she asked, not removing her eyes from the Doctor and Alex.
River didn't move her gaze either. "They're trying to make him angry and Alex guilty, which is never a good idea."
Amy frowned, thinking about Alex's temper. "Because of Alex?" she guessed.
River shook her head and smiled slightly. "No. Because the Doctor will make them regret trying to hurt his Ally."
"I'm sorry, sir, ma'am," Bob continued, blissfully unaware of the hole he was digging himself into. "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
The Doctor gave out a slight snarl, making Alex flinch. He tugged her closer to him so that she was pressed into his side and hissed into the communicator, "Well, then, the Angels have made their second mistake, because I'm not gonna let those things pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped sir, ma'am, and about to die," Bob replied, confused.
"Yeah, we're trapped," Alex conceded, speaking for the first time since Bob had tried to guilt her. Amy was surprised by the snarky and cold tone in her voice. It reminded her of the Doctor when he got really mad. "And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it!"
"A great, big whopping mistake!" the Doctor jumped in, his voice matching Alex's to a tee.
"What mistake, sir, ma'am?"
The Doctor and Alex didn't bother to answer him. Instead, the Doctor turned to look at the others behind them. "Trust me?" he asked Amy.
A small smile appeared on Amy's face. "Yeah," she replied.
He looked to River. "Trust me?"
River nodded. "Always," she assured him. Alex felt a burn of jealousy inside her heart, but brushed it aside in favor of more important matters.
He turned to Octavian and the clerics. "You lot, trust me?"
"We have faith, sir, ma'am," Octavian confirmed.
The Doctor nodded and turned back to look at Alex, right into her now light brown eyes. "Ally," he began, their eyes locking. He was about to continue, but Alex interrupted him.
"Do you really need to ask?" Alex smirked, her eyes sparkling and changing to dark green, matching the Doctor's own. "Yes, always, absolutely."
The Doctor grinned at her and gave her a fleeting kiss on the forehead. God, I wish he would kiss me properly! Alex inwardly smacked herself. Oh, shut up, Alexandria Nicole!
The Doctor, having gotten the trust from the person whose opinion he valued the most - which he had finally admitted to himself about - turned to Octavian and his men. His lips were stinging with electricity from touching Alex's skin but he reluctantly pushed aside the delirious feeling. "Give me your gun," he ordered Octavian. He could practically feel Alex's shock radiating through him.
He examined the gun as he turned back around, ignoring Amy and River's incredulous looks. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous," he announced. "When I do. . ." He jumped before ordering them, "Jump!"
"Jump where?" Octavian asked, bewildered.
"Just jump," the Doctor insisted. "High as you can. Leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?" Octavian wondered.
"You won't miss it," the Doctor assured him as he lifted the gun and aimed it at the Gravity Globe. Alex watched him, transfixed by the glare in his eyes and how his jaw was clenched. He was furious. She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, reminding him that she was there. His tense muscles relaxed slightly and when he turned to her, Alex saw the glare in his eyes was gone, replaced by admiration and assurance. He was instantly calmed by her and though she couldn't explain why, Alex was glad that she had such a big impact on him as he did with her.
But the glare went back up again when Bob called out, "Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake we've made?"
The Doctor turned back to the communicator but he was relaxed slightly by Alex's presence. "Oh, big, big mistake," he replied, his voice back in that low tone. He was still aiming at the Gravity Globe. "Really huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you, there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that would be, sir?"
The Doctor fixated his gaze on the Gravity Globe, never wavering as he answered, "Me." He fired the gun, a shot rang out, and the Gravity Globe burst into blue liquid, thrusting the cavern into total darkness.
A/N: There's 'The Time of Angels'! Tomorrow we start 'Flesh and Stone'. Who else can't wait to see what happens when Amy kisses the Doctor? And Alex has a Weeping Angel in her! What will happen? }:)
Notes on reviews. . .
Gwilwillith - Glad you're liking it so far! Believe me, there are a ton of moments between the Doctor and Alex in this story that I'm really looking forward to revealing. :)
ElysiumPhoenix - Glad you liked what I did with Alex. Believe it or not, in the first draft of this, Alex actually noticed the perception filter but didn't get a chance to say anything until that one point in the episode. As I was going back over it though, I realized it didn't work and changed it. Good thing, huh? :)
Bronzelove - I'm glad you want more River & Alex and want to know why River is sorry for her. River and Alex's relationship is . . . interesting. It's a very frenemy-based relationship that did occur because of a few things which I can't reveal just yet. We'll have to wait and see what those things are! :)
Thank you to Gwilwillith, ElysiumPhoenix, and Bronzelove for reviewing and to those who followed/favored this story. Please review and see you tomorrow!
