The Doctor popped his head down over the banister of a hotel staircase in a 80s themed hotel of the sorts, Star copied him and looked down at Amy and Rory.
"'Let's go to Ravan-Skala' he says," Amy grumbled, "'the people are 600 feet tall, you have to talk to them in hot air balloons and the Tourist Information Centre is made of one of their hats.' He says. Im sorry but I don't see any huge hats."
"Amy. Beaky," the Doctor grinned, "this could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen!"
"You're kidding." Rory remarked.
"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?"
"Because," Star smiled, "this isn't Earth. It only looks like Earth."
"The craftsmanship involved…" the Doctor ran his hand along the banister, "can you imagine?"
"What?" Amy frowned, "Then where are we?"
They just walked back down to the floor where the TARDIS was parked, surrounded by potted plants and frame portraits on the walls.
"Well…we are…no idea." Star admitted, "Isn't that fun!"
"You are crazy."
"Yes I am."
"Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" the Doctor exclaimed and deeply inhaled a leaf.
"Right," Rory slowly nodded, "but who would mock up an Earth hotel?"
The Doctor took an apple from a bowl, "Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca." He took a bit of the apple, "No, whoever did this; I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle…" only to grimace and spit out the bitten apple into a potted plant.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Star recited, taking the apple out of his hand and taking a bite herself.
"Have you seen these?" Rory called, looking at the photographs on the walls, "look at the labels underneath. 'Commander Halke, defeat. Tim Heath, having his photo taken. Lady Silver-Tear…Daleks.'"
"'Paige Barnes, other people socks,'" Amy read, "'Time Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, sabrewolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth. Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla.' Doctor, what does it mean?"
"I don't know," the Doctor answered, "Let's find out."
~.~
They'd found the reception area and weren't exactly surprise to found no one there, but there was a bell and Star, being Star, found the bell and continuing ringing on. On the first ring 3 people ran around the corner, two men and a woman. The woman, an Indian in blue scrubs, waved a chair leg at them.
One of the men, an alien obviously as he appeared mole-like, waved a white handkerchief at them. The other man had dark curly hair and glasses.
"Blimey, that was quick," the Doctor muttered, tugging Star behind him as she stood the closest to the trio.
"We surrender!" the alien cried.
"No, its okay," Rory held his hand out, "We're not...we're nice."
"She threatened me with a chair leg!" the Doctor accused.
"Who are you?" the woman demanded.
"We're back in reception," the man noticed.
"We surrender!" the alien repeated.
"Never been threatened with a chair leg before!" the Doctor remarked before thinking, "No, I tell a lie."
Amy turned to her husband, "Did you just say, 'its okay, we're nice?'"
"Shut up!" Star shouted over the noise.
Everyone fell silent but the woman slowly walked towards them.
"Rita, be careful, yeah?" the man warned.
"It's all right Howie," Rita eyed the group, "their pupils are dilated. They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."
The Doctor grinned at her, "Oh, you're good," he turned to Star, "Oh, she's good." he turned back to Amy, "Amy, with regret, you're fired."
"What?" Amy blinked.
"I'm kidding," he turned to Rita a mimicked a phone, whispering, "We'll talk."
Star turned to the mole-like alien, "From the pathological compulsion to surrender you're from Tivoli, I'm guessing."
"Yes," the alien nodded, "the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called 'Glory To Insert Name Here.'"
"You with the face," the Doctor turned to the man, "Howie, you said you were surprised to be back in reception."
"The walls move," Howie replied, "Everything changes."
"You, clever one," he pointed at Rita.
"Rita," Star reminded him.
"What's he talking about?"
"the corridors twist and stretch," Rita tried to explain, "Roots vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotels alive."
The Doctor turned off the soft music that was playing over them, "That's quite enough of that."
"And it's huge," Howie added, "With, like, no way out."
"Have you tried the front door?" Rory asked.
"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door," Rita replied, sarcastically, "Thank god you're here!"
The Doctor scanned the doors with the sonic as Amy laughed at Rita's remark. He threw the doors open to reveal a brick wall, "They're not doors, they're wall, walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like or 'dwalls', 'woors' even..." he trailed as Star began giggling at him, "You probably got it when you said, 'They're not doors.' I mean, the windows are..." he thee the curtains apart to reveal a wall, "Big day if you're a fan of walls."
"It's not just that," Rita continued, "the rooms have...things in them."
"Things?" Star perked up.
"What kind of things?" the Doctor asked, "Interesting things? We love things, ask anyone." Star nodded eagerly besides him.
"Bad dreams." Rita stated.
Stars grinned faded, "Well, that killed the mood."
"How did you get here?" the Doctor frowned.
"I don't know," Rita sighed, "if just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."
"I was blogging," Howie shrugged, "Next thing, this."
"Oh, I was at work," the alien said, "I'm in town planning. We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade. Which is nice for them."
"Yeah…so what have we got?" the Doctor asked, "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms." He picked up a Rubik's cube from the counter, "well, apart from anything else that just rude."
~.~
The Doctor and Star led the way up the stairs to where the TARDIS was parked. "We'll pop back to the TARDIS," the Doctor said, "do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have s sing song. I know someone who has a beautiful voice," he winked at Star.
"Dad." She hissed at him, blushing furiously…only to groan seeing the TARDIS gone.
"Oh." he began feeling around in case the TARDIS had gone invisible on them.
"Where's the TARDIS?" Amy frowned, "you parked it there, didn't you?"
"What's a TARDIS?" Howie asked.
"Our way out." Rory sighed, "and it's gone," he held his head in his hands.
Star looked up hearing the music playing again, she looked at the Doctor who also heard it, "ok," he nodded, "this is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're 3 buses, a long walk and 8 quid in a taxi from good. Are there any more of you?"
"Joe," Rita answered, "but he's tied up right now."
"Why?" Star tilted her head, "what's he doing?"
"No, I mean he's…tied up right now."
~.~
The Doctor and Star slowly entered the dining room to see it filled with tables of ventriloquist dummies, all laughing and bobbing their head, a man, Joe, sat in the middle tied to one of the chairs.
The dummies stopped and stared at them as the group entered.
"Hello. Im the Doctor and this is my daughter Star," the Doctor introduced.
"You're going to die here," Joe told them in a dreamily voice.
"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure," the Doctor took Stars hand in his, not liking that fact they were apparently going to die there.
"Is Joe there?" Star asked.
"Can we have a quick word?" the Doctor grabbed a chair and sat opposite the man, Star sat cross-legged on the floor next to him.
"Oh, it; still me, Doctor, Star," Joe replied, "but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he had forgiven me inconstancy, and soon…he shall feast."
"Well, you've been here 2 days, what's he waiting for?"
"We weren't ready. We were still raw."
"But now you're what? Cooked?"
"If you like. Soon you will be, too." Star frowned as she noticed the horseshoe tie clip and dice cufflinks Joe wore. "Be patient. First…find your room."
"Our rooms…" Star frowned.
"There's a room here for everyone, Star, even you."
"You said you'd seen the light now." The Doctor recalled.
"Nothing else matter anymore," Joe laughed, "only him. It's like these things. I used to hate them! They make me laugh now. 'Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!'" the dummies joined in with his laughing.
Star narrowed her eyes, the laugher was annoying her, and felt like they were laughing at her, she didn't like it. She flashed her eyes red, popping the head of one of the dummies near the back, "anyone else wanna laugh?" the dummies fell silent.
"You should go." Joe continued, "He'll be here soon."
The Doctor gave him a thin smile before sliding a hand dolley under Joe's chair, "I think you should come with us…"
~.~
They all gathered back in reception, the music still playing. The Doctor, Amy, Rory and Rita stood one the guest side of the counter. How and the alien stood behind the counter with Joe still tied in his chair. Star dangling her legs down as she sat on the counter.
"Why you four?" the Doctor eyed the humans and alien, "that's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other sides I don't understand." He turned the music back off.
"What does it matter?" the alien countered, "sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."
"I don't feel like being a slave," Star muttered.
"First, we find the TARDIS," The Doctor nodded, "Quick thing before we go. If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all time."
"Joe said 'he' will feast." Rita recalled, "Is there something here with us?"
Joe began to laugh, "Something to add Joe?" Star looked at him.
"Here comes a candle to light you to bed," Joe recited, "to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop."
"Can we do something about him?" Howie asked as Joe continued laughing.
The Doctor walked down the halls with Star next to him. The alien who they had learnt was called Gibbis was pushing Joe who now had his mouth taped shut. Rita, Amy, Rory and Howie followed. They could hear Howie and Rory talking but they didn't pay much attention as they realised that they had just changed direction.
The Doctor opened room 158 and a PE teacher stepped out, "hello." The doctor greeted.
"Have you forgotten you PE kit again?" the man answered instead, "right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" he went back into the room and the Doctor shut the door.
Star gave the Doctor a confused look before she looked back and saw Howie. "Howie! No!" but she was too late. Howie had already opened the door.
"Oh, look, girls," a young blonde woman called from inside the room full of beautiful young women, "its H-H-H-Howie!"
"What's 'loser' in K-K-K-Klingon?" another laughed.
"Shut the d-d-…the-the door!" Howie stuttered, looking away. Star quickly closed the door. "This is just some m-m-messed up CIA stuff. I-I-im telling you."
"Its okay." Star gave him a reassuring hug.
The Doctor patted Howie's chest, "you're right, keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more."
They walked off, Howie casting a glance over his shoulder, they looked back too, but there was nothing there.
They walked down a hall, the Doctor feeling the wallpaper, tapping the light sconces and feeling the plaster where it had been scraped off. Amy stopped when she saw a handful of notes on the floor. She turned to give them to the Doctor when there was a growl.
"Ok," Amy began, "whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?"
"Let's not stand here," Star said, "just in case."
"In here." The Doctor called, leading Amy, Howie and Gibbis into one room. Rita ran into another one with Joe.
"Rory." Star tugged Rory into the room as the man was tying his shoelace.
"No but…" he tried to argue.
They ran in only to see two Weeping Angels in the room.
"Don't…blink." Amy instructed.
"What?" Howie frowned.
The lights flickered and Gibbis cowered in the cupboard. The Angels moved positions.
"Amy, get back." The Doctor pulled her back.
"Why haven't they got us yet?" Star wondered and stepped closer to one, touching one only for it to grow through, "they're not real."
"What?" Amy kept her eye on the Angels.
"They should have gotten us by now." The Doctor agreed, "Amy, look at me, focus on me." Amy looked at him, "It's your bad dream, that's all."
"I don even think they're for us." Rory commented looking at Gibbis. Amy had told him about her encounter with the Weeping Angels about how she had to walk with her eyes closed through a forest of them, how Star had teleported her away just in time before they got her.
Gibbis screamed and hid in the cupboard.
The Doctor was about to check on him when there was a growl and Star was at the door, looking through the peephole.
"Star, what are you doing?" Amy demanded.
"Oh, you are beautiful." Star breathed, seeing a minotaur-like creature outside.
The Doctor nudged her out the way and looked for himself, "oh, look at you…" he suddenly jumped back, startled as the beast turned to him, "oh, dear." He saw something in the hallway, "I think its going after Joe."
"Come to me!" they heard Joe shouted, "Come to me! Praise him!"
The Doctor opened the door to see Joe's body being dragged away by the beast. "Leave him alone!" the Doctor shouted as he and Star ran down the halls
"Joe!" Star yelled as they ran up some stairs, "Joe!"
They ran down another hall and stopped at a four-way interception, checking all the corridors.
"Joe!" Star called. She stopped when she spotted one of Joe's cufflinks on the carpet. They turned to see Joe kneeling, propped against the wall.
"Joe? Joe!" the Doctor walked over, "Joe! Joe, what happened?"
Star checked the mans pulse, she sadly shook her head when she found none.
~.~
Star sat in the dining room, watching everyone, while drinking the tea Rita had made. The woman now talking to the Doctor who had been scanning Joe who was now stretched out on the small dais with the dummies behind him. Amy had been talking to Gibbis as Howie and Rory had been barricading the door. She was just watching Rita, Howie and Gibbis; all three had now seen their rooms.
"Doctor," Amy called pulling her attention back to see Amy walking over to the Doctor, a handful of papers in her hands, "look at this. I found it in a corridor; I completely forgot I had it."
Star skipped over to them as he hit Amy on the head with them before reading them aloud, "'My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realise it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My god, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others…and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. Im so happy. Pra..."
"Praise him." Howie finished.
"What did you say?" Star turned to him sharply.
"Nothing." he seemed to struggle with words, "Praise him!" he clapped a hand over his mouth.
"This is what happened to Joe!" Gibbis cried.
And then chaos erupted in the room as everyone began to shout other each other.
Star flashed her eyes and caused one of the light bulbs to smash, everyone quickly quietened down in their surprise, "Thank you." she grinned as though nothing had happened.
"Don't you see?" Gibbis cried, "he'll lead it right here!"
"What do you suggest?" Rita asked him.
"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now…tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. Im saying, if it were to…find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go. All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?!" he sat back down in his chair.
"Its ok, I'll stay with Howie." Rita offered, "You take the others and go."
"No, we stick together," Star determined.
The Doctor walked over to Gibbis and whispered to him, "Your civilisation is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many have perished. Well, not today. No one else dies today. Right?"
"Yes." Gibbis said, quietly.
"Brilliant." He walked back over to Howie and put an arm around his shoulder, leading him back to the table. "any second, it's going to possess you again when it does, we're going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them."
Howie nodded as he sat down, and everyone took a chair at the same table, "I hope my mum's all right, she's going to be w-worried."
Howie…" Star called seeing him smiling and swaying, "Howie."
The Doctor sighed as Howie was processed, "Howie, you're next, we're all dead jealous, so tell us…how do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"
"You guys have got all these distractions," He tapped his head, "all these obstacles. It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know, clear the path."
"You want it to find you?" Amy frowned, "Even though you know what it's going to do?"
"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all! How cool is that?!"
They walked away from the table leaving the possessed Howie alone.
"It's as I thought," the Doctor rubbed the side of his head, "it feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist. D whatever you have to, cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."
"Ok, but what are we actually going to do?" Amy asked.
"We're going monster hunting!" Star cheered.
~.~
The Doctor had wanted Star to say with him, badly, and she meant badly, she knew he only wanted her with him so he could be there to ensure she was safe herself. He'd tried everything to persuade her but she had still declined and instead was standing with Rory.
They'd set up the trap in the beauty parlour, using lots of mirrors so they could see the monster clearly without getting too closer. They'd all split up. Amy and Rita were together. Gibbis was watching over Howie. They could hear Howie's voice echoing through the halls, using the speakers to lure the monster to the parlour.
She heard Amy shouting her warning to seal the doors. And there she and Rory were, standing at the doors, Rory blocking the door with a mop as Star leaned on it for extra security.
They stood in silence trying to hear what the Doctor was saying to the monster. She made out that the hotel was some sort of prison and they were food, but like Joe had said, they weren't ready. The monster was very old. But she couldn't hear any more as they could hear Howie shouting.
"My master, my lord!" Howie was shouting, "im here! Bring me death!"
"Howie." Star gasped, pulling away from the door which was what the monster needed as she heard the Doctor warning her and Rory and then the monster pushing her into the wall and sending Rory to the floor, the monster running on.
She quickly pulled herself together and ran after it, trying to keep it in her sight but the halls shifted and she lost it.
She reached a four way interception and spun trying to figure out which way when she heard it 'Praise him,' whispering in her mind.
And then she turned and spotted a room, 5, her room so it seems, it made sense, room 5, her 5th regeneration.
She took a breath, her hand slowly reaching out to the doorknob. She had to look inside; she had to know what her worst fear was. She had to.
She turned the doorknob and peeked inside and there lying on the carpet on the floor, they all were, everyone she cared, dead.
She swallowed as she caught site of the ginger standing on the bed, a victorious smirk on her lips as they made eye contact, the green meeting the red.
She wanted to look away but couldn't. You didn't know what was in your room into you look inside rand realise it couldn't be anything else, yeah, this was her worst fear. Herself.
It was so obvious.
She was terrified of becoming the monster everyone saw her as, terrified of killing those she loved.
And then next thing she knew the door was slammed shut and she was in the Doctors arm, crying.
"Shh, its okay," he soothed her, "It's not real. It's not real. You're okay."
~.~
After Star had pulled herself together they'd quickly gone and found Howie kneeling on the floor, against the wall, just like Joe. He took Howie glasses on his face and patted his face. They looked up when Amy, Rory and Rita ran down the hall.
Gibbis appeared at the other end. "He got free. He overpowered me." Neither Time Lord said anything they just got up and walked to the group as Gibbis timidly followed, "it might leave is alone now. Maybe now we'll be safe." They walked off, "wait!" he ran to catch up with them.
~.~
The Doctor and Star stood looking at Howie's picture on the wall as Rory joined them.
"Have you found your room yet?" Star asked him.
"No," he answered, "is that good or bad?"
"Maybe you're not scared of anything." The Doctor shrugged him off.
"Well, after all the time unspent with you in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?"
"You said that in past tense," Star pointed out.
"No, I didn't." the Doctor leaned back against the wall as Rory looked at the photo, "You know, Howie had been in speech therapy. He'd just got over this massive stammer what an achievement, I mean, can you imagine? I'd forgotten not all victories are about saving the universe."
~.~
The Doctor and Star walked down the stairs when they met Rita in her way up. "Rita! Brilliant!" the Doctor grinned at her, "How are you? Not panicking are you? Good, good. Because we are literally an otters toenail away from getting is out of here."
"Why?" Rita asked with a smile.
"Excellent question," he patted her on the back as he passed her, Star stayed where she was, "Excellent question," he paused and turned back to her, "Why what?"
"Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite a God complex you have there."
The Doctor looked down at Amy as she placed the fish from the parlour by the window, "I brought them here..."
"WE brought them here." Star corrected.
"They'd say it was their choice. But offer a child a suitcase full of sweet and they'll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that, too. Which is why you wouldn't. Which is why grown up were invented."
"But we don't have a grown up in the TARDIS."
"All of time and space, eh?" Rita smiled.
"Oh, yeah." the Doctor nodded, "And when we get out of this. We'll show you, too."
"I don't know what you're talking about. But I have a feeling you just did it again."
Star stepped on the Doctor foot to get his attention. "Ow!" he cried, "what was that for?" she pointed to the corner, a security camera hidden in away, "Right down to the smallest detail." he turned and ran down the stairs, pulling Star with him, leaving Rita looking at the camera.
~.~
They ran down the hallways when the Doctor suddenly stopped hearing 'Praise him' whispering in his mind, he turned and was drawn to room 11. He opened the door and looked inside, "of course, who else?" Star peeked over his shoulder before he closed the door and placed a 'Do Not Disturb' sigh over the knob. He ran off again but Star stopped him.
"Who is that?!" She demanded, "Explain now!"
"After the war," he admitted, seeing himself in his room, "When I used 'the Moment' I was afraid of what I had become, do to that."
She pulled him into a tight hug, "its okay. You had to do it." she pulled apart, "now come on. Let's find that security room," she ran off ahead.
The Doctor smiling after her. She didn't hate him, he hadn't told her about a whole regeneration but she still didn't hate him.
He took off after her and the found the security room. A panel of monitors against the wall, "oh, you beauty!" the Doctor grinned, "come on, big fella. What are you doing?"
"Rita?" Star breathed seeing the woman on the monitor.
"Where are you going?" he wondered, picking up the phone and dialling. Rita stopped and look to the left as she heard the phone ringing, "come on, come on, come on!" the Doctor murmured as Rita looked directly at the camera, and opened the door, "come on, come on." She picked up, "Rita, where are you going? Can you take the phone into the corridor? Will it reach?" Rita appeared back on the monitor with the phone, "You started to praise it, didn't you?" Rita nodded, "Rita, come back. Please. We'll find a way to stop it, I swear to you."
"No, I need to get as far away from you all as possible." Rita said, kneeling on the floor.
"No you don't. The creature only wants whoever's praising it."
"You'll put yourself in its way?"
The Doctor took the phone back, "Block out the fear and stay focused on your belief."
"I can feel the rapture approaching," Rita told them, "like a wave." The Beast appeared on one of the monitors, "I don't want you to witness this. I want you to remember me the way I was."
"What's going on?" Amy asked as she and Rory entered, "Rita's disappeared. What's she doing there?
"Rita, please," Star pleased, "let me find you."
"You stay where you are. Please, let me be robbed of my faith in private." Rita said.
Rory pointed at one of the monitors seeing the Beast getting closer to Rita, "Look."
"Rita. Rita. Go into the room, lock the door." The Doctor remarked, urgently.
"im not frightened." Rita smiled, "im blessed. Im at peace. Im going to hang up."
"Rita," Star shouted, "no, please. Don't!"
She hung up. The Doctor slowly put the phone down as they saw Rita turned around, smiling, as the Beast approached her from behind. He soniced the monitor off quickly and on another screen they saw Gibbis eating the fish.
~.~
Amy and Rory sat in the last booth in the bar, Gibbis in the middle, the Doctor and Star in the far booth, the Doctor having just calmed Star down as she had a small tantrum, knocking things of the table and screaming, annoying everyone in the act, before the Doctor had managed to finally calm her down.
"Ok," the Doctor nodded, "it preys on peoples fear and possesses them," he handed Star the Rubik's cube to keep her busy and calm, "but Rita wasn't afraid, she was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."
"Yes," Gibbis rolled his eyes, "You keep saying that but you never do. And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next!"
"Look, he'll work it out." Amy told him, "He always does. Just let him riff and move anything expensive out of the way."
Star stiffened and placed the completed Rubik cube on the table, it hadn't taken her long but she had just been fiddling with it as a distraction, "oh no."
"Oh, no, no." the Doctor agreed.
"What wrong?" Amy looked at them.
"Its not fear. Its faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something." He got up and walked to the middle of them, "Howard believed in conspiracies, external forces controlling the world."
"Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe," Star added, "He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose."
"Gibbis rejected personal autonomy and is waiting for the next batch of invaders to tell him what to do. They all believe there's something guiding them, about to save them. That's what it replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear, they fell back on their most fundamental faith," he sat down on a bar stool and rubbed his eyes, "and all this time, I've been telling you to dig deep. Find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith. Show them what they needed."
"But why us?" Rory shook his head, "why are we here?"
"It doesn't want you." Star told him, "That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on."
"It wants her." The Doctor pointed at Amy.
Amy blinked, "me? Why?"
"Your faith in me. That's what brought us here."
"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping…'it?'" Rory wondered.
"It needs to convert the faith into a form 'it' can consume," the Doctor explained walking over to him, "faith is an energy, the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live. Which is why at the end of her note, Lucy said…"
"Praise him." Amy finished.
"Exactly."
A moment later Rory jumped to his feet, Star turned to her and the Doctors eyes widened, "No. oh, please, no."
The beast growled.
~.~
The 5 of them ran through the halls, the beast chasing them. Amy stopped and faced it, the Doctor and Rory went back for her.
"Amy?" the Doctor called.
"What are you doing?" Gibbis demanded.
"He is beautiful," Amy breathed seeing the beast at the end of the hall.
"Leave her! Just leave her!"
They ignored him and they each draped an arm over their shoulders and dragged her down another hall. Star leading the way, Gibbis following.
They ran into a room, 7, to see young Amelia sitting on her suitcase waiting and watching for the magical blue box. Rory and Star tried to hold the door against the beast as Gibbis hid between the beds.
Amy fell to her knees, "Doctor, its happening. It's changing me, it's changing my thoughts."
"I can't save you from this," the Doctor said, "There's nothing I can do to stop this."
"What?"
"I stole your childhood and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew, I knew this would happen. This is what always happens." Star grunted as she held the door, "Forget your faith in me," he told her urgently "I had Star already, I took you with me because I was vain, because I wanted to be adored," he stroked her hair, "Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me. Im not a hero, I really am just a mad man in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are." He kissed her forehead, "Amy Williams. It's time to stop waiting."
Star looked over seeing the sorrow and heartbreak in his eyes and took his hand in support as he opened the door to see the beast lying on the floor, panting as the lights flickers.
"He broke your hold on Amy," Star knelt next to the beast, "sacrificed her faith in him. You can die in peace now." The lights flickered and the hallways turned into a black room with a lit grid floor. A control panel to the side.
"What is it, a Minotaur?" Amy eyed the beast, "or an alien? Or an alien Minotaur? That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."
"Its both," Star remarked, "distant cousin of the Nimon by the looks."
The Doctor walked to the control panel and checked the information, "They descend on planets and set themselves up as gods to be worshipped. Which is fine, until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons."
"Correction," Rory called from where he was looking through the porthole in the floor, "prisons in space?"
"Where are the guards?" Amy frowned.
"They don't need guards," Star replied, "Its all automatic."
"It drifts through space," the Doctor added, "snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature."
Amy glanced at the Time Lords, "it didn't want just me. So, you must believe in some god or someone, or they'd have shown you the door, too. So, what do Time Lords pray to?"
The Time Lords glanced at each other, Star giving the Doctor a small smile. He broke into a grin seeing it, she had faith in him! After everything, she had faith in him again!
"Must be a fault in the programme," Star guessed, "got stuck on the same setting."
The beast growled.
"What's it saying?" Amy asked.
"'Ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze.'" The Doctor translated, "'for such a creature, death would be a gift.'" He knelt down next to it and placed his hand on the beasts. "Then accept it. And sleep well." He stood up and walked away as the beast growled again, "'I wasn't talking about myself.'"
"Come on," Star squeezed his hand in comfort and they walked back to the TARDIS.
"Could I have a lift?" Gibbis asked as the Doctor unlocked the door, "just to the nearest galaxy would do."
~.~
Amy and Rory stepped out and looked around confused to see them standing before a row of colourful townhouses. One was light blue with a TARDIS blue door and a red Jaguar E-Type car parked outside.
"Don't tell me," Amy began, "this isn't Earth, that isn't a real house. And inside lives a goblin, who feeds on indecision."
"Nope. Real Earth, real house." The Doctor tossed her a set of keys, "real door keys!"
"You're not serious?"
"The car, too?" Rory gaped, rushing towards it, "but that's my favourite car. How did you know that was my favourite car?"
"You showed me a picture on and said, 'that's my favourite car'" Star mimicked him, as the Doctor tossed him the car keys.
"Rory, can you give us 2 minutes?" Amy called to him, "2 minutes?"
Rory quickly hugged Star and then put an arm around the Doctor, "she'll say we can't accept it because it's too extravagant, and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation. It's a risk im willing to take!"
Star laughed as Rory walked off to their new house, keeping his eyes on the car for as long as he could. Amy leaned against the bonnet of the car and patted the space next to her, "hey." The Doctor leaned next to her and Star leaned into him. "So…you're leaving, aren't you?"
"You haven't seen the last of us." The Doctor assured her, "Bad Penny is my middle name! Seriously, the looks I get when I fill in a form…"
"Thankfully my mother gave me my middle name." Star cut him off.
"Why now?" Amy had to ask.
"Because you're still breathing." The Doctor said.
"Well, I think this is about the washing-up, personally."
"I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at." The Doctor pushed himself off the car.
"Did you know, there's a planet that translates to 'Volatile Circus?'?" Star gave a small chuckled, "but maybes there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there."
Amy casted a glance back at the house, "even so, it can't happen like this. After everything we've been though. Everything. You can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we shared a cab."
"And what the alternative?" the Doctor countered, "Us standing over your grave? Over your broken body? Over Rory's body?"
Amy pulled them into a hug, "if you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime."
"Look after Rory." Star ordered lightly.
"Look after him," Amy nodded to the Doctor. "And you," she kissed the Doctor forehead, "Look after her."
The Doctor mock saluted before the Time Lord entered the TARDIS and dematerialised.
~.~
"So, you're number 12?" Star asked as she stood on the opposite side of the console to him.
"13." he stated quietly. "The matacrisis counted as a regeneration."
She walked around the side of the console and squeezed him tightly. "All the more reason to make our time count."
She wanted longer with him, NEEDED loner with him. If this was his last, they needed to make the most of it, he would Not die at Utah, she wouldn't let it happen. she refused.