Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
Amy found a new home for the fish on a table by the base of the stairs of the stairwell as the Doctor was going down the stairs with Rose when they met Rita on her way up.
"Rita! Brilliant!" The Doctor said, greeting her, "How are you? Not panicking, are you?"
"Yeah, how are you, Rita?" Rose asked her, only for Rita to just smile.
"Good, good," the Doctor told her, "Because I am literally an otter's toenail away from getting us out of here."
"Really, Doctor?" Rose said with disbelief, "Because we have no idea where the TARDIS is."
"Why?" Rita asked the Time Lord.
"Excellent question," he muttered as he walked past her with Rose, "Excellent question." He then turned back towards Rita, "Why what?"
"Why is it up to you and Rose to save us?" Rita asked him, "That's quite a God complex you and Rose both have there."
"We brought them here. They'd say it was their choice, but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they'll take it," the Doctor explained as he looked down at Amy, "Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that, too. Which is why you shouldn't. Which is why grown-ups were invented." He then turned back away again.
"All of time and space, eh?" Rita said with disbelief.
"He's telling the truth, Rita," Rose stated, "Our people practically invented time travel."
"And when we get out of this, we'll show you, too," the Doctor assured her as he swung back around towards Rita.
"I don't know what you both are talking about," Rita told them, "But I have a feeling you both just did it again."
"Right down to the smallest detail," the Doctor muttered as he noticed a security camera and pointed at it with one of his index fingers, "Got you, Mr Minotaur." Then the Doctor and Rose both ran down the stairs.
Rita then walked over and looked up at the camera as she placed her hands over her waist as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, "Praise him."
The Doctor and Rose were running through one of the corridors of the 'hotel' before stopping when the Doctor suddenly heard a voice.
"Praise him. Praise him. Praise him," he heard the voice say.
"What's wrong, Theta?" Rose asked her husband.
"I hear a voice, Arkytior," he answered as he was drawn to a room numbered 11 before opening its door and as he looked inside, he saw a small crack and looked like a left over from when he and Rose rebooted the universe with the Pandorica two years ago in their timeline, "Of course. Who else?"
"What is it, Theta?" Rose asked him.
"It's a leftover crack from when we rebooted the universe, Arkytior," the Doctor answered as he closed the door and put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the doorknob before they walked away from the door.
Rita walked up the stairs in the stairwell.
The Doctor and Rose kept looking around in the corridors for the security room.
At the base of the stairwell, Gibbis found the fishbowl and picked it up.
"Oh, you beauty!" The Doctor said, happily as he and Rose both found the security room of the 'hotel' and entered the room before they saw panels of monitors in front of them, "Come on, big fella. Where are you?"
"What's Rita doing?" Rose asked aloud as she and the Doctor both saw Rita on one of the monitors as she walked down one of the corridors of the 'hotel.'
"Yeah, where is she going?" The Doctor said, agreeing with her as he picked up a phone in the security room and dialed a number on it as on the monitor, Rita stopped and looked at a room's door, "Come on, come on, come on!" Rita then looked right at the security camera.
Rita heard a phone ringing from the room next to her and opened the door.
"Come on, come on," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"Hello, Doctor," Rita said, answering the phone.
"Rita, where are you going?" The Doctor asked her, "Can you take the phone into the corridor? Will it reach?" On one of the monitors both Gallifreyans saw Rita exit the room and reentered the corridor, "You started to praise it, didn't you?" Rita then nodded a response.
"What happened, Theta?" Rose asked her husband.
"She started to praise it, Arkytior," the Doctor answered before speaking back to Rita, "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 protested as she got down on the floor.
"No, you don't," the Doctor argued, "The creature only wants whoever's praising it."
"And then, you'll put yourself and Rose in its way," Rita stated.
"We're coming to get you," the Doctor told her, "Block out the fear and your belief."
"The hotel will keep us apart," Rita stated, "I could be 50 miles away by now. I want you and Rose to do me one last favour, Doctor. I can feel the rapture approaching, like a wave. I don't want either of you to witness this. I want you both to remember me the way I was."
"What's going on? Rita's disappeared," Amy said as she and Rory entered the room, "What's she doing there?"
"She started to praise it," Rose answered.
"Rita. Rita, please. Let us find you," the Doctor said as he continued to plead with Rita.
"You stay where you are," Rita ordered the Doctor, "Please, let me be robbed of my faith in private."
"Look, Rita, Rita, go into the room," the Doctor said as he continued to plead with Rita, "Lock the door."
"I'm not frightened. I'm blessed, Doctor," Rita told the Time Lord.
"I'm at peace," Rita stated, "I'm going to hang up."
"No, no, no, Rita," the Doctor said as he continued to plead with Rita.
"Goodbye, Doctor," Rita told him.
"Rita!" The Doctor said, yelling her name.
"Thank you for trying," Rita told him.
"Rita, please!" The Doctor said as he continued to plead with her as Rita hung the phone up, "Please! Please."
In the corridor, Rita stood back up in the middle of the corridor and faced the way that the minotaur-looking creature will come from as she turned her back to the camera as she put her arms out and her head back.
The Doctor then hung up the phone as he slowly sat down with Rose trying to comfort him as they watched the monitor with Rita as she turned around and smiled at the minotaur-looking creature as it came up in front of her before the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to shut them off, while on one of the monitors was Gibbis, who was in the kitchen and it looked like he was eating the fish.
Amy and Rory were sitting in the bar, while in the room beyond them, the Doctor was having a tantrum, screaming and knocking things off tables, while Rose was trying to calm him down before they moved to the far booth, while Gibbis was in the middle booth.
"OK. It preys on people's fear and faith before it possesses them," the Doctor stated as there was a completed Rubik's cube on the table in front of him, "But Rita wasn't afraid, she was religious, brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the five of you that'll tell me how to fight it."
"Yes. You keep saying that, but you never do," Gibbis told him, "And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next!"
"Look, he and Rose will work it out, they always do," Amy assured the Trivolian, "Just let him riff and move anything expensive out of his way."
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no," the Doctor said as he realised what was happening.
"What is it, Theta?" Rose asked her husband.
"Yeah, Doctor, what is wrong?" Amy asked him, agreeing with the Time Lady.
"It's not fear and faith. It's complete faith. Not just complete religious faith, faith in something," the Doctor answered as he walked over to the middle table, "Howard believed in conspiracies, external forces controlling the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe. He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose." He then moved between the tables, "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 then sat on the barstool and ran 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 completely. Show them what they needed."
"But why us? Why are we here?" Rory asked him.
"It doesn't want us," Rose answered.
"She's right. That's why it kept showing you and Rose both a way out. You and her are not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you or Rose to fall back on. It wants her," He said, agreeing with Rose as he pointed at Amy.
"Me?" Amy muttered with disbelief as she sat next to the Doctor and Rose, "Why?"
"Your faith in us," the Doctor explained, "That's what brought us here."
"And if it hadn't we would be here," Rose added.
"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping...it?" Rory asked them.
"It needs to convert the faith into a form it can consume," the Doctor explained as he stod back up and walked over to Rory, "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 suddenly said.
"Exactly," the Doctor stated.
"What did you just say, Amelia?" Rose asked her as a moment of silence as they all realised what she had just said.
"No. Oh, please, no," Rory muttered as he stood back on his feet with the Doctor and Rose doing the same as they all heard loud footsteps from the floor above them as they all realised that the minotaur-looking creature was coming.
Soon the five of them were running through the corridors as the minotaur-looking creature began chasing after them before Amy stopped and faced it, causing the Doctor, Rose and Rory to go back for her.
"Amy!" The Doctor yelled, calling after her.
"Amelia!" Rose called after her at the same time.
"What are you doing?" Gibbis asked them.
"He is beautiful," Amy stated.
"Leave her! Just leave her!" Gibbis pleaded with them as the Doctor and Rory each grabbed one of Amy's arms over one of their shoulders and dragged her down another corridor with Rose before Gibbis followed them.
They soon ran into a room and saw a young Amelia from when she was seven, sitting on her suitcase, waiting and watching for the Doctor and Rose at the window as Rory tried to hold the door against the minotaur-looking creature as Gibbis got down between the beds, while Amy knelt on the floor.
"Doctor, Rose, it's happening. It's changing me, it's changing my thoughts," Amy told both Gallifreyans.
"We know, Amy," Amy muttered.
"We can't save you from this, there's nothing either of us can do to stop this," the Doctor added.
"What?" Amy said with surprise in her voice.
"We both stole your childhood and now we've led you by the hand to your death," the Doctor explained, "But the worst thing is, me and Rose both knew. We knew this would happen. This is what always happens."
"But only to the companions who have complete faith in us," Rose added as the minotaur-looking creature pushed the door open, forcing Rory into a corner in the room.
"Forget your faith in us," the Doctor urged her.
"Do as he says and forget your faith in us, Amelia," Rose said, agreeing with her husband as the minotaur-looking creature growled.
"We took you with us because we were vain, because we both wanted to be adored," the Doctor told Amy as he stroked her hair, "Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me and Rose."
"Yeah, we wanted to be adored like our granddaughter, Susan, adored us," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"We're not heroes," the Doctor told young Amelia as he was now speaking to her, "We really are just a mad man and a mad woman in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are." He kissed her forehead and she was back to Amy as the minotaur-looking creature staggered out of the doorway, "Amy Williams," He then tapped her on the chin, "It's time to stop waiting."
The Doctor then stood back up and walked over to the door and moved into the hall as he moved slowly as he watched the minotaur-looking creature collapse onto the floor as the lights began to flicker before the Doctor knelt beside the minotaur-looking creature and struck it comfortingly.
"Me and my wife both severed the food supply," the Doctor whispered to the minotaur-looking creature, "Sacrificing their faith in us. We gave you the space to die. Shhh, shhh."
The Doctor stood back up as the corridor disappeared and turned into a black room with a lit grid floor, an instrument panel running off to the side with Rose, Amy, Rory and Gibbis standing there.
"What is it, a minotaur or an alien? Or an alien minotaur?" Amy asked both Gallifreyans as she stared at the minotaur-looking creature, "That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."
I mean, it's both, actually," the Doctor answered as he walked over to the panel, "Yeah. Here we go." He then checked the information, "Distant cousin of the Nimon. 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."
"They also inspired the myths of minotaurs in Greek Mythology," Rose added as Rory and Gibbis looked through a porthole on the floor and saw that they were in space.
"Correction. Prisons in space," Rory corrected the Time Lord.
"Where are the guards?" Amy asked the Doctor and Rose.
"No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature," the Doctor answered.
"But our people had prisons, like this, Amy," Rose told their ginger companion, "But one of the most famous ones was known as Shada and it held a very dangerous Time Lord with the ability to control people's minds, but he escaped and posed as one of our professors when we went to the Academy."
"See that planet, there?" Gibbis asked Rory as he pointed through the porthole at a planet.
"Which one?" Rory asked him.
"The grey one, there," Gibbis told him.
"Mmm-hmm," Rory answered.
"That's where I'm from," Gibbis told him.
"It didn't want just me. So, you must believe in some god or someone, or they'd have shown you the door, too, Doctor," Amy stated, "So, what do Time Lords pray to?"
"We don't, Amy," Rose answered, "We Gallifreyans got rid of religion millions of years ago."
"Then why'd it show the Doctor the door?" Amy asked her.
"Because he believes that he can make the universe a better place," Rose explained.
"She's right," the Doctor said, agreeing with his wife before explaining what happened, "According to the in-flight recorder, the programme developed glitches. It got stuck on the same setting, the fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."
"What's it saying?" Amy asked as the minotaur began growling.
"'An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze with their wife. For such a creature, death would be a gift,'" The Doctor said, translating what the Minotaur said before he knelt and put his hand on the Minotaur, "Then accept it. And sleep well." The Doctor stood back up and walked away as the Minotaur growled again, "'I wasn't talking about myself.'"
"It's talking about you, Doctor," Rose realised as the Minotaur's eyes closed as it passed away before the Doctor and Rose both walked over to the TARDIS with Amy and Rory following as they had their arms around each other, while Gibbis was standing by the TARDIS.
"Could I have a lift?" Gibbis asked them, "Just to the nearest galaxy would do."
"You sure can," Rose answered with a smile as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS with his TARDIS key.
On an Earth street in Britain, a row of colourful townhouses were across from a fenced-in park with one of them having a soft blue with a royal blue door as a classic red Jaguar E-Type was parked outside the house as the TARDIS materialised nearby before the Doctor, Rose, Amy and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS after they dropped Gibbis off at the nearest galaxy.
"Don't tell me. This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house. And inside lives a goblin, who feeds on indecision," Amy said as she stared at the house.
"Nope. Real Earth, real house," the Doctor said as he tossed Amy a set of keys, "Real door keys!"
"You're not serious?" Amy asked him with disbelief.
"He's definitely serious, Amy," Rose answered.
"The car, too?" Rory said with disbelief as he walked towards the car, "But that's my favourite car." The Doctor then pretended to box him, "Doctor, how did you and Rose know that was my favourite car?"
"You showed me a picture of it once and said, 'That's my favourite car,'" the Doctor answered, mimicking Rory as he tossed Rory a set of car keys after laughing a bit.
"Rory, can you give us two minutes?" Amy requested her husband, "Two minutes."
"She'll say we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation," Rory told both Gallifreyans as he put an arm around the Doctor and pulled him aside as he also looked at Rose before looking over his shoulder at Amy, "It's a risk I'm willing to take." Rory kept staring at the car as he headed to the front door of the blue house as Amy leaned against the bonnet of the car and pats the car's hood next to her.
"Hey, you two," Amy called out to both Gallifreyans as the Doctor kicked some pebbles on the ground before they walked over to her and leaned next to her, "So... You're both 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 we get when we fill in a form…"
"Why now?" Amy asked them.
"Because we have to, Amy," Rose asked.
"And because you're still breathing," the Doctor added, agreeing with her.
"Well, I think this is about the washing-up, personally," Amy argued before the three of them laughed, sadly.
"I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at," the Doctor said as he and Rose stood up and began walking towards the TARDIS, "Do you know, there's a planet whose name literally translates as Volatile Circus?" He and Rose then stood in the doorway, "Or maybe there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there."
"Even so, it can't happen like this," Amy told them as she walked towards them, "After everything we've been through, Doctor and Rose. Everything. You both can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we shared a cab."
"I wish we didn't have to, Amelia, but we have no choice," Rose stated.
"And what's the alternative?" The Doctor asked her, rhetorically as the Doctor walked back towards her and met her in the middle of the road, "Us standing over your grave? Over your broken body? Over Rory's body?"
"If either of you or Jack bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime," Amy told both Gallifreyans.
"We promise that we will, Amy," Rose assured her.
"And look after him," the Doctor told him.
"Rose, look after him, will you?" Amy asked the Time Lady.
"You know, I always do that, Amy," Rose answered as she walked up to her and hugged her before both Gallifreyans slowly walked back to the TARDIS and stopped in the doorway to wave bye as Amy laughed before she began crying.
"Bye," Amy replied as the Doctor closed the TARDIS' door after he and Rose entered the TARDIS before the TARDIS dematerialised as Rory came out of the house with glasses and a bottle of champagne just in time to see it disappear.
"What happened? What're they doing?" Rory asked his wife.
"They're saving us," Amy answered as she turned to face him.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose both watched the console's centre column rise and fall as they held each other's hand.
In Amy and Rory's house, Amy stood at the window as she looked up at the sky.
The Doctor and Rose both stood around the console as they turned around, leaning against it and next to each other and were alone as they glanced at each other as they realised that if they were to die, they would have to go on a farewell tour.
Please review.
Also does anyone know how Rose should react when she meets Craig?