A/N: Happy Halloween my dears! It's Heisting time ;)
It was a rare morning where Avalon got to wake the Doctor up. Usually he slept less than her which would logically leave him to do the waking up but not today. Avalon took to poking his forehead until he opened his eyes and that took a good ten minutes. Though his vision was initially blurry, the Doctor could still make out the figure of his wife and her wide smile beside him.
He groaned. "You know, a normal wife would wake her husband up with a kiss or something."
Avalon rolled her eyes at him. "If you don't know by now that I'm nowhere near normal, I don't know what to tell you. Now wake up!" She shoved him enough to force him on his back.
He rubbed his eyes until everything swirled with colors. "Right now, I may love you a little less."
Avalon laughed. It was truly rare to see him being all sleepy. "C'mon Fairy Tale Man, you promised me that we would go. I need you at your 110% best if we're going."
"Not that I don't remember but...where are we going again?"
Avalon shook her head. "Where's my clever husband today!?" She climbed over his body and straddled him.
"Contrary to the popular belief, I do need a break sometimes," the Doctor took in a deep breath in an attempt to start the waking up process because right now, not even his wife on top of him could do the trick.
"Happy Halloween!" Avalon exclaimed to remind him the importance of the day and, by consequence, what place he promised they would go to today.
"Halloween…" the Doctor repeated slowly; the cogs were turning slowly in his head. "Is it…?"
Avalon pulled his hands from his face. "Yes! And Amy and Rory are coming with us! So wake up!"
"With that loud mouth of yours, you really think I'll be able to sleep again?"
Avalon smiled sweetly. "You didn't seem to care about my 'loud mouth' last night." She giggled at his deadpan glare. "That's what I thought, now get up!" She got off him with the warning that he better be changed the next time she came back to the room. She had to wake up her grandparents.
~0~
The setting was a chilly town that was no bigger than Leadworth itself, and that was saying something. Avalon had her arm curled around the Doctor's as they walked down the sidewalk. Amy and Rory were right behind them.
"Remind me again where we're going?" Rory asked, still yawning behind a hand. Like the Doctor, he and Amy had been woken up before their usual time by their granddaughter.
"And it better be a good reason or else we'll be one granddaughter short," grumbled Amy.
Avalon rolled her eyes. "I'm your only granddaughter."
"Hey, you're time travelers. Who's to say I don't have some future great granddaughter somewhere in the galaxies?" Even though neither Avalon nor the Doctor answered, Amy still smirked triumphantly when they both shot her a glare. "Don't ignore my intuition — remember the last time with Melody?"
"C'mon, it's Halloween!" Avalon gestured to the decorations hanging from every building in a clear attempt to get things moving. "And it's the grand opening of the new bookshop that I have been personally invited to."
"What?" Rory stopped walking, forcing the others to do the same. "You woke us up to go to a bookstore?"
Avalon pouted. "How come no one's excited except for me?" She reached inside her coat to pull out a white envelope with her name written on the front in beautiful glittering calligraphy. "This is a personal invitation from the head of the English department of Luna University. Turns out they read one of my drafts I wrote on New Earth when I was waitressing and waiting for this guy to come back," she nodded at the Doctor. "Apparently the bookshop is going to be filled with all sorts of different books!"
"Ava, that's what a bookstore is," Rory said, much to his granddaughter's irritation.
"This is an alien bookstore!" she snapped. "The professor said that some of the books have magical elements to it, hence the grand opening on Halloween!"
"There is no such thing as magic," Amy said flatly.
The Doctor sent both Ponds a look to go with it. Avalon was incredibly excited about the event. Not only did it land on her favorite holiday, but the professor had shown an honest care for her short stories. He was proud to see Avalon getting some recognition beyond Earth. Plus, it could perhaps be a step towards an eventual college admission if Avalon decided to apply.
"Yes, there is and we're going to go see it. I want smiles people!" Avalon picked up her pace to be the first one to reach the bookshop.
Her grandparents' disbelief of the place went up a notch when they saw nothing but a regular shop in-between two other local shops. It looked completely normal.
Avalon groaned. "Shut up already and smile. We're going in!" She yanked the door open and stepped inside first. As soon as the others followed, their thoughts about the shop shifted.
"Holy TARDIS," Amy blinked at the gigantic bookstore.
"It's bigger on the inside," Rory lost count of the floors mounting over one another.
The Doctor was positively grinning. "Oh, I like this. Who is in charge because I like this! I get to say it for once! It's bigger on the inside! Ha!"
"It's so Belle!" Avalon laughed with delight. She even caught the sliding ladders to reach the higher shelves. "I love it!"
"Miss Reynolds?" An older, gray haired man with thin rimmed glasses walked over.
Avalon immediately fixed herself and pushed her curly hair behind her shoulders. "Professor Nole," she extended a hand to shake with his. "Thank you so much for the invitation."
The professor shook her hand and smiled in return. "Thank you for coming."
"This is my husband and my grandparents," Avalon gestured to each of her family. No names were needed considering who each of them were.
"Of course," Nole moved on to shake hands with the rest of them. "Doctor, your reputation precedes you. And Dr. Song's parents are well regarded amongst our community."
"We are?" Rory asked and soon felt Amy's elbow jabbing his side. "I mean we are," he nodded.
"But you must know that the reason I sought out Miss Reynolds was for her work and only her work," Nole clarified before he said anything else. While Avalon didn't outright say it, he got the gist that she wanted her name to be completely separated from her husband's and her mother's. A noble desire and one he could very well understand. "It is truly fantastic. Her stories are — I simply haven't seen them before."
"Well of course you haven't," the Doctor wrapped an arm around Avalon's waist. "My wife's one of a kind. Literally."
"Yes," Nole chuckled especially when he noticed Avalon's flush of embarrassment. "We are well aware of that."
"We're not really going to talk about my biology, right?" Avalon meekly asked, something uncharacteristic of her personality. "This bookstore is amazing. It's bigger on the inside. We're both big fans of that," she pointed at herself then the Doctor.
"I imagine," Nole nodded. "I was actually thinking, if Miss Reynolds—"
"Please, just Avalon," the ginger said. There was no need for formalities.
Nole abided and continued. "If Avalon would sign off, I would like to have some of her short stories here on display." As soon as the proposal left his mouth, Avalon's eyes widened like dinner plates. "This bookstore will be visited by a lot of our students and those who haven't really planned on a major yet might benefit from reading her stories. Even the students who already are English majors would benefit from reading unique stories like these. You don't really see old Earth literature anymore."
"Well of course not, it's the future," Amy said like it should have been obvious. "How would that work though? Avalon writes in the past — 2012 Leadworth to be exact — so wouldn't that be like a huge no-no?"
"Not really," the Doctor answered before Nole could. "Avalon doesn't write non-fiction. It's fantasy. Fantasy can be plucked from any point in Time."
"Well then what do you say, Avalon? Would you be interested in transferring some of your work here?" Nole waited for the woman in question to say something.
Avalon didn't answer straight away, though. Her eyes were roaming the vast bookstore, her mind wondering where-oh-where would people find her stories. They would actually be here...in the building...if she agreed.
"Avalon?" She heard Nole call again.
Her eyes landed on the man and though she still didn't say anything, the answer was pretty evident. "Y-yeah, I'd really like that," she nodded. The smile that struck her could probably crack her face from how wide it was.
"Excellent," Nole beamed. "I can get the paperwork all sorted and sent it your way. Where exactly can I send it to you?"
"Uuh…" Avalon glanced at the Doctor at a loss. They didn't exactly have a concrete address, did they?
"Send it home to us," Rory was the one to answer. Avalon whipped her head in his direction. "Leadworth 2012. All correspondence, actually. We'll be around to pick it up."
"Perfect," Nole clapped his hands together. "Well, stay as long as you want and please feel free to take any book you want. It's on the house."
"Thank you," Avalon said whole-heartedly. "Really. This is my first opportunity to...put my work out." She wasn't around Leadworth anymore to continue leaving stories for the old bookstore she worked in. If she was honest, she would probably never come back to live there.
"You earned it, Avalon, and I have no doubt that your first book will be just as amazing as these stories."
"A b-book?" Avalon nervously laughed. "I don't know about that — I've only ever written short stories. I...I'd have to go to school and...and learn more…"
"Well...consider Luna University interested in you attending there if you ever decide to enroll somewhere," Nole smiled at her sputtering reaction. He gave her a quick shake of hand before leaving to attend to other guests.
"D-d-did he just…? Did he…?" Avalon turned to the Doctor and Ponds with a mouth hanging open. "En-enroll?"
"I did say a long time ago if you ever wanted to enroll in a college you'd be able to," the Doctor grinned at her. "You'd succeed with no problem."
"Oh my God!" Avalon laughed. "I just...me going to college? Can you imagine that?"
"No, actually, I can't," Amy said with a shake of her head. "But I'm sure it'll be fun to see if you decide to go."
"You'd be writing books in no time," Rory added. They kept saying that but for some reason, Avalon didn't quite believe them.
"I don't know about that…" Avalon sighed. "Me going to college? Right now?" She glanced at the Doctor as if he would say something about it.
They had been travelling together for a few decades now and it was so much fun. They were always together, being random with their adventures just how they liked it. To go to college meant they would have to slow down again and she would have to schoolwork. Those spontaneous adventures would definitely take a hit. It was perhaps one of the bigger reasons she kept abandoning the idea.
As if reading her thoughts, the Doctor tugged her close to his side. "Whatever you decide you want to do, I'll be there."
"We'd have to accommodate a lot of things," she said as if reasoning why it wouldn't work.
"Then we'd do it," he shrugged. "Why wouldn't we?"
"Because that's not your style? It's never been your style to slow down…"
"Then it'll be the first time I slow down," he cupped her face. "I want nothing more than to see you happy and I just know that you becoming that author you've always dreamt about would make you happy."
Avalon smiled softly at him. "Thanks. I...I still have to think about it. I'm not really sure."
"You have all the time in the world," the Doctor said, planting a kiss on her lips. "Now, how about we go searching for some books? Professor Nole did say that we could take whatever we wanted."
Avalon beamed at the idea. They had taken to the idea of her reading to them in the night when they were done with their day. It was something sweet and intimate that they shared with. She loved discovering the books the TARDIS would leave for her and the Doctor loved hearing her voice.
"Do they have any romance books?" asked Amy. "I'm in the mood for those."
Rory rolled his eyes beside her. "Of course."
The Doctor grabbed Avalon's hand and started leading the way. "Come along, Ponds!"
~ 0 ~
The bookstore was as huge, just as it first appeared. The travelers had gone through several floors plucking out potential books to bring home. Avalon would of course drift towards the fantasy genre that for some reason seemed to be placed in a deep corner of the 9th floor.
"You have been here forever," groaned Amy. "C'mon!"
"Oh shush," Avalon said as she handed yet another book to the Doctor. His arms were starting to hurt from the stack of books he was carrying but he still let her go on. "Oooh, look at this one!" She pulled one book from a higher shelf — so high that she only barely managed to pull it off — and gazed at its interesting cover. It was rather dusty which made no sense considering the bookstore just opened today. She opened it up and not a moment later did a strong earthquake strike — at least they thought it was in that moment.
The ground rumbled and knocked down several of the books around them. The Doctor dropped all of the books from his arms when he tumbled down. Rory crashed against the opposite shelf and Amy barely managed to stay on her feet. A whirlwind enveloped the group, leaving very little view to the eye.
"Close it! Close the book!" Avalon could hear the Doctor yelling in the midst of everything.
Avalon struggled to do such a menial task but it was like the book was actively pulling against her. Eventually, she managed to closed it but only after several minutes of struggle. The earthquake stopped almost immediately after.
"What was that!?" Rory said after pulling himself up to his feet. "Did a...did a book just cause that!?"
"I-I don't know," Avalon blinked with wide eyes at the book in her arms. "I just...all I did was open it to the first page and—"
"Put the book down, Avalon," the Doctor warned with a sharp edge in his tone. She nodded shakily and lowered the book to the floor. The Doctor was looking around for something none of them knew. "I don't think we're in the bookstore anymore…"
"Why do you say that?" Amy raised an eyebrow at him. To answer her question, the Doctor raised a finger in the air and made them all see a grim gray sky.
There was a sky.
"Hold on…?" Rory gawked and rubbed his eyes just to make sure he was seeing right.
"Is that a door?" Avalon spotted a bright orange door at the end of the aisle, something else that hadn't been there a moment ago. "How is there a door? Doctor, what's going on? Did we hit our heads or something? Is this even real?"
"I get the feeling this is very real, Ava," sighed the Doctor. "C'mon!" He held a hand out for her to take and when she did, he held onto her tightly. He led the way towards the door and just before following them, Amy picked up the book Avalon had put down. Whatever was happening, the book was responsible for it.
Outside of the door they were met with a snowy landscape with only one identifiable building across…
"Is that a castle?" Avalon almost forgot about the potential danger as soon as she saw the great silver castle shining.
"Don't you even dare," Rory warned her from behind. "Doctor, what's going on?"
"Hey, it's the same castle from the book," Amy said suddenly, making everyone realize she held the book in her arms.
"Amy!" exclaimed Rory.
Amy turned the book over for them to see the same castle on the front page. "See?" She tapped the picture and then noted the wand proudly above it. "I wonder what this thing is about?"
"What...so...wait," Avalon pulled her hand out of the Doctor's, the slow grin spreading across her face giving Rory a dreadful feeling, "Are we...inside the book!?"
"I think so," the Doctor looked back and forth between the real-life castle and the one on the book.
"No, no," Rory wagged a finger at him. "That cannot be possible."
"Oh but it is! It's magic!" Avalon laughed, clapping her hands together. "It's so magic! Tell him Fairy Tale Man!"
The Doctor sighed. "I'm afraid it is, Rory. There are books that have the power to pull you inside to their world."
"So how do we get out?" Amy flipped through the pages of the book. "Do we like...follow the story?" That's usually what happened on television.
"For now, it's our best bet," the Doctor turned back to the castle. "What's the story about anyways?"
Amy closed the book and turned it over to the back to read the summary. "Umm, let's see...short version? 'The White Queen has turned the golden fields and shining seas of the kingdom into nothing but snow. Only by stealing back her magic wand, sealed in the center of the castle, will the kingdom return to normal.'"
"Are you telling me we have to steal a stupid wand?" Rory rubbed his face. Could this get any worse?
Avalon gasped so deeply that for a moment, the Doctor panicked thinking she was hurt. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. She turned around just as the Doctor went to check her up.
"What's wrong, Ava!? Did something hurt you!?"
"No!" She was smiling again, utterly beaming too. "Do you know what this is!? Do you know what it means!?"
"No, not really, and I hate that honestly," he frowned.
Avalon now smirked. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second — annual — Heist!"
Rory dropped his hands from his face. That is how it could get worse. He stared at his granddaughter, utterly astounded her mind would connect this unfrotunate event to a heist. And yet, she couldn't look more excited about the prospect. "Avalon Harmony Reynolds, don't you even dare!"
Amy, however, heard something completely different. "Annual?" She raised an eyebrow at Avalon. "What do you mean 'annual'? You haven't done this anymore."
"I meant for your timeline!" Avalon rolled her eyes. "We only wanted to do it if you guys were in on it. Hence, second annual since the last time we did it together."
"No!" Rory pointed a finger at her, "Not an annual thing! I told you the last time we were never doing this again!"
Avalon smirked again and even wider this time. "Oh my dear grandfather, we have to if we want to go home. And if we're stuck here we might as well have some fun. It's another Heist! On Halloween! This is exactly like Brooklyn 99!" She laughed delightedly and clapped her hands together. "It can't get any better than this!"
"You're crazy," Rory declared. "Doctor, tell her we can't do this."
"I mean..."
"No," Rory pointed at the Time Lord. "This is exactly how it happened the last time!"
"I'm just thinking that right now it's our only way out!" the Doctor exclaimed. "We need to get the wand to finish the story and go home."
"I'm game for another round," Amy went with the same smirk her granddaughter had. Rory shook his head. He wasn't even surprised by her easy agreement. Amy stepped forwards. "Of course we're done 2 players from the last time. River and the Sapling are God knows where."
"Oh, the Sapling's on that planet where the couches talk," Avalon remarked, glancing at the surprised Doctor, "I forgot to show you his latest letter he sent."
"What, to you?" frowned the Doctor.
"Obviously," Avalon straightened up, "I am his Mother."
"And I'm his father!"
"So, what are the rules this time?" Amy inquired before an argument started, "Obviously your TARDIS—" she pointed at the Doctor, "—is out of the game this time. Your sonic is definitely out too."
"Fine," the Doctor said. "But I'm with my wife this time."
"Ooh, then Rory and I are a team," Amy reached back for Rory and pulled him up beside her, ignoring his dreadful groan. "Couples vs. couples."
"Not much of a 'versus' when you know we're going to win," Avalon took hold of the Doctor's hand. "I was the one who got the jewel the last time. I won for us."
"Beginner's luck," Amy snorted. "Plus, I'd win too if I had snogged my husband for the jewel."
"That came after and has no relevance in my triumph."
"I cannot believe we're doing this," Rory said.
"Oh don't fret Rory, it'll be fun," the Doctor said. "And it's not actually stealing."
"Yeah," nodded Avalon with a fair share of excitement. "Technically speaking, we're just taking something that was already stolen, which is what we did the last time too."
"Only this time it's not real because we're inside a book!" the Doctor exclaimed and clapped a hand with Avalon.
Rory didn't know who to look at first between them. "Your thought logic scares me and it makes me wonder what the hell you two do when Amy and I aren't around."
"Nothing bad...ish," Avalon smiled ever-so-innocently.
"So what happens when we win?" asked Amy. She learned a long time ago that it was better not to think of what those two did when they were alone and unsupervised.
"Well, when we win—" Avalon gestured to herself and the Doctor, "—how about we embarrass you across the galaxies?" Amy rolled her eyes. "I say if we win, you two have to dress up like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss for three trips. And I'm talking about the whole ensemble. Stupid blue hair and all."
"No," Rory started, "We are not doing that—"
"Deal!" Amy declared. "If we win, you two gotta do that."
"Pond, I don't know if that's going to be fair considering who I am," the Doctor smirked all too smugly.
"I'll take my chances. Start dusting off the hats because Rory and I are winning."
"Can we just stop for a moment!" Rory yelled to get all of their attention. "What the hell are we even talking about here? We don't even know what we're going to find inside of that castle!"
"Don't worry about it," Avalon shrugged her shoulders without a care in the world.
"I think we should all worry about it," he countered, giving her a sharp look. "We don't know what's inside except for a stupid wand in the middle of the castle."
"What more do you need?"
Rory almost smacked his forehead. How could Avalon be that reckless? Why are you so surprised?
"Relax Rory," the Doctor said, fearing the poor human would break down on the spot. "I wouldn't let anything happen to my Ava. If it gets too dangerous, we'll know to stop."
"Stop being a worrywart!" Amy slung her arm over Rory's shoulders. "And let's start thinking about how we'll win!"
"She gets this from you, you know," Rory accused. Avalon smirked knowing he was talking about her. "You and River — you did this to my granddaughter!"
"Oh pipe down! Maybe the great granddaughter'll be different!" Amy said with a big grin pulled him along.
~ 0 ~
The entrance doors of the castle opened for the group without having been touched. Rory reminded them that this was how most horror movies started. They should be finding another way in!
"Look!" Avalon hurried towards a pedestal on the left of the doors. She didn't even bother studying the castle first, another point Rory made. They couldn't just walk in like this!
"But look at it Rory, it's so old," Amy said with awe.
The inside of the castle was pure stone, like the ones Avalon often described from her fairy tales. There were old portraits that were more cobwebs than actual portraits. The ground underneath them was chipped, older than God knew. Ahead of them was a grand staircase, almost reminding Amy of an old version of Cinderella's stepmother's home. The further the group went inside, the more levels they could see. It resembled the library in that matter. It seemed like there were countless floors going up.
"Yes!" Avalon's cheer drew their attention. She had turned around holding one paper in her hand and another rolled up in her other hand. "They're maps of the castle!"
"Maps?" the Doctor was delighted to hear that. He didn't really feel like making the walk up countless stairs. "That's good!"
"And also a bit suspicious, don't you think?" Rory folded his arms.
"It's a story, Rory," Amy shrugged. "Things just work that way. Map me!"
Avalon tossed her the rolled-up map. The Doctor came to take a look at their copy. "Interesting, it appears like there's only ten levels."
Rory raised his head to check himself. "Why do I feel like there's a 100?"
"Mirage," the Doctor looked up from the map with a grin. "Isn't that cool? It's trying to trick us! Trying to ward us off!"
Avalon snorted beside him. "Like that'll get us to leave. We're coming for you!" she shouted in the air, nearly losing it when Rory shushed her. "What's the castle going to do, Rory? Hit me?"
The Doctor raised one finger from the map to make a point. "It better not."
Avalon smirked at the air. Take that!
"Alright," the Doctor said after another moment of studying the map. "The middle of the castle is obviously on the fifth floor. That's where we'll find the wand. It doesn't look to be guarded by anything but we shouldn't count on it. Ponds—" he pointed a finger at Amy and Rory, "—if you get to hurt, we stop. I'm not sure what security mechanisms the castle has, nor the story. If something happens, yell for us."
"And how would you even hear?" Rory asked. "Ten floors, remember?"
"It's a story, Rory," the Doctor tapped the side of the man's head, "Meaning anything you yell, we'll obviously hear. It's to draw in the drama."
"I love this so much," Avalon clapped excitedly.
Rory heavily sighed at her. "I really hope one day your children, or your grandchildren, don't pull this on you. Actually—" he raised a finger suddenly, "—I hope they do so you know exactly how it feels." At least he got to see Avalon's and the Doctor's reddened faces as their reactions. If he was going to be dragged into this mess of a heist, then they deserved to be embarrassed for a couple minutes.
"Such nonsense, Rory," the Doctor waved him off and dove his head back into the map. "Whoever gets the wand will have the power to...hm, rearrange the castle. That's interesting."
"Oh, it could do with a modernization," Amy nodded her head, already seemingly thinking of how she would arrange the castle.
Avalon snorted. "Keep dreaming, Amy! We're going to win!"
Amy ignored her and called Rory to her side. "I think it's time to start."
"I think it's not," Rory shook his head.
"On your mark…" Amy started, "Get set…"
"GO!" Avalon and the Doctor yelled together and charged for the staircase first.
"Hey!" Amy frowned after them. "I was going to say it! That's cheating!" The pair laughed on their way up, leaving Amy and Rory to grumble behind. "C'mon," Amy pulled Rory with her towards the stairs.
Avalon and the Doctor were already past the third floor and just as they were going to reach the fourth, the steps began to groan. The Doctor barely managed to grab onto the rail and pull Avalon with him when the steps started breaking apart.
"What's happening!?" Avalon shrieked and looked below to see her grandparents caught on the second flight of steps. They were being pulled to the left of the castle while she and the Doctor were moving towards the right.
"The castle moves!?" Rory yelled angrily. "Of course it bloody does!"
"That'll make it harder to reach the wand," the Doctor told Avalon who nodded in agreement.
"But so very Harry Potter," she grinned with him. "I expect to see the Fat Lady singing somewhere!" She even looked around in search of the famous painting.
The Doctor laughed. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not today, no!"
He swooped down to kiss her cheek. "I love you my Ava." Avalon laughed loudly enough to echo in the castle.
When the floors had stopped in their respective sides of the castle, each pair hopped off before the stairs moved again.
"Alright," Avalon took a quick scan of the hallways, "We're on the third floor so we need to find a way up the 2 floors. How do we do that?"
"I have no idea!" The Doctor shrugged. His lips were pulled into a wide grin.
Avalon side-glanced him. "And yet you're happy."
The Doctor nodded. "Aha!"
Avalon laughed and pulled him down a corridor.
~0~
"You really thought going through the vents was going to get us to the wand first?" Rory would've shouted had he not been afraid that the echo would break the vents altogether.
Amy crawled ahead of him through the grimy vents, determined to reach the end wherever it was. "I saw it in the movies!" She argued with her husband.
"They're movies!"
"And this is a book!" Amy reminded him. "The books and movies are related! Just hush and keep crawling! Avalon and the Doctor cannot win this! Not this time!"
"You guys take this stuff way too seriously," Rory said, rolling his eyes.
"And you're not taking it seriously enough! C'mon, according to the map these vents lead to the fourth floor."
Rory's eyes fell on the rolled up map tucked in Amy's back pocket. It was needless to say that he didn't trust the map nor anything else in the castle. How Amy convinced him to follow her into the vents was beyond him.
"I see a light!" Amy exclaimed. It was straight across from them and, if she read the map right, it would be an opening on the fourth floor. Take that Avalon! She crawled quicker but came to a sudden stop when they heard a squeak.
"Amy, tell me that was just you being excited," Rory said a moment after.
Amy couldn't say anything before they heard another squeak...squeaks. There were multiple now.
"Amy?"
"We...we may have to turn left," Amy said, already backing up which prompted Rory to do the same.
"Why? What is it!?"
"Rats," Amy swallowed hard. "White rats." Group of white rats were scurrying their way towards them.
"White Queen," Rory connected the dots. "I hate these heists."
"Go!" Amy shrieked as the rats grew nearer. Rory was closer to the intersection they'd recently passed which left Amy to now follow behind him. "RORY!"
"I'm going!" He yelled back. He was crawling as fast as possible, ignoring the stickiness of the metal his hands were pressing against.
"They're getting closer!"
"Hold on!" Rory could see another opening at a distance. He didn't know whether it was the fourth floor or the third floor or, hell, the first floor. He was taking it either way.
He slammed his fist against the metal grate, swallowing his scream of pain afterwards. All he cared for right now was that the grate had opened and he was able to climb out.
"Rory!" Amy came next.
Rory grabbed her hands and yanked her out, causing both of them to fall on the ground.
"They're still coming!" Amy exclaimed when she sat up. The bright shade of the white rats illuminated the vents.
Rory looked to see where it was they had come out. You have no idea what floor it was but he did buy a dresser against the wall not too far from where they were. "Hey! Let's get that!"
He scrambled up to his feet and dashed for the dresser. Once Amy saw his plan, she immediately went to help. Together, they pushed the dresser in front of the vent in time to leave the rats locked inside. All they could hear now were the squeaks and scratches behind the dresser. They then collapsed against the dresser with heavy breaths.
"Where the hell are we?" Rory was very tired.
Amy pulled the map out of her pocket and unrolled it. To her delight, and wonder, the map actually indicated where they were at the moment. She laughed.
"What?" Rory looked at her oddly.
"It's a magic map! Like the Marauders Map!"
Rory groaned. "Of course it is."
"Oh, Avalon's going to love that when she figures it out! Of course that'll be right before she figures out we're on the fourth floor! Ha!" Amy grabbed Rory's arm and ran for the door.
~0~
Avalon and the Doctor found themselves on the other side of an icy frontier. Technically, it was like they were standing on the top of a hill made completely of ice. The Doctor had found the door marked 'passageway' and made the decision that it was the castle trying to get them to the wand. Avalon thought it was stupid bit since the hallways were lined with too many doors, she figured they might as well start with one of them.
Send door led them into an icy landscape. It literally looked like they were standing outside. There is even the matching gray sky above them. They overlooked the hill they were on And knew that they had to slide down. Because, at the very middle of the room, there was one big gray ladder shooting straight up into the sky.
"We're supposed to climb that?" Avalon raised an eyebrow at the ladder. Even from where they stood, she could see the ladder had chips of ice. It would not be an easy task going up.
"And slide down," the Doctor hummed. He kicked some rocks down the hill and watched them roll down smoothly until it hit the bottom. "Interesting."
"Indeed," Avalon mimicked his tone then smirked at his offense. "So then, who gets to go first?"
"Well, I would rather go first just to make sure that there's nothing waiting for us down there," the Doctor said.
"Right," Avalon nodded. "Of course." She then shoved the Doctor to the side and leaped down the hill.
"AVALON!" The Doctor yelled and scrambled to look over the hill.
Avalon's laughs echoed as she rolled down the hill, eventually coming to a stop at the bottom on her stomach. She raised her head off the ground, admittedly the hard icely ground may leave a bruise on her forehead. "That was fun!" She exclaimed.
"AVALON, I SWEAR TO GOD!" The Doctor raged as he jumped off and started sliding down as well. By the time he reached the bottom, Avalon had already pulled herself. "You are demented!" The Doctor continued when he landed beside her feet. "You don't know what could've been down here! I said I would go first!"
Avalon brushed off chips of ice from her body. "I'm a princess but I can get dirty. I'm like Mulan. I'll throw a rope and slide between buildings — oh, wait, I've already done that."
The Doctor slapped a hand across his forehead. "If I regenerate, it'll be from sheer concern."
"You're forgetting you don't have any more regenerations," Avalon patted his shoulder, "And if you go and die on me out of sheer concern, you will regret it."
The Doctor actually gulped. Leave it to Avalon to be both scary and hot. "The ladder?" He pointed at said object across from them.
Avalon smiled. "Yeah."
They both turned towards the ladder. It really did seem like it stretched beyond the sky but since all of this had to be a mirage of some sort, the sky would have to lead them to the next floor. The fourth floor, one floor away from the wand.
"You don't suppose any of this is too easy?" The Doctor wondered as he gazed about the solitary location.
"It's been my experience that we should never ask that," Avalon said, hoping he had enough sense to agree and drop the subject.
He did not.
He kept studying their immediate areas as if something were going to jump out very soon. "No abominable snowman at least," he murmured.
"This isn't Monsters Inc.," Avalon retorted then briefly grinned at the idea, "Although that would be pretty cool."
The Doctor reached for her hand and started leading the way towards the ladder. Avalon wouldn't comment on how tight he was gripping her hand. She supposed she owed him for jumping off the cliff like that...even though it was incredibly fun.
The ice underneath them seemed to be thinning the closer they got to the ladder. Avalon felt it but she didn't want to bring it up. She thought they would reach the ladder before it became absolutely necessary to talk about.
She was wrong.
The first crack froze the Doctor in his tracks. The second one, albeit not as strong, still turned his head.
"Um, can I suggest we run?" Avalon asked as soon as her eyes laid on the two cracks to their right. They were closing in until they would become one great crack coming towards them.
"If we run, it might set the whole thing off," the Doctor warned. The next steps they took had to be feather weighted. "Walk slowly." He led the first two steps and Avalon did her best to tip toe...like a princess.
That worked for about three steps more when the cracks started spreading at an alarming rate.
"Doctor…" Avalon's voice shook with fear.
"RUN!" The Doctor yelled and pulled Avalon towards the ladder. They were indeed running for their lives as the cracks kept getting closer.
"Doctor!" Avalon shrieked when he practically shoved her first towards the ladder. She may have hit her forehead in the process but hearing the cracks too close made her forget anything about pain as she climbed up.
The two climbed the ladder as fast as they could, afraid that somehow even the ladder would become unstable (they truly couldn't know). Avalon reached the 'sky' which turned out to be a ceiling enchanted to look like a sky.
"A la Harry Potter!" She exclaimed before shoving her fist through the ceiling.
"Ava!" The Doctor was downright horrified with her brash way of thinking, albeit nowhere near surprised.
She essentially punched a hole into the ceiling, creating new cracks above them. Soon, chunks of the ceiling falling and once there was a big enough hole to climb through, Avalon took her chance.
Genuine hard floor waited for her on the other side. She fell flat on her stomach as she sighed a breath of relief. Soon, the Doctor was doing the same beside her.
"You're bloody insane," he said in-between pants.
Avalon smirked. "Yes, I am!"
~0~
The fifth floor turned out to be easier to access for both teams. Avalon and the Doctor found a normal staircase that led them up to the fifth floor hallway while Amy and Rory found a working elevator. From there, they followed the map for the designated door that was supposed to read 'You're Here'. Neither realized they would meet each other in the final room at the same time from opposite sides.
"Oh of course," Rory slapped a hand against his forehead.
"Are we supposed to run for it?" Avalon was on her tippy toes trying to catch a better glimpse of the wand set on a dark blue cushion at the center of the room. The room itself was covered in different plinths holding seemingly miscellaneous objects.
Amy tucked the rolled-up map into her back pocket. "I'm game."
"I cannot see this ending well," Rory drew in a sharp breath. "Doctor, you can put a stop to this!" He called to the Time Lord.
"I politely disagree, Rory," the Doctor responded. He could see the eager face on Avalon and he was not about to get in the middle of her and that wand, not unless he wanted to reach the end of his long life. And honestly, that was such an anticlimactic way to go.
Avalon smirked. "Game on, grandma," she teased. Amy glowered. Avalon laughed but suddenly gasped, pointing a finger at something behind her grandparents. "Dementors!"
"What!?" Both Amy and Rory turned around, presuming they'd see something akin to the infamous creatures.
Avalon's gleeful laugh alerted them she had tricked them. Sure enough, enough, they turned back, they saw Avalon making a run for the wand.
"YOU CHEATER!" Amy shrieked and ran for the wand as well.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Rory let out a big sigh. Even the Doctor was a bit dumbfounded by the two women's behavior, though he began to think it was more funny than anything else.
In all her running, Avalon nearly crashed into a plinth holding a glass display. The glass case fell to the floor and shattered, leaving it's odd sphere it covered unprotected. Without thinking it — or rather, thinking it was just a ball — Avalon threw it at Amy. She never expected the sphere to explode in midair and release a pelting rain of rocks to come down on Amy.
Amy yelped as a few of the rocks hit her face before she managed to shield her head with her arms. "Avalon!"
Avalon clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in shock. "Sorry! I didn't think it would do that!"
"Interesting, they're weapons of some sort," the Doctor remarked from his spot. Like Rory, he chose not to run. Seeing Avalon's discovery, however, made him wander to the nearest plinth and shove its glass casing off.
"Doctor!" Rory exclaimed, appalled with the Time Lord's careless manner.
The Doctor picked up the seemingly innocent tangible snowflake from the podium and tossed it into the air. Like the sphere before, the snowflake exploded and suddenly the Doctor, Avalon and Amy for that matter, were covered in a snowstorm.
"You're supposed to get them, not us!" Avalon yelled at the Doctor. It was freezing cold now and her vision was blurred with all the snow coming down.
"I didn't think it would be that big!" The Doctor called back.
"Rory, get the wand!" Amy yelled at her husband as well.
"Amy, c'mon—"
"JUST DO IT!"
Rory sighed heavily. The quicker this gets done, the quicker this is all finished. The logic was there but the wand was...all the way over there.
Rory took off, careful to avoid recreating Avalon's mistake of crashing into plinths.
"Doctor, stop him!" Avalon commanded, even trying to get to the nearest podium to do it herself.
"This one looks fun!" The Doctor said when he spotted a flashing miniature statue of what he presumed was an Ice Queen. He ran for it, tossing the glass case to the side, and grabbing the statue. He tossed it and caught a few times before throwing it up in the air again.
It exploded, releasing shards of icicles everywhere.
"Doctor, what the hell!?" Rory now had to actively dodge the incoming icicles.
"Sorry Rory, if I don't do it, I'll pay for it later!" The Doctor said, making a dash for another plinth.
"It won't be a picnic for me either!" Keeping that in mind, Rory reached for the closest plinth and took the item underneath the glass display. The withered flower turned out to be heavier than he thought but he still managed to throw it in the Doctor's direction. It turned into a green puff of smoke smelling a lot like a skunk.
"Ugh, that's gross!" Avalon pinched her nose.
"Truly sick move, Rory," the Doctor shook his head.
"No! She's getting away!" Avalon cried at the sight of Amy running towards Rory. They would reach the wand first in no time.
"If it's a game they want, it's a game they'll get!" The Doctor decided and pulled Avalon with him in the same direction. Avalon laughed as he chucked another object — a curious cloth — that expanded into an actual blanket in the air. It fell over both Ponds with a thud.
"Suckers!" Avalon laughed and did her best to keep up with the Doctor. He had longer legs!
"Oh no you don't!" Amy scrambled out from the blanket and rushed to the closest podium. She figured a chain had to do something good; she tossed it into the air with the certainty of it.
One explosion later and miniature chains had come raining down, two of them snapping around the Doctor's and Avalon's arms. The weight of the chains yanked them both down to the ground.
"Yes!" Amy cheered as she went to help Rory out.
"This is ridiculous!" Rory huffed as Amy shoved him ahead.
"In Amy's words, no you don't!" Avalon managed to sit herself up but that was about it. A quick thought had her kicking a chain in Amy's direction and to her luck, it snapped around Amy's ankle, tripping the redhead down.
"OW!" Amy heard the thud of her nose when it hit the ground. "That one hurt!"
"And this doesn't!?" The Doctor tried his damn hardest to pry the chain off his left wrist. Everything was so much harder without a sonic!
"Amy!" Rory made a turn back for her, only to have Amy shriek 'No!'. "What!? But you're—"
"We can win this! They're both tied too! Go!" Amy made a frantic gesture at the Doctor and Avalon behind her.
Rory realized she was right. They were struggling to get up, to move. They couldn't do it...which meant…
"We can win…" Rory breathed in sharply.
"Yes! So go!" Amy insisted.
"Yeah, yeah!" Rory's turn for the center podium was less than graceful but he managed to stay on his feet.
"Go Rory, go!" Amy cheered for him.
"No!" Avalon cried. Her hands urgently pulled against the chain around her wrist. It seemed the more she pulled, the tighter and heavier it got. The same went for the Doctor.
Rory skidded to a stop beside the display with the wand. He pulled off the glass case, setting it on the floor gently, much to Amy's impatience, then swiped the wand off the display.
"Yes!" Amy punched the air with her fist.
"No!" Avalon threw her head back.
"We won!" Amy laughed. "We won!"
"We won?" Rory blinked at the wand in his hand. He'd picked it up...before Avalon...before the Doctor? They had—
"We won!" He burst into laughter. "Oh my God — we won!"
"That's not even fair, you didn't even want to play!" Avalon exclaimed.
Rory smirked. "And I still won!"
"Ponds for the win!" Amy cheered.
"Um, Williams." Rory pointed the wand at Amy, suddenly making the chain around her disappear. "Oh, okay, so it does that."
"Yes!" Amy got up from the floor and ran up to Rory, planting a big kiss on his lips.
Avalon groaned. "First you win, then you do that? Can this day get any worse?"
"Cheer up, Ava, at least we can get out of here now," the Doctor pointed out. He then looked at the chain still clamped around his wrist. "Um, Rory, could you please get us out of here?"
"How am I supposed to do that?" asked Rory.
"It's a fucking wand, Rory," Avalon deadpanned her grandfather. "Use magic. Pull an Expecto Patronum for all I care."
"Oh, we've done that before," the Doctor said with a raised finger in the air. "Just ask Martha."
"GET US OUT!" Avalon yelled angrily, wanting nothing to do with previous memories at the moment.
Rory stared at the wand dumbfoundedly. "Oh yeah…" He directed the wand at Avalon and the Doctor and did a small, awkward, wave. The chains around their wrists snapped in two and fell to the floor. Rory (and Amy for that matter) stood practically stupefied. "I can't believe that actually worked…"
"Yeah, well, don't expect me to say 'You're a wizard, Rory'," Avalon muttered as she got back on her feet.
Amy snickered. "You're just mad that we won this year." She did a high five with Rory who, this time around, was prepared for it and just as enthusiastic about it as her.
"Okay geniuses, then get us out of here already," Avalon gestured for Rory to use the wand again.
"He needs to fix the kingdom first," the Doctor reminded. "It's all still very much snowy."
"Well, how do I do that?" Rory asked.
Avalon groaned, throwing her head back as she cried: "How could he have won!?"
"Just wave the wand around, Rory," Amy said, ignoring their granddaughter's dramatics. "I'm sure that's all you need to do."
Rory figured it was better than just standing there. He raised the wand above his head and gave it a little punch in the air. A great big crack! startled him and the others. Bright white sparks flew from the tip of the wand and shot straight above, through the ceiling to the sky.
"Very Harry Potter," Amy concluded with a nod of her head.
"Did I do it?" Rory looked around quickly for any change. There was a brief moment of silence before they felt the rumble of the ground underneath them.
It shook as if an earthquake was striking. The dim room around them was glowing — the displays they had broken fixing themselves — until the grays of the walls turned into a bright blue. Outside, the snowy fields were radiating golden with crops and the frozen oceans were crashing waves. They heard the agonizing scream of what they assumed was the Ice Queen melting.
The wand in Rory's hand sizzled with heat but it didn't burn. "I think it's about to send us home!" Rory exclaimed. "Grab on!"
Nobody needed to be told twice. They all grabbed onto the wand and held on for dear life as the same white sparks engulfed them. Next thing they knew, they were being dropped on the wooden floor of the Library.
"Ooh, that hurts," Avalon rubbed her back as she sat up.
"Who cares — we won!" Amy exclaimed a bit too loud.
"Miss Williams," Nole was walking up to the group, worriedly eyeing each of them the closer he got. "Is...is everyone alright?"
"You would not believe the day we've had, Mr. Nole," the Doctor said as he got up and cracked his neck. "Your books are adventurous as they claim on the titles."
Nole raised an eyebrow at the group but as soon as his gaze fell on the book still lying beside Amy, he hummed with the knowledge of their adventures. "You stumbled across my favorite aisle."
"You didn't think to tell us that there was a whole aisle with magical books that pull you into the stories?" Avalon used the Doctor's extended hands to stand up. "I'm no advertiser but I'm pretty sure that would pull in a ton of more customers."
Nole chuckled. "I like to leave people alone when it comes to their book selections. If they stumble across this aisle, then it was meant to be."
"I'll say," Rory stood up along with Amy, the former smirking proudly, "I won this year's heist."
"What!?" Avalon spun around to face him. "Ten minutes ago you were still yelling at us that having a heist was wrong!"
"That was before I won," Rory high-fived with Amy.
"Yeah!" Amy exclaimed, throwing her own smirks at Avalon and the Doctor. "And if memory serves right, you two owe us three trips dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2!"
The mere image made Amy and Rory burst into laughter that could have echoed down the block.
Avalon and the Doctor glared at the pair. Neither were looking forward to those next three trips.
"We are so winning next year," Avalon told the Doctor, making a vow on the spot.
"Absolutely," he agreed. After a minute, he glanced at Avalon, looking her from head to toe. "You're going to be Thing 2, right?"
Avalon was just about done. "I am definitely winning next time — by myself!"
A/N:
So there we have it, this story's Heist winners are Amy and Rory, thanks to Rory of course! I thought it would be so ironic (and funny) if it was Rory who won this time since he was so against each time. And believe it or not, I do already have plans for the next fic's Heist chapter as well. That time would of course feature Clara ;)
P.S. there might be a little one shot of a continuation of this chapter, but more halloween style! Look for it in a few hours!
Again, happy Halloween! Stay safe!