Mistressnmoon: It's been like almost ten years since I last posted this story, and I'm finally coming back to it! I'm very excited to get back to writing and I had/have so many plans for this story that it seems a crime to leave it unfinished. I don't have any plans for when I'll be posting but I will be writing and posting stuff in my free time and I hope that people enjoy this story as much as I do. Thanks!
Part Two
After nearly twenty minutes of the Doctor digging through different areas of the TARDIS, I had settled on the railing near the main doors. For the most part the Doctor had ignored me while he looked for whatever he was looking for, so it startled me when he pulled out a large trunk and spoke out loud.
"Right. You in here somewhere? I can't apologize enough. I thought you were just a useless gadget. I thought you were just an embarrassing present from a dull godmother with two heads and bad breath. Twice." I hesitantly moved closer, staring in confusion as the Doctor pulled out a harness device with a mirror attached to it, and started hooking it up to the TARDIS. "How wrong can a man be?" The man made a face at the mirror, which resulted in two pictures to be printed up. The first image was of an older man, with shoulder length white hair and a very grumpy face; while the second image was another older man, not quite as old as the first man, with black bowl cut hair and a thin bow tie. "Good. Okay, you're working."
"Working? What does the machine do? And who're the geezers?" The Doctor jumped, as if he had forgotten that I was in the TARDIS with him, before flailing awkwardly and almost hitting me in the face. I raised my right brow while asking the man, "What? Did you forget I was here?" I watched a mildly sheepish look cross his face, while he shrugged nonchalantly.
"Maybe." I watched, with narrow eyes, as the Doctor dragged out the 'e' at the end of the word maybe. My eyes flickered between the Doctor and the machine, before deciding that I could tease the man later about forgetting about me during his search for the mystery machine.
"So. You gonna answer my question?"
"Oh, and which question was that?"
"The one about the machine?" I paused for a second, watching the understanding dawn on the Doctor's face, as I noted to myself that he'd been acting very weird since we left Vincent's.
"Oh. Yes. Right. That question." The Doctor only stopped speaking for a moment, clearly not wanting to give me time to question what he meant by that, before he rapidly told me, "It's going to show us who our little friend is."
"Oh. Clever, I like it."
"The good news is that it's working. Now, let's see what it makes of this. Who is that?" The man then held the painting Vincent had made of the creature, only for a parrot to show up on the machine. "No, I know it's not that. There are thousands of them, and you can see them plain as day." I shook my head at the machine as it, yet again, pulled up another Earth animal. "No. Definitely not. This is the problem with the impressionist, not accurate enough. This would never happen with Gainsborough or one of those proper painters. Sorry, Vincent." My gaze followed the painting, as the Doctor threw the work of art over his shoulder while stating, "You'll just have to draw something better."
"Now that's just mean. He worked Just because it didn't work for this, doesn't mean that it's not good." The man in front of me paused, having been strapping on the machine to his chest, giving me a look that I couldn't quite place. There was a short pause while the Doctor continued giving me this look I didn't understand before he placed the device down and moved closer to me.
"What does Vincent mean to you?" Without my permission a scoff escaped my lips, as I stared at the Doctor in annoyed confusion.
"What does it matter?" I watched as the anger clouded the Doctor's eyes, as he moved even closer to me, his annoyance visible in the way he clenched his hands and tensed his shoulders.
"What. Does. He. Mean. To. You?" A frown cut its way across my face, unsure of why he was being so aggressive towards me.
"He's a friend, I guess. I've known the man literally less than a day." The tension stayed coiled in his body, continuing my confusion. "Why? What does it matter?"
"You matter to me. I… I care about you." I continued to peer at him, his eyes wild, trying to understand what he was saying. Which was hard because I barely knew the man, although it appears that'll change.
"Look. I'm not sure what I am to you, or what you are to me, but I've had a very stressful week. Can you just be straightforward with what you're saying?" As I spoke, I could feel the exhaustion in my body, and trying to keep up with this time traveler was a bit taxing. My lack of understanding just seemed to frustrate the Doctor even more, which led him to latch onto my arms and pull me almost flush with his. The Doctor's lips were suddenly pushed against my own, with an intensity I had never really felt before, attempting to communicate what he couldn't tell me with words. As he pulled away from me, my only thought was of how soft the man's lips were. Blinking, I gently pulled myself away, lightly nibbling on my lower lip, unsure of what response would be correct.
"I…" And suddenly the Doctor was back to awkward and flappy, rather than intense and burning.
"Oh! You were jealous?" I don't know why that hadn't clicked in my brain before, but suddenly everything made so much more sense. And as if nothing had happened, and he hadn't just kissed me, the Doctor walked back over to the machine and started strapping it to his torso. I took the silence as a yes and moved towards the Doctor, even curious about him. "I'm taking that as a yes." When he continued to not respond, and instead focused on attaching the device to his torso, I gave the man a small shrug. "Fine, don't respond. I'll force it out of you at some point. In the meantime, wanna tell me what you're doing?"
"Taking this old girl with us, she should be able to tell us what we're dealing with." A soft 'ah' escaped my mouth, noting that the Doctor had gotten the device over his shoulders with a mirror aimed over his left shoulder.
"I take it we're ready to go then?" The Doctor nodded his head, mumbling something softly, as he made his way towards the exit. I paused for a moment debating what that had all meant before I followed the Doctor out of the doors.
"You brutal, murderous, abandoned thing. I hope we meet again soon so I can take you home." It was then that I noticed the smell, as the Doctor glance into his shoulder mirror, muttering out "Maybe not that soon." He blindly reached for my hand, and upon grasping it we took off running down the alley. Every few seconds the Doctor would check the mirror again, before knocking over tables and chairs and other items to slow this thing down. Several minutes later, the smell faded, and the Doctor was resting against a wall. A large gust of air escaped my mouth, as I also leaned back against the wall, knowing we had finally lost the creature. Suddenly there were two loud yelps, which startled me into looking up and seeing that Amy was standing across from us, which had apparently startled both her and the Doctor.
"Never do that! You scared the living daylights out of us."
"Us? Speak for yourself." Amy rolled her eyes at us, obviously use to our bickering, before she started to apologize for scaring the Doctor.
"Sorry, I got bored. As much as you admire his command of color and shape, it is hard to get fond of Vincent Van Gogh's snoring."
"Snoring can be the absolute worst, but hopefully it means he's sleeping well." I pause for a moment, before I continued my line of thought. "Perhaps we could make some breakfast? I'm sure Vincent would appreciate it, and I don't know about you two, but I know I could use some hot food." The two seemed surprised by my idea, as if they often didn't stop for food along the way on their adventures. After mulling it over for a second, Amy responded,
"Hot food does sound lovely. I also had another idea…"
"Wakey, wakey. Rise and shine!" I closely followed the Doctor, as he entered Vincent's bedroom. I could hear the man's snores from the doorway as the Doctor stated, "Breakfast is served in the courtyard."
"Made by yours truly!" As I piped up from my spot in the doorway, the Doctor opened the window in the room letting the light shine in.
"Whoa! What a morning." My soft blue eyes blinked softly as the Doctor clapped, continuing to try to wake Vincent. "Come on. And Amy's got a little surprise for you." My lips curved into a bright smile as Vincent finally got up out of bed before I quickly made my way outside to allow Vincent to get dressed in peace. As he caught up with me the Doctor gently tapped me on the top of my head, where my hat still sat, with a soft almost fond look settled onto his face. "Thank you, Kitten." Owlishly blinking at the taller man, I asked,
"What for?" The man continued out the door, completely ignoring my question, as he settled outside to wait for Vincent. Pouting I followed him outside, confused by the Doctors thanks. I gently poked the man, about to question him again, when Vincent stepped out the back door; seeing Amy sitting at the table in his back yard completely surrounded by sunflowers in several different containers making the backyard a sea of sunflowers.
"I thought I'd brighten things up to thank you for saving me last night."
"Ah!"
"I thought you might like to, you know, possibly perhaps paint them or something? Might be a thought." This time I did know which painting Amy was referencing of Vincent's. In fact, it was one of the few that I did know off hand. Vincent took an awkward moment, or maybe it was just awkward to me, as the Doctor moved to join Amy at the table before he responded,
"Yes. They're not my favorite flower." I winced softly while looking around the yard. What an incredible amount of flowers in his yard, flowers that he didn't even like.
"You don't like sunflowers?"
"I guess it was presumptuous of us…" I muttered out as I moved to join the others at the table, softly settling into a seat.
"No, it's not that I don't like them. I find them complex. Always somewhere between living and dying." Vincent gently held one of the flowers near his window, and I softly chewed on my upper lip as I continued to listen to him. "Half-human as they turn to the sun. A little disgusting. But, you know, they are a challenge."
"And one I'm pretty sure you ill rise to. But, moving on, there's something I need to show you." I perked up, a little glad to be moving away from this weird conversation about sunflowers, as the Doctor pulled out a printout that I knew had the picture of the creature on it.
"That's him. And the eyes. Without mercy."
"It's a creature called the Krafayis." I softly called out from my seat, the Doctor nodding as continuing to explain what the Krafayis were.
"Yes. The Krafays travel in space, they travel as a pack. Scavenging across the universe. Sometimes one of them gets left behind and because they're a brutal race, the others never come back." A soft frown graced my face as I nodded softly. I had heard of these creatures once before and it hadn't been a pleasant story, in fact it had been an awful story with an equally as awful ending. "So, dotted all around the universe are individual, utterly merciless, utterly abandoned Krafayis. And what they do is…"
"They kill until they're killed." The Doctor pointed at me while he nodded,
"Which they usually aren't. Because other creatures can't see them."
"But I can." Vincent sounded confused, and a little unnerved at his statement, which I couldn't blame him for. It was a weird circumstance, and being different was never easy.
"Yes. And that's why we are in a unique position today, my friend, to end this reign of terror. So…. Feel like painting the church today?"
"What about the monster?" My eyes wandered towards the Doctor, my own curiosity probably visible in them, as I wondered the same thing.
"Take my word for it. If you paint it, he will come."
"Okay. I'll get my things." I watched Vincent stand and start to make his way towards the door, gently resting my head in my hands on top of the table.
"In your own time. I promise you; we'll be out of your hair by this time tomorrow." My eyebrows furrowed softly as Vincent hesitated by the doorway, seeming a little upset, as he stared towards Amy for a moment longer before finally heading into the house. Something in my gut told me that the Doctor had said something wrong, but I wasn't entirely sure what. "This is risky." My gaze stayed on the doorway as the Doctor spoke again, worried about Vincent.
"Riskier than normal?"
"Well, think about it. This is the middle of Vincent Van Gogh's greatest year of painting. If we're not careful, the result of our trip could be the brutal murder of the greatest artist who ever lived. Half the pictures on the wall of the Musee D'Orsay will disappear." The Doctor moved to sit next to Amy, across the table from myself, before he finished his depressing thought. "And it will be our fault." I looked between the two, wanting to speak up but not entirely sure what to say. What could I say that would make a difference, or change the mood? So instead, we sat in an awkward, gloomy, silence until the Doctor checked his watch and stood up. He announced that he as going to go check on Vincent, which I half heartily made a noise in response to indicate that I had heard him, as I traced the pattern of the wood grain with my eyes.
"So, Coco." My eyes slowly made their way up to look at Amy, wondering what she wanted to know. "What's up with those tally marks you had all over your arms yesterday?" Glancing down at my hand, which I had washed the tally marks off knowing I had written down my previous mission which would slowly fade from my mind the longer I was away from it, I made a soft humming noise.
"It's a bit of a long story, I guess."
"Oh." She sounded a little bored and disappointed. "Well… What have you been up to?" My right hand reached up to scratch at the back of my head, under my bowler hat, as I tried to think of an answer.
"I uh. Um." I faltered for a moment. This Amy knew me. Maybe not as well as the other Amy I had met, but she still knew me. And I knew almost nothing about her other then that in the future she was pregnant. "I went to Utah recently, and uh. Florida with the Doctor and River?" It came out more as a question than I meant it to, but I wasn't sure what I could or should say. I hadn't compared notes with the Doctor, not that I had much to compare at the moment, so I wasn't certain if this was happening before or after the whole alien space suit incident with Canton the Third.
"With the Doctor and River?" I blinked at her, wondering what was wrong with that information.
"Yes?" Once more it came out as a question, rather then a statement.
"Are they… Are you.. Are the three of you…" I wasn't certain where she was going with this next question, though I had an idea, and thankfully I wouldn't have to find out as the Doctor came out of the house looking upset and defeated.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" I immediately took the chance to avoid Amy's question, as well as allowing my concern to take over.
"We're leaving. Everyone knows that he's a delicate man. Just months from now he'll… He'll take his own life." Amy had met the Doctor on the stairs, as I looked down at the ground gently chewing on my bottom lip again. Just because it was true didn't mean that I had to like it. Knowing that a friend was going to pass was incredibly difficult.
"Don't say that. Please." I started as I felt the hand gently on my back before I realized that it belonged to the Doctor.
"Come on." I stared up at the Doctor, a soft look on my face, as I took in the deep sadness in his eyes. "We have to do this on our own. Go to the church at the right time and hope the monster still turns up." I debated for just a moment going and checking on Vincent myself, after all the Doctor didn't seem to be the best with expressing or understanding emotions, before softly nodding and deciding I could check on Vincent later once he'd had some time to himself. No need to further upset him.
"I'm ready. Let's go." A soft, hesitant smile made its way across my lips at the sight of Vincent standing in the door way with his straw hat and blue coat on.
I watched from behind as Amy walked with Vincent, the two of their arms linked, Vincent carrying his easel and palette and Amy carried his paint case and canvas. The two talked softly with each other as the Doctor and I walked in a surprising silence. Or well we did until I asked him,
"So." I dragged out the word from longer than I probably should have before continuing, "Is this before or after Utah for you Doctor?" The way his eyes crinkled just slightly in confusion and his head cocked just slightly gave me my answer.
"Utah huh?"
"Oh, trust me, you would remember it. It uh." I paused here, words feeling funny in my mouth. "Let's just say it's pretty early for me." The eyes scanned me, as if looking for something that I doubted was there.
"How early?" I thought about the blue journal in my jacket, eyes glancing up at the sky.
"Oh uh. Yeah. This is, the.. Um the second time I've met you?" I watched understanding bloom on the Doctor's face, followed by an embarrassed look.
"Blimey I'm an idiot." I blinked up at the man, the sky bright behind him, a little confused.
"Why? I mean, I know you can be an idiot, but why do you think you're an idiot?"
"I kissed you!" It was a quiet kiss, almost like he didn't want the others to hear him.
"I was confused about that, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow?" He let out a long soft sigh with an apology on his lip.
"I'm.. Sorry."
"Eh it's fine. Wasn't a bad kiss, and well, I can't say you're hard to look at." I gave the man a wink, giggling softly with how quickly he turned red and started flailing. "Besides you told me something very secret and personal about myself when we met so I figured you'd be an important person in my life. Just… maybe next time check where we're at before you kiss me?"
"Um. Yeah. Sure thing. Of course." I softly giggled, feeling more at ease than I had for a very long time. The two of us settled into a comfortable silence, the Doctor still tinted red, until I heard Amy tell Vincent,
"I'm sorry you're so sad."
"But I'm not. Sometimes these moods torture me for weeks, for months. But I'm good now. If Amy Pond can soldier on, then so can Vincent Van Gogh."
"I'm not soldiering on. I'm fine." I might not have known her very well, at least not yet, but that just simply wasn't true. I didn't know what was wrong, nor would I pry, but something in her seemed deeply sad.
"Oh, Amy, I hear the song of your sadness. You've lost someone I think."
"I'm not sad."
"Then why are you crying?" I silently watched Amy place a hand to her cheek, seeming surprised that she was crying, wondering if this had anything to do with the missing Rory. "It's alright I understand."
"I'm not sure I do." My eyes drifted towards the Doctor, seeing a sad almost knowing look in his eyes.
"Okay. Okay! So, now, we must have a plan. When the creature returns…"
"Then we shall fight him again."
"Well, yes, tick. But last night we were lucky. Amy or Kitten could have been killed. So, this time, for a start, we have to make sure I can see him, too." I tried to hold back my chuckles as Vincent looked at the Doctor as if he were crazy.
"And how are we meant to do that, suddenly?"
"The answer's in this box." The Doctor emphasized the boxed been carrying by tapping it softly. "I had an excellent, if smelly, godmother." We all paused when we noticed the nearby funeral procession walked toward us, the coffin having sunflowers resting atop it.
"Oh no. It's that poor girl from the village." We all stood to the side, heads down out of respect as the procession passed us. Once they had passed Amy looked at the Doctor and asked,
"You do have a plan, don't you?"
"It's a thing.. it's like a plan, but with more greatness."
