Thea leaned over the railing of the console, staring down at the Doctor as he sat on a small swing under the console, looking as though he was doing some rewiring, though she was pretty sure he was just using that as an excuse to avoid the console, giving the awkwardness in the room at the moment.
The Doctor had gone to pick up Rory, Amy's fiancé from his stag do, telling him what Amy had done only a few moments earlier. Hearing the commotion Thea had come back out from her room as the Doctor quickly disappeared under the console with Rory not having an answer as to why his fiancé had run off with some aliens the night before their wedding and then proceeded to kiss one of the said aliens.
She glanced back at the humans, Rory was looking around the room, almost in awe but seemed more awkward than impressed with the sight of the ship, while Amy was a few feet apart from him, nervously glancing at him.
"Oh, the life out there, it dazzles." The Doctor called up to them, "I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans. It's meant to do that. Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it will tear you apart. So, I'm sending you somewhere, together."
"Whoa." Amy blinked, looking down at him through the glass floor, "What, like a date?"
"Surely you've been on plenty of dates if you were planning on getting married." Thea frowned at her.
"Anywhere you want." The Doctor continued, "Any time you want. One condition. It has to be amazing. The Moulin Rouge in 1890. The first Olympic Games. Think of it as a wedding present, because it's either this or tokens." The Doctor headed back up to them, seeing Rory looking around the room, "It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain."
"It's another dimension." Rory answered.
"It's basically another dimension..." the Doctor trailed off as Rory's words reached him, "What?"
Thea giggled as the Doctor stared at Rory, cutting him off from how he loved when because always stared in awe, announcing that the room was bigger on the inside, "how did you figure that out?" She asked him.
"After what happened with Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories," Rory shrugged, "FTL travel, parallel universes."
"I like the bit when someone says it's bigger on the inside." The Doctor pouted, "I always look forward to that."
"Doesn't it ever get boring though?" Thea shook her head at him.
"I like it."
"What if one day someone said its smaller on the outside?"
The Doctor grimaced at the very idea, "that…that is just wrong."
"So, this date." Amy began, "I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?"
"How about somewhere romantic?" the Doctor grinned.
"I have an idea!" Thea announced, "if Rory's up for it, that it?"
Rory hesitated, because it was the night before the wedding, and Amy had run off with the pair of aliens they hadn't seen in 2 years and had apparently been travelling the universe for a few days (at least) and then came back only to make out with the older of the said aliens, still on the night before their wedding. But, he did love Amy very much and he did want to make this work if she wanted it. So, he nodded, allowing them to give them a date and space to talk. Then after today he can then decide if the wedding will go on ahead in the morning.
She grinned, hurrying over to the Doctor and whispering in his ear as he nodded, eagerly setting them off at her idea of a romantic date for the humans.
~.~
The TARDIS landed in the middle of a busy market square, with the locals all walking about, not a single person noticing the blue box appearing.
"Venice!" the Doctor cheered, arms wide as he stepped out, "Venezia. La Serenissima. Impossible city. Preposterous city. Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, constantly just..."
"Beautiful." Thea smiled, following him out and snapping a photo on her phone.
"Ah, you got to love Venice. So many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Ooo, that reminds me." He checked his watch, "1580. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for a 144 years. Don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken."
"You owe Casanova a chicken?" Rory stared at him.
"Long story. We had a bet."
"And you lost?" Thea guessed, "so you now owe him a chicken? Should you be taking bets with Casanova? The timelines..."
"Says the girl who pulled out her phone." The Doctor gave her a pointed look.
She shrugged but didn't argue as she walked ahead to enter the city only to be stopped by a smartly dressed man.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Papers, if you please. Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection."
The Doctor held up this psychic paper, "There you go, fellow. All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find."
"I am so sorry, Your Holiness." the man bowed, "i didn't realise."
"No worries. You were just doing your job. Sorry, what exactly is your job?"
"Checking for aliens. Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them."
"Oh, that's nice." Amy moaned, "See where you bring me? The plague." She hit the Doctors arm.
"Don't worry, Viscountess." The man assured her, "No, we're under quarantine here. No one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri."
"I heard the plague died out years ago." Thea eyed him.
"Not out there, your highness." The man bowed to her, "No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said."
"Did she now." she muttered as the men stepped aside to let them though, "highness?" she turned to the Doctor at that.
"Princess of Belgium." He grinned, handing her the psychic paper to see.
She frowned down at it and back at him, "Why?"
He grinned, "space princess." he nudged her, recalling how she had mentioned a nickname that Clyde had come up with for her. It did seem fitting.
Rory peered over Theas shoulder to look at the paper as Amy hurried off after the Doctor, the pair walking ahead, "Er, according to this, I am your eunuch."
"Oh yeah. I'll explain later." Amy waved him off.
"It's psychic paper." Thea told him, handing it to him so he could have a better look, "shows people what we want them to see. Doesn't work on geniuses, those with no imagination or those with psychic abilities."
"Because they cancel each other out?" Rory asked.
"You're brilliant!" Thea beamed at him as they walked down the edge of the canal.
They paused, watching as a small group of girls in white dresses and veiled walked in a procession across the water, when a man ran up to the girls, grabbing one of them only to shoved back by a few other girls, a few men rushing over to haul him back as the girls passed.
"What was that about?" Amy murmured.
Thea glanced over as the Doctor didn't answer but turned away. She rolled her eyes and made to follow seeing the humans were too busy watching to even notice they'd gone.
~.~
"Don't you tell everyone not to wonder off?"
The Doctor nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun to see Thea had followed him, without Amy and Rory
"Isn't rule one to not wander off? And yet here you are, doing just that. That doesn't seem fair."
"I made the rules, I'm allowed to break them." He defended.
"That's not how it works. If you don't even follow your own rules then how can you expect everyone else to do the same?"
"See you're not following them already."
"Like I said," she smirked, "if you don't follow them why expect everyone else to do so."
"It might not be anything." He muttered, changing the topic from him breaking his rules and to stop her from calling him out on that. That was why he tended to stick to human companions, they didn't question him or call him out. Most of the time, at least.
"But it might not be." She nodded as they walked on, "curiosity killed the cat."
"A cat has nine life's."
"Or in our case, 13." She quipped.
The Doctor laughed at her before catching sight of the angry man from earlier and calling out to him, "Who are those girls?"
The man turned to them, surprised they were asking, "I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri school."
"We don't." Thea replied, "parents usually are very happy their children are accepted into good schools. They'd do anything. So why are you trying to get her out?"
"Something happens in there. Something magical, something evil. My own daughter didn't recognise me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face, like an animal."
Thea glanced at the Doctor, seeing he seemed to agree on her despite neither speaking out loud. Whatever was happening at the school, Alien or not, it was certainly worth investigating.
The Doctor nodded slowly, "I think it's time I met this Signora Calvierri."
~.~
The Doctor and Thea snuck around the side of the school building, alongside the canal as Guido, as the man introduced himself, distracted the guards at the front gates to allow them to sneak through the side gate. The Doctor sonicing it open as they headed down a set of stone steps into a dark chamber under the school. "Hello, handsome." the Doctor smiled, spotting a mirror and readjusting his bowtie.
"You're incredibly vain." Thea told him.
"And you're not?" He scoffed.
"Who are you?" A chorus of voices called from behind.
The pair turned to see a group of young girls standing behind them, though they're reflections weren't showing in the mirror.
"How are you doing that?" The Doctor wondered, "I am loving it. You're like Houdini, only five slightly scary girls, and he was shorter. Will be shorter..."
"You ramble a lot." Thea said.
"Yes."
"I'll ask you again." The girls spoke as one, "Who are you?"
"Why don't you check this out?" the Doctor pulled out a wallet, flashing his idea at them.
Thea tilted her head at the old photograph of a previous face of the Doctor of an old man. "That's a library card." She pointed out to him, "Rory has the psychic paper."
"Of course." the Doctor sighed, remembering he had given it to Thea and she had shown it to Rory, "I need a spare. Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen. Ha. Are your thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked Thea.
"But why shut down the city?" Thea asked the girls.
"Leave now, or we shall call for the Steward," the girls advanced towards them, "if you are lucky."
"I don't know if I should be scared or..." Thea began when the girls hissed, baring fangs at them, very much like Vampires from the myths and legends that most cultures had.
The Doctor nudged Thea ahead of him, back towards the stairs as he turned back to the girls, "Tell me the whole plan."
"That's never going to work." Thea huffed at him.
"Listen, I would love to stay here. This whole thing. I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas. Let's go!" He turned and ushered Thea back up the stairs as he followed after her, the pair running through the city in the direction Guido said his house was to meet back up with him, when they ran into Amy.
"We just met some vampires." The Doctor shouted at the same time Amy cried, "We just saw a vampire."
"Where's Rory?" Thea shook her head, seeing the Doctor and Amy talking over each other at their excitement, Amy seemingly oblivious that her fiancé wasn't with her.
But just as she asked, the man came running over, panting, "We think we just saw a vampire."
"We saw a group of them." Thea grinned at him.
"The Doctor actually went to their house." Amy gushed.
"Oh." Rory dejected, "Right. Well."
"Did you see its fangs?" Thea asked, directing her question to Rory more than Amy, "oh my stars, was it feasting? And you got away? That's so cool!"
"Okay." the Doctor cut in, "So, first we need to get back in there somehow."
"How do we do that?" Amy asked.
"Back in where?" Rory shook his head.
"Come and meet my new friend." The Doctor turned to lead them off to meet back up with Guido.
~.~
The Doctor, Guido and Amy sat around the table looking at a map of Venice he laid out before them as Thea sat besides Rory, off to the side, the man unaware they were actually sat on barrels on gunpowder, but she didn't want to freak him out of something like that.
"As you saw, there's no clear way in." Guido was saying, "The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."
"You need someone on the inside." Amy nodded.
"No." the Doctor didn't bother to look up from the map.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"Er, that we pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside, and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in."
"Oh." Amy pursed her lips, "So you do know what I was going to say."
"Are you insane?" Rory cried.
Amy rolled her eyes at Rory's concern, "we don't have another option."
"We do actually." Thea spoke up, tapping the barrel she was sat on.
Guido nodded, pointing at his barrels behind them, "I work at the Arsenale. We build the warships for the navy."
"Gunpowder." Thea offered, "we blow the school up."
The Doctor shook his head at her, "no. I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive."
"You're really good at them?" She teased, "mum told me you blew up the school from the Krillatranes."
"New me, new rules." The Doctor defended as Thea scoffed at him.
"What do you suggest, then?" Guido demanded, "We wait until they turn her into an animal?"
"Not to brag, but I can be quite sneaky, you know." Thea remarked.
"Absolutely not." The Doctor refused.
"Ah, come on." She whined, "Sarah Jane trusts me enough, she would let me go."
"I'm not Sarah Jane."
"No, because when she asks me to trust her, she returns the trust unlike you."
"No, nice try." he looked over at her, "you're not going in."
"But you need someone in." she countered, walking over to him, "it's me or Amy. I can handle myself."
"So can I." Amy glared.
The Doctor sighed, sitting doe heavily on Guidos bed, "alright." he huffed as Thea grinned, "you go together. Say you're my daughters."
"You're daughter?" Amy scoffed, "you look about nine."
"Brother then." He offered.
"Too weird." Amy pulled a face, "fiancé."
"You are aware your fiancé if tight here, right?" Thea scoffed at Amy, "if he still wants to be, that is." She leaned closer to Rory, "you deserve better."
"No," Amy nodded, "your right." she turned to smile at Rory, "you should do it."
"This whole thing is mental." Rory shook his head, "They're vampires, for God's sake."
"We hope." the Doctor reminded them.
"So if they're not vampires...?" Amy frowned.
"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire."
The Doctor sighed, "alright, Rory will take Thea and Amy..."
"No."
"Oh, what's wrong now?" Amy demanded to Thea.
"I go alone."
"No." the Doctor shook his head, "absolutely not."
Thea crossed her arms, sitting on a barrel of gunpowder again, "bet you didn't complain when Romana got to see the vampires."
"That's not the..."
"Sarah Jane would trust me to go." she grumbled, "and you always ask me to trust you and yet...sounds to me as though you don't trust me." She crossed her arms.
"Alright, fine." the Doctor sighed, "you can go alone, but your mind shall remain open at all times, young lady." he poked her.
She grinned, turning to Rory, "you can be my uncle."
~.~
Theas eyes glanced around the room as she stood besides Rory, the man in Guido clothing, while she wore a simple blouse and skirt from Isabella (it was far too long for her but she made do), her hair up in a simple bun as they stood before Signora Calvierri, the woman dressed in the finest of clothes for the period, sitting on a literal throne, with a smartly dressed man standing besides her.
"So, basically, are family is dead from getting the plague," Rory explained, "I'm a gondola driver and my...brother is unemployed...so money's a bit tight, so having my niece go to your school for special people would be brilliant. Cheers."
The smartly dressed man stepped closer, eying Thea, seeming to examine her.
The Signora turned to the man standing besides her, "Carlo, explain yourself. Why have you brought me this imbecile?"
"Signora, they have references from His Majesty the King of Sweden." he stated.
"What? Let me see." Rory stepped forwards and handed her the psychic paper.
Thea narrowed her eyes seeing something in the womans eyes. She could read through it.
Interesting.
'She can see through the psychic paper.' Thea called in the Doctors mind.
'Really?' he responded instantly, 'interesting. Keep yourself safe.'
She lowered her gaze to the floor at the Signoras son circled her.
"Well, now I see what got my Steward so excited." the Signora handed the papers back,
"What say you, Francesco? Do you like her?"
"Oh, I do, Mother." he smiled, "I do."
Thea tried to smile at that, but found herself really uncomfortable, like she was a tiny goldfish surrounded by sharks. Not good. She took a breath. She could do this.
"Then we would be delighted to accept her. Say goodbye to your niece." the Signora called as Carlos moved to escort Rory back out.
"I'll you all soon, uncle." Thea called, giving him a reassuring smile as the door slammed shut behind Rory.
She pretended to be obvious to Francesco baring his fangs.
~.~
Carlos led Thea through the school, thanks the dim lighting of the building helping Thea not get recognised by the other girls. She hadn't actually thought about that at first, that they may recognise her from earlier but none of them seemed to do so, the different clothes and hairstyle change adding to the simple disguise.
She hadn't thought about the possibility of a girl recognising her, she had just been too excited at the idea to hide out in a school amongst vampires, able to go undercover and help out all on her. She just...she wanted to prove to the Doctor she wasn't just some silly little girl. That she could handle these dangerous situations.
She could do it.
She can.
She had to.
"There are clothes on the bed." Carlos led her to a room she would share with the other girls, "Get changed and wait here."
"Thank you." she nodded, looking around the room as the girl slowly filled out after Carlos, leaving one, a young dark-skinned girl.
Thea moved to sit besides the girl, "are you Isabella?"
She looked up, shocked she knew, "yes. How do you know that?"
"I'm Thea," she smiled, "I'm helping your father get you out of here. To do that I need to know what happens here. What have they done to you and the others?"
"They er, they come at night." Isabella began slowly, "They gather around my bed, and they take me to a room with this...green light and a chair with straps...as if for a surgeon."
"And then?" Thea reached her hand on to Isabella's as they twisted on her lap.
"I wake up here. And the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax."
Thea wrapped her arms around the girl in a side hug, sensing her distress and at the moment that was all she could do to comfort her.
~.~
The Doctor glanced back at Rory and Amy as they sat in a gondola with Guido gliding it down a canal. Neither of them looked too pleased to be there. Rory would probably much rather be back at his stag night, not wanting to worry about the threat of vampires and Amy was just sulking that she didn't get to go to the school like Thea did. Honestly, he would have rather Amy went as well, but he knew Thea could sneak around easier, she seemed to be able to know where she was going a lot, even if she had no idea where she was.
"Thea will be alright, won't she?" Rory asked.
It just felt so wrong in his mind at how easily the Doctor had agreed to let her go and explore the creepy school of blood suckers. Of course he was thankful that Amy didn't have to go, he didn't want to be constantly worrying about her. But Thea looked barely even 17, sure, she was an alien as Amy constantly reminded him growing up, and it was possible she was older than she looked but still, she had been so excited to go. She wanted to go, even threatened to blow them up to get her way, it was rather concerning the Doctor hadn't even said anything to her about that.
It honestly concerned him how irresponsible the Doctor actually was. This kid was in his care and he willing let her go into a school of vampires because that was what she wanted.
~.~
Thea held a lamp before her, wearing the white gowns the other girls wore, not so much as sneaking around the school late at night, more just, wandering around in search for the room with the green light Isabella had told her about.
She paused a moment, hearing a low moaning and cry of pain. She paused, holding the lamp higher, catching sight of a skeleton hand hanging out of a wooden chest.
She grimaced, seemed whatever they did here, not everyone survived.
Checking the coast was clear, she hurried on.
~.~
"We're here." Guido murmured, bringing the gondola to the side of the canal.
"Right." the Doctor stood, stepping off and pushing open the creaky gate, "Okay, Rory you're with me. Amy stay with Guido."
"Oi, I'm not staying behind." Amy argued.
"This is a school that takes young girls and turns them into vampires." the Doctor reminded her, "we don't want you getting caught."
"Thea is in there, though."
"Yes, I'm aware." The Doctor nearly snapped at her. He could hear her in his mind, a faint buzz that he could tell she was calm and collected, she wasn't in trouble right now. "You're staying with Guido." he told her firmly, leaving no room for arguments, "Rory and I can handle this."
"We can?" Rory wasn't quite as confident as the Doctor.
"Sure we can!" the Doctor beamed, slapping the mans back as he carefully stepped off the gondola, "Amy and I have had loads of adventures, "come along, Williams." he turned and headed off grimacing at the name.
Amy huffed, crossing her arms as she sat back down in the gondola with Guido.
"Right, I'll go first." the Doctor said quietly, picking up a torch as they walked down the passageway, "If anything happens to me, go back..."
"What happened, between you and Amy?" Rory asked, "You said she kissed you."
"Now?" he huffed, "You want to do this now?"
"I have a right to know. I'm getting married in 430 years."
~.~
Thea walked up to the well in the middle of the courtyard, recalling that was where the trap door was to let the Doctor and Rory in. She set the lamp down as she worked on releasing the grating.
She glanced back, swearing she heard something, shrugging and getting back to work.
Nodding to herself and turning to find the room Isabella said about only to walk straight into Carlos.
"Oh, am I out past curfew?" she asked innocently.
~.~
"She was frightened. I was frightened." the Doctor explained to Rory as they walked, "But we survived, you know, and the relief of it, and so she kissed me."
"And you kissed her back?" Rory asked.
"No. I kissed her mouth."
"Funny."
"Rory." he stopped and looked at him, "Rory, she kissed me because I was there. It would have been you. It should have been you."
"Yeah, it should have been me."
"Exactly. That's why I brought you here, and Thea didn't seem too impressed either."
"Theas, she...she isn't..?" Rory left the questioning hanging.
"Isn't what?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"She's not yours."
The way they acted he couldn't see any father daughter relationship from the pair and often how they spoke to each other it was almost like Thea had more power than the Doctor.
"No, no." The Doctor shook his head, "hardly know her." He sighed, "a friend was looking after her. Didn't have a clue who she was, but I thought, why would you want to stay on Earth when I can show you the universe. So she's under my care. And I really hope nothing bad happens to her."
"Me too." Rory agreed.
~.~
"Hey!" Thea cried as she was shoved down a set of stairs, only just managing to keep her footing.
"Control yourself, child." Carlos snapped at her.
"You pushed me down the stairs." she shot back, as she was pushed into the room Isabella mentioned. The Signora and a few others girl waiting for her, "get your hands off me!"
"Psychic paper." the Signora sneered, "Did you really think that would work on me?"
Thea was shoved into the middle of the room as a green light engulfed them.
"Where are you from?" the Signora circled around Thea, "Did you fall through the Chasm?"
"Mother this is pointless." Francesco said, "Let's just start the process and..."
"Hold your tongue, Francesco. I need to know what this girl is doing in a world of savages with psychic paper." two girls brought over a wooden chair, "Who are you with? You see, I scarcely believe your idiot uncle sent you." another girl set a hook in an eye socket, "What are you doing in my school?" another attached an IV bag to a hook.
"Say please." Thea spat at her.
The Signora laughed, "Put her in the chair."
"No!" Thea struggled as Francesco grabbed her, pushing her into the chair and strapping her down, "get off me!"
"Oh, make sport of me, will you?" she glared, "Tease me as if I were your dog? Well, this dog has a bite, girl." she bared her fangs.
"And this kitty has claws." Thea snarled back at her.
~.~
The Doctor had pulled out a large ultraviolet light, much bigger than the small one Rory had pulled out, looking around the darkness, unable to see Thea waiting for them. He wasn't concerned about her having gone wandering off, honestly he expected it, even his companions did it, obviously she would be far worse than all of them. What concerned him was that she wasn't answering his called, he couldn't hear her in his mind, like she had closed it off despite him telling her to keep it open. It was the agreement for her to come and she hadn't done as he asked, just the one little thing.
"If we cancel now, we lose the deposit on the village hall." Rory was mumbling, "The salsa band..." he trailed off seeing the Doctor opening a wooden chest, grimacing at the skeleton remains inside, "What happened to them?"
"They've had all the moisture taken out of them." the Doctor scanned them.
"Mother, when you drink from her, may we share?" Francesco asked, "I'm so thirsty."
"Of course, darling." the Signora smiled at her son.
Thea grimaced, still struggling against the bonds, why the legends were true about vampires having superstrength. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get out of these easily. "I'd be much more flattered about you wanting to share me," she muttered, "if it didn't make me sound like a canape."
"That's what vampires do, right?" Rory frowned, "they drink your blood and replace it with their own."
"Yeah," the Doctor sighed, "except these people haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their entire bodies."
"Why did they die? Why aren't they like the girls in the school?"
"Maybe not everyone survives the process."
"Thank God Amy didn't go." Rory muttered.
He just, he couldn't imagine he having come into the school and they had arrived too late and found her...like that. He shook his head feeling a lot of concern for Thea right now. The girl herself had been the one who wanted him to get her into the school, wanting to call him her uncle. He found that to be very sweet.
"I'm surprised she didn't try and sneak in." The Doctor rubbed his head.
Rory scoffed, storming off before turning and pointing at the Doctor, "You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around."
"Who are you?" a chorus of female voices called behind them before the Doctor could try and defend himself.
The Doctor spun and held up the UV light to them, "We should run. Run!" he pushed Rory ahead and they ran from the courtyard, the girls chasing them.
~.~
"This is how it works." the Signora sneered at Thea, very not happy with being spat on, none of the other girls had even put up as much as a fight. She was rather hoping she wouldn't survive the process, "First, we drink you until you're dry. Then we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and your humanity is a dream now faded."
"Or you die." Francesco smirked, "That can happen."
"And if I survive?" Thea asked.
"Then there are 10,000 husbands waiting for you in the water." the Signora smirked.
"Jeez, I only need one. Actually, I'm not even sure if I want a husband. But I am sure of one thing."
"And what's that?"
"You're hiding something under your skirt." she gave a firm kick to the Signoras right hip, hitting a device hidden.
The Signora stumbled back, moving her skirts to reveal the device she had hidden, it hummed and for a moment her image flickered to reveal an insectoid creature with a fish head.
Thea blinked, "Sister of the Water?"
Footsteps shouted above them as the Signoras human image reappeared, staring at her in surprise before turning and leading the others out of the room.
Isabella ran in and quickly helped free Thea from the chair, "come on."
They ran off down the corridors, finding the Doctor and Rory facing the Signora and the girls.
"Thea." the Doctor sighed in relief at seeing her.
"Hi!" She grinned.
"Quickly, through here." Isabella called, turning and pulling Thea with her as the Doctor and Rory followed.
"Seal the house!" they heard the Signora shout as they ran.
"They're not vampires." Thea gasped as they ran, "she had some kind of perception filter, they're aliens!"
The Doctor chuckled, "Classic. Any idea what aliens?"
"Saturnyn!"
"That's good news?" Rory gaped at them, "What is wrong with you people?"
"Come on, Rory." The Doctor ushered him ahead as the girl caught up and his used the UV light to keep them back, "Move. Keep moving. Come on, guys."
Isabella pushed open a door, ushering them down the steps to the canal where Amy and Guido were waiting for them. "Quickly, quickly. Get out. Quick. Quick." she moved to follow but hissed as the sunlight burnt her skin.
"Isabella?" Thea looked back at her, she said the sunlight hurt but didn't say it was this bad.
"I can't." she shook her head, slamming the door behind her.
The Doctor rushed up, trying to yank it open only to be electrocuted, falling to the ground.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted, jumping out of the gondola to his side as Rory checked in him, "Is he dead?"
"No, he's breathing." Rory replied.
Thea looked down to Guido, the man seeming to realise he would never see his daughter again. Her hearts clenched at what the Signora would do to Isabella for helping them.
~.~
The Signora walked into the main room, only to stop seeing the Doctor already on the chair and the young girl leaning against its arm.
The Doctor hadn't really wanted Thea to come with him for this little meeting, they had already tried to convert her, he didn't really want to risk it happening again and succeeding, but at the same time he didn't want to let her out of his sight.
"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you...Sister of the Water?" he asked.
"No, let me guess." the Signora eyed him, "The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?"
"I'll make you a deal. An answer for an answer. You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank, hence no reflection."
"Your question?"
"Why can we see your big teeth?" he smiled.
"Self preservation over rides the mirage." she explained, "The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain."
"Where's Isabella?" Thea asked.
The Signora smirked, shaking her head, "My turn. Where are you from?"
"Gallifrey." the Doctor answered.
"You should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum."
"Probably." Thea shrugged, "so why are you here?"
"We ran from the Silence. Why are you here?"
"Wedding present." The Doctor replied.
"What are the Silence?" Thea frowned.
Zero had said it, said Silence would fall. She didn't think anything off it at first, but now it had been brought up twice. Never ignore a coincidence...well, unless busy.
"There were cracks." the Signora explain slowly, "Some were tiny...some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people...and through others we saw Silence and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours, and the crack snapped shut behind us. Saturnyne was lost."
"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark Two?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"And you can help me." she smiled at them, "We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?"
"Where's Isabella?" Thea asked again.
"Isabella?" she frowned.
"The girl who saved her." The Doctor stood up and moved before her.
"Oh, deserters must be executed." she waved off, "Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose."
"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?" he stepped back, "I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children."
"Carlo?" the Signora shouted, "You're right. We're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while you...philosophise."
"This ends today." the Doctor swore, "I will tear down the House of Calvierri, stone by stone." Carlo reached to grab his arm but he pulled away, "Take your hands off me, Carlo. And do not even think about touching Thea," she stuck her tongue out at him, skipping after the Doctor as he turned to leave, "And you know why?" he turned back a moment, "You didn't know Isabella's name."
And with that, they strode out.
"Open the gates!" Carlo called behind them as they walked out the gates and down the path.
~.~
Back in Guidos house the Doctor paced, "Argh. I need to think. Come on, brain. Think, think, think!" he sat down at the top end of the table, Amy and Rory on either side of him, Guido besides Rory and Thea at the other end, on the table with her feet on the seat besides Amy, "Think."
"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun." Amy offered.
The Doctor put his hand over her mouth, "Stop talking. Brain thinking. Hush."
"It's the school thing I don't understand." Rory frowned.
He put his other hand over Rory's mouth, "Stop talking. Brain thinking. Hush."
"It worked for the Krillitanes." Thea muttered.
"I say we take the fight to them." Guido stated, pounding a fist on the table.
"No." the Doctor determined, giving a look to Rory.
Rory placed his hand over Guidos mouth.
"Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time and end up here. Then she closes off the city and, one by one, starts changing the people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it. But then what? They come from the sea. They can't survive for ever on land, so what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city habitable."
"She said, 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race.'" Thea called.
"Bend the heavens." The Doctor muttered, "Bend the heavens."
"She's going to sink Venice!" they both shouted, pointing at each other.
"She's going to sink Venice?" Guido frowned, pulling Rory's hand away.
"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." the Doctor nodded.
"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women." Rory shook her head, "You need blokes."
"She's got blokes." Thea winced as she remembered what she'd been told, "in the canal. 10,000 husbands waiting in the water."
"Only the male offspring survived the journey here." the Doctor realised, "She's got 10,000 children swimming around the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends. Urgh." he grimaced, "I mean, I've been around a bit, but really that's, that's eugh."
"It makes the arranged marriages on Gallifrey look decent." Thea murmured.
Something thumped above them and they all looked up.
"The people upstairs are very noisy." the Doctor remarked.
"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido frowned.
"Do you know, I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" Thea raised her hand and he pointed at her.
"Is it the vampires?" Rory whispered.
"Like I said, they're not vampires."
"Sisters of the Water." Thea corrected. Honestly, just simply not insulting over species did a world of good.
They slowly stood when glass shattered, a few of the girls trying climb through the window, the others coming down the stairs.
"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory stared, stunned to see the girls at the window.
The Doctor turned to the girls, waving the light at them, flashing his sonic at them, revealing their true selves.
"What's happened to them?" Guido gasped.
"There's nothing left of them." the Doctor replied, "They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so..."
"Pretty." Thea finished before shaking her head, "moving out!" she turned and led them down the stairs, Amy and Rory following with the Doctor Guido after them.
"Give me the lamp." Guido shouted as the Doctor handed it over to keep the girls back.
"Go, go, go, guys." the Doctor urged as they ran outside, disturbing some chickens, "Keep moving. Go, go, go."
"Stay away from the door, Doctor." Guido warned him before going back inside, locking the door after him.
"No. Guido," the Doctor pounded on the door, "what are you doing? I'm not leaving you." he tried to unlock the door with the sonic, "What are you doing? Argh, bolted."
"Doctor!" Thea yelled, running to try and pull him away from the house full of gunpowder dragging him back moments before it exploded, sending them flying.
"Ow!" she moaned, getting to her feet as the Doctor moved to her side, "I'm fine." she rolled her eyes but allowed him to quickly check her over, "see?"
"Good." he nodded, looking over hearing the locals screaming, seeing a storm starting to brew.
"Rosanna's initiating the final phase." the Doctor realised.
"We need to stop her." Amy determined, "Come on."
"No, no, no. Get back to the TARDIS."
"You can't stop her on your own."
"We don't discuss this." he snapped, "I tell you to do something, Amy, and you do it."
Amy glared at him before storming off.
"Thank you." Rory said earnestly before rushing after Amy.
"You're welcome." the Doctor mumbled.
"Come on!" Thea shouted.
"And you."
She stopped, looking at him confused, "what?"
"Get back to the TARDIS." He told her.
"No." she refused, "I'm not going."
"Do as you're told."
"No."
"I am telling now to go back to the TARDIS."
"And I'm not going." She glared, "you asked me to travel with you, Doctor, knowing the dangers. Besides," she smirked, "what if I run into Francesco?"
The Doctor blinked, pointing, silently debating to risk having her run through the city along with him still on the loose, "fine." he grit out, "come on." he took her hand and pulled her off.
~.~
They ran into the throne room, the Doctor pulling apart the back to reveal the technology the sonic had picked up earlier, trying to figure out how to turn it off.
"You're too late." the Signora told them as she walked in, "Such determination, just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom."
"The girls are dead." Thea glared at her for her remark.
"You're lying."
"We'd be dead otherwise."
"Rosanna," the Doctor called as she turned and walked away, "please, help us. There are 200,00 people in this city."
"So save them." she sneered.
"So what's the plan?" Thea asked as they crouched before the circuitry.
"I don't have one." he ran a hand through his hair, frustrated before running to a window, looking out to see a bell tower.
"You were supposed to go back to the TARDIS." Thea told Amy and Rory as they ran in.
"Get out." the Doctor agreed rushing back over, "I need to stabilise the storm."
"We're not leaving you." Rory said.
"Right, so one minute it's all 'you make people a danger to themselves,' and the next it's 'we're not leaving you.' But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets the..."
The four of them were knocked to the ground as the floor began to shake.
"What was that?" Rory gasped as he moved to help Amy up.
"Nothing. Bit of an earthquake."
"An earthquake?" Amy shook her head.
"Manipulating the elements can cause earthquakes." Thea told them. "Which can cause tidal waves big enough to sink Venice."
"Right," the Doctor nodded, "Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the programme, so, tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator." he glanced at Thea to see she had already started to pull on the wires, ripping the circuitry apart before Amy and Rory had the chance. He left them to it and hurried off.
"That was fun." Thea grinned.
"You didn't even give us a chance to help." Amy grumbled.
She shrugged, "not even sorry." She ran outside in the pouring rain the humans following, seeing the Doctor climbing the bell tower.
"There!" Amy pointed, seeing him climbing up to the sphere on the very top of the tower.
They watched as the Doctor opened the sphere, twitching with the technology inside before the storm stopped, the clouds parting to allow the sun to shine again.
Thea cheered as the Doctor waved down to them, tweaking his bowtie with one hand.
Amy and Rory cheering and hugging each other.
Thea turned and ran off.
~.~
Thea swallowed as she slowly approached the Signora as the woman stood at the end of a dock to the canal, stripped down to her under dress. She didn't know why, she just knew that the Signora would not want to live after the turn of events. Her girls were gone, even Francesco was dead, it was just her and the boys in the water, by the way the water was bubbling, she assumed they were in this canal.
"Please..." she called softly, slowly walked down to her, but stopping a short distance away, "don't do it..."
"One city to save an entire species." the woman murmured, "Was that so much to ask?"
"Unfortunately, yes. You can't change an entire city like that, the humans were here first. We can still help you, but all you can do now is mourn, remember them and live on."
"Tell me..." Rosanna looked back at her, "is that what you do?"
"Yes...please." she held her hand out, "we can take you and your sons somewhere else to live the rest of your life...without needing to convert others."
"Remember us. Dream of us."
Thea turned around as Rosanna let herself fall backwards into the waters, the surface bubbling as her sons devoured her.
~.~
The Doctor wrapped an arm around Thea as she held her arms around herself. He had found her kneeling on the edge of the dock, staring into the waters, the waters were Rosanna had fallen where he sons were. He didn't know why she had gone to try to talk to the woman, she should have waited for him, but then, maybe he would have gotten there too late anyway.
"Now then, what about you two, eh?" the Doctor looked over at Amy and Rory as they reached the TARDIS, "Next stop Leadworth Registry Office. Maybe I can give you away."
"Ooh, can I be a bridesmaid?" Thea asked, rather excited by the idea, "I love being a bridesmaid..." she pursed her lips recalling the last wedding she had been a bridesmaid at.
"It's fine." Rory sighed, "Drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've..."
"Stay." Amy cut in, "With us. Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."
"Fine with me." the Doctor nodded.
"We need someone with a bit of common sense." Thea agreed. "keep us in line."
"Yeah?" Rory started to smile, "Yes, I would like that."
"Nice one." Amy gave him a quick kiss, "I will pop the kettle on." she pushed open the doors,
"Hey, look at this. Got my spaceship, got my boys. My work here is done." she smiled, disappearing inside the TARDIS.
Rory scoffed, "Er, we are not her boys."
"You are." the Doctor patted his back as he went inside.
Thea glanced back to the city, hearing, well, nothing and that concerned her, "Rory, do you hear that?" she asked, making him stop and look at her as he moved to follow the Doctor inside.
"Hear what?" he frowned, "all I can hear is...silence."
"Exactly."
Not even the chickens were clucking. She casted a final glance around before following Rory inside.
"We need biscuits with our tea!" she announced, rushing off down to the kitchen where Amy was, gone before the Doctor could even say anything.
Finally some alone time with Amy, girl talk about boys. She was getting good at those.
~.~
"You know," Thea began as she pulled herself up onto the kitchen counter, on her knees to raid the cupboard for some biscuits to go with the tea Amy was making, "I had this friend once." she told Amy, "we were roommates back at the Academy."
"The Academy?" Amy frowned at her.
"Gallifreyan school." She waved off, "we left our home together, but things happened, and we lost each other."
"Okay." Amy turned to cross her arms, leaning back against the counter, "I'm assuming there's a point to this."
"Oh, I'm getting there." she nodded, "Just listen. The point is...I lost them...and I have no idea what happened because no matter how hard I try, I've got nothing in there," she tapped her head, "we left Gallifrey together, but I was alone on Earth. Ah ha!" She cheered, finding the half-eaten packet of jammy dodgers that the Doctor had hidden in the upper cupboard at the far back to try and keep her away from them. not that it was working, "biscuits."
"You lost your friend, Thea." Amy deadpanned, knowing there was still more to whatever point she was trying to get at, but was distracted by the snacks.
"I did." She swallowed, "and it wasn't until I lost them did I ever realise what I had." She dropped down from the counter top, looking at Amy, "don't loose Rory, Amy. because once you do, you'll never get him back."
"What was their name?" Amy asked softly.
She knew, by the tone of her voice, that this friend, seemed to have been much more than just a friend, even if nothing had ever been said. This friend was probably the person she had been thinking off when she had gotten Bracewell to think of the girl he liked, who kept him from blowing up.
"Chessur." She smiled, "Their name was Chessur."