Part two of Crash of the Byzantium

"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" River asked as she picked me up off the… ceiling?

'Oh yeah that's right. We jumped.' I groaned as I stood up. 'I really have to work to land on my feet… then again, it's not like you fall from high heights every day. Or… rise I guess.' "Yeah, just fine, thanks."

"What happened?" Amy asked, as she walked over to River who explained.

"We jumped."

"Jumped where?"

That was where the Doctor cut in. "Up. Up. Look up." I wish I ignored him like Amy did.

I moaned as I looked up and saw the Angels flying up to us. "It'll never end, will it?" Amy overheard me and looked up as well. She wasn't any happier than I was.

Meanwhile, the Doctor moved to Amy and told her to move out of the way, got down and got to work on opening the hatch to the ship. Still confused by what she was seeing Amy asked, "Doctor? What am I looking at? Explain."

Nervous me however, didn't give the Doctor a chance to answer. "Lights are on, means, powers on. Powers on, means gravity's on. Which results in us sticking to the ceiling."

"Harry." The Doctor complained with a childish pout. "I like explaining this stuff."

"Sorry Doctor, really I am. I'm just nervous. I talk a lot when I'm nervous."

He shook his head but continued nonetheless. "Anywho, one good jump and up we fell." He said as he jumped in place. "Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are."

After the explanation the Doctor went back to sonicking the Hatch, even as Octavian said, in a rather tensed tone. "Doctor, the statues. They look more like Angels now."

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army."

"Yeah, really I didn't need that image, Doctor, thanks. I've been trying to keep that out of my head all this time." I said, feeling rather nauseous at the thought of that. When the hatch finally opened my heart jumped for joy.

That is until the lights started sparking out on the bottom of the ship. 'Well, that was a good five seconds of happiness…' I thought to myself.

"They're taking out the lights." The Doctor said, before pointing his screwdriver up at the Angels. "Look at them. Look at the Angels… into the ship now. Quickly, all of you." He said, hopping down into the hatch himself.

"How? Doctor!" Amy called out, before peeking inside the hatch.

"It's just a corridor. The gravity… orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move." He ordered.

I was one of the last ones into the ship, only in front of Octavian and his clerics. As I landed, my head felt weak. Like a pressure growing from within. I put my hands to the temples and rubbed. With my eyes closed, the Angel kept popping up in my head.

"How are you doing, Harry? How's your head?" River asked, the Doctor looked curious as well.

"To be honest River, it's been better. The Angel, River, it's trying to knock down the wall that the Doctor built, I can feel it." I told her, panic building inside of me.

The Angel was knocking. Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door. Yeah, I wish. If it was, I would be knocking right along with it. It was, after all, a horrible roommate. I could still see it every time I closed my eyes. Smiling it's creepy smile at me.

"Don't worry Harry, we're gonna fix this ok? You're gonna make it through this. You just gotta be strong."

I smiled, shakily as I worked on keeping myself calm. "Strong, right. Not like I've got much choice at the moment here, is there River?"

After I said that I felt her hand grip firmly on my arm. "You do have a choice. And your choice here and now will set the tone for the rest of your journey. Be a coward, or be courageous and strong. That is your choice Harry. But I know which one you'll pick in the end."

At that point Octavion decided to interrupt the moment. "The Angels. Presumably they can jump too?"

I heard the hatch we just came through close and after a pause of silence the Doctor said. "They're here now. In the dark, we're finished."

An alarm started going off and a door nearby closed, someone ran towards it, but judging by the clang I heard, they were just a bit too late.

"This whole place is a deathtrap." Octavian said, but the Doctor disagreed.

"No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." Cue another brief pause. "Oh, just me then."

He pointed at the door that'd just closed. "What's through there?"

"Secondary flight deck." River responded.

"Okay, so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Amy asked, River moving over to a monitor. "So what if the gravity fails?"

"I thought about that." The Doctor said to her, before kneeling down to the door.

"And?"

He got back up and pointed a finger in her face. "And we all plunge to our deaths. See? I thought about it." He looked back over at the door briefly. "The security protocols are still alive. There's no way to override them. It's impossible."

"How impossible?" River asked.

"Two minutes."

The lights flickered and the hatch opened.

"The hull is breached and the power is failing."

"Oh really? And here I thought someone was just playing with the lights!" I joked sarcastically which got Octavian glaring at me. What can I say? I was frustrated and he wasn't helping by pointing out the obvious.

"Sir, incoming!" A cleric called out, an Angel hand appearing just outside the hatch.

"Doctor, lights!" Amy panicked and he struggled to get them on.

One Angel appeared and then four and then they were inside the corridor with us.

"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered.

"And don't look at their eyes. Anywhere else. Not the eyes." The lights turned on and the Doctor headed towards the door again. "I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now."

"Good work, Doctor." Octavian praised.

"Yes. Good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good you like it so far."

"So far?" Amy questioned.

"Well, there's only one way to open this door." The Doctor explained, opening a panel and digging through the wires. "I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"Good. Fine. Do it."

"I'm not quite sure you get it Octavian. The Doctor is gonna have to turn off the lights to get the door open.

Octavian turned to the Doctor to confirm this as he went to look at the Angels, and he nodded.

"How long for?"

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer." The Doctor rubbed at his face.

"Maybe?"

"I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship. There isn't a manual for this!" He hurried back over to the door while Amy… well she was just a bit panicked. Understandably of course

"Doctor, we lost the torches. We'll be in total darkness!"

"No other way!" He said back loudly, before he turned to me. "Harry, how long? Do you know?"

I ran my hand through my hair, thinking. "Uhh… honestly? I don't really remember."

"Right… that's not really helpful Harry."

"Though I do remember that we have lights!" I pointed out energetically.

"What?" Amy asked. "Where?"

I pointed down at the clerics' guns. And just to clarify since nobody had gotten it yet, I said, "The muzzle flare. Used in short alternating bursts, the flares should be enough for the Doctor to open the door."

"'Should be'?"

"It will be. I swear."

The Doctor smiled at that. "You swear huh?"

'That's kinda weird… then again, it is the Doctor after all.' I thought to myself as I nodded to the Doctor. "Yeah. I swear.

"Alright then! Bishop, you go ahead and get ready!"

Octavian went over to River to confirm the Doctor's and my own decisions. "Doctor Song, I've lost good clerics today. You trust these men?"

"I absolutely trust them."

He gave her a look. "They're not some kind of madmen, then?"

"… I absolutely trust them." She replied after a pause and I gave River a look which… I actually think she enjoyed. The Doctor went back to the panel.

"Excuse me."

"You trust this man as much as the Doctor then?" Octavian gestured to me with an almost disgusted frown. "The Angel said he will be responsible for millions of deaths. That he was responsible for Bob's death. How can we trust him after all that?"

I grit my teeth, staying silent and feeling everyone's eyes on me, before River spoke.

"He is a good man! If he could have saved your men then there is no doubt in my mind that he would have!

"He let people die!"

I wasn't gonna let that slide without a fight. "Hey!" Octavian glared at me, but I wouldn't let that stop me. "I tried to warn him! I tried and he didn't listen. Honestly Octavian, if I had told you everything that was gonna happen, would you seriously believe me?"

"I would have-"

"Don't lie! The idea of someone popping up and knowing your personal history is unbelievable! And trust me, I know just how unbelievable it is."

He scoffed, turning away from me and facing the Angels, not even bothering to talk with River like he did before.

"Okay, Doctor. We've got your back."

"Bless you, Bishop." The Doctor replied after he took some wires from Amy; though admittedly he didn't exactly look happy at the moment.

Octavian began giving out his orders and the Doctor called me over. When I came, he said, "Harry, how's your head?"

"Good. It's a lot better now."

"Yeah well don't forget to keep your eyes shut, love. Just because you're feeling fine doesn't mean you are." River reminded.

I winced at that. It almost slipped my mind that the headache was only because my eyes were closed. With them now open the Angel would of course stop banging and work back towards what it was doing before. So with a salute, I did as I was told. "Yes Ma'am!" As soon as I did, I could feel the Angel switching tactics again. The banging on the Doctor's wall returned.

The Doctor spoke then,"Err, right. Ok then, good, you make sure to keep those eyes closed and we'll do the rest, understand Harry?"

Even with my eyes closed I still tried to give him a look as I flatly said, "You called me over to tell me to do nothing?"

"Err, no. I called you over cause I forgot that you needed to keep your eyes closed… and then I remembered."

I rolled my eyes, even if he couldn't see, it felt good. "Doctor, I can't see. That doesn't mean I can't do anything."

I heard the Doctor scratch his head. "Ok fine, when the lights go down, the wheel should release." He explained, grabbing my hands and placing them on the wheel to the door. "Spin it clockwise four turns."

He walked away then and called out to everyone, sonic screwdriver buzzing. "Ready!"

"On my count then." Octavian said. "God be with us all. Three, two, one. Fire!"

When lights went out and River, Amy, and I pulled at the wheel with everything we had as gunshots echoed in the corridor, flashes of light making it through even my closed eyes. There were shouts from the Doctor and Amy as the door started opening, but I couldn't hear them over the noise of the gunshots and the sound of the angry Angel in my head.

Thankfully, we all got through to the next corridor and dashed down to the next door, with River taking hold of my hand. The next door was far easier to open. Everyone managed to get in and from there, we rushed forward till I ran into something, presumably the console. Meanwhile, the clerics made a perimeter.

"Doctor!" Amy called out from beside him as I leaned against the panel with a hand on my head, eyes shut.

I knew why she was yelling but… she really didn't have to. Then I heard a clang as Octavian was probably putting a magnet on the slowly opening door. Funny how with my eyes closed like this, my hearing was better than before. Funny, and kind of cool… if not for the fact that my eyes were a bit more important at the moment.

"What're you doing?" Amy asked.

Octavian's voice rang out as he happily answered. "Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now."

"Yeeah, I wouldn't put that much faith in that thing." I said, pointing at the door as the wheel started turning, albeit slower than before.

"Dear God."

"I'm not really sure God has anything to do with this, Father. No offense." Though he didn't say anything verbally to me, I could feel like I was being glared at. Like I said, no offense but, I doubted that God brought me to this universe. I mean, why would he?

"Ah, now you're getting it." The Doctor chirped, ignoring my and Octavian's brief squabble as he moved around. "You've bought us time though. That's good. I am good with time."

"Doctor."

I heard another door start to open. Octavian quickly sent a cleric to magnetize that one which slowed that one down to a ticking clock speed.

"We're surrounded." River said as a third door was sealed.

"Doctor, how long have we got?" Octavian asked.

"Five minutes max."

'You know what? I think that keeping my eyes shut is actually working. Honestly I wasn't sure if the Angel would be able to work out another way to get past me, which it did of course with the whole headache and stuff but I thought for sure things would be way worse.

River spoke up then. "We need to find another way out of here."

"There isn't one." Octavian said.

"Always the pessimist Octavian." I said, with a sigh. "There's always another way, if you look hard enough."

"Spot on Harry! Of course there's another way. This is a galaxy class ship. Goes for years between planet falls. So, what do they need?"

River spun around. "Of course."

The Doctor snapped his fingers at her, but Amy was lost.

"Of course what? What do they need?"

Everyone ignored her as Octavian spoke. "Can we get in there?"

"Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow." He rushed over to a wall and knelt down to it's base. "This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps! Release the clamps!"

The clerics helped him move things aside before the Doctor used his sonic to release the clamps.

"What's through there?" Amy asked. "What do they need?"

"Amy, what do you need to live besides eat and drink?

"Well I mean obviously you need to breathe but what's that got to do with… oh." Amy fell silent and her jaw dropped as the Doctor smiled and the wall went up.

"That's… That's a…"

"It's an oxygen factory." River answered.

I shrugged at her. "I mean, sure, if you wanna be technical about it."

"Don't mope."

"Moping, who's moping? Not me, that's for sure. Not my fault you're not more fun."

"It's a forest." Amy finally said, still in shock.

"You see River? Now that's fun. You could learn a thing or two from Amy here."

"You're looking for a slap aren't you Harry?" River said with a laugh. "But if it makes you happy then yeah, it's a forest. It's also an oxygen factory."

I shook my head with a smile of my own as the Doctor spoke.

"And if we're lucky, it's an escape route." He said hopeful, before he turned back to the forest and clapped his hands.

"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture. We don't have time to get lost in there."

"On it." Octavian said, stepping into the forest. "Stay in there until I've checked the rad levels."

I sighed, moving towards the forest as well. "Trust me, it'll be fine. Besides, in the end, which one is worse? A bit of radiation or an army of Weeping Angels?"

I heard him take in a breath, like he was gonna argue… but after a moment he sighed. "Guess you have a point."

'Huh… I think that's the first interaction we've had without an argument.' I thought to myself as Amy asked about the forest on a spaceship.

"But trees? On a space ship?"

"Oh, more than trees. Way better than trees. You're going to love this." He said before walking away some and I heard him ripping something. Kinda like what you'd hear when pulling up grass or something similar. "Treeborgs! Trees, plus technology. Branches become cables become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"

"Oh yeah." She laughed and I nodded as well.

Suddenly I fell to my knees as another image of the Angel in my mind flashed behind my closed eyes.

"Harry? Are you alright?" The Doctor asked as he grabbed my arm and helped me back up.

I groaned, my head still ringing from what happened just then. After the ringing stopped I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what that was. It was like… like I got hit with a bus."

"Was it the Angel?" River asked from my other side.

"Well what else could it be?" The Doctor asked quite rudely.

I smacked his hand. "Oi. Calm down. I'm still alive aren't I?" Then he let go of my arm and put his hands on my head again. "What are you looking for?"

"The barrier I put in your head… it's breaking."

I almost opened my eyes at that. Almost. "What do you mean 'it's breaking'? I thought… I mean, can't you just fix it?"

"No, I can't. Well… not really. There's only so much I can do with your mind here. If I mess around too much I might inadvertently damage something and that would be far worse." Of course then Octavian interrupted, again, and spoke up from behind him.

"Doctor, there's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."

He turned to him briefly. "Oh, good. That's where we need to go."

"Plotting a safe path now."

"Quick as you like." The Doctor said.

"Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? A-Angel Bob here, sir." A voice came from his communicator and he wandered away as he pulled it out of his pocket and answered.

River grabbed my hand again and helped me follow after him. Eventually River helped me down into a chair. I sat there wondering what was gonna happen, heck, wondering about what was already happening inside my own head. I shook myself free of those thoughts as the Doctor spoke to Angel Bob.

"Ah, there you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve." Angel Bob said, not even slightly bothered.

"Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here. Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."

"Well, we've got comfy chairs. Did I mention?" The Doctor quipped.

"We have no need of comfy chairs."

"I made him say comfy chairs." The Doctor said, sounding quite happy with himself as Amy chuckled and I smiled along. I may have shook my head at him but, hey, I smiled.

At least that is until another powerful bang rang through my head again. "Ooh, ok that hurt." I said, as I rested my head in my hands.

Suddenly I heard the Doctor get up on his feet in a hurry as he spoke to Angel Bob in a rather, not so happy tone. "Okay, Bob, enough chat. Here's what I want to know. What are you doing to Harry?"

"There's something in his eye."

"What's in his eye?"

"We are. And we are not happy being locked away."

I groaned. "Well, at least we know that keeping my eyes shut is working."

"Not helping Harry." The Doctor said.

Angel Bob came back after that. "We shall take him. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."

The Doctor plopped back into the chair. "Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship and nowhere near that much."

"With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you understand."

There was a screeching sound that started up and I grabbed my head, the noise making the headache I'd had before, come back again.

"What is that? Dear God, what is it?"

"They're back."

The noise stopped and I sighed in relief as Angel Bob explained.

"It's hard to put it in your terms, Doctor Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing."

"Laughing?" The Doctor questioned.

"Because you haven't noticed yet, sir. The Doctor in the Tardis hasn't noticed."

"Doctor—" Octavian started, but the Doctor shushed him.

"No. Wait. There's something I've…" There was some kind of sound, one I assumed was the appearance of the crack on the wall. Even with my eyes closed I could see it. Or at least it's light. "…missed."

Someone, presumably the Doctor rushed over and pushed something up to the wall.

Then Amy spoke up again, with fear in her voice. "Doctor, that's… That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl."

"Yes."

"Okay, enough. We're moving out." Octavian said, moving to go as River nodded and grabbed my hand again.

I got up and walked with her as she spoke. "Agreed. Doctor?"

"Yeah, fine."

"What're you doing?!"

"Right with you." He continued, though not really paying any attention. By the sound of things anyway.

"We're not leaving without you." River said sternly.

I put my free hand on River's arm, just to get her attention. "We have to go River. Don't worry about the Doctor. He'll be fine."

There was silence again and I resisted the urge to open my eyes. "You swear?"

I raised a brow, confused about why she would ask me that, but nodded. "Uh… yeah sure, I swear."

She squeezed my hand in reassurance before speaking to Amy. "Come on, Amy."

"Doctor?!"

"Come on!" River called out as I opened my eyes again so I could run.

We hiked through the forest as fast as we could with me trying to keep my eyes closed as long as I could, but with the uneven terrain under my feet I could only keep them closed for so long till I had to open them just to see where I was going. Only thing was… every time I closed my eyes, it was becoming more and more of a struggle to open them again. It wasn't like I was tired or anything.

I didn't know what was happening but luckily I was still able to move along. That is until the Angel had worked up another bus to hit me with. The pain that came with that one was much worse than before. "Ahh!" I screamed as I fell to the ground where I curled into a ball and cradled my poor head.

"Harry?" River asked as she came over and put her hand on my arm. "Harry, what's wrong?"

I whimpered as my head throbbed in pain, closing my eyes even tighter. "My head."

"Med scanner, now." I heard River demand as Amy came over.

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know."

"Doctor Song." Octavian spoke up. "We can't stay here, we've got to keep moving."

I felt River lift my arm up and as she wrapped the med scanner around it. As she worked on me she told him, "We wait for the Doctor."

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angels. We should just leave him if that means we achieve—"

"Father Octavian." River snarled angrily at him, the first time I'd ever heard something like that come from her. Honestly I was almost glad I wasn't looking at her. "If anything were to happen to Harry, you can be sure that I would become a bigger enemy than the Angels. And when the Doctor is in the room, your one and only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me, it's not easy. Now, if he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself. And if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah."

"I hate you." She said, making me smile again.

"You don't. Bishop, the Angels are in the forest." He said, walking down towards me.

"We need visual contact on every line of approach."

"How did you get past them?"

"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe."

"What was it?" Amy asked.

"The end of the universe." He said, before reaching towards the med scanner. "Let's have a look then."

"What's wrong with him?" Amy asked and River shook her head.

"Nothing. He's fine."

"If that's what you think, River, then maybe it's a good thing you're a Doctor in archeology." I replied. I knew what was happening. "I'm dying again."

"Yes. You are." The Doctor confirmed.

"Doctor!" River scolded and he spoke angrily back.

"Yes, you're right. If we lie to him, he'll get all better. Right. Besides, this is Harry we're talking about. When have you ever seen him scared?"

"Quite a few times, thank you very much!"

'... that sounded… I'm not actually sure what that sounded like."

"Well why don't we ask him? Harry, are you scared?"

"Hmm… honestly? Just a little bit."

"See?" He said, basically ignoring what I said.

"Sir! Angel incoming." A cleric called out followed by another.

"And here."

"Keep visual contact. Don't let it move." Octavian ordered as the Doctor began pacing.

"Now, the headaches. What's that about? You said that the head aches weren't a thing in the show. That closing your eyes was supposed to help." He said, as he spoke through to Angel Bob on the communicator. "Bob? Why are they making his head hurt?"

"To put him in pain, sir."

The Doctor inhaled sharply at that. "Okay, but why? What for?"

"He made us mad, sir."

The Doctor got angry, ironically, and threw the communicator away. "Alright made us mad, that's what he said. Which must mean that keeping your eyes closed must be working. Only… the Angels must have found a way around that. The headaches… oh I am such an idiot!"

"Doctor?" I asked.

Then all of a sudden putting his hands on my head once again. "Don't mind me Harry, just checking on that wall I put in here."

"I think it's breaking down Doctor."

"Yes, I know. You've had some cowboys up in here haven't you?"

I could feel him roaming around my head. Slowly, the pain started to go away again, but nowhere near the same relief I felt when he did this the first time. Also, while he did this, the med scanner evened out.

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. "Ok, that's better, but I don't think we should move him. I'm not sure if that will help much but, if there's another attack like that, I'm not sure what I can do." The Doctor said.

"But Doctor, I thought you couldn't fix up the barrier if it broke?"

"Yes well… lucky for you, it didn't break. Only, it's not really holding together well."

That was when Octavian cut in again. "Doctor, we're too exposed here. We have to move on."

"We're too exposed everywhere." The Doctor said, sounding ever so slightly annoyed. "And Harry can't move. And anyway, that's not the plan."

"There's a plan?" River asked curiously.

"I don't know yet. I haven't finished talking. Right! Father, you and your Clerics, you're going to stay here, look after Harry. If anything happens to him, I'll hold every single one of you personally responsible, twice. River, you and me, we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is…" cue pause for dramatic affect. "a quarter of a mile straight ahead, and from there we're going to stabilize the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure Harry."

"How?" River asked.

"I'll do a thing."

"What thing?"

"I don't know. It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing. Moving out!"

That was when Octavian cut in. "Doctor, I'm coming with you. My Clerics will look after Mr. Harry. These are my best men. They'd lay down their lives in his protection."

The Doctor didn't like the sound of that. "I don't need you."

I cut in, hoping to keep the two of them out of their "Top dog" contest. "And I don't need the Clerics."

"Are you belittling my clerics Mr. Harry?" Octavian asked, sounding more than a bit displeased.

"No sir. All I'm saying is that you were angry with me earlier for not warning you. Well now? I'm warning you." If I could have opened my eyes to get that point across, I would have.

When Octavian spoke again, his tone was much softer. "What do you mean?" Though for him, that wasn't saying much.

I sighed, before speaking softly so the clerics wouldn't hear. "What I mean Octavian is that if your clerics stay here, they will suffer a fate worse than death. A fate I don't wish on anyone."

"I see… and what of you?"

"I'll be fine. With Amy."

"What?" Said person questioned… somewhat loudly.

The Doctor however stayed silent for a bit, almost like he was studying me. "Why Amy?"

I smiled. "This time I hate to say it Doc, but that would be some big spoilers. But basically, she has to be here for a bit. If she's not… well, I don't wanna think about what could happen."

"How big?"

I hummed. "Humongous.

"Will Amy be safe?"

"Yeah, will Amy be safe?" Amy asked worriedly.

I nodded. "Yeah, she'll be safe."

"Alright then. Any other tips for me?"

"Hmm… well, first thing is, trust River. There's more to her story than you know. And make sure to get inside as soon as you can."

"Gotcha." He said as he patted my shoulder.

Then Amy tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "You mind telling me exactly why I'm safer here, alone with you than with the Doctor, and five men with guns?"

'Well when ya put it like that, anything would sound dumber.' I sighed. "Remember what the Doctor said earlier? About me knowing stuff?"

"Yeah, I'm not really sure I believe that though."

I thought about it and had an idea. "Well here, how about you ask me where you were before coming here?"

"Okay, where was I?"

'Ok memory, don't fail me now.' "You were back in time with Winston Churchill, Daleks which you'd never heard of before, and a robot human who was a living bomb that you kept from exploding through the power of love."

"Woah… you really do know the future."

"Yeah, I do. So please trust me Amy when I say that you might actually be safer here than you would be with the Doctor."

Speaking of the Doctor. "Well that hurts. I can't believe you'd actually say something like that Harry."

"Ah! Doctor! I thought you were going? Did you forget something?"

The Doctor, future Doctor, was silent for a bit before he said to Amy, "Amy, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth."

"If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

"Doctor, the crack in my wall. How can it be here?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm working it out. Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?"

"What did you tell me?" She asked.

The Doctor sighed. "No. No, that's not the point. You have to remember."

A moment of silence passed before the Doctor grabbed my shoulder again. "Hello Harry."

I nodded back to him. "Hello Doctor. I can't believe you had two of those coats."

He laughed at that. "Two? I've got a whole closet of these." There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "You've always been quite clever haven't you? From the very beginning."

"Heh, being called clever by the Doctor? Well, I'm honored but… I'm pretty certain that's mostly cause of my foreknowledge. Without that I'm not really sure how much help I'd be."

"Don't say that Harry. You're one of the cleverest people I've ever had the privilege to know. Even if you haven't figured that out for yourself yet."

"Uhh… right. Sure thing Doc."

The Doctor let go of my shoulder and he was gone, with Amy calling after him, "Doctor? Remember what? What did you mean? Doctor?"

I knew Amy would go after him, especially since she could see him this time around. So I grabbed her shirt to keep her with me. "Please don't go."

My voice trembled and my hands shook, against my will. A moment passed and I felt a hand grab mine. "You're really scared aren't you?" Amy asked.

"Of course I am! I'm in the middle of a forest filled with Angels of death that I can't do anything against because I have to keep my eyes shut to avoid an immediate death. I'm terrified."

"I thought you knew what's going on? What's supposed to happen?"

I shook my head. "I do, for the most part at least. But I've changed things here. And I don't know what my own actions will do." A little while later Amy's grip on my hand tightened and I knew what it was.

"Angels?"

"Y-yeah. We're safe though right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We'll be fine."

Even though I said we were fine, I wasn't that sure about it. I'd said this before but things were different. Last time there were other people, soldiers were here.

Amy was quiet for a bit. And then, "Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"If you're so scared… then how are you doing any of this?"

I was just a little confused. "Sorry, I don't think I understand what you're talking about?"

"Oh come on. If everything was supposed to be fine, then you didn't have to keep me from getting the Angel in my head. You could have helped me after the fact. So why save me from something I would already survive?"

I understood then. "Hmm… that's a good question. Would you believe me if I said it was just instinct?"

"'Instinct'?"

"I knew you would be safe. I knew that in the end, you would be fine. But… why leave it at that? Rather than help with the aftermath of it all, I could prevent it entirely. Well, maybe not entirely since it seems to just have passed on to me, but still… you didn't have to go through this. I could stop it." After I said all that, since I couldn't see Amy's face, I think she squeezed my hand to show her thanks.

"What about now? You really feel safer with me than you would with the clerics?"

I smirked. "Amy, I would trust you with my life any and every day of my life."

"What? But we just met!"

My head shook in disagreement. "No, in reality we've just met. You forget, I know your future. And you are every bit as spectacular as the Doctor is."

"What?" She said incredulously, but afterwards considered it. "Really?" Amy asked in a somewhat smug tone.

"Don't go getting a big head. You're not perfect. But you are fantastic."

"If you're trying to keep me from getting a big head, then you are failing completely."

I laughed. "Well sorry about that. I'll try to do better in the future."

"Well don't rush on my account."

Before our conversation could continue, we heard what sounded like water bursting from a pipe. Even through my closed eyes, I could see the light from the tear in the fabric of the universe. I felt Amy get up but kept a firm grip on her hand.

"Amy. Don't get too close."

"But it's the same shape. It's the crack in my wall."

"Well… only sort of. It's not quite that simple."

"Then you explain it. Since you're so all knowing."

"One of these days. Somewhere in time, there'll be an explosion. One that'll be so big, that it will fracture reality, every moment in history will explode. And when it's over, nothing will have ever existed."

"Ok… so what happens if I get too close to it?"

"Hmm… it's kind of the same thing as when the tide washes over the sand. It will erase you. Everyone who's ever known you will forget you ever existed."

"Seriously? Alright, no getting near the cracks then."

"That's probably a good idea." It was then that I realized something. "Hey Amy? Do you happen to have one of the clerics' communicators?"

"Uhh… no? Why? Do we need one?"

"Uhh… hmm, no?" I really hoped we didn't need it anyway. If we did… well our situation would not be good.

"Was that an answer or a question?"

I decided to not answer that. Instead I got up and said to Amy, "We have to go. Do you know which way the others went?"

"Go? But the Doctor said-"

"The Doctor is not here right now. That light is going to spread through this place like a wildfire! If it touches you it will be a lot worse than if the Angels catch either one of us."

"Why, what happens if it touches us?"

"... we'll be erased from existence. No one from either of our lives will remember us. We will effectively… never have existed. Now, do you remember which way the others went?"

"Right, they went that way!"

I sighed and threw my hand up in the air, gesturing to nothing. And everything. "Are you pointing or something? I'm blind. You're gonna have to guide me."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Let's go!" Amy said, grabbing my hand and tugging me along.

I followed as best I could, but it wasn't easy. The first time I fell, Amy decided to slow down, despite my objections. Then all of a sudden I felt Amy's grip slip through my hand. I was so surprised that I tripped and fell to the ground.

"Amy? What's going on?" I asked as I stood up again. "Amy?" My voice was starting to show my fear as I tried to keep up pretenses and walked forward. Hoping beyond hope that the Angels around still thought I could see, I continued to walk forward. "Amy? Doctor? River? Anyone?"

A few more steps later and someone grabbed me. "Don't open your eyes. You're on the Flight Deck." River said.

My knees just about gave up on me when I heard her voice. "Oh thank goodness. Thank you River."

"You're welcome sweetie. Here, take a seat." River said as she sat me down. "Are you going to be alright?"

I took in a few deep breaths as I tried to calm myself. "Ye-yeah I'll be fine. I just need a little time."

"Sorry about the scare, the teleport only takes one at a time."

I huffed and said, "Who said I was scared? I wasn't scared. I-I wasn't…" River didn't say anything to that and soon an alarm went off making me jump. "What was that?"

"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means… the shield's going to release."

"And that's bad, yeah?" Amy asked.

And that was when I heard a mechanical door open. I could only imagine the practical army of Angels standing in front of us. It was almost lucky that I couldn't see them. To keep myself from losing it even more.

"Angel Bob, I presume." The Doctor addressed.

"The time field is coming." Angel Bob's voice rang out. "It will destroy our reality."

"Yeah, and look at you all, running away. What can I do for you?"

"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close, and they will be saved."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do. Could do that. But why?" The Doctor asked.

"Your friends will also be saved."

"Well, there is that."

River spoke to the Doctor, her tone somewhat panicked. "I've traveled in time. I'm a complicated space time event too. Throw me in."

"Oh, be serious. Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you, and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip."

River however was insistent. "Doctor, I can't let you do this."

This time I cut in as I grabbed whatever rails I could reach. "River? He literally means get a grip!"

"Oh, you genius."

"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now." Angel Bob said.

Now it was time for the Doctor's big speech. "Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship. Every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels."

An alarm sounded and I heard River say to Amy, "You hold on tight and don't you let go for anything."

"Night, night." Were the last of the Doctor's words as the gravity failed and the Angels fell back into the crack in time.

As soon as we hit the ground I smiled in relief and joy. "Oh ho, that feels so much better!"

"Harry? What are you doing?"

"It's fine Amy. The Angel that was in my head fell through the crack in time. It technically never existed. But I have a more important question. Where are the clerics and the Bishop?"

"Right behind you sir!"

When I turned around, my smile got even bigger when I saw the four clerics standing there. Alive. I sighed in relief upon seeing them. "It worked. What about the Bishop?"

The clerics looked uncomfortable upon hearing about the Bishop. "Bishop Octavian unfortunately fell before he could get to the safety of the flight deck."

I bowed my head in respect of Octavian's death. Regardless of how I felt about the man, I remembered how he died in the show. He died with honor, unafraid.

I was about to give my condolences for him, when all of a sudden my wrist started to burn. "Agh!" I groaned as I fell to my knee.

"Sir?"

"Harry? What's wrong?" Amy asked.

I grunted in pain as I held my wrist where the manipulator was. "I don't know, but this is how it felt before!"

Before I knew it, River grabbed my hand. "Harry, I know it's hard for you but you're going to be fine."

My breathing got more erratic. "But what's going on?"

"There's not much time Harry but to keep things brief, the manipulator uses up all its energy taking you through time."

I grit my teeth as the manipulator hit me with another wave of pain. "Is the pain always gonna be this bad?"

River winced. "No. I don't remember when exactly, but it does get better."

"Oh, well that's good. Guess I should take some kind of joy out of that." I gritted out. "I'm guessing I won't see you for a while."

"Spoilers."

I laughed. "Ok fine, be that way. See you around, River Song."

She smiled back. "See you around, Harry."

After that, the manipulator activated completely and I vanished from sight. Amy stared at where I was before she turned to the Doctor. "Where did he go?"

The Doctor thought about it and said, "To the past."