Warning: slight mention of tortures and PTSD.
Three people scream at him as he opens his eyes, scaring the hell out of the boy. "WHAT? WHAT?" He screamed, looking around as he's in a hallway that seems to be the one in a hotel. A really old one. "Is there a Sontaran?!"
"No! And what even is that?" A man with glasses frowns, brandishing his chair leg as a weapon. "Some conspiracy theory?"
"He-He-He's one of them! The kidnappers!" An alien looking man yelled, pointing at Arthur like he's a disgusting moss while taking a white handkerchief on his other hand. Arthur quickly recognizes him as a Tivoli, the same alien he met with the Scottish Doctor.
"Howie, Gibbis, be quiet," a woman wearing scrubs shook her head at the glasses man and the alien before slowly approaching Arthur, putting down her own chair leg. "I'm Rita. What's your name?"
"Arthur."
"That's a nice name. Like the name of a king," she smiles, checking his pulse. "Two separated pulses," she noticed.
"Uh, yeah," Arthur rubs his nose. "I recently turned into an alien."
"Recently?"
"I used to be normal." At least, having a normal human body. "But something… happened," he shivered, looking at the corner of the hallway. "And now I have two hearts and my look has completely changed."
The man with glasses, Howie, looks at the Tivoli, Gibbis. "Well, that makes two."
Arthur faintly hears the Tardis' landing. "He's here."
"Who's here?" Gibbis asked, afraid.
"My guardian," the boy replied as he ran…
But Rita stopped him by taking his hand. "It could be a trap!" She warned him.
"But—!"
"We should check," Howie suggested, gripping his chair leg as they're slowly walking toward the reception room. "Anything can happen. Anything."
The moment they hear a bell ringing, all three of them jump into the front, while Arthur simply walks in, finding the Doctor, Amy, and Rory trying to explain to them very quickly, which isn't helping at all and adding more chaos.
"Can you all be quiet?!" Arthur shouted, stopping everyone from keeping talking. "Thank you."
"Sunny?" The Doctor looked at him in shock, while Amy and Rory looked concerned at each other.
"Rita, be careful, yeah?" Howie warned.
"Their pupils are dilated," Rita pointed out. "They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."
"Oh, you're good. Oh, she's good, isn't she, Sunny?" the Doctor gazes at Arthur with a smile, surprising Arthur once again. He's being friendly and calls him Sunny. He didn't do that last time. "Amy, with regret, you're fired."
"What?" Amy repeated.
"I'm kidding," he joked, winking at Arthur and looking at Gibbis. "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli."
"Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called Glory To Insert Name Here," Gibbis denoted.
"You with the face, Howie, you said you were surprised to be back in reception."
"The walls move, everything changes," Howie shared.
"You, clever one, what's he talking about?" The Doctor asked as he turns around.
"The corridors twist and stretch, rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else," Rita explained. "It's like the hotel's alive."
"That's quite enough of that," he mumbled and switched off the radio.
"And it's huge, with, like, no way out," Howie added.
"Have you tried the front door?" Rory asked.
"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door," Rita replied sarcastically. "Thank God you're here!"
Amy laughs at Rita's response as Arthur curiously opens the door nearby, sighs when he sees a white brick wall. "Wonderful," he muttered.
The Doctor scans the brick wall. "They're not doors, they're walls, walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or 'dwalls', 'woors' even, though you'd probably got it when you said, 'They're not doors.' I mean, the windows are…"
"Same," Arthur interjected, showing him the window that is also covered with a brick wall. He glances at the Doctor. "Why are you nervous?"
"Me? Nervous? Nonsense, Sunny," he waves his hand, but even Arthur can see the occasional flinches on his movements.
"And you call me Sunny. When we were in Pandorica, you called my name, not my nickname. Only River called me Sunny."
"I started to like that name."
"Are you purposely avoiding my questions?" Arthur frowns, looking at Amy and Rory as well. "And you two as well."
"Sunny," the Doctor held his left shoulder, looking pleading to him. "I will tell you after this. I promised. Your future self makes sure of it. Can we… Can we just focus on our situation? Please?"
Arthur wants to say no. He wants so hard to make the Doctor tell him what's going on. He had been following his orders and instructions for almost a year now. He deserves some truth, not a half-ass lie. "Fine," he finally said. "You better tell me. Or I'll never talk to you again."
He notices the quick flashes of hurt in his eyes. But the Doctor nods. "I'm going to tell you." He glances at Rita. "Anything else?"
Rita looks nervous after hearing some personal conversation between these two. "The rooms in here, they have...things in them."
"Things?" The Doctor immediately beamed up. "Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone."
"Bad dreams."
Something grabbed him in a dark room, chaining him as something slice on his chest. He screams immediately being cut by someone's mouth. He can feel something injecting his hand and his head throbbing with more pain.
Arthur takes a deep breath and quietly counts numbers to calm down.
"Well, that killed the mood. How did you get here?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know, I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."
"I was blogging," Howie remarked, "next thing, this."
"Oh, I was at work, I'm in town planning," Gibbis answered. "We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade."
"I just arrived here, coming after your future," Arthur shared, trying to not tense up when looking at the Doctor.
"Arthur, are you panicking?" Rory suddenly asked.
"I'm just afraid, that's all," the boy assured him. The last he needs is freaking out over delusional images in his mind. "The hotel reminds me of The Shining," he reasoned with a smile that he tries to convince them all, but looking at everyone's face, it's clearly not work.
The Doctor shook his head. No. Arthur can't stay here any longer. He needs to take him and the others back to the Tardis, where he can calm and go away from this place. "I can take you all back. Come on."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"We'll pop back to the Tardis," he told them as they all walked upstairs. "I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, then we'll have a sing song. Isn't that great, Sunny?"
Arthur smiles, but then frowns. "Doctor, where's the Tardis?"
"You parked it there, didn't you?" Amy pointed out.
"What's a Tardis?" Howie frowns.
"Our way out," Rory mumbled as he held his head in his hands. "And it's gone."
Arthur looks behind. "The song's playing," he whispered.
"Okay. This is bad," the Doctor admitted. "At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good. Are there any more of you?"
"Joe, but he's tied up right now," Rita replied.
"Doing what?"
"No, I mean he's…tied up right now."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
They all enter the dining room very slowly. Arthur finds one man, Joe, tied up in a chair at one of the tables, his face looking distant, as if dreaming. All around him, seated at every table, are identical ventriloquist dummies. They are all laughing while their heads are bobbing.
They stop as the Doctor approaches. "Hello. I'm the Doctor."
"You're going to die here," Joe said, sounding hallucinate.
"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure," he remarked, taking a chair and sitting across from Joe. "Is Joe there? Can I have a quick word?"
"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon… he shall feast."
"Well, you've been here 2 days, what's he waiting for?"
"We weren't ready. We were still raw."
"But now you're what? Cooked?"
"If you like. Soon you will be, too. Be patient. First… find your room."
"What for?" Arthur demanded, standing behind Rita while looking afraid at him. He didn't like any of this, as if he's going to open some memories he had forgotten.
"Because you will be free." He smiles wildly. "Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things. I used to hate them! They make me laugh now," he laughed while singing. ""Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!'" Arthur shivers as the dummies laugh with Joe before stopping as Joe adds, "You should go. He'll be here soon."
The Doctor stands up, takes a hand dolley and slides it under Joe's chair. "I think you should come with me," he suggested.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor, Amy, Rory, Arthur, and Rita are standing on the guest side of the counter, while Howie and Gibbis are on the employee side with Joe, who's still tied in his chair, looking more manic than before.
"Why you four?" The Doctor looks at them as Arthur switches off the radio. "That's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other things I don't understand."
"What does it matter?" Gibbis remarked. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."
"First, we find the Tardis," the Doctor said and added, "Quick thing before we go. If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all times."
"Joe said 'he' will feast," Rita remembered. "Is there something here with us?"
Joe starts laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" Arthur asked, sensing something… bad.
"Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head, little boy," he sang. "Chop, chop, chop, chop."
"Can we do something about him?" Howie asked as Joe kept laughing.
Arthur takes a tape from his backpack. "I have these," he shared, shrugging as Howie takes it and uses it on Joe's mouth.
"I don't even want to know how," Rory decided to say as they walked into the hallway, with Gibbis pushing Joe using the hand tolley.
"There's more inside," Arthur said as the Doctor held his hand. "But it's usually for survival." He stops for a moment, realising Delaney's not here. "Where's Delaney?"
"Oh, she's in Messaline," Amy answered. "With Claudia."
"She's not regularly with you?"
"No, but once or twice, she'll be with us. Sometimes with Claudia too," the Doctor replied. "When was the last time you saw us?"
"Back in Pandorica, with Delaney and River," Arthur frowns again. "I was in the Tardis, going to look at you, then…" he tries to remember what happens next. He recalls he was in Amy's house, in her garden… and the next thing he remembered, he was with the two men who helped him before the Doctor came.
A chill suddenly runs into his body.
There's a huge gap between those two events.
Something had happened to him, something he can't remember, yet left him dreadful and fearful.
…Why can't he remember?
"Arthur?"
He blinks. "Yeah?" He reacted, noticing the worried look on the Doctor. "I'm good. I'm just… drifting."
The Doctor glances at Amy and Rory. Amy nudges her head, signalling the Doctor to tell him the truth, while Rory gives a warning look, knowing the consequences of telling someone something that's dangerous. "Stay close with me," he advised the brunette boy.
Suddenly, the door to room 158 opens and a PE teacher steps out in front of them.
"Hello," he greeted,
"Have you forgotten your PE kit again?" He yelled, directing not at the Doctor, but at Rory. "Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!"
Rory flinches as the teacher goes back into the room and shuts the door behind. "I'm good," he told everyone, looking at Amy with a nod.
The Doctor turns around in time to see Howie reaching towards a door. "Hey! Don't!" He yelled, tried to push him away, but he's already opened the door.
Inside are six young women chatting, between high school or college age, likely having a slumber party. They laugh when they see him.
"Oh, look, girls, it's H-H-H-Howie!" A blonde woman with blue clothes leered.
"What's "loser" in K-K-K-Klingon?" A girl in white top tank uttered as the laughs continued.
Howie backs away from the door. "Shut the d-d… the-the door!" He stuttered as the Doctor closed the door. "This is just some… m-m-messed-up CIA stuff, I-I-I'm telling you."
The Doctor puts an arm around his shoulders and pats him on the chest. "You're right," he assured him, clinging his other hand to Arthur's. "Keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more."
As they walk away, they hear a growling. Both Howie and Arthur look back over his shoulder. Curious, the Doctor looks back as well, but keeps dragging Howie and Arthur away from that noise as they take a stair to go up.
As they take another hallway, the Doctor walks down the hall, still holding Arthur's hand as he feels the wallpaper, tapping the light sconces and feeling the plaster where it's been scraped off low beams.
Arthur spots a note on the floor. Before he reads it, he hears the same growl from before. His eyes notice Joe strains against his bonds and quickly puts the note on his hoodie's pocket.
"Okay, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?" Amy asked again.
"No, no, I'm sure it isn't, but just in case, let's run away and hide anyway. In here," the Doctor suggested, taking Amy, Arthur, Howie, and Gibbis into another room that has 10.5 on the front door.
"Rory!" Arthur gestures to him to come inside. "Come on!"
Rory seems reluctant, but finally runs to him and enters the room. Arthur quickly shuts the door, and freezes when he turns around.
Inside the room, there's several aliens with an octopus head, wearing a suit, standing in front of everyone inside.
"It's the Silence," Rory realised.
They look directly at everyone, reaching its arm, pointing it precisely at Arthur. "You can't escape us," it declared, as Arthur's own hearts began to beat loud. "You'll always be here. Nobody will rescue you. Not even your parents will."
Electrocution in his chest… injection of poisons in his vein… stabbing on his legs… burning sensation on his entire body… more blood loss… more pain…
"Praise him," a voice enters his mind. "Praise him."
He feels somebody shakes him. "Arthur, look at me," Rory pleaded. He looks at him. "It's not real. It's just a nightmare."
"It's not," Arthur shook his head. Tears coming out of his eyes. "It's real, Rory. It happened to me. I don't know why, but they… hurted me."
"In the past, not now." Rory takes Arthur's hand. "What can you feel?"
"Your hand, holding mine."
"Good. What else do you feel?"
More injections. More slicing in his body. No, no. That's in the past. "My tears," he said quietly. "My own backpack in my back."
Rory smiles. "Do you know where you are?"
"Uhm," Arthur takes a slow breath as Rory quietly takes Arthur away from his room. "Stuck in a hotel that looked like the one from The Shining. We're… not hiding?"
"That's right," Rory assured him. "Do you feel better?"
"A bit," he replied shortly. "Where is everyone?"
Rory shrugs. "Let's find out."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Rite comes through with a tea tray and pours a tea to Arthur. "Help yourself to tea," she offered and the boy kindly took it.
"Thank you," he smiles as he drinks it, while sitting on the bar beside Amy, who's watching Gibbis as he's sitting at a table.
"Joe was right. Whatever it is in here, it actually wants to kill us. Not oppress us or enslave us, kill us!" He yelled.
Amy quickly joins him at the table. "Okay, listen... The Doctor's been part of my life for so long now, and he's never let me down. Even when I thought he had, when I was a kid and he left me, he came back, he… saved me. And now he's going to save you. But don't tell him I said that, because the smugness would be terrifying."
"If those creatures were meant for that boy," he looks at Arthur. The boy turns around as he continues, "then your room is still out there… somewhere."
"Every time the Doctor gets pally with someone, I have this overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin," Rory commented as he stands behind Amy, while also keeping an eye on the boy.
Amy glances at Arthur. "What was that?" Amy whispered, genuinely scared when Arthur didn't react and kept staring at the Silence with his heavy breathing, almost giving the Doctor a panic.
"Most likely PTSD," Rory guessed. "But I'm not a therapist or psychiatrist. I just know some theories. He needs an actual one."
"Thank God you stayed and helped him. Who knows what the Doctor will do next if Arthur stays like that."
Rory had seen the way the Doctor reacted when Amy got kidnapped and the way he glares at the woman who's responsible for it. He can only watch the fury in his eyes, ready to hunt down anyone who harms the people he cares for. He didn't want to see it again. "He's still far from Demons Run," Rory mumbled sadly. "We can't even tell him."
"But Future Arthur—"
"He specified that the Doctor said it to him. Not us, not River, not even Delaney. The Doctor."
"Still!" Amy hissed, and didn't like the notion of keeping more secrets. Especially with Arthur.
As Arthur puts down the cup, he puts his hands on the hoodie's pockets. His left hand grabs a note he found before. "'My name is Lucy Hayward, and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived.'"
"What are you reading?" Amy asked, approaching the boy and getting everyone's attention on him.
"A note. From someone here," Arthur shared before continuing reading. "'It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realise it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others, and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him.'"
"Praise him."
"Praise him. Praise him. Praise him."
Arthur winces as the voice speaks more loudly.
"What did you just say?" The Doctor looks at Howie.
"Nothing," he responded, trying to hold himself. "Praise him!" He quickly claps his hands over his mouth.
"This is what happened to Joe!" Gibbis pointed out and caused everyone to talk at once.
The Doctor holds the sonic above his head and activates it. Everyone stops arguing and puts their hands over their ears. "Thank you!"
"Don't you see? He'll lead it right here!"
"What do you suggest?" Rita asked.
"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now...tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying, if it were to... find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go. All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?!" Gibbis commented before sitting down.
"You saw the result with Joe," Arthur stated, shoves his hands in his hoodie's pockets. "The creature is still chasing us."
"So what? We can try again! It might work!"
The Doctor walks over to him and whispers. "Your civilisation is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Well, not today. No-one else dies today. Right?"
"Yes."
"Brilliant," he smiles and patting his shoulder before approaching Howie, puts an arm about his shoulder, and leads him back to the table. "Howie, any second, it's going to possess you again. When it does, I'm going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them."
They all sit at the table, keeping an eye on Howie.
"I hope my mum's all right, she's going to be w-worried," he hoped as his eyes changed and his expression morphed into happiness.
"Howie... Howie," the Doctor called. "Howie, you're next, we're all dead jealous, so tell us… How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"
"You guys have got all these distractions," he chuckles and taps his head, "all these obstacles," he glances at Arthur, "It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know, clear the path. It'll be fine, kiddo. Really."
"You want it to find you? Even though you know what it's going to do?" Amy asked as the voices got bigger in Arthur's mind, hurting him.
"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all! How cool is that?!"
They walk away from the table, leaving him alone.
"It's as I thought, it feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us," the Doctor realised, looking at Arthur briefly before looking at everyone. "So we have to resist it. Do whatever you have to, cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."
"Okay, but what are we actually going to do?" Amy probed a question
The Doctor turns around. "We're going to catch ourselves a monster."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Outside Pasiphae Spa, Arthur grips his mop beside Rory, who also grips a mop, while hiding near a back door.
They still can hear Howie's voice echoing. "Bring me death! Bring me glory! My master, my lord, I'm here! Come to me. I'm waiting here for you. He has promised me a glorious death. Give it to me now. I want him to know my devotion. Praise him. Praise him."
"Rory, Arthur, he's in!" Amy shouted.
Both of them quickly block the back door with their mop. The light inside the spa suddenly went down as the monster entered, knocking some stuff inside.
"His love was a beacon that led me from darkness to light, and now I am blinded by his majesty. Humbled by his glory! Praise… him."
Both of them hear a muffled voice and a roar inside. Seems like the Doctor tries to talk to the creature. Then, they hear Howie's voice, much clearer. "My master, my lord. I'm here!" He shouted.
"Shoot!" Arthur curses as the creature smashes a glass door near them and knocks Rory down. Arthur quickly closes his eyes the moment he hears the growling of the creature.
The voice speaks again. "Praise him."
The creature snarls before walking away. The boy leans against the wall, terrified beyond death as the Doctor walks to Arthur. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He frantically asked him, inspecting his arms and legs.
"I'm fine," he nods, still shaking.
"Somebody hit me," Rory muttered. "Was it Amy?"
The Doctor chuckles and takes Arthur with him. They both went downstairs, heading into the hallway where they spotted Howie's glasses.
"Holy crap," Arthur muttered as his brown eyes spotted Howie's lifeless body, kneeling on the floor, leaning against the wall.
The Doctor kneels beside him, puts his glasses in his hand before gently patting his face. They both look up when Amy, Rory, and Rita come running down the hall. The Doctor shakes his head as Gibbis slowly appears at the opposite end of the hall.
"He got free. He overpowered me," he reasoned.
"Shut the hell up," Arthur growled, putting on his hood as he and others stride back.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor's looking at Howie's picture on the wall when Rory joins him. "Thank you."
Rory glances at him. "For what?"
"Staying with Sunny."
"Well, you wanted to chase it, to stop it from taking Joe. I thought it would be better to stay there and help him," Rory looks at Howie's picture. "You know, Howie had been in speech therapy. He'd just got over this massive stammer. What an achievement. I mean, can you imagine? I'd forgotten, not all victories are about saving the universe."
The Doctor leans back against the stair rail. "Yeah," he agreed, before sighing. "Maybe that's what I need now."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Here you go, kiddo," Rita pours another tea at Arthur with a smile.
"Thanks."
"I need to look for the Doctor. Stay here, okay?"
"Okay." Arthur stares at Gibbis who's staring at the goldfish. "Don't eat it," he warned.
"I… I didn't!"
"That's why I told you not to."
Amy and Rory enter the hall. "Hey, where's Rita?" Amy asked.
"She said she needed to look for the Doctor," Arthur replied, taking a sip of the tea.
"We better find her. Stay here."
As they leave, he receives a vision.
Rita enters room 331 and picks a phone. "Hello, Doctor," she said.
"Rita, where are you going? Can you take the phone into the corridor? Will it reach?" Rita walks back to the hallway. "You started to praise it, didn't you?" Rita nods. "Rita, come back. Please. We'll find a way to stop it, I swear to you."
Rita gets down on the floor as she's replying, "No, I need to get as far away from you all as possible. Especially Arthur."
"No, you don't. The creature only wants whoever's praising it. It won't harm him."
"You'll put yourself in its way?"
"I'm coming to get you. Block out the fear and stay focused on your belief."
"The hotel will keep us apart. I could be 50 miles away by now. I want you to do me one last favour, Doctor. I can feel the rapture approaching, like a wave. I don't want you or Arthur to witness this. I want you to remember me the way I was."
"Rita. Rita, please. Let me find you," he begged.
"You stay where you are. Please, let me be robbed of my faith in private."
Arthur gasped as the vision shut down.
It got Rita.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Arthur flinches again as the Doctor smashes everything inside the hall. Amy and Rory can only sit down on the bar, letting the Doctor venting his frustration
After he calms down, the Doctor pacing around. "Okay. It preys on people's fear and possesses Rita wasn't afraid, she was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."
"Yes. You keep saying that, but you never do. And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next!" Gibbis remarked.
"Look, he'll work it out, he always does. Just let him riff and move anything expensive out of his way," Amy assured him,
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no," the Doctor muttered
"Doctor, what is it?" Arthur frowns, the voices whispering to him.
"It's not fear, Sunny. It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something," he revealed, walking over to the middle table. "Howard believed in conspiracies, external forces controlling the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe. He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose," he moves between the tables. "Gibbis rejected personal autonomy and is waiting for the next batch of invaders to tell him what to do. They all believe there's something guiding them, about to save them. That's what it replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear, they fell back on their most fundamental faith." Slowly, he sits on the barstool and runs his eyes. "And all this time, I've been telling you to dig deep. Find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith. Show them what they needed."
"But why us? Why are we here?"
"It doesn't want you. That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on."
"It wants me."
Everyone slowly looked in the direction of the little boy. "It wants me and Amy," he added. "Amy's faith in the Doctor. That's what brought the Tardis here. While mine…" Arthur shook his head, slowly realising what it meant. "I'm not sure. But they all hinted at it."
The Doctor stands up. "Who?"
"Joe, Howie, and Rita. Joe answers my question. I know that's weak reasoning, but Howie and Rita said something similar. Howie told me to let the thought cloud my mind and I recently got a vision where Rita told you that she needs to stay away from everyone, especially me."
"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping…'it'?" Rory asked, glancing at Arthur worrily.
The Doctor kneels at him, looking at him. "It needs to convert the faith into a form 'it' can consume. Faith is an energy, the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live. Which is why at the end of her note, Lucy said…"
"Praise him."
"Exactly."
All of them stare at Arthur, who had blurted out the two words. Arthur wildly looks at them before he runs away.
"Sunny! Wait!" The Doctor shouted as he ran as fast as he could.
"Just leave him!" Gibbis insisted and Amy proceeded to punch him in the face, knocking him over the table.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Room 10.5, room 10.5," he mumbled, searching for his room as the roaring of the beast could be heard.
Arthur finally finds it, opens the door, and he watches a scene in front of him.
He remembers.
"Sunny!" The Doctor yelled as he entered the room, Amy and Rory followed behind. They both hold the door as the beast tries to enter the room.
"Is that…?" Amy muttered, looking at the scene with wide eyes.
A woman with an eyepatch and dark dress is standing on a booth that looks like a gas chamber. She holds a device in her hand as two Silence hold a boy in their hands. His face had several scars on the left side. His legs also had some scars, most of it from stabbing. He looks awfully thin beneath his messy, blonde hair.
"That's… Kovarian," Amy whispered.
"You've been very troubling for 6 months," she alleged, sounding disappointed as Arthur Jonas, the First Arthur, gets tossed inside the chamber. "And here I thought we can use you for better. You're just… nothing."
"Doctor, what is this?! Why's Arthur there?!"
"This is the past," he revealed, too horrific to witness.
"Such a shame we can't train you," she sighs, but one can tell she's never meant it. "But I guess I can take what was left." She touches the device as a toxic gas fills the chamber. Then, out of nowhere, she glances at Present Arthur, who's shaking, watching his old self slowly get poisoned and lead to his own death. "Useless. Till the end. No wonder everyone never came to see you. Even your parents abandoned you, left you by yourself all these years. They all must hate you, maybe disgust, of having a boy like you."
The Doctor can't take the insult any longer. He grabs the shaken boy away from his tormentor and looks at his eyes, ready to tell him to start believing in those words, that his parents hate him, that everyone never loves him…
When he noticed how Arthur had started crying, his chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, his hands stayed still on his side, and… his defeat expression beneath his cry.
"Sunny," the Doctor slowly says, "you truly believe her words, don't you?"
He's still shaking and crying, but he nods. "I didn't want to believe it. But she… she's right," he lamented. "My parents never came to see me. You never told me everything. I tried to be patient, to not ask anything." His eyes went wet. "To believe that my parents truly love me. But… you're just lying to me, aren't you?"
The Doctor shook his head, didn't believe the confession this boy had said out loud. His mind flashes all the accusations, the snarky comments, the anger and hatred he had on him. "Why on earth do you think I lied to you about your parents?"
"Because you're trying to protect me from the truth, that my parents never want me around, and toss me to you. Why else have you never told me about them?" He reasoned, took a breath, looking away from the Doctor.
The beast already breaks the door, forcing Amy and Rory to hold the door much longer.
"Sunny, I promise you, that's not the truth," the Doctor gently said. "Your parents… they loved you so much when you were born. You were their greatest gift… and it hurt them that they… they had to send you away." As he said that, tears started to come out as well. "Sunny, I am so sorry that I have caused you this pain." He hugs him, caresses his brown hair, startles the boy by that gesture. "I often cursed myself for this life, for destroying Gallifrey… and hating you. I shouldn't let my ego get me. I wish I could rewrite time and restart everything. You can hate me, Sunny. I don't mind you hate this idiot old man for the confusion and hatred he had caused, past or future. I know I deserved it."
He let go of Arthur, wiping his tears. "I just want you to know that I love you, and your mother loves you as well. And I'm sorry for burdening you. You're the best thing I ever had," he added, kissing his forehead. "My only regret is never being a good father to you."
Arthur starts crying again as the creature staggers away. He let him on his shoulder, letting out all the emotions he had kept. For one brief moment, the Doctor feels relief. Relief that this child knows who his father is. That he is beloved and he is cherished forever.
But soon, the relief turns into pain as he brightens up, disappears in his arms, and jumps somewhere in his timeline. Once again, the universe is never kind.
Note: Confirmed! Yes, the Doctor IS the father of Arthur Jonas. But this doesn't mean things will turn fine for both of them. They still have issue to deal with and this is just the beginning.