Here's the next chapter! Let me know what you think. Brain has been bouncing around again and doesn't know what it's into at the moment.


"Doctor?" A red-headed woman called out, making me lift my head and get up off the man I'd inadvertently tackled.

I opened my mouth to say something but River pulled me aside and pointed out the open Tardis doors.

"Follow that ship! Fallon, the doors please," she said and I closed them as she ran to the console with the man in a tweed coat. "They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them. Stay close."

"I'm trying."

I grabbed hold of the railing as River bickered with him, glancing around the Tardis with a frown. It's different. More orange lighting, no green center, no more tree-like pillars… but a hell of a lot more of those circular bits.

"What are they called?" I asked out loud, drawing the attention of the tweed-wearing man as the Tardis stopped shaking violently. "The circle bits."

He gaped, stunned before pointing at one. "The circle bits? You're seriously asking about the circle bits and not—" He cut himself short, making me raise a brow.

"What? Is there something else I should be asking about? Or, well, suppose I should be asking someone else. Where's the Doctor? He might have an answer for me since you obviously don't have a clue."

"Wha—I know what they are!"

"Then, what are they called?" I pressed, feeling a hint of familiarity with how our light bickering was going. "Come on then, Mr. Smarty-Pants. Give me a name."

"I-I… Well… T-They're just circle things! Why do they need a name!"

I snorted, shaking my head. "Yeah, all right. Don't get your knickers in a twist. River? Where have we landed and who's the kid in his dad's jumper?"

The man gaped, offended as River gave me a smile from over her shoulder.

"I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside," she explained, turning back to the controls. "And that is the Doctor."

I blinked as those words struggled to make sense. "Yeah, sorry, what?"

"Hold on," the red-headed girl cut in. "How come she can fly the Tardis?"

"You call that flying the Tardis? Ha!" The Doctor scoffed before turning his frown on River. "And 'parked us'? We haven't landed!"

"Of course, we've landed. I just landed her," River countered and they began to bicker again about environmental checks, but I was still lost.

"Wait, no. Hold on," I interrupted, grabbing the man who was near me by the door and pulling him over to point at him. "This is the Doctor?"

River rolled her eyes, though there was a twinkle of amusement as she answered. "Yes."

I turned to him. "You're the Doctor?"

He shuffled awkwardly, avoiding my gaze but nodded. "Yes."

My brows furrowed as I let him go thinking. "Which one?"

"Sorry?"

"Which one are you? For me, I mean. I've met you before, right? You're familiar somehow but I forget. I traveled with the skinny one with the sex hair last. Are you before or after him?"

"Sex hair?" River teased, and I pointed a finger at her with a scowl.

"Shut up."

She held up her hands in mock surrender as the redhead spoke up.

"You've traveled with the Doctor?"

"Yeah, you're not the first chick he's dragged into his snog box, kid. Don't get excited," I replied.

"Kid?" She screeched and I waved a hand at her.

"Not the point. So?" I asked the Doctor who was still avoiding my gaze. "Which one are you?"

"You… You won't be happy with me," he muttered, making me roll my eyes.

"Yeah, because that never happens. Come on. Spit it out. What's the worst that could happen?"

He winced before finally facing me and speaking up, his voice tight with worry. "I'm… I'm the Doctor right after him."

My lips turned down into a frown. "How do you mean?"

"What I mean is… is I'm… Well, I'm from maybe a few days after I left you?" He managed to say, cringing as he waited for my reaction.

It took a second to process what he meant. The fact that the man standing before me was not only the same Doctor who'd left me after the Master but also that he'd only spent a few days—on his end—away from me. It had been months for me but he'd not only died and changed faces but also picked up a new companion, who wasn't the least bit phased by what was happening. Meaning, that he'd left me, found a replacement, and already took her on a few adventures without a thought about me.

A hint of bitterness and betrayal welled up in me for a moment. I'd thought we were friends when we got split up. More than that, I thought I'd started to possibly feel something for him. I hadn't stopped thinking about him since he left and sure, part of that was because he'd left me but then uneasiness and concern were every bit as important as that tiny amount of pain… and now this.

I want to hit him, I realized, my nails digging into my palm as my teeth ground tightly together. I want to smack him so hard that he doesn't know which way is up. But instead, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a second before opening them and spitting out as much hatred as I could.

"Fuck you."

And I stormed out of the Tardis.


"Fallon. Fallon!" The Doctor called out, starting to head after her as she rushed out of the Tardis but River grabbed him by the arm.

"Let's give her a minute, shall we?"

He jerked away from River, turning back to the doors but didn't try to head after her. River was right about that. Fallon needed a moment to sort herself out and he needed a moment to figure out what to say when he went out to explain. He ran a hand through his hair and down his face as River hummed.

"Right then, Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Why did they land here?"

"They didn't land," the Doctor informed her.

"Sorry?"

"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed."

River hurried out to see and the Doctor sat down in the jumpseat as Amy eyed him.

"Explain. Who are they and how did they do that museum thing?" She demanded.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it. For River, anyway," he replied. "And Fallon is… an even longer story."

He considered leaving. River wanted him for something he had no part in but if he did leave, then Fallon would be even more upset with him than she was now. Even if I brought her with us… Damn.

"River is my future," he informed Amy. "I would love to run off if I could but… but I can't leave Fallon even if she is upset with me."

"Can you run away from your future?" Amy questioned in disbelief.

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me."

"But Fallon is?"

The Doctor opened his mouth but winced, reaching up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Who is she, Doctor?" Amy pressed, suspicious now.

"She is… my friend," he finally admitted, though that didn't even begin to explain who she was to him. "And I… might have made a mistake recently. I left her behind before… I only meant to leave her for a moment."

"Yeah, two years?" Amy reminded him with a scoff before he shook his head, clearing up his thoughts for now.

"I just need to explain things. Come along, Pond. There's a planet outside."

The two walked out of the Tardis and stared up at the smoking ship half embedded in the surrounding rock cliff. Bits of fiery debris were scattered around the beach and Fallon was sitting off on a rock with River standing nearby, both staring up at the ship themselves. The Doctor hesitated but headed over, catching Fallon's gaze before she glared and turned away. Right… I've got a lot of explaining to do if I'm going to fix this.

"What caused it to crash?" Amy asked, knowing there was tension between the people there but trying to ease it by satisfying her curiosity.

"Not me," River replied as the Doctor waved her off.

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."

"A phase shift would have to be sabotage," River concluded. "I did warn them."

"About what?"

River ignored his question—which was mildly frustrating—bringing out a communicator. "Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries."

The Doctor glanced over at Fallon, wondering if he could find a way to get her by herself to talk as Amy gave him a look.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Amy Pond, Professor River Song—"

"Not yet," Fallon grumbled as River gasped.

"I'm going to be a Professor someday, am I? How exciting. Spoilers," she chimed with a grin as the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"And Fallon."

"Just Fallon?" Amy asked, getting a brief glance from the woman.

"Just Fallon… unless you want to try and say the entirety of the name that idiot gave me."

"Fallongalatikosdorhnii," the Doctor informed Amy, leaving her to mouth the name with furrowed brows. "And I thought you liked it."

"I still use it, don't I?" Fallon said shortly. "You're lucky I bother to remember it, but it's only been a few years. I could always forget if you ditch me long enough."

The Doctor winced as she got up. "Fallon—"

But she wandered off to stuff her hands in her pockets and look out over the ocean instead, putting space between them as the Doctor groaned and Amy raised a brow.

"Yeah, what'd you do to upset her? Other than leaving her, obviously."

"I was trying to keep her safe!" He complained tossing a hand in Fallon's direction. "And obviously there's been some miscommunication."

River snorted, tapping away on her communicator. "Bit more than that, sweetie."

"Okay, but then who are you?" Amy asked River. "How did you just leave a note for him in a museum?"

"Two things are always guaranteed to show up in a museum. The Home Box of a category four starliner and sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score."

"I know," Amy said with a smile, having guessed that earlier.

"It's hilarious, isn't it?"

"Ha, ha. I'm nobody's taxi service. I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship," the Doctor snipped as River shot him a look.

"And you are so wrong. Besides, you never know. I might have Fallon with me next time too, and then what? You just don't show up? Please, you're a sucker for her and we both know it."

The Doctor flushed, scrambling to try and say something but she changed the topic instead.

"There's one survivor, by the way. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die," she said, looking him over again as he stiffened. "Now he's listening."

She stepped away to use her communicator before glancing back at him.

"Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

He did, begrudgingly, and Amy was quick to tease him.

"Ooh, Doctor, you sonicked her."

He wrinkled his nose in disgust as River wandered back over and pulled out her blue diary.

"We have a minute. Shall we? Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

Amy edged closer to her, curiously. "What's the book?"

"Stay away from it," the Doctor told her, making her frown.

"What is it though?"

"Her diary."

"Our diary," River corrected.

"Her past, my… future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order."

"It's only the second time we've met, River," Fallon called out from her spot on the beach before four armed military men were teleported down, making Fallon frown.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," the leader said as he approached.

"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor," River said, introducing them. "And you've already met Fallon."

The man glanced over at Fallon who scowled and flipped him off before turning back to the beach. He scoffed and faced the Doctor, offering his hand.

"Father Octavian, Sir. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

The Doctor turned to River who smirked. "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"


I frowned in frustration, drawing out my watch and rolling it around in my palm. Even after dying and having my hand healed, I still found myself doing idle tasks to keep it moving. Not that it helped me with my current feelings regarding the Doctor. I groaned in annoyance and stuffed the watch back into my pocket, sitting on a rock and dropping my chin in my hand as I turned my gaze to the ocean. We were waiting for the clerics to finish setting up their little base before we'd investigate the crashed ship.

I wasn't exactly pleased with River for this either. Her kidnapping me to help her deal with some Weeping Angel thing wasn't exactly on my to-do list when I chose to go backpacking, nor did I expect to bump into the Doctor like this. She, of course, was enjoying every second and I was starting to think this had been planned out somehow. I don't know how, given she seems to meet us at random while going backward in our timelines. The thought of how her timeline worked in accordance with ours made my head hurt, so I set it aside to think about later. After all, I had a whole new headache making its way over.

"Fallon?" The Doctor called out quietly, coming up beside me and watching me nervously. "I wanted to… apologize and maybe explain? I understand you're upset with me but I'd like to fix things if I can."

I closed my eyes, knowing I was frustrated and angry with him but also knowing that I had questions I needed him to answer too. It won't do me any good to stop him from explaining. I opened my eyes and shot him a small glare. And it doesn't mean I have to forgive him either.

"Fine," I grumbled, turning back to the ocean. "Talk."

He nodded and settled beside me on the rock, being smart enough to keep some space between us. He was quiet for a second before he managed to gather his thoughts.

"I wanted to say I'm… sorry for leaving you. I didn't want to, really, but I was worried that, with what was happening, you might be overwhelmed."

I scoffed, facing him in my annoyance. "Overwhelmed? I'm thousands if not millions of years older than you. I've been tortured—I was tortured in that damn mansion because of what I was, and you thought ditching me on my own so you could run off and play with little red-headed Scottish girls would be overwhelming?"

"That's not what I mean! That's not—I died, Fallon!"

I was on my feet now, emotions running wild. "So did I! And I get that you change and I don't but why the hell would that be an excuse to leave me when I—" I cut myself short, not wanting to admit here and now that I had needed someone at that moment.

That I had needed him.

"No, no, no," he breathed, getting up as well and reaching for me only to stop short. 'But you were… you were okay. When I left, you were… I checked."

I looked at him in disbelief. "You're joking… Doctor, I'd been tormented for months and then took the brunt of that fall. I had broken bones, a punctured lung, and who knows what else. I was dying the moment we hit the ground. If you checked, properly checked, how did you not notice that?"

His mouth opened and closed, fumbling for a response before his expression crumbled, full of regret and sadness and pain.

"You're right," he finally breathed, head bowed in shame. "I should've… I was so caught up in myself, I didn't even think to use the sonic or put you in the med bay. I left you because I was a coward and… and you died because of me."

My anger toward his faded quickly at that, confusion taking its place and concern.

"You… You didn't kill me," I argued but he shook his head, hands clenched into fists at his side.

"No. No, I did. If I had just taken you to the med bay—"

"Doctor," I pressed, grabbing his hand and drawing his gaze to mine. "You didn't kill me. I was already dying. That death wasn't on you."

"I could have saved you."

I shook my head. "It was too late, Doctor. I wouldn't have wanted you to."

He didn't look entirely convinced but nodded, his gaze dropping to our hands as he uncurled his fist to hold it lightly. Damn this idiot, I mentally sighed. I can't stay angry at him, can I…? Am I… Have we gotten that close? Truly? I closed my eyes for a second, tightening my grip on his hand.

"What happened?" I asked quietly. "After the Time Lords left."

"I was… given a prophecy a while ago," he explained. "He will knock four times and my song would end. I thought they meant the Master but… Wilfred got stuck in a containment area. It was going to be flooded with radiation and…" He gave me a soft smile. "I couldn't let that happen to him. It was an honor to take that death."

"Then, why… why would you leave me?"

His smile fell, gaze drifting away. "I was… scared, I suppose. Of what you'd think. Look at me," he said, taking a step back and letting go of my hand. "I became a whole new person and these changes… they don't always go right. I was concerned that it would be too much for you. I never thought that you were…"

I sighed, bringing a hand to my head and dropping back onto the rock. "God, you're an absolute moron."

"Sorry?" He questioned, stepping closer again as I lifted my annoyed gaze to his.

"Do you honestly think I would care what you look like? How you act? Either way, you're still the Doctor. You're still an idiot and a child."

"I-I'm over nine hundred years old!" He argued, making me scoff.

"Yeah, well you should act like it sometime."

He wrinkled his nose, the idea of acting his age unappealing, and I leaned back on my hands.

"I understand it going wrong. I was there with your last self right after he…" I waved my hand at him. "...you know. Thing is, you could've popped right back up after you got sorted. Instead, you went and picked up Raggedy Ann over there and forgot about me?"

"I didn't forget!" He blurted out. "Really! I swear! The regeneration was just a bit… explody and the Tardis needed to repair. You can ask Amy! I was late helping her by fourteen years!"

"Good to know your driving didn't change when you regenerated then," I teased, making him groan.

"I drive perfectly fine!"

"Yeah, which is why River moved and landed the Tardis with half as much turbulence."

"She cheated!"

I cracked a smile and let out a short laugh, getting up and grabbing his hand to haul him back to the others. "Yes, yes. Come on then, you daft man. We've got angels to deal with and I'm sure you'd rather that than continuing to mope about."

He pulled me to a stop though, making me turn and raise a brow as he squeezed my hand. "I really am sorry, Fallon… I never meant to hurt you."

I sighed, taking a step toward him and bumping our foreheads together as I closed my eyes. "And I'm far too old to be holding grudges over a simple mistake."

I opened my eyes and reached up, lightly touching his face before leaning over and kissing his cheek. His eyes went wide as I smiled again and nodded toward River, Amy, and the clerics.

"Come on."


The Doctor was a bit dazed as he trailed after Father Octavian who was explaining what their plan was and what the group was dealing with. It wasn't that he wasn't listening, it was just the fact that his mind was focused on a different issue. Namely, the fact that Fallon had made the first move in bringing their relationship closer. She was over with River and talking about something, forcing him to curb his slight jealousy, but he kept finding his eyes wandering to her. He wanted to know what brought this on. Why she'd suddenly decided to try a relationship again or if he was simply reading into it too much.

He wanted to talk to her more but they were in a situation where that wouldn't happen until later, so he was stuck. Having Amy around watching his every move wouldn't really help matters either, so there was also that he would need to explain. He wasn't about to let River run off with Fallon again, after all. I can always drop Amy off and take some time for Fallon then… Yes, perfect. That will work.

"Good," he said, not realizing he'd done so out loud until Octavian looked at him in confusion.

"Good, sir?"

The Doctor quickly remembered what the man had been talking to him about and smiled innocently. "Catacombs. Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs. Great."

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead," Octavian corrected, not bothering him in the slightest.

"You can stop any time you like," he informed the man before Octavian was called away and Amy wandered over, suspiciously.

"You're letting people call you sir. You never do that. So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"

"Now that's interesting. You're still here. Which part of wait in the Tardis till I tell you it's safe was so confusing?" He scolded her, having asked her to do that not long after Fallon stepped away to talk to River.

"Ooh, you are all Mister Grumpy Face today. I thought you made up with Fallon."

"I did," he said, frowning at her before begrudgingly explaining more about the Weeping Angels as he looked at the tools in front of them. "Point is, a Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form evolution has ever produced, and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and—assuming I survive the radiation long enough and assuming the whole ship doesn't explode in my face—do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day. That's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked, making him sigh and look away. "Because she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kind of like, you know, heel, boy. She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?"

"No, no, absolutely not," he replied. "I'm not even remotely interested."

"Oh, right…" Amy trailed off, eyeing him with a small smirk. "So, Fallon is the wife then?"

Heat trailed up the Doctor's neck as he floundered for words, trying very poorly to cover up the scenarios his mind produced when faced with such a question. Before he could give her any sort of response, Fallon called out from across the beach; head poking out of the dropship the cleric brought.

"Doctor!"

"Oops, her indoors," Amy teased, making him turn to her with a hiss.

"Stop it," he scolded as River called for Father Octavian to join them.

"Why do they call him 'Father'?" Amy questioned as they made their way over.

"He's their Bishop, they're his Clerics. It's the fifty-first Century. The Church has moved on," he replied, stepping into the dropship to find River playing security footage of a Weeping Angel as Fallon frowned lightly.

"What do you think? It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop," River explained as he eyed it.

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face," the Doctor pointed out, glancing at Fallon. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Only what River's told me. There's a book we have too but I haven't had a chance to look it over." She shot him a look. "Really need to do some proper reading up in the Tardis library if I'm ever going to keep up with you."

He cracked a smile as Octavian cut in.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" He asked the Doctor who nodded.

"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving."

"But it's just a statue," Amy pointed out, not familiar with the Angels either.

"It's a statue when you see it," River explained as the Doctor cut in.

"Where did it come from?"

"The ship," Fallon said. "It's what River dragged me along to help her with."

"It was pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all that time," River added, making the Doctor frown.

"There's a difference between dormant and patient."

"What's that mean, 'it's a statue when you see it'?" Amy asked.

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it," River hummed, but the Doctor rolled his eyes, reaching up and accidentally tugging off a strip of cloth from the ceiling.

"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock. In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism." He mouthed an apology when Fallon snatched the torn cloth from him with a roll of her eyes, setting it aside as Amy questioned him.

"What? Being a stone?"

"Being a stone until you turn your back."

"Yeah, hate that," Fallon muttered, eyeing the video. "Yet, also slightly impressed."

The Doctor cracked a smile. "You would be. Now, where's that book, Fallon?"

She nodded to the doors and stepped out with him following and explaining all the while.

"The hyperdrive would've split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing."

"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked.

"Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"

"The Aplans. Indigenous life form. They died out four hundred years ago," River said as Fallon glanced at her from over her shoulder.

"From what?"

River shrugged. "Don't know."

"Two hundred years after they died out, the planet was terraformed. Currently, there are six billion human colonists," Octavian added as the Doctor eyed the ship in the distance.

"Whoo! You lot, you're everywhere. You're like rabbits. I'll never get done saving you, eh, Fallon?"

"Honestly," she scoffed, picking up the book they needed and starting to go through it. "And I thought Earth was crowded. Turns out the universe is just as bad."

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population—" Octavian started as the Doctor turned around.

"Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load."

Octavian went to get his men ready, summoning River but she asked for time and then called the Doctor over.

"Sweetie, we need you over here."

He mouthed the pet name with a mildly annoyed expression until Fallon called him, seeing that he wasn't moving.

"Doctor, get moving, ya dunce."

He pouted but headed over, coming up beside her as she handed him the book. "Why don't you call me sweetie?"

She raised a brow at him. "Seriously? First off, that's River's thing. Second, you came when I called you a dunce. What would I need some silly pet name for?"

"Oi," he complained, earning a smile as she nodded outward the book.

"Just look at the book. River says it's the only book written about the Angels."

"Written by a madman," River clarified. "It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."

He flipped through the pages faster than they could blink but gathered everything he needed. "Not bad. Bit slow in the middle. Didn't you hate his girlfriend? No. No, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."

He sniffed at the book, trying to figure out why it wasn't right as Fallon shot him a look.

"Sorry, did you just flip through that and somehow read it all?"

"Time Lord," the Doctor hummed, giving her a smug grin as she rolled her eyes.

"Right, course. How could I forget how pompous you are?"

He gaped in mock offense, bringing a hand to his heart as Amy called out from the dropship.

"Dr. Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"

"No, just the four seconds," River chimed back as Fallon frowned over at Amy when she ducked back into the dropship.

"This book is wrong," the Doctor said, drawing her gaze back to him. "What's wrong with this book? It's wrong." He held it out to Fallon. "Your turn."

Fallon snorted, flipping through it herself. "Like I can figure it out?"

"Walk me through it," he suggested, pacing now. "Tell me about the book."

"It's your basic field journal type of thing," she offered, skimming through it idly. "Has written out riddles and observations but…"

"But?" He questioned, seeing that she thought of something.

"But most observation journals have pictures, don't they? An image of the subject so they can make notes on their appearance, size, shape. There's no pictures in this."

"Pictures!" He blurted out turning to her with wide eyes. "Why aren't there pictures? This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels, so why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?"

River chimed in then. "There was a bit about images. What was that?"

Fallon flipped to the right-marked passage and read it. " 'That which holds the image of an angel…'" Her face fell and she practically threw the book at River who caught it in surprise.

"Fallon?" The Doctor turned to River as Fallon rushed toward the dropship. "What does the rest say? Quickly!"

" 'That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel,'" she said. "But what does that mean?"

The Doctor understood though and hurried over toward where Fallon was yanking at the door to the drop ship uselessly. River came up behind them too as they heard Amy calling out from inside.

"Amy!"

"The door isn't budging!" Fallon said, spitting out a curse and slamming a fist against the door. "Damn!"

"Are you all right? What's happening?" The Doctor asked, trying to figure out what exactly could be happening inside as he pulled out his sonic.

"Doctor? Doctor, it's coming out of the television," Amy called through the door. "The Angel is here."

"Don't take your eyes off it. Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking," he warned her, abandoning the keypad and moving to a hatch of wires to try there.

"What's wrong?" River asked, giving the book to Fallon and trying to work the keypad.

"Deadlocked."

"There is no deadlock."

"Don't blink, Amy. Don't even blink," the Doctor warned.

"What are you doing?"

"Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. No good, it's deadlocked the whole system."

"There's no deadlock!" River argued.

"There is now."

"Amy?" Fallon called out, leaning against the door as her eyes skimmed through the book as quickly as she could. "Can you turn the screen off?"

"I tried."

"And?"

"It just keeps switching back on."

"Try the plug," Fallon offered as the Doctor cut in.

"But don't take your eyes off the Angel. Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink."

"I'm not blinking. Have you ever tried not blinking?"

"Making her panic isn't going to help, Doctor," Fallon grumbled as River started trying to cut through the door with a torch.

"The plug won't budge. It's stuck or something."

"Try breaking the screen if you can. Any way you can think of to get rid of the image. Anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel. So if you can shatter the screen or glitch it out, it should let us in."

"It's not even warm," River announced then, realizing that she couldn't even cut through the door because of the Angel.

"There is no way in. It's not physically possible," the Doctor breathed.

"Doctor, what's it going to do to me?"

"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking."

"But not the eyes," Fallon added then, finger running over the page of the book. "Amy, don't look it in the eyes. Look at its chest or nose or shoulder! Anywhere but the eyes!"

"Why?"

"What is it?" River asked as Fallon read the passage.

" 'The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there.' Eyes reflect images into our mind and if images are Angels…"

The rest of the thought went unsaid before Amy called out again.

"What did you say about images?"

"Whatever holds the image of an Angel is an Angel," River repeated, and a few seconds later, the door clicked open and the group rushed in.

They caught the barest hint of static outside of the screen in the shape of something before the screen turned off and Amy looked back at them.

"I froze it. There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an Angel anymore. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

"That was amazing," River offered her as the Doctor sonicked it.

"River, hug Amy."

"Why?" Amy asked as River went to do so.

"Because I'm busy and Fallon isn't the hugging type."

"I'm fine," Amy argued, earning a raised brow from Fallon.

"You just had a near-death experience with an alien statue that came out of television. It's like a crash after five shots of expresso. Just accept the hug."

River cracked a smile as she hugged Amy. "Don't mind her. You're brilliant."

"Thanks. Yeah, I kind of creamed it, didn't I?" Amy said proudly as River spoke to the Doctor.

"So it was here? That was the Angel?"

"That was a projection of the Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."

"You said it was patient," Fallon reminded him.

"Yeah, could be."

"Thing is, patient things tend to be waiting for something. Surely it could have run off after the ship crashed. It could find another meal anywhere, so why stick around? What did it find that woke it up and made it stay here?"

"That… is an excellent point," the Doctor noted, wondering the same thing now before an explosion went off outside and he bounded out for a look.

The catacombs were open.


"Hm, this brings back memories," I hummed as I clicked on my torch and looked around the catacombs, drawing attention from Amy.

"You dive into catacombs often?"

I snorted. "Not at all, though I do a fair share of adventuring myself. Stay on Earth long enough and you try a bit of everything. I worked in mine shafts for a while, very unpleasant. Black lung isn't fun. Done a bit of caving though."

"Yeah, I see why the Doctor likes you now," she mused, making me raise a brow before she turned to River. "Where are we? What is this?"

"It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead."

"What's that?"

The Doctor wandered over with a ball of some type. "Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone—" He kicked it up into the air and it stopped at the top, lighting up the catacombs. "—the perfect hiding place."

I could see why he said that, now that the place was lit up. The entirety of the catacombs were littered with stone statues in various states of decay.

"Yeah, remember when I said I hate this?" I chimed in, dragging my torchlight across some of the statues. "Hate it a bit more now."

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor mused as Octavian chimed in.

"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."

"A needle in a haystack," River added as the Doctor hummed.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues."

"You done?" I questioned him, earning a small nod.

"Yeah, hers was fine."

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection," Octavian ordered his men as they spread out. "One question. How do we fight it?"

"We find it and hope."

I trailed after the Doctor as we walked, leaving River and Octavian to chat nearby. "Why are we finding something we can't fight?"

"You heard the bishop. Human colony not too far off. Can't leave then to deal with it."

"Yeah, but we had to blow a hole in the ground to get down here. Couldn't we have just left it?"

"That lot were always going to go in and get it," the Doctor pointed out. "It's their 'mission' or whatever. Isn't that why you went with River? Bit of adventure?"

I snorted, still eyeing nearby statues uneasily. "I didn't 'go with' River. I was…"

"Yes?"

I glanced at him for a second before turning away, lowering my voice in a bit of embarrassment. "I was looking for you."

He knocked into my shoulder with a cheeky grin and I wrinkled my nose and shoved him a little back.

"Shut up. I was looking to yell at you so don't be too excited. Anyway, I went looking around and heard you were somewhere near Gloucestershire. Or, well, there was this big flying eyeball thing and that's where people said it was looking. I'd just gotten to a small town and decided to drop by a pub for a drink and something decent to eat. Then, poof. She was sitting next to me, smiled, and teleported me elsewhere. So, I didn't go with her. She kidnapped me."

"Well, you were right about one thing. I picked up Amy in a small village in Gloucestershire. Leadworth."

"Ah, that's the town I was in," I realized. "I only meant to pass through. Didn't think I was right on top of you." I glanced over at Amy as River went to jab her with something. "So, who's the redhead?"

"Amelia Pond," he hummed, fiddling with River's communicator. "Scottish girl brought to an English town. She had a crack in her wall that was linking her bedroom with somewhere else in time and space. A prisoner escaped through the crack and I managed to find it twelve years late." He looked over at me with a smile. "The big eyeball, as you called it, was his warden."

"Right. Then what? You pop off and reappear two years later and just whisk her away?"

"Tardis was still recalibrating. Took her to the moon and back to get her settled and then… yes. Offered her a trip and hoped to get her settled in." He paused, turning back to me as I frowned at a statue. "I did think about getting you, Fallon."

"Not saying you didn't," I replied, leaning back away from it. "Just curious about where you went other than Churchill's bunker."

He grinned. "Ah! You remembered!"

I waved at my head. "It's all in there somewhere. It gets a bit lost and jumbled up sometimes. Live too long and you tend to forget things."

"I'll help you remember if you'd like," he offered, "and I'll remember everything you do with me."

I glanced at him briefly before looking over at River and Amy. "They're talking about us, you know."

"Amy thinks you're my wife," the Doctor blurted out, very quickly slapping a hand to his mouth. "Sorry! I know we're not—Not that I wouldn't—Gah!" He yelped, making me chuckle and wave him off as he dropped his communicator and scrambled to pick it back up.

"Doctor, it's fine," I pressed with a smile. "She's new and doesn't really know either of us yet. She can think what she wants… And Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

I lightly took the communicator from him and turned it right side up before handing it back. "It was upside down."

He flushed in embarrassment and shuffled off ahead of us as I shook my head with a fond smile, turning as Amy and River came up.

"You are so his wife," Amy said with a grin, and I shrugged.

"I'm not but think what you like. Though I do suggest a little less teasing or he might not be very useful."

"Speaking of useful… arm," River commanded and I rolled my eyes, offering my limb for her to inject me with whatever she'd given Amy.

"Let me guess, this is supposed to protect me from alien viruses or something even though I won't actually die from them?"

"Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, and anything else we might encounter in the ship," she explained. "And while you might not die, it certainly wouldn't be pleasant leading up to what happens."

"How do you mean, you won't die?" Amy asked. "Are you like, super immune or something?"

"Or something," I offered, eyes narrowed at a statue that I had sworn had been facing away from us. Doesn't look like the Angel statue though. I wonder—

Gunshots rang out from behind us and the Doctor took off toward it as the rest of our little group followed. We came upon a young cleric, looking scared out of his wits as he attempted to explain why he'd shot at one of the statues.

"Sorry, sorry. I thought. I thought it looked at me."

"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian snapped at him.

"No, sir."

"No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."

I snorted, getting a glare from the bishop but while I found his words amusing, it wasn't my place to interfere; though the Doctor obviously thought otherwise.

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on."

Octavian didn't look thrilled about the blatant insult but didn't say anything other than to send the cleric—Bob—to guard with two others as we started to head up to the ship. The Doctor led the way with Amy, River, and I behind him; torches scanning about cautiously for any sign of movement. I was slightly more on edge though, given I'd possibly witnessed one of the statues moving only for Cleric Bob to shoot at one while thinking the same. I don't know how these aliens work though. I'd need to ask the Doctor. When I went to speak up though, Amy questioned him first.

"Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse? There's a whole ship up there."

"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River chimed in as the Doctor hummed.

"Had dinner with their Chief Architect once. Two heads are better than one."

"What? You mean you helped him?" Amy asked.

"No, I mean he had two heads," he replied, turning to River as I frowned at a statute; something about those words nagging at me. "That book, the very end, what did it say?"

"Doctor?" I questioned, the question sitting at the tip of my tongue. Two heads? Then shouldn't the statues—

" 'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels,'" River quoted and the Doctor turned to me.

"Yes?"

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"You called my name like you had a question."

I scowled, brows furrowed as I eyed a statue nearby. What was I…

"Did you forget?" He asked, a teasing smile on his face.

"I guess, though can the Angels sort of… infect other statues?"

He tipped his head, curiously. "How do you mean?"

I pointed at one of the statues with my torch. "Like these. Could an Angel turn these into Angels?"

"No, no. Angels are their own species. It's not like a… a statue disease."

"Do they have to look like Angels?" I asked as we hiked further up. "The book doesn't have pictures so couldn't they look like any statues?"

"They're called Weeping Angels though," River pointed out. "We know the one in the ship is one because of that. It's the same as the one you saw too, isn't it, Doctor?"

He nodded. "They have wings and robes like angels and cover their faces when they're not moving, usually. Why?"

I frowned again, my mind itching with something I couldn't put my finger on. "I'm… not sure. Just feels like being in a place full of statues shouldn't put me on edge like this. Cleric Bob thought he saw one move and, while there are tricks of the light and things, I could have sworn one moved before too."

"Angels are fast though," the Doctor said, however, he was frowning now too. "Very fast. The moment you look away, they would have already gotten you."

"What about… I don't know, old Angels?" I asked, my mind fumbling to grab some sort of information that could explain why I was uneasy. "People, for example, change a hell of a lot when they get older. Wrinkles, illness, whatever. If these Angel things aren't exactly killable, then they must live a long time and get old like anything else, right? Couldn't these then, just be really old Angels? Slow, falling apart, no wings…" I saw him eyeing me with a confused frown and I ran a hand through my hair, looking away awkwardly. "Sorry, I just… I've got this nagging feeling that I'm missing something. I'm not normally on edge like this and I get that there's an Angel here hunting us but this isn't like that. It doesn't feel like I'm nervous about being hunted. It feels like… like I'm being watched. Watched by a hundred million eyes."

The Doctor looked around at the statues, equally cautious now. "You're suggesting that they're all Angels?"

"I… I don't know," I admitted. "I don't know much about aliens, so I thought I'd defer to you. They don't even look like the Aplans."

The Doctor whipped around to me then, surprising me. "What did you just say?"

"Um, I said I'd defer to you."

"No, after that. The bit about the Aplans."

My brows furrowed in confusion, whatever I'd said having faded so quickly from my thought that I couldn't remember what it was. "Aplans? I don't…"

"Oh!" The Doctor blurted out then, spinning in a circle as he realized something.

River's eyes widened too as she took a step away from the statue she was nearest to. "Oh…"

"Exactly."

"How could we have not noticed that?"

"Noticed what?" I asked as the Doctor turned his torch onto a few statues in front of us.

"Low-level perception filter, or maybe we're thick."

"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian asked as he joined us, seeing how the Doctor was uneasy.

"Nobody move. Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger."

"What danger?"

"The Aplans," River explained as I lightly lifted my hand.

"Yeah, still lost."

"They've got two heads."

"Oh…" I murmured, eyeing the statues. "They have two heads and… and none of these statues do."

"You were right to be uneasy, Fallon," the Doctor said, herding everyone behind him and further up the path. "You've lived long enough to know when to trust your gut over everything else. You were questioning them from the start and for good reason. I want all of you to switch off your torches."

"Sir?" A cleric questioned in concern as I turned mine off.

"Just do it. We're fine but he needs to test something, right?"

The Doctor nodded, waiting until his was the last torch on. "I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."

"Are you sure about this?" River asked.

"Fallon already said it," the Doctor replied, giving me a glance from over his shoulder. "They're falling apart, decaying. Fresh ones move fast but these ones aren't. I trust her."

Warmth filled my chest at those words and I swallowed thickly as he turned back around to face the statues before clicking off his torch for a second. It came back on quickly and with it, the light revealed all the statues had turned their heads toward us.

"Oh, my God. They've moved," Amy breathed as the Doctor rushed toward them to eye them.

"They're Angels. All of them."

"But they can't be," River pressed as I shook my head.

"I couldn't tell you why but he just proved it. They all moved."

"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor ordered, heading further back down the path with River, Amy, and me to check those statues we'd already passed. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."

"But how?" I asked as we hurried back up to the others. "Are they just old?"

"Not old, but weak, dying even."

"But there was only one angel on the ship," River urged. "Just the one, I swear."

"Could they have already been here?" Amy offered and I turned to them in shock.

"The Aplans. We don't know how they died out."

"We know now," the Doctor supplied as Octavian frowned.

"They don't look like Angels."

"Losing their form," the Doctor explained, gesturing to me. "Fallon asked whether they could get old. If they've been down here for centuries since taking out the Aplans, then they've been starving for that long as well."

"Losing their image?" Amy asked, making his eyes widen.

"And their image is their power. Power… Power!"

"The ship!" I said, understanding that much. "There's radiation. You said the Angel can feast on that."

He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. "Exactly! The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up. You were right again, Fallon. That Angel was patient for a reason and this is it."

"Glad to help, I guess," I muttered as River grimaced.

"We need to get out of here fast."

Then, Octavian remembered the three men he'd left behind below and tried to get in contact with them, getting no response at first until Cleric Bob replied.

"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active."

"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."

The Doctor snatched Octavian's comm, ignoring the bishop as he tried to get some answers because even I was confused. How could Bob be talking so calmly about that? And how did he escape?

"I'm on my way up to you, sir. I'm homing in on your signal."

"Ah, well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob. What did the Angel do to them?" The Doctor asked.

"Snapped their necks, sir."

I winced, bringing a hand up to rub at my own neck with the brief memory of jeering crowds, the feeling of weightlessness, and the sharp jerk of a noose around my neck.

"That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something," the Doctor explained as Octavian tried to get Bob to check on his friends before I groaned and took the comm from him instead.

"You don't survive a snapped neck typically, and why would the Angels leave anyone alive? We're outnumbered and they don't need hostages." I lifted the comm. "Bob, you didn't escape, did you?"

"No, ma'am. The Angel killed me too. Snapped my neck. Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."

"Yeah, that's usually how it works. So how are you talking? The comm?"

"You're not talking to me, ma'am. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."

I lowered the comm and looked at the Doctor. "If the Angel is using his voice…"

The Doctor grabbed the comm. "So, when you say you're on your way up to us…"

"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes. No way out."

Octavian snatched the comm back, jaw tight. "Then we get out through the wreckage. Go! Go, go, go. All of you run."

I nodded and headed up with River and the clerics, stopping at the top of the cavern with the creaking metal of the ship hovering far above us.

"Well. There it is, the Byzantium," Octavian said as we shined our torches up at it.

"It's got to be thirty feet. How do we get up there?" River questioned, making me frown while Octavian got the other entrances secured.

"I'm not exactly well-versed in this sort of thing but there's got to be something, right? Space ladder? Teleport? Anti-gravity?"

River shot me a look. "You watch far too many sci-fi movies."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm millions of years old and technological advances were the best thing to happen after all that time. You better believe I'm watching a shit ton of movies."

One of the clerics came rushing back over as I frowned at my flickering torch.

"The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."

"They all do," Octavian informed him as River looked up.

"So does the gravity globe."

The Doctor and Amy slipped back into the group then; the Doctor speaking quickly as he tried to come up with a plan.

"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."

"Which means we won't be able to see them," Octavian said as the Doctor nodded.

"Which means we can't stay here."

Angels started to appear at the entrances to our position and I glanced over at the Doctor.

"Yeah, any ideas how to suddenly jump thirty feet?"

"The statues are advancing on all sides. We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian supplied as River stepped up beside the Doctor.

"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea."

"There's always a way out," he said before the comm crackled to life once more.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"

"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?" The Doctor chimed.

"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Probably to toy with us," I muttered as the Angel replied.

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."

"Which is?"

"I died in fear."

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, sorry," I said, taking the comm from the Doctor again and speaking. "Fuck off, would you? Everyone dies scared, even the brave ones. You're nothing special, Bob, and while that might be cruel to say in front of your little religious friends, it doesn't change the fact that I'm talking to an asshole Angel who thinks pissing us off will make us a better meal. So, do me a favor, yeah? Bother somebody else." I turned the comm off and tossed it back to Octavian, giving the Doctor a look. "Do you have a plan?"

"Well," he hummed with a smile, coming up beside me and taking my hand. "I might."

"Yeah, could we save the flirting for after you explain, please?" River drawled.

"Yes, alright. Amy, do you trust me?"

She nodded, confused. "Yeah."

"River?"

"Always."

He spun around to the clerics. "You lot, trust me?"

"We have faith, sir."

"Then give me your gun. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump!"

"Jump where?"

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it," the Doctor said with a grin as I eyed him arming the gun.

"You didn't ask me if I trust you."

He turned to me and brought a hand up to lightly touch my cheek. "I don't need to ask you when I already know the answer."

I raised a brow. "Cheeky, aren't you?"

"Definitely."

"Sir, what signal?" Octavian pressed and the Doctor whipped around, lifted the gun, and smile.

"This one. Jump!"