Chapter Ten: Two Heads

The Doctor threaded his fingers through Emma's as they stood in the dark cavern below.
"Do we have a gravity globe?" he asked Father Octavian.
"Grav globe," the Father commanded. A young man handed a globe to the Doctor as Amy spoke up.
"Where are we? What is this?"
"It's an Aplan Mortarium," River answered. "Sometimes called a Maze of the Dead."
"What's that?"
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," said the Doctor. "It's a perfect hiding place." He tossed the Grav globe into the air and it illuminated a vast array of mausoleums and statuary.
"I guess this makes it a bit tricker," Father Octavian mused.
"A bit, yeah."
"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I prayed for."
"A needle in a haystack," River remarked.
"Right," Father Octavian said. He turned to his men. "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection… One question, do we fight it?"
"We fight it, and hope," the Doctor solemnly answered. He squeezed Emma's hand, and she swallowed as they started walking up the terraces.

As they walked, Emma leaned her head on the Doctor's shoulder. She could feel his eyes on him but didn't say anything.
"Why is he so soft to her?" Emma heard Amy ask.
"I've never once seen him raise his voice or get mad. I mean, they certainly get into fights. But really only small spats, neither of them truly mad. Emma's usually disappointed and the Doctor is upset that she's upset."
"He loves her, that's why," came River's reply. "He might fall in love with others over the years, but he'll always love Emma. She's the only one of us that can be with him forever."
"Yeah, but… how? How has their relationship lasted so long?"
"I don't know, I never really understood it… Yes, we are, Doctor."
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor called back.
"We are talking about you."
"Emma? Did you hear them talking about me?" Emma glanced up at him with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Nope." He grinned, kissing the top of her head.

The sound of gunfire startled them and the four of them turned back to where the rest of the group was lagging behind. A young Cleric stood there, staring at a statue.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized quickly. "I thought… I thought it looked at me."
"We know what the Angel looks like," Father Octavian said sternly. "Is that the Angel?
"No, sir," the young man answered.
"Yes. It is not. According to the Doctor, we are pacing 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 décor."
"What's your name?" Emma gently asked.
"Bob, ma'am."
"Ah!" the Doctor said with a bright smile. "That's a great name. I love Bob!"
"It's a Sacred Name," said Father Octavian. "We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church."
"Sacred Bob?" the Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow. "More like Scared Bob now, eh?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry one."
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Father Octavian informed him. "Bob, you stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."

As they entered the maze, the Doctor's grip on Emma's hand tightened slightly.
"Are you scared?"
"Me? No, of course not… Oh definitely. At least I've got you this time."
"You did have Martha."
"She worked in a shop. I was bored half the time."
"She hated working in that shop. She was supposed to be a doctor, not a shop worker."

Amy popped up beside them.
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse?" she asked. "There's a whole ship up there."
"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River shrugged.
"Had dinner with the Chief Architect once," the Doctor said. "Two heads are better than one."
"What, you mean you helped him?" Amy asked.
"No, I mean he had to two heads." He looked over Emma's head to glance at River. "That book, at the very end, what did it say?"
"Hang on."

River pulled ou the book about the Angels out of her pocket, flipping to the back. She read it aloud.
""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.""

Silence loomed over them as they all thought over the words.
"Are we there yet?" Amy suddenly asked. "It's a hell of a climb."
"The Maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul," River said. She mustered as much cheerfulness as she could. "Only two levels to go."
"Lovely species, the Aplans," the Doctor murmured. "We should visit them sometimes."
"I thought they were all dead."
"So is Virginia Woolf, I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, short of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra dead." Amy gapped at him while Emma rolled her eyes.

Her eyes settled on a statue. A statue with one head. Why would it only have one head if the Aplans had two?
"Doctor, there's something," River mused. "I don't know what it is."
"Yeah, there's something wrong," the Doctor agreed. "Don't know what it is yet, either. Working on it. Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying. I mean, what was that about? But that's the Church for you. Er, no offense Bishop."
"Quite a lot taken if that's alright, Doctor," Father Octavian deadpanned. "Lowest point int eh wreckage is only about fifty feet up from here. That way."

As they turned a corner, Emma stopped dead in her tracks. There were more one-headed statues.
"Doctor," she began. Her voice was drowned out by Amy.
"The Church had a point about it," she said, referring to the Doctor's prior statement. "Divorces must have been messy…"
"Oh," breathed out the Doctor. He had been forced to stop when Emma did, and he finally saw what she did.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"Oh," River repeated.
"Exactly."
"How could we have not noticed that?"
"Low level perception filler," Emma said.
"You saw them before, didn't you?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes."
"But you didn't say anything."
"What? I didn't say anything? You didn't say anything, so naturally I thought it was fine!"
"What's wrong, sir?" Father Octavian questioned.
"Everyone, please stop moving! Stop moving now! Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we're all in terrible danger."
"What danger?"
"The Aplans," River answered.
"The Aplans?"
"They've got two heads."
"Yes, I get that… so?"
"So, why don't the statues?" the Doctor asked.

Pulling Emma along with him, the Doctor moved to a small alcove away from the statues.
"Everyone, over here. Just move. Don't ask questions, don't speak. Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?" Marco asked.
"Just do it." All the lights went of except for his.
"Okay, I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" Emma asked.
"No." He flicked off the light and turned it back on immediately. Amy gasped loudly when she saw how close the statues had come.
"Oh my god! They've moved!"
"Emma, let go of my hand." Emma started shaking head and he squeezed it. "I'll be right back, promise."

The moment she let go of his hand, he darted down the passage that was now filled with statues coming to them.
"They're Angels. All of them." The others followed him out of the alcove, the Clerics holding their guns high.
"But they can't be," River said.
"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor ordered He ran up to a vantage point in the main cavern. "Every statue in this Maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."

Emma wrapped her arms around herself, all of a sudden feeling chilled.
"But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one!" River swore.
"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked.
"The Aplans, what happened?" the Doctor asked. "How did they die out?"
"No one knows."
"We know now."
"They don't look like Angels," Father Octavian said.
"And they're not fast," Amy pointed out. "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."
"Look at them," Emma said. "They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."
"Losing their image?" Amy questioned.
"Their image is their power," the Doctor answered. "Power… Power!"
"Doctor?" Emma asked.
"Don't you see?" he asked her and River. "All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash for 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."
"We need to get out of here fast!" River told Father Octavian. The Bishop nodded and pulled his communication device to his mouth.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in please. Any of you, come in."

A moment later, a fuzzy voice came through the device.
"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 grabbed the commination device from Father Octavian.
"Bob, Scared Bob, it's me, the Doctor." He grabbed Emma's hand, pulling her close to the device. "And Emma. Emma's here too."
"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?"
"Snapped their necks, sir." Emma's brow furled. The Angels never killed like that. At least not to her knowledge. They just displaced you in time… Unless they needed the bodies for something. "
Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs?" Father Octavian asked. "We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."
"Oh, don't be an idiot!" the Doctor snapped. "The Angels don't leave you alive. Bob, keep running. But tell me, how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me too." Emma bit back a scream, eyes widening at the new information.
"What do you mean, the Angel killed you?" the Doctor asked.
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead," Emma said quietly. "How can we be talking to you?"
"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."
"So, when you say you're on your way up to us…?"
"It's the Angel that's coming, ma'am, yes. No way out."
"Then we'll get out through the wreckage!" the Doctor exclaimed. He turned to the others. "Go! Go, go, go! All of you run."

Emma left the Doctor's side and grabbed Amy's arm. She started tugging but the red head wouldn't move.
"Amy?" Emma questioned.
"I can't."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I really can't."
"Why not?"
"Look at my hand! It's stone."

Following Amy's gaze to where her hand was resting against a tree. She couldn't see anything different about Amy's hand.
"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" the Doctor asked, appearing by them.
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried."
"Listen, Amy, it's' messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."
"It is, look at it."
"It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."
"I can't okay. I've tried and I can't. It's stone."
"Amy!" Emma said sternly. "The Angel is going to come, and it's going to turn off this light, and then there's nothing the Doctor can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand."
"I can't!"
"Then all three of us are going to die," the Doctor said.
"You're not going to die."
"They'll kill the lights."
"You've got to go. You know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here."
"Time can be re-written. It doesn't work like that."

The statues suddenly appeared, and Emma squeaked in shock. She stared at one as Amy yelled at them to run.
"We're not going!" the Doctor said. "We're not leaving you here."
"I don't need you to die for me. Do I look that clingy?"
"You can move your hand!"
"It's stone!"
"It's not stone!"
"You've got to. Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll as good as killed them."
"Amy Pond, you are magnificent, and I'm sorry."
"It's okay, I understand. You've got to leave."
"Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this."

It was then that the Doctor bit Amy's hand. The Scottish woman yanked her hand away, bringing it to her chest.
"Ow!" she yelped.
"See? Not stone. Now run." They took off running, the Doctor's hand finding Emma's as they went.
"You bit me!" Amy shouted.
"Yeah, and you're alive."
"Look, I've got a mark. Look at my hand!"
"Yeah," Emma nodded. "And you're alive. Did the Doctor mention that?"
"Blimey, your teeth. Have you got space teeth?"
"Yeah. Alive. All I'm saying."

At the end of the tunnel, the others were gathered.
"The statues are advancing," Marco said. "And sir, my torch keeps flickering."
"They all do," said Father Octavian. "So does the gravity globe. We're down to four men. Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels, they're coming," the Doctor said. "And they're draining the power for themselves."
"Which means we won't be able to see them?"
"Which means we can't stay here."
"Two more incoming!"
"Any suggestions?" River questioned. "The statues are advancing on all sides. We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium. There's no way up, no way down, no way out!" Amy quickly looked at the Doctor.
"No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea."
"There's always a way out!" the Doctor snapped loudly. His voice carried through the tunnels, bouncing off the walls in loud echoes. "There's always a way out."
"Doctor?"

Emma's eyes shot down to the device in the Doctor's hand as Bob the Angel spoke.
"Can I speak with the Doctor please?"
"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?"
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
"Shut up," Emma murmured. She turned to the Doctor, watching him closely.
"What are they doing?" Amy asked.
"They're trying to make him angry," River answered. "He doesn't think properly when he's angry and Emma freezes when he's upset."
"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well, then, the Angels have made their second mistake," the Doctor said firmly. "I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they'll be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
"Yeah, I'm trapped. And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whooping mistake."
"What mistake, sir?"

Instead of answering, the Doctor looked to Amy and River.
"Trust me?" Amy nodded quickly.
"Yeah."
"Of course," River agreed. The Doctor turned to Octavian and the Clerics.
"You lot, trust me?"
"Sir," Marco called. "Two more incoming."
"We have faith, sir," Octavian promised.
"Then give me your gun," the Doctor commanded. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump"
"Excuse me?" Emma asked.
"Jump where, Doctor?"
"Just jump, high as you can." He gave Father Octavian a small grin. "Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?"
"You don't miss it."

Wrapping an arm around Emma, the Doctor tugged her close to him.
"Sorry," said Bob. "Can I ask again. You mentioned a mistake we made?"
"Oh, a big mistake. Huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you, there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"The Doctor," Emma answered.
"Yep! Me!" He glanced down at Emma as he raised the gun in his hand up towards the ship above them.
"Trust me?"
"Always."

Bang!

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