[EDITED NOVEMBER 2018]

Part Twelve – The Time of Angels

Soundtrack:

"The Mystery of River Song" - Graceful Fire by Fox Amoore

"Only a Statue" - Dominion by James Dooley

"Catacombs" - Forsaken by Sycross

"Hunted" - Of Light and Darkness Movement by Fox Amoore

"Angel Behind Her Eyes" - Subliminal Thoughts by Epic Score

"The Treeborg Forest" - The Fog by Strategic Music

"Remember Me" - Katrina by Kerry Muzzey

"The End of the Angels" - Catacomb (Inst) by James Dooley

The days that followed Rassillion's near-return were full of joy and deeply buried frustration for Viera. Her risky plan had worked; the Doctor's regeneration had been stopped. He remained the same man she'd met on Midnight, the man she'd fallen in love with.

Therein lay the frustration and no little embarrassment. He'd seen her soul: her hopes and dreams and ridiculous fantasies, her thoughts about love. Her thoughts about him. And he hadn't said a thing about it.

When she was calm enough to be honest with herself, Viera wasn't surprised. The Doctor might know her, but there was a lot she still didn't know about him. He had almost nine hundred years of history without her, a race of people she would never know, and loss so great she could only imagine it. Perhaps most importantly, though it had been some time since he had lost Rose, that day on Bad Wolf Bay had left its mark.

Viera knew for a fact that she was hardly the first companion, even aside from Rose, to get a crush on the Doctor. There was no reason to expect that the attraction might be returned. He'd kissed her because he was dying and because she'd kissed him first.

It hurt, truthfully, but Viera tried her best not to let it bother her. She tucked her unrequited feelings away in the corner of her heart and clung to their friendship instead. He was pretending the kiss had never happened, that he didn't know what she felt, and she wouldn't confront him. He was her best friend, her family, her home. She couldn't risk all that to push for a relationship he obviously didn't want.

Perhaps he was counting on that. Viera liked to think that he was at least a little bit afraid of losing her, of things getting so awkward or frustrated that she'd leave. She knew he loved her, as he loved every companion, no matter how brief their stay with him. That was enough. It would have to be enough.

She wasn't going anywhere.

Aside from the confusion of tremulous emotions, life was good. Without the weight of the prophesy on his shoulders, the Doctor was almost giddily happy. The shadows that had been haunting him since before Mars had vanished in the light of relief, at least for a while.

In his fine mood, the Doctor decided to take Viera to one of his favorite places: a museum. Honestly, Viera had never been particularly fond of history, but walking through the castle full of exhibits with the Doctor was certainly entertaining. He darted down the hallways, commenting on everything he recognized and all the errors.

"Wrong! Wrong! A bit right, mostly wrong," he declared, passing several displays. "I love museums!"

Viera giggled at his enthusiasm. "I'm not sure I understand why bits of the past are so interesting when we could just go there," she admitted.

"Wrong! Very wrong! Ooooh, one of mine. Also one of mine," he observed tapping on the glass protecting some items on a pedestal.

She shook her head. "Is that what's so interesting? Seeing which bits survive?"

"Well… something like that," the Doctor said with a hint of sheepishness. Then something caught his eye and he was off again. "Oooh, now that is interesting."

"What is it?" Viera asked, stepping closer. An aged cube sat in a glass case, a circular hole where two of the sides would have been. Tiny symbols were etched into its top.

"It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box."

"What's Home Box?"

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data."

Well, that sounded handy, but she still didn't understand why the Doctor found it so interesting. She raised an eyebrow and the Doctor explained.

"The writing, the graffiti, it's Old High Gallifreyan."

Oh. Viera studied the writing closer then turned her eyes to the Doctor, searching for excitement or sorrow. How would Gallifreyan end up on a starliner's Home Box? "Did you write it?"

"Nope," the Doctor replied, popping the 'p'. "Not me."

Viera decided he sounded more grim than excited, but she didn't hear the wistfulness that was usually present when he talked about his people. "Who wrote it then? What's it say?"

The Doctor rocked back on his heels and made a face. "Hello, sweetie."

"What?" What? Sweetie?! "Who calls you 'sweetie'?" she blurted before she could think better of it. There was jealousy bordering on outrage in her voice, and Viera blushed at its escape. It wasn't like she had any right to be jealous. She didn't have any claim on the Doctor beyond friendship.

Thankfully he more or less ignored her outburst. "Let's find out, shall we?" Viera had a suspicion that he already knew, but he slid his screwdriver along the base of the glass and pulled it off, handing it to Viera. He grabbed the Home Box and alarms started going off. Viera dropped the casing and they both took off running.

"Why are we stealing it?" she asked as security guards called for them to halt. They scampered into the TARDIS and shut the doors safely behind them.

"Only way to figure out what's on it," the Doctor replied.

Well not the only way. I'm sure we could have convinced the museum curator that we had some sort of official job and needed to inspect the box, but I suppose that would have taken too long to suit him.

"Let's see if we can get the security playback working," he continued. He attached a few leads from the console to the box, adjusted a few dials and a video popped up on the screen. It was grainy, and just in black and white, but Viera could see quite clearly that the woman on the screen was beautiful. The woman lowered her sunglasses to wink at the camera, then the view shifted and the woman was facing a door.

"Do you know her?" Viera asked, trying to read the Doctor's expression. He waved the question aside without taking his eyes from the screen.

"The party's over, Dr Song, yet you're still on board," said a man's voice on the video.

"Sorry, Alistair," the woman said, turning around. "I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."

"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution," the man ordered coldly.

The woman looked down at her watch, then glanced up at the screen, unconcerned. "Triple-seven, five slash, three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."

The Doctor began typing furiously on the keyboard while Viera looked on in confusion. "What is she talking about? What are you doing?"

"Those are coordinates," the Doctor explained. His words were as hurried as his typing, but Viera couldn't tell whether it was pure frustration or worry lending him speed. "She's telling me where and when she is, because she is about to do something very stupid." The TARDIS shuddered into motion and they both gripped the console.

"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!" the woman warned. There was a beeping, a warning of explosives just before the door behind her was blown open and the woman was pulled out into empty space.

Well, it would have been empty if the TARDIS hadn't arrived just in time. The Doctor raced to the doors and threw them open. As the woman disappeared from the screen, she appeared in reality, falling in through the TARDIS doorway to land directly on top of the Doctor. They tumbled to the ground and stared at each other a moment. Viera fought another flare of jealousy, but it didn't do much good.

"You're always doing that," the woman chuckled.

"Doing what?" the Doctor asked, finally trying to nudge her off. They both stood and he straightened his jacket a bit nervously.

"Catching me." The woman stared out the door, watching the ship she'd just come from fly away. "We have to follow that ship."

"Right," the Doctor agreed. He darted back to the controls. The woman closed the doors and slipped out of her shoes before running after him. She'd flipped a few switches on the console before the Doctor noticed and tried to shoo her away.

"No, no, no. Stop touching that."

Dr Song rolled her eyes and stepped over to the screen, adjusting the dials. "They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them! Stay close!"

"I'm trying!" snapped the Doctor.

"We have the homing box, right? Doctor?" Viera asked. She felt oddly hesitant speaking up with the vibrant new woman on board- a woman who knew something about flying the TARDIS at that. "Couldn't it tell it the ship's path? Can't we just take a short cut and meet it there?"

The Doctor's frantic movements stilled. "Ah. Well. Yes. We could do that," he agreed a bit sheepishly. He moved over to the box, nudging Doctor Song out of the way.

"I'm Viera," she said quietly when it became apparent that no one else was going to start the introductions. She offered her hand.

"Yes." Something shifted in the woman's eyes, but she grinned widely as she took Viera's hand. "River Song."

"Nice to meet you."

"Ah, here we are!" the Doctor declared a moment later. Then his tone grew a bit more subdued. "It crashed barely moments after you left. Best take a look." He threw the TARDIS into motion, making the short trip through space without needing to duck into the Time Vortex.

They landed with their usual noisy shudder, and River shook her head. "Why you insist on landing that way is beyond me," she muttered, fiddling with the dials for the screen.

The Doctor studied her seriously for a fraction of a moment before pulling forth his usual enthusiasm. "Let's take a look! Allons-y!" He jogged towards the door, Viera on his heels. River protested.

"No, wait! Environment checks."

"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right. Environment checks." He raised his eyebrows at Viera who hid a grin, then he stuck his head out the door. "Nice out."

"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest-" River was saying.

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11 hour day, and…" he ducked back out for a moment, "chances of rain later."

River narrowed her eyes at him, her hands finding her way to her hips. "You think you're so clever."

The Doctor grinned cheekily and opened the door with a flourish. Viera stepped outside and stared. She barely heard River and the Doctor join her, never noticed the beach behind her or the sound of waves.

The ship had crashed straight down into the roof of an enormous stone building. Rubble and fragments of the ship were strewn everywhere. Twisted shafts of metal poked out of holes in the ship, like broken bones sticking out of skin. The wreckage was burning; huge columns of acrid black smoke billowed into the sky.

"That's horrible," Viera breathed. The Doctor laid a hand on her shoulder, and she tore her eyes from the sight to glance back at him. Finally paying attention to her surroundings again, Viera noticed a distinct lack of sirens or shouting. "I don't hear anyone." The building did remind her a bit of the remnant of the Coliseum in Rome, a forgotten bit of civilization. The thought brought a wave of relief. Perhaps the damage wasn't as devastating as it looked. "Is this place abandoned?"

River smiled, the expression somehow warmer than Viera had expected. "Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." She looked back at what was left of the ship. "What caused it to crash? Not me."

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

Viera grimaced but clung to her relief that there at least hadn't been anyone in that building.

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

"About what?" the Doctor asked. River ignored him to type something into a little handheld device. "River. What did you warn them about?" His voice took on a warning tone. He didn't sound dangerous the way he sometimes did though; his tone reminded Viera more of a teacher warning children not to push things too far.

River gave him a tolerant look just shy of rolling her eyes. "You're wrong, you know. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." Then ignoring their suddenly doubled interest, she brought her device up to her ear like a phone. "You lot in orbit yet?" she asked whoever was on the other end as she began wandering closer to the wreckage.

"Can't die?" Viera asked worriedly. "How many things in the universe can't die?"

"Lots of things are hard to kill or have to be killed a certain way and that makes people think they can't die," the Doctor mused, though he looked quite dissatisfied with that explanation. He ran a hand through his messy hair absently. "She seems like she should know the difference though. There are very few things in this universe that can't die, and I don't particularly want to get involved with any of them."

"Doctor!" River called from a short distance away. They looked up to see her waving her device in the air. "Can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

The Doctor's lips pressed together in irritation, but he aimed the sonic screwdriver her way obligingly. River gave a brief curtsy and wandered back towards them. She pulled out a worn, blue book that had been tucked into the back of her sash and started flipping through the tattered pages.

"We have a minute. Shall we? Where were we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?" River asked. The Doctor was eyeing the book with an odd mix of intrigue, rebellion, and wary disquiet.

"What is that?" Viera asked, more curious about his expression than the actual presence of the book.

"Leave it alone," said the Doctor before she got close enough to read anything off the pages.

Viera fidgeted at the halfhearted order, but he'd only succeeded in making her curiosity worse. "What is it?" she repeated.

"Her diary," he said lowly

"Our diary," River corrected.

The Doctor's expression tightened as surprise widened Viera's eyes. "Her past, my… future," he explained with great reluctance. "We keep meeting in the wrong order."

And me? Viera wondered. Am I in there?

The sound of rushing wind dragged her attention away from the deceptively innocent-looking journal. Four narrow whirlwinds were dragging dust into the air. Viera didn't even have time to question it. The odd phenomenon ended as quickly as it had started, leaving four men standing where the dust devils had been.

They were armed and wearing pale uniforms that matched the dry stone and sand around them. Soldiers, clearly. What have we gotten ourselves into this time?

One of the men approached, sweeping a dubious gaze over the Doctor and Viera, apparently finding them lacking. He frowned at River.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song."

"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army," River corrected, unconcerned. "This is the Doctor, and his companion, Viera." There was the briefest of hesitations when she introduced Viera, but the younger woman was rather more concerned that this was something the soldier thought they needed an army for.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted cheerfully. Viera gave a hesitant smile.

"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command," the soldier said.

Bishop? Clerics? When did the church get an army? Viera wondered, struggling to keep her discomfort from her expression. Armies and religion brought to mind the Crusades. She was dedicated to her faith, but that didn't make her completely blind to its downfalls. Mixing weapons with religion could be a terribly dangerous thing. It was entirely possible that the Bishop was a good, faithful man who listened to God and kept in mind what the Bible had to say about love and mercy instead of letting the power go to his head, but it still made her uneasy.

"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?"

"Doctor," River Song said slowly. "What do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

Viera could only describe the Doctor's expression from that moment on as foreboding, though that almost felt like an understatement. It worried her, how unexcited he was at the thought of this particular 'adventure'. She didn't have a chance to question him though, because Father Octavian was talking over the sound of a transport ship beginning to land. The other soldiers were already setting up a makeshift base out of tents and tables and a few other transport vehicles that had landed immediately.

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship," Octavian explained as they strode across the rocky beach. Viera hurried to keep up, glancing back at where River had stopped to talk to a soldier. "Our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this," Octavian waved the small device in his hand, "behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."

"Wait, I'm sorry," Viera interrupted, struggling to follow the conversation. "Neutralize? How are we neutralizing it? What is 'it' exactly?" They stopped near a table cluttered with bits of technology and Octavian stared at her as though only just noticing her presence.

"Ah, well, that's-" Octavian started a bit hesitantly.

"Father Octavian?" a soldier called.

"Excuse me," Octavian said immediately and went to his men.

Well that's a good sign. "What exactly is a Weeping Angel?" Viera asked once it was just the two of them.

The Doctor frowned at her and she fidgeted. "I want you to go back to the TARDIS. Wait for me there."

Viera froze, her worry intensifying. The only time he had ever asked her to stay behind like that was when he'd thought he was going to his death. "Is it that bad?" she asked more quietly.

"A Weeping Angel is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and they want me to crawl inside that ship to capture one with nothing but a screwdriver and a torch." The Doctor started ranting about the danger, but he switched gears quickly when he saw the growing concern on Viera's face. "Not that I can't do it, of course. I'll be fine. I just think it might be best if you waited on the TARDIS."

His nonchalant tone wasn't fooling her. It was frightening that they were facing something that actually worried the Doctor that much, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him face it without her.

It didn't help that she'd be leaving him with River in the process.

"That's sweet, but I'd rather stay with you, thanks," Viera said, the beginnings of stubbornness settling into her expression.

"Viera-"

"We're a team, aren't we? You and I?" she interrupted. "After everything we've been through- I'm not leaving now. So you might as well stop arguing." She watched him carefully, fully prepared to keep defending her choice, but while the Doctor still looked unhappy with her decision, resignation had seeped into his eyes.

"All right. All right," he sighed, dragging a hand through his hair in agitation before pointing a stern finger at her. "But no taking unnecessary chances. No wandering off. You stay close. You listen. If I tell you to do something-"

"Am I really that bad?" Viera asked, interrupting his tirade with a slight laugh. "When do I ever disobey orders?" Or suggestions, or even hints that you want things a certain way?

The Doctor huffed slightly in disagreement, but he lowered his finger. "Whenever you decide other people's lives are more important than your own," he grumbled lowly as he turned back to the gadgets on the table. She wasn't sure he'd meant for her to hear that, though thinking back on their experiences, Viera supposed he was right. Still…

"You're such a hypocrite," she said with quiet fondness, shifting to her left just enough that their shoulders touched. She couldn't quite shake the worry that they were getting in over their heads, but it would be infinitely worse sitting alone in the TARDIS wondering what he was facing alone.

The Doctor didn't look at her, but she heard his soft sigh and saw a bit of the tension in his shoulders ease. There was no use worrying about things he couldn't change. She wasn't leaving. He'd have to knock her out or something to get her back on the TARDIS without him, and she didn't think things were quite that dire yet.

"Doctor? Doctor!" River leaned out of one of the sturdy military transport ships nearby, calling to them. "Father Octavian!"

"Best get started," the Doctor said. "The sooner we get this sorted, the better." He offered her his hand and they followed Octavian into the transport. The beach behind them grew dark as the last of the sunlight faded from the sky.

River and Octavian were looking at a screen. The footage was black and white and cluttered with a bit of static, but they could all see the angel on screen quite clearly.

"It's a statue," Viera blurted in surprise. Of course she knew it couldn't be an ordinary statue, but it certainly wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"It's a Weeping Angel," River corrected without the slightest bit of mocking in her voice. "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."

"Where'd it come from?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbanhan, end of last century," River replied. "It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."

"There's a difference between dormant and patient," the Doctor muttered, sending a shiver down Viera's spine.

She eyed the statue on screen; it certainly looked as still and solid as stone. "So they're creatures made of stone?" she asked.

"Not exactly. It's only a statue when you see it. The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen, or so legend has it," River explained.

"It's not legend," disagreed the Doctor. "It's a quantum lock. In the sight of living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism."

Viera turned that over in her mind, stills studying the screen. "What if something happens to the stone? What the statue gets broken? Does the Angel die?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Even if they're smashed, the stone's not really their existence. It's a bit complicated, but as soon as they move again they're whole. River was right. As far as I know, they can't ever die."

No wonder the Doctor was worried. "So what are we going to do when we find it?"

The Doctor glanced at Octavian, but the Bishop seemed to be looking to him for a plan. "Well…" he considered. "If we can keep an eye on it once we find it, we should be able to move it into some sort of transport, then into storage. You do have somewhere to keep it, don't you?"

"Our best scientists built a cell designed to be unbreakable. We're flying one in now," Octavian said.

"I'd best take a look at that," the Doctor said, only sounding a little bit doubtful. Just because something was designed to be unbreakable, that didn't mean it was.

Viera heard their voices fade as they left the transport, still talking. She followed a bit slower, pausing at the door to listen to the Doctor talking about radiation. Viera grimaced; their last run in with radiation hadn't gone so well. She thought about following him, but the Doctor had turned to talk to River, and suddenly Viera didn't want to be there.

You're being ridiculous, she told herself, stepping back inside the transport. So what if she has more history with him? So what if she makes him nervous? So what if she calls him Sweetie?

"That doesn't have to mean anything, does it?" she said aloud, her gaze flickering to the screen they'd left on. Viera stilled and a surge of cold washed through her veins. Thoughts of jealously faded. The picture on the screen had changed. The Angel's hands weren't over its face and it was turned just slightly towards the camera.

"All right. That's- fine. Now I'm seeing things." Viera took a step back and tore her gaze away to lean out of the transport door. "River? Was there another clip of the Angel?"

"No, just the four seconds," River replied, barely looking away from the Doctor.

"And it had its hands over its face, right?" Viera checked, wondering if she hadn't been paying enough attention in the first place.

River and the Doctor were bent over an old book, caught up in whatever they were looking for.

"Never mind," Viera muttered, fighting back irrational hurt at being not-quite-ignored. She stepped back into the transport and looked at the screen. "It doesn't anymore," she called loudly. She couldn't bring herself to look away long enough to lean back outside. The Angel was facing forwards, hands at its side. The time code kept looping from 11:24 to 11:28, but that wasn't possible. Maybe it was a computer glitch. Maybe River had gotten more footage than she'd realized.

Viera took a step forward then paused, curiosity warring with instinct. There was probably a perfectly logical explanation for the extra footage, but still she had goose bumps, her heart was pounding, and her skin felt cold. She was scared, though she imagined she'd just feel silly once she was back with the others. Still… she didn't want that thing on screen at her back. Best to turn it off.

Without looking away from the screen, Viera reached for the remote. She pressed the power button and felt a brief flash of relief as the screen turned black. It didn't last. The Angel came back on with a quiet chatter of static. She tried again. And again. It wouldn't turn off.

Viera licked her suddenly dry lips and tried not to panic. "All right. That's fine. The batteries in the remote must be dead. I just need to…" She glanced down at the plug that led from the screen to the wall, then glanced back up and jumped. The Angel had moved closer. She was breathing faster now, which wasn't exactly helping her stay calm, but that seemed like a lost cause anyway. Viera kept her wide eyes on the screen as she reached down, grabbed the cord and yanked.

She yanked a little too hard and lost her balance. Her gaze slipped from the screen as she caught herself. The Angel's face was right up to the camera when she looked back and Viera gasped. Oh, God. Why won't it turn off. This is- This is bad. This is very, very bad.

It felt like being caught in the middle of a nightmare, too scared to move, too scared to make a sound. She stared at the Angel, her mind scrambling for something, anything to ease the fear.

"Doctor!" Viera rasped hoarsely. Then louder. "Doctor!" She stepped back, nearly stumbling over her own feet, and tried to push open the door she didn't remember closing. It wouldn't budge. Some lock or latch had caught in the door frame and it wouldn't move. The handle wouldn't even turn. She was trapped. "Doctor!" Viera yelled as loud as she could. She pounding on the door with one fist, unwilling to turn away from the screen long enough to use the other.

It was no good. He couldn't hear her. He wasn't coming. Panic hit and she spun away from the screen to struggle with the door. She moaned when she glanced back at the Angel. It wasn't on the screen anymore, it was there, in the room with her. It looked more demon than angle, with clawed hands reaching for her and sharp teeth bared in a silent snarl. "Doctor," she whimpered, pressing back against the door.

"Viera!" The call was muffled by the thick door, but the Doctor's voice still made her sag in relief.

"It's moved! It's coming out of the screen!" Viera yelled. "I can't get the door open."

"Don't stop looking at it!" the Doctor shouted back. "It can't move if you're looking!" She heard him exchange a muffled conversation with River and didn't bother trying to make out the words. "Don't blink, Viera! Don't even blink!"

"Get me out!" she pleaded, staring at the Angel with wide eyes. Of course now that he'd told her not to blink, that was all she wanted to do. Her eyes were getting dry and itchy and she needed to blink. She couldn't help it. Her eyelids slid closed; it was only a fraction of a heartbeat, but it was enough. Abruptly the Angel was another foot closer, grasping hands stretched towards her. "Doctor!" she cried. Viera held her eyes open with her fingers, terrified that she would blink again involuntarily. "Get me out!"

"I'm trying!" the Doctor promised. He sounded more frustrated than reassuring and Viera hissed through her teeth, clinging to the fact that he hadn't failed her yet. "Can you turn it off? The screen, can you turn it off?"

"Can't. Tried," Viera said. Stop panicking. Stop it. You're being ridiculous, she tried to tell herself. I'm not dying here like this, killed by a stupid video recording. She took a deep breath, then another. She let go of one eyelid, blinking away the water that had started to build, then she blinked the other, careful to keep one eye on the Angel at all times. God help me. Please, please, help. She could still hear the Doctor on the other side of the door, trying to get to her. Obviously it wasn't working. She tried to remember what else was in the room without letting her gaze wander. She wasn't sure there was anything she could use. Even if she could get to exposed wires somehow, she couldn't overload or drain the television; it was already unplugged.

There had to be some buildup of energy inside the actual television for it to be staying on. She'd have to get to the screen itself. Oh, that sounded stupid. She couldn't think of anything else to do though.

"Doctor?" she called, feeling a little more calm with a plan, even a sort of suicidal one. "Any chance you're going to get that door open any time soon?"

"Viera… We're trying," the Doctor promised, voice low and worried.

She was glad he wasn't lying to her. "All right. What happens if I touch the Angel. It looks… like a hologram." A viciously terrifying hologram, but still. "Can it really hurt me?"

"Whatever hold the image of an Angel, is an Angel," River answered when the Doctor didn't.

"Don't touch it," the Doctor said. "Can you try turning it off again? Just don't- Don't look away."

"But what happens?" Viera asked. There was silence on the other side and she wandered if he hadn't heard her or if it was really just that bad.

"Not the eyes," she thought she heard the Doctor mutter. Then the order came loud and clear. "Viera, don't look at the eyes! Look anywhere else, but not the eyes."

"What?!" Viera swallowed as she stared into the Angel's eyes as she had been doing for some time. "It's a little late for that!" she shouted, tearing her gaze away to stare at the fanged mouth instead. "Why not the eyes? Doctor?"

There was a brief pause. "That's fine. Just don't look at them anymore," the Doctor said.

Whatever he meant, we're going to have to deal with that later. I can't just stand here any longer. Viera took a deep breath and sidestepped towards the wall. She backed up to the desk and edged closer to the Angel, staring harder than she ever had before. It was so close, too close. Viera hardly breathed as she drew even with the holographic monster. She had to get past it. She had to. But the transport wasn't all that big and one of the Angel's raised arms was only inches away. Viera leaned back and inched towards the screen.

It felt like it took forever. It certainly took long enough to worry the Doctor, who was yelling on the other side of the door. Viera couldn't catch her breath enough to reply. She focused on not freezing instead. Ever so slowly she crept past, until finally, finally she was closer to the screen than the Angel.

She trembled as she raised one hand to the back of the TV, fingers seeking out any wires she could find. She had to pry open a panel without looking, but eventually she found what she wanted. The moment she felt the first spark she pulled every ounce of energy out of the television and into her power-channels, praying frantically that the Angel was only in the image and not in the energy she'd just taken in.

The holograph disappeared and the screen turned off. Viera lowered her arms slowly, then jumped when the door was flung open.

Then the Doctor ran in and suddenly everything was all right again. Viera slumped against the wall, prompting deeper concern from the Doctor.

"Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" he asked, planting himself in front of her. His fingers tucked a strand of sweat-dampened hair behind her ear, and he cupped her chin to tilt her head slightly from one side to the other, studying her eyes.

"I'm fine. Just. That was really creepy," Viera admitted. The Doctor eyed her a moment longer, then accepted her reply and settled an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him instead of the wall as he scanned the television with his screwdriver.

"Did you unplug it?" River asked, sharp eyes spotting the loose cord. Viera looked at her carefully, but the other woman didn't seem bothered by how close she was to the Doctor.

"Tried to. It didn't work. I had to drain the television set."

"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River asked. She didn't seem curious about how Viera had drained the television, and she wondered suddenly how much River knew about her.

"Well, a projection of the Angel," the Doctor said. "It's reaching out, getting a look at us. It's not dormant anymore, is it," he muttered, studying the readings on his screwdriver.

"Can we get out of here?" Viera asked a moment later. She felt worlds better now that she wasn't alone, but she kept glancing at the screen, half-expecting it to have turned on again. Oh, that's going to give me so many nightmares.

"Yes. Right, of course," the Doctor agreed immediately. He motioned River out first. She gave them a look, smiled slightly in understanding, then went to find Octavian. The Doctor stopped Viera outside the transport, a hand on each shoulder as he looked into her eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the ship?" he asked quietly.

Part of her was tempted. She'd be quite happy to never see a Weeping Angel again, and while she didn't really want to be anywhere alone, she was pretty sure the TARDIS' presence would be enough to keep her calm.

"I'm sure," Viera answered anyways.

The sound of an explosion tore through the night air. The Doctor and Viera turned to see dust spray into the air a short distance away, and Father Octavian waved to them, River by his side.

"Doctor! We're through!" he shouted.

The Doctor took a deep breath. "No time like the present," he said, his tone a third resignation and two thirds optimism. Viera echoed his smile and let him lead her away, scrubbing absently at the itch beneath her eyelids.

I must have gotten dust in my eye from that explosion.

When they reached the hole, Octavian and River had already climbed down. There was a sturdy rope ladder dangling into the low glow of flashlights. The Doctor went down first and Viera followed carefully. She turned, then stilled, her hazel eyes straining to make out shapes in the darkness. The illumination of the flashlights only went so far; the enormous cavern went one well beyond that.

"Anyone got a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked.

"Grav globe," Octavian's echo made the words an order and one of the soldiers quickly pulled a sphere out of his pack and handed it to the Bishop, who handed it to the Doctor. The Time Lord weighed the ball in his hand, then with an underhand sweep, tossed it high up into the air. The sphere paused at the top of its arc, suspended in the air. It flared brightly, illuminating everything below like a sliver of sunlight.

Viera sucked in a breath, feeling a moment of awe as she did every time she saw a place so very different from one she'd seen before. Never mind the brief shiver of fear that followed. They were in a vast cavern, stories upon stories of crumbling ruins above them. Humanoid statues stood along every ledge. They looked almost older than the ruins, faces and limbs beginning to disintegrate. Some of them were missing chunks of stone; others were simply so worn all their details were gone.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian said.

"Just a bit," replied the Doctor. He sounded amused by the odds against them. Viera didn't find the situation very funny, but she had to admit that she relaxed a little with the Doctor's light tone.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst the statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for," the Bishop admitted. That caught Viera's attention; was he a man of faith then?

"A needle in a haystack," said River lowly.

"Well," the Doctor drawled, "if we're going to search the whole stack, we'd best get started. Allons-y," he beckoned, motioning them forward. Octavian hung back a moment to give orders to his men, but River and Viera kept close to the Doctor.

Their search was fairly uneventful for a long while, aside from River insisting that Viera get a shot of viro-stabiliser and one of the soldiers firing his gun at a harmless, ordinary statue. Viera couldn't blame him though; she kept jumping at shadows herself. In the vast maze of statues and stone it seemed impossible that they could ever find the Angel if it didn't want to be found.

Of course the idea of it wanting to be found was terrifying in its own right.
"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River said as their search continued fruitlessly. "Massive ship crashes in through the roof but the whole thing is as solid as a, well, as a rock."

"Mmm," the Doctor gave a sound of agreement as he peered out into the shadows. "Had dinner with their chief architect once. Two heads are better than one, you know."

"You helped him build something?" Viera asked, wondering if he'd had anything to do with the construction of the temple they were in.

"No. Well, yes, but I meant he had two heads." The Doctor grinned at Viera's surprise, but his amusement shifted quickly to puzzlement, like there was a thought or a memory just out of reach. He turned to River. "That book, the very end, what did it say."

"Hang on." River rummaged in her pack for the book obediently, then started reading 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."

Viera couldn't help but make a face at that, a horrified shiver sneaking up her spine. "Well that's… disturbing," she muttered. Viera tried not to think about the Angel on the video or what other things could crawl out of nightmares and become real if that was truly how the Angels had been created.

The Doctor nudged her shoulder and gave her a steadying smile when she glanced at him. Viera felt herself relax a little, and she tried to focus on her immediate surroundings rather than theories about the Angels. Her legs were beginning to ache. The long, uphill trudging used very different muscles than their usual running. "It's quite a climb, isn't it."

"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go," River offered encouragingly.

The Doctor's thoughts were drifting back to their previous topic. "Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time."

It might be nice to see this place the way it used to be. "What are they like?"

"Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, and why wouldn't they be? With two heads you learn to compromise pretty quickly I imagine. 'S not like you can get away to cool off after an argument."

River wasn't listening, her concentration focused on their surroundings. She frowned at the statues they passed, puzzled frustration in her eyes. "Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is…"

"Yeah, something wrong," he agreed. He didn't sound terribly concerned, but Viera could see the little wrinkle he sometimes got between his brows when he was worried. "Not sure what it is yet, but I'll get there."

"Lowest point in the wreckage is only about fifty feet up from here," Octavian spoke up, motioning ahead. "That way."

They were all content to let him lead. Viera was busy concentrating on where she was putting her feet, trying not to trip over the bits of rubble on their uphill path. Then sudden the Doctor wasn't walking beside her anymore. She looked back to see that he'd stopped, staring at one of the statues with a look of horror-tinged surprise on his expressive face.

"Oh!" he breathed. "Oh, that's… very not good."

Things were bad if the Doctor was that worried. Viera glanced from him to River, who had a similar expression on her face. "What is it?"

"Oh," River echoed, shining her flashlight on the face of one of the statues.

"Right," the Doctor said. He took a deep breath before turning his attention to his comrades. "Nobody panic."

Oh, sure, because that's not worrying at all. "What's going on?" Viera asked, eyeing the statues they'd been looking at. She still didn't understand.

"How could we not notice that?" River muttered under her breath.

"Eh, low level perception filter," the Doctor suggested, managing to shrug with a twist of his expression and a tilt of his head rather than with his shoulders. "Then again, maybe we're just thick," he added as hint of self-disgust leaked through.

"What is it?" Viera repeated, more insistently. The Doctor turned apologetic brown eyes her way and held up a hand in a silent plea for calm. Almost automatically she took a deep breath and straightened, pushing down the worry.

"It'll be all right. Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are," the Doctor's voice was steady, authoritative. No one argued. No one moved. "Bishop, I'm truly sorry. I've made a mistake. We've walked into a rather dangerous situation. Things might get a little bit tricky."

"Dangerous how?" Octavian asked, following the Doctor's gaze to the statues.

"The Aplans," River said.

"That Aplans?" echoed the Bishop.

"They've got two heads."

"Yes, I get that. So?" Octavian's voice took on a tinge of impatience.

"So why don't the statues?" River asked calmly.

"Oh," Viera murmured at the same time as the Bishop. She took an automatic step back from the nearest statues, staring wide-eyed at the rough, misshapen ovals where their faces should have been. Oh. Oh, this is very, very bad. But they can't be. They just can't be. We'd be dead already, wouldn't we? The thought that all of those statues held a creature like the one who had tried to attack her through the screen… Why aren't we dead?

"Yeah," the Doctor, grim for just a moment before calm authority took over. He motioned with his flashlight to a curve in the tunnel completely void of statues. "Everyone, over there. Don't ask questions. Don't speak. Just go." River Song obeyed immediately, quickly followed by the soldiers. Viera shuffled backwards as quickly as she could without looking away from the statues. The Doctor followed, though he deliberately stayed between the group and the Angels. Then he took a deep breath. "All right, I want you all the switch off your torches."

"Sir?"

"Just… trust me a moment," the Doctor insisted without looking behind him. There was a brief moment of hesitation, but the flashlights went off one by one. "Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a second."

"Are you sure about this?" River asked. Viera was thinking the same thing.

"Not really, no."

Well that's reassuring, Viera mused, breathing faster as fear-driven adrenaline coursed through her veins. That was all she had time to think before the light flickered off. She flinched as it came back on and abruptly all the statues were turned towards them.

"They've moved," Octavian groaned quietly as realization sunk in.

The Doctor darted back the way they'd come to get a look at the rest of the statues. All of them had moved in that brief instant the lights had been off. The Doctor stopped, his light trained on a statue on the ground halfway risen to its feet as it reached towards him. "They're Angels. All of them."

"But they can't be," River said.

"Why not?" Viera asked, caught somewhere between panic and the calm that sometimes came from being so completely overwhelmed by emotions that they just shut down. Angels. They're all Angels. We are so very dead.

"They just… There's just so many. There was only one Angel on the ship. I swear, there was only one. And they're rare. They were supposed to be rare," River insisted. She sounded offended that history and facts had led her astray.

"Wouldn't be the first time history's gotten something wrong," the Doctor pointed out, earning himself a fierce glare. He cleared his throat and turned away from River. "Clerics, keep watching them," he ordered, jogging a bit further ahead. River and Viera followed, neither willing to be left behind even if they were walking deeper into the Angels' grasps. Their flashlights illuminated more statues, ones they'd passed on their way to the tunnel, all of them frozen in the motion of following them. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. And they're coming after us."

"Why not before now? They've had us surrounded for ages. Why haven't they come after us yet? What are they waiting for?" Viera asked, keeping an eye on as many statues as she could while trying to blink as little as possible.

"They're dying. Losing their form," the Doctor explained. He sounded just a little bit sorry for them. "They must have been down here for centuries, starving."

"Losing their image," River mused.

"And their image is their power. Power..." he echoed as his thoughts caught on something. "Power! Ohhh, that's it! Of course that's it!" the Doctor exclaimed, gesturing wildly in his agitation. "All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash 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."

"Great," Viera said unenthusiastically. "What are the chances that we can get out of here before they finish waking?"

The Doctor grimaced silently, which spoke clearly enough.

Octavian turned his attention to the small group of soldiers they'd left behind to watch their back- the ones they'd left behind where it was supposed to be safer. The ones left alone with the waking Angels and no knowledge of what they were up against. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in please. Any of you, come in!"

The radio crackled and the quiet voice of the youngest soldier came through. "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."

Viera flinched, as much from the look on the Bishop's face as the news. She didn't remember the men who went with those names, though she'd try to later. It still wasn't easy to accept that they'd already lost comrades in the catacombs.

The Doctor snatched the radio out of Octavian's hand. "'Scuse me. Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you?"

"I'm talking to my-" the Bishop tried to object.

"Just give me a minute!" the Doctor spoke over him.

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

"Well done, Bob," the Doctor encouraged. "Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"

Does it really matter? They're dead.

"Snapped their necks, sir." Bob's reply was immediate and matter-of-fact.

Wasn't he the scared one? The one who shot at shadows? Is he in shock?

The Doctor lowered the radio from his mouth to think out loud, pacing a few steps as he did so. "See now, that's odd. That's very odd. That's not how the Angels kill you, they displace you in time. Unless- Unless they needed the bodies for something."

That was quite enough for Octavian. He grabbed the radio. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."

"The Angels don't leave you alive!" the Doctor snapped, forcefully taking back the radio. "Bob, don't go back, do you hear me? Keep running." There was a flicker of hesitation in his voice as he continued, like he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me too."

Everyone stilled. Viera's gaze flickered towards the Doctor before she realized everyone else was looking at them too, and she made herself refocus on the statues.

"What do you mean the Angel killed you too?" the Doctor asked slowly.

"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."

Viera grimaced, feeling a sharper pain of regret. Oh, Bob.

"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

"You're not talking to me, sir. 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, sir, yes."

The Doctor was silent for a long moment, struggling to find a way to turn things around, to keep them alive. From the strained look on his face, the odds weren't good. "Go. We have to go now. Go! All of you run!" he barked, finally getting the soldiers to move. "Go, go, go!"

River took a few running steps, then turned back abruptly. The Time Lord wasn't following. "Doctor?" she asked, a tone of warning mixing with the concern in her voice.

"Yes, I'm coming, just go! Go!"

Viera had yet to move, and she stiffened when he turned her way, expecting his protest.

"Viera-" he started, the drawn out word edging around the dangerous tone he so rarely used.

"No."

"Viera-"

"Why aren't you running?" she demanded.

"I'll be right behind you," he promised.

"You'll be right beside me," she said, clinging to her stubbornness in an effort not to feel the anxiousness that came from arguing. "I'm staying with you." Her voice was as hard and unyielding as she could make it and frustration twisted the Doctor's expression.

"We don't have time for this," he groaned, turning to the Bishop, the only other one who had stayed behind. Viera took a deep breath and let herself lean against the railing behind her. Her fingers flexed around the carved stone as her gaze trailed over the still statues at the edges of the light.

"I'm sorry about your men," The Doctor said, completely sincere for all that he was a little bit hurried. "And for snapping at you. But there's no way we could have rescued them."

The Bishop's expression was hard. "I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families."

Octavian turned and walked away too quickly to see the Doctor's flinch behind him. Viera bit her lip, but the pain vanished from his expression just as quickly as it'd come. Concentration took its place, hints of anger simmering beneath as he spoke into the radio.

"Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"

"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring."

"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." He let go of the radio switch and turned to flash a grim smile at Viera. "Time to go." He started running in the direction the others had gone.

Viera tried to follow. Really she did. But her left hand refused to release the railing. She turned back and sucked in a breath. There was a good reason her hand wouldn't move; it had completely turned to stone.

"Doctor!" Viera called, staring at the lifeless stone hand that was anchoring her to the railing. She heard his sneakers tap against the stone cave as he ran back to her. "I can't- My hand- It's stone." She finally tore her gaze from her hand to look at the Doctor.

He stared down at her hand with a grim expression for a long moment before he turned to look at her. His countenance softened immediately upon seeing her fear, though he didn't look any less serious. "Hold still a moment," he murmured. He brought up his flashlight, shining it in her eyes. Reflexively she flinched away, but he caught her chin with gentle fingers. She stilled immediately, trying not to squint too much against the light.

"I was afraid of this," he admitted when he lowered the flashlight.

"Afraid of what?" Viera asked breathlessly.

The Doctor's mouth twitched into a grimace. "When you looked into the Angel's eyes… it gave it some sort of connection to you." He shook his head and leaned closer, meeting her gaze with those warm, steady brown eyes of his. "It is messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

"Yes it is!" she insisted. She stared at her hand and tried to pull away from the railing again. Her hand and her wrist were grey. Her skin looked rough and completely solid. She didn't understand why he was saying otherwise. Frustration and anger rose up from the back of her mind to tangle with the fear. "It's stone!"

"Viera." The Doctor caught her face in his hands and held on even when she halfheartedly tried to pull away. "Listen to me. It is not stone." Viera couldn't wipe the incredulous disbelief off her face. "I wouldn't- Do you really think I'd lie to you about this?"

Confusion surfaced from beneath the other emotions and Viera frowned. Lie… to me? Would he? It's not like he never lies but… but he always has a reason. What would the point be? Telling me my hand's not stone when it is wouldn't do me any good. "I- But it's stone." It wasn't a question but her voice was far less sure.

"It's not. I swear it's not. Close your eyes and focus on me, just on me. Relax, all right?" the Doctor said. His words were calm, but his eyes darted to the corridor behind her as the flashlights flickered like candles in a draft.

Viera took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She fully intended to do as he asked, but the moment her vision went black, fear flared bright and inescapable in her mind. A gasp tore from her throat and her eyes flew open as she shook her head. "I don't want to," Viera blurted.

The Doctor's gaze grew sharper as he studied her, but he didn't argue. "All right. Just focus on me then. Don't look over. Keep your eyes on me, yeah?"

Viera nodded dutifully. He reached for her arm; his cool fingers slid down her shoulder, past her elbow, leaving goose bumps in their wake. Viera swallowed. Her hazel eyes remained locked on his, but all her focus seemed to be drawn to whatever patch of skin he happened to be touching. His fingers skimmed across her forearm before closing around her wrist. Confusion fluttered to life again.

I can't feel that. My wrist is stone. But I- That's not- I can feel something. Can't I? Am I just imagining that? My hand is stone; I can't possibly feel anything through that, right? If my hand is stone. She was getting a headache. She didn't understand; she'd never had a problem believing something just because the Doctor said it before.

The Doctor grimaced very slightly. That was all the warning she had before a brief, sharp pain shot through her hand.

"Ow!" Viera yelped, jerking back reflexively. She frowned the reddened patch on the back of her hand. Her very fleshy hand. Her hand which was no longer curled around the railing.

The lights flickered and the Doctor snatched her hand up and pulled her along with him as he started to run. "Time to go!"

"You pinched me," Viera said. Her mind was still trying to catch up, though her legs seemed to be running just fine despite her lack of concentration.

"Yeah. Sorry," the Doctor said, though the apology wasn't all that sincere. "You were taking too long."

"It wasn't ever really stone then." Viera glanced back even as she spoke. The statues behind them were frozen still, but they were reaching towards them, some partway to their feet, others in the middle of preparing to leap.

"Nope. Not even a little."

"It seemed so real," she murmured. Viera wasn't sure what she was more afraid of now: the statues trying to kill them or the Angel in her mind messing with her senses. "What else can the Angel make me see?"

The Doctor gave her a measuring look, like he was deciding whether she could handle the truth or if he should be lying. Viera tried to look brave because she didn't want to be lied to just then, but mostly she just looked worried.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. Despite the serious undertones, he still managed to sound confident, almost lighthearted. "Tell you what. You see or hear or feel anything unusual, you tell me, all right?"

"Right," Viera said. She clung a little harder to his hand and saved the rest of her breath for running.

It didn't take them long to catch up with the others. Relief flooded River's expression when she saw them, though she didn't seem surprised.

"What took you?" she asked mockingly.

"Oh, you know, took a bit of a detour. Had a look around," the Doctor replied with an easy grin. "It's quite nice. I'm thinking of building a vacation home."

The bright blue light of a gravity globe hung in the air overhead. It flickered as Viera looked up, startled to see metal instead of stone. They were under the ship. Way under the ship; there was no way they were going to be able to get that high without some very good climbing equipment.

"That flickering, that's the Angels. They're getting closer. They're going to kill the lights," the Doctor warned. "They're absorbing the power for themselves, greedy little beasts."

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

"Yes, well, that is something of a problem," the Doctor said, looking up at the ship lodged into the cave ceiling.

"There are more incoming!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"Any suggestions?" River asked. All the lights in the cavern fluctuated wildly, dimming until they nearly went out before briefly recovering, over and over again.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian observed grimly.

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

Viera breathed a quiet, shaky laugh. That was how it seemed to go. The worse things got, the more brilliant the Doctor's ideas had to be to get them out. More brilliant or more crazy. And sometimes just very, very lucky.

"Oh, there's always a way out," the Doctor replied, sounding fairly unworried. The lights faltered again, blanketing them all in darkness. When they flickered back on the Angels were crowded around the passage where they'd entered.

"Well it's not that way," Viera said, staring hard at the Angels. Please don't let the lights go out. Please, oh please, oh please don't let the lights go out.

"Best find another then," the Doctor agreed. He still didn't sound alarmed, but he was studying their surroundings more intently.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?" the polite tones of Bob's stolen voice came through the radio.

"Hello, Angel Bob," the Doctor answered with an edgy sort of cheer. "What can we do for you today?"

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

"As interesting as all of that is, it's not exactly news," the Doctor said. "So why are you telling me this?"

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end," Angel Bob said, his tone never changing.

"And that would be…"

"I died in fear."

Viera flinched as the bold challenge in the Doctor's expression faded abruptly. "What?" he asked automatically.

"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."

That's not true, Viera wanted desperately to say. But it is true, isn't it? The Doctor- we can't save everyone. Not always. But that's not his fault. We couldn't have known that these were all Angels. It's not his fault. But she couldn't figure how to say that without it sounding patronizing. Viera bit back the urge to speak and edged closer to the Doctor instead. Her fingers brushed against his. Though he didn't otherwise acknowledge her presence, he curled his hand around hers and gave a brief squeeze.

"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that," Angel Bob said when the Doctor stayed silent.

"That was a mistake," the Doctor said. His voice started quiet, but it wasn't in defeat. The dangerous, reckless liveliness in his words was easier to recognize as he got a bit louder. "And it's not the first one you've made today. I'm sorry, Bob, that I couldn't save you, but I swear, I swear to whatever is left of you, I'll make them sorrier." The last words were said through gritted teeth. It made the hairs at the back of Viera's neck stand up.

They really shouldn't have taunted him like that. Bad, bad idea.

"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."

The Doctor scoffed loudly. "Trapped. Trapped? Oh, sure, we're cut off from all the exits, but trapped? You've laid a lousy trap, Angel Bob, because this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!" He let go of Viera's hand to gesture wildly as his voice raised.

"What mistake, sir?" the Angel asked politely. He was ignored.

The Doctor dropped the radio from his mouth long enough to turn to the others. "Trust me?" he asked River.

"Always." She didn't hesitate, but River gave a wry smile and shook her head slightly, already guessing that he was about to do something quite mad.

The Doctor turned to Viera, a slight smile on his face because he already knew the answer. "Trust me?"

"Yes."

He turned to the rest, the soldiers who were risking their lives to help stop the Angel. "You lot- Think you can trust me?"

The soldiers kept their eyes on the frozen Angels, useless guns clenched tightly in their hands. Octavian answered for all of them. "We have faith, sir."

"Then give me your gun." The Doctor took the weapon and look around at them all. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid. And dangerous," he warned, sounding more excited than worried by the prospect. "When I do, you all need to jump."

"What?"

"Jump where?" Octavian asked.

"Just jump. Jump as high as you can." He grinned encouragingly at the Bishop. "Come on, take a leap of faith. On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it," the Doctor promised. He lifted the gun up, aiming towards the roof. Viera glanced back at him, then up before letting her gaze settle back on the statues.

What is he aiming at? Something on the ship?

"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" Angel Bob apparently wasn't willing to just let that go.

"Oh, big mistake. Huuuuuge," the Doctor drawled mockingly. "Because there's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, which you were really supposed to be, you know: clever little killers. There is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

"And what would that be, sir?"

The Doctor's grin was fierce and wild. "Me." Then he pulled the trigger on his gun and the bullets tore through gravity globe overhead. The cave went dark.

Viera thought her heart was going to stop. She froze instinctively, just for a moment. It might have been the end of her, but a hand grabbed hers and she remembered abruptly that she was supposed to jump. So she did, as high as she could. It was a clumsy effort, but it was enough. Her feet had barely left the ground when gravity seemed to give way. Instead of landing back on the ground, Viera felt herself falling, tumbling like hole had opened under her feet. She gave a frightened squeak, completely disoriented by the awful sensation of plummeting.

The hand around hers squeezed, reminding Viera that she wasn't alone. She clung to it desperately. A second later she hit the ground, surrounded by lights again. They were flickering, but they hadn't failed yet. The soft glow calmed her almost as much as being on solid ground. Or at least she thought it was solid.

"What just happened?" Viera asked, still hanging on to the Doctor's hand. He helped her up, giving a very slight, apologetic grimace when she rubbed the sore spot on her hip. She'd landed on it awkwardly.

"Look up," the Doctor said, a pleased little grin on his face. Viera gave his a questioning look, then the tilt of his head upwards. There was no ship, only stone. The light around them barely penetrated the darkness up there, but she could make out very oddly shaped stalactites.

"All right. Maybe I'm just being thick, but I don't get it."

The Doctor sighed, like they should be expected to follow his crazy mind's processes. "We're on the Byzantium. We're standing on the ship."

Viera looked down, finally recognizing the lights embedded in the metal around them as something she'd seen from below. They were upside down. Viera had to fight the urge to drop to the ground, or is that ceiling?, and cling to the surface for fear of falling. "How-?"

"The ship crashed with its power still on," the Doctor said, explaining but not clearly. Viera gave him a look. She knew he liked to lead them to finding the answers themselves, but she'd had about as much as she could handle with the deadly statues and the video and her stone hand. The Doctor motioned to the ship at their feet. "Power means artificial gravity. I shot out the grav-globe to give us an updraft. One good jump and up we fell!"

He was quite pleased with himself. Viera had to admit, as far as crazy-stupid plans went, it wasn't bad. She still didn't like standing on the ceiling with nothing but Angels to catch her if she fell. Speaking of which…

"Can the Angels get here without the updraft?" Viera asked, craning her neck to keep an eye on the shadowed figures of statues below. Above. Whatever.

"Welll," the Doctor drew out the word reluctantly. "I imagine they're far better climbers than we are."

"Doctor. The statues, they look more like Angels now," Octavian said. The soldier around them and River were all on their feet, looking up.

"This is why they wanted this ship. They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage," the Doctor said, a bit more subdued. "They'll drain the power from the ship until they're restored, then they'll be an army."

A practically unstoppable army. "What are we going to do?" Viera asked quietly. She glanced back at the Doctor, somewhat surprised to find him crouched at her feet.

"Just a step to your right," he instructed, motioning for her to move. Viera obeyed, watching as he aimed the sonic screwdriver at the spot where she'd been standing. They'd drawn the attention of the others, but the Doctor waved them away as soon as he realized that. "Keep looking at the Angels. Don't stop."

The lights flickered, dimming more and more by the second. "Right. No problem," River agreed with sarcasm that didn't quite hide the worry.

The soft hum of the screwdriver went silent and there was a hissing pop, like the sound of something pressurized being opened. Viera glanced down to see a hatch opened up into the ship.

"Keep looking at the Angels, but move this way," the Doctor ordered calmly. "Quick as you can, thank you." He flashed a grin at Viera and climbed into the hole.

Viera followed, hanging on to the edge of the doorway as she expected to be dangling into a corridor. She was surprised, and relieved, to find herself on her knees, slightly dizzy from the sensation of gravity shifting again.

"The gravity orients to the floor," the Doctor said with a smirk.

"Of course it does," Viera said, giving a soft, relieved laugh as she moved out of the way. River came in, followed by the soldiers. They tried to keep looking out the door, but the light was fading. They couldn't see all the way to the Angels anymore.

They were trapped. Oh, they'd all made it into the ship and shut the doors behind them, but the Angels had followed the moment they'd taken their eyes off them. The Doctor had led them deeper into the ship, but there was no escaping the Angels. In desperation the clerics sealed them into one of the inner chambers.

They were surrounded and the doors were beginning to give way.

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

"Five minutes, max," the Doctor replied distractedly, caught up in fiddling with the computer console in the center of the room.

"Nine."

"Five," the Doctor repeated. He looked away from the console long enough to give Viera a funny look. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Why'd you say nine?"

"I didn't," Viera said. "Why would I say nine?"

"Beats me. You're the one who's doing it." The Doctor studied her with unreadable eyes until the rattling of one of the sealed doors pulled his attention to more urgent things. "Oops, time for that later." He scrambled to flip a few switches then ducked beneath the console; the familiar whir of the sonic screwdriver briefly filled the room.

Queasiness had coiled in Viera's stomach during their race through the ship's corridors, and it was getting worse. She tried desperately to think about anything else, to think calming thoughts. It was just the fear, she was sure. The sense of wrongness, the sickness, it was a perfectly normal reaction, but an unnecessary one. They had gotten out of worse situations before.

"We need another way out of here," River pointed out.

"There isn't one," Octavian said grimly.

"Oh, of course there is," the Doctor assured cheerfully. He popped back up from beneath the console with a grin. "I told you. There's always a way out. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years and years between landings. That much time aboard ship, what do they need?"

"Of course," River breathed. Viera saw a similar look of realization cross Octavian's expression.

"You lost me," Viera admitted.

"What do human beings need to survive?" the Doctor asked, nudging her towards the answer with a gleeful air of anticipation. He took a few, bounding steps to the back wall, glancing sidelong at her even as he adjusted the screwdriver to a different setting. He halfheartedly nudged a nearby crate with his shoe, which was enough to prompt the clerics to move it for him. The Doctor grinned, quite pleased with the result. Soon enough everything was cleared away from the wall.

Viera hesitated a moment before answering; she couldn't see what he was getting at. Not that confusion was anything new.

"Eight."

"What?" the Doctor asked. Abruptly he spun around to pin Viera with sharp eyes.

"What?" she echoed, completely startled by the sudden focus of his attention. She frowned slightly before remembering the question. "Er… food. Water. Shelter." The Doctor was still looking at her like he was waiting for something. Viera made a face, trying to figure out what he was looking for. "Air?"

"Exactly!" The Doctor spun again and aimed the screwdriver towards the base wall with a dramatic flourish. There was a soft click and a hiss of relief, then the wall began rising.

Air? What are we looking for? Oxygen tanks? Some sort of generator? Viera only had a few moments to wonder before the wall rose out of the way and her mind went blank with surprise.

It was like they'd tucked another world behind that wall. Fog curled around tall trees. Deep green moss covered their roots, interspersed with the brighter green of ferns and leafy undergrowth. An entire forest was planted into the middle of the ship.

"That's…" Viera trailed off, failing to piece together the words.

"It's an oxygen factory," River said with clear amusement.

"It's amazing," Viera finally managed. She stepped past the wall to press her hand against the nearest tree. She was surprised to feel a soft, gentle hum beneath its bark. Startled hazel eyes turned towards the Doctor. He grinned, thrilled with her reaction.

"They're not just your regular, everyday earth trees. Though those are pretty amazing all on their own. You wouldn't believe what they get up to once they reach sentience," the Doctor waggled his eyebrows with a grin, nearly getting sidetracked before he pulled himself back on subject. He stepped closer to pat the tree that Viera was leaning against. "These are Treeborgs. Part tree, part machine. Absolutely brilliant!" he declared. His nimble fingers found a niche hidden in the moss of the tree and popped open a small hatch. Clusters of thin, transparent wires ran through the tree beneath the surface of the bark. Bright light surged through the tubes in a silent, steady rhythm Viera could feel better than she could see.

"Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest breathing in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains! There's a whole mini-climate," the Doctor exclaimed, gesturing towards the ceiling. Enthusiasm made his movements wild, though nowhere near clumsy. It was like there was so much energy stored up in that lithe, long-limbed body that if he didn't keep moving he'd just explode. Contagious enthusiasm. Viera couldn't help but grin.

"Seven."

"You keep doing that," the Doctor murmured. His excitement over the forest dimmed as easily as it had come. He turned to study Viera again; it made her nervous.

"Doing what?" she asked, feeling lost again.

"Counting," he replied.

That didn't make any sense at all. Viera's frown mirrored the Doctor's as her concern grew. What was going on? Was he hearing voices?

"I wasn't counting," she said carefully, half expecting him to ask 'then who was?'.

"Yes. You were," River spoke up from behind them.

Confusion and cold anxiety washed through Viera as she turned to stare at Professor Song. The older woman looked completely sincere and concerned on top of that. What? But I- I wasn't. I- I couldn't have been. What's going on? Uneasiness scratched at the back of Viera's mind, and suddenly the nausea that had hit her upon entering the room was back worse than before. She swallowed hard, looking from River back to the Doctor.

The crackle of the abandoned communicator interrupted their tableau.

"Doctor? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir," the hesitant voice of the former cleric quickly had the Doctor's full attention. He practically leaped out of the forest to snatch the radio off the console where he'd left it.

"We don't exactly have time for exploration and wandering, fun as that might be. See if you can find another exit through there by scanning the architecture," the Doctor told the soldiers before leaning against the console and bringing the communicator up to his mouth. "Hello there! Long time no see. Well, I suppose 'long time no hear' is a little more accurate since technically you've never been seen. Part of that nifty little 'perfect defense' of yours, right?" he rambled all in one breath. The words were friendly, unassuming, but there was an edge to the Doctor's tone that wasn't usually there, and Viera knew that he wasn't going to forget even for a moment that that voice was stolen from a man that shouldn't have died so young. "What can I do for you, Angel Bob?"

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve, sir."

"Achieve? We're not trying to achieve anything. We're just sitting here in our comfy chairs, taking in the view. It's rather nice in here, you know. A bit messy though. I'm thinking of remodeling, what'd ya think?"

The Angel ignored the meaningless conversation in favor of taunting. The words were gloating, even if the voice remained the hesitant respectfulness of Bob. "The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."

"Oh, but you won't really. D'you know why?" the Doctor disagreed in the same pleasant, conversational tone. His voice only grew serious as he got to the warning, the words that never seemed to be a lie, despite how many adversaries refused to believe them. "I'm going to stop you."

"Six."

Viera didn't understand why the Doctor was suddenly so focused on her. His serious, dark brown eyes didn't leave her face as he spoke into the radio. "What have you done to Viera?"

"There's something in her eye," Angel Bob said.

"What? What's in her eye?!" the Doctor demanded.

"We are."

"What- What does that mean? That's not-" Viera stammered, denial rising up as a defense against the fear. "I've five." That hadn't come out right, had it? "I'm five. Fine. I'm-" But she wasn't, was she? Not really. Not when the Doctor was looking at her with such worry, his fingers tightening around the radio. Don't freak out, Viera ordered herself, taking a deep breath. Everything will be fine. It's not like you're dealing with this alone. And panicking never helps anything. "Okay. What's wrong with me?" she asked the Doctor, managing a respectable amount of calm.

"You started counting down from ten a few minutes ago," he said.

All right, not so bad, in and of itself but… "Why?"

The Doctor's mouth thinned unhappily, then he raised the radio to his mouth again. "Why is she counting down? And counting down to what?" he asked the Angel. His voice rose and fell as he picked at theories and discarded them aloud. "To your arrival? No, that's ridiculous, you've been trying to get to us for ages; can't expect you to be punctual there. No reason to plant a bomb on the ship; I get the impression you'd prefer to handle us yourselves. So why the counting?"

The Angel didn't answer, not exactly. "We shall take her. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space," Angel Bob intoned.

"Oh, please," the Doctor scoffed. "There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much. You're overreaching, Bob."

"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."

Without any warning a hideous racket filled the room. There was screeching, shrieking, scratching outside, like the sonic screwdriver at its worst mixed with the sound of nails against a chalkboard and the cry of a dying animal. Everyone flinched, eyeing the walls and ceiling worriedly.

"Dear God, what is that?" River asked.

Viera cringed and put a hand to her head. The sound felt like it was drilling into her mind. There was a buzzing in the back of her thoughts that spread into the power channels beneath her skin like an aching itch that couldn't be scratched.

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

Her stomach turned over as the sense of foreboding grew and grew, pressing against her thoughts like the worst sort of sinus headache. Something had been off since they reached the ship, she just hadn't been paying enough attention. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong, and she didn't understand. Is the Angel doing this?

"Doctor," Viera breathed.

He was too distracted to hear the soft call. "What do you mean?" the Doctor asked over the radio. "Laughing why?"

Octavian returned from the forest, scanner in hand. "We've found a way out!" he yelled over the sounds of screeching. He waved his men into the trees before giving the Doctor an impatient frown. The Time Lord waved him off to focus on the radio.

"Why are they laughing, Angel Bob?"

"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed," the stolen voice taunted in a pleasant tone.

The pressure was still growing and Viera couldn't take it much longer. "Doctor," she pleaded quietly, pressing her hands to her head is a desperate, useless attempt to hold herself together. Her knees gave way and suddenly the only thing holding her up were River's supporting arms.

"Viera!" Dr. Song echoed the Doctor's cry, and Viera was a little surprised to realize she heard just as much concern in the other woman's voice. Perhaps she wasn't a stranger to River after all.

The sound of the sonic screwdriver resonated for a moment with the shrieking Angels outside as the Doctor scanned Viera. He muttered something that the TARDIS didn't translate, but his tone clearing turned the words into cursing. His hand wrapped around the radio with enough pressure to turn his knuckles white.

"Stop it. Whatever you're doing to her, just stop."

"That's not us, sir," Angel Bob said calmly. "Haven't you noticed? The legendary last of the Time Lords, can't you see it?"

The Doctor hissed between his teeth in frustration and changed the setting on the screwdriver. He scanned Viera again, then shifted his focus to the forest behind her. Realization began to creep over his expression as he finally turned to the wall behind him and the screwdriver grew shrill with new data.

There was a crack in the wall that hadn't been there before, glowing faintly. As though brought to life by the Doctor's notice of it, the light flared in something blinding and the crack began to spread wider.

"What is that?" Octavian asked.

"A problem," the Doctor grunted before looking to River. "Get her away from here. That thing's spilling energy all over the place, and Viera can't handle it."

"Right," River agreed immediately. She pulled Viera's arm over her shoulders and steadied her with an arm around her waist. "Here we go."

There was whispering in the light. Viera couldn't make it out, but she felt like maybe if she just listened hard enough… She was hardly aware of being tugged out of the console room, her feet moving of their own accord. The pressure began to fade as soon as they started moving away from the light, but her strength continued failing all the same. She felt heavy and slow. Breathing began to get harder, like her lungs were reluctant to move.

"Viera? What's wrong?" River asked as the younger woman stopped trying to walk and collapsed against her.

"Four," Viera murmured, her energy gone. Only the fear remained undiminished by the sudden weakness. What's happening to me?

River lowered her carefully to the ground. Viera curled up on her side as hopelessness and lethargy dragged at her tired mind.

"Med-scanner, now!" River shouted to the clerics.

"Dr. Song, we can't stay here," Octavian objected even as one of the soldiers handed River the scanner she'd asked for. "We've got to keep moving."

"We wait for the Doctor."

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angels," the Bishop argued.

"Well, I think that might have just gotten a bit trickier," the Doctor interrupted, jogging up to join them. "The Angels have gotten past the doors. And that light is bad news. Do not go towards the light." His levity softened into something else as he knelt next to Viera and snagged River's hand long enough to get a good look at the scanner she held. "Maybe not the best time to be taking a nap," he chided gently. His hand rested on her back, easing the worst of the panic.

"'M tired," Viera murmured. Even speaking took so much energy. "Heavy."

The Doctor lifted the radio back up to his mouth. "This isn't the time energy. What're you doing to her?"

"There's something in her eye," Angel Bob repeated with cryptic glee.

"Oh, yes, that's very helpful," the Doctor complained, though he didn't say the words into the radio. He jerked to his feet and started to pace. Viera missed the pressure of his hand immediately, but it helped to hear the continued timbres of his voice, no matter how worked-up he got. She watched him through half-lidded eyes.

"What went wrong?" the Doctor muttered to himself. "You looked into the eyes of an Angel too long. It got a grip on you. But how? How?"

"Sir! Angel, incoming!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"And here!" called another.

"Keep visual contact, do not let them move!" Octavian ordered. They were running out of time.

The Doctor groaned in frustration, pacing faster and spinning around quick enough to make Viera feel dizzy. His voice got louder and he wrestled with the problem. "What if it's not just a connection? What if it's something more? But how? You stared at an Angel…"

"The image of an Angel is an Angel," River said, realization stealing across her face.

"Yes!" the Doctor cried, pointing to River. "Oh, I'm so thick! Of course! We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, cos as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. A living image in a human mind. That's brilliant!" The Doctor flinched at his own enthusiasm and scrubbed a hand over his face. "And bad. That's very, very bad. There's an Angel in your mind," he said, turning back to Viera.

Oh, I can feel it now, pressing closer. It's too strong. I can't- God, please… "I don't wanna die like this," Viera implored breathlessly.

"You're not dying," the Doctor snapped, voice and gaze harsh and steady, as though he said it with enough certainty it'd be true. He stared at Viera a moment longer before raising the radio again. "Why are they making her count?"

"To make her afraid, sir," Angel Bob answered readily.

"Well good job with that," Viera muttered with a gasped laugh of near hysteria. River clutched tighter at her shoulders, trying to keep her calm or simply trying to hold her together. It helped a little. Viera tried to stamp down the terror a little. At least she wasn't facing the Angels alone. Anything was better than being scared and alone.

"Three," she whimpered.

"But why?" the Doctor demanded through gritted teeth.

"For fun, sir."

Viera watched dense, dangerous anger twist the Doctor's expression before it took a backseat to frustration. He tossed the radio aside, paced a few steps, then stopped to concentrate. He pressed the heels of his hands against the sides of his head and thumped them twice, as if trying to physically drive the answers out.

"Come on, think. Think," he ordered himself roughly.

"Think out loud?" Viera suggested when his frustration refused to abate. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear about all the things that were going wrong, but sometimes it seemed to help him to talk things through with somebody, even if that somebody didn't really understand everything he was saying.

The Doctor dug his fingers into his hair, pulling slightly. Then he dropped his hands with a quiet huff of air. "Inside your head, in the visual centers of your brain, there's an Angel. It's like- It's like that video of the Angel, except the screen is in your mind. It's trying to climb out."

It's succeeding. "We can't- How do you turn off a screen inside someone's head?" Viera asked. We can't. It's not like he can just walk inside my head and pull the plug. Even if he could, and it wasn't like he hadn't been inside her head before, she didn't like the thought of him in there facing an Angel with no defenses. She didn't voice the idea.

"We can't knock you unconscious; the Angel could just take over," the Doctor muttered, pacing in a tight circle.

Pulling the plug didn't work anyways. I had to drain the actual hardware. "What if you killed me, then brought me back?" she asked shakily. It sounded like a terrible idea even as she said it, but it was better than nothing, wasn't it? "Like a reset."

"No." There was no room for negotiation in the Doctor's voice.

"Then what? Quickly!" River urged.

"We've got to shut down the vision centers of her brain. Starve the Angel."

"Two," Viera breathed.

"Doctor!" River said, trying to hurry him.

"How would you starve your lungs?"

"I'd stop breathing," River answered immediately.

"Viera, close your eyes," the Doctor ordered.

Fear, thick and hot rose up at the back of her mind. That was a bad idea. She didn't want to be in the dark. Viera shook her head with a quiet gasp. "No. I can't."

"Viera, listen to me. That's the Angel making you scared. It doesn't want you to do this, which is exactly why you have to. Close your eyes," the Doctor murmured. He knelt next to her again, confidence written across his face and a hint of pleading. He brushed the hair away from her face and let his hand rest on the back of her head. "Close your eyes. Trust me."

Viera hesitated one moment more, but she did trust him. Completely. Like ripping off a bandage she slammed her eyelids shut before she could think about it any longer, and her world went dark.

There was a soft beep from the medical scanner, then the sound of River's sigh of relief.

"She's normalizing. You did it!" River exclaimed.

"Sir? Two more incoming," one of the clerics called.

"Three more over here."

The fear had eased along with the worst of the heaviness. Viera no longer felt like she was being crushed inside her own mind. Carefully she sat up, feeling a dull ache in her muscles. "It's gone?"

The Doctor's hand curled around her shoulder to steady her. "Afraid not. It's paused, for the moment. Dormant. But if you open your eyes again…"

Viera took a shaky breath. "Right back where we started."

"Yeah. So keep your eyes closed, all right? We'll figure out a way to get it out of you. I promise."

Viera nodded and squeezed her eyes shut a little tighter. Just don't open my eyes. I can do that. No problem.

"Doctor, we're too exposed here. We have to move on," Octavian said.

No problem except we're in the middle of a forest being hunted by the perfect assassins. Monsters that can only be stopped by sight. Fantastic time to be blind.

"She's still weak. It's dangerous to move her right now," River warned.

"Right." The Doctor took a deep breath and stood to look at the others. "Here's what we're gonna do. Bishop, you and your men are staying here. Stay together, keep watching the Angels, you'll be fine. This is as good a place as any to circle the wagons. Viera's staying with you. Keep her safe, do you understand? If anything, anything happens to her, I will hold each and every one of you personally responsible. Twice."

"What? No. Wait," Viera protested. Panic fluttered in her chest again at the thought of being left behind.

The Doctor knelt in front of her again, taking both of her shoulders. "I don't like this either, but you'll be safer this way. We can't protect you well enough on the move. The clerics will keep you safe. You won't be alone. River and I, we have to go find the Primary Flight Deck and stabilize the wreckage. With the radiation gone, the Angels won't be able to feed anymore. We'll stop the Angels and we'll find a way to cure you. I just- I need you to stay here this time."

Oh, she didn't like that plan. She didn't like it at all. But she trusted the Doctor. She tucked her arms around her middle, suddenly cold. Then she made herself nod.

"I'll be back before you know it," the Doctor assured. Gentle lips brushed against her forehead. He was standing and out of reach before she'd even finished processing the brief contact.

"You," he called to a soldier. "Sit here. Talk to her. Do not, under any circumstance, let her open her eyes. I trust the rest of you can keep an eye on the Angels. River, come with me. Allons-y!"

Viera felt the log she was sitting on shift slightly as one of the clerics sat next to her. She offered a faint smile and tried to focus on the fact that she wasn't alone.

"Doctor, I'm coming with you. My clerics can look after Miss Viera. These are my best men, they'd lay down their lives in her protection," said Octavian.

Viera felt herself pale. Please don't let them die for me. I don't want that.

"I don't need you. You'll do more good here," the Doctor said.

The bishop wasn't having any of that. "Where Dr. Song goes, I go."

"What, are you two engaged or something?" the Doctor asked curiously, already moving away.

"In a manner of speaking," Octavian said, avoiding a more direct answer. "Marco, you're in charge till I get back."

"Sir!" the cleric agreed.

Viera listened to their footsteps fade away, silent for long moments before she finally turned to the soldier next to her.

"What's your name?"

"Crispin," the cleric answered shortly. He fidgeted a moment, not entirely used to being ordered to make conversation. "You're Viera, yeah?"

"Right," Viera said. Her mouth quirked in a wry smile, but she didn't know if he was even looking at her. "You know, you don't actually have to sit here and talk to me. I think the Angels are probably more important."

He stopped fidgeting. "I can see them from here, miss," he answered staunchly. "Viera," he corrected when she wrinkled her nose.

As awkward as it was to feel like she was distracting him from his job, Viera was grateful. "Thanks." Rustling from the woods tested her resolve to keep her eyes closed. "What's going on?"

"The Angels are still grouping," Crispin said with practiced calm.

Viera nodded slightly and her thoughts drifted to the Doctor, wondering where he was, what he was doing, how long it'd take him to find a way to save them.

"Are you getting this too?" Marco asked.

"Here too, sir. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart," replied another cleric.
"And here. They're taking out the lights."

That didn't sound good. "What's going on?" Viera asked nervously.

"They're messing with the trees, getting rid of the lights," said Crispin.

"Angels advancing, sir."

"Over here, too."
"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it!"
Viera stayed still and quiet while Crispin stood beside her, readying his weapon. She knew they were surrounded; if the lights went out it would be over in a heartbeat. She tried and failed to keep her imagination from picturing the Angels waiting to pounce, coming in for the kill. God please, please keep us safe. Doctor, if you're going to pull off a brilliant save, now would be the time.

"Keep your positions!" called Marco.

There was a sudden, bright flare of light that registered even behind Viera's closed eyes. A migraine wrenched around her mind at the same time, dragging a hiss from Viera as she doubled over and clutched at her head.

"Viera? What's wrong?" Crispin asked immediately.

"The ship's not on fire, is it?" Marco asked a short ways away.

"It can't be. The compressors would have taken care of it," replied another of the soldiers.

"It's not fire," Viera groaned. "It's the energy from that crack in the console room wall. It's getting stronger, spilling out."

"It's bad for you, isn't it," Crispin said quietly. "Do we need to move you?"

"I don't- I don't know," Viera admitted. Moving would be dangerous, wouldn't it? It would be harder to protect their backs against the Angels, especially with her slowing them down. On the other hand, Viera wasn't certain how long she could handle the burning power she could feel reaching towards them, especially if it continued to get stronger.

"Marco, the Angels are gone," one of the clerics called.

"This side's clear too, sir," said another.

"Gone?" Viera murmured, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. "Gone where?" And why?

"There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running," Marco said.

Oh that's a good sign. "Running from what?"

"Phillip, Pedro, we need to get a closer look at that," Marco ordered instead of answering the question.

"A closer look at what?" Viera asked, her voice growing edgier with frustration and pain.

"The light," Crispin said.

"What? No! I really don't think that's a good idea. That light, whatever it is, it's dangerous. If the Angels are running away from it, don't you think we should be running too?" Viera demanded.

"If the Angels are afraid of it, maybe we can find a way to use it against them," Marco said, unyielding.

"You don't understand. There's something wrong with that light. It's wrong." She couldn't explain how she knew that, couldn't put into words how it was wrong, all that she knew was that it was a very, very bad thing. That energy made her skin crawl.

"It is making me feel kind of weird," Crispin admitted. "Sick, almost."

I can relate.

"We need every advantage against those monsters that we can get," Marco insisted. "Crispin, keep an eye on her. I'm going to get a closer look."

"Wait!" Viera pleaded. "What about the other two? They haven't come back yet."

"What other two?" Crispin asked.

"What? Uh, Phillip. Pedro. You just sent them to look at the light."

"I haven't sent anyone," Marco said. "And there has never been a man by either of those names on this mission."

"I don't- But I heard you," Viera breathed uncertainly. Just how badly is that energy scrambling my mind? Desperation curled through her veins. Either something was very wrong with her or something was very wrong with them. Either way, they had to get out of there. "I take it back. I can't handle this. I need to get further away from the energy."

Marco made a sound of frustration. "Here. Take the scanner; get her out of here. With the Angels running you should be all right," he told Crispin. "I need to take a closer look."

"Wait! Don't!" Viera implored, but she heard footsteps walking away.

"He'll be fine," Crispin promised. He tugged her to her feet then tucked her hands around his elbow so he could lead her without hampering his ability to fire the gun too badly. "Let's get you out of here."

She still felt a little wobbly and she hated trying to walk blind. Even with Crispin in front of her she felt like she was about to run into something with every step. Still, at least the headache was getting better.

"Why didn't they come back?" Viera wondered aloud. "We weren't very far from the console room; it couldn't have taken them that long to walk to the light. So why haven't any of them come back?" As they gained distance from the overflowing energy and her head cleared, she grew more and more certain that her memories of the missing soldiers were real.

"Who are you talking about?" Crispin asked.

"Phillip and Pedro," she said. "And Marco. He's had plenty of time too."

"Who's Marco?"

There was honest confusion in Crispin's voice and that was terrifying. "The other cleric! The Bishop left him in charge. He went to check on the light, remember? It was less than a minute ago!"

"I was the only one left to look after you," Crispin said, beginning to sound worried about her. "Listen, I think that like might be doing something to you. I need to go check it out."

"No! No! Please, listen to me, I need you to stay here! That light is dangerous. Please!"

"I won't get to close, I promise. I just need to take a look."

"You won't come back. You'll disappear, just like the others."

"There weren't any others," Crispin said gently. He pried her hands away from his arm and pressed a radio into them. "Spare communicator. I'll stay in touch the whole time, all right?"

"Don't go," Viera begged. She reached for his arm again, but he was already too far away.

"I'll just be a minute!" Crispin called.

"Come back!" The sound of his footsteps grew farther away. "Darn it!" Viera hissed, fighting back frustrated tears. "Please come back."

Viera fumbled with the radio, fingers clumsy with anxiety. "Crispin? Crispin, where are you? Hello?"

"I'm here. Don't worry so much," Crispin's gentle chiding came over the radio. "Everything's fine. I'm almost there."

Not good. So very not good. "That's close enough," she said firmly. "Come back now. You need to come back."

"I just need to get a better look. It's strange, you know. The light's just-" Crispin's voice cut off abruptly, leaving her holding her breath.

"Crispin? Are you there?" Viera repeated into the radio. There was a soft sputter of static while she waited for a reply, then nothing. Silence. A tremor shook her body as it became more and more clear that she was truly alone. The Doctor was gone. The clerics were gone. There was nothing out there but Angels and the light that made her feel like part of her was dying. "Crispin? Crispin, answer me! You weren't supposed to get too close. Please, please answer me."

The faint crackle of a connection on the other end of the radio made her heart leap.

"Viera?" the Doctor's voice broke the silence.

For a long moment she forgot how to breathe. "Doctor?" Viera murmured.

"Where are you? Are the clerics with you?"

Her voice shook briefly, then steadied. "No. They're gone. I'm- just a little ways from where you left me. Left us." She honestly didn't mean that to be an accusation, but she was a little worried it sounded like one. "The light, the energy from the console room, it's getting worse. The clerics went to get a closer look. I couldn't stop them. They never came back. I'm the only one left."

She could measure the expression that would be on his face by the length of the silence that followed. Her mind painted the grim determination on his familiar features, and she took a deep breath for what was coming.

"Viera… I made a mistake. I should never have left you there. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, but I need you to come to us. Don't open your eyes!" the Doctor reminded sharply. "You're going to have to do this without looking."

Alone in the dark with the Angels. If I'm in the middle of a nightmare, I'd like to wake up now please.

She wanted to tell him she couldn't, that she was too scared, too clumsy to manage blind and alone, but his voice was low, already strained with apology. He wouldn't be asking her to do it if he could see another way. Viera bit back her objections and stood unsteadily.

"Where are you?"

"Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest," the Doctor said.

"Have I mentioned that I don't have a sense of direction?" Viera asked shakily. It was bad enough when her eyes were open. She'd always been easily turned around, and in all the fuss with the Angel inside her and the terror that had caused, she was thoroughly lost already.

"It's all right," the Doctor assured, his voice soothing. If he was worried, he was hiding it well now. "Turn around slowly." Viera's brow scrunched up in confusion, but she obeyed. "When the communicator sounds like a sonic screwdriver, you're facing the right way. Follow the sound."

Viera finished her circle, stopping when the familiar sound overwhelmed the soft buzz of the radio.

"You need to start walking," the Doctor ordered gently. "There's time energy spilling out of that crack and you have to stay ahead of it."

Viera took a tense, staggering step. Her arms stretched in front of her to search for obstacles. Her imagination was working overtime drawing up holes in front of her feet and tree branches waiting to claw at her face and monsters in the spaces between. Which reminded her…

"What about the Angels?"

There was a moment of hesitation on the other side of the radio, the silence far more telling than the words that followed. "You've got some time. You'll be fine if you just keep moving."

You can't know that. Viera pushed aside the doubt and clung to the words anyways. She had to. She tried to latch onto another subject as her feet shuffled blinding forward. "The time energy. Why's it so important to stay ahead of that?" Another grim pause that made her wish she could take the query back. "It's not just the headaches, is it?" It wasn't really a question.

The Doctor's voice was quiet when he answered, a hint of desperation chasing after the words. "If the Time Energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase your every moment. You will never have lived at all."

"Oh," she breathed, almost too stunned by that truth to really be afraid of it. "Well, I'd best keep moving then." Viera forced herself to walk faster. Risking a run in with a couple branches didn't sound so terrible all of a sudden.

"I'm scared of the dark. Did I ever tell you?" she murmured, swallowing back the panic tightening her throat. The talking helped a little. It gave her something to focus on besides the fact that she was in monster-filled woods with the death closing in on her. "I've always been scared of the dark." Maybe not the best thing the focus on though. Moving on then. Her thoughts were scrambled already, and in her anxiousness she let words fall from her lips without really thinking them through. "I love you." Alright, perhaps moving on a little too quickly.

"Don't. Don't you start saying goodbyes," the Doctor's voice was harsh and angry over the faint static of the communicator.

"I'm not," Viera protested halfheartedly. She didn't want him to think she was giving up. "Or I am, but just in case." She knew she was rambling, but she didn't really have attention to spare on filtering her words as she shuffled along the uneven ground. "I did that back on Earth too, when that was home. Every time I got out of the car to go to school, every time I got done with a visit and was leaving, at the end of every phone call I'd remind my family I loved them, just in case. Because I wanted to make sure they always knew. Because life is so brief, so fragile and if something happened to me or to them, I wanted my last words to be I love you. Because I did. I do. Love you, I mean."

Viera took a moment to breathe and she could hear the Doctor trying to come up with a suitable reply to that on the other end of the line. Or perhaps he was distracted and not listening to at all. Either way she was suddenly not quite sure she wanted to know what he'd say.

"When this is over, when the Angels are gone and we're safe," Viera stammered, changing subjects abruptly, "you are taking me somewhere lovely. Somewhere we can relax for a bit. Which means nothing out for our blood, all right? No running. I've had enough exercise for the week."

He was listening after all; she heard him chuckle and smiled reflexively in reply. "Anywhere you want, Viera," the Doctor promised.

"I want blue skies," she declared, trying to see them in her head instead of the constant black behind her eyelids and the strange shadowed forest beyond. "I want forests and mountains. Somewhere you can hear birds singing." Viera tripped over a root and cringed as she bit her tongue. Vicious words she wouldn't allow herself to say curled into an irritated growl, a flare of anger overtaking the fear for just a moment. She made herself keep going. "Glacier National Park. Back on Earth. Have you ever been there? My favorite place in the world. That world at least. Clear skies, teal lakes, green, green trees and white snow in the mountains. Oh, the mountains." Her voice had softened with fondness and longing; at the moment Viera felt she'd give most anything to be there, right then, with the Doctor at her side and no statues in sight. "There's rivers and waterfalls, flowers and wildlife, but it's the mountains that take my breath away. And there's people, but not too many. Roads and hiking trails only reach part way into the park. There's huge, wide swaths of land you can only get to by backpacking. I always wanted to try that, you know, but I never had anyone to go with…"

A twig snapped behind her. Leaves rustled in the path of something solid. Something was moving in the forest.

Viera tried to convince herself that it was all in her head. She talked faster, as though if she could drown out the soft sounds of movement they wouldn't be real. Her voice shook. "Have you ever been camping? Parking the TARDIS in the woods doesn't count, you know." It was all she could do to keep walking, keep talking. Instinct told her to open her eyes and flee before she simply froze up with fear. She didn't really have a fight response when she was the one in danger anyways. It was usually flee or hide. Acting even somewhat normal was painfully difficult. But what choice did she have?

"Viera," the Doctor's voice was calm, almost cheerful. Viera was too desperate to believe in his optimism to notice that it was forced. "I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector. It'll beep if there's something in your way. You just maneuver till the beeping stops. It'll help you pick up the pace a bit."

"All right," Viera murmured, moving a bit faster. There was a soft beep when she nearly ran into a tree. She felt her way around the rough bark then kept walking, trusting her feet just a little bit more. She rambled as she went because she couldn't bear the silence.

"There's little enough light that you can really see the stars. I know we see them all the time out here, but there's something about see them framed by mountains and trees. Maybe because you know there's so much more that you can't see, so much possibility. That sky always made me feel so small, so… safe." Viera sounded a little too close to desperate, a little too close to crying with those last gasped words. She was alone in the dark with the monsters. She could hardly remember how it felt to be safe.

A shrill, rapid beeping sounded from the radio in her hand, completely different from the earlier warnings of trees. Viera stilled.

"Keep walking," the Doctor said immediately.

Her steps were hesitant, but she kept moving. She shifted slightly to the right until the beeping faded. "What is that?"

"It's a warning," the Doctor had that slightly grim, carefully calm tone he used when people were standing on top of a bomb or something. "You need to walk like you can see."

"Why?" A moment of silence. "Doctor?"

"The angels are there. Just keep walking like you can see. You'll be alright." Perhaps he heard the way her breathing faltered, because he kept talking. "Listen to me, Viera. I know this is hard, but you'll be all right. The Angels are running scared, and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see. Just keep your eyes closed. Keep walking. You're going to be fine."

Help me. Viera's voice shook, but she kept talking. Kept walking. She had to or the fear would paralyze her and she'd never move again. "Is that odd? That feeling small is comforting? I suppose it made my problems seem small too. Not… insignificant, but… manageable." The communicator beeped a warning and she flinched violently, then carefully edged around what she tried to pretend was just a tree in her way. "S-seeing how enormous creation is, how- extraordinary, it's a good reminder- of how big the Creator is, that- that He's greater than anything I might be facing." Including angels, she reminded herself. They could be right next to her and she wouldn't be able to see them. They could be…

Something caught in her hair. Viera tugged free with a sob-like gasp, spun around and stood shivering for a long moment. Silence.

"Viera? Are you still walking?" the Doctor's insistent voice pulled her from her frozen panic.

"Yeah," she whispered. It took everything she had to turn back around and take that first faltering step. There was a faint sound behind her. Like stone shifting on stone.

She wasn't going to make it out of the forest. Even if she could see, running wouldn't do any good. Terror threatened to pull pleading from her throat, but Viera smothered the urge. That wouldn't do any good either. She was going to die; they were going to snap her neck and there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing anyone could do. Oh, God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Last words. Better make them count.

"I miss my family," she murmured, not bothering to resist the tears that ran cold down her cheeks. It wasn't like anyone was there to see them anyways. Except the Angels. "So badly. I miss my mum and my dad. They've been gone for so long. I miss talking with Nadej. I miss Milost's hugs." Her throat closed up, strangling the words. Viera her lip hard enough to draw blood. She couldn't die without telling him. "But you know, given the choice… if I could go back and undo all of this, change things so I could live out my safe comfortable life on Earth never knowing what was out here…" Oh to be back home right now. "I wouldn't. I'd choose you. I'd choose this life. Even if I'd known it'd end here."

"Nothing's ending!" the Doctor snapped. "You're going to be fine!"

"I don't think I am," Viera whispered. The communicator beeped its warning, but she didn't need it. Stone ground against stone. She could hear them moving closer, in front of her as well as behind. Slowly. Whether it was because they weren't sure she could see or simply because they were enjoying her fear she didn't know.

"Viera..." the Doctor sounded angry, frustrated that she was giving up. She didn't want to explain that it was simply too late, that they already had her. She hated that she was going to become one more scar on the lonely wanderer's heart. She wanted to say sorry, apologize for not staying with him, for not being able to save herself.

"Remember me," slipped out instead, choked with her tears. Viera tripped over the rushed words, suddenly desperate to get them out while she still could. "If I'm right and there's heaven waiting after all, this isn't the end." It sounded pathetically sentimental but she needed to say it. Needed the Doctor to believe it. "I- I'll watch over you. So you remember me, you hear? You remember me when you're tempted to ignore the rules and play God. You remember me when things go wrong and you feel alone. Because you're not. I'll be there, okay? Always." She sounded breathless with fear, but it didn't matter. There were fingers in her hair, holding too tight to tug away. There were cold hands on her shoulders, on her throat. Oh God.

Then the world shifted and she was in warm arms, River's voice telling her to keep her eyes closed, the Doctor's telling her she was safe.

The sensation of stone fingers closing around her throat remained. The voices around her barely registered at first.

"Don't open your eyes." River's command was gentled by sympathy as Viera clung to her, both hands wrapped around one of her arms. River's free arm was curled around Viera's back, holding her up or perhaps just trying to keep her from coming undone. Viera had never been more thankful for the warmth of another human being. "You're on the flight deck. I teleported you."

The Doctor was talking over her in his rush to calm Viera. "You're all right. You're safe. You need to keep your eyes closed, but you're going to be fine." She felt two hands rest on top of hers. They were cooler than River's human skin beneath her hands, but Viera felt a rush of warmth from their touch all the same. "You're going to be fine."

The flight deck. I'm out of the forest? I'm- I'm safe? I'm really… Oh, thank God.

A muffled sob escaped her lips and she held her breath to keep more from following. Viera's whole body was shaking with emotion, fear and relief tangled too tightly around her to escape.

"You're safe, Viera. It's all right," River murmured comfortingly.

"Are you hurt?" asked the Doctor.

Viera shook her head. "Sorry. Just- I thought-" I thought I was going to die.

A shrill alarm sounded overhead and she flinched. We're not out of this yet. Pull yourself together. You can fall apart later, when it's really safe. She shoved the jumbled emotions deeper, trying to clear her mind enough to process what was going on around her.

"What is that?" asked River.

The Doctor's hands squeezed Viera's once, then disappeared. She felt a pang of loss, but River was still there; something for which Viera would be forever grateful. By that point she was too emotionally wrung out to really feel the worry she probably should have when the Doctor explained.

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

"What shield?" Viera asked.

"The one separating us from the forest," River said. As thought prompted by her words there was a sudden hiss of releasing pressure, then the soft grind of moving metal.

Oh. That shield. Lovely.

"Ah, Angel Bob, I presume. Delighted to make your acquaintance," the Doctor chirped.

Angel Bob was apparently not in the mood for pleasantries. "The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality."

"Right. And what are you doing? Running away! Some fearless assassins you are."

"There is a rupture in time," said Bob's stolen voice. Viera imagined she heard just the slightest hints of annoyance. "The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."

Viera stiffened at the same time River did, but the Doctor was already speaking.

"True, I suppose I could," he mused. "But why would I want to?"

"Your friends would also be saved."

"There is that," the Doctor agreed calmly.

"That's not funny," Viera said sharply, suddenly terrified that he'd try. Stupid, stubborn, self-sacrificing Time Lord.

"I've traveled in time," River spoke up. "I'm a complicated space/time event too. Throw me in." Her grip loosened and Viera found herself clutching desperately at the other woman.

"Nobody's jumping into the light!" Viera snapped. "What happens to the universe if you cease to exist? If you never existed?!" What happens to me? All the lives the Doctor had saved, changed, turned upside down, what would happen to them? And River, whoever she might be, she was important. She had a place in the Doctor's future. What would happen without her there?

"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now," Bob's voice intoned.

"It wouldn't have worked anyways," the Doctor said, tilting his head towards Viera and River though he didn't look away from the Angels for a second. "Even if you jumped into the Time Field, which you won't, but if you did, it wouldn't do any good. You're not complicated enough. As a space/time event, I mean. In every other sense, I'm sure you're tremendously complicated. As a matter of fact, closing that crack, even temporarily, will take such a complicated event that I'm the only possible solution." He sounded so matter of fact, like he wasn't worried at all. Viera wasn't sure how to read that, but surely, surely if he was really planning on being erased from existence she'd be able to tell.

"Welll," the long, drawn out would had never sounded sweeter, "not quite the only solution, but it would take every single one of the Angels to create enough counterbalance to stabilize the Time Field and I don't think they're going to be volunteering any time soon."

"You will come with us now, sir," Angel Bob said more insistently.

"Do you know what the funny thing is?" the Doctor asked, taking carefully casual steps away from the statues. "If the Angels weren't such greedy creatures, we'd really be in a bind. But because they are, because they just couldn't help themselves, they've drained all the power from this ship. The shields aren't the only thing that's failing."

Viera heard a sharp intake of breath beside her as River realized what was going on. The other woman grabbed Viera's hands and curled them over a bar of metal.

"Don't let go. Whatever happens, don't you let go," River ordered lowly.

"Do you know what's one of the last thing to go on a ship like this is?" the Doctor asked cheerfully, backing up to the consoles where there were plenty of handholds. "The gravity! This ship is tipped straight back towards that Time Field, and you're gonna have a bit of a tough time hanging onto anything like that. Shame about that 'perfect defense'." There was a hint, just a hint of sympathy beneath the cheerful relief, but that didn't stop him from locking his gaze on them. "Goodbye!"

He had excellent timing. The gravity gave out on cue. Viera gave a startled squeak despite being warned as the whole world shifted and suddenly she was hanging from the bar with nothing but emptiness everywhere else around her. There were sounds of rushing and breaking branches, heavy things falling through the trees. Abruptly Viera's headache had gone. It had been pressing against the back of her mind, buried beneath the fear for so long that she'd forgotten about it. Having it suddenly absent was an overwhelming relief.

The encroaching Time Field was gone.

"They're gone," the Doctor called, closer than Viera had expected. "You can open your eyes now. All of them are gone, even the one in your mind. It never existed, Viera."

Um, no. "You're kidding, right?" Viera protested, panic crawling up her throat. "I can't just- You told me not to open my eyes."

"And now I'm telling you it's safe. That Angel never existed. It's not in your mind anymore."

"I can't." Viera flexed her fingers around the bar keeping her from falling as her palms began to sweat.

"Sure you can," the Doctor said. He definitely didn't sound worried. Clanking sounds followed a soft grunt as he pulled himself on top of the console and carefully made his way closer. There were creaks and a quiet mutter as River climbed to somewhere more secure as well.

Viera shook her head frantically. "I remember the Angel. If I remember it, how can it never have existed?" A new thought occurred to her and she latched onto it quickly. "And Bob. If the Angel never existed, Bob would still be here. All the people they killed, they'd all still be here. Why aren't they?"

"They never had reason to come in the first place. I'm sure they're off safe somewhere, protecting one world or another."

"But then why are we still here? You and me and River, we wouldn't have had reason to come either. And why do we remember?"

The Doctor hummed the way he did when he was trying to figure out what to say. She could imagine the expression that went with that sound, the way he scrunched up one side of his face in thought. "It's complicated," he said finally. "We're time travelers. We remember things differently. We react to things differently. When things change the timelines twist and some of them stay tangled in this mess of… timey-whimey… stuff, and we're tangled with them." Viera wrinkled her nose at the incomprehensible answer and heard the Doctor huff in faux annoyance. "It's complicated. And you're just trying to change the subject."

"I'm scared." Viera admitted quietly. The console she was clinging to creaked quietly beneath the Doctor's weight. Steady hands curled around her wrists and she took a deep breath.

"Do you trust me?"

"Doctor…"

"Do you trust me?"

How was she supposed to refuse after that? "You keep using that," Viera complained. Slowly, flinching she opened one eye, then the other to find familiar brown eyes staring into her own. She breathed a shaky sigh of relief when nothing happened. Her mind was entirely her own once more. The angel was really, truly gone.

"It keeps working," the Doctor pointed out. Viera narrowed her eyes at him in irritation but couldn't quite fight back the smile that always emerged at the sight of his grin. "Told ya you'd be fine."

"Yeah," said Viera quietly. There had been so many close calls, so many others lost. She could have so easily have been among them. Shadows flickered across the Doctor's expression as though he knew her thoughts, and Viera found she missed the smile. She forced a small grin to her own face and found that it wasn't as fake as she'd thought it might be. "You owe me a camping trip."

The Doctor huffed. "I was hoping you'd forget about that," he grunted, leaning back as he helped haul her upwards. She clambered awkwardly onto the console, risking a brief look over her shoulder. The forest looked as surreal as the first time she'd seen it, framed by the metal of a spaceship. Heavens, that was a long way down.

"Perhaps we'd best get out of here before you two start planning your next trip," River spoke up. They both looked over to see Dr. Song lounging comfortably against the other control board. She smirked at them.

"Right," the Doctor agreed. "After you, Dr. Song."

"Planning on enjoying the view?" she asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat when the Doctor grew flustered.

"No- That is not- Now you-," he pointed his finger at River, but the sternness was completely ruined by his sputtered words. "You are both going ahead of me so I can make sure neither of you slip and fall to your deaths!"

"Exactly the view I meant," River purred over her shoulder as she began her climb. Viera turned red, left to climb up behind her.

The Doctor gave an almost inaudible growl. He rubbed at his temples with one hand, momentarily covering his eyes as he waved upwards. "Go on then."

It wasn't like she had another choice. Viera started climbing, trying very hard to pretend that she heard neither the Doctor climbing behind her nor River's muted laughter up ahead. At least she wasn't wearing a skirt.

It was a very long climb. Even embarrassment aside, the ship simply wasn't made to be climbed from bow to stern. It was hard to find handholds and footholds close enough to be feasibly useful. It took some very creative stretching and all three of them working together to finally get out, but eventually they made it to a door in the stern of the ship that let them out into the ruins that breached the surface.

Sunlight had never been more beautiful.

The battered trio made their way out of the ruins to the beach below. A camp made up of dark green tents, armored vehicles and busy soldiers still lay tucked between the rocks at the edge of the sand.

"Hello! Over here!" River called, waving an arm and jogging a few steps ahead. Some of the soldiers turned their heads and the noise below grew as they alerted the others.

Viera leaned closer to the Doctor to whisper. "If the Angels never existed, why are the clerics here?" He shot her a long-suffering look that was just a bit condescending, suggesting that she probably wouldn't understand even if he explained. Viera rolled her eyes. "Right. It's complicated." She glanced at the clerics again, unable to help looking for familiar faces. Not that she remembered their faces all that well, but she remembered them.

Sorrow curled around her heart. "Even if the people the Angels killed aren't dead anymore, the ones that walked into that light…"

"I'm sorry, Viera," the Doctor said. That was answer enough. She nodded her understanding and pushed the painful thoughts aside.

They were soon surrounded by soldiers, asking questions, offering aid. Viera let the Doctor and River tell the story, wrapped in a warm wool blanket and sticking close to them both. Neither of them seemed to mind.

By the time the soldiers were satisfied, River was back in cuffs and the camp was all packed up. The adrenaline had all but died out and Viera felt exhausted. She leaned against the Doctor as he eyed the cuffs around River's wrists.

"What now?" he asked curiously.

"The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time." River shrugged and smiled. "We'll see."

"River Song," the Doctor mused. "Octavian said you killed a man." Viera straightened with a sharp intact of breath and the smirk on River's face faded away.

"Yes. I did," she admitted. "A good man. A very good man. The best man I've ever known."

Viera felt her face go pale as she looked between River's regretful expression and the Doctor. She can't mean- She wouldn't. River wouldn't.

"Who?" the Doctor prodded.

"Why?" Viera breathed.

River gave her a look as much sympathy as sorrow before she covered it up with a smile. "It's a long story. Can't be told. It has to be lived. No more spoilers." The smile grew genuine. "Well, except for this one: you'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens."

"Oh please," the Doctor scoffed, though he sounded intrigued despite himself. "That's a fairy tale."

River laughed. "Aren't we all?"

"River," Viera murmured, still caught in the fear of what River hinted might be coming. But she can't be talking about the Doctor. She can't kill- She wouldn't. She can't.

The older woman's smile was more mischievous than apologetic, and Viera began to convince herself that she had imagined the sorrow before.

"I'll see you there," River said, including them both with her gaze. "It'll be a night to remember." A warning beep came from her handcuffs. "Oh! I think that's my ride."

They began to step away, but Viera hesitated. Even with the worry in her heart, she couldn't help but feel a pang of loss at River's departure after everything they'd been through. Impulsively she darted forward and gave the other woman a swift hug.

"Goodbye," Viera murmured.

"We'll be seeing you, Dr. Song," the Doctor called as Viera rejoined him.

River grinned. "Oh, you have no idea." She laughed, bright and joyful as a brilliant light engulfed her and then she was gone.

They watched the ocean a heartbeat longer before turning back towards the TARDIS. "Doctor..." Viera started, her voice filled with concern. The Doctor slung an arm around her shoulders and offered a smile.

"Time can be rewritten, remember? No use worrying about every possibility. You'll give yourself wrinkles," he chided.

Even when it's a timeline we're already involved in? Viera kept the question to herself. He was right on one account anyways; there was no use worrying. And even if River meant… what it sounded like she meant, how is that any different from the prophesy? Even if, if she killed- will kill… Who's to say he'd stay dead?

"All right, now about that camping trip…"