Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who.

Season Notes: Really, officially AU. Like that's a surprise.

Anyway, late chapter. Sorry it's so suck-ish. Lost my momentum down the line and my story suffered. Three chapters left. One stand alone-ish (next) then the two part finale. I forgot how much I like writing for the Eleventh Doctor.

I Can Run Forever

Mikkal

Episode 4: Morning Star

Episode Notes: Originally inspired by the concept behind "Angels Take Manhattan." I was going to have it in New York and everything. Well, originally it was the Dream Lord who was the bad guy and the episode was called "The Bird are Singing," but then it went to Weeping Angels.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled

was convincing the world he didn't exist.

He had that nightmare again. The one where the Doctor drowned in darkness, bubbles bursting from his mouth as he screamed. Rory could do nothing but watch him, feeling his own lungs seize as if he was the one drowning instead. He woke up to Amy thrashing around, her yells for the Doctor muffled from the pillow over her face.

'Amy. Amy. Wake up.'

She woke up like he woke up, panting and the pillow falling away to revel panicked eyes. The quickly passed and she glared at him. 'What time is it?' She grumbled.

Rory glanced over at the clock and saw 7:03 pm GMT. No year or date, just the time zone for the East Coast of North America. Okay, that was new. He added that to the time when he told his wife. She groaned and covered her face again.

'Why is the clock doing that?'

The door slammed open.

'Because we are in North America! South Carolina to be exact!' The Doctor crowed, shaking a snow globe. Why he had a snow globe when Christmas was two months ago (celebrating an almost full year of travelling with the Doctor again so it added up to a year and two months…ish) and why he kept shaking it and peering at the figurines in it was a question and a half. 'The TARDIS is in an exposition-y sort of mood as of late. Normally she doesn't keep the time proper. (You know, I don't think exposition is the word I want. Words. Words. Words.)'

Amy raised an eyebrow. 'There are plenty of times she's kept the clocks right. You've just never paid attention.'

'Never needed to,' the Doctor said almost defensively. 'I've got my watch!' He patted his wrist proudly. The TARDIS made a groaning sound. 'Oh don't be like that, old girl. I still value you the most. Promise!' The groaning turned to humming and Rory couldn't help but think back to 'I always liked it when you called me "old girl."'

'Why are we in South Carolina?' Rory asked.

'Excellent question!' The Doctor answered.

There was a beat of silence as the Ponds waited for him to elaborate and then they realized that was all he was going to say.

The Doctor turned and walked out, staring intently at his snow globe and muttering under his breath. He paused and looked back at them. 'Well? Come along, Ponds. We've got a mystery to solve, gang!'

'What mystery?' Amy demanded, scrambling from under the covers. She pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a loose maroon shirt. She stole Rory's black leather jacket and struggled to pull on her boots as she hopped after the retreating Doctor. 'Why are we in…South Carolina?'

Rory just watched them leave, Amy asking probing questions and the Doctor saying anything and everything that didn't have to do with the answers. He rolled his eyes and got dressed himself.

He entered the console room just in time to hear the Doctor say, 'The Shadow Proclamation. You've never met them.' He seemed a little sadder at that but he shook it off. 'But they're basically the universe's police. There's been some disappearances in this part of the state. A few of those people were found back in time.'

Amy paled. 'Back in time? Weeping Angels?'

Okay. He was kind of lost. He'd heard of these Angel things, but he hadn't met them before. There was the mentions of the Byzantium and they were in that maze-prison with the alien that used fear to eat faith or something like that. But never actual Angels.

The Doctor nodded. 'Yeah. The funny thing is, though, there have been sixteen missing people but only the first three to disappear were found back in time.'

'Where have the others been found?' Rory asked.

'No where,' was the answer. 'They haven't been found.'

'So, not Weeping Angels then?' Amy interjected hopefully.

The Doctor shrugged. 'Don't know for sure. The reports state that the three found remember seeing a statue of a weeping angel.'

Rory sighed and covered his eyes. He could already imagine the nightmares Amy was going to have next time they got a chance to sleep. (He couldn't say tonight because the chances of sleeping tonight were low.) 'Why are we checking this out? I don't remember doing anything specifically for the Shadow Proclamation before. I mean, for the princess in the old American West thing, but that was something different.'

'Ah-ha!' The Doctor exclaimed, whirling around and jabbing a finger towards Rory's nose making the human go crossed eye. 'That's where you're right! You haven't done anything, but you forget I don't sleep as much as you. I do a few errands for them every now and then. Nothing big, only a little bit dangerous. I picked this up last night while you were wasting it away. Apparently, according to them, I've got the most experience with the Weeping Angels besides River.' He grimaced. 'Fun.'

Their search took them all day, believe it or not. They were in Sumter, South Carolina. It wasn't a large place but it wasn't small either and the military base (Shaw Air Force Base) near by was included in their search. Rory felt a little twitchy when the Doctor pulled out the psychic paper to get them into the base, but not as twitchy as he would be if it weren't for the whole Nixon/Silence fiasco 43 technical/no-time travel influenced years ago.

The base was unimpressive. The residential and commercial areas were separated but considered the same base. They went to the commercial area first, that led to nothing. Only ten of the disappearances happened there—one pilot of a F-16 fighter jet and one kindergarten teacher from Oakland, a group of four friends hanging out at a pool, a couple bowling, and two strangers who had literally ran into each other at the commissary. Of the ten, the couple was the only ones found back in time. The left over six disappeared in the residential area, mostly from schools and parks and small restaurants. The last sent-back-in-time one was a young girl who managed to find a family to adopt her. The three sent back in time were the first to disappear.

'Why can't you bring them back?' Rory asked.

The Doctor frowned. 'Because it breaks the loop.' He paused and shook his head. 'No, ignore that. It's actually because the power used by Weeping Angels interferes with my TARDIS. Conflicting time energies. If I tried to go back for any of them then the whole universe will rip down the middle and slowly crumble out like paper.'

'Really?'

'…Well, no. But if its easier for you to understand that way then yeah.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'So we're going to this, this prom tonight, right? Perfect place for some Angels to get something to eat.'

'Angel,' the Doctor corrected. 'Sixteen people is too low to be more than one.' He tweaked his bowtie. 'That is, if it even is a Weeping Angel. Only three people were found back in time. Angels can't put them forward in time due to the fact that it would kill them. Ten people would be enough to kill an Angel. Thirteen is too many. And there's no reason to kill itself…So where are the other people?'

'Lovely,' Rory muttered. 'So we're basically back to square one. We don't know what's going on. Could be an Angel, could not be an angel. What if it is, though? How do we get rid of it?'

'A mirror,' Amy suggested. 'Or…Or…a place that has a ton of cameras. If they think they're being looked at even if they're not they won't move right? Um…Trick it into space? Or an airtight, radiation tight box?'

'All excellent ideas, Pond,' the Doctor assured. 'I never thought of that box before. That might actually work. We'll figure it out as soon as we know for sure what we're dealing with. We have to be careful about this.'

Amy rose a surprised eyebrow and exchanged glances with her husband. 'You? Being careful? Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?' There was a beat of silence before she made a face, probably realizing what she said.

If it was anything like what Rory was thinking it was along the lines of Gangers and Teselectas then he understood the face she was making.

Luckily, the Doctor didn't seem to notice, too busy sonicking a flier to the prom Amy was putting her nose up to earlier.

'So,' Rory said, preparing to pull the difficult task of bringing the conversation back to the problems about the American high school end of the year dance. 'We go to this prom—the most crowded place tonight—figure out if this is actually an Angel and then figure out how to stop it then stop it. How do we get into the prom?'

'Easy!'

Easy was psychic paper for the teachers. But the Doctor didn't take into account of the students who didn't have a weirdness censor.

'Um,' one student said, staring at them almost as soon as they walked into the school and past the ticket counter. 'You know this is a "masquerade," right? Masks? How'd you get in wearing…that.' She pointed at them, specifically at the Doctor's neck.

He tweaked his bowtie with a smile. 'Bowties are cool!'

'Well, I guess that's better that what those two are wearing.'

'Thank you!'

'…And you're British! How'd you get in here?'

'Actually,' Rory said. 'We've lost a statue. Have you seen it?' Amy elbowed him in the side for that. 'Ow.'

'That doesn't tell me how you got in here…A statue?' She muttered, just barely heard over the roar of the prom going on behind her. 'What does it look like? There's like twenty or something in there.'

Amy paled at that while the Doctor said, 'A weeping angel.'

The American girl thought for a ridiculous amount of time, probably not realizing by their faces how bad this situation actually was, before snapping her fingers. 'Yes! I have seen a weeping angel statue. Some pranking jerks keep moving it, though, so I don't know where it is exactly.'

Amy gripped Rory's arm tighter. 'Can you show us where you last saw it?'

'Sure,' she said, shaking her head. 'And you're Scottish,' she muttered. 'Two Englishmen and a Scottish woman…this is kinda awesome.'

The Doctor grinned. He was starting to like this girl. 'Lead the way, Miss…?'

'Cas,' she supplied. 'Cas Teal.'

'I'm the Doctor.'

'…Doctor who?'

He grimaced but smiled anyway. 'Loaded question. Let's stick with just the Doctor. And this is Rory and Amy.'

'Nice to meet you.' Cas dodged a dancing couple. 'Why are you looking for a weeping angel statue?'

'You ask a lot of questions,' Rory commented.

She smiled. 'I know. It annoys the crap out of my mom…you gonna answer it?'

'It's made of a very rare, dangerous stone that reacts violently with sugar,' the Doctor pulled out of the air, looking around the gym.

Why did everything react violently whenever the Doctor was involved?

'Why would the school purchase something like that?' Cas asked, horrified. 'There's sweet tea, and punch, and candy, and ice cream, and clumsy teenagers...Can I sue?' She asked thoughtfully.

'No,' Rory said firmly before he could stop himself.

The American opened her mouth to argue back but the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, 'Oi! I know this song!'

Amy lunged for his rising arms and pulled them down. 'Don't even think about it. We do not need any of your Drunken Giraffe going on now.'

'"Drunken Giraffe?"' the Doctor repeated in amusement. 'You've name my dance moves now, have you?'

Cas giggled. 'The statue was over here.' She pointed to a corner that was empty now. 'I don't see how those guys keep moving it, that thing must weigh ton.'

'If there's a lot of them,' Rory reasoned. 'Then it shouldn't be too hard. Thank you for your help, Miss. Teal.'

'Call me Cas,' she said. 'And I'm not leaving. That statue is way to heavy, something else is going on here.'

Oh great, a person who doesn't have a weirdness sensor and suspicious. What a wonderful combination. The Doctor was going to love this.

'Of course something else is going on here!' the Doctor exclaimed happily, seeming to find joy in pulling another unsuspecting person into alien/supernatural messes that could, quite, possibly get them killed and/or sent back in time.

'That statue is alive isn't it,' Cas said equally as excited. 'That's why they've been all around the base. It's one, but it can move faster than we can see so it looks like more. That's why it's in different places.'

Amy frowned. 'You are quick to understand,' she said suspiciously.

'Are you kidding me?' The American said. 'This is the greatest thing ever! I can create a real life X-Files now! I just need to get older and join the FBI!'

'The X-Files?' The Doctor repeated.

Cas eyed him. 'You don't know the X-Files? Are you sure you're not an alien?'

Amy giggled and Rory coughed as he choked on the words he was about to say. The Doctor looked smug and straightened his bowtie, looking as if he was about to confirm the American's thoughts.

"Just a hermit," Amy jumped in.

Cas raised an eyebrow. "A hermit?" She looked around. "Unusual hermit. You have friends and you're in public."

The Doctor grinned. "Hermits United. We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun... for a hermit." He sounded like he was quoting someone. Probably himself, he had a tendency to quote himself.

"Anyway, thanks for the help. The statue's obviously not here, we'll be on our way," Rory said, tugging on Amy's arm.

'Oh pish,' the Doctor said, pulling Amy's other arm. Amy basically became the rope in a game of tug-of-war. 'We don't have to go so soon. There's a dance going on. I love dancing!'

'You should stay,' Cas said excitedly. 'There's plenty of food and room. Just don't let anyone you can't trick see you.'

'Cas!' A voice yelled, a voice that belonged to a light haired girl in a form-fitting tuxedo and black mask that she quickly took off. 'There you are. I've been looking all over for you.'

'I've been here the whole time, Deanna,' Cas said dryly. 'These are some new friends I found. Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. This is Deanna Wesson.'

The newly introduced Deanna eyed them critically. 'Interesting new friends. Only you could find a group like this.' She smiled, though, to indicate that though her words seemed harsh she didn't mean it in such a way.

Suddenly a screeching sounded through out the room, forcing people to cover their ears least they be permanently deafened. They didn't even have to cover them tightly, just cup their hands over the holes on either side of their heads and that was enough protection.

'Are we under attack?' Cas shouted, eyes squinting as if that would help with the noise.

'Attack?' Deanna shouted back. 'Why would we be under attack?'

Cas paused for a moment. 'I don't know!'

The Doctor grinned happily, pulling out his sonic and sliding it open to inspect. He seemed to be the only one who didn't have to cover his ears, Rory was rather jealous since his arms were getting tired and the noise didn't seemed to be stopping anytime soon. 'Nope! Not under attack.'

'Then what is it?' Amy demanded.

The noise stopped and they all sighed in relief. The music hadn't stopped and the masses decided to continue on with their lives as if nothing just happened.

'That was the TARDIS,' the Doctor stated proudly. 'She just figured something out…Oh.' He paled. 'Oh, that's not good. Oh. No. No!' He spun around and rushed out of the gymnasium, pushing people out of the way in his hurry.

'Doctor!' Amy shouted, taking off after him.

Rory was about to follow as well before something occurred to him. He paused and turned around to the expectant faces of two American teenagers. 'Stay here,' he ordered. 'For your protection.' Then he ran back to the TARDIS, bursting through the doors. 'Okay, what's wrong? Are we all going to die…again?'

The Doctor was hopping around the console with frantic mania, his usual spinning and flailing was gone. His features were set hard in worry and…fear? The Doctor was afraid.

He spun a dial before heading to a hallway. 'Amy, Rory, keep an eye on the kids! Make sure they don't break anything unimportant. No, that came out wrong. Don't break anything important!' And then he disappeared.

Rory frowned at the odd parting words before he groaned and face palmed. He turned around and put his hands on his hips. 'Didn't I tell you to stay there?' He asked Cas and Deanna.

Cas smiled smugly, but she was still speechless from the interior of the TARDIS.

'Is this possible?' Deanna asked, voice breathless. 'Physically, scientifically possible?'

Amy grinned. 'Yes on the scientifically, not sure on the physically. The Doctor hasn't taken the time out to explain it to us. Though we do know it's another dimension.' She nudged Rory gently with a proud smile on her face. 'This here is the TARDIS! A time and space machine, the Doctor's an alien.'

'This really is X-Files!' Cas shouted happily.

'Don't be silly, Cas Teal,' the Doctor said, appearing out of a hallway he didn't go in before. Rory could've sworn that was the corridor that led to the swimming pool and library, but maybe the TARDIS changed it again. Actually, scratch that, there was no maybe about it. 'This is nothing like The X-Files. This is loads cooler.'

'I thought you didn't watch it?'

'I don't need to watch it to know this is cooler. This is cooler than everything!'

'Doctor,' Rory said firmly, the only sane man in the room. 'What was that noise? What's got you so freaked out?'

The Doctor hummed. 'You see, that's the problem. There's nothing there. The TARDIS was giving me a warning that an Angel was close to her. At first. Then we came in here and there was nothing. Nothing at all, not even residual detection on the monitors.'

'You mean to tell me,' Amy said hotly. 'That we went running in the exact direction where there was a possible Weeping Angel?'

'Possibly,' the Doctor said distractedly.

'And why did you disappear?' Rory snagged the shawl wrapped in Cas' arms to keep her from going down a hallway. 'Stay here,' he ordered. 'I mean it this time, you could get lost and die if you go down that hallways.'

The Doctor scoffed. 'Don't be silly. Old girl would never let someone die in her corridors. And about the disappearing thing, I was checking to see if the Angel got in.'

And, honestly, Rory really didn't want to take the time to explain to him why that was a really, truly bad idea. So he wasted that time to drag Cas back from where she was attempting to go under the glass floor.

'Stop it, Cas,' Deanna scolded before turning to the Doctor. 'Can you explain what's going on? What is this place? Who are you really? Are we in danger?'

'…No.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'A little hesitant, Doctor?'

Cas stopped trying to go exploring. 'Which question are you answering? You can't explain what's going on? Or whether or not we're in danger?' She didn't sound so excited anymore. 'What's going on?' She demanded harshly.

'Oi,' Amy said. 'You're the ones who followed us, not the other way around!'

'Hey,' Deanna snarled. 'Watch it. She didn't mean it like that. We're just really confused…and kinds scared,' she admitted.

Amy's features softened and she smiled. 'Don't worry,' she assured. 'The Doctor will get us out of this. Right, Doctor?'

Rory looked over at the Time Lord only to see the much older fellow not even paying attention; instead he was fiddling with the typewriter that (Rory suspected, but never actually confirmed) wasn't actually a typewriter.

'Doctor,' Amy said sharply.

He jerked his head up, frowning. 'Yes. Yes, right. Of course, Amy,' he said distractedly—which wasn't so far off of what he was normally like.

Rory shuffled over to him, hovering over his shoulder. 'Doctor,' he said quietly as not to scare the young Americans. 'What's going on? It's not a Weeping Angel, is it?'

'No, I don't suppose it is,' the Doctor answered. His nonchalant-ness was a bit disturbing. 'It was originally, that's where those three people back in time came from. But it's not a Weeping Angel anymore.'

'I don't know whether to be relieved or freaked out even more,' Amy said. Apparently they weren't talking quietly enough. Cas and Deanna looked confused and unsure as to if they should be terrified or not so their facial expressions were more comical than anything else.

'Neither,' the Doctor assured. He made a face. 'Okay, no. You should be relieved. Definitely relieved. As relieved as you can get. It's not a Weeping Angel, how much greater can it get beyond that? Relived is a very good thing to be feeling right now.'

'Doctor,' Cas said. 'Do you know what it is if it's not this Weeping Angel thing?'

The Doctor ignored her and typed something else in, messing with his sonic. He twisted it, flipped it, twirled it, bopped it, doing everything but answer Cas' question.

'Would you just stop avoiding everything!' Rory burst out, startling everyone including himself. 'We have the right to know what's going on, just like you. Not telling us just leads to more trouble, haven't you figured that out by now?'

He stared at him, eyes wide and a grin slowly growing. 'Rory the Roman,' he said happily, practically swooning. 'I remember when your courage was this big.' He held his thumb and pointed finger a grain of rice apart. 'My, my, how you've grown.'

Amy snorted and ruffled Rory's hair. 'That's my boy,' she said.

'Alright then!' The Doctor shouted, stuffing his screwdriver into his coat pocket then flipping a switch that was actually meant to be twisted. 'Off to save the world, why not!'

The TARDIS began to whirl, shuddering slightly.

'We are not time-travelling now, not at a time like this!' Amy shouted, grabbing on to the railing.

Rory rolled his eyes and held onto the chair tightly. 'I'd hold on if I were you,' he called to the Americans.

They were clutching each other as if they were the only things real, eyes wide.

'What do you mean "time travel? I thought you were joking!' Deanna said in disbelief. 'You can't actually mean actual time travel. Can you?' No one answered her.

'Where are we going?' Amy asked.

Just then the TARDIS lurched, sending Deanna and Cas to the ground in a pile. Rory's wrist wrenched as he stumbled in the wrong direction, Amy let out a squeal of surprise. The Doctor had braced himself before hand so he was some how perfectly fine.

'Doctor!' Cas yelled as she rolled to the edge of the glass platform when the TARDIS seemed to spin out of control. 'What the hell is going on?'

'Cas, grab my hand, you idiot,' Deanna demanded, holding onto the railing pole with one hand with the other reaching for her girlfriend (it was sort of obvious). She was still on her stomach, stretched out. 'I'm not going to let you get hurt because you don't know when to hold on and when to not use your hands to talk. Your mom is going to kill me.'

She latched on and grinned. 'No she won't.'

'DOCTOR!' rumbled a deep voice, sending painful vibrations to the tips of their toes, making their teeth ache and their bones numb. 'YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!'

'What was that?' Amy sounded frightened, even Rory couldn't calm his racing heart.

'I don't know!' The Doctor yelled back gleefully, never mind that they might be hurtling towards their untimely death, or trip back into time. 'But it's not a Weeping Angel. Remember we're suppose to be relieved about that?'

'I'd rather have the Angel,' Amy said dryly.

The TARDIS came to a sudden stop. This time event the Doctor fell. Well, more of he let go of the controls (whether by accident or on purpose) and slid until he tripped over the lip that connected the main platform to the ramp that led to the door. He let out a bright laugh at the whole thing, clapping his hands like a child.

'Is he always like this?' Deanna asked as she stood gingerly, gently helping Cas as well. 'So…childish?'

'You have no idea,' Rory said.

Cass rubbed her backside. 'I'm pretty sure there's a disorder with his name on it. But if he's really an alien, I don't think it counts.'

The Doctor turned his back to the doors, hands behind him and grasping the handles. His smile was huge and a little frightening because whenever his smiled like that they always got into loads of trouble. 'Are you ready to save the world?' He asked.

'From what?' Amy countered.

Unbelievably, his smile got bigger. 'I don't know!'

He opened the doors to reveal a Weeping Angel right there, hands in claws and teeth sharpened, face ugly. The Doctor slammed the doors closed so fast they rattled again. Cas screamed and clung to Deanna tightly.

'Well, that was a bad idea,' he said, still not losing that happy tone.

'I thought you said it wasn't a Weeping Angel!' Amy shouted, frightened.

'That's a Weeping Angel?' Deanna asked. 'It didn't look like it was Weeping!' She hugged Cas, knuckles turning white.

'I'm not wrong,' the Doctor shot towards Amy. 'That wasn't a Weeping Angel, trust me.'

'Trust you?' Cas repeated. 'Trust you? How can we trust you if we don't even know what's going on? Why are you here? Where the hell are we?'

'We're in one of the jet hangers on base,' the Doctor explained, not losing that joyful look on his face like he was going to solve this in the next two seconds and everything was going to be fine.

Rory crossed his fingers in hope that it actually happened that way this time, for the sake of the Americans. The Doctor was ruining too many people's lives at this rate, whether by death or changing their views too much too quickly.

'There have been sixteen missing people on your base,' the Doctor continued, never moving from his spot. 'Three of those people, the first three, were found back in time. The thought was that it was a Weeping Angel, because that's what they do. There were reports of an angel statue appearing at different parts of the base, so that just clinched it. But where were the other thirteen people?'

'You're here to figure out why?' Deanna asked, more of confirmed. 'Why did you come to our prom?'

'Biggest collection of people,' Amy was the one to explain. 'The Angel could've shown up.'

'And it did,' the Doctor said. 'But it didn't, because that's not a Weeping Angel. It's just something pretending to be a Weeping Angel. That's why the report didn't get filed as important. The Shadow Proclamation's filing system is a little wonky.' He stared off into space. 'Really wonky. Like, I can't believe they knew something was going on here on Earth like this. They're usually not very good about Earth. Totally out of proportion. Don't get me started on the whole Judoon mess and the moon.'

'Doctor.' Rory snapped his fingers. 'Focus.'

'What? Oh, yes, right.' His hands finally appeared from behind his back to wave around wildly. 'It's all confusing, bureaucratic stuff that I try not to understand. We're here to stop the monster pretending to be an even scarier monster to confuse the higher authorities. At least, that's my general thought process is. I have no idea what we're actually facing. Maybe that Weeping Angel is a Weeping Angel.'

'Not helping, Doctor,' Amy gritted out.

'Right, apologizes.'

Cas raised an eyebrow. 'What does this have to do with saving the world?' She didn't let anyone answer because then she just said, jaw dropping and face whitening. 'It was a Weeping Angel at first, right? We know that for sure.'

'Yeah,' Rory said, mind racing to see where she was headed. He glanced at Amy and moved closer to his wife. She leaned against him, eyebrows furrowed as she thought along the same pace.

Deanna hummed. 'You talk too fast for me to know if you already mentioned this, but what if it was a Weeping Angel at first then it was killed? Just to give the impression that it's been a Weeping Angel this entire time.'

'Something that can kill a Weeping Angel,' Amy muttered. 'I didn't think that was possible.'

'Everyone has a predator,' the Doctor says. 'Maybe not in the traditional sense, but there's something above something. So it is entirely possible for someone to be above the Angels. There was something above the Time Lords and they didn't even know it.' He winced.

Cas shook her head. 'I don't want to know. This is enough for one day.'

'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist,' Amy said suddenly, brightening. 'I think I get what you mean! This 'bad guy' is hiding behind the Angel to make it seem like he's not really here.'

Rory frowned. 'That's basically the premise behind almost every bad guy we've ever faced. We think it's one thing, but it turns out to be another.'

'Ah-ha!' The Doctor exclaimed. 'But this time it's doing it on purpose.' He whirled around to face the doors. 'That Angel wasn't an Angel, it was just a projected image to give the illusion there's one here. Those thirteen people are probably absolutely dead and there's nothing we can do about it.'

'That's so comforting,' Deanna muttered so quietly only Rory and Cas heard her. 'So, if we open that door, nothing's going to happen to us.'

'It shouldn't,' the Doctor assured. 'And I'm pretty sure the Devil isn't in there either. So, no worries for the rest of your days. It's a problem free, philosophy.'

Amy took a deep breath. 'Let's get this over with. Thirteen people in three weeks. At the rate this thing is going he's going to consume the world.'

'Exactamoudo!' The Doctor groaned, smacking himself sharply. 'I was hoping I'd never use that word again. Now, prepare yourselves. This door will. be. opened! Geronimo!' He swung the doors open and there was nothing there. 'That's rather disappointing, but not unexpected.' He grinned at the four Earthlings behind him. 'The TARDIS says there's something in here besides broken down jets. What do you say we find out what it is?'

'This is not how I wanted to spend my senior prom,' Deanna said dryly.

Cas shook her head. 'Are you kidding me? This is the single most exciting-slash-scariest thing to ever happen. And we can't tell anyone about it. This is fantastic!'

Rory groaned and let his head drop against the rock wall; he could feel the tension headache building rapidly. Amy patted his shoulder comfortingly, but it could only do so much.

They had entered the hanger only to be transported to some sort of cave on another planet. According to the Doctor it was a fast and simple platform that required little energy and could only be found in some galaxy Rory had never heard. They were also home to the creatures who had trapped them in this three-stone/rock-wall-and-one-force-field-wall cell.

They had devices just like the vampires had in Venice, that was how they were pretending to be a species that could move unbelievably fast. One of them would be an Angel in one corner, then they would change into a human shape while some one on the other side of the room would change into an Angel.

Pretty smart, actually.

'You lot are so thick!'

Of course, the Doctor didn't think so.

The Doctor jiggled one of the chains around his wrist. 'Really? You're really going to do this? This is a completely rubbish plan.'

'You must be sacrificed,' the main minion said. His blank form was taller than the rest and there was a dot in the middle of it's not-there face.

'Of course I need to be,' the Doctor snarked. 'That's all that ever happens. Sacrifices. Offerings. The whole pudding. What I want to know is why your little master thing knew who I was.'

'Memories. You are etched in the fabric of time and space itself, you can never be forgotten no matter how hard you try.'

'Well, that explains a few things,' Rory said musingly.

Amy nodded. 'We can all go home now. We've figured it out.'

Cas couldn't help but giggle.

The entire cave began to glow a deep red colour, the sign that the 'little master thing' was arriving to steal…whatever…from the Doctor.

'What do you want from me anyway?' The Doctor asked. He still tugged on the chain around his wrists, they prevented him from grabbing his sonic.

'Everything.'

Deanna stood there, face blank. 'Everything? That doesn't sound good.'

'DOCTOR. DOCTOR. DOCTOR. DOCTOR.'

'Yes, yes,' the Doctor said. 'I know my name. What is yours?'

'I HAVE MANY NAMES.'

Cas frowned. 'That's a very popular answer in anything pop-cultured. Are we sure this is real life and not a dream. Ow,' she said in response to Deanna grabbing her arm in a vice grip.. 'I didn't mean for you to hurt me to prove it, you sadistic—Oh, Deanna,' she said sadly.

Rory looked over to see Deanna trembling. 'What's wrong? Is everything alright?'

Cas hugged her girlfriend tightly, running her fingers through the other girl's hair. 'She's never been good with fear,' she explained. 'She's great with everything else. The front and stuff, but as soon as she feels fear it's down the toilet and into the sewage.'

'FEAR…'

'Um,' Amy said, backing away from the force field wall slowly. 'Deanna, you might want to get rid of that fear. I think it's attracting the devil creature thing.'

Tears ran down her cheeks. 'I can't,' she whimpered, eyes wide and staring at the humongous beast beginning to form before the altar.

'You have to!' The Doctor shouted.

'I can't!'

'Fear is the beacon, to attract it to strong emotions then it eats everything,' Rory said. 'That's what the Weeping Angel was for, to scare anyone and everyone. Even if they didn't know what it was, the thoughts of suddenly disappearing or someone disappearing scared people. There were probably nightmares and everything. The Doctor's not afraid. I'm not afraid. Amy's not afraid. Cas is apparently mad. It's only you, Deanna. You need to be brave.'

Cas grabbed her hands. 'Deanna, look at me. Look at me,' she ordered, smiling when she did just that. 'I'm right here. Okay? I'm right here. That thing has been scaring people all month. Remember the dreams Tobias told us about?'

Deanna nodded, sniffling.

'That's it,' Cas said. 'Tobias is a little scaredy-cat. He can't stand up to anything. But you, you've been with me every night for the past six months, you've had no reason to be afraid. This thing is attracted to fear. It can't get to the Doctor because even though he has lots of memories—apparently—he's not scared enough.'

Deanna still whimpered pathetically.

'I can't lose you,' Cas said quietly. 'Especially to an alien Devil creature thing. That's just cruel, don't do that to me.' Deanna snorted out a loud. 'That's right. Laugh in the face of danger. Muhaha! Right? Right!' She pulled the girl into a hug, wrapping her arms around Deanna so fully it was hard to tell where Cas began and Deanna ended. 'Come on. All you need to do is be brave until the Doctor does something cool.'

Amy stood behind them, hands on each of their shoulders. Rory stood in front of them, stance protective.

'I'll talk you into bravery,' Cas decided. Then she started babbling about anything and everything. Television shows, books, movies, school, their relationship Deanna had tightened her hug when it steered to their relationship and Cas took that a hint to continue on that path.

The Doctor started laughing, his on of his wrists bloody but free so he managed to reach his sonic. 'That's right. Defeat it with love! The ultimate emotion besides faith. Though, I suppose right now you're using both.' He pointed it at the device that seemed to be the source of the light that was slowly turning solid. 'Thank you oh-so-very-much for showing me where you were keeping your master. It made is so much easier to trap it.'

There was a loud wail before the light disappeared and all five of the minions collapsed into heaps of silver and gold metal. A burst of blue light escaped each of them, fading into nothingness.

The Doctor freed the humans first. His sonic high pitched to made the force field disintegrate before he turned it on the chain bounding his other wrist.

'Seriously, Doctor?' Rory said immediately. 'You couldn't have made it so you didn't hurt yourself?' He tugged on the Time Lord's fingers to inspect the bloody circle wrapping around the thin wrist. 'I'm surprise you didn't break it.'

'I have my ways,' the Doctor replied, grinning. 'Now to call on the Shadow Proclamation to get them down here. This big boy's gonna be locked up for a very long time. You guys are just barely a level five planet, types like this shouldn't even be here.' He made a face, a mixture between guilt and disgust. 'Okay, never using the term "big boy" to describe the bad guy ever again. Remind me,' he told Amy.

Amy grinned and shook her head. 'Moron,' she said fondly. The Doctor smiled goofily at her.

'So that's it?' Cas asked. 'That's just…it? Nothing else?'

Amy nodded. 'Yep, that's generally what happens. I'd be surprised if it wasn't over. Though, that does happen too.'

Rory groaned. 'Don't remind me.' He glanced over his shoulders every time they though something was finished because they usually weren't despite what Amy thought.

'Doctor,' Deanna said hesitantly. 'I have a request,' Her tears dried, but cheeks blotched.

The Doctor smiled gently, pulled away from Rory (ignoring the man's protests), and crouched down so he had to look up at the Americans. 'Anything,' he promised.

Deanna smiled shakily back, fingers laced with Cas' so tightly they seemed to want to merge as one being. 'You said we can time-travel, right? Can you take me to the first day Cas and I met?'

'Of course I can!' The Doctor exclaimed. 'I would like nothing better right now that to take you there!'

Rory glanced down at the paper Amy held in her hand. 'They seriously gave us their number?'

Amy smiled. 'Why not? I would love to see them in a few years their time. I bet you they're still together.'

'I'm not taking that bet,' he said, 'I have no doubts.'

'Ponds!' The Doctor exclaimed from behind them. 'I know the perfect place to go! And I think I'll actually land there this time! What do you think about a planet of hats? Hats!' He danced around the console, a happy smile on his face.

Amy laughed. 'Haven't we already been there?'

'Ah, not this one! The one we went to was in the 31st century. This one is the 50th, completely different.'

'Well then, lead the way! Can never have too many hats!'

Rory sighed. 'You barely ever wear them,' he pointed out.

'Doesn't mean I can't own them,' Amy said, pouting.

Next Up:

Episode 5: Dean Men Tell No Tales

He shook his head, a flash of tan brown caught his eye and he lifted the hand not on his head. It was darker than normal; the fingers longer, the tips scarred in places he never scarred them before. He blinked and brought the other hand down to hold them side-by-side.

The Doctor felt his face; sideburns, wild yet shorter hair, the jaw smaller, the nose a bit more beak-ish. His teeth, oh wow, his teeth!

'Doctor!' Donna shouted. 'Oi, space alien, where the bloody hell are you?'