Long time, no see! Well, i'm back. Those of you who've read LW will know what i'm talking about. I've had a rough couple of months recently. But everything's good.

Well... this is The Beast Below episode; and it's long; 10 PAGES ON WORD! So sorry if it's too long... but I really think you're going to like it.

Chapter 6

"Can I have a go now?" Destiny asked grumpily. The Doctor quickly looked back over his shoulder at his daughter who was sat on the stairs, closest to the doors of the time machine. She had her arms crossed and was pouting slightly, her straight hair pulled back into a clean pony tail.

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at her. She had only recently pulled her hair into a pony tail. And now that all of her hair was pulled away from her face, it was strikingly obvious that she was his daughter. They were practically identical, well apart from their chins. As Amy had pointed out a little while ago – Destiny's was much smaller than his. But looking at her and knowing that it was his new and current body that had helped bring her into the world; he couldn't feel more proud. He couldn't help but finally feel like her father.

He didn't reply to her question, looking back round to Amy, who was floating out in the open space. He had a firm grip on her ankle, so she didn't float away.

He laughed at Amy, who stayed still, letting her hair float around her.

"Come on Pond," The Doctor called cheerfully, finally deciding that maybe it was time to let Destiny have a go. He moved backwards, pulling Amy gently back into the Tardis. He held her for a minute as she found her footing. "Now do you believe me?" He asked.

"Okay, your box is a spaceship." She exclaimed happily, a laugh underlying her tone. "It's really, really a spaceship. WE ARE IN SPACE!"

"Yes, well now that we've established that, can I have a go?" Destiny rudely asked, standing up and walking towards the two.

"In a minute," The Doctor promised, smiling at her again, before turning back to Amy, who was sticking her head out the Tardis again.

"What are we breathing?" Amy asked, taking a deep breath.

"I've extended the air shell. We're fine." He also stuck his head out of the TARDIS.

Destiny huffed and childishly stomped her foot, not at all liking the way how the conversation had changed. She wanted a go, and there they were changing the subject.

The Doctor ignored her mini tantrum and looked down.

"Now that's interesting. Destie, come see," He waved her over as he crouched down, wanting to cheer up his daughter a little. Destiny, quickly forgot about begin upset and hurried over to look over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Wow," She whispered, as Amy crouched next to the Doctor. They were floating over a massive spaceship that looked like a massive city.

"What d'ya think?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Um…" She racked her brain trying to remember what she had read in one of the many history books that the TARDIS library housed. "Um…" She looked down at her watch. 2868, the year read. "29th century!" She exclaimed happily, pleased with herself.

"Correct," The Doctor chuckled and stood up, turning back into the TARDIS.

It wasn't too long before the Doctor was hurrying silently out of the TARDIS as Amy babbled on about a wildlife documentary or something. Destiny watching him go, following him. She stopped as she excited the TARDIS, letting a small group of people walk past. When she was able to walk away from the ship, she looked over at her father and furrowed her eyebrows at him.

The Doctor looked up, sensing her eyes on him and waved her off as he continued to try and bump into the little girl that they had observed on the monitor. She shook her head with a smile on her face before walking over to a line of stalls. She began observing them.

"Hey Miss," A man, behind a jewellery counter; who also looked a little creepy. "Buy a pretty necklace, to match your eyes," He smiled, baring his teeth – many missing, stained yellow or blackened.

"Um…" She bit her lip for a minute; not liking the man at all; his creepiness doing its job and creeping her out.

"Destiny?" The Doctor asked, suddenly at her side. The man's creepy smile dropped and he lowered his hand that had been holding out a necklace. "You okay?"

"Fine," She smiled, glad her father had come to the rescue; as per the norm. She turned to the man. "Sorry, but no thank you," She apologised to him. The Doctor took her shoulder and guided her away from him and his stall.

"I don't like him; stay away," He informed her, leaving no room to argue. She nodded and before she knew it, he had pecked her forehead and was off again – practically chasing after the girl.

Destiny turned to the stall that the Doctor had practically parked her in front of and couldn't help but smile at all the small trinkets; union jack flags adorned the stall for decoration and things such as red ceramic telephone boxes and post boxes were on sale. There were a couple of money boxes on sale too; a piggy painted with the British flag and a red post box; the money would be pushed through the opening, where letters would be posted had the money box been real. But she couldn't help but fall in love with a small light brown teddy, a white t-shirt adorning its chest; the union jack flag painted proudly on.

Suddenly her father appeared next to her, a smile on his face.

"Nothing like the London Market on Earth, is it," Destiny mused, picking up the teddy.

"Of course not, but that's evolution for you; it's good to change every now and then."

"What like you did?" She asked, playfully, looking over his shoulder.

"I feel fresh, thank you very much!" He denied, just as playfully. He then dug into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. He pulled out a note and handed it over to the greying woman, stood behind the stall.

She busied herself, sorting out the change and handing it back to the Doctor and handing a brown paper bag to Destiny.

"Thanks," The Doctor thanked the woman, before steering Destiny away from the stall.

"Since when do you carry a wallet with money around?" She asked, placing her new teddy into the paper bag.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, stopping as they neared the TARDIS; Amy having just excited.

"You know, most people say thank you," He commented as Amy came towards them.

"I'm in the future. Like hundreds of years in the future," She explained. Destiny handed her father the paper bag, who took it and placed it in his inside pocket; that was bigger on the inside. "I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely," The Doctor sighed sarcastically. "You're a cheery one. Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"

Upon hearing the last three words, Destiny froze and stopped following the two adults in front of her. Wrong? What did he mean wrong? She looked around, trying to see what could be wrong. Maybe it was the man that had creeped her out… but you got those people all over the universe. Well then, what was it? Oh, how she wished she had a mind like her fathers.

The Doctor and Amy had stopped, as the Doctor handed a couple back a glass of water. Destiny ran to catch up with them as they began moving again.

"Slow coach," The Doctor commented as Destiny slowed her running to a walk; so she could walk beside them. "Do you see it?" He asked Destiny. "There's something wrong, do you see it?"

Destiny cocked her head to the side and gave her father an 'I'm-not-as-clever-as-you-but-I'm-not-about-to-admit-it' kind of look.

"Where?" Amy asked.

"There," The Doctor pointed to the little girl that they had seen on the scanner, and the one that Destiny recognised the Doctor trying to run into her.

Destiny clicked her tongue and looked to her father again.

"Are you sure? It's just a little girl crying," She pointed out.

"Shhh," The Doctor shushed, moving forward and sat down on a bench, facing the little girl.

Amy sat on the Doctor's left and Destiny to his right. Amy sat with her legs crossed, leaning on her hand; a fair distance between her and the Doctor (which was unusual for Destiny to see). The Doctor sat with his elbows on his knees with his fingers knitted together and his head resting on his hands as he watched the girl with sympathy and Destiny sat cross legged, messing around with the shoelace of her converse.

They had been sat there for about 15 minutes and Destiny was getting bored. She yawned and swayed to her left, falling against the Doctor, resting her head on his shoulder.

"One little girl crying," Amy sighed, obviously getting bored too. "So?"

The Doctor unknitted his hands and wrapped one round Destiny in a side hug.

"Crying silently," He pointed out in a hushed tone. "I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that." He smiled down at Destiny, without her realising as she was still observing the girl, before he looked up at Amy again.

"Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them is asking her what's wrong." The Doctor explained.

"Which means they already know," Destiny mumbled.

"You're still with us then, eh?" The Doctor joked. "I thought you'd fallen asleep."

"Dad," She grumbled, pushing herself back into an upright position, letting the Doctor pull his arm back around and place it in his lap.

"But you're right Destie; and it must be something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

Destiny watched as the girl got up and walked away from the bench.

"Dad!" She stated, as he got to the end of his explanation. Both Amy and the Doctor turned to look back at the girl, but froze when they saw her gone.

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Deck 2-0-7." The Doctor answered automatically. This made both Amy and Destiny turn to him. Amy is shock that he had known this without talking to her and Destiny in irritation as she finally worked out why he had been bumping into her a little earlier. The Doctor ignored Destiny's look and turned to Amy. "Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner." He glanced at Destiny out of the corner of his eyes for a brief moment. "Oh, er, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her." He pulled out an ID book.

"Dad!" Destiny cried; not upset that he'd actually done it – more upset over the fact that he probably wouldn't of let her do that. Because bumping into her was clearly 'accidental'.

"Took me four goes," The Doctor nodded once. He then began speaking to Amy again. "Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just things," Amy and Destiny pointed out, at the same time. They were all silent for a moment or two as the Doctor looked between the two women on either side of him.

"They're clean," He began a bit awkwardly.

"They obviously pride themselves in them," Destiny huffed. "The same way that you pride yourself in the Old Girl."

"That's different," The Doctor huffed in annoyance, in exactly the same way as Destiny had done previously.

"How so?"

"Everything here is all battered and filthy. Look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look," He stopped trying to reason with Destiny and returned to assigning Amy her first mission as his companion. "Ask Mandy, why are people scared of the things in the booths?"

"No, hang on. What do I do?" Amy asked, shocked at the sudden pressure of her task. "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed."

"It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?" The Doctor paused letting his words sink in. "Ha ha, gotcha. Meet me back here in half an hour," He set an alarm for his watch.

"What are you too going to do?" Amy asked, taking the girls book.

"What I always do," The Doctor mimicked Amy's playful tone. "Stay out of trouble."

This caused Destiny to burst out laughing.

"Badly," The Doctor added to the sound of Destiny's giggling. He then turned to Destiny. "And you; go with Amy. I think she needs the help more than I do."

"But…"

"Nope; that's what you get for laughing at me," He playfully stated, placing a lanky finger on her nose before getting up and jumping over the bench.

"So is this how it works, Doctor?" Amy asked, jumping up and catching the Doctor's attention. He turned round to face the two women. "You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"

The Doctor paused for a moment before the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Yes." He then turned around. "Stay out of trouble!" He called before he continued to walk down the market street, trying to blend in casually.

"Right then," Destiny stood up. "Let's get this done, then."

"Why did your Dad keep bumping into me?" Mandy asked, as she sat outside the voting cubical. Destiny was sat next to her, head in her hands; knowing that if anything was to happen to Amy under her watch, she would never forgive herself.

"I dunno, he does weird things like that. I thought we were coming sightseeing," Destiny grumbled, looking up. "I even brought a teddy thinking that we weren't going get into trouble this time," She sighed. "That worked out well, didn't it?"

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"What goes on in there?" Destiny asked Mandy, motioning to the voting cubical. "I mean, I know it's a voting cubical; but it's not an unfair voting system is it – she isn't going to get hurt."

"No; you're Mum'll be fine," Mandy assured, causing Destiny to start laughing.

"Sorry," She apologised when Mandy looked at her weirdly. "It's just, she's not my mother; far from it. She's just my Dad's friend."

"Oh – sorry; I didn't realise," Mandy was quick to apologise.

"Don't worry about it, it's an easy mistake," Destiny smiled at her.

Destiny opened her mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted when a familiar figure walked round the corner, eyes glued to a scanner in his hands.

"Dad!" Destiny cried in relief. The Doctor looked up and placed the scanner in his pocket.

"Des," He smiled. "Hello Mandy."

"Hello."

"Where's Amy?" Destiny answered her father's question by pointing at the voting cubical door. "Well what's she doing in there?"

"We caught up with Mandy, and then came across a hole in the road with a massive keep out sign. Me and Amy went to investigate; and we saw… I don't even know what it was." She paused as the Doctor sat down next to her. "It was dark, and damp – and it smelt funny. It was like a scorpion tail; but massive," She explained, although her tone suggested that she was unsure whether that was what it was or not. "We hurried out, crawling; the thing – whatever it was – had tried to attack us. We… we… there were men," She furrowed her face at the memory. "They surrounded us all and then let off this gas in our faces. Amy was out straight away… but…"

"What?" He asked. "They used it on you?"

"I don't think it worked on those who have Time-Lord DNA running through them," Destiny shrugged. "It didn't smell very nice."

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and ran it up and down Destiny's body.

"Dad, I'm fine," She argued, pushing the screwdriver away. "Listen; the men brought us here… We were told to wait outside and Amy was placed in there. I don't know what they're doing…"

The Doctor let out a sigh.

"Things aren't right here."

"You don't say."

At that moment, the door of the cubical that Amy was in, swung open.

All three of them stood up, the Doctor hurrying to stand in the doorway.

"Amy?" He asked. They could all hear a message playing in the background before Amy pressed a button, switching it off. "What have you done?"

"Nothing… I dunno," Amy mumbled.

The Doctor informed Destiny and Mandy to stay outside; in case of anything happening as he tried to work out what had happened in there; and why Amy couldn't remember it.

He scanned the light bulb above the chair where Amy had been sat.

"Yeah, just your basic memory wipe job. Must have erased about twenty minutes." The Doctor informed them all.

"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy questioned as the Doctor hopped down from the chair and went over to the screens.

"Because everyone does," Mandy said, in a 'duh' tone. "Everyone chooses the forget button."

The Doctor walked back over to the door, and crouched down slightly, to be more at her height.

"Did you?" He asked kindly.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet," Mandy continued in the same tone. "I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice." She let the words sink in for a moment. "And then once every 5 years," She added.

The Doctor stood back up and moved back into the room to the computer.

"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned. Democracy in action." The Doctor mumbled to himself, rather than to the others.

The Doctor stood back up and moved back into the room to the computer.

"How do you not know about this?" Mandy asked, her and Destiny still not moved from their spot in the doorway. "Are you and Destiny Scottish too?"

"Oh, we're way worse than Scottish," The Doctor chuckled. Destiny laughed too. "I can't even see the movie. I doubt it'll even play for Des either."

"But it played for me." Amy stated.

"The difference being, the computer doesn't accept me, or probably Destiny for that matter, as human."

"Why not?" Amy asked, she looked confused. "You look human."

"No – you look Time Lord. We came first." The Doctor stated proudly.

"So, there are other Time Lords, yeah?"

"No." The Doctor looked up from the computer, a dark shadow falling over his face. Destiny felt uncomfortable every time the Doctor talked about it. "There were, but there aren't… just us now," He paused, as if remembering it all. "Long story; It was a bad day. Bad stuff happened. And you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Because this is what I do, every time, every day, every second." He rubbed his hands together. "This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." He pulled his hand into a tight fist, pulled it back and in an instant slammed it down on the 'protest' button.

The door slammed shut, making Destiny and Mandy step back out of instinct. As soon as the door hit shut, Destiny was pounding her fists on the harsh metal.

"DAD!" She screamed. "DAD!" Her second scream was desperate. She didn't know what she was supposed to do without him at the moment; she had no idea where she was or what was going on. The screen above changed from occupied to empty. Destiny noticed this and gave up her protests, slamming her fist down one more time, weakly. "UGH!" She screamed. "I hate when he does that!"

"We should go…" Mandy mumbled. Destiny turned around at the same time Mandy did; except Mandy was turning around to leave and Destiny was turning around to argue her case of staying where she was.

Stood in front of them was a woman hidden in a red, hooded cloak with a mask sat on her face.

"It's alright, love." The woman spoke to Mandy. She removed her mask. "It's only me." This seemed to relax Mandy.

"Who are you?!" Destiny demanded to know.

"I could ask the same about you," The woman spoke just as harshly – giving Destiny a taste of her own medicine.

"I'm Destiny Song. The Doctor's daughter," Destiny crossed her arms.

The woman's eyes widened.

"He… he has a daughter?"

"Yeah – and you're looking at her." Destiny bit.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Destiny," The woman extended her hand. "I'm Queen Elizabeth the 10th."

Destiny's face paled. She'd been talking to a royal in that way. She instantly scrabbled to apologise but the Queen brushed it off.

"Call me Liz."

Destiny nodded and shook her hand.

"Now come on; let's go see where those two have ended up," Liz stated, moving around – leading the two youngsters away from the voting cubical.

Liz busted the door open with the gun that she held. The three had followed the tracker that Liz had informed them she had planted on the Doctor. (Destiny had objected – but Mandy made the point that if Liz hadn't had placed the tracker on the Doctor then they would have no clue where they were). The tracker had led them down to an overflow pipe.

Instantly, Mandy, Destiny and Liz could see the trouble that the Doctor and Amy had got themselves into; Smilers had risen from their booths and were advancing towards the two. Liz stalked forward and shot them with her two guns. The Smilers fell to the floor.

"Look who it is." The Doctor stated. "You look a lot better without your mask."

"Dad!" Destiny cried, catching the Doctor's attention.

"Destiny! You're alright!" He breathed a sigh of relief, as Liz introduced herself to Amy. He went to hug Destiny.

"Eww!" She cried, backing up and hiding behind Mandy who, in turn cried out her disgust and tried to get away from the advancing man.

"Right… yes… covered in sick… my bad," the Doctor apologised. He then turned to Liz. "How d'you find us?"

"Stuck my gizmo on you," Liz began to explain.

The next half an hour passed in a blur to Destiny. They went up to the Liz's apartment and were taken from there, almost against their will down to the dungeons. They learnt all about what was happening; why wasn't the water moving in the glasses if there was an engine on the ship? A Star Whale. Things happened; the Doctor got mad and upset. He started blaming Amy for trying to get them to leave. He told her that they were going home once he did his best for both humanity and the last ever Star Whale. He wouldn't listen to Destiny, just ignored her and eventually shouted at her to be quiet.

And while Destiny was sulking at being yelled at, trying to figure out a way to make everything better; to help both humanity and the Star Whale as much as possible, Amy cried out –

"Doctor, stop! Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" She reached for Liz's wrist, and in doing so grabbed everyone's attention. "Sorry, Your Majesty. Going to need a hand."

Amy dragged Liz over the voting buttons. And for both the Doctor and Destiny it clicked what she was doing. She was going to click the abdicate button.

"Amy!" The Doctor cried, running to get to the other side of the room.

"NO!" Both the Doctor and Destiny cried out together. But it was all too late; Amy had already pressed Liz's hand down on the abdicate button.

Everyone stood still as the Star Whale roared. The whole ship began to shake violently; causing everyone to grab hold of something for dear life.

After a minute or two, the ship stopped shaking.

"Amy," The Doctor cried, standing up straight again. "What have you done?"

"Nothing at all," She said confidently. "Am I right?"

"We've increased speed," They were all informed.

"Yeah – well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help," She looked over her shoulder at the Doctor with an 'I-told-you-so' look.

"It's still here," Liz mumbled. "I don't understand."

The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered." Amy explained as she walked over to Liz, who was stood over by the brain. "You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead. No future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind," She looked over at the Doctor again, who was looking down at the floor, unsure of what to say or do. "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Upon returning to the TARDIS, as Amy was asking if they should say goodbye, Destiny noticed the woman at the stall where the Doctor had purchased Destiny's teddy from earlier that afternoon. She smiled, watching her pick up all of her trinkets and set them right again.

"No, hang on. Is that a phone ringing?" Amy asked. The Doctor smiled at her and entered the TARDIS. Amy followed him quickly, Destiny strolling in last.

"Would you mind?" The Doctor asked Amy.

Amy picked up the phone.

"You never let me answer it," Destiny grumbled. The Doctor ruffled her hair slightly. As Amy talked, the Doctor messed around with some leavers on the TARDIS.

"Says he's the Prime Minister." Amy explained, placing the phone on her shoulder. "First the Queen, now the Prime Minister? Get about, don't you?"

The Doctor simply smiled.

"Which Prime Minister?" He asked Amy. Amy repeated the question down the phone line.

"The British one," She informed them.

"Which British one?" The Doctor sighed.

"Which British one?" Amy repeated again. She paused for a minute before holding the phone out to the Doctor. "Winston Churchill for you."

"Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed, hurrying to put the phone to his ear. "Hello, dear. What's up?" It was silent for a moment. "Don't worry about a thing Prime Minister. We're on our way." And with that he put the phone down.

The Doctor hurried round to the opposite side of the console and pulled down a leaver – sending them through the time vortex again.

"Well, go on; have a shower – change of clothes. Wonder about a bit; the wardrobe will turn up somewhere." The Doctor waved his hand.

"But… you just told Winston Churchill that we were on our way…" Amy pointed out.

"And we are…" The Doctor confirmed.

"Time machine, remember?" Destiny asked, sarcastically.

"Oh – yeah… right…" Amy walked over to the stairs. "This way, yeah?"

The Doctor nodded his head. And with that, Amy disappeared up the stairs, into the corridors of the TARDIS.

Destiny went over to the Doctor and the two looked at each other for a moment.

"I'm sorry…" The Doctor apologised.

"For what?" Destiny asked.

"Yelling earlier; I shouldn't have done – I was being irrational."

Destiny flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back.

"I forgive you," She whispered. For a moment the two hugged. "Oh… and thank you, by the way," Destiny smiled as they pulled out of their hug.

"What for?"

"The teddy," She said.

"Ha-ha," The Doctor laughed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the paper bag. "You're welcome," He returned her smile, handing her the bag.

Okay - so long cahpter? forgive me? good chapter? rubbish chapter? i rather enjoyed writing it! Let me know of your thoughts in the reviews! greatly appreciated!