THE TIME OF ANGELS PART ONE
edited as of december 13th, 2020
Aino had a dark sense of humor. No, she didn't laugh at others' expense; she wasn't evil anymore. She laughed at the lava snakes when she got frightened and called the Zombie-Donkeys 'asses'. In a way, her sin was pride for how she believed none of these dangerous creatures could hurt her. After all, a Zombie-Donkey isn't going to kill her, so she may as well have some fun bullying the ass.
Her life has always been strange and filled with illegal stunts, but after receiving her pardon, and begging to work alongside Father Octavian and the Clerics, she found she had a purpose beyond her own desires. She could help people, even if it includes dirty work like Zombie-Donkeys. Aino didn't care for being the only woman in the group, except for River Song, who wouldn't have been accepted by Octavian if it wasn't for Aino's high recommendation.
If there was something Aino specifically disliked about this lifestyle was the hours. Knowing that beforehand, she snuck a demand for Saturdays off in her contract.
This Saturday includes relaxing in a hammock. Sunglasses on, she lazily held a passion fruit martini whilst re-reading Robert Frost's "A Time to Talk"... similar to every Saturday.
To her left, a young cleric comes up to her. "Father Octavian needs to talk to you."
Looking up, the brown-skinned woman sees Bob (who she doesn't know well but finds kind). "He knows it's Saturday, yeah?"
Nodding, Bob adds something else, "He said it was important."
That caught Aino off guard. Octavian used 'important' to get her to help, but he never told the messenger. This was against their rhythm. Pushing the sunglasses onto her thick hair, Aino squints her eyes at Bob. "Did he say anything else?"
"You have a message," says Bob, his voice remaining as dreary as ever, "from River Song."
Eyes widening, Aino left the hammock. Setting the martini down on a side-table for later, she began speed-walking to Father Octavian's office. Yes, it's Saturday, but there's also next Saturday and the one after that. This Saturday, though, there's a unique plan.
---
Leaving her Hawaiian button-up behind and changing into her desert camouflage uniform, Aino joins their ship on the way to Alfavra Metraxis. On the way, the clerics receive a presentation on their mission, enemy, and basic geographic information. They'll be landing on a beach near an ancient temple where they'll meet River Song and her army.
Aino was one of the first five soldiers, including Father Octavian, to meet River's army near the crash site at the Aplan Temple (or, rather, in it).
Aino hates teleportation. The first time she teleported, she vomited from the feeling of her body bending in ways even a gymnast shouldn't. Of course, the metallic aftertaste was another reason along with the least represented: the reappearing.
For many reasons, reappearing is the worst part of teleportation. For one, the dizziness is unsettling, the aftertaste, and finally the new people. New people, as in the people added to the story, or a person who was already a chapter in yours but returned. Someone whom you no longer care to see
Seeing the TARDIS in the distance, Aino's stomach curdles. Maybe if she left now, she could say she forgot it's Saturday. Or maybe she could 'accidentally' teleport out. She couldn't. What would people think? That's she's a coward? No, Aino was anything but.
To get over her nerves, Aino had to put herself forward. She needed to do something drastic to prove she isn't scared of something long since in the past. With her following close behind Father Octavian, she approached River and her army of three.
River Song, in a long black dress, stood at the forefront of this group beside a man in a tweed jacket, both of their eyes squinting as the Father and Aino approached from the same direction of the sun. Behind the two, is two women. One, a red-head who stood just as tall as the man. The second, a woman in her late-twenties, had her long-sleeved shirt tucked into her jeans. Aino, however, couldn't get a good look at her face, as the second woman watched remorsefully as the last of the ship's smoke wafts out of the Aplan Temple.
When they re-met, Aino sent River a glare for insisting she come in her message. Obviously, her friend was trying to get her to do the final step in their plan, which Aino wanted to procrastinate on. Sensing her friend was ready to introduce her, she was grateful when Octavian spoke.
"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," said Octavian, sizing up the three.
"No. I promised you an equivalent of an army," River corrected him. "This is the Doctor."
There it was, the small acknowledgment of who Aino already knew this unfashionable man was. Aino stood awkwardly as the Doctor gave a lighthearted salute to Octavian.
River continues, "and Doctor, this is Aino."
The said woman let out a cough, not offering a hand nor a formality. "Doctor."
They stared at each other as if testing who would say what next. The Doctor lost this challenge as he spoke first, chickening out of their game of awkward silence. "You took my advice."
"The advice you gave me before or after you threw me in Stormcage?"
In response, the Doctor sighed dramatically. He knew it was going to go back to that. "That was years ago...!" he exclaimed as the brunette behind him considered Aino. The woman wasn't trying to intimidate her in any sort, she just seems confused.
Brushing past this exchange, Octavian shakes the Doctor's hand. "Father Octavian, sir," he introduces himself. "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command, including Aino. The troops are already in the dropship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"
"Doctor," began River Song, "what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"
Just like when they last saw each other, the Doctor became tense, looking to River for a moment.
---
Aino didn't mind Charlotte or Amy, but as they were mostly around the Doctor she didn't have the courage to be around them. Sitting on a bench, she scarfs down a ham and cheese sandwich. Ever since the lava snake incident, she has been wise to not go on a mission with an empty stomach.
Beside her, Charlotte sat down. "What's that?"
"You don't know what a sandwich is?" teased Aino, she always did that in order to make it feel like she was closer to someone. "Kidding. Just ham and cheese."
"Ah," says Charlotte. "What happened to you and the Doctor?" It obviously perplexed her, looking at Aino as a highly motivated student would to a teacher.
Aino considered Charlotte's body language. "We were friends for a bit, I did something kind of illegal, he put me in Stormcage. Fin."
Charlotte became frustrated. There was this one woman not supposed to be here, and she had no idea who she was. "Well, what did you do?"
Taking a breath, Aino remained calm as she replied, "I don't want to talk about that chapter of my life. I've moved on, got it?"
Flustered, Charlotte nods, not realizing she was pushing in the wrong direction. "Sorry."
Aino grumbled something to the brunette and continued eating her sandwich. With stress piling up with the Weeping Angels, she began reviewing military commands and the lecture they had on them earlier.
"Doctor?" River calls him from a transport ship. "Doctor!"
"Come on, then. This will be important," said Charlotte, standing up.
Stuffing her sandwich bag into her pocket, Aino replies to her, "Alright then, whatever you say, ma'am."
Charlotte blinks as they head towards the transport ship. "They still have that order in place?"
"Father Octavian!"
---
Just as she did with the Zombie-Donkeys, Aino found humor in the security footage of the Weeping Angel. Its back was towards them now as the footage glitches every so often. "Aw, someone give her a tissue she's weeping," joked Aino, earning no laughs. Charlotte sent her a look, causing her to give a mumbled, "Sorry."
On the opposing side of the transport ship, the Doctor inspects the footage carefully as River fills him in, "It's from the security footage in the Byzantium. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on a loop."
Aino nods. "Yep, that's an angel alright," she answered. "I knew a guy who was displaced by one." Everyone looked towards her in either confusion or in curiosity (Charlotte). "Ambassador Lollabi." With that name all of their, except for Amy and Charlotte's, eyes widened.
"Er, yes," replied the Doctor. "But that must've been just a scavenger, barely surviving."
Amy looks over at the footage. "It's a statue."
"It's a statue when you see it," said River.
Charlotte nods along. "Do we know where it came from?"
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century," answered River. "It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."
"There's a difference between dormant and patient," added the Doctor.
Aino crossed her arms over her chest as she looked over at the repeating footage. "For what, though?" She turns to Father Octavian. "In the lecture they never gave a motive."
Instead of the Father, the Doctor answers, "Don't know. Survival, a game, it could be anything."
Charlotte nods before saying exactly what Aino was thinking, "Or for a larger plan?"
"Maybe." He shrugs.
"Wait," Amy interrupted, not comprehending the Weeping Angels. "What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?"
"The Weeping Angels can only move when they're unseen." River frowns. "So legend has it."
Giving a tight smile to her friend, Aino replies with, "Not a legend, just a quantum lock."
Despite the pure-evilness of the angels, the Doctor had to admit his curiosity in their species. "In the sight of a living creature, the angels literally cease to exist," he re-explained. "They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism."
"What, being stone?"
"Being stone... until you turn your back."
At that, Aino wondered why these angels couldn't use humor and denial as a defense mechanism like the rest of them. While the rest of the group leaves the transport ship, she stays behind. Leaning back in a chair, she stares at the angel. Something felt off with it, especially with the video.
Outside, the shouts of orders and movement of resources tried to mask the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. The beach was a place where she's never been able to enjoy herself. The beach was the last place she was before Stormcage.
A splash of salt-water air hits her face as she was, with her wrists and ankles shackled, left the TARDIS for the last time with the guards pushing her forward. For that last second, she looked out at the empty late-day beach. She left within a second of the door closing, but in her memory, it will always seem like a lifetime. When you know each wrong decision and how each brought you to where you stand, it makes time feel slower as you think of what could've been if you did one thing differently. It makes everything come into more detail.
With her mind separate from the situation at hand, Aino blinks.
The angel's hands move away from its face; Aino stood up. Looking over to Amy, who stands in the doorway. "Amy, look."
The redhead comes back into the transport ship. Following Aino's finger, Amy tilts her head from the angel's new position. "What?"
"Was it like that before?" wondered Aino. "Possibly?"
Amy shook her head. "I don't know..." Going back to the door, she hollers out, "Dr. Song? Did you have more than one clip of the angel?"
"No, just the four seconds," answered River, going back to speaking with the group.
Nodding, Amy turned back into the ship to see Aino looking up and down from the angel to a small notebook in her hand. When she looks up again, and after Amy blinks, the angel faces the two with its hands out to its sides.
Eyes widening, Aino gasped. Sliding the notes back into her pocket, she thought of the next step of their plan: stopping this angel. Before she even had time to tell her, Amy takes the screen's remote. However, when she tried to turn it off, the footage kept going.
"What?" Aino said to herself. "How is it doing that? It's a video."
Amy looks away to unplug the power source of the video, just as Aino's mind wanders off in thought... In the previously mentioned lecture, she remembers getting supremely bored- but why? In the presentation, there were slides upon slides on the Weeping Angels, with only bullet points on each slide. Not a single picture.
Just as she always does in confusing moments, Aino absent-mindedly rubbed her eyelids. Without factoring in Amy bending down to unplug the power source, when Aino and Amy look back at the screen, they see the angel's face closer to the screen.
"Oh," deadpanned Aino. "Oh, no."
"What?"
Trying to hide her gulp, Aino answered as calmly as she could. "An angel is an angel, Amy. Even if it's a picture, doodle, or... footage." It explained why there weren't any pictures in that presentation and was correct in a literal way of thinking.
Amy stares at the angel in far greater fear than she did a second ago. Breathing heavier than before, it took far more courage to go to the door as Aino watched the angel.
Knocking on the door as loud as she could, Amy shouts out, "Doctor!"
Without blinking, Aino's sight strained. She began winking frequently, keeping the other eye sharp on the angel. As much as it tortures her to admit it, and she never will, she needs the Doctor right now.
She winks again, but this time, with the weak hold on the other eye and the heat, both eyes closed. Already knowing her mistake, Aino re-opens them just a split second after to see the Angel bearing its sharp teeth at them.
Her breath hitches. What dentist are you going to? She thought but advised not to say that, especially with how the last comment went. For the first time in a while, she was visibly in need of help, with her breathing becoming fast and her face becoming stern as thousands of ideas on how to escape came into her head (but all were tragically denied).
"River!" She shouted, not hearing anyone coming to their aid, she shouted out, "Doctor!" Of course, she will hope everyone who knows of her call for him to keep it secret.
Aino's mouth widens as she remembers a crucial detail. "Amy, watch the angel for a second."
"But the door."
With her eyes still focused on the Weeping Angel, she shook her head. "I have an idea."
They switched spots, but in the nanosecond, neither had their eyes on it, the angel seemed to come out of the television. Amy gasps. "Doctor! It's in the room!"
Aino is in the back of the transport ship, trying to stay calm as she works. Knowing this ship well, she remembered the trapdoors used in case of emergency (i.e. enemy at the door, fire, etc.). Getting on her hands and knees, Aino twists the knob.
"Doctor!" After this call, they finally hear someone nearing the ship.
Aino finishes twisting the knob and goes to the latch, trying to push it up, which would then lift up the trapdoor. However, the angel foiled them again as the door wouldn't budge.
"Are you all right?" asked the Doctor, on the other side of the door. "What's happening?"
Trying the latch again, Aino groans when she still finds it deadlocked. "Just the angel coming out of the screen!"
"Don't take your eyes off it! It can't move if you're looking at it!"
"I'll find a way out, Amy," assured Aino, more so to herself. "Don't even blink." Aino thinks of destroying one window and climbing out, before realizing they were thick enough to throw a sledgehammer at with no damage.
Destroy the TV? No, the angel is already in here, it wouldn't cause anything.
Close their eyes for a moment, let the angel move towards them, and then shoot it with her gun? No, too dangerous, and she wasn't the best shot either. Plus, the angel could force Amy to take the bullet and Aino would rather die than that.
"Help us!" demands Amy.
"Can you turn it off?"
"Doctor!"
"The screen," he responds, "can you turn it off?"
With a huff, Aino answers, "We tried. It didn't work."
"Try again, but don't take your eyes off the angel."
Becoming frustrated, Aino responds harsher, "We did the first time!"
"I'm not blinking!" exclaims Amy. "Have you ever tried not blinking?" She winks slowly. With the remote still in hand, she tries to switch off the screen. "It just keeps switching back on!"
"Yeah, it's the angel."
Amy seemed confused, so Aino says, "Remember, an angel is an angel. Close your eyes, I'll start watching it now." Aino focused on the angel as Amy began blinking, this time they had no trouble in switching the watcher.
"Doctor," started Amy, "what's it going to do?"
On the other side, the Doctor rubbed his eyes. "Just keep looking at it! Don't stop looking at it!"
"Tell us, Doctor," urged Aino, wanting to know herself. Yes, it'd definitely kill them, but that seemed boring from one of the most powerful beings in this universe. "Tell us what it's going to do."
Instead of him, Charlotte replies, "Don't look in their eyes. Look at its hands, feet, neck, but not the eyes."
"Why?"
"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul,'" quotes the Doctor from the journal they have been looking through, "'they are the doors. Beware what may enter.'"
Biting her lip, Aino let out a quiet swear (something she did often, but hardly on the clock).
Amy, on the other hand, was getting an idea. "Doctor, what did you say?"
"Don't look at the eyes!"
"No, about images... What did you say about images?"
"Whatever holds the image of an angel is an angel," quickly answered River.
Amy takes in a sharp breath. "Okay..." Holding up the remote to the screen, she counts up to four before clicking the pause button at the exact moment the static took over the footage. The angel's image freezes before turning off completely.
As the door opens, and the three enter, Aino lets out a hardy laugh. "You did it!" she exclaimed with a grin, giving Amy a hug that frightened her life more than the Weeping Angel. "I owe you so much, good Lord."
After letting go, Amy finally explains her thinking, "There was this sort of blip in the video and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an angel anymore. That was good, yeah?"
"That was amazing!" agreed River, with a massive grin for her friend.
"Charlotte, hug Amy."
The brunette tilts her round head at the Doctor. "Why?"
"'Cause I'm busy.'"
"That is the worst reasoning," she commented. "B-, actually. Closer to C." As he soniced the screen, he rolled his eyes.
Amy shrugged. "I'm fine."
"Please," replied Charlotte. "Amy Pond is brilliant and should stop being so humble."
"Yeah. I kind of creamed it, didn't I?"
With her arms crossed over her chest, Aino glanced at the Doctor- who looked down at the sonic with his eyes downcast. "So, it was here, then?" She guessed. "The angel?"
"That was the projection of the angel," he said. "It's reaching out. Trying to get a good look at us. It's done being dormant."
_______
Next up: Aino Part Two (The Time of Angels Part Two)
GIF IS FROM leoscompanion ON TUMBLR
a/n: IVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS EPISODE 💕