#I’m a ginger and we must keep the gene alive

[faithintheunknownsblog]

Mr. Bernadotte~

[saiilorstars]

Stars Dance

Ch. 10: Death At Tunnel’s Way

Fandom: Doctor Who Pairing: 11th Doctor x Original Female Character

[Previous chapters here]

(Fairy Tale Memoirs, One Shot/AU Companion story)

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Chapter summary: The Doctor must literally save the Earth from being invaded by reptilian humanoids from under the Earth...as well as finding Avalon too. Unfortunately, a tragic loss comes their way...

The Doctor, Lena and Nasreen walked along the pathways in a cavern above molten magma and buildings. So far everything was dead silent but they had to be on high alert in case anything, or anyone, jumped out.

"This place is enormous and deserted. The majority of the race are probably still asleep," the Doctor took out his screwdriver, "We need to find Avalon, looking for heat signature anomalies."

"But, Doctor, how can all this be here? I mean, these plants..." Nasreen looked around in awe. In that awe, she lagged behind and had to jog a little to catch up into the tunnels.

"Must be getting closer to the center of the city," the Doctor mumbled absently. His main concern right now was to find their missing ginger and then worry about plants.

"Are you sure this is the best way to enter?" Lena nervously asked. She was keeping herself right next to the Doctor because truthfully, the place was scaring the hell out of her. She was sure though that if Avalon was around and this was just another of their adventures, she would be completely ecstatic about the caves that resembled a jungle. "I mean, you sneak around for a reason," she added after a moment.

But once again, the Doctor barely paid attention. He was following the sonic and it was leading him to a door where, according to the sonic, Avalon would be near. "Front door approach! Definitely. Always the best way..."

But before they reached the door, an alarm blared, "Hostile life force detected, area 17."

"Apart from the back door approach, that's also good," the Doctor quickly turned around, "Sometimes better."

"Hostile life force detected, area 17."

"Big brother..." Lena sighed.

The door slid open and allowed armed Silurian soldiers to walk through.

"Now what!?" Nasreen expectantly looked at the Doctor.

The Doctor quickly raised his hands in surrender, "We're not hostile, we're not armed!" he pulled Nasreen's arms while Lena followed-in-suit and raised her hands, "We're here in peace!"

However, they were greeted with a gas from the Silurians' weapons. One by one they all dropped to the floor, unconscious.

~ 0 ~

"I do apologize, ma'am," Malokeh, the Silurian that contained Avalon and Mo, returned to the angry ginger. Despite being yelled all types of profanity, the Silurian had gone through with his 'decontamination' with Avalon. He kept the young woman strapped to a metal bed while she was thrown all types of gases and a few liquids.

Avalon was breathing raggedly when everything finally turned off. She felt like part of her body was being prodded with needles. "Decontamination my ass!" she coughed violently and felt the strain in her throat. Was it possible to run out of saliva? Because she was sure that's where her body was up to right now. "I...am going...to...KILL YOU!" But her head fell back against the metal bed with a thud.

Avalon was still breathing heavily even though the 'decontamination' had been shut off, "I am...gonna...kill all of you!" she threatened, resting her head back. The echoes of the pain were slowly fading away, but she was sure this was going to leave some internal bleeding.

Malokeh lowered his mask and flicked on a recording device, "Human females seem to be more aggressive."

"Aggressive?" Avalon's head lifted off the metal bed in an instant, her eyes wide in outrage. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are!?" With her new anger, she found strength to struggle against her restraints. "Come over here and so I can show you how none-aggressive I am! Let me out of this thing right now!"

"Do not be upset," Malokeh insisted with an admittedly calm voice. "Now that we have done decontamination, we can move onto the next part."

"No, not her!" the other human man restrained in the room, Mo, immediately shouted. Avalon stopped struggling in that moment to look between the two. "Leave her alone! You got me!"

"Hold up, what do you mean 'you got me'?" Avalon's eyes flickered to the Silurian. "What's the next part?"

"Dissection of course," Malokeh neared the woman, his eyes lingering over her curly hair. "Do all females have bushy hair?"

"HEY!"

"Apologies. It has been a long time since I've last seen humans. But do not worry, I will make the dissection as painless as possible for you."

Avalon's eyes might have twitched. "Yeah...because that's what I want. I don't want to be let free. Oh no, what I want is to have a dissection. You know I once dissected frogs at school? Because that's what you look like right now. That or a lizard."

"Please don't antagonize the creature with all the pointy tools," Mo begged from his spot, but Avalon kept narrowed eyes on Malokeh. Since Malokeh and Mo were so focused on her face, neither of them would ever notice at what point her hand slipped into Malokeh's coat to pick out the device controlling their restraints. Men. No matter what species...they were all clueless.

"Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested. Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested."

Avalon looked up a the comms. set in the corner of the room."Oh, you better leave to go find out what's wrong." And she was truly glad, and relieved, to see the Silurian leaving in a hurry. "Aggressive," she muttered as she wiggled Malokeh's device until her fingers found the button. With a touch of the button, the restraints on her snapped open. "I'll show you aggressive..." She touched sweet ground - or cave ground - and breathed in relief, though her lungs were still strained from that decontamination. "Why does this decontamination hurt so much? Did it hurt with you?"

"Not really," Mo admitted. "Hey, when did you take the device from him?"

Avalon smirked proudly. "Please, I've stolen things countless times. This was child's play."

She hurried on to let him to go as well and once they were both free, they made a hasty, but cautious, escape from the room. They had no idea where they were and definitely had no plans of returning to the lab, especially after hearing dissection for Avalon. That was the last thing she needed to dream about. Venice was still haunting her every so often...

"That creature, do you think it was an alien?" Mo brought her out of her thoughts, "Any more of them do you think?" Avalon gave a nod of her head and it wasn't what Mo wanted to see. "You think the Earth's been invaded?"

"I doubt it," she mumbled, "There'd be plenty more of us down here. We just need to get back to the surface," she stopped in front of a door and looked for some type of opening command, "I wonder where this leads."

"Maybe it's a way out of here," Mo offered, really hoping he was correct.

Avalon placed her hand on a panel beside the door and lit the room on the other side. She looked up when Mo gasped, seemingly horrified, "What is it?" she asked.

Mo was looking at his son, Elliot, inside the room with wires attached to his face, "Oh, my God, no."

"What?" Avalon stood straight, irritated as it was with the circumstances and now with the man who couldn't seem to talk? She was at a true loss right now.

"It's my son, it's Elliot," Mo tried forcing the door open, "What've they done to him?" Avalon looked through the window at the boy while Mo moved to the panel, "No! He's in there! We have to get him out! Elliot! Elliot, it's Dad!"

"Access denied. Unauthorised genetic imprint."

"Okay stop that!" she swatted Mo's hands away from the panel.

"That's my boy in there!"

"Look at the screens," she pointed, "They're monitoring him. Look, heartbeats, pulses," she forced him to see, "He's still alive, just...in a stasis state. But he's fine and he's alive. He's not been decontaminated nor dissected. Maybe they do things different with kids, yeah?"

Mo seemed to agree with her but he still worriedly gazed at his son. "All right. We find weapons, get that creature from the lab and force it to release Elliot?"

"Definitely," Avalon nodded, "I could use a new gun. My friend threw my old one into a black hole. The nerve of that guy!" She shook her head at the reminder. She'd yelled at the Doctor for two straight hours after he'd chucked her blaster into a genuine black hole. She didn't understand why he was acting like that blaster didn't save Amy's and Lena's life at the Byzantium. What an idiot!

~ 0 ~

In another lab, the Doctor, Lena and Nasreen were clamped down to the metal beds for decontamination and dissection. While Nasreen seemed unconscious, the Doctor and Lena were in pain similar to Avalon, although the Doctor reached a higher level.

Across them, behind the machinery that scanned them, stood Malokeh and a female Silurian warrior, the warrior irritated as she spoke, "How can they have escaped? This proves all prisoners should remain under military guard."

"I'm sure you'd prefer to be in charge of everything and everyone, Restac. But we rank the same," Malokeh reminded, "Is there any word from Alaya?"

"No," Restac turned and watched the two captured writhe in pain, unperturbed by the screams.

"It's fine to show concern, you know. She's part of your gene-chain," Malokeh looked back at the controls, flicking a few, "I'm Decontaminating now."

"Decontamination! No, no, no!" the Doctor cried out in agony.

"Please...stop," Lena whimpered.

"It's all right. It won't harm you. I'm only neutralizing all your ape bacteria," Malokeh explained.

"I'm not an ape! Look at the scans! Two hearts!" the Doctor tried to point but moving was out of the question with the clamps, "Totally different! Totally not ape! Remove all human germs, you remove half the things keeping me alive."

Malokeh checked the scans and saw the man was telling the truth. He shut down the machines for him but not Lena's, much to the pair's dismay.

"You gotta shut hers down too!" the Doctor frowned, breathing heavily from the pain, "She's not completely human like you think."

"Oh, like the other one," Malokeh remembered and quickly shut Lena's decontamination off. "Funny, the other one seemed to be in more pain than this one."

"Other one?" Lena bowed her head, "...Avalon...she was here..." she closed her eyes to rest, just to rest.

"No, complete the process," Restac ordered but Malokeh walked over to the unconscious Nasreen.

"Screw you," Lena spat, not quite as Avalon would've done.

"Lena," the Doctor gave her a surprised face. Lena lifted her head to show her irritated face, "Oh yes, definitely Avalon's relative..." he muttered and looked around, missing the amused smile from her, "Now then," he looked at Restac, "Not got any celery, have you? No, no, not really the climate, tomatoes, though, you'd do a roaring trade in those. I'm the Doctor, that's Lena, oh, and there's Nasreen, good!"

Nasreen awoke just as Malokeh stood in front of her, "Oh...a green man."

"Hello, who are you?" the Doctor questioned the warrior.

"Restac. Military commander."

"Oh, dear, really? There's always a military, isn't there?"

"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city," she spat.

"Oxygen pockets! Lovely!" and then the Doctor realized what that meant for the Silurians, "Oooh, but not so good with an impending drill! Now it makes sense!"

"Where is the rest of your invasion force?"

"Invasion force? Me, my sweet little sister Lena and lovely Nasreen? No! We came for the humans you took. And...to offer the safe return of Alaya," he eyed Restac as she moved forwards, "Oh, wait, you and she, what is it, same genetic source? Of course you're worried, but don't be, she's safe."

"You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage," she motioned for the soldiers behind her to take position beside the captured.

"Well, you took my sister," Lena frowned, "Seems like we both want the same thing here. Sister for a sister."

"I don't negotiate with apes," Restac sneered and looked at Malokeh, "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface."

"What's that?" the Doctor asked.

"Your execution."

"Yes..." the Doctor made a face, not very pleased with the answer.

~ 0 ~

Avalon and Mo came across a chamber with glass-covered alcoves on either side, all completely silent. Avalon stepped to a sensor and looked around, "These chambers are all over the city," she put her hand over the sensor and lit up the place.

Masked warriors stood inside each little room, shocking the two, "Uh! Turn it off, quick!" Mo exclaimed.

Avalon did so but peered inside, "Hm, they're not...moving," she moved her hand to the sensor again.

"No, Avalon, don't!" Mo exclaimed but the ginger went ahead and did it anyways.

She lit the place again along with the sliding open of the doors. Avalon stepped into one of the rooms and studied the frozen warrior.

"Avalon, what are you doing? Get out of there," Mo motioned for her to come back out.

"They won't move," she shrugged, unperturbed, and looked down at small rounded discs the warriors stood, "I wonder what those are..." she looked to the rest of the rooms and noticed all warriors stood over them, "They've got to do something..."

"Hey, look," Mo was staring up at a chute right above the warrior.

"Oh, now I get it, this is how they came up to the surface," Avalon moved around as she stared up, "And you know what? It's our way out of here."

"Even better, weapons," Mo took the gun the soldier held, "Come on, now we can fight back."

Avalon nodded and took one for herself then followed him out, closing the containers after them, "The door at the end," she nodded and they moved towards it.

"Are you sure?" Mo raised an eyebrow.

"Nope," she shrugged continued down the tunnel like nothing.

They came through another sliding doors and walked through it, stopping as they discovered a large chamber with more soldiers in suspended animation.

"Wow," Mo blinked.

"Yup," Avalon gripped her gun. Things were definitely about to get more interesting.

"We don't stand a chance."

"Who says we're fighting them all?" Avalon turned and walked away, "You get the leader and you have everything," she muttered.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor, Lena and Nasreen were being escorted through the city by the soldiers with Restac and Malokeh behind them.

"These must be the only ones awake, the others must still be in hibernation," the Doctor was explaining to the two women with him.

"So, why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Lena wondered.

"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to Earth on a crash course. They a built life underground and put themselves to sleep for millennia in order to avert what they thought was the apocalypse. When in reality, it was the moon, coming into alignment with the Earth."

At the words, Restac stopped and looked at the Doctor, even Malokeh surprised, "How can you know that?"

"Long time ago, I met another tribe of homo reptilia, similar, but not identical."

"Others of our species have survived?" Restac asked, sounding a bit hopeful.

"The humans attacked them," the Doctor felt like he had just unnecessarily brought up a story to add even more tension, "They died, I'm sorry."

"A vermin race," Restac spat and continued walking.

They entered a courtroom where Restac went to the head of the room with Malokeh trailing after her, "You're not authorized to do this!"

"I'm authorized to protect the safety of our species while they sleep," Restac pointed out.

"Oh, lovely place, very gleaming," the Doctor complemented.

"Don't praise the room we're about to be killed in," Lena mumbled to him.

"This is our court and our place of execution," Restac explained.

"See?" Lena shot him a mock-irritated face.

"Let 'em go!" Avalon stalked into the room with her gun aimed at Restac, "No one executes my sister."

"Avalon Reynolds, there's a girl to rely on," the Doctor smiled.

"Oh you're late!" she snapped at him, but it still didn't erase his smile. "And you brought my sister in here, why?"

"I forced him to," Lena piped up before Avalon would have a go at the Doctor. "You were in trouble!"

Avalon sighed but moved onto the prominent matter. She looked at Restac with just as much contempt as Restac had for her. "You're not scaring me, lizard lady. You're covered both ways so don't try anything clever. Mo!"

"Mo!" Nasreen exclaimed happily when she saw the man.

"Now let them go or I shoot," Avalon warned but Restac moved closer. "I'm warning you!" Restac moved to snatch the gun from her but Avalon quickly used her foot and connected it to Restac's chest, pushing her to the ground, "I said don't touch me! And I swear to God if you-" she glared at Malokeh, "-say one more thing about me being 'aggressive' you're going to be next!"

Unfortunately, soldiers surprised Avalon by taking her from behind. She yelped when she felt cold hands grabbed her arms. Her gun fell to the floor as Restac stood up and glared at the ginger.

"Don't you touch her!" Lena shouted angrily, "Leave my sister alone!"

"You," Restac pointed at Mo, the man giving up his gun at the failed plan.

"All right, Restac. You've made your point," Malokeh walked towards the woman.

"This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your laboratory, Malokeh," she snapped.

One of the soldiers jabbed Malokeh in the back. He couldn't move anymore. "This isn't the way," he said before he was forced to leave.

"Prepare them for execution," Restac gave the order to the rest of the soldiers.

The group were brought over to two pillars and were promptly tied up.

"Not your best rescue, sis," Lena tried to lighten the mood a little. After all, she'd finally gotten her sister back. That was something to be truly grateful though, even if they were in an execution room.

"Yeah well, I've never dealt with lizards," Avalon muttered, glaring at Restac. "Or frogs, I'm still deciding."

"Homo reptilia... " the Doctor cut in with the correction, "They occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back."

"After they've wiped out the human race," Nasreen added.

"Oh, great," Avalon rolled her eyes, "Just freaking lovely."

"Avalon, you don't seem so great..." Lena eyed her twin with concern.

"Well, I was swallowed by the planet, placed in a machine that felt like it was ripping my insides out - oh and I was nearly dissected! I'm not having a very good day."

Lena took that as a cue to be quiet. When Avalon entered her temper moods it was best to stay clear of the fire she spewed. She was just glad to have Avalon with them again, angry but here.

"Why are they waiting? What do you think they're going to do with us?" Nasreen asked, seeing the soldiers lined up in front of them like a fire squad.

Restac moved to the table and out came a projection in the middle of the room where Rory, Amy, Ambrose and Tony appeared, "Who is the ape leader?" Restac demanded. There was only a chatter from Ambrose but nothing very coherent, only leading to Restac asking again, "Who speaks for the apes?"

"I speak for the... humans," Rory stepped forwards, "Some of us, anyway."

"Do you understand who we are?" Restac questioned.

"Sort of. A bit. Not really."

"'We have ape hostages."

"Doctor! Lena! Avalon!" Rory cheered.

"Mo! 'Mo, are you OK?" Ambrose moved into the screen.

"I'm fine, love! I've found Elliot," Mo exclaimed, "I'm bringing him home!"

"Tony Mack!" Nasreen called.

"Having fun down there?" Tony asked.

"'Not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm," the Doctor cut in, seeing the humans to enthralled with the little reunion they forgot their current situation.

"Show me Alaya," Restac ordered, "Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friends…one by one."

"No!" Ambrose snapped.

"Ambrose..." Rory eyed the woman with weariness.

"'Steady now, everyone," the Doctor tried again.

"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony tried stopping his daughter.

"'Get off me, Dad!' We didn't start this!"

"Let us deal with this," Amy hissed at the woman, "Shush!"

"We're not doing what you say any more," Ambrose ignored her and stared directly at Restac, "Now, give me back my family!"

Everyone remained quiet as Restac took in the order, "Execute them."

"No! No, wait!" Rory and Amy shouted over the projection as the soldiers neared the two pillars with their weapons.

"She's not speaking for us!" Rory said.

"Start with her," Restac pointed at Avalon who simply rolled her eyes.

"Because I kicked you, there's a shocker," Avalon said as she was pushed to the center of the room with the soldiers behind her.

"There's no need for this..." the Doctor tried to stop them but he was failing spectacularly when he was all tied up.

"Stop this! Don't do it!" Lena cried, trying her best to free herself even when there was no possible way. "Please!"

"Listen! Listen! Whatever you want...we'll do it!" Rory shouted.

"Aim," Restac instructed, ignoring all the simultaneous shouting.

"Don't do this!" the Doctor yelled. He pulled and pulled on his bindings but nothing worked. He could not let them just kill Avalon, but what was he supposed to do to get free and save her!?

For her part, Avalon kept silent. She only glared at Restac because if she looked at Lena or the Doctor, she wasn't sure how she might react then. Maybe this is just where I die, she thought, but the mere thought brought her into a shudder...a shudder that the Doctor saw and heard.

"Please! Just...switch us! Switch me for her! Please!" the Doctor blurted without thinking and even when he went back to think about it, he stood by his words. Avalon threw him a shocked look, almost forgetting the gun on her face. "Let me take her place, please!" He frantically begged, much to Restac's amusement.

"Trading your life for that of an ape," she sneered. "How pathetic."

Avalon's anger re-flourished again and actually tried charging for her. "I'm gonna k-"

"STOP!" commanded a male voice just as the soldiers had grabbed ahold of Avalon again. An elderly Silurian, Eldane, had come into the room with Malokeh at his side. "You want to start a war, while the rest of us sleep, Restac?"

"The apes are attacking us!" Restac accused, flinging a hand at the tied up group.

"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them."

"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane."

"Well, then, you must shoot me."

With frustration, Restac stalked towards Malokeh, "You woke him to undermine me."

"We're not monsters. And neither are they," Malokeh softly said.

"What is it about apes you love so much? Mmm?"

"While you slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself."

"We used to hunt apes for sport" Restac reminded, "When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet."

"Shush now, Restac. Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you," Eldane instructed.

"You'll need me, then we'll see," Restac muttered and left the room.

"Can we be untied, please?" came Lena's soft voice, "My wrists hurt."

Avalon wrestled free from the soldiers and hurried to her sister. As the Silurians came to untie the others, Avalon untied Lena's wrists. "Are you okay, Lena? Did they hurt you? Oh, they better had not put you into the decontamination thing or I really will kill lizards today!"

"Shush! We're not at war anymore!" the Doctor exclaimed as he was untied.

Avalon pulled Lena into a tight hug once they were on their feet. Lena could finally breathe with her sister in front of her. "I'm really glad you're okay, Avalon."

"Of course I'd be okay," Avalon declared once she'd stepped back. "Takes more than lizard people to keep me down."

"Silurians," the Doctor was getting tired of correcting, but still Avalon only waved him off. She turned to him and without giving a warning, she threw her arms around his neck. Though surprised, he hugged her back. "You are okay, right? They didn't harm you?" he whispered next to her ear.

"Nah," she shut her eyes for a moment. "But that's not why I'm hugging you. You were ready to switch places with me back there...you were going to put yourself in front of gun just so that I wouldn't die."

"Uh, well, you know..." the Doctor thanked that Avalon's fiery orange hair was covering a good part of his face because he was sure that his blush was noticeable. The words had truly slipped out, not that he would regret them. Of course he would trade his life for his companions, but when he'd attempted to do it for Avalon, it'd come out like an instinct. It kind of freaked him out a bit.

Avalon pulled away only slightly to look up at him. "You really are my Fairy Tale Man, huh? Coming to save me?"

"Well, did you think I wouldn't?" the Doctor asked and cleared his throat awkwardly. He noticed something flash across her face, something akin to realization. But for what? That's he actually come for her? That...that couldn't be right, could it?

"Thank you," Avalon surprised him with a kiss on the cheek. "

"Guys, there's Silurians waiting for you," Lena gently cut in, only smiling when her sister and the Doctor jumped.

"Right," Avalon nodded and gestured for the Doctor to get a move on.

He hurried to the table where the projection controls were. "First thing's first, we gotta get the others here."

"Why?" Avalon looked at Lena.

"We've got a hostage," Lena shrugged, surprising Avalon with her unperturbed attitude on it.

"Rory! Amy!" the Doctor greeted once the humans reappeared on the screen, "Hello!"

"Where's Ava?" was the first thing Rory said.

"Right here, Rory!" Avalon rushed to the Doctor's side, "Hello!"

"Thank God," Amy sighed in relief, "You just love to keep us on our toes, don't you?"

"It's sort of my thing!"

"No time to chat," the Doctor pushed Avalon and stood directly in front of the projection, missing the irritated look Avalon shot him, "Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology. It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!"

"What happens now?" Lena had to ask once the projection was cut off.

The Doctor just smiled, ideas ticking away in his head...

A short moment later found Eldane seated on one side of the large table with Nasreen and Lena on the other side. The Doctor, Avalon, Mo and Malokeh stood behind the trio.

"I'd say you've got a fair bit to talk about," the Doctor began.

"How so?" Eldane asked.

"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it."

"Are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?"

"Me? No!" the Doctor scoffed, "But they are!" he gestured to Nasreen and Lena.

"What?" Nasreen looked at him like he'd lost it.

"Big brother you're forgetting I can't even mend a fuse!" Lena shook her head.

"Oh baby sister, you have no idea how much that can change," the Doctor sighed with a small smile on his face. Perhaps in another world where Donna Noble could see them, she could help Lena with that little intelligence doubt.

"Why am I even here?" Lena continued, moving to stand, "I'm not even fully human. I have no claim."

"You live on this planet, breathe their air so you do," the Doctor sat her back down. "Not mention you come from these people. They're your ancestors. You have a right to make sure they're okay."

"Well..." Lena sighed again and looked back at Avalon, "...I don't know anything about politics. Avalon should be here, not me."

"Mm, that's not a good idea," Avalon shook her head, "With my temper I may just blow it for the entire species," she missed the small nod the Doctor gave beside her, "Best not put me in that situation today. Besides," she moved up to Lena, "What better person to negotiate peace than my little twin sister who always kept the peace between our friends?"

"Well..." Lena looked at Nasreen who nodded encouragingly at her, "...what about Mo? He's more human than us."

"I just want my son," was all the man had to say on the matter, pleading for them to finish here so they could get Elliot already.

"Well, there we go, then," the Doctor clapped his hands, "Lena Reynolds and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet! Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?"

As he moved to the other end of the table, Avalon quickly jogged after him, "Is this supposed to happen?" she quietly asked, "I mean, I haven't exactly looked at history books of the future, but...is this what happens? The earth gets shared?"

Upon hearing the words, Nasreen stood up and walked over to them, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Nasreen, sorry, probably worth mentioning at this stage, Lena, Avalon and I travel in time, a bit," the Doctor shrugged casually.

Instead of being surprised, Nasreen seemed more irritated, "Anything else?"

"There are fixed points through time where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So do good. For humanity, and for Earth."

"Right, no pressure there, big brother!" Lena called from her spot.

"We can't share the planet. Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea," Nasreen shook her head, "It is just too big a leap!"

"Come on. Be extraordinary," the Doctor exclaimed.

"Oh...you..." Nasreen playfully rolled her eyes and took her seat beside Lena.

"Okay then," Avalon shrugged, "Let's bring things to order: the first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilian is now in session," she looked at the Doctor with a sly smile, "I wish a had one of those judge mallets. I've always wanted to do that."

"I bet you have," he shook his head, "Is that what you want as a career?"

Avalon, a bit confused on the question, simply turned to Mo and Malokeh, "How about we go get that little boy, then?"

As they got going, the Doctor looked back at Lena. She gave a hin a shrug and a look saying 'See what I mean?'. Avalon always brushed off the question. No one knew what career she wanted.

~ 0 ~

The remaining group stood outside the room Elliot was in. Malokeh worked to free the little boy from his stasis.

"Elliot, there you are," the Doctor sighed in relief once he saw the child.

"If you've harmed him in any way…" Mo began his threat to Malokeh.

"Of course not!" the Silurian cut him off, "I only store the young."

"How come?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, fairly curious.

"I took samples of the young, slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate. So I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface."

"Wow, impressive," the ginger blinked and smiled. "I would be more impressed if you hadn't tried dissecting me."

"You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone?" the Doctor questioned.

"My family, through the millennia... For the last 300 years, just me," Malokeh looked to Mo, "I never meant to harm your child."

"Malohkeh, I rather love you," the Doctor fist-bumped the Silurian then looked at the readings beside the door, "It's safe. We can wake him."

Malokeh entered the room and removed the wires from Elliot, "Come," he motioned to Mo as he stepped out.

As Elliot slowly came around, Mo moved to stand in front of him, "Elliot? Ell, it's Dad."

"What...? Dad," Elliot blinked and hugged him.

"You're safe now," Mo assured.

"Where are we?"

"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son. We're in the center of the Earth... and there are lizard men."

Elliot peered around his father and saw the Doctor, Avalon and Malokeh standing behind, "Wow."

"Elliot, I'm sorry. I took my eye off you," the Doctor stepped inside the room with an apologetic face.

"It's OK. I forgive you," Elliot shrugged and the two shook hands.

The trio headed back down the hallway, Malokeh staying behind at the panel of the door, "You go on, Doctor. I'll catch up."

The small group disbanded into pairs as they headed back for the courtroom, Avalon and the Doctor in front and Elliot and Mo just a few feet behind them.

"Avalon, about what you said earlier..." the Doctor chose his moment to talk while purposely walking a bit faster to leave more space between them and the humans. "Did you really think we wouldn't come for you?"

Avalon tried to play it off as casual as possible, but her flickering eyes made it impossible. "I just...I was kidding...you know. I make jokes. A lot."

"Well, even if it was a joke...I didn't quite like its meaning," the Doctor gently bumped shoulders with her, eliciting a small smile from her. "Anywhere you are, whereever you are, I would come get you."

Avalon's face lit up but when it did, a blush came along with it. "Wow, kind of making me feel a bit special here. Thank you..."

The Doctor was aware of how his words may have come out, and despite his sudden need to clear his throat twice, he meant every word. He couldn't fathom any of his friends ever thinking they would just be left on their own. "I hope you'd do the same, you know..." he decided to throw in just to get some of that casualness back.

Avalon chuckled. She passed a hand down her curls, letting her fingers linger in a curl. When the hell is this blush going to die down? She was being ridiculous and she didn't like it one bit. "Well...I'd have to learn how to drive the TARDIS. So can I?" The Doctor's loud scoff truly helped Avalon get over her blush because now she had to glare at him. "Excuse you?"

"I'm sorry, Avalon, but I...I don't quite trust your driving skills at the moment..."

"Spoken from the man who crashed into my friend's backyard on a clear night sky," she had the right response, and a quick one too, much to his dismay. "What? Did you bump into birds!?"

"I was having a bad day," the Doctor muttered and picked up his pace, though he still heard her snickering behind him.

~ 0 ~

Amy and Rory were the first of the group to rejoin the others in the tunnel, followed by Ambrose.

"Mum!" Elliot ran to hug her.

"Good to see you," Lena hugged her friends.

"Rory, what's wrong?" Avalon noticed the grim face Rory wore.

Before Rory could gather his words, Tony entered the room carrying the shrouded body of Alaya.

"What's he carrying?" Avalon blinked.

"No. Don't do this," the Doctor stepped forwards, his face falling as he connected pieces. "Tell me you didn't do this." Tony set Alaya's body on the floor and the Doctor squatted down to pull the cloth away from Alaya's face. He glared up at Tony as he stood up, "What did you do?"

"It was me. I did it," Ambrose confessed.

"Mum?" Elliot looked up at his mother.

"I just wanted you back."

The Doctor turned and walked up to Eldane, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. You have to believe me, they're better than this."

"This is our planet!" Ambrose exclaimed.

"We had a chance here," the Doctor snapped at her.

"Leave us alone."

The Doctor strode up to her, more than angry, "In future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity."

Arms soldiers poured into the room with Restac in front, "My sister," she saw the body and rushed forwards, uncovering the cloth from Alaya's face and letting out a terrible wail before placing the shroud back, "And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor?"

"One woman," the Doctor pointed, "One woman. She was scared for her family. She's not typical."

"I think she is," Restac stood and faced Ambrose.

"One person let us down. But there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there," the Doctor turned to Eldane in plead, "You were building something, here, come on...an alliance could work."

"It's too late for that, Doctor," Ambrose cut in.

"Why?"

"Our drill is set to start burrowing again in..." Ambrose checked her stopwatch, "15 minutes."

"What?" Nasreen's eyes widened.

"What choice did I have? They had Elliot," Tony shook his head.

"Don't do this, don't call their bluff," the Doctor insisted with Eldane.

"Let us go back," Ambrose spoke to the Silurians, "And you promise to never come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone."

"Execute her!" Rescue ordered.

"No!" the Doctor pulled Ambrose down as the soldiers fired, "Everybody, back to the lab! Run!"

All the group, along with Eldane, ran out of the room as they dodged the shots of the soldiers.

"Execute all the apes!" Restac shouted.

The Doctor used his screwdriver on the soldier's guns and made them explode, "This is a deadly weapon - stay back," one of the soldiers stepped up and lashed with its tongue, backing the Doctor out of the way and into a run.

~ 0 ~

"Take everyone to the lab!" the Doctor instructed to Rory, "I'll cover you! Go! Go!" he ushered the others and stood to face the oncoming Silurians, "Ah-ah! Stop right there! Or I'll use my very deadly weapon again. One warning, that's all you get. If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you. Now. This ends here."

"No. It only ends with our victory," Restac corrected.

"Like I said... one warning," he disabled the two more guns and ran off.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor used the sonic to shut the doors of the lab then turned to face the group, "Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen. Let me know if we get company. Amy," he tossed her the stopwatch, "Keep reminding me how much time I haven't got."

Mo and Elliot moved to the screen that showed the tunnel outside.

"OK, 12 minutes till drill impact," Amy announced.

"Tony Mack, sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding?" the Doctor moved over to the sitting man.

Tony opened his shirt to show a good part of his neck and chest, around the veins, were a bright green.

"Tony! What happened?!" Nasreen gasped.

The Doctor used his screwdriver on the infected area.

"Alaya's sting. She said there's no cure," Tony sighed, "I'm dying, aren't I?"

The Doctor headed to the control panel and checked the readings, "You're not dying, you're mutating. How can I stop it? Decontamination program! Might work - don't know. Eldane, can you run the program on Tony?"

"Doctor, shedload of those creatures coming our way! We're surrounded in here!" Mo called.

Eldane and Lena helped Tony to the decontamination chamber as the Doctor spoke, "So, question is, how we do stop the drill, given we can't get there in time? Plus also, how do we get out, given that we're surrounded? Nasreen, how d'you feel about an energy pulse, channelled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?"

"To blow up my life's work?"

"Yes. Sorry. No nice way of putting that."

"Right, well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city, in..."

"11 minutes, 40 seconds..." Amy finished.

"Yes! Squeaky bum time!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Yes, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels so we have to be on the surface by then."

"I think we're all forgetting the fact we're surrounded," Avalon cut in.

"I can help with that... Toxic Fumigation - an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection," Eldane rejoined them with Lena, "A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation, by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down."

"You could end up killing your own people," Rory blinked.

"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."

"Eldane, are you sure about this?" the Doctor asked.

"My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."

"But it should be," Lena sighed.

"10 minutes, Doctor," Amy called.

"Lena's right, it should be," the Doctor nodded, "So here's the deal. Everybody listening? Eldane, you activate shutdown... I'll amend the system, set your alarm for 1,000 years' time," Eldane moved over to the controls, "1,000 years, to sort the planet out. To be ready. Pass it on. As legend, or prophesy, or religion, but somehow, make it known. This planet is to be shared."

"Yeah. I get you," Elliot smiled and nodded.''

"Nine minutes, seven seconds."

"Yes, fluid controls, my favourite!" the Doctor moved beside Eldane, "Energy pulse timed, primed and set. Before we go, energy barricade, need to cancel it out - quickly," he used the sonic on the controls, making the barricade come down.

"Fumigation pre-launching," Eldane announced.

"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor!" Rory reminded.

"Ah-ha, super-squeaky bum time! Get ready to run for your lives," he took out Lena's inhaler and tossed it over, "Sorry baby sister."

She caught it and shrugged, "One more time, eh?"

"What do you mean 'one more time'?" Avalon caught the words with a frown.

"But the decontamination program on your friend hasn't started yet," Eldane cut in, thankfully.

"Well, go. All of you! Go," Tony shooed the group off.

"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose shook her head.

"Granddad!" Elliot ran over and hugged him.

"Eight minutes, 10 seconds," Amy said.

"Now you look after your mum. You mustn't blame her," Tony looked down at Elliot, "She only did what she thought was right."

"I'm not going to see you again, am I?"

"I'll be here," Tony touched Elliot's heart and smiled, "Always. I love you, boy," he gave Elliot one last hug then looked at Ambrose, "You be sure he gets home safe!"

Elliot went to Mo while Ambrose stayed with her father, "This is my fault," her eyes watered.

"No, I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here's my only hope," Tony hugged her.

"I love you, Dad."

"Go. Go. Come on. Go on!"

'Toxic fumigation initiated.'

"They're going! We're clear!" Rory called from the screens.

"OK. Everyone follow Nasreen. Look for a blue box. Get ready to run," the Doctor used the sonic on the door, making it slide open for the others to run through, "Eldane, I'm sorry."

"I thought for a moment, our race, and the humans..."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Doctor! We've got less than six minutes," Amy informed.

"Go! Go! I'm right behind you!" he shooed them off then looked over to Nasreen who hadn't moved, "Let's go."

"I'm not coming either," she shrugged casually.

"What?"

"We're going to hibernate with them, me and Tony."

"Doctor, you must go!" Eldane exclaimed.

Tony looked at Nasreen, "I can be decontaminated when we're woken. All the time in the world."

"But... Nasreen... you..." the Doctor couldn't find the right words to speak.

Nasreen smiled and walked up to him, " No. This is perfect. I don't want to go. I've got what I was digging for. I can't leave when I've only just found it."

"Doctor!" Amy poked her head back inside the room.

"Thank you, Doctor," Nasreen nodded.

"The pleasure was all mine," the Doctor gave her a hug then took Amy by the hand and rushed for the door.

"Come and look for us," Nasreen waved goodbye.

~ 0 ~

"No questions, just get in! And yes, I know it's big!" the Doctor stopped in front of the TARDIS and unlocked the doors, ushering the others inside, "Ambrose, sickbay up the stairs, left, then left again... get yourself fixed up. Come on! Five minutes and counting..."

A white light emerged behind the Doctor just as the others joined him.

"Is that...?" Avalon blinked.

"...but it can't be," Lena shook her head.

The same crack from Amy's bedroom wall was splattered on the tunnel wall. Even when she was all grown up, the crack terrified Lena as if she was just seven again.

"Not here. Not now. It's getting wider," the Doctor stared with a terrible feeling.

"The crack on my bedroom wall," Amy backed away.

"Is it really the same, though?" Avalon tried getting closer to it but the Doctor promptly yanked her back. She shook off his hand from her arm but kept still. "Is it following us?" She flipped her head in the Doctor's direction, confused yet fascinated. "Do space-time cracks do that?"

The Doctor had no bloody idea and it showed. He crept towards the wall, making a hand gesture for everyone else to stay back. Avalon made a good point: was it following them? And if so, why? Why them?

"The Byzantium. All through the universe - rips in the continuum," he mumbled as he got closer. "Some sort of space-time cataclysm. An explosion, maybe. Big enough to put cracks in the universe. But what?"

"Four minutes...we have to go!" Amy exclaimed. She would prefer if they didn't derail escaping because of a crack.

"The Angels laughed, when I didn't know. Prisoner Zero knew, everybody knows, except me!"

"Well this is no time to be indignant," Avalon snapped. "Maybe Amy's right, we should go. That crack makes me feel funny...doesn't it?"

The Doctor looked back at her for a minute. There she went again making those comments that didn't make sense. He got a brief flashback to the Byzantium where he had scared her from asking - or demanding - how the hell did she know things that no other human did. The duck pond, the Daleks...and now the crack? Funny thing was...the crack kind of made him feel funny too.

"Big brother, just...just leave it alone," Lena looked at the crack with weariness.

"Just one moment, baby sister," he faced the crack again. If it was going to follow him then he would get something out of it, literally. "Where there's an explosion..." he pulled out a red hankie from his jacket, "There's shrapnel."

"Doctor, you can't put your hand in there!" Rory exclaimed. Of all the crazy things to do!

"Why not?" the Doctor reached into the crack holding the hankie and cried in pain as the light grew brighter. He put all his strength into grasping something and to his luck, he did. "I've got something!"

"What is it?" Avalon stepped forwards.

The Doctor fell back on the ground, clutching the mysterious item wrapped in the hankie. It sizzled with heat and energy, but that didn't stop Avalon from getting closer.

"Open it!' Avalon reached for it but the Doctor moved his hands away from her, making her groan. "Oh c'mon! I can never resist a mystery!"

"Doctor!" Lena gasped as she saw Restac crawling into the tunnel.

"She was there, when the gas started...she must've been poisoned," Amy realized.

"You!" Restac glared at them all.

"OK, get in the TARDIS, all of you," the Doctor jumped to his feet and reached into his jacket's pocket.

"You did this," Restac pulled her arm forwards to reveal a gun.

"Doctor!" Rory pushed the alien out of the way and took the shot.

"RORY!" Amy and Avalon cried as he fell to the ground in pain.

"Avalon..." Lena's heart raced when she saw the Silurian woman's head falling but her gun still managing to stay aimed. Lena saw Restac's hand gripping around the gun one more time. "But Avalon-"

"Lena, just get in the TARDIS!" Avalon said, knowing that her sister was probably terrified out of her mind.

"No!" Lena pushed Avalon to the ground when a second aimed was fired.

"NOO!" Avalon screamed as her twin landed beside her, writhing in pain like Rory was. She jumped to her feet and was about to retaliate when she saw Restac finally still, completely dead, "No, no, no, no, no!" she turned to the others with teary eyes.

"Rory, can you hear me?" the Doctor looked between him and Lena, the sonic on both of them, "Baby sister?"

"I don't understand..." Rory blinked rapidly.

"Shh-shh. Don't talk," Amy stroked his face, "Doctor, is he OK? We have to get him into the TARDIS!"

"Lena, Lena, c'mon stay with me," Avalon swallowed, cradling her sister's head, "P-p-please, don't do this."

"Finally, it's right," Lena weakly smiled. "I've taken too much from you..."

Avalon's vision blurred with the tears that were quickly filling her eyes. Her shaky hands pulled Lena closer to her. "No, no, don't say that. I love you, Lena. Don't go please. I'm nothing without you."

Lena laughed but it was too strained to last long. She swallowed hard and summoned the last of her air to respond. "You would be...everything without me. You're destined for things that I..." she scrunched her face with pain, "...would hold you back from. I love you..."

Avalon lost it when Lena's eyes closed. Her head lulled against Avalon's chest. "N-n-n-n-n-no! NO!"

"Avalon, let me check!" the Doctor tried moving around her but Avalon fervently shook her head, making it so that he would have to practically pry Lena's body from her. "Avalon, please!"

"NO!" she shouted but her tears overwhelmed her. The strength she put into holding Lena's body lessened significantly in the following seconds.

The Doctor gingerly took Lena's body into his own and used the sonic to check her vitals. While he did, Avalon looked back to see Rory still breathing. But he was struggling.

"Not him too, please not him too!" If she lost both her sister and her best friend, she would thoroughly lose it. She would truly lose her mind.

"But we were on the hill," Rory was reminiscing, "I can't die here."

"Oh, don't say that," Amy tried to smile. She was holding hin close, just like Avalon had with Lena.

"You're so beautiful...I'm sorry," Rory's eyes fell closed, and just like Lena, his head lulled.

"Doctor, help him," Amy looked back at the Doctor for some help, but he was staring at Lena's lifeless body. He'd stopped trying. Amy realized there was nothing to do...and now that included Rory. "No! There-there has to be something, please!"

But the Doctor didn't move. His gaze only flickered between Lena and Rory. He couldn't believe he'd lost both of them. His sweet baby sister was gone just after deciding to go home because she couldn't handle this lifestyle. He did this. And poor Rory. He'd only just started getting used to this life and he'd only done it because he loved Amy. She wanted to stay, so he would. He did. And now he was gone too.

"Doctor, what's...what's going on!?" Avalon's fear-filled voice pulled the Doctor from his darkening thoughts. His body sprang up when he saw tendrils of white energy spilling from the crack.

"Get away from them!" he practically lunged for Avalon's body and pulled her back. Before Avalon could yell at him for the unceremonious landing on the ground, the Doctor shouted at Amy. "Amy, move away from it too! Don't let it touch you!"

Amy wouldn't budge though. The light was getting closer to Rory's body - how could she let him go?

The Doctor scrambled from his spot and rushed to get her back. "If the light touches you you'll be wiped from history! Amy, move away now."

"No! I am not leaving him! We have to help him! We have to help Lena-"

Avalon screamed. The Doctor spun around thinking she'd also gotten hurt - that's truly the last thing he needed right now - but instead he saw her crying as the light wrapped itself around Lena's right ankle.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"DON'T!" the Doctor roared, freezing the ginger just as she'd been about to pull Lena's body. "Listen to me! Both of you listen to me! If that light touches you then you will cease to exist! I know it doesn't sound like much given what's happened but I don't want to lose anymore people! Lena and Rory..." the Doctor lost his voice there for a minute. He'd have to change the way he talked about them now. "They...they wouldn't want that for either of you. So please, for the love of God, step back."

For a moment, neither women did anything.

"Avalon..." the Doctor lost his breath seeing her lean closer to Lena, but she only did so to kiss Lena's forehead.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered and tucked some of Lena's hair behind her ear. "I love you." She slowly stood up and turned around. She only last a few seconds before she ran to the Doctor and burst into sobs.

Her sister was gone.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," the Doctor hugged her tightly and did his best not to cry right there and then. He didn't have that luxury.

"The light..." she murmured.

"Go! Go!" he ushered her towards the TARDIS then went back for Amy.

Avalon lingered by the TARDIS to see Lena and Rory one more time. She brought a hand up to her mouth when she saw Lena's entire body was covered in white energy. Goodbye Lena. She sniffled and spared Rory a last look. Bye Rory. She ran into the TARIDS where she could cry to her heart's contend.

"Amy, I'm really sorry, but we need to go!" the Doctor argued with Amy but the woman would not move.

"NO!"

The Doctor was ashamed to say that one crying, screaming ginger was his limit so...he grabbed Amy from behind and pulled her up. "I'm sorry!"

"Hey! Hey! Get off me!" Amy cried but the Doctor ran straight into the TARDIS with her.

He sonicked the doors to make sure Amy wouldn't run out then ran for the console to get them out of there.

"No!" Amy rushed back to the doors but the Doctor used the sonic and locked it, "No! No!" Amy pounded on the floor, "Let me out, please let me out... I need to get Rory."

"Doctor, please, tell me there's something we can do," Avalon had put herself right next to the console for the same fear that she'd try to run out as well. It was taking all her self control not to be pounding on the doors like Amy. "Because I know what happens when that light takes somebody. Doctor?"

The man stayed still for a moment. His hands were gripping the edges of the console, eyes locked on the controls that he'd need to get them out of there. He could feel Avalon's burning gaze on him, hoping that he had a solution to fix everything...but he didn't. There was nothing left to do.

"Fairy Tale Man?" she whispered and reached for his closest hand.

The Doctor finally met her gaze but the moment he did, he wished he hadn't. He'd never seen Avalon so distraught, so...destroyed. There was a thorough desire to make it stop by any means. He would do anything...even trade lives with Lena. But he just couldn't. "I'm sorry." He moved his hands over the controls, forcing Avalon's away, and dematerialized them out of the tunnels.

"That light, if their bodies absorbed we'll forget them," Amy ran to the Doctor at the console, "They'll never have existed. You can't let that happen. Take this thing back!" but the Doctor did not listen, he simply turned to her with the most sincerest apology, "No, no..." Amy shook her head, her tears streaming down her face, "No! No! Doctor, we can't just leave them there! Avalon!"

Avalon had turned away from them but her shaking body indicated she was just as torn as Amy. She didn't need them...she'd gone through this with her mother, she...she didn't need anyone...she didn't...

The Doctor took Amy by the hand and practically dragged her to Avalon, needing both of them to listen to them. "Keep them in your minds," he forcefully turned Avalon to them, "Don't forget them. If you forget them, you'll lose them forever."

"On the Byzantium, I still remembered the Clerics because I am a time traveler, now you said," Amy reminded.

"They weren't part of your world. This is different...this is your own history changing."

"Can't we...can't we retain it?" Avalon hopefully looked at him. "Please? I don't want to lose her like I did with my Mum..." she shook her head and screwed her eyes shut, practically reliving the moments.

"Doctor, please, make it better!" Amy pleaded.

"It's going to be hard, but you can do it, both of you," the Doctor assured them but even he was doubting. This would be a huge change for both of them. He wasn't exactly sure what they would retain. "Tell me all about them, eh? Rory? Lena? Fantastic Rory, sweet Lena, gorgeous Rory, stunning Lena. Just listen to me, do exactly as I say. Amy, Ava? Remember? He calls you Ava," he gave his best smile to Avalon. "And he calls you beautiful," he said to Amy, "Just concentrate. You can do this."

"I can't," Amy shook her head.

"You can. You can do it. I can't help you unless you do. Come on. We can still save their memories. Come on. Please. Don't let anything distract you. Remember Rory, Lena. Keep remembering, they're only alive in your memories. You have to keep hold of them. Don't let anything distract you. Rory and Lena still live in your minds."

Suddenly, the TARDIS jarred and sent the trio to the floor, Rory's engagement ring falling to the floor in front of the Doctor. Amy sat up with blinking eyes and a bright smile on her face, "What were you saying?"

He stared at her with an emotionless face then glanced at Avalon who lifted her head up rather slowly, her eyes darting from one place to another...as if...trying to remember something...

"Something's wrong," Avalon whispered and looked around as she stood up. She brought her hands to her face and cleared off the tears she'd cries. She tilted her head at her fingers. "What...I was crying. I was crying for something..."

The Doctor was stunned with her. Once again, she did something that made no sense.

~ 0 ~

After returning Ambrose and her family, the leftover trio made their way back to the TARDIS. Amy stopped and looked out, chuckling, "Oh! Hey! Look! There I am again! Hello, me!" she waved at her future self, now alone, but tilted her head for a moment.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor noticed the movement, a bit hopeful.

"I thought I saw someone else there for a second," Amy shrugged and turned for the doors, "I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?"

"I hate beaches," Avalon muttered.

"Oh don't be so grumpy," Amy made a joking face that managed to get a faint smile.

As Amy went inside the TARDIS, the Doctor studied intently the remaining ginger, "You okay?"

Avalon was staring out to where Amy's future self had been with a rather curious look, if not confused look, "It's just...I feel...weird. Something's just..." she shook her head and sighed, "...never mind," she gave another faint smile and went inside.

The Doctor stayed back and looked back to the hill, Rory and Lena were just...gone. His sweet baby sister never existed. She'd said she'd wanted to leave the traveling and in some way she did, just not in the way any of them wanted. Lena had finally done something she was proud of, stopped her sister from taking yet another bullet and saved her life. He was...proud of her, but he was not content with the results. The only thing he could do now was simply look after her twin, show her the world like he'd promised to Lena. That's how he'd keep her memory alive for Avalon and her family, honoring Lena's last request.

Finally, the Doctor focused on the item he'd taken from the crack and unwrapped it. He tilted his head as he saw some very familiar words on it. He held it up to the TARDIS sign...and it was a perfect match.

Author's Note:

Yeeeah...I did that...sorry . Well, it's the adventures of Avalon, Amy and the Doctor for now...

[composereggwrites]

Love will not break your Heart (but dismiss your Fears)

Chapter 1: Plant Your Hope with Good Seeds

Fandom: The Magnus Archives

Rating: T

Characters/Ships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Alice “Daisy” Tonner/Basira Hussain, Gerard Keay, Gertrude Robinson

Additional: Reincarnation AU, Soul Bond, Team as Family, Autistic Jon, Post-Canon Fix-it, Childhood Friends, Hurt/Comfort

They stand in the Panopticon, fire raining down from the sky, as the Eye stares down at them.

Jon takes Martin’s hand in his.

Jonathan Barker-King wakes up and goes to class. He works under Gertrude’s rule at the university archives, and subs in when his coworkers at the library, Sasha and Tim, are out sick.

It’s on one such day that he reconnects with his old childhood friend. The one he hasn’t seen in 11 years, ever since their houses burned down. Martin Hussain-Tonner.

An Undone-Apocalypse reincarnation AU.

Ao3 or Below!

Jonathan Sims Barker-King sits at the checkout desk of Oxford University, and curses the flu for taking out both Tim and Sasha in the same week. Abandoning him to cover their shifts, when he should be down in the archives today, learning the ropes from Gertrude.

It’s not a hard job. Arguably, working in the archives is harder. But it’s also midterms season, and that means dealing with an influx of students who’ve realized they need to actually study, and he’s running this place short-staffed.

There’s a lull around 4:30pm, and he breathes a sigh of relief as it hits. The 4pm rush is typically the last of the day. No more beeping of the scanner, no more arguing with patrons about the fines they’ve accrued, and no more dealing with the incompetent people who don’t even know how to use a basic search function.

Maybe now he can work on his own homework. He’s got two essays and a test to study for, after all.

Just as he’s settling into the flow, typing the words into the document at a decent pace, someone approaches the desk once again.

“What do you need?” he snaps, most of the sharp edge tempered down with years of practice, before looking up.

The person who stands before him is easily 6’5, with wavy ginger hair, round glasses, and is absolutely built like a bear. But more importantly–

“Jon? Is that you?” he asks, grin on his face and light dancing in his eyes.

Jon laughs, still staring. “Y–Yeah. Holy–” he bites his tongue, no swearing on the job. “Martin? When the hell did you get so tall?”

Martin Blackwood Hussain-Tonner rubs the back of his head, laughing too. “Oh, you know. Hit a couple growth-spurts as a teen. Fifteen, sixteen, really shot up like a tree. What about you though? You’re so…”

“It’s alright, you can say small,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “Unlike some people, I didn’t get height genes from my mysterious spawners. Mum still delights in being able to pick me up.”

“Oh I’m sure. She was absolutely fearless, wasn’t she?” Martin asks, and Jon nods.

“It’s almost terrifying at times. I mean, I’m 23, and she comes swooping in and carrying me around like it’s nothing.” His brain presents him with a mental image of Martin doing this, like he is now, and then he shoves that thought into a dark, locked box. Nope, not doing that.

Jon almost keeps talking, but some of the students with books piled higher than their heads are starting to glare, so he sighs. “I’m still on shift for another hour, but we should catch up, yeah? It’s been ages.”

Martin nods. “Sure! There’s a nice cafe on campus that we could go to, not too far from here, and I’m free tonight.”

He smiles. “I think I know the one. Sounds good to me. Meet you there?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

___

It takes three years to find them.

Daisy and Basira chose to look for Martin, while Georgie and Melanie search for Jon. Because these foolish boys decided to stop the apocalypse together, and die together.

They’d left a tape behind, of course. Static layered over the words.

“We’re going to do something. If you’re hearing this, I’m going to assume it worked,” Jon had said. “We’re undoing the apocalypse. Both Martin and I.”

“The thing is,” Martin said, false-confidence in his bold voice, only a hint of a waver, “We’re not making it out of this… Well, not alive. Not how we are now, at least. But it’s okay! We’ll be coming back.”

Then Jon again, slipping into a neutral voice, steady as he explains. “Time is going to get a bit weirder than normal, and this is going to open the door for a lot of people to get second chances. Anyone touched by an Entity who stays alive will still remember everything that happened, but for the rest of the world… It’ll be like a mass hallucination.”

“You don’t need to find us,” Martin murmurs, softer now. “But… You can if you want. Jon doesn’t think we’ll remember anything. Definitely not at first, maybe not ever. We’re just going to be little kids, after all.”

“Take care of yourselves, alright? Georgie. Melanie. Daisy. Basira. This is a chance for freedom for all of you, too. We’re burning that wretched institute to the ground, with Jonah inside of it, and getting out.” Jon sighs, a hint of compassion leaking into his voice. Such a struggle for The Archivist to feel anything, and yet he feels more than ever, nowadays.

“Be safe, all of you. Maybe we’ll meet again someday.”

After a bit of debate, Melanie had scoffed and said, “Obviously we’re gonna find those idiots. If we don’t, then Jude’ll hunt them down and burn them or somethin’. Might as well make sure that don’t happen.”

Easier said than done, of course. Daisy had managed to track down Martin a couple months ago, using some of the Hunt, before diving into a few rounds of Halo to shake the rest of the energy off. (That had been Basira’s idea, what better way to channel the Hunt than through violent video-games?)

Stepping into this orphanage, at first Georgie thinks it’ll be no different. It’s not a bad place, pristine and clean, but there’s no soul. Just another cluster of kids, too alone and small, who need homes that they can’t give.

Until she spots a child with too-big too-familiar eyes staring at them.

When they make eye-contact, the kid stands, and stumbles closer. She kneels down, and this child states, matter-of-fact, “You’re looking for me.”

“Oh, are we now?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. “What’s your name, then?”

“Jonathan. They don’t call me that, they call me a girly name. But I’m Jon.” There’s a hard edge, determination, as if prepared for anything but acceptance.

“Of course you’re Jon,” Melanie says, careful to kneel, careful as she reaches out. It takes a moment, but she finds his hair, and ruffles it. Tenderness wiping away the gleam of fear in his eyes. “Why do you think we’re looking for you?”

He leans closer. “I just know. I know things. I’m very smart!” he says, with what’s almost a proud grin.

She laughs, and leans close to Melanie, so she can whisper, “Mels, he’s so small!”

Melanie, predictably, laughs at her, and keeps talking to Jon. “Well, you certainly seem very smart. And you’re right, we have been searching just for you. It might take a bit before you’re able to come home with us, but I think you’re just the one we’ve been looking for, Jon.”

So they sit there, and talk with Jon. Playing games and reading stories with him. It’s not long before he gets tired, and crawls into Georgie’s lap, tuckered out.

She leans against Melanie’s shoulder, as they both relax.

“He’s such a child,” Melanie says, voice low.

“He really is. But I mean, we expected that, yeah? He’s three, if anything, he seems smarter than the average three-year-old.” Georgie says back, still carding her fingers through Jon’s hair. She had thought it’d be weird, seeing her ex-boyfriend/old friend as a child, and it was, a little. But he was so endearing. A little kid, free from the stress he’d been carrying.

“You don’t think…”

She shrugs. “He might be, I don’t know how all that super works. But from the way he was speaking on the tape, I doubt it. Maybe it’s just… After-effects?” Either way, she’s prepared to raise a weird kid. Had been ever since she and Melanie realized they might have a future together (because there’s no way they were going to be raising someone normal).

“I hope that’s all it is.”

Some of the other kids have been watching them. Georgie’s noticed this. Watching as they play, as they hang out with Jon. Maybe it’s just jealousy, maybe it’s not. It makes her hold him closer. Protective anger like acid on her tongue, ready to burn if they try to hurt her boy.

One of them walks closer now, and narrows his eyes at them. He looks to be older, maybe eight or so. “Why would you choose him? He’s weird.”

Melanie scoffs, and Georgie takes her hand, to keep her from fighting an eight-year-old. “Maybe we like him because he’s weird. A better question is why you want to be mean to a three year old, kid.”

“Listen. You don’t have to like him, but we do,” Georgie says, glancing up at him. Skinny, fists clenched and shaking. Scared because every time someone else gets out, he must stay. “Just… Don’t be mad at him, because he’s going to leave and you aren’t. Maybe someone else will like you the way we like him, some day. Being mean to him isn’t going to make that happen sooner.”

It’s a long process, of course. Adoption is complicated. But they manage to pass the inspection, and bring him home. Home to a newly-bought house with three bedrooms, right next door to Daisy, Basira, and Martin.

The look on Jon’s face when he sees his own room, with a ceiling-high bookshelf stocked to the brim, and toys aplenty, is one Georgie will treasure forever.

(She’s made sure that there weren’t any Leitners.)

___  

Martin sits at the cafe, fingers tapping against his leg, grin on his face. The setting sun is shining in from the window to his right, and the soft scent of coffee fills the air.

He’d just seen Jon.

It had been eleven years, and Jon had remembered him.

He sips at his tea as he waits, anxious nerves swelling in his stomach. Which was ridiculous, because this is Jon. They’d been friends ever since Jon had moved in with his moms. Three year olds sitting together and playing with Legos. Jon reading books to him all the time. Going on adventures through their backyards.

They’d both had to move when they were twelve, though, and, in the chaos, had lost contact with each other. Martin hadn’t stopped missing him, even as lonely fog rolled in.

His moms did their best. But it was hard to make friends at school, when his anchor wasn’t there at his side. Cast adrift in a sea of unknown people.

(The pride club in high school helped a lot, but he still felt out of place. Alone even as he had friends to laugh and chat with, even as he started figuring out who he really was).

With his pencil to the paper in front of him, he tries to focus on some of his homework, and not think about Jon.

He ends up with lines of poetry written in the margins of his textbook instead.

When the bell to the cafe rings, he perks up, and grins as Jon walks in. He gives a wave, and Jon smiles and waves back. Once he’s retrieved his own drink, he walks to the table.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey yourself,” Martin replies.

Silence settles around them, and suddenly it dawns on Martin that he has no idea what to say to someone he hasn’t seen in over a decade. Sure, they’d been friends, but that doesn’t mean their interests are the same.

“So… What’s your major?” Jon asks, and Martin lets out a sigh of relief.

“I’m studying literature right now, actually! All the classics, poetry, you know. I’m considering a few different options, but I figured I might as well study what I’m interested in while I ponder career choices.” He could ramble for hours about some of the things he’s studying, but not right now. “What about you?”

Jon leans back in his chair, and runs a hand through his hair. “I’m actually in a grad program right now. Working on a degree in information sciences with a focus on archival work. I double-majored in the History and English course, along with parapsychology.”

“Parapsychology? That’s the study of weird stuff, yeah? Paranormal events?” Martin asks, leaning forward.

Jon nods, and some of the awkward air slides away. “ESP, ghosts, near-death experiences, and reincarnation. All that fun stuff. It’s really interesting, actually. I did a lot of research on the apocalypse, the one that didn’t happen?” He waits for Martin to nod, before continuing.

“There’s bunches about it. Stories are still being collected. Everyone’s got something to say. I mean, an entire year’s worth of memories? Of events that didn’t happen? I don’t know why more people aren’t fascinated by this!” His hands dance through the air, punctuating his sentences with a flourish. Poetry in motion.

Martin smiles, watching Jon as he starts to ramble, sipping his tea. Jon has always been so full of words and energy, if given some encouragement. Infodumping about whatever has caught his interest now. It used to be books and stories, regaling Martin with the plot.

“I’m not in statement collection, of course,” he says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t really get to manage those, though I do read them sometimes. Wrote a paper about all the different ways to classify some of the weirder aspects, because events seem to fall into certain categories.”

“That’s really cool! It sounds like you’ve done a lot of research into it, and I’d love to hear more later. You could send me your paper, if you want?” He asks, a tingle running up his spine at the idea of being able to contact Jon whenever.

“O-oh, sure! What’s your email? Or phone number? We should exchange those, yeah?” Jon starts taking out his phone, and Martin does too.

“Sounds like a plan. I’d like to stay in contact this time,” he says with a snort. “No more disappearing for eleven years on me, mister.”

“It’s hardly my fault both our parents decided to move at the same time,” Jon mutters, mock-offended as he plugs his number into Martin’s phone.

“I know. I’m more annoyed that our moms didn’t help us keep in contact. It’s weird, I swear they kept in contact, but I guess I didn’t think to try and get your number, and I know we pretty much ended up on opposite sides of the country.” He shrugs, handing Jon’s phone to him and taking his own back.

He smiles when the text of ^Hello, this is Jon.^ comes through.

“I asked mom once. She told me no. Said it’d be hard, or that it was complicated for some reason. I let the matter drop.” Jon fidgets with one of the napkins, folding and refolding it.

“Maybe I’ll ask my mum about it sometime,” Martin says. “Mom is still kinda busy.”

“She’s still a professional gamer, yeah? I’ve kept up with Miss Daisy’s career.” Jon laughs. “It’s still great watching a fifty? Sixty? Year old lady destroying all the other competitors.”

He laughs, nodding. “Yeah, she’s sixty four now, and still absolutely crushing them. She’s brutal. She’s told me some stories from when she and mum were police, and I gotta say, I think I prefer the gaming.”

“I’ll have to get these stories out of you sometime, I’d be very interested in hearing them.” A grin lights up Jon’s face, and Martin has no doubt that he’ll be able to pull those stories out of Daisy and Basira.

“I’m sure they’d both love to regale you with them.”

All the tension of the room has eased now, as they laugh and joke. Falling back into old patterns so easily. Martin hadn’t been aware of how much he’d missed this until he had it back. Years of withdrawal making it easier to adapt to the empty ache in his chest when Jon wasn’t by his side. Like he didn’t know he’d been living without oxygen, until he could breathe again.

But now Jon’s here. For the first time since he was twelve, his lungs work, and the pain is gone. Gone somewhere, a burden lifted from him.

Maybe he’ll be able to keep it at bay, and keep Jon close, in the coming years.

___

Gertrude Robinson sits in her office, looking over the edge of her computer at the boy who has just walked in. Glasses sit sharp on her face, as she scans him.

Still in his goth phase, with black on black on black, dyed hair, and tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves. Oh-so-familiar, but she doesn’t know if her face is familiar to him yet.

“Can I help you?” she asks, steady and ungiving of an inch.

Gerard stares back at her. No doubt about it then. She’d changed her last name back to what it should properly be, as a signal, just for this. It’d be nice, maybe, to be a woman not so alone with her memories.

“Gertrude?” He raises an eyebrow at her, arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t play dumb with me. Your crotchety old grandma trick doesn’t work as well when you’re barely over thirty.”

She laughs, and leans back. “You’ve caught on then, I see. Good ole’ Gerard Keay.”

“Gerry Delano. I’m not using her last name,” he bites out. “Tell me, what have you been up to here?”

“Oh, this and that. Not much to do in the way of battling the Fears, these days. I hear your friend Jon took care of that for me.” She’d listened to the tapes. Found them hidden away in the ruins of the Institute. The rise and fall of the apocalypse, and Jonah being such a fool. As if he really thought Jonathan Sims wouldn’t find a way to undo the hellscape. The mark of the Lonely was brilliant, but it gave him the key to becoming a savior, not confined to be an Archive.

“They’re still out there, though,” Gerry replies.

She gestures for him to take a seat across from her, and he does. Less stubborn, this life. “Yes, I know. Don’t think I’m unaware of their movements. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the remaining Avatars. I’m not a fool. Jude is still on the move, looking for those two. Mike Crew is still throwing people off buildings–in France, right now I believe. But they’re all weak. Low on power and morals, and there’s not going to be another ritual–not in my lifetime.”

With a shrug, he seems to relent. “I guess. Are you really content, then? To just sit here and work as an–an actual head archivist? For an actual, not-spooky institution?” His words are clipped, not harsh, but pointed.

“Don’t you think I’ve quite earned my rest?” she fires back. “I’m not caught in the Beholding this life, and I’m not involved. Not yet, at least.  Perhaps if the Web decides I need to be pulled back in, I will, but not now.” The Mother of Puppets is not one she can predict, but dancing to its strings is hard to resist. “Besides, it’s not like all my work here is boring. We’re still working on collecting statements from the apocalypse and filing them away.”

“The thing most people still think was a mass hallucination?” He laughs, and steals one of her pens to fiddle with. She’ll let him keep it. This is better than him using her desk as a footrest.

“Everyone wants to tell their story, and it allows me to travel around as much as I like to collect them. It’ll be a whole genre, I expect. A thousand years from now, and everyone will have their favorite stories. There will be fiction invented about it. Maybe some will even get it right.” She smiles, that smile of hers which he’s called bland but terrifying. Equal disinterest in everything, but with her own plot at play. It’s fitting, in a way.

“Well, you have fun with that. I’ll be keeping a lookout for trouble, and I’ll let you know if I see any. But I’m not here to help you with this,” he says, equally blasé.

“No, you’re here because you’ve said you can get Mr. Jonathan Barker-King, your roommate, an in to the archives here. Because you know me. You placed a lot of stakes on the fact that I remembered, didn’t you?” She chuckles. “You were right, for what it’s worth, but that was quite the gamble.”

“Well, if anyone were to remember, it’d be you, Gertrude.” Gerard shrugs, and she has to concede that he makes a point. “You’ll let him have the job, then?”

“Of course. Tell your friend that if he submits and application, he’ll likely get in. It’d be nice to have someone else around with an Eye for the finer details. Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”

Gertrude turns her attention back to the files on her desk, and expects Gerard to show himself out soon.

He lingers at the door, but says nothing more.

[k0meetta-blog]

.ﾟ☆Star-Kissed☆ﾟ.

@wayfaringmagpie

“Come on, I told you that your name is Einar Pekkanen and that we found you abandoned and helpless with nothing but ripped clothes and the barcode imprinted on your neck. Why would you question me, son?” Son. It felt odd to be called like that by the scientist of the laboratory, the one who was commanding around all the other scientists and students, the one who was his adoptive father and the one who saved his life ---- grimacing some, the red-head’s intense eyes moved to the side and looked off to the distance, blinking as he pondered about the words spoken just now. Son. For some odd reason, his stomach twisted and turned around with nausea, displeased with the explanation. “Einar.” The man before him attempted to catch his attention back, his voice stern and ambiguous. “I wish I had the answers for you, to give your mind peace and to help you understand your origins. We don’t need to know what alien race you have within you in order to respect and love you. You’re a smart boy.” -- “I’m not a boy.” -- “Smart man, then. Either way, there is no need for me to explain to you how none of this matters.” ---- “Not to you, obviously.” As he turned around to walk back into his room, he merely heard the old man scold him by calling out his name another time, speaking in a human language which Einar wasn’t capable of understanding (it sounded very Nordic and hefty, but that’s about it), the freckled male then opened the door of his lab station by operating a button next to the door, which caused it to slide open left and right, closing behind him after he entered. 

A heavy sigh leaving his throat, lips, he gritted his teeth a moment before sinking into his chair by the desk, staring at the wall before him. Just what am I? That thought kept racing through his head, the more he was haunted by those dreams, nightmares. Everytime, he’d find himself in a huge test tube, filled with an odd liquid, almost slimy, but once he opened his eyes completely and looked down on himself, he had the arms of a nightkiller -- sharp scythes instead of hands, his heart rate increasing which was monitorised by humans, scientists, and they’d gather around him, ogle at him and observing him like a zoo animal, taking notes and discussing instead of helping him; it was tiring to have this repeat every single night (or more so day, for he tended to be more and more nocturnal the more he kept working in this lab), but the ginger told himself that those were just repressed feelings due to working on the slimes and the nightkillers, it had to happen eventually, something like burn-out-syndrome, right? Pekkanen leaned against one of his hands which was propped against his desk to massage his temple, grabbing the mouse with his other and operating his computer to open a file. “It makes no sense.” The man muttered to himself, moving his hand in order to rub against the tattoo which was on his neck while reading the numbers on that genome sheet. This was clearly his name on there, and it was clearly the results that he extracted from his own blood work (which he also did on himself, not wanting to cause any suspicion by asking another scientist for the favour) ---- and those were clearly his numbers; Einar Pekkanen, 55 % human and 45 %... “How would I have the same numbers as those nightkillers? It must be a mistake. Perhaps it’s an alien race similar to nightkillers... unexplored and not categorised into the system.” As he kept conversing with himself, he opened his notebook in which he scribbled everything he noted down about nightkillers during his research in order to become a proper scientist; perhaps having to deal with mutation as a first semester was kind of tricky and hard, but his ‘father’ had high expectations and saw the intelligence level in him from the very start. “The creation of the nightkillers. Sounds like a cheap novel.” He mused as he flapped the pages -- sketches of the slime and nightkillers, names for their organs and body parts, behaviour, food, ---- “Mating behaviour; Nightkillers are aggressive in nature towards any other race except their own. They do not attack one another when put into the same room, however when faced with another monster or alien, they growl at and attack said creature instantly. Nightkillers have very rare mating seasons, and when they do, the males will flaunt and show-off in front of the females, almost pushing themselves onto them in order to gain their attention. There is no known observation of a nightkiller mating with any other race than their own.” 45 % nightkiller? This was clearly a mistake. He had to dig deeper and find out about similar genomes, similar races----

“Einar. We need you to do the night shift tonight and keep an eye on the recreation room in the west wing. I did it the last two nights and I need some shut eye.” A blond female -- human -- barely entered his room as she started speaking, something about her voice was not menacing but more so degrading and haughty, almost as if she was talking to one of those so-called lab rats; this was nothing new to the lanky tween, not even averting his gaze towards her as she spoke, let alone giving her any attention with his body language, he merely hummed lowly. “’We need you?’ I see, I see... I suppose, you have permission from Väinö?” -- “Yes, I asked Mr Pekkanen.” -- “Alright.”

Without any further exchange of words, the woman left and Einar cracked his neck as he leaned back on his chair. “Cunt.” He muttered, feeling slight aggression rising in his belly as he thought of her and how she was no exception ---- all of them treated him poorly. The mutt, as some called him behind his back, but oddly enough too scared to say those exact words into his face. “Cowards, all of them.” Slamming his notebook to close it, he deleted the files of his experiment on his own blood work, making sure to not leave any trace behind for Väinö to find it. Mostly not after the conversation they had today.

As he stood up from his seat, he grabbed some paper work and extracted essences from various monsters and aliens ---- while he would have to do the night shift, he could keep himself busy with his personal research on stems and their effect on humans. “Might as well, right?” Einar spoke as he looked into the computer screen, chuckling deeply. The excessive amount of talking to himself was getting out of hand, but one could only be this lonely in a science station full of humans who did not want to have any social interaction with him unless it was necessary. “Yes, I’ll test the effect of the agility essence. Perhaps infusing it into the slime would be interesting. They’re quite slow and annoying, and perhaps it would have a nice effect cloning them with the essence also? Imagine, a fast slime snail chasing after those humans, uhuhu... joy...” As he already exited the room, some scientists passed him and merely observed the man having a conversation with himself, but he did not mind ---- they were just going to their rooms to get some rest for the night, while Einar had to stay awake and make sure the breeding nightkillers would not have some emergency situation; or rather, that they would not break out. However, the precautions took on these creatures in those test tubes made it nearly impossible for them to break out ---- something more severe had to happen for them to actually be a threat outside of their breeding spots.

But it did not help that Pekkanen kept having those nightmares, no, images of them scattered all over this lab, attacking the scientists and mauling them to death; one part of his brain is telling him that he was merely paranoid and needed to calm down, the other part however did every kind of research in order to have a backup plan (also called plan B, obviously) in order to make it out alive. His interest for these stems was surely born out of curiosity, but it eventually developed into more of a survival instinct, something like a hunch.

“Day 26.” The red-head said after grabbing his dictaphone (which was merely a microphone attached to his ear, which he activated with a hand gesture. “Nightkiller breeding station seems to have almost reached its final spurt; west wing test tubes, incoming check.” Entering said west wing, the freckle face eyed the glassy tubes, growing nightkillers inside, breathing and living, but unconscious yet ---- almost like fetuses in a mother’s womb, right? But how would he know... “Limbs reached their limit of growth; strong rib cage, no armour needed. Small movements visible now and then.” Touching the glass, he observed one of the creatures closer, blinking at them. “Colour variations visible due to various slime genomes and DNAs used; various types visible too. Most frequent seems to be the ice type...” As he kept talking into his microphone in order to summarise his observation and his research on those mutants, Einar eventually made his way to the west wing surveillance room, taking a seat in front of a variety of screens which showed videos of the surveillance cameras of the multiple rooms all over the science lab in which the nightkillers were kept in their breeding tubes. Hours of boredom and reading into his notes, writing and peeking at the screens in front of him, he started his microphone once more.

“Day 26. The migraines are getting stronger, I doubled the last dosage of sumatriptan, one step further and it is a lethal dosage. Morphine could be an option, but I’m tired. No sleep. No appetite. It’s noisy, too noisy. I never heard of migraines like those before. Perhaps those are signs of schizophrenia? Hearing voices, noises, they talk, but I don’t understand... unknown language. They’re in my brain... they’re inside...” Taking a breath, he looked over at the tubes of essences which he lined up in front of him, as neatly as possible. “Is this the alien genes in me? Plausible possibility for bipolar behaviour depending on the gene pool. Possible tendency for schizophrenia due to the wrong gene pool mixed together. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger, anxiety, paranoia, nausea, depression; Need to raise the endorphins probably? Lithium... lithium...” He clicked his tongue as he kept pondering, watching the screen before him as if it hypnotised him. “Benzodiazepine... benzodiazepine... sleep... can’t sleep... sleep... can’t sleep.” The more he stared at the screen, the louder the noise in his head had gotten, but instead of being aware of it, Einar merely took it in.

There was a faint, very peculiar sound. Beep. Beep. Beep. It got louder the more he listened to it ---- almost like a siren, it changed and shifted, eventually sounding like an elongated screech, deep and dull, almost muffled, but it got louder and clearler, and louder---- once he realised that he had his eyes closed, Einar opened them slowly. Did he sleep? No good! But to him, it was no shock that he was asleep, or to wake up, more so he felt his blood run ice cold once he heard a scream from the hallway outside from the west wing, almost as if someone was fighting for their life. “Hah?” Jumping in his chair, he must’ve sunken in and fallen asleep on the desk, sleepy eyes searched the monitors and saw that the west wing breeding station was empty ---- the nightkillers have escaped. “Wha-- how... how... how?!” A loud thud against the door, he was thankful that this one could not be opened with a sensor ---- one needed a keycard which he bore on himself, staring in fear at the closed door as he heard the familiar growls and screams of the mutants, accompanied with the gurgling sound of someone choking on their own blood, his imagination running wild as he tried to picture what was going on outside. “Day 26...” He spoke in a mutter into his dictaphone, shaky hands searching for the stems and essences all over the desk. “Outbreak. Nightkillers’ aggressive nature is showing.” While he attempted to speak as calmly as possible, the pleading screams and noises on the other side of the very closed door which kept him alive were recorded as well, one would suggest that Einar was in utmost shock at the moment, but he was not sure if there was not a single hint of pleasure peaking inside of him while listening to those humans die in such an inhumane way. “Blood thirst is their main nature; predator behaviour, they may be hungry, similar to appearance of incredible hunger after hibernation, the hormones and metabolism are similar to the breeding station. But perhaps they don’t kill to eat, but kill out of pleasure. Need more evaluation on that.”

Finding the invisibility stem he built on, ogling the needle, Pekkanen snickered. “Humans create the weirdest monsters, but we don’t need monsters when even the Gods and Satan turned their backs away from us; we aren’t good, we aren’t evil, we are abandoned and we are insane. No... not we... they. I’m not one of them. I’m not with them. They’re not me. How ironic and so pleasing to see the creation kill its creator. How Mother Nature keeps reminding us that we cannot play God. And how we cannot climb the ladder by pretending to be something that we are not.” Inhaling sharply then, he eyed the small window at the door. “They’re capable of seeing infra-red, hence the name. Nightkillers are nocturnal, their eyes are blinded by daylight and anything pretending to be daylight. They react to motions more so than sounds. Test number 268: invisibility stem used in order to avoid being spotted. This is the first time the invisibility stem is used on a hum... humanoid subject. Possible side effects will be listed.” With that said, Einar rammed the needle into his arm and released the substance into his body, unsure if it worked, but he couldn’t see his reflection on the window anymore. Picking out his keycard from the front of his robe, he opened the door and stumbled back due to the dismembered corpse falling into the room. He was right about the aggression level of the nightkillers ---- but he was still unsure just how they could have escaped.

Rushing out of the surveillance room, he made his way towards the exit, knowing the laboratory by heart, therefore he did not need to look around. Passing dead bodies and lurking nightkillers, ready to jump at anything and anyone the could lay their eyes on, Pekkanen would lie if he said he wasn’t nervous in the slightest. Sure, the terrible sight of blood and guts everywhere, the smell of death lingering, the smell of iron... it was heavy, but due to his scientific experience, he was not appalled by those things that easily. However, there was no sight of his mentor, his ‘father’ ---- did he escape? Most likely, he would be dead, right? But one would never know...

There it was! The exit! After passing all those nightkillers and all the other monsters that were freed with the outbreak, Einar became a little too euphoric and stormed towards the door, unaware that the invisibility stem wore off quicker than he thought ---- perhaps he had to double the dosage on a humanoid body? But it was too late already and one of the mutants jumped in his way to block the exit, tossing him to the ground and growling at him in a manner that saliva was spat all across his face. Fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck!! Crawling backwards onto the tiled, white, sterile ground, away from the nightkiller before him, his turquoise eyes widened, already seeing his life pass right before him, seeing the motion of the scythe-like arm lunging towards him, however hitting the ground next to his head instead. The hovering body of the creature casting a shadow onto him. “P... playful nature... nightkillers... toy with their...p-prey? Almost like cat and mouse... right? Maybe lying down motionlessly will... bore them...?” While he kept going with his audio-notes of the scene which unfolded before him, he wasn’t aware of how the figure slowly but steadily moved away from him, almost as if it lost interest, but there was more to it than that ---- almost like a realisation that hit this murderous creature and made it stop. Weird. As it dashed off into the laboratory (perhaps in order to find actual prey?), Einar didn’t waste any more time and got up quickly, placing his hand onto the scan of the door in order to unlock it and escape this insane hell-hole. There were no words to describe the experience he just made ---- and he was less shocked about the death he witnessed and more so confused about being spared and getting out alive. 

Weeks passed after the incident at the science lab number 8 on Mostichi -- Einar lost everything except his notebook, dictaphone and the essences he stuffed into his white coat. While he was running through the forest, he found an abandoned rifle next to a body. Of course, he took it with him, he never was taught how to use weapons, but he found out to be quite the natural on that. The shock eventually wore off, or so he thought, but Einar kept having nightmares of the nightkillers -- the same ones that haunted him even before the outbreak -- now, he wouldn’t find the answer to his questions at all. Without a science lab and a high-class scientist like Väinö backing him up, there was little to no chance to find out about his alien race ---- to find out about his background and why he exists, why he was abandoned, why he had to be adopted. Ruffling his messy red hair as he sat on a rock inside of a cave, hiding from the monsters that were all over the place; it seemed as if they spread all over Mostichi in such a rapid time. Now would’ve been the perfect chance to actually observe nightkillers in their natural habitat-- or as natural as it may be for creatures that were born inside of a tube due to mutated DNA. but nonetheless, it seemed as if they found a perfect part in this world, on this planet, just like all the humans somehow found their place and were able to inhabit this planet after leaving Earth. Of course, Earth was something Einar never witnessed with his own eye, unlike Väinö (at least the old man kept telling him about this place). But still, the freckled male had to be careful and cautious not to be spotted by the nightkillers; it was simply a freak accident, sheer luck, that he was not ripped apart by that mutation after his invisibility stem wore off... he was somewhat sure of that.

Eventually, his attention was caught by the sound of harvesting and muffled music. Sitting up as on the high positioned rock, he looked around curiously. Another human? The only ones he knew were the ones at the lab... and they most likely were wiped out. Right? Was he hearing things again? As he shook his head in order to tell himself to just ‘ignore it’, there was more of the harvesting sound. Gems. It was light and sparkly, and the music got a little louder, accompanied by humming. “Hello?” The ginger called out, hearing his echo bouncing off the walls as he waited for a response -- nothing. Grabbing his rifle out of the retainer on his back, he jumped off of the rock and activated his wing suit in order to land as smoothly onto the ground as possible. Long gone was the white scientist robe he was given to by Väinö -- his armour and overall dress up more so looked like the ones astronauts wore. Just to make sure that he would not be attacked, he put on his helmet also ---- but more so to stay anonymous from whoever was lurking around in the same cave as him. Perhaps this was one of the humans looking for him ---- attempting to murder him? Maybe they blame him for the outbreak!? After all, it was his night shift duty and it was his responsibility to keep everyone safe. It was only logical to presume that he meant the worst for everyone, just freeing those nightkillers and making it out alive of the laboratory. Master plan! But then again, he fell asleep and thus it must’ve been something or someone else...

After roaming the humid cave for any figure, he finally spotted someone. Just like him, they wore an overall, armour and a helmet also. By the looks of it, they owned a high level Mark Tool, they were able to collect multiple resources at the same time. Prospector? Probably. And the music clearly came from their direction too. Weren’t they scared to be jumped by some alien and killed? One had to be on high alert at all times, those nightkillers, tech hunters... hell, even regular slime monsters, they were everywhere and ready to kill. What a weirdo.

Having his rifle pointed at the figure moving and dancing around, humming and collecting, he had to make sure that they were no threat whatsoever. Slowly, Einar inched closer with quiet steps, not wanting his shoes to cause any echo and perhaps catch the person’s attention, startle them or -- worst case scenario -- make them shoot him right in the stomach or chest. The red-head found out that he was healing a lot quicker than others, probably due to his alien genetic make-up ---- but he was still not ready to risk ending up dead on the spot.

[piscesbag21-blog]

People are super-weird about red hair, and it’s only getting weirder

On Friday morning, I woke up in a good mood. Max had slept through the night, the sun had come out after two solid weeks of rain, and we were going out that night to celebrate a good friend’s birthday, so I was looking forward to that.

Then I opened up my WordPress app to see if there had been any new comments posted on my blog, and I found this, posted on my ‘Parenting Predictions’ post:

(For those of you reading on phones, etc, it says, “The baby looks so much like Terry. The ears! At least it’s not ginger, that must have been a relief, although it does look like his hair is getting lighter.”)

Now, I think it’s pretty obvious, both from the “at least” (“Your baby has ears like his dad, but at least he doesn’t have hair like you, too!”) and the fact that Lou has obviously been following my blog  closely enough to notice that Max’s hair has gotten lighter, but still refers to him as “it”, that this comment isn’t actually about red hair or, indeed, about Max. No, it’s just a blatant attempt to be cruel – and hey, isn’t it nice to know there are people in the world who will stoop so low as to insult a baby’s appearance, just because they don’t like his mum’s blog?

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Because, while Lou’s comment is transparent trolling, which probably has nothing to do with the colour of my hair (i.e. I’m sure if I didn’t conveniently have red hair for her to target, she’d have picked something else…), her attitude isn’t uncommon, sadly. True, most people aren’t nearly as vicious about it, but when I was pregnant,  I did have a few comments – all from women of an older generation, interestingly – which left me in no doubt that, as far as they were concerned, if I were to pass my unfortunate hair colour down to my poor, innocent child, it would be a real affliction for him.

“What if it’s a GINGER, though?” commented one woman to her friend, upon hearing that the baby was a boy. “A GINGER BOY, can you imagine!” And then they both looked a bit shamefaced, and rushed to assure me that of course that would be fiiiiine, and that if the poor child was “a ginger,” (And, lest we forget here, only a ginger can call another ginger “ginger”...) then we would obviously still love it just the same as we would if it had a normal hair colour. Like, it would be a struggle, obviously, but we would somehow cope, right?

Right. I mean, just call me Anne of Green Gables, yeah?

This kind of attitude is really common here in the UK. I know it’s not common in other places, and that, in some countries, the opposite is true: every time I write about this subject I get comments from people telling me I should move to X country, because people love redheads there. But, in the UK at least, there are still plenty of people who view “ginger” hair as an affliction, and who have absolutely no hesitation in making their views about that crystal clear.

Honestly, though? None of that affects me. It never has.

I tell you this mostly so you know this post isn’t a plea for reassurance or head pats: I don’t need you to tell me you like my hair, or anything like that, because, the fact is, I like my hair colour, and, well, I’m the one who has to walk around with it stuck to my scalp, so as long as I’m OK with it, that’s really all that matters. Sure, when I was a child, I’d occasionally get teased about it (I mean, if you think being a redhead is bad, try being a redhead called “Amber”…), but teasing was all it was, and it really didn’t affect me. My parents raised me to believe that anyone who’d go out of their way to try to make another person feel bad was obviously a bit hard of thinking, and so all of those stupid comments just went right over my obnoxiously red head. Which, honestly, is kind of odd to me now, because I’ve never been the most confident of people: I’ve never been happy with my appearance, and I’m still incredibly self-conscious about lots of things – it’s just that my hair colour isn’t one of them, and no amount of stupid comments is going to change that.

I’ve never wanted to change my hair colour. I’ve never dyed it. (Other than to try to make it MOAR RED, that is.) In fact, it’s my absolute intention to be a redhead until the day I die, and I am 100% happy with that.

So, no, actually, it wasn’t a relief that Max isn’t a “ginger”.

It wasn’t a disappointment, either, though: which is the other thing people keep implying must be the case. Yes, really. Because, while in “real” life I got a handful of, “OMG, not a ginger baby!” comments, online it couldn’t have been more different. (Well, other than “Lou’s” comment, obviously, but we’ve established that Lou is a troll, so…)

Online, almost from the second I announced my pregnancy, I started getting comments from people excitedly saying they really, really hoped the baby would be “ginger”, and would be keeping their fingers crossed that he was. I was asked over and over again if I thought he would have red hair, and when I answered honestly that, actually, there was almost no chance of that happening (For a baby to be a redhead, both parents have to carry the gene, and, as Terry’s parents were both Greek, and red hair isn’t common there, I’d honestly have been amazed if Max had my colouring, rather than Terry’s…), I’d be told not to give up hope, because it could still  happen, and I might just get “lucky”.

Now, obviously people mean nothing by this: in fact, I’m sure most were just trying to be kind, by letting me know they like my hair colour.  The more people told me they were “praying” for my baby to have the hair colour they deemed to be most attractive, though, the more uncomfortable I got about it. For my own part, I honestly could not have cared less what colour of hair he had – or if he even had hair at all. As time went on, though, and the comments kept rolling in, it was hard to escape the feeling that a lot of people were going to be very disappointed by what I knew was highly likely to be a little, dark haired boy – and the thought of anyone being disappointed by anything about my baby made my heart hurt.

Still, though, people continued to fixate on the idea of the baby’s hair being “ginger”, and then finally, the night before I went in for my c-section, I got a message from someone saying she knew I’d be having the baby the next day, but that, unfortunately for me, as my husband is Greek, it was very unlikely the baby would be a redhead (I couldn’t help but read this part in the tone of a doctor in a TV drama, all, “I’m sorry to break this to you, Mrs Miaoulis, but there’s a very good chance that your child will have disappointing hair. I’ll just give you a moment to come to terms with this…”), so she was wondering how disappointed I’d be if that was, indeed, the case? Because, if she were the one having a baby the next day, she’d be praying right now that it came out with red hair, for sure!

And, I mean… OK? I guess you could pray for the “right” hair colour? For my own part, I don’t pray, but, when I got that message, I was lying in bed, literally shaking with fear that my baby might not make it out alive, so if I had been going to pray for something, it would’ve been for him to have been born healthy, and for us both to make it through the birth alive.

Thankfully, of course, we did. The next day, Max made his entrance, safe and healthy – and with a head of jet black hair, which has gradually lightened over the past few months to a beautiful shade of brown. He is perfect… but still people fixate on his hair colour. Still, barely a week goes by without someone trying to convince me that his hair is turning red, or that it WILL turn red eventually, and being almost palpably disappointed when I say that no, if it looks a bit red, then it must be either the light or the Instagram filter, because it’s very definitely brown. And, again, people mean well: of course they do. I think, a lot of the time, it’s probably just something to say. And, when it comes down to it,  I’d much rather get comments from people desperately trying to detect a glimmer of “ginger” in my baby’s brown hair, than ones like Lou’s, which take the “ginger” obsession to a place that’s really quite disturbing. That goes without saying.

Still, though, the fact remains:

I’m not really sure why it seems to inspire this very extreme, “love it or loathe” it kind of reaction, but either way, it’s just a little bit odd to me, because, really?

Does it really matter what colour it is?

<![CDATA[#mc_embed_signupbackground:#fff;clear:left;font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;width:100%]]> Source: https://foreveramber.co.uk/red-hair-hate

[stgeorgesmovielover-blog]

La La Land - 12A

So it's all doom and gloom. The Trumpster has been officially sworn in, the world has been in uproar and we're all going to die! Or are we?! Well, they say hope and Cinema are dead (especially musicals). They say love and romance are for losers. They say magic doesn't exist anymore- but fear not, my dear Movie Lover readers, for there is a cure to this madness: La La Land has released and successfully whisked us all away to a place (perhaps in time, as much as in location), where hope, dreams, magic, and love still do exist! Don't believe me? Follow me to La La Land! 

This is a tale of dreamers, made by dreamers, for dreamers! A tale so perfectly suited to the musical backdrop, La La Land centres on two dreamers lost in the City of Stars- or Los Angeles (LA) to you and me! She (Emma Stone), is a hopeful actress with posters of Ingrid Bergman on her walls, struggling to keep her dream alive and he (Ryan Gosling), is an aspiring Jazz pianist that seems forced to play 'elevator music'-style Jazz instead of the chaotic, intense and liberating kind that runs through his veins. Their paths persistently cross until love blossoms (because HELLO?! It is Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone we're talking about- and their chemistry is always on fire!) and, just as their individual hopes and dreams have to navigate their way through LA's, equally as inspiring as they are stifling, backdrops- their love story must navigate the quirks, ups and downs of the magical realism of La La Land in the most expertly choreographed and beautiful way! 

I'm not sure if La La Land will win the Oscar for Best Picture in next month's Academy Awards- but it absolutely should! It's been a while since I've left a cinema truly, genuinely, believing that I've been transported to a beautiful place. Hugely nostalgic, but in a way that pays pure, gorgeous, homage to the Golden Age of Musical Cinema. I just couldn't stop smiling, throughout! From the euphoria of the opening number, set on an LA freeway, to its final wistful moments inside a Jazz club; there is not a single moment, not a single beat, a single sparkle in the eye, a single smile or a swish of cocktail dress that doesn’t completely envelope and steal you with its irresistible charm. It’ll sweep you off your feet, much like the duo, themselves in a certain scene- and for 2 hours, it’ll make you fall in love with the movies again! This may not be the movie to save the Musical Film genre, but my gosh, if musical films are on their way out, having danced their final waltzes, then at least La La Land will ensure that the genre be respected, forevermore- bowing out with a final flourish of the hand and a curtsy that rouses the audience to a standing ovation as the final curtains fall. 

And that's not even touching on the sheer delight of the Gosling-Stone reunion! La La Land is the actors' third film together and they will, most certainly, go down in history as the Kate and Leo of this new generation, or even one of the most iconic romantic couples in Hollywood to have ever graced the silver screen, just like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, or keeping with the musical theme: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; there is even a dance in homage to the duo's famous 1935 number: Cheek To Cheek, from the film: Top Hat.

There truly is something utterly enchanting about Ryan Gosling's face, right? It can't just be me that thinks so. Bathed in the sun-drenched lighting of LA's gorgeous sunsets, the neons of the Jazz bars and the twinkly twilight of the Moon, I don't think it's possible to doubt his brilliance anymore. Sure there are those that choose to view Gosling as nothing more than 'that guy that starred in The Notebook' (which, by the way, is also a pretty amazing romance!) and there are those that believe he doesn't ever talk...you know, because of that ONE film where he barely talks: Drive, but Gosling is SO much more than that. Here is an actor that started his career with a searing performance as a xenophobic, arrogant and rude bigot in The Believer, to an endearing oddball who falls in love with a blow-up doll in Lars and The Real Girl; from the comedic heights of the brilliantly funny The Nice Guys last year to the devastating beauty and realism of Blue Valentine in 2010. He has done it all and he really is an incredible actor. 

For any other fans of his out there: you will most likely already know this, but for those who don't, Ryan Gosling has a band and they are hauntingly good, ethereal and magnificent. The band is called Dead Man's Bones and Gosling is the lead singer and pianist. Here is a man with MANY talents and so, to see his fingers blithely work the keys on the piano in La La Land, is a treat, even more so when his gorgeous voice accompanies! Yes, with more classics under his belt than most actors can manage in five-decade-long careers, can there really be any doubt that Gosling is a star in the leagues of Brando, DeNiro, Eastwood, Jimmy Stewart or Carey Grant? Even Gene Kelly after this film! It's not just Gosling, Emma Stone is sheer perfection in her role, too! Lighting the screen on fire with her deft musical and dance skill that I really didn't know she had. Having always been a fan of hers, too, it's even more amazing to be surprised at just how impressive she really is! She is every part awkward and relatable, beautiful and timeless, quirky and modern and carries the role off with such authenticity that you feel as if this could be her real life story (if only, Ms Stone, if only)! Indeed, I challenge anyone to not be wowed by these two magnificent leads and to not be swept up by their romance. 

Shot by Linus Sandgren in Cinemascope and on film, the visuals of La La Land are so stunningly beautiful that literally, any frame of the film would make a gorgeous piece of wall-mounted art! At times, it even feels like the sets and scenery are actually dancing with the camera! I have been to LA and visited a lot of the locations used in this film, but I have never seen a more vibrantly colourful, alive, hopeful and alluring LA than in La La Land! Iconic destinations such as the Griffith Observatory, Angel's Flight and Chateau Marmont are now venerable movie characters in their own right and it was a pleasure to see them in this enchanting light.

But it's Director, Damien Chazelle, who has given us all reason to flock to the cinemas, even during this particularly cold month when we'd all rather be hibernating at home (hiding away from the cold, or just the Trump situation- in my case it's a bit of both)! Chazelle, our champion of cinema, has found a way to bring the magic back! I can tell you that during the particular screening that I went to, there were irrepressible smiles, everywhere, there was laughter, there were tears and there was a lot of head-bopping and toe-tapping! Yep, the songs are wonderfully infectious and have such tender hooks and perfect lyrics that you'll be hard pressed to not be humming the melodies the whole way home (and for the next few days, if you're anything like me)! There is no doubt about it that Chazelle is trying to preserve the magic of film in all its visceral glory; his 2014 hit, Whiplash, is a brilliantly bold and fantastically executed film, one of my favourites of that year and now La La Land, I think, is one of my favourite films of all time! Depending on how kind and gentle life has been with you up until now, La La Land's final moments will be either heartbreaking or irrecoverably shattering. It is absolutely one of the finest, most stunning, sequences ever put on film.

Yes, it might be quite a wait for the next film that is anywhere close to this in cinematic gold and beauty. There is so much mediocrity that perhaps we will have to wait a year, maybe 5, or maybe we'll have to wait indefinitely, but at least we now know that magic really does exist and that Cinema is alive. WE are alive! And isn't knowing that a gift in itself? There isn't one thing I would change about La La Land, not one thing, I just cannot remember the last time I really felt like I'd been transferred to a different time and different place and I really didn't want to come back! Can we all just move to La La Land? ....We can make that happen, right? 

5/5