Author's Note: Hey, I kept to a release date this time! Good for me! Actually, this one is a little shorter than the others... Hmm...
As usual, my thanks go to Isabel, my love, my muse... And to the less floridly described but still rather excellent Allyourbase. I couldn't keep doing this without the two of them encouraging-and sometimes prodding- me forward. And by this point, even I want to know what's going to happen to Sander...
That makes it sound like I don't already know. Anyway, on with the show. Votes and comments are delicious to me, and I cherish every one, so please don't leave me hanging. Enjoy!
*
Now, they refused even to look at one another, the immortal and his one remaining human companion. Now, they could barely stand the feeling of being in the same room together.
The TARDIS was floating freely in space, spinning through the void with the doors open, Rory absently staring out into infinity. The Doctor sat against a railing at the centre of the control room, back to the human, staring at the opposite wall.
Both were waiting; the Doctor had found what he was looking for, connected with Lysithea. Now, the TARDIS was plotting a course based on the faint psychic link still remaining between the Trine-form and Amy's kidnappers. Of course, as is the way of such things, the trail was too old to follow immediately, and it would take some time before it could be reconstructed and followed.
And Lysithea had ensured that it was not the best time for the pair to be left alone with their thoughts.
Her last act of defiance; to link the two of them as strongly as she could, before pushing them both down the darker paths of the other's mind. She had caught them both at a moment of mental weakness; even the Doctor had been unaware that she could do that. And what they had found...
The Doctor had been largely unsurprised at what he had found in Rory's mind; the clawing, numbing fear for Amy's safety and the horrid anger burning in his heart. But then he had discovered that rich vein of jealousy, discovered that some part of Rory actually blamed
him
for what had happened to Amy. It hadn't sat well, and he was finding it incredibly hard to voice his discontent. Which was strange, given how much he usually liked to talk...
Rory's hands clenched into fists, hanging uselessly by his sides. The things he had seen... well, there was no secrets, anymore. What the Doctor had termed "distraction" was to Rory merely a betrayal.
It had been bad enough, sinking into the mind of a Time Lord and being dwarfed by the sheer immensity of every thought, every emotion, every memory and regret that the ancient alien had. It had been worse, being seared by the time vortex as it boiled through the Doctor's mind every second of every day.
But the worst by far had been Lysithea's forceful prod into the Doctor's deepest- and very definitely Amy-related- guilt.
Every screen in the TARDIS was still projecting video of Amy, currently on a ship that Rory didn't recognize, naked with her hands cuffed behind her back, getting manhandled by a complete stranger. Rory's fists gripped tighter.
Lysithea's probing malice had revealed to Rory the Doctor's growing, guilty lust as he watched Amy's plight. The fact that it made him uneasy didn't make it any better, especially when it came to light that he had stopped searching on Theros in order to relieve his desire. Every second he had wasted in that dingy club was a terrible betrayal.
Those memories had paraded past Rory; Amy kissing the Doctor in her bedroom- the act that had sparked the shift in how the Time Lord saw her- and the ideas in his mind of what he could do with her.
To
her... And the idea that she would reciprocate the moment he showed any interest.
Once again, Rory found himself in a tug of war over Amy's affections, even if it was just in his own head. Only this time, after seeing the Doctor's mind, he no longer felt like the better man.
Insecurity...
He had no idea how long it would take the TARDIS to locate the trail they needed, but one thing was absolutely certain:
The end couldn't come soon enough.
*******************
'So... Amy Pond,' Cohen said lightly, tilting his head to one side and regarding her appraisingly. She did not disappoint him. She may have been a slave, but that hardly mattered to him.
Amy looked warily at him, peering out from behind her ginger fringe. Cohen couldn't help but grin; even after twenty years, his brother had really come through for him. And that blonde woman who was with him... Damn. Sander might complain about how his life had turned out, but he'd spent the last few weeks travelling around the galaxy with two gorgeous women, so things hadn't turned out so bad for him. Cohen had met many people in his travels, and he'd seen lives turn out far worse than his brother's had. But none of that really mattered right now. All that mattered was that he was in his room with a beautiful redhead, and he could do whatever he wanted.
'You know...' He began, taking a seat on his bed and motioning for her to do likewise. 'I grew up hearing stories about you.'
Amy blinked,' What?'
'I lived on New Earth, Amy Pond,' Cohen said with a smile. '
New
Earth, the second human capital world after the original was rendered uninhabitable. Sander and I were born in New Warsaw, but that was a part of the second British Empire regardless of what the name might indicate. My ancestors came to New Earth on the Starship U.K, Miss Pond. My childhood was full of legends passed down from my grandparents: the journey through the stars, the Beast Below... and the Immortal in the Blue Box, with his young redheaded companion from Scotland. There was never any name attached, but it's become increasingly likely that it was you the stories refer to, yes?'
'Yeah,' Amy admitted shakily. She was so, so far away from home... 'That was me.'
'Ah, this is wonderful!' Cohen applauded. 'A living legend! Of course, everyone in the British Empire has seen you: a few seconds of surveillance footage from the Starship U.K survived... But it doesn't do you justice, Amy. You're much more appealing in the... flesh,' His eyes flashed with some dark indefinable desire that made Amy shrink away.
'What are you going to do to me?' She asked in a vague, resigned voice. The twang of fear ran through her words, and a shiver went down Cohen's spine. Her vulnerability was so appealing; this would be fun.
'Everything my brother has done, I expect. Of course, my time with you will regrettably be shorter than his, so I'll have to make do with quality over quantity.'
'I doubt you could do
everything
,' Amy said with bitter petulance. 'You don't have the equipment,' Her mind slipped back to the early days of her captivity; of the Arclight system specifically, and the terrible suffering it had caused her. The utter hopelessness of her situation could be so overwhelming sometimes.
'Ah, yes. Sander mentioned. You three went to Nirvana, yes?' Cohen leaned forward. 'How was that?'
Amy swayed on her feet at the memory, lips pursing, 'Um... Intense.'
'I've never been, myself. Although I've always wanted to. But I digress,' Cohen sighed. 'I expect that you'll find what comes next to be... unpleasant.'
'Oh, really?' Amy found the angry sarcasm spilling out of her. 'Was your first clue the collar? Because I've always found it to be a dead giveaway.'
'I'm a Hackett man, Amy,' Cohen said. 'We're bred for amorality. Sander's living proof of that,' His eyes grew cold. 'I don't intend to abuse that Command Collar of yours, provided you can be a good girl for me in return. Can you do that, Amy?'