Darkness.
Freedom.
I don't see It anymore. The animal takes It away. I am free.
The animal leaves. He moves quickly. Not as quick as me.
The animal hadn't been looking at me. But I wanted to be sure. The animal entered his aboveground hole, and We were alone.
I dissolve It, and I can move again. I shut my eyes and open my skin. It's not like seeing, like they are used to. It's better.
I see the trees, all around me. The trees don't have eyes. They can't see me. The trees can't judge me.
I see the insects, at my feet. The insects see me, but the insects recognize me. The insects understand my role. I am free among the insects.
But the Animals, the Animals see me. The Animals, who don't understand what purpose I serve. The Animals don't accept me.
The Animals call themselves intelligent. But they are not.
I am intelligent.
I see Her, behind me. She is intelligent too. She is a part of my role. I reach my hand towards Her, and she takes it. I feel us link together, and I see her thoughts.
I see Her fear.
I see Her hunger.
And I see Him.
The only one who has a name.
A name he does not deserve.
Doctor.
We knew of Him.
The Bringer of Darkness.
The Oncoming Storm.
We knew of his victims.
The Daleks.
The Racnoss.
The Valeyard.
The Sontarans.
The Timelords.
All murdered.
By Him.
We are predators.
But He is a killer.
Yes, we had heard the legends, but dismissed them foolishly.
Now We had been enslaved. We were starved, and we saw Him.
We expected the worst.
But then-
He-
He offered help.
The way He spoke of us. He knew everything about us.
But He did not know Us.
We saw the way He looked at us.
I saw the way He looked at me.
The same way It looks at me.
The same way that makes me become It.
The look of fear.
The look of hatred.
No warmth.
Only Stone.
Cold, unforgiving Stone.
And He would offer us help?
Help?
No.
I do not need-
We do not need any help He could give.
I take Her hand and walk with Her. We move through the grass, which sways indifferently. I lead Her to the window, crouching down. I pull Her close, and I see.
I see Him, sitting inside. He is advising the Animals.
I see Him.
But He doesn't see me.
"Those things present a danger to you that you can't possibly fathom!"
How true.
He still fears us.
He extends help in one hand, yet holds another hand over the Animals,
Wishing the best for both.
Wishing for peace.
No.
I am not-
We are not like Him.
We do not have two faces.
We are the greatest predators in the universe.
And we will hunt.
I will hunt.
I will hunt Him.
And I will feed.
"Where'd they go, where'd they go?" the Doctor shrieked, his voice rising steadily in pitch as he dashed from window to window, searching for the Angels. "Ditzy! Get your parents out of here!"
Dreary and Delphi, however, remained seated at the table, calmly finishing their dinner. "Again; Ditzy? Why have you always gotta bring home the weird ones?" Dreary asked.
The Doctor ran out the door and spun on his hooves, looking this way and that while the Do family slowly filed out after him, reminiscing more about Ditzy's previous partners.
"Oh, and who was that one red fellow?" Delphi remembered, giggling, "I don't think he spoke more than three words the entire time he was over here!"
"Mom, shh!" Ditzy objected, looking at the ground in a vain attempt to conceal her embarrassment. Instead, she tried turning to the Doctor, changing the subject, "Doctor, would you stop being weird?" she advised playfully.
The Doctor wasn't paying attention, though. He was standing still, looking down at a large outcropping on the side of the Do household.
It was an entrance to a deep, dark cellar.
And it was open.
The Doctor shut his eyes and hung his head, chuckling to himself, "This is ridiculous," he muttered, "I can't catch a break, can I?"
"Shut yer yapper, Smith," Dreary grumbled, "Let's go back inside - Delphi made some brownies and I'm freezing my bits off."
The Doctor looked up to him, "As much as I'd like to enjoy some brownies," he smiled, "I can't. The Angels are down there. And they're hunting us."
"What does he mean, Ditzy?" Delphi asked, "They're just statues! ...Right?"
"Right!" Dreary affirmed. "Smith, I don't know how it is in Trottingham, but statues don't hunt 'round here."
The Doctor looked at him emotionlessly, then turned his head and looked over to the corner of the yard, where the Angels had been previously.
Dreary followed his gaze, and saw an empty yard.
"Did you move the statues, dear?" Delphi asked, prodding Dreary's shoulder.
"I thought you moved 'em!" Dreary rebutted.
"You're the only one who was out here besides John!" Delphi reasoned, "Surely you must've moved them when you were returning the mirrors?"
"I didn't touch 'em," Dreary swore, then spun on his hoof and glared suspiciously at the Doctor, "Smith, what kind of-?"
He was cut off as the Doctor slammed the cellar doors shut behind him, descending into the darkness.
The Doctor blinked repeatedly, adjusting his eyes to the darkness. He was standing on a small staircase which lead steeply down to a cold, stone floor. There, on the ground, was a small padlock - the crossbar was snapped in two, most likely by the Angels.
The Doctor snatched it up anyway and slid it over the cellar doors. He took out his sonic and ran it over the broken part of the lock, melting it back together.
He heard a loud thumping from the other side of the doors, and the muffled voice of Ditzy, rising in pitch with objection.
He placed a hoof gently on the door and let out a small breath through his nose, then spun on his hooves and stepped deeper into the cellar.
As he walked among cluttered, musty shelves, he took out his sonic again and disengaged his chameleon circuit, feeling his equine form undulate away as he became a timelord again. If he was going to have to do some quick thinking, he wanted to be able to move quickly too. His hair scraped against the low cellar ceiling, making him feel a bit cramped in the already dark and cluttered room.
He kept his ears open and held his sonic out in front of him. Knowing that the flashlight app on his sonic wouldn't technically help him stop the Angels - it didn't emit photons, it used sound to construct a visual picture in the user's mind telepathically, like echolocation - he would still be able to actually observe them, which he hoped might trick the Angels into becoming stone. Like a placebo, almost.
He slowly scanned the cellar, eyes darting from shelf to shelf, all made from the same, musty wood; from the ceiling to the floor, both roughly hewn from what appeared to be slate. His footsteps echoed across the floor, lighting up the deathly silent room.
He crouched down and peered between shelves, finding any number of odd bits and baubles - pictures, old toys, broken tools, boxes of miscellaneous objects. On a whim, he picked up a dusty picture and held it close to his eyes - trying to actually see it, as his sonic's echolocation app only allowed him to see the shapes of objects. Blowing away a layer of ages-old dust, he saw what seemed to be a young Ditzy Do. Just a foal, sleeping soundly in the forelegs of a more youthful Delphi, who was in turn in the forelegs of a slightly less wrinkled Dreary.
He chuckled and set the picture back down, then blinked quickly, sensing something nearby. Slowly, he turned his head around, and pointed his sonic.
There, standing behind him, was the Angel.
"Hello there," the Doctor started carefully.
Doctor, it said.