Chapter Nine

When Amy charged out of the TARDIS, screaming like a banshee and brandishing the torch like a sword, the Doctor came to the conclusion that even though he had been aware that she had a loud voice, he now knew she had a loud voice. Even his ears hurt when he heard that ear-splitting shriek.

In the light of the torch, he saw the faint outline of an approaching Dragh retreat. The Doctor backed up and took out his sonic screwdriver. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"You're the one who told me to stay inside!"

"Yes, but I never expect you to listen!"

"Oi, give me some credit!" Amy said. "Anyway, you're the one who blundered out here in the first place."

"I didn't blunder! I don't blunder! And – and you better start screaming again, I think there's one behind us!" The Doctor spun around and activated the sonic screwdriver. Sure enough, he saw the flash of a green silhouette retreating back into the woods.

"For invisible creatures, they're pretty cautious," Amy said.

"Yes, well, don't get your hopes up," the Doctor replied. "To be perfectly honest, this is going to be a tricky one."

"And that would be because they're invisible," Amy quipped.

"Hush, I need to concentrate."

They were standing several paces away from the TARDIS in a bright patch of moonlight. The clearing still looked deserted.

However, he knew better.

Amy shrieked as a flash of red fell out of the sky and knocked the Doctor to the ground. Most of the red paint had worn off the invisible creature, but it was still highlighted by a narrow swath of red. Amy's shrill voice became louder, but unfortunately the Dragh ignore her. It wrestled the sonic screwdriver from his grasp and hurled it into the woods. Amy flung herself at the invisible creature, her hands wildly clawing at it. She must have struck part of it, as it screeched and hissed, flinging her to one side. The torch went flying out of her grasp and fell to the ground with a thud.

"Amy!"

The Doctor scrambled to his feet, rushing towards her. The Dragh caught him, and once again he fell to the ground.

"Do not run, Time Lord," the colourless voice said. "It is a sign of weakness, and we do not wish to capture the voice of the weak."

"All the more reason to run," the Doctor muttered.

Soft thuds sounded around the clearing, stirring up fallen leaves and small pieces of undergrowth. The rest of the Draghs had arrived.

They were in trouble now.

Amy pushed herself off the ground, wincing, and quickly collected the fallen torch. "Okay, you Draghs," she said. "This is how things are going to go. Leave the Doctor alone, or I swear I'm going to scream like hell until you all go deaf – do you understand?"

One of the Draghs laughed. It was a strangely vacant sound, empty of the rolling sound that filled human laughter. "Little girl," the Dragh whispered, its voice gusting like the wind, "do you really think that will stop us? You surprised us at the Austen girl's house; we were taken aback, as we were uncertain how potent your screaming voice was. However, it will effect us no longer. You are weak, just as your Time Lord is weak. There is nothing to be scared of from you, Amelia Pond, as you are nothing."

Amy froze. "How do you know my name?"

"Your name reverberates in the sound of your voice, Amelia Pond," the voice replied. "We knew it the moment we heard you speak."

Amy's eyes narrowed. "That's rather anti-climactic," she said. "I was expecting something a lot nastier."

Wind gusted around the clearing, tearing at Amy's hair and showering her with debris from the forest floor. She raised a hand, shielding her eyes. "Do not mock us, girl! We are in a far more formidable position than you. We have your Time Lord, and we shall take his voice."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Amy said. "So you've already said. But why? You're used to human voices, aren't you?"

"Amy!" the Doctor warned, trying to get up from the ground. He managed to make it to his feet, but the moment to tried to run forward he was held back, restrained by an invisible force. No doubt he was surrounded by Draghs.

"Time Lords are different," Amy continued. "You don't want some nasty Gallifreyan voice that's changed a million times, do you? You want to stick to something a little closer to home."

"Amy—"

Amy glanced at him, her eyes blazing. "Time Lord voices – trust me, they're annoying. You don't want that. An annoying voice would be horrible to digest, don't you think?"

"Amy, seriously, stop this—"

A flash of red appeared before Amy. "Do you suggest that you would sacrifice your voice for him?"

Amy paused. "Possibly?"

"Your human voice?"

"Human time traveller," Amy said quickly. "That makes me a hell of a lot more interesting than Jane Austen. Oh! And you like my screaming, you even said so yourself."

"You would give your voice to us willingly?"

"If you let the Doctor go," Amy said.

"Our brethren would think it an insult to our species if we gave up the opportunity to take a Time Lord's voice!" the Dragh hissed.

"Pfft, Time Lords," Amy said. "Who needs them?" She laughed and shot the Doctor another look.

She was stalling for time. Whatever plan she had up her sleeve, it had better happen soon, otherwise Amy could very well lose her life. The Doctor tried to shake off his invisible captors, but their grip was iron-clad.

"Don't listen to her!" the Doctor said suddenly. "She only has a human voice. One like millions of others."

The floating splotch of red paint moved, flickering through the air, coming closer. "You try to intervene!"

"Amelia Pond," the Doctor continued, "just listen to her! Who wants to sustain themselves on a Scottish accent?"

"Oi!" Amy shouted.

"See what I mean?" the Doctor pointed out.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Amy said.

Another gust of wind. "Our patience is wearing thin!"

"Good," Amy said. "That's exactly what I was hoping for."

A bright blue figure appeared before the TARDIS' closed doors, flickering into existence. The sudden glow surprised the Draghs and there was a flurry of blurred outlines as they flew out of the light's path.

It was a hologram of Jane Austen, holding a book in her hands. She looked up once, a confident little smile on her face, and began to read in a clear, steady voice.

"It is a truth universal acknowledge, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

There was an unearthly shriek, louder and much more painful than anything Amy had ever produced. The paint-smeared Dragh flew high up into the clearing, fleeing the haunting words of the holographic Jane.

"However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood—"

A desperate howling had begun. Wind gusted around the clearing, tearing at their hair and their clothes. The Doctor felt his captors' grip on him slacken; he shook himself loose and sprinted towards Amy, who was trying to keep her hair out of her eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine – hush!"

"—this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters."

"The Draghs are running away," the Doctor said quickly in undertone. "The hologram is scaring them senseless – technology like that alters Jane's voice, mutating it to their senses. They can't bear to listen to a metamorphosis of the voice they once hunted. It's utterly painful for them."

He stepped forward and clicked the sonic screwdriver. The clearing lit up with the bright green silhouettes of the fleeing Draghs.

"'My dear Mr Bennet,' said his lady to him one day…"

The hologram continued reading. For one moment, in the midst of the turmoil caused by the Draghs departure, it seemed as though Amy and the Doctor were alone. But then, there was a flash of red that tumbled down from the sky and a thud on the ground. Dirt scattered in every direction at its impact, and they could hear the thundering steps of its approach.

"I WILL NOT BE MOCKED!"

The Doctor stepped in front of Amy. "Who said we were making fun of you?" he asked.

The blow came quickly and without warning. The Doctor collapsed backwards into Amy; they both tumbled to the ground.

"I WILL SEIZE BOTH YOUR VOICES!"

"Mr. Bennet made no answer…"

The TARDIS doors flung wide open, spilling golden light out into the clearing from its interior. The brightness illuminated the Dragh's form. A great, winged humanoid stood before them, its hands clawed, its head oddly bird-like. For a moment, it seemed as though it would devour them both in its anger, but then a shrill, piercing shriek burst forth from the TARDIS.

The real Jane Austen stepped out of the time machine and through her holographic self. While the hologram continue to read from her novel, Jane was screaming as if her life depended on it. It was a terrifying thing to behold: swathed in the golden light of the TARDIS and the bluish hues of the nearby hologram, she looked almost godly and her scream was one of anger and utter power.

The Dragh crumbled. It collapsed within itself, flickering in and out of sight, until it was no more than half its size and becoming more and more incorporeal as it shrank. Finally, it seemed as though the wind blew it to shreds and it disappeared altogether.

Jane fell silent.

"'Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England—" The hologram stopped suddenly, flickered and went out.

Rory stuck his head out the TARDIS door.

"Is everyone all right?"

"Just about," Amy said, slowly getting to her feet.

"Fine, yes, fine," the Doctor said. He crossed the clearing and picked up his fallen sonic screwdriver. Clicking it on, he scanned the area once and turned it off. "Huh. No more Draghs."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Rory said as he joined Amy.

"Really, Rory, I'm all right," Amy said, fondness creeping into her voice even as she tried to avoid his help.

"Yes. Yes, I would say that is good." The Doctor fell silent, gazing at the spot where the paint-smeared Dragh had disappeared. "Defeated by a book and a scream," he said quietly. "That's one for the records."

"I couldn't leave you to sacrifice yourself on my account, sir," Jane said. "I had to do something." She was still clutching the copy of Pride and Prejudice.

"Are you all right, Jane?" the Doctor asked.

She shrugged. "My throat is a bit sore, I admit, but I am well. Relieved. Good," she added hastily. "And many other words I can think of, but I will spare you having to listen to me act like a living lexicon."

The Doctor chuckled. "You were brilliant, Jane," he said.

"Yes, well…" She smiled. "They were defeated by the very voice they craved. There is some poetic justice to that, don't you think?"

"I would say so," Amy said.

"Rory," the Doctor said.

"Yeah?"

"Nice plan."

"Thank you."

"Did you know it was going to work?"

"Not at all."

The Doctor laughed. "Those are the best kind of plans!"

"I hate to interrupt the round of congratulations," Jane said, "but I'm afraid that I must be heading home now. I am quite certain I have had enough adventure for one evening."

"Oh, right!"

For a moment, it was as if they had forgotten just who was standing in their midst. It must have had something to do with the borrowed clothes Jane was wearing – the Doctor had almost mistaken her for someone else.

He quickly ran to the TARDIS and shut the doors. "Well, I suppose here's no harm in accompanying you home, Jane," he said.

Relief from the Draghs' defeat washing over them, they took off through the woods, heading back towards Jane's house, laughing and talking. Amy mentioned how she had found Jane reading Harry Potter in the TARDIS library, which received an immediate chorus on laughs on the account that it provided a hilarious mental image.

The Doctor decided to let the discrepancies about Jane Austen reading Harry Potter go. Besides, after what Jane had witnessed tonight, it wasn't really harmful.

"I personally don't see what is so amusing," Jane said.

They eventually made it back through the woods, over the stone wall, down the lane and into the Austen's front yard. Jane sighed fondly when she saw her front door. She turned to her companions and smiled.

"I suppose this is good-bye," she said. "Though, I suppose, Amy—"

"Yes?"

"May I keep the clothes? I just realised that I left my own in your marvellous star machine."

Amy laughed. "Sure, I don't mind. Keep them out sight, yeah? They're not going to be around for another couple of centuries."

I will." She quickly hugged Amy, before turning to Rory and giving him one of her short curtseys that looked very strange when she wasn't wearing a long dress. "Thank you," she said. "Your plan was splendid."

"Ah, well, thanks."

"Truly. I do not know what I would have done without your help."

"Don't mention it." Rory stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then bowed.

Jane laughed and hugged him as well. "I am sad at this parting," she said, stepping back. "If I had had more time, I am sure we would have all been fast friends."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Amy asked.

Jane shook her head. "I cannot," she said, glancing at the Doctor. "I have a feeling that I am needed here, in my own time. I have novels to write, characters to create, and my own family to attend to. As much as the offer is tempting, I think I have had enough adventure in the course of one evening to last me my entire life." She paused. "However, I am certain that if I ever run into fantastical beings again, you three will not be far behind." She grinned, glancing at the Doctor. "If I may speak to you in private, sir?"

"Of course," the Doctor said.

He and Jane walked a little ways away, following the small garden path. Jane was still holding Pride and Prejudice in her hands; her fingers were pressed so tightly against its cover that their tips were turning white.

"You're going to have to give that back to me, Jane," he said quietly.

"I know," she said. "But I feel that if I hold on to it for as long as I can, I won't forget it as quickly."

"Were you planning on forgetting?"

She smiled. "Somehow part of me still thinks this is a dream. Perhaps it is that part that does not want to let go." She paused. "I feel quite liberated, Doctor. My mind is full of ideas, I can hardly wait to set about writing them."

"That would be the Draghs," the Doctor said. "Or lack of them, at any rate. They make the worst writer's block in the universe. Now that they're gone, you're free to think freely again."

"I have you to thank."

"I didn't do much."

"You were there to save me from their grasp, and that's what matters." She smiled. "And you also gave me hope as a writer. In recent days, I have been lacking that. I know that no one should know their future, but it gives me much comfort to know that the day will come when there will be many who read and enjoy my novels. Or attempt to dispose of them in a privy, like Amy," she added lightly.

The Doctor snorted. "Well, not everyone is quite as thoughtful as Amy."

"I wish I had the time to thank you properly," Jane said.

"You don't have to."

"That does not matter; I want to. And someday, perhaps, I will find a way to send you my thanks." She lifted her head. "The sun is rising," she said. "Look."

"Ah. Pretty."

"Very." She turned and curtseyed. "I must return home before my parents wake and find me out here in these ridiculous clothes."

The Doctor bowed. "It has been a pleasure, Jane."

"Indeed. Though perhaps much more exciting than I could ever have imagined." She handed Pride and Prejudice back. "I do like the title."

"I'd expect so – after all, you thought of it."

"A future version of myself thought of it," Jane said, her eyes sparkling. "Doctor, there is one thing I would ask you."

"Yes?"

"You travel a great many places and through many eras. Will I ever see you again?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said as they began to walk back to the front yard. "Maybe not. It's not really for me to say."

Jane curtseyed and waved good-bye to them once more before disappearing through her front door. Once she was gone, Amy, Rory and the Doctor began to pick their way back up the lane as the sky slowly lightened.

"Now, the funny thing about historical figures," the Doctor said, leaping over the low stone wall, "is that out of all the people in the universe, they always seem to be the ones who attract trouble. Especially outer-space trouble. They're like alien magnets."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "So, you're outer-space trouble, then?"

The Doctor opened his mouth.

Rory was laughing.

"That's not what I meant at all!" the Doctor exclaimed

"You kind of walked right into that one," Rory said.

The Doctor sighed. "You people… you'd think there was a personal abuse limit for one day…" He shook his head and continued as they tramped through the woods. "Anyway, as I was saying: historical figures always attract trouble because sooner or later, someone has heard their name and singles them out for some reason. Or they become famous because they walk into trouble. Or they're geniuses and trouble just happens to find them."

Amy groaned. "Is there a point to this, Doctor?"

"There's always a point, Amy. I'm just taking my own time getting there."

They scrambled up the little hill towards the clearing where the TARDIS had landed. By now the sun had risen over the horizon, casting its warm rays across a cloudless sky.

"So," the Doctor said as he pulled out his key and unlocked the door, "the thing I'm interested in is exactly how much of this is supposed to happen, and how much is random chance. There are fixed moments in time where everything stays the same and there are opportunities in time where anything could happen, but that's just a generalization."

"So…?" Rory said.

"So, there's something that's very funny that I completely forgot about until now," the Doctor said, passing through the console room and bounding up the stairs. Amy and Rory followed. "I didn't know what to think of it back when it happened, but I just realised that I was missing the pieces to the puzzle."

"What puzzle?" Amy asked.

They were walking at a brisk pace down the corridors, heading for the library. When they reached it, the Doctor was still speaking as he rushed down one of the aisles and up a staircase, leaving Amy and Rory standing in the middle of the room.

"The funny thing is," the Doctor was saying, his voice echoing around the large, cathedral-like room, "I've met Jane Austen before. I told you that – I met her when she was quite a bit older than she is now. But I met her such a long time ago, from my point of view, that is. I was several centuries younger then, and looked quite a bit older." He paused. "Yeah, never mind that, Time Lord stuff… As far as I was concerned, it was her first time meeting me. Funny how time travel works. Aha!"

He had found the volume he was looking for and clambered back down the stairs. It was a good-sized book, wrapped and sealed in paper. "She gave me this. I had no idea why, but I accepted it anyway. Then I chucked it in here and didn't think of it again until just right now."

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"I have no idea. Let's find out."

Grinning, the Doctor unwrapped the book he had received many, many years ago from Jane. It was a publication from 1816. Embossed on its dark cover was the title and author: Emily: a novel in three volumes, by a Lady.

Amy picked it up. "I didn't think she wrote anything like this," she said.

"Well, maybe we changed things," Rory said.

"Maybe they were supposed to happen," the Doctor said. He took the book back and opened the front cover. A note fell out of it. The Doctor picked it up and unfolded it. "To the Doctor and Mr and Mrs Pond," he read. "I hope this note finds you all in good health, whenever you happen to receive it. Firstly, I must apologize to Mrs Pond for calling her such; I know she will take offense, and truly, I plead guilty old-fashioned formalities that have become even stronger as I have aged." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

Amy sighed, blowing hair out of her face. "Get on with it," she said. "What else does she say?"

"Secondly, though it has been many years for me since I saw you last, I have never forgotten my adventure that night, nor the many strange sights I saw. I have kept them to myself, never daring to share them with even my closest friends. I have sought to thank you for your aid, and though you startled and frightened me very much at first, I have come, when remembering our adventure, to think of you all as friends. Unfortunately, as you must be aware, it is impossible for me to send a message to a band who travel through time, so therefore I must wait in hopes that I will encounter you once more, or that you will eventually find your way to this book and, therefore, this note.

"This is the novel which I was inspired to write when I first heard your voices in the woods by Steventon all those long years ago. I have never shared it with anyone, save my sister Cassandra, and had it published in secret. This novel is for you three alone, my friends; no one else shall set eyes upon it. That day in the woods, I created characters which I based on the sound of your voices. Now having met and spoken with you, I hope that I was able to refine my characters so as to be fictional counterparts to your own delightful persons.

"I hope you enjoy this small adventure of Emily, Henry and John. Though it is not quite as madly beautiful as the one I shared with you, I hope it is enough to convey my thanks for what you have done for me. I am very blessed to have encountered you, even though I would say in retrospect that it was you who encountered me (it is still shocking to think of the way you intruded upon my house, even though it was many years ago!).

"Lovingly to you all, and may you find many more adventures – Jane."

The Doctor paused and folded the note.

"Well, that's something," he said.

fin

A/N: Thank you very much to all who have read! This is the end of this particular story, and I hope you enjoyed! It was a lot of fun to write, and I was trying to channel the spirit of the TV show and the way its episodes are formatted. I hope that you find the ending satisfactory and, really, all I can say again is thank you so much for reading. To those who have left comments, special thanks! It's always great to hear from readers, especially their reactions and thoughts.

Thanks again!

~Idrelle