Sweet Mae || Doctor Who

♠️ Chapter Seventeen: Maze of Death ♠️

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A/N Delilah Mae's outfit is as detailed in Chapter Fifteen.

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The Doctor climbed down the rope ladder first, wanting to be on the ground in case Delilah got hurt. She followed in tow, slowly but surely. Delilah didn't feel very confident in climbing down the ladder and the Doctor could tell. He stood at the base with his wide arms open above him, looking a little silly, but who wouldn't for Delilah.

Just as she reached the last few steps Delilah was lifted from the ladder and brought to the floor. She didn't need to turn to know who grabbed her, the tingles on her skin told her that. Delilah shifted in his grip and turned to face the Doctor - a thankful smile placed on her lips.

The Doctor reached for her hand and gripped it tightly. He was still on edge about the Angel projection and felt uncomfortable with her away from him.

As the atmosphere settled between the two, Delilah looked around and observed the area. It was dark and cold, huge caverns surrounded them.

The Doctor lifted a torch out of his back pocket and turned it on, gazing at their surroundings. "Do we have a gravity globe?" he asked Octavian.

"Grav globe," Octavian turned to a Cleric, who handed the globe to the Doctor.

"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asked as she touched the ground.

"It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," River responded.

"What's that?"

"Well," the Doctor began squeezing Delilah's hand before letting go and stepping forward, "if you happen to be a creature of living stone-" he kicked the globe into the air, illuminating the area. "A perfect hiding place." The Doctor commented returning to Delilah's side. She looked above her to find a vast array of mausoleums and statuary, all areas and crevices were littered with statues.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian deduced.

The Doctor laughed, "A bit, yeah."

"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for," Octavian spoke ominously.

River thought of the old analogy, "A needle in a haystack."

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues," the Doctor continued River's analogy. Delilah pulled at his hand gaining the Doctor's attention giving him a deadpan.

"Really?" She pursed her lips, not bothering to hide the panic beneath her features.

The Doctor cleared his throat, "No, yours was fine." River rolled her eyes at the Doctor's antics.

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection," Octavian addressed his Clerics before turning to the Doctor, "One question. How do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope," answered the Doctor walking away with Delilah, Amy following closely.

River went to follow but Octavian abruptly stopped her, gripping her by the forearm, "He doesn't know yet, does he? Who and what you are."

"It's too early in his time stream," River looked gravely at the Doctor.

"Well, make sure he doesn't work it out, or he's not going to help us."

River scoffed, "I won't let you down. Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison." She ripped her arm from Octavian and headed in the Doctor's direction.