☆ Alone in this world ☆ Book 2

☆ Thin Ice ☆ Part 2

"Why did you only grab two suits?" Bill asks, looking at the Doctor.

"{Y/n} has a fear of deep water," he casually replies, not looking back at her. {Y/n} clears her throat.

"Oh. Why do we need diving suits on top of the ice?" Bill asks.

"If we're lucky, the lights will come and take us under. Whatever they are, they're clever. When they went after the boy, they waited until he was away from the crowds, by himself," the Doctor moved away from Bill to look around.

"What? Did you say something?"

"The question is, how?" He asks. Bill spots the green lights starting to surround her.

"Oh dear," {Y/n} says, slowly backing away knowing what was to come.

"Doctor? Oh. Ah. Doctor! Doctor!" Bill throws her lantern and it hits the Doctors back. He turns around just in time to see her fall through the ice. The air hose is uncoiling rapidly.

"Bingo!" He runs and jumps into the hole just before it closed. The place went ghost-quiet. {Y/n} being left up on the ice herself, looks around.

"I'll just em...wait here," she says, not to anyone In particularly.

Meanwhile, under the ice, the two sink to the bottom and the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver as a torch. He turns to Bill waving and mouthing at him. She points at the angler fish circling above, then something large growls nearby. The screwdriver illuminates a set of heavy chains holding down an enormous creature. It belches, bits and pieces float out of its mouth, including a red hat. Spiders. Bill shows it to the Doctor.

A giant eye opens and looks at them. The pie-man is fishing for his wares through a hole cut in the ice, when the Doctor and Bill climb out of it, scaring him. He drops his catch.

"What?" The man flees. The Doctor takes his driver's helmet off and Bill follows.

"I know you! You're the cheat! I love your work!" The Doctor shouts.

"The sound it made. I couldn't hear you, but that noise, it's like I felt it in my bones, you know? It sounded like, like..." Bill trails off.

"Despair. Loneliness. A prisoner in chains," the Doctor replies.

"That guy. He said he caught the fish himself. I bought pie off that guy. Fish pie!" Bill says as the Doctor picks up an angler fish.

"Oh, hello. Aren't you magnificent?"

"I ate that pie. I liked that pie," Bill mumbles.

"Definitely not carnivores. Which means you're cooperating with the creature, providing for it. What do you get in return, hmm? What did it take for you to evolve into that?" The Doctor studies the fish.

"The creature, do you reckon that's what's making London so cold?"

"Very possibly,"

"What kind of alien messes with the weather?"

"Ha, ha! You assume it's alien?" The Doctor says.

"Of course, it's alien," Bill replies.

"Alien, terrestrial, it's irrelevant. The real question is, who's keeping it in those chains? And perhaps our friend here can answer that," the Doctor says pointing to the Pie-Man who's hiding behind a barrel.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"The coin trick. Just tell me how to do it, please!" The Doctor begs.

{Y/n} spots them after a while and walks over to them, trying not to fall on the ice or slip like the Doctor had done earlier.

"Ok. Not the time. Have you ever seen a man around here with a tattoo of a ship? What's that face? Is that a no or are you against tattoos? I'm against tattoos, too, I think that we are bonding," the Doctor says, smiling.