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Amy knocked on the door to the kings quarters, not waiting for an answer as she opened the door. The king was at the large dresser on the other side of the room and spun around on the seat he was sat on, furious at the intrusion.
"How dare..." He began angrily but Amy rolled her eyes and shut the door behind them.
"Oh pipe down." Amy retorted, "We know you went into space, so let's cut to the chase; What did you see?" Danziel stared at her, his eyes wide in shock before faking an air of confusion.
"I have no idea what you're on about. I just fainted, that's all. A stomach bug." He waved off. Danni sighed and turned to Amy.
"Well would you listen to that? A stomach bug, that's all. Nothing to get worried about. We should go tell the Doctor that we're wasting our time and move on somewhere else. After all, if they don't exist then they can't come back, can they?"
"Come back?" Danziel exclaimed, scared, before he could stop himself. Amy and Danni shared a smug look and he sat back down, defeated.
"Yes, fine. I was taken into some sort of vessel in the sky." He admitted lowly. Danni moved over and sat next to him on the seat, placing an hand on his arm.
"We know. And we can help, but we need to know what you saw." She told him gently. He looked at her suspiciously.
"You're not witch-hunters, are you?" He asked in replied and she shook her head.
"No, we're just passing through. But we're not leaving until we find out who took you and why." She promised and he nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.
"I was in a large metal room, with these pictures that continuously changed on the walls and there was a large window on one side." He described, "Outside was the night sky, and down below was our... this planet, I recognised it from books I'd read with my tutor. Then two men came in. They looked Arthadian, but paler. They were talking in a strange language I couldn't understand, but it was like they were arguing. I recognised a couple of the words from history studies, I think it was the same language our ancestors used. Then... I was sent back." He trailed off lamely. Danni looked over at Amy, who had sat down on the bed. Amy had a frown on her face as she listened to the king.
"They're human then." Danni stated and Amy looked at her, surprised.
"What makes you say that?"
"The offerings, they were all in English." She pulled out the fridge magnet from the pocket of the dress she was wearing, thankfully the TARDIS had learnt from Donna that all dresses did need some form of pocket if you were going anywhere with the Doctor. She handed it to the king, "The language is called English. It's a language from Earth, everything's written in it." He looked it over and pointed to the word 'Royalty'.
"One of them said something like that." Danni nodded.
"He was talking about you. It means king or queen, he must of known who you were." The king handed it back to her and she pocketed it again, "I don't think they were meant to take you." She explained, "They sent you back awfully quickly, but that doesn't mean they won't come back."
"You talk about this like you've seen it before."
"We have. It's kinda what we do. So, we know what to look out for." She looked over at Amy, "I don't think they had enough time to do something to him directly, but we should keep an eye on him anyway." She turned back to the king, "Don't go anywhere without your guards. At least until the Doctor comes back."
"Who is this Doctor man? He had my seal, but I don't remember giving it to him." Danni smiled warmly, thinking about the madman in his blue box.
"He's the greatest man in this universe, and the one man who can help you."
~0~0~0~
Danni had been a sleep a good few hours when the sound of the TARDIS materializing woke her up. She groaned in exasperation that racket would wake everybody up! She sat up as the machine became solid and the Doctor peeked his head out of the door. He glanced around the grand bedroom she had been given; pitch black with a huge four-poster bed with Danni sat in the middle, rubbing her eyes.
"You're still in bed?" He exclaimed, stepping out and walking over to the curtains, "It's a beautiful new day and..." He chucked the curtains open, revealing it was still night, with a clear view of the stars in the sky above.
"It's the middle of the night, you moron. Of course I'm still in bed, I was asleep." He closed the curtains and turned to face her, confused.
"But I set her for the morning." He muttered, checking his watch just to make sure it was still night.
"You mean you're actually early? That must be a first." He pouted and she stuck her tongue out at him. He sat down on the edge of her bed, sulking.
"Are you going back to sleep, then?" He asked and she shook her head.
"Not if you're going to sulk about it." She swung her legs out of the bed and stood up, stretching. She had been given a night dress, thankfully. It was a little big but it did the job nicely as she hadn't been undressed in front of the Doctor yet. She blushed slightly to herself at the thought and sat down next to him, distracting herself from the images that had been popping into her head more and more lately, "What did you find out?"
"It's definately of human origin." He told her, not mentioning her flushed face if he'd noticed it, "Maybe a rescue mission that finally managed to break through the planet's defences. They just happened to scoop up the king." She nodded slowly before turning to look up at him, a smirk on her face.
"Well, should we go find out?" She asked.
"What about Amelia?"
"Aww, she's already been on a spaceship in her nightie, it's my turn!" She dismissed. He grinned and jumped off the bed, holding his hand out to her.
"Come on then, Danni-Girl. Let's go see who's watching." she took it and they dived into the TARDIS together.
~0~0~0~
When the TARDIS materialized on the ship, the Doctor insisted on stepping out first just to make sure no one was waiting for them. She teased him a little, saying it was because he wanted to make sure they'd landed in the right place but had let him go first anyway. After confirming that no one was there, and that they were in the right place, he let her out. The ship was pretty generic, metal walls and floors, a porthole here or there showing the universe outside. They walked down the hallway hand in hand, each of them keeping a look out for other people. Danni caught sight of a small door and smirked to herself.
"Theta," She whispered and he paused at the sound of his name, "In here, quick." She pulled at his hand urgently as she opened the door.
"But, that's just a cleaning closet." He protested as she shut the door, bathing them in darkness.
"I know." She stated smugly, reaching out and grabbing the lapels of his jacket, "And me in my nightie, what is a girl to do?"
"Danni wh..what are you doing?" The Doctor stuttered out as she raised up on her tiptoes, barely able to see his face.
"Something I've wanted to do for ages." she whispered before kisisng him. He flailed backwards in surprise, obviously not expecting her to kiss him. She giggled lightly.
"Danni!" He moaned, embarrassed, "We're supposed to be looking for the people who stole the king, not kissing." He whispered the last word like it was taboo and she rolled her eyes, kissing him again. He responded almost instantly this time, groaning into her mouth as he pressed her up against the wall, not being able to see her, just feel her pressed up against him. He ran a hand down her front as she buried her hands in his hair. He pressed his hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating wildly. He moved back slightly, Danni trying to follow to continue the kiss. He chuckled slightly.
"You're loving this, aren't you?" He asked, his voice husky.
"Yes, I am." She replied, "There's nothing I like more than being pressed up against you." She whispered in his ear before nibbling his earlobe.
~0~0~0~
Danni stepped out of the cupboard with a satisfied smirk on her face. The Doctor followed shortly afterwards, straightening his tie, his hair more of a mess than usual. They shared a look, smiling secretly at each other before they continued down the hallway.
"Keep an eye out for anything unusual." he told her.
"I know, it's not my first time on an alien spaceship." He shot her a smirk.
"You've snogged on a spaceship before?" He asked. She batted his arm before replying with her smirk on her face as she thought back to being on the back of Tricey. Her first Doctor-snog.
"Yes, actually I have." He looked mock-shocked as they slowly approached a door with a window in it. The Doctor peeked in first.
"Well, that's interesting." He stated, pulling his screwdriver out and opening the door. He grabbed her hand again to pull her in. The room was full of discarded pieces of robots, legs and arms just chucked on the floor. The Doctor began scanning them as Danni paced around the room, poking a torso with no head suspiciously. The bits of robot had very realistic skin and she continued on.
"It's all contemporary, whoever it is hasn't been here very long." He called over as something gold caught her eyes. She made a beeline towards it, moving pieces of robot out of the way to reveal a head. She picked it up, eyes wide as the head of the king stared blankly back up at her, wires dangling out of his neck. She turned around slowly, seeing that other parts she had dismissed were dressed in regal finery.
"Doctor..." She called over shakily and he turned to look at her, jumping at the sight of her holding a head without a body. He rushed over and took it off her, scanning it quickly and reading the results.
"Remote controlled from the ship." He continued scanning, spinning the screwdriver around the room, "From that direction." He added when he stopped.
"Why would they have a replica of the king?" Danni asked.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied, "Maybe they need to have a version to get into the castle? No, that doesn't make any sense, if they were going to do that why send the original back?" He muttered, "Maybe it's so that the people on the planet trust it, make them believe it's the actual king speaking." he studied it closely, "It's very realistic." He chucked it up and down like a ball in thought, "Maybe that's why they took him, to get his behavioural patterns. But why then send him back?" Danni frowned and looked around.
"There's a lot of parts in here for just one robot." She pointed out, "Only one head though."
"Maybe they're spares." He mused and she nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds much better than what I was thinking." She laughed, "Come on, we should find who's flying this thing."
"What were you thinking?" The Doctor asked.
"That they were going to replace the Danziel with a robot, but even as I was thinking it I realised it sounded like some bad plot from a B-movie." The Doctor eyed her thoughtfully before looking at the head again.
"It wouldn't be the first time..." He muttered and Danni laughed in disbelief.
"You can't be serious," She said sceptically, "I mean, a robot replacing a king in the middle ages? Why would anyone do that?"
"It's human in origin. If you thought it, what's to say no one else has?"
"I'm from the 21st century! The people on this ship are much more advanced that that. Are you suggesting that some actually rather clever people would have the same idea as me?" He frowned and pointed at her.
"Don't do that." He scolded her.
"Do what?"
"Put yourself down like that. You are clever." She rolled her eyes.
"I wasn't saying that." She replied, "Just think it through. All we have is a robot head with no body, but looking like the king and a bunch of excess body parts. Maybe they want to recreate him for a waxwork museum or something."
"There is a Madame Tussauds in this galaxy." The Doctor conceded.
"There you go... seriously?" She asked, "Madame Tussauds all the way out here?" He nodded.
"Yeah. The waxworks are robots now."
"Can we go?" She asked excitedly and he laughed.
"Later, Danni-Girl." She beamed at him, "But if they don't want to replace him, why take him? It can't be for a museum because why would they expose a primitive civilization to technology like that? Archaeologists are much more discreet than that."
"Maybe they wanted it to be as realistic as possible? It's not like anyone's going to believe he was abducted by aliens," Danni pointed out, "they'll believe witches before that." They both jumped, Danni letting out a little scream, as the eyes on the robot suddenly snapped open.
"Witches took me!" It declared, "They tried to put me under their power but it didn't work. We must form an army against them, fight whoever crosses our path." It's voice was a perfect replica of Danziel's, if not slightly tinny.
"'An army'?" Danni repeated, "That seems even more implausible. Who'd want people who'd never seen a gun fighting for them?"
"The Roman's didn't have guns but if you came across a legion of soldiers you'd run the other way." The Doctor replied.
"Please help me. As your king, will you follow me?" The head asked. The Doctor dropped the head, yelping in realisation.
"They've replaced the king! We've got to go back!" He grabbed her hand and began dragging her towards the TARDIS.
"Wait!" She cried, "How do you know?"
"You heard the head! They want to raise an army, we have to stop him!" He opened the TARDIS doors and ran up to the console.
"Shouldn't we find the actual king then?" She asked, pointing back to the ship, "Or, you know, stop whoever's replaced him in the first place?" he shook his head as he flew the TARDIS away.
"If they know we're onto them, they could activate him. He might not just be a robot, he could be a weapon as well and Amy's down there." He reasoned. She sighed as he ran past her back out of the box.
"Oh for gods sake." She muttered before shouting, "Wait for me!" She ran after him, picking up the bottom of her nightdress so she didn't fall down. He slowed down long enough for her to arrive by his side before speeding off again. She watched him run past a suit of armour, before slowing down and running back to it, looking it up and down appraisingly.
"Oh no." She warned him, "You are not wearing a suit of armour." He pouted.
"Why not?" He whined.
"Because it's ridiculous and you'd never be able to hold it up." He reached out and grabbed the sword, obviously as compensation and they burst into a grand hall where the king was giving a speech to a crowd of his subjects. Everyone turned to look at the pair as Amy pushed her way through the crowd.
"Sorry everyone!" Danni cried, "Bit late, ignore us." They all turned back to the king, not really caring about the girl in her nightie and the geography teacher with a sword. With their new king being stolen by witches, they had stranger things to focus on. Amy stood in front of them, her hands on her hips.
"Where have you been?" She snapped, "And why are you still in your nightie? Oh god, did you two sneak off to..." Danni held her hand up to silence her, a faint tinge on her cheeks.
"No. The Doctor thinks the king's actually a robot." Amy looked up at the man on the stage before looking back at Danni.
"Do you?" Danni shook her head, "Then what's he going to do?"
"I'm guessing by the way he's striding towards him with that sword, he's going to fight him." Danni replied with a sigh. Amy span to see the Doctor pushing his way through the crowd, neither of the girls having noticed him walk off.
"Where'd he get a sword?" Amy groaned as they followed him through the crowd.
"It was going to be a suit of armour," Danni pointed out, "Come on, we'd better stop him." The Doctor reached the stage and jumped on it before anyone could stop him, pointing the sword at the king. Danni groaned loudly, "Oh god, now what's he doing?"
"You are an imposter." The Doctor declared, "and you will not use these people in whatever war you are fighting." People gasped around the room at the sight of the man threatening their new king. Danni shook her head in exasperation.
"All this is him just showing off to you, you know?" Amy told her, making a swirl in the air to illustrate the whole situation. Danni nodded with a sigh, she did have the feeling that might have been the case.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Danziel stuttered out, still staring at the point of the sword.
"I think you know exactly what I'm on about." The Doctor approached him menacingly, "I'm the Doctor, look me up in your data banks."
"What are data banks? Guards!" Danziel cried, finally having enough of the man pointing a sword at him. This was the man who was going to stop the people who had took him?!
With a sigh Danni pulled herself up onto the high stage, Amy following behind her.
"Doctor, he obviously doesn't know what you're going on about." She told him, "Now put the sword down or so help me I'm going to put you in a time out!" The guards were now all surrounding him, ready to attack before he did but not wanting to startle him into something that could end very badly.
"You may have everyone else fooled, but not me." He snapped at the king, ignoring her, "I have stopped bigger and badder things than you could even dream about. I will not let you destroy this planet." And with that promise he swung the sword at the king, cutting his head off in one well-aimed swipe. Blood exploded from his neck as the people in the crowd screamed. His head rolled on the stage, stopping right at Amy and Danni's feet, who both stared at it in horror.
"Oh my Jesus Christ!" Danni screamed, jumping back from it, "Did he..." She looked at Amy, who seemed just as dumbfounded as she felt.
"Erm... I think I may have made a bit of a mistake." The Doctor stated, slowly laying the sword on the floor before holding his hands up in surrender. He looked at Danni, who stepped back for him warily.
"Guards!" Amy and Danni screamed again as the head shouted for the guards.
"Did... Did he just talk?" Amy exclaimed.
"Yes. The Arthadians have removable body parts." The Doctor replied and Danni glared at him.
"And you didn't think to mention that before cutting his bloody head off?!" She shouted at him angrily. He looked back sheepishly and she stormed over, pushing past the guards to smack him hard on the chest, "You are a bloody moron sometimes!"
"Can you reattach it?" Amy asked in an attempt to calm Danni down.
"Yes, of course." The Doctor replied and Danni stared at him as a flash of something echoed in her mind.
"Then we discovered it wasn't the robot king after all, it was the real one. Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head." The Doctor explained to Rory as he paced around the console, Rory spinning in the pilot seat to watch him. Amy came down the stairs and Rory looked up at her.
"Do you believe any of this stuff?" Rory asked her and she continued to walk past him.
"I was there." She told him.
"Oh my god, I remember this." Danni stated, almost horrified that she had forgotten the beginning of that episode.
"You knew this was going to happen?" Amy asked and Danni turned to her.
"Sort of." Danni told her, "I remember him," She pointed to the Doctor, "Telling this story to... someone. I can't believe it." She stormed over and picked up the head before storming back over and shoving the head into his arms, "Just reattach his head!"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor sat on a chair in the kings private sitting room, where he had burst into just the day before. His head was hung as he stared at his feet guiltily, his arms crossed. The king stood on one side of him and the queen on the other as they stared down at him crossly, but not as cross as Danni was. She stood between the two, hands on her hips as she glared down at him.
"You cut off his head!" She was shouting and he nodded.
"I know." He replied quietly.
"He's the king!" Danni continued, "And you cut off his head!"
"I know." He repeated, chastised. Amy stood to the side, a large grin on her face as she watched Danni scolding him like he was a child. Which, to be fair, most of the time he was.
"What did you think was going to happen after you cut his head off, exactly? I'm sure them up there," Danni pointed upwards to emphasis her point, "Would have noticed their robot suddenly being decommissioned! And what if you couldn't have reattached his head?" She motioned with both hands at Danziel, "He's the king!"
"I know, I'm sorry." He reached out for her but she shook her head angrily.
"Oh no! You're not getting away with it that easily!" She shouted. The queen, startled at the amount of anger coming out such a small girl, placed a hand on her arm gently.
"Dear, I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation for the entire affair." She told the girl.
"This was supposed to be a lovely trip to commemorate my mother's birthday." The Doctor blinked in surprise, he hadn't known she knew that, "And instead of listening to me once again he," She pointed at the Doctor, "cuts some guys head off. I think I have the right to be a little angry."
"She's right." The Doctor told them, taking her hands in his and turning her so she was facing him, "I'm sorry. I really am. And I will try and listen to you more often." She nodded once, her lips still pursed together as he smiled gently at her, "But we need to know why they took the king, and why they have a robot duplicate up there."
"Well then, maybe we should go visit them." Amy sauntered over, linking arms with Danni, "I'm sure they can tell us why they're here."
"They may still be hostile." The Doctor warned, "We can't just go in all guns blazing. This planet won't know what hit it."
"This planet," The queen snapped, offended, "can handle itself, Doctor, and whatever comes our way. We do not need to be mollycoddled like children. You have the capacity to go to this sky vessel, then we shall go with you." Her husband turned to her, alarmed.
"Sandrel, you don't know what's up there." He exclaimed, "This is beyond anything we've ever come across."
"Anything that has made you doubt the existence of the God Almighty must be dealt with head on." She replied firmly, "And I want to be there when it happens." She turned to the Doctor, "Now, you may not listen to your assistants but as the queen of this planet you will listen to me. Take me there, now." He nodded quickly at her fierce demand.
"Of course, of course. If you'll just follow me..." He turned and almost sprinted out of the room. Amy rolled her eyes and dragged the king out with her while the queen turned to Danni.
"That is how to deal with men." She told Danni with a smirk, "They'll do anything if they think your angry enough." Danni nodded.
"I shall have to remember that Your Majesty." She motioned for the queen to go first, who did as she always would.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor let the queen out first, terrified of her temper. Daniel was next, then Amy, then the Doctor and Danni who were hand-in-hand. The Doctor held a finger up to his mouth.
"We have to be quiet, if we alert them to our presence then they may attack."
"With your magic box, I doubt that'll be an issue." The queen dismissed. The Doctor nodded.
"Yes, well..." He pulled out his screwdriver and scanned the area, pointing the way of the readout, "remote control signal is coming from that direction. Come on, gang." He started down the hallway but paused, a frown on his face, "No, not gang. I don't like it." He looked down at Danni, "It's not right, is it? Gang, sounds like we're some Scooby Doo operation. I'll think of something better." Danni rolled her eyes but smiled at his ramblings and he beamed back at her, relieved she seemed to have forgiven him for his slight blunder.
"Come on, Doctor." She replied, "We need to find out what they're up to." He nodded and continued striding until they were met with a huge set of double doors. He soniced them and they slid open with a sigh of air being decompressed. On the other side was a control room, a captain's seat in the middle and a small control console lining the far wall, a huge window looking out into space in front of it. Two men in blue overalls were huddled around one screen, muttering to each other in low voices.
"It's like Star Trek." Danni stated and they jumped, spinning around in surprise to see the group of people staring back at them. One man, with brown hair, smacked the other man, who had black hair, on the arm.
"I told you to stop playing the with teleport!" He exclaimed angrily, "Now you've brought the entire royal family!" The black-haired man held up his hands.
"Hey, I haven't been near it." He defended. Danziel looked shocked at the pair before turning to Danni and Amy.
"I can understand them now." He told them, confused. Danni nodded.
"The TARDIS translates for you in your head. Just go with it, it's easier than trying to understand why. Trust me." She reassured him.
"Hello!" The Doctor exclaimed, waving, "I'm the Doctor. This is a fascinating spaceship, isn't it?" He sauntered over to the two men, who backed up in surprise, "your basic scavenger ship. Bit battered around the edges, but lovely to see the classics are still being used. Upcycling at its best." He typed on the console before letting out a noise of realisation, "Ah, I see; you're from the Heran System. You're a long way from home. And stealing kings as well, that seems a bit odd. Especially considering that you're collecting robot parts just down the hallway." He turned to look at them expectedly, arms crossed as he leant on the monitor.
"We didn't mean to take him." The black-haired man stated, "I pressed the wrong button, we're only here to observe him, you see. We're going to use him as a protagonist for our theme park."
"Theme park?" Danni called over and the man's eyes lit up.
"We've bought this continent on this planet, right, and we're going to section it off and create areas based off different myths and legends from surrounding galaxies. There's a set scenario and you have to help the robots," he motioned to Danziel, "for example the King of Arthadia, fight against a threat based on the myth." Danziel stepped forward.
"What myth is based upon Arthadia? Do other civilizations know of us too?" The brown-haired man laughed slightly in disbelief.
"Everyone knows the myth of Arthadia. The planet that was once a theme park itself, it's a classic. We learnt about it in school, I played King Marcasant in the play." The black-haired man pouted.
"I was only a sheep-herder, how did you get to be the king?" The brown-haired man rubbed his knuckles against his chest, a smug look on his face.
"My superior acting skills, obviously."
"So, you're not here to try and take over the planet?" Amy interrupted as they began bickering about their acting abilities. The black-haired man looked over, his brows furrowed.
"Of course not." He replied, "We don't even have any weapons. We just wanted our robot to be realistic." The Doctor turned back to the screen then nodded.
"He's right, there's not a gun or a forcefield on this thing. We could take them over right now and they'd never be able to stop up." He looked up into the slightly alarmed faces of the men, "We're not going to, by the way. In case you were wondering."
"Why would you say we were one of these 'theme parks'?" the queen asked, "Arthadia has been thriving for thousands of years. We may not have space vessels or any of these advancements you speak of, but our planet is very real." The Doctor looked over at her apologetically as Danziel turned her to face him, taking a deep breath.
"We are." He admitted, "It's been passed down through the royal family for almost 400 years. Our planet was once visited by people from across the stars on holidays away from their original homes. King Marcasant shut the planet down, wanting to keep the lifestyle the break brought him. The truth was lost over time by all except the ruling family." The queen had placed a hand over her mouth in despair.
"That can't be true." She whispered, "We have history."
"All lies." He told her solemnly, "I am sorry, my dear, but it is the truth." She looked around at the faces of everyone in the room, seeing it in their sympathetic gazes that they had all known the planets original origin. She closed her eyes, not being able to bare to look at them any longer as her world crashed down around her. Not only was the life she living a lie, but her husband had known all along. He had kept up the charade and hadn't told her. And what of the poor people of their planet, how would they react?
"We can't let them know." She stated suddenly, opening her eyes and turning to her husband, "This would crush them." He nodded slowly.
"I know." He replied. She turned to the Doctor.
"I wish to go home now, and then I wish for you and your assistants to leave and never come back to our planet."
"Of course, of course." He reassured her. He turned to the men, gently nudging the brown-haired one on the shoulder with his fist, "Be more careful next time." He warned them.