“Mr Cope!” exclaimed Caroline. She stopped right in front of him and looked him up and down, fear in her eyes. “What did they do to you?”
He looked just like the rest of the Apparites, except Caroline could spot his wedding ring on his left hand. It had been half-fused into the skin. She also noticed the tattered remains of his cap beneath the cloak.
The Doctor skidded around the corner and stopped dead when he saw Cope.
“Give us the woman,” said Cope, looking at the startled Doctor.
“Ah,” said the Doctor, trying to catch his breath. “I wondered when they’d send you.”
“They’re trying to get to me through my emotions, aren’t they?” asked Caroline, continuing to stare up at the sad figure of Mr Cope.
“Yes,” said the Doctor.
“So they used me as a first weapon to get to her.” said Danny. “At the same time they’d taken over Mr Cope?”
“Yes,” said the Doctor grimly. “Absorbing memories of her and any information they could.” The Doctor, now with his breath back, walked over to face the ghost. “No doubt if anyone else close to Caroline had been nearby they would have suffered a similar fate to you, Danny, or Mr Cope.”
Cope smiled, his jagged teeth as sharp as razor blades.
“But why me?” asked Caroline. “I still don’t understand. It’s not like I’m any different from anyone else.”
Cope pointed towards Caroline. “Your energy,” he hissed. “You are special. One of us.”
Caroline shook her head. “I’m not. How can I be?”
The Doctor looked confused. “She’s not like you. She’s a human being.”
“So were we once,” said Cope.
“Of course,” said the Doctor. “That’d explain how they were so easily able to convert Mr Cope here, and how they got into your head, Danny.”
“What happened to you?” asked Caroline. “We can help you?”
Cope suddenly bent over double and there was a cry from deep within him. “You cannot help us.”
“We can,” said the Doctor quickly. “We don’t want to hurt you. Let us help you.”
“No!” shouted Cope. “Too late. Too late!”
Cope reached out to touch Caroline on her head.
Danny hesitated.
“Now, Danny, now!” shouted the Doctor.
Danny leapt in front of Caroline and stood between her and Mr Cope. For a moment Cope’s eyes looked confused and sad. And then his face twisted into a look which was somewhere between anger and joy and grabbed Danny around the neck.
The Doctor pulled Caroline out of the way.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked as he dragged her back to a small wall which they both crouched behind.
“We’ll soon find out. Fight him, Danny!” shouted the Doctor.
For a moment Danny was taken aback and didn’t know what to do. He could feel the icy hand around his throat and his air supply was being cut off. He gasped for breath and felt he was about to pass out.
“Fight him!” came the Doctor’s voice again.
“I can’t!” yelled Danny.
“Yes you can. You’ve been touched by them. Tainted. There’s still some vestigial power left inside of you.”
Danny fell back into the snow and started kicking out at Cope.
“No, no, no,” said the Doctor. “With your mind. With your mind!” He jabbed at his own temple.
Danny tensed up and tried with all of his might to force the Apparite off him. “No!” he said. “You’re not getting me again.”
All around the church the Apparites were beginning to gather to watch the proceedings.
Caroline looked around her. “We’re kind of trapped here, Doctor. This had better work,” she said nervously.
“It had better work,” said the Doctor, mimicking her nervousness.
Caroline looked at him worriedly.
Danny was still struggling on the floor, but he had stopped kicking. Instead he was staring Cope right in his blank, white eyes. His body was rigid and his face had a look of determination on it.
“You can’t struggle against us,” growled Cope.
Danny could feel the skin on his neck start to freeze up under the grip of Cope. He tried to shut the pain away and channel it back in his determination.
“You are pathetic.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” said Danny, through gritted teeth.
“We know everything about you,” Cope laughed.
Danny felt himself failing again as the skin on his neck turned grey. “I never told you anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” Cope raised his finger and tapped towards Danny’s temple. “All we needed was in there.”
“No!” yelled Danny as he felt his body go rigid.
Caroline, meanwhile, could already see that this was going to end badly. “We’ve got to do something.”
“Danny has to do this himself,” said the Doctor. “He has to.”
“Why can’t you go to the TARDIS and do it?”
“I can’t risk it,” he said. “I really can’t.”
Caroline looked at him. It was quite clear that he wasn’t going to make a move until the last moment. He wasn’t willing to risk his TARDIS, even if that meant Danny dying.
“Please, Doctor.”
“I can’t, Caroline. Not now.”
Caroline stood up and looked down at the Doctor. “Then that’s all I needed to know.”
She turned and ran towards Danny.
“Caroline, no!” she heard the Doctor shout behind her.
The rest of the Apparites became restless as they saw Caroline reach Danny, but Caroline ignored them and crouched down beside Danny who was about to lose control completely.
She grabbed his hand tightly and then looked up at Cope.
“What are you doing?” said Danny, feeling himself slipping away.
She continued to stare at Cope. “Mr Cope?” she said softly. “Brian. Are you there?”
Cope refused to look at her.
“Mr Cope, it’s Caroline. Remember? The girl upstairs.”
The ghosts eyes flicked towards her for a second and then back to Danny.
“I know you’re in there somewhere.”
“Go away!” yelled Cope. “Not yet. Not you. Not yet!”
“Yes!” shouted Caroline back at him. “I don’t care what you are now. You used to be human being. A man.”
“Not anymore!” it yelled back.
Caroline noticed it’s grip was significantly less secure around Danny’s neck than it had been a few seconds ago.
She moved in closer to Danny and whispered in his ear. “You have to do this. Be ready.”
Danny looked at her and nodded.
“Brian, what would Eleanor think about this?”
Cope flinched at the name.
“What would your wife think?” asked Caroline, continuing to probe Cope’s memories.
“She’s gone!” growled Cope, barring his teeth.
“I know,” sad Caroline sadly. “Three years ago. Pneumonia, wasn’t it?”
Cope’s grip loosened on Danny. “She is not mine.”
“She was yours though,” she continued. She reached out with her hand and placed it on his cloaked shoulder. She could feel the cold fabric on the palm of her hand. “She loved you very much.”
“You never knew her,” said Cope, turning to look at her.
“I know what you told me. Remember that summer’s night the other year when the power went out and you made me some hot chocolate on the old stove. We sat in the back garden and you told me all about her.”
“I hate hot chocolate.”
“But Eleanor loved it, didn’t she?” said Caroline, looking into Brian’s eyes. “And you carried on buying it even though she’d been gone two years.”
“I…grew to like it,” said Cope. “I…”
“You couldn’t bare to be without her. That’s why you rented out the top of the house. You couldn’t bare to go up there and be in that old bedroom without her by your side. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Cope, his voice had lost the growl and was full of emotion. “I missed her so much. All I want is her back with me. My Eleanor.”
Caroline saw him close his eyes and a trickle of tears slipped from the tear ducts. She almost felt sorry for the thing standing there in front of him, but her plan had worked. She waited for a moment and then, with a look of disgust on her face turned to Danny and said, “Now!”
Danny gritted his teeth, screamed out and forced Cope off him. He continued to yell as he pushed Cope back and then slowly rose to his feet. Cope was powerless as Danny grabbed him by both hands and flung the weak, frail creature across the snowy ground.
Cope looked startled for a few seconds and then started making his way back towards Danny. Danny grabbed him and threw him back again.
Cope, seemingly regaining a lot of his prior strength jumped up and ran towards Danny. But, now filled with a new sense of determination, Danny flung his hand forwards, his palm towards Cope and Cope ground to a halt, as if the air surrounding Danny had become too thick to pass through.
Caroline stood back as she watched currents of air flow from Danny, forcing Cope backwards.
“What do I do now!?” shouted Danny, sounding slightly panicked.
The Doctor came running up beside Caroline. “Force Cope back then close the crack.”
“How the hell do I do that?”
“Just think about it. You have the power of the Apparites flowing through you. Use their own power to close the gap!”
Danny started to walk forward. One foot and then the next. It looked like he was walking into a gale force wind.
Cope fell to the ground again and cried out in pain.
Now the rest of the Apparites were converging on Danny.
The Doctor ushered Caroline out of the way. “He can do this,” he said, almost trying to convince himself.
“No thanks to you,” said Caroline quietly.
The Doctor looked down at her but she refused to look back up. “I guess you have a better way with people then I do.”
“I don’t feel proud about it,” said Caroline, as she watched Cope continue to get up and then fall down again.
“But you’ll learn to live with it.”
“I’ve already told you,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “I am not coming with you.”
The Doctor didn’t answer her back.
Now all the rest of the Apparites were standing in front of Danny, helping Cope to his feet and trying to fight against the invisible force field Danny was conjuring up. Despite their best efforts Danny was able to force them further and further towards the crack.
“How are you doing this?!” cried Cope, who was almost at the opening.
“I don’t know,” laughed Danny. “I’m not even having to try anymore.”
“Stop him!” yelled Cope. As he was flung back into the bright light of the crack.
“Keep going, Danny!” yelled Caroline. “Keep going!”
Danny growled as he forced himself to move closer and closer towards the crack. “Get out of my town!” he yelled, and with one, final shove of the hands he pushed the remaining handful of ghosts back into the crack.
Screams came from beyond the realm as Danny edged closer and closer towards it.
“Be careful not to get too near,” shouted the Doctor as energy crackled and fizzled from the gap. “You don’t want to get pulled in as well.”
“What now?” asked Danny, still standing with his hands in front of him. “I look like a bloody tree worshipper here.”
“Just…close it!” said the Doctor. “Just do what comes naturally.”
Danny straightened himself up and then pointed his finger towards the top of the crack. It fizzled and a glowing ball of energy appeared at the top. Slowly he moved his finger down and the glow of energy followed down the length of the gap. It was almost like a giant zip, closing up the crack. As the energy ‘zip’ neared the bottom of the crack a hand emerged from inside and tried to claw it’s way out.
Danny brought his other hand forward, as if pushing at the air, and the hand disappeared back inside.
Then, with a fizzle, the crack sealed itself up.
To be concluded...
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