━━━━━∙⋆⋅⋆∙━━━━━
ART
━━━━━∙⋆⋅⋆∙━━━━━

"Right." The Doctor began as he, Hollie and Cassiopeia stood in the middle of Vincent's house while Amy sat on a chair at his table. "So he's invisible." He stated. "What did he look like?"

"I'll show you," Vincent replied a moment before he grabbed a paintbrush and casually painted white paint over a canvas of violets. Hollie's eyes widened in horror as the Doctor shouted:

"Oh, no, no. No, no!" As he realised what the man was doing.

Vincent looked up at the Time Lord as if he hadn't just ruined a piece of art while he frowned. "What?"

"It's just er," the Doctor shifted on his feet, nervously looking at the blonde beside him at the look of utter horror on her face. "That was quite good." He tried to casually wave him to continue before nervously glancing at Hollie again. "Oh, no. On you go."

The Doctor, Hollie, Cassiopeia and Amy all watched as Vincent began to draw a charcoal sketch of the creature he had seen on the now blank canvas. Hollie tilted her head as Vincent drew a long beak as he came closer to finishing his drawing of the creature. She frowned slightly at it which happened to look very much like a large bird and almost identical to the one in the painting they had seen in the museum earlier that day.

When he was finished Vincent held it out to the Doctor, who took the drawing and looked at it, holding it out in front of him. "Okay. Okay. Right." He nodded. "Amy, Cass, make Mister Van Gogh comfortable. Don't let any invisible monsters in through the front door."

"But it could be outside, waiting." Amy frowned. "Or it could come in here."

"That's why you got Cassiopeia with you." He grinned. The blonde nodded wordlessly and the Doctor smirked at Amy. "Don't worry. I'll risk it. What's the worst that can happen?

"You could get torn into pieces by a monster you can't see." She pointed out.

"Oh right, yes, that." He rolled his eyes at the obvious. "That's why I have Holls." He winked at the woman beside him who blinked slightly at getting dragged into the conversation. "She'll keep an eye on me, don't worry. We'll be back before you can say where's they got to now?" He headed out the door Hollie following behind him before suddenly running back inside. "Not that fast!" He exclaimed making Amy jump and Cassiopeia shook her head at him while looking quite startled herself. "But pretty fast..." He pointed between the trio. "See you around."

×××

The Doctor and Hollie travelled from Vincent's house, back towards where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS. They walked in the darkness of the night in complete silence. Hollie frowned deep in thought, almost following the Doctor while her head continued to be distracted by other thoughts.

The Doctor glanced over at her and tilted his head, her brows were scrunched up while her eyes looked blankly ahead of her. "What's wrong?" He finally asked.

Hollie blinked as his voice pulled her away from her train of thought and she suddenly noticed the Doctor was now staring at her. "What?" She replied, trying to casually shrug it off.

"You're frowning." He stated and stopped walking as he turned to her.

Hollie sighed after a moment and stopped walking before she turned around and looked at him, sensing him staring at her. "I'm thinking."

The Doctor raised a brow. "About?"

"It doesn't matter." She answered defensively and shook her head before she continued to walk on. The Doctor continued to frown at the back of her head before he suddenly leapt forward and grabbed her wrist forcing her to turn back around to face him, a determined look in his eye and a shocked look on her face. "Holls."

Blue eyes met green as she frowned up at him and stated almost factually: "You kissed me earlier."

The Doctor blinked slightly in confusion, why was she acting so odd about that now? It wasn't the first time he had kissed her and she even kissed him a couple of times before. He gave her a puzzled look. "I've kissed you a lot, Holls."

She nodded at him as she replied: "Yeah but why?" She sighed when he didn't say a word sensing another question coming from her lips: "What am I to you?"

The Doctor frowned at what exactly she meant by that question, sure after learning about her telepathy they had grown closer but neither of them exactly decided to take the extra step and expressed in words what they were both feeling. The Doctor certainly wasn't going to force Hollie into a situation she didn't want to be in, especially when he was going to outlive her, she deserved more than a life stuck with him. "Where has this come from?"

Hollie sighed and shook her head as she sensed the conversation wasn't going in the direction she had hoped. "It's nothing."

"It's not though." He replied giving her a pointed look as she began to look towards the ground and shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Not to you."

She forced a smile and met his eyes again, she wasn't going to have this conversation with him now, especially when they had a creature to stop. "Honestly it's nothing."

The Doctor eyed her for a brief moment, the two of them surrounded by silence before the Doctor nodded slowly and continued to walk on without saying another word.

Hollie's shoulders slumped as she looked at the back of his head before quickly following behind him sadness filled her eyes. It was never going to be simple when it came to him, she knew that after seeing the Doctor for the second time twelve years after first meeting him, but this?

This was worse than what she imagined.

She wished that the Earth would just swallow her whole after that conversation with the Doctor, she also wished they were closer to the TARDIS than she originally thought when the defining silence surrounding them grew an uncomfortable awkwardness between them. It didn't take them much longer to reach the box though and they were still in silence and now both deep in their thoughts as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and stepped inside the box. Hollie frowned as she realised he never actually said why they were going to the TARDIS and she broke the never-ending silence they had created with a question: "What are we doing here, Doctor?"

"I have a device somewhere which hopefully if it still works we can identify the species and help it get home." He explained with a grin, he ran down a set of stairs near the console and started to rummage through different chests. Hollie curiously watched him from where she stood leaning against the railing. The Doctor threw different items of clothing and a few different devices over his shoulder. Hollie squeaked as she ducked a book almost hitting her in the face. "Sorry." He apologised looking up at her for a second before he went back to rummaging through the chest again.

"Right." He muttered to himself. "You in here somewhere?" Hollie watched him closely as the Doctor continued to ramble along to himself. "I can't apologise enough. I thought you were just a useless gadget. I thought you were just an embarrassing present from a dull godmother with two heads and bad breath... Twice. How wrong can a man be?" The Doctor widely grinned as he pulled the device out of the chest and ran back up the stairs to join Hollie.

He placed on the console the device from the box. Hollie raised a brow at it, it honestly looked a lot like a car side mirror with tubes stuck into it along with two straps supposedly for arms. She watched as the Doctor plugged it in. The Doctor grinned as it powered up. He gently took hold of Hollie's shoulders and guided her to stand in front of it. "Oh good it works." He grinned as a small printer on the console began to print out the photo of Hollie.

A worrying pain grew in the pit of Hollie's stomach as her eyes landed on the screen and the text under it.

"Silence Rescuer." Hollie blinked momentarily as a voice echoed in her head. She looked around. She frowned seeing the Doctor look at something on the scanner, he didn't look unbothered in the slightest before Hollie quickly realised it was the TARDIS talking to her again. She hadn't done that since they met the Dream Lord. She shifted uncomfortably not wanting to ask aloud, the Doctor would clearly hear her and then think she was insane. "Just think it." The TARDIS supplied sensing her frustration.

Hollie nodded slightly. "Why does it not know Earth and why is the Doctor avoiding the situation?"

"One day you'll find your answers."

She swallowed hard at the TARDIS' cryptic answers before she was pulled back to the reality in front of her as the printer beeped and she reached out with now trembling fingers for the slip of paper. "Doctor?" She called, her voice becoming dry and shaky making the Time Lord instantly snap his head from the console to hers at the worry of her voice. She held up the paper to his eyes and frowned, feeling incredibly ill and no better after the TARDIS' words. "Why does it say 'planet: unknown'?"

"What?" The Doctor snapped out of shock and grabbed the sheet of paper from her. He frowned deeply and lightly tapped the console a few times in annoyance. "What do you mean 'Unknown', she's human." He eyed the blonde for a moment. "You are human..." He tilted his head at her before shaking it. "Of course you're human." He grumbled at the TARDIS again and looked at the device with eyes mixed between anger and frustration. "Why are you confused? She's from Earth you silly thing."

"Spoilers." The TARDIS whispered in Hollie's mind sensing her confusion. She frowned unsure if the box was referring to the situation she found herself in with the Doctor or rather being told it couldn't find her planet or origin...

The Doctor shook his head a final time and lightly hit the device again, "Fine try me." He muttered stepping in front of the mirror and poking out his tongue.

Hollie then giggled, her worry slowly washing away at the Doctor's silly antics but a part of her still felt odd about the whole thing as she eyed the machine warily. The Doctor grinned at her as 'match found' appeared on the screen. The two watched as different images of men flashed on the screen. Hollie frowned, she had seen them before when the Atraxi was going to blow up the Earth. "Who are they?" She asked, pointing at the screen as an image of a man with curly hair, a hat and a very, very long scarf appeared.

"Well..." The Doctor said slowly for a second as he tried to think of a clever lie before shaking his head, for once he was going to tell the truth. It was only Hollie after all. "They're me."

"You?" She looked at the Doctor in confusion as he shifted slightly on his feet and avoided looking at the blonde. "How?"

"Time Lords can do this thing when they die." He shrugged waving her off. "It's very boring and takes some time to explain and I'm afraid Hollie Aria," he smiled as he lightly tapped her nose making her smile "We do not have the time."

"Can you tell me later?" She asked and the Doctor sighed slightly. He should have known that one was coming.

"Why?"

"Because it's interesting." She shrugged, picking up the pieces of paper that had been printed out and looking at them all. "And I'm curious."

The Doctor shook his head smiling softly as a chuckle escaped his lips. "You don't have to tell me you're curious Holls, I know that one already." He then picked up the sketch of the bird-like monster before holding it up to the mirror. "Now, see what you make of this." He muttered as it began to scan. "Who is that?"

The device dinged with match found and an image of a macaw appeared on the mirror. "No, I know it's not that. There are thousands of them and you can see them plain as day."

The image changed to a polar bear, and Hollie loudly laughed. "No." The Doctor huffed at it. "Definitely not. This is the problem with the impressionists." He muttered. "Not accurate enough. This would never happen with Gainsborough or one of those proper painters."

Hollie glared at him for a moment and the Doctor just shook his head. "Sorry, Vincent. You will just have to draw something better." He threw the sketch over his head and Hollie gasped at what he had just done. "Oops..." He whispered slowly turning to look at her sheepishly.

"You better not treat my art like that." She huffed walking over to the sketch on the floor and picking it up before leaning it against the console and nodding in satisfaction.

"No way." He automatically replied. "You know I love your art."

Hollie smiled as the Doctor stepped towards her and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for throwing the sketch."

"Thank you." Hollie nodded and the Doctor grinned before he ran back to the console and unplugged the device before he put it on his chest, and placed his arms through the straps.

The two then left the TARDIS, the Doctor wearing the device on his chest, the mirror positioned to look over his right shoulder. Hollie tilted her head as an image of the creature Vincent drew appeared on the mirror. "That's better, old girl." The Doctor smiled. "Time delay, but you always get it right in the end." He glanced at Hollie, frowning ever so slightly. "Ish..." He quietly added before continuing. "Good. Let's find out who this is, then. Well, well, there you are."

The Doctor and Hollie read off the screen as text appeared. "Krafayis," Hollie stated.

"Planet of origin uncertain. Nomadic pack animals. Strict dominance hierarchy." The Doctor read off the mirror before continuing. "Huge territories, several solar systems wide. Preferred habitat: Planets with oxygen and nitrogen-based atmospheres... Oh, you poor thing. You brutal, murderous, abandoned thing. I hope we meet again soon so I can take you home."

The Doctor looked around for a moment and Hollie's eyes widened as the image of the Krafayis disappeared, the real thing behind them, moving ever so slightly. "Doctor..." She whispered, slowly reaching out for his hand while swallowing hard.

"Maybe not that soon." The Doctor remarked as he tightened his hand around Hollie's, the two of them ran through the village. The Doctor stopped for a moment so Hollie was ahead of him so he could scatter benches and a few other objects to slow the Krafayis down.

"Take that, and that." He muttered, running around a corner and pulling Hollie beside him, the two of them panting for breath against a wall.

The Doctor breathed deeply trying to steady his hearts that were furiously beating before he poked his head around the corner and almost jumped out of his skin at Amy mere centimetres away from him. "Never do that!" He exclaimed making Hollie jump too. "You scared the living daylights out of us!"

"Sorry, I got bored." She apologised as Hollie placed a hand on her chest, glaring at her friend. "As much as you admire his command of colour and shape, it is hard to get fond of Vincent Van Gogh's snoring."

The Doctor chuckled slightly. "Come on we need to print out a picture of the Krafayis for Vincent to make sure that is what he is seeing."

×××

By the time they arrived back at Vincent's house, it was late morning. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" The Doctor announced as he stepped through the bedroom door and towards the window. "Breakfast is served in the courtyard." He pushed the window open and grinned. "Whoa! What a morning. Come on. And Amy's got a little surprise for you."

Vincent frowned, watching the Doctor, who spun around and left the room, the man shook his head before getting dressed and then heading for the courtyard. He frowned seeing lots of sunflowers set in pots, scattered around the courtyard while Amy smiled from where she sat next to the table with Cassiopeia. "I thought I'd brighten things up to thank you for saving me last night." She told Vincent.

"Ah." He said as he took in the sight before him.

"I thought you might like, you know, possibly to perhaps paint them or something?" She shrugged, nervously glancing at Hollie who stood beside the Doctor smiling. "Might be a thought."

"Yes, well, they're not my favourite flower."

Hollie blinked. "What?"

"You don't like sunflowers?" Amy questioned.

"No, it's not that I don't like them," Vincent replied while shaking his head and walking up to one of the sunflowers, lightly ghosting his fingers over its petals. "I find them complex. Always somewhere between living and dying. Half-human as they turn to the sun. A little disgusting. But, you know, they are a challenge."

"And one I'm pretty sure you'll rise to." The Doctor cut in, walking up to Vincent and placing a hand on his shoulder. "But, moving on, there's something I need to show you." He nodded at the house.

×××

"That's him." Vincent pointed at the printed-out image of the Krafayis as he looked at the Doctor and Hollie. "And the eyes, without mercy."

"This is a creature called the Krafayis. They travel in space." The Doctor explained. "They travel as a pack, scavenging across the universe. And sometimes one of them gets left behind. And because they are a brutal race, the others never come back. So, dotted all around the universe are individual, utterly merciless, utterly abandoned Krafayis. And what they do is, well, kill, until they're killed. Which they usually aren't. Because other creatures can't see them."

"But I can," Vincent replied.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. And that's why we are in a unique position today, my friend, to end this reign of terror." He smiled. "So, feeling like painting the church today?"

"What about the monster?" Vincent asked.

"Take my word for it. If you paint it, he will come."

"Okay. I'll get my things."

Hollie grinned. "I'm going to the TARDIS."

The Doctor frowned at the back of her head as she walked to the door. "Why?"

Hollie chuckled, spinning around, a wide grin on her face. "I'm not passing this opportunity to make my art in front of Vincent Van Gogh."

The Doctor nodded a small smile on his face before he turned back to Vincent who started to pick up a few paint brushes. "And I promise you, we'll be out of your hair by this time tomorrow."

The Doctor watched Vincent walk into another room. The Doctor sighed and looked at Amy. "This is risky."

"Riskier than normal?" Amy questioned with a frown.

The Doctor nodded. "Well, think about it." He told her. "This is the middle of Vincent Van Gogh's greatest year of painting. If we're not careful, the net result of our pleasant little trip will be the brutal murder of the greatest artist who ever lived. Half the pictures on the wall of the Muse? D'Orsay will disappear." The Doctor paused for a moment and frowned in thought. "And it will be our fault and I think Hollie may just kill us both for that." He added with a mutter.

Amy chuckled slightly at the thought, she defiantly would kill them both for being the cause of at least half of Vincent's art never existing in the first place.

×××

It didn't take long for Hollie to return to Vincent's house with one of her sketch pads, and a couple of different pencils, she walked into the sitting room and frowned, the Doctor sat in a chair, and Amy sat beside him with Cassiopeia standing nearby the three of them looking bored out of their minds.

"Where's Vincent?" The blonde questioned, the Doctor nodded at a door which led into the hallway and to the man's bedroom.

"He's been in there since you left."

The blonde frowned, setting down her supplies before she stepped through the door and into the hallway. "Vincent?" She called out but got no reply. A quiet sniffle came from behind a door of one of the rooms past the hallway. Hollies heart sank as she stepped forward and quietly knocked before poking her head through the doorway she had created.

Her eyes found Vincent lying face down on his bed, tears were slowly rolling down his face as he cried. "Vincent..." She whispered and stepped through the doorway, quietly shutting it behind herself. "How can I help you?"

"You cannot help." He croaked through a cry. "And when you leave, and everyone always leaves, I will be left once more with an empty heart and no hope."

"I know how you feel." She sadly smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know what it's like to be left with an empty heart and no hope."

"How can you possibly understand?" He sobbed.

"Because I'm also alone." She replied. "I have no family and my only friends are Amy and-" She swallowed hard closing her eyes. Vincent slowly sat up and watched sadly as a tear rolled down Hollie's cheek. "Who were they?" He asked knowing exactly the look on her face.

"Rory Williams." She smiled slightly at the memory of him before she shook her head. "But he doesn't even exist now and I shouldn't remember him."

"He will always be in your memories and your heart though," Vincent replied.

She shook her head, a small smile on her lips at how unaware of the situation Vincent really was. "He really shouldn't be."

Vincent watched Hollie for a second before he frowned and wiped his eyes and the tear stains that had dried on his cheeks. "I know how this will end Hollie. And it will not end well."

"Vincent." She sighed, standing up from the bed and she gave him a knowing look. "I know how you feel, not exactly how but I know the pain."

"What are you doing here?" He suddenly asked, a curious look on his face. "What are you, the Doctor and Amy doing here?"

Hollie shook her head. "I can't tell you."

Vincent lowered his eyes before he lay back down on the bed and rolled over to face the wall. "I think I need to be left alone before I hurt you." He softly replied.

Hollie swallowed hard and without saying another word she turned and left the room.

"Doctor." She blinked at the saddened look on the Time Lord's face, not realising he was stood outside Vincent's bedroom. "How-"

"I heard it all." He cut her off, seeing the shock on her face. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged it off and the facade she put on slipped over her face. "It's okay."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, it isn't."

Hollie shook her head again, she wasn't going to talk to him about this, about her life between seeing him when she was a child and then when she had grown up, especially not outside Vincent Van Gogh's room.

The Doctor sighed through the silence before he walked back down the corridor and out into the courtyard where Amy had decided to sit with the sunflowers. "What's happening?"

"We're leaving." The Time Lord replied. "Everyone knows he's a delicate man. Just months from now he'll... he'll take his own life."

Hollie swallowed hard at the words and Amy closed her eyes. "Don't say that." She whispered. "Please."

The Doctor stepped outside of the living room of Vincent's house. Hollie picked her art supplies up from where she had left them before casting the room one last look, sadness in her eyes, she had got to meet one of the greatest painters ever and all it had done was remind her of her own sadness and suffering.

Hollie turned back around to leave before she frowned as quiet footsteps grew louder as they approached and a small shadow cast itself over the floor behind her. She turned around to see Vincent set his straw hat on of his head, his brown coat sat on his shoulders and a determined look had set itself on his face.

Two pairs of blue eyes met. "I'm ready." Vincent nodded picking up a small briefcase. "Let's go."

Hollie grinned widely as she let out a loud laugh, running outside, the Doctor frowned turning around with Amy before he stumbled back as Hollie launched herself at him, hugging the Time Lord tightly.

The Doctor blinked before he spotted Vincent over Hollie's shoulder. "You're amazing!" He cheered, spinning around with her happily before Hollie stepped away from him with a wide grin on her face.

"Let's go paint a church."

×××

Hollie walked beside the Doctor down the road while Vincent walked beside Amy and Cassiopeia. "I'm sorry you're so sad," Amy said to Vincent.

The man shook his head and smiled. "But I'm not. Sometimes these moods torture me for weeks, for months. But I'm good now. If Amy Pond can soldier on, then so can Vincent Van Gogh."

Amy frowned at his words. "I'm not soldiering on. I'm fine."

Hollie swallowed hard hearing the two's conversation. "Oh, Amy. I hear the song of your sadness. You've lost someone, I think."

The Doctor glanced at the blonde and carefully took her hand, squeezing it slightly as Amy frowned even more at Vincent.

"I'm not sad."

"They why are you crying?"

Amy's eyes widened as she slowly raised a hand and touched her cheek with a single finger. She wiped away a tear and held it in front of her in shock. "It's all right," Vincent told her. "I understand."

"I'm not sure I do."

"Okay." The Doctor cut in. "Okay. So, now, we must have a plan. When the creature returns-"

"Then we shall fight him again," Vincent added.

"Well, yes, tick." The Doctor nodded. "But last night we were lucky. Amy could have been killed. So this time, for a start, we have to make sure I can see him too."

"And how are we meant to do that, suddenly?" Amy frowned.

"The answer's in this box." The Doctor let go of Hollie's hand and patted the small case in his hand. "I had an excellent, if smelly, godmother."

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at the Doctor.

Hollie swallowed hard as a funeral procession slowly made it's way down the road towards them. "Doctor." She whispered.

"Oh no, it's that poor girl from the village." Vincent quietly informed.

They watched from the side of the road as the coffin made its way down the road, a bouquet of sunflowers resting on it. Hollie sadly watched on and forced her eyes to be torn away and look at the Doctor. "Do you have a plan?"

Cassiopeia smiled. "What do you think?"

"He doesn't but that would be silly, it could kill him."

"Oi." The Doctor narrowed his eyes playfully at them both. "It's like a plan but with more greatness."

×××

Vincent stabbed his easel into the grass and unfolded his chair before he opened his briefcase. Hollie watched over his shoulder with eyes full of awe as the painter picked up his palette and removed a few brushes from his case. The Doctor smiled softly as he watched the blonde watch the painter before he patted Vincent on the shoulder. "And you'll be sure to tell me if you see any, you know, monsters."

"Yes. While I may be mad, I'm not stupid." The ginger man nodded.

"No. Quite." The Doctor agreed, moving to Vincent's side to kneel beside him. "And, to be honest, I'm not sure about mad either. It seems to me depression is a very complex-"

"Shush." Vincent cut the Time Lord off, holding a finger up. Hollie stiffled a laugh with Cassiopeia as the Doctor stared at Vincent, his mouth open slightly as the painter pointed at his blank canvas in front of him. "I'm working."

The Doctor glanced at Hollie for a moment. "Well, yes." He nodded slowly and looked back at Vincent. "Paint. Do painting!" He jumped up.

Hollie smiled, shaking her head and began to draw on her sketchpad, she stood off to the side of Vincent and Amy, watching them and smiling as she carefully drew.

×××

A short amount of time had passed by and Vincent had moved on from line drawing to fiercely painting the blue sky above the church. Hollie had also finished two sketches and was watching Vincent paint before she started her third sketch. "I remember watching Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. Wow! What a whinger." The Doctor rambled on, pacing back and forth. "I kept saying to him, look, if you're scared of heights, you shouldn't have taken the job then."

"Doctor." Cassiopeia said.

"What?" The Time Lord spun around, stopping his pacing to look at her.

"Stop going on and just sit down, please." Hollie cut in and raised her eyebrows at him. "It's hard to focus with you pacing all the time."

The Doctor rolled his eyes but complied and decided to sit on the grass. "Happy now?"

"Yes." She grinned and opened her sketchpad back up. "Now stay there and stay still."

Cassiopeia chuckled at the two as the Doctor smiled slightly having an idea of what she was going to draw next. "Alright." He agreed.

"Thank you." She nodded, beginning to draw on the page. "Have you met any other famous painters?" The blonde questioned as she looked up from her page for a moment.

"I met Picasso." He smirked.

Hollie slowly looked up at him from over the pages. "You've met Picasso and I'm only hearing about it now?"

The Doctor waved a hand at her. "He's a ghastly old goat. I kept having to tell him to concentrate." The Doctor jumped up from where he was sitting in thought and walked over to Vincent. Hollie sighed as the Doctor leaned down to one side of Vincent's face, looking at the painting, "It's one eye," he moved to the other side, "either side of the face."

"Doctor." Hollie gave him a pointed look. "I wasn't done."

"Oops." He winced. "Sorry."