5The Doctor ran towards Red as it jumped off the crates.
"RED!" The Doctor waved his arms around wildly. Red slid down the sand towards another set of crates on the opposite side of the broken bridge.
The Doctor mumbled under his breath as he raised the sonic screwdriver above his head. He clicked it several times in rapid succession. Red stopped and turned to the Doctor.
"Come back!" he shouted.
He repeatedly clicked the sonic and pointed it towards the sand waterfalls. Red's eyes followed the movement of the blue light and sound. Up, up, right, right. Up, up, right, right. Slowly, Red turned its whole body right, then lifted its head up.
Red let out a shrill, excited chirp.
There was a small, raised ledge sitting in the middle of the sand waterfall with a bright, glowing glyph on top.
Red glanced back. The Doctor was huffing to catch up. Red couldn't wait and sprinted forward to the glyph.
Red stood as close as it could to the edge of the waterfall. It jumped up and pumped its robe one... two... a little closer... three... almost... four times. The pointed tips of its hood barely peeked over the ledge. The sand snagged on the edges of its cloak, pulling the wanderer down faster than usual and into the waterfall itself.
Red fell down hard, but the sand cushioned the impact. Red stood up, shaking its head as sand continued to shower down on it.
"Ooh! Looks like you found a secret!" said the Doctor, coming up behind Red.
The Doctor ran through the soft sand of the waterfall and into the small cave that it housed. Inside was a large stone plaque with four graves, two on each side, framing the edges.
"What do you suppose this is? Another type of monument?" asked the Doctor, he crossed his arms and tapped the sonic against his chin.
Red walked up to the plaque and gave a big chirp, lighting up the graves. The plaque began to glow like Red's scarf. From the bottom up, a golden shimmer rose and painted a mural of a city buried deep under sand. The completed image was the same style as the psychic images he received from the stone statue.
"This civilization really liked their sand."
Red stood still, scanning the mural with its bright, wide eyes.
"Was this your home?"
The Doctor watched as Red stare at the mural with great intensity. He was unsure if his companion was purposefully ignoring him. He looked over at the mural. The towers had multiple levels with pillars and arches between each level. They were capped with domes and pointed peaks. The Doctor wondered if the mural towers were the same as the ones in the valley from where he first landed. It was hard to tell, the design could be a cultural quirk. Perhaps it could be a map of what was to come.
"Why don't we go explore outside the waterfall? There are still a couple of crates that we haven't released yet."
Red blinked, snapping out of its daze. Red ran outside, chirping excitedly, urging the Doctor to follow.
"Oi, here we go again," said the Doctor, pulling his jacket over his head as he jogged out.
Red walked to the left of the sand waterfall and mentally scaled the rocks beside it. The Doctor chuckled as he imagined Red with furrowing eyebrows.
"Here, let me try."
The Doctor jumped up, gripping the sides of the rocks. He threw his leg over, slipped a few times, but eventually managed to make his way up. He shimmied across the side ledge, careful not to slip in the moving sand. After a shaky leap forward, he landed on the ledge with the glowing glyph. He pointed the sonic screwdriver to absorb the glyph.
"Now," said the Doctor, "How do I bring this down?"
Red watched as the Doctor tried to scoop up the glyph, but it phased through his fingers. Then he tried to sonic the glyph, but there was no reaction. He pursed his lips and tapped his foot when-
"AH!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers, "Red! Try releasing that crate over there! Maybe there will be enough ribbons to boost you up here!"
Red turned around. It had completely missed the crate, resting next to a small stacked mesa, in its anxiousness to get the glyph. Red walked up to the crate and gave a big chirp. Its song wasn't resonant enough to fully release the large weathered ribbon and its scarf was depleted from its first attempt to fly up the waterfall. Red looked around and saw a set of stacked flat rocks forming makeshift steps. It climbed up and around to the crate, then let out another big chirp.
A flash and a click, a dozen little ribbons were released, replenishing Red's scarf and making the cloaked wanderer float up. Red let out another large, resonant chirp and flew even higher. Red pitched its head forward and dived towards the glowing glyph. The Doctor jumped out of the way to avoid Red, and ended up rolling off the ledge and landing on his back.
The Doctor coughed.
"It's great that this sand is so soft otherwise I might be upset," he said.
Red jumped off the ledge, landing like a cat next to the Doctor. The Doctor stood up and wiped the sand off his face again. Although, this probably wouldn't be the last time he would be getting sand in his mouth.
The red ribbons didn't fly towards the bridge pillars. Instead, they swam above and around the crate that released them.
"Looks like not all the crates form the bridge," said the Doctor. He flashed a grin at Red, "How about we see who can complete the bridge first?"
With that the Doctor dashed off to the next set of unreleased crates and began sonic-ing each one. Red chirped and jumped merrily, watching this person run around so enthusiastically. Fueled by this energetic display, Red followed suit and began releasing all the ribbons, chirping all the way.
Soon all the ribbons had been freed from their crates. The Doctor and Red stood in awe, looking up at the what had once been a broken bridge.
Red nudged its head to the start of the bridge and flew towards it. The Doctor chased after. The two of them stood side by side at the beginning of the bridge.
"Shall we?" asked the Doctor.
Red gave a small chirp and a nod.
As the duo made their way up the bridge, the Doctor had noticed a pattern with the ribbons and how they all reacted to Red and his sonic screwdriver. Both would glow and gained the ability to fly whenever they came in contact with any of the ribbons, big or small. But there were some minor differences. Red's scarf could store flight energy but the sonic screwdriver couldn't. The screwdriver needed to be sonic-ing and in contact with the red ribbons to maneuver flight. On the flip side, the sonic could maintain a constant sound while Red couldn't.
At the top and end of the bridge, a stone statue, just like the one before. In front of statue were two rows of grave markers that created an aisle up to the statue.
Red nudged it's head to the left. The Doctor watched as Red stepped next to the grave marker, causing it to glow. He made another mental note that chirps weren't the only thing that could activate the markers. Red weaved around the markers, lighting them up one by one. Once it had reached the end, it let out a small chirp.
The Doctor took it as a sign to light up the right side. He walked up to the marker and tapped it with his sonic screwdriver.
No reaction.
The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh. He put the sonic screwdriver setting on low, so it released a small radius of sound and then tapped the marker.
It lit up.
The Doctor grinned as he held onto the "on" button, tapping away at each metal marker.
Both sides were now fully lit. The lights from the markers came together to form a circle in front of the stone statue.
The Doctor bowed and waved his hand towards the glowing circle, "After you."
Red chirped a few times and dashed into the circle. Once it was inside, it sat down in a meditative pose.
The Doctor stepped in and mimicked Red's posturing. Then closed his eyes as the white light began to engulf the scenery.
The Doctor opened his eyes. Red was standing in front a parted sand waterfall and an open gate, chirping at him to come along.
He wondered if Red saw the same things he did. The white figure and the moving mural. The Doctor wasn't sure if the figure was the same one he had seen before, but the mural was a continuation from what he had seen from the first figure. It depicted the valley of the broken bridge they had built and a ribbon train that lit up three towers.
Red did not seem phased by white light. In fact, it almost seem like Red expected it. Even now, it was more interested in continuing through the gate than pondering the vision it received, if it even saw one.
The Doctor shrugged. Whether Red saw the same thing or not was not important, at least for the moment.
He stood up and walked through the gate with his companion.
Yes, finally updated! I actually had this completed months ago, but kept hanging onto it and re-reading it several times, while making small changes here and there. I was finally satisfied enough to post it and I'm currently working on the next chapter (which is about... a quarter done?).
Anyway, hope you enjoy. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out soon. Thank you all for reviewing, it's been keeping my spirits up and inspiring me to continue. :)
