They stare at him and watch in silent gratitude as he speeds away in that magical, defying spaceship.
They stare silently, not a single voice speaking across the planet, in hushed silence as each and every human being thanks him for their lives.
And yet not one of them says thank you.
-o-
"Whatever happens, however hard, however far, we will find you."
Amy couldn't see him, of course. She was in a different place. Trapped between the two with her mind in one and her body in the other. She didn't know that yet, though. "I'm right here!"
"No, you're not. And you haven't been for a long, long time."
-o-
The world is still thanking him, thanking him a million times over for pulling them back home, for saving them with that impossible blue box.
But they aren't, really. Nobody is saying anything. Nothing at all.
A ghost of air sighs across the planet.
Thousands of years later at the same time, the Doctor ruins his best friend.
-o-
"What have you done to her!" Rory breathed, staring at the Flesh on the ground in a white puddle. "What have you done?"
His voice tears the Doctor into pieces. He sits down on the steps of the TARDIS and puts his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry."
The words feel odd in this mouth, odd and familiar, and yet so out of place here that Rory doesn't do anything. He's torn, the Doctor knows, between hate and anger and trust.
But Rory is human. He knows what he will pick.
-o-
"Mummy?" Adam says, the first word spoken on Earth since he saved them all. "Mummy, look at the stars."
His mother does, staring up at the familiar sky that not to long ago was filled so many unfamiliar things.
If only she had looked harder, she would have read the message hidden within them.
-o-
"Doesn't it bother you?" Rory asked. He's sitting on his bunkbed, his knees tucked in under his chin. He's staring at the ground. "That you're always so alone?"
The Doctor sighed and stared at his feet. He shrugged. "Does it bother you?"
"Does what bother me?"
"That I'm free to see the stars and you're stuck on that ugly earth."
-o-
"You're fine, Amelia," The strange woman with the silver eyepatch whispers. "It's okay. Just push."
Amy is screaming, screaming, screaming her voice raw and crying and praying for Rory, praying for the Doctor, praying for anyone to come and save her from this hell.
They will come.
She knows they will.
-o-
"You're always thinking about escaping, aren't you? Always thinking about it. Always dreaming about it."
The Doctor doesn't know why he doesn't just leave, but he can't. He's rooted to the floor with the Boy Who Waited. And he finds he doesn't mind.
Again, the Doctor shrugs. It's all he can do to keep the tears away.
-o-
"It's not fair!" She screams at him. "It's. Not. Fair."
"Life's not fair," He murmurs. Gently, he presses the gun to her stomach. He's done with helping this broken girl. "Can't help that."
"It's not fair," She whispers as she falls to the ground. Scarlet stains her white dress.
He kneels down beside her, knowing that it was wrong, so wrong, but he had to. It wasn't for him. It was for everybody else. It was for her.
She's not staring at him anymore. Her pale, pale eyes have drifted to the night sky, so vibrant out here in the middle of nowhere. "It's not fair," She whispers, so softly he almost doesn't catch it.
But he does.
"It's not fair that they get to be so beautiful when everything is so ugly down here."
And then, her starry eyes fall dull and he's left with a scarlet body and another life weighing on his shoulders.
-o-
"What are you?" Rory asked.
The Doctor spun around from where he was standing at the control board, his head sunken between his shoulders. He was not wearing his jacket; he was stuck in a shirt with suspenders. His bowtie was loose around his neck. "Rory. Hello."
"What are you?" Rory repeated. His empty eyes made the Doctor's hearts hurt.
"I'm a Time Lord. You know that-"
"No," His voice cracked, but he didn't seem to care. "What are you? A runaway? A convict? Lost?"
The Doctor sighed and turned back around to the controls. He fiddled with a lever that doesn't do anything, (at least nothing he knows of). "A wanderer, I suppose," He replied softly. He blinked. Rory didn't speak for a long while, and when he did, it was hardly more than a broken whisper.
"So, lost then?"
The Doctor turned and sank to the ground. "Not all those who wander are lost."
Rory gives a dry laugh and says, "But you are," before turning and walking blindly to his room.
-o-
Lucy stares at the sky with George by her side.
"There's too much to escape from," She says calmly. The sky was silent despite the never ending Daleks that supposedly were invading. "And nowhere to escape to. Maybe we're all just waiting. All of us, every last one of us waiting for that moment of escape."
George raises his champagne flute towards the stars. "Amen."
They are fourteen.
They are infinite.
-o-
"Why can't we just get her back?" Rory screams. He's drunk on foreign alcohol that affects humans differently than he thought. "She's waiting, somewhere! She could be dead."
"She's not dead," the Doctor whispered. "Rory-"
He fell to the ground and wailed. The sight of this misery made the Doctor's hearts ache. He doesn't get how or why this is happening but he knows it has to. He sits next to Rory and comforts him in the only possible way he can think of.
He hugged him.
And he didn't let go.
He doesn't understand any of this, any of Rory or of himself. But he knows it hurts. And that kills him.
"Please, Doctor," Rory gasped. His eyes were red and staring at the Doctor. "Please."
He held Rory's heartbreaking gaze for a long while.
He nods.
-o-
The Creator holds her baby in her arms, slowly rocking him to sleep. She knows the magnificent, awful things this child will do.
She decides to tell no one.
Outside, the seventh season of Gallifrey is beginning. The Creator knows that the beautiful scarlet skies and grass will soon burn with hatred and be stained with blood. They will all die at the hands of the child she currently holds.
She walks quietly over to the window, where the usual scarlet skies are now darkened with night. The stars are shining through, sending light upon the soon-to-be-Time Lord and the age-old Time Lady.
Soon, he will take the name Doctor, and he will commit the worst treason in all the Universe, in all of Time and Space. He will burn his planet and save everyone. He will become the Oncoming Storm. He will become the Savior of the Earth. He will create set points in Time and he will change history. He will save the world and he will destroy it.
But for now he is just a newborn, swaddled in the traditional silken blanket that all newborn Time Lords must be.
She smiles at the sky and drinks in the starlight. She turns her starlit gaze to the infant.
"Look at the stars," She murmurs gently. "Look how they shine for you."
A/N: Wow, this was a tough one. It's one in the morning at the moment, and it's raining, so of course I had to write something.
Half the quotes in here are not mine. I am not claiming to take credit for them in any way, shape or form. Please don't yell at me for plagiarizing because I am unable to cite them, but I needed to use them. :)
Anyway, about the non-italicized parts.
I chose the tense for a reason. It's present tense because those scenarios are supposed to reflect how the Universe is all going on at once and yet at completely unrelated times. You're dead and you're alive.
The italicized points, however, were supposed to tell a story. :D
Anyway, if you squint really really really hard you can kind of sorta maybe see Doctor/Rory because I ship them so hard shhh don't tell anyone.
I think that's all I have to say about that.
Thanks for reading, and as always, R&R! :D