The console left the room brightly lit, although the main lights were already shut off. As several yellow lights began to flicker, the one occupant in the room mumbled of "stupid, non-existent buttons". He kicked the console gently, then grabbed his foot, leaning against the railing in frustration.
"I see them right there," Amy said with an exaggerated sigh as she watched her friend hit the buttons until the lights faded out. She plopped down on the stairs as she entered the room.
"Do you now?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes locked on the console's lights.
"Of course not, you just wrecked them." Amy stood and glided over to the Doctor.
He smiled and clapped his hands together, "Then it's quite possible they never existed at all." He said and patted Amy's shoulder excitedly. "Now, who wants to go see rivers made of snowflakes? It's actually very pretty. Or the burning glass sculptures in Aguire 6? Or maybe the fine people of Tabgula, where they literally have three heads." He smiled again and pushed down a lever. "Or maybe Southampton on April 10th, 1912."
"Why Southampton?" She asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the console beside him.
The Doctor sighed, "Amy, what I'm asking is- oh, never mind," The Doctor said and pushed away from the console with the back of his hands. He spun in a circle as he moved away from the buttons and levers. "You'll just have to wait and see." He glanced at her and nodded towards the doors. "Go on… have a peak."
Amy rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the doors, but was stopped midway by the sound of coughing. A terrible, dreadful cough that sounded like sandpaper brushing against more sandpaper, with a liquid screech lying below it. She turned to face the Doctor with a frown. He was supporting himself by gripping the console with one hand, while the other clutched his chest.
As he looked up, Amy saw rings of yellow, purple, and blue circling his eyes. "How'd that happen so fast?" She said cautiously as she moved towards him. The Doctor's skin was paling rapidly and he was slowly falling to his knees. "Doctor?"
He looked up, his eyes glazed over, "Amy, maybe visiting Titanic isn't the best idea… today." He went on mumbling, then glanced up, "Maybe tomorrow, eh? See Titanic set off on her damned voyage… what a beauty."
"By the looks of you, you won't have a tomorrow." Rory said curtly as he glided into the room. He ran down the last steps and wrapped an arm around the Doctor to give him more support. The Doctor shoved Rory away, leaning against the console again. "Doctor,"
He shook his head, "I'm fine!" He cried out in a hoarse voice, coughing as he fell to the floor.
"Doctor!" Amy yelled, wrapping her arms around him and placing a hand to his cheek. "What's happening? Please, tell me what's happening."
He leaned against her, pressing his face into her shoulder. "I can't breathe," he whispered, shutting his eyes.
"Doctor, keep your eyes open… tell me what's the matter."
"I-" he pulled away, grabbing onto the console to lift himself, "can stabilize myself." After the long task of pulling himself up, he began pulling levers and finally jabbed his arm with a needle. "There," he let out a quick sigh, the rings around his eyes fading, "that should last a while."
A moment of silence passed as Amy and Rory took in the information. Their strange friend was already looking better, but he still didn't seem whole. A few more minutes ticked by until the silence was beginning to choke Amy. "So… Titanic?"
The Doctor looked up at her, her voice shocking him back to reality. "We'll save that for another day, yeah?" He grinned and walks towards the doors, a slightly confused look crossing over his face. "There's much more interesting things to deal with."
Amy lifted an eyebrow, "Like?"
With an annoyed sigh, the Doctor turned to face them, "Like the end of the universe, for instance." He walked to the door, cautiously opening it and stepping out, immediately being blinded by sunlight. He took a few more clumsy steps away from the TARDIS and rubbed his forehead. "I can't see a thing!" He whined, his voice sounding like it belonged to a seven year old. "Daft old sun, just hanging there in the sky… all bright and rounded."
Someone gasped beside him and he jumped backwards, his back landing against the door of the TARDIS. "It's beautiful…" Amy exclaimed as the Doctor fumbled with the door handle. He grunted and bit his bottom lip, catching Amy's attention. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to get into the TARDIS, but you shut the doors. And when you shut the doors with someone still inside, and with the readings sky rocketing… well, it's like a defense mechanism. The doors lock and whoever's standing outside can't go back in until the whole ordeal is resolved."
"So, Rory's stuck in there?" She bit her own lip, staring down the Doctor.
He nodded, his hands slipping away from the door, "but he's safe, the TARDIS is keeping his timeline in tack." The Doctor spun on his heels, glancing around. "Ah, so, all of history in one. I'm not very surprised that we're on earth… earth's history happening all at once." He sighed and rubbed his forehead again, then began walking.
Amy rushed after him, quickening her pace to stay at his side. "Earth's history happening all at once? Why exactly is that happening?"
The Doctor shrugged and grabbed her hand, dragging her further into the city. "I'm guessing someone or something is using the Rift's energy to literally alter the world. And whoever did it must be suicidal, because the way it's planned out, timelines are unraveling… the universe falling in on itself."
"How could it fall in on itself? It's the bloody universe!" She unintentionally squeezed his hand as she looked over to him.
"Oh, very easily, Pond. Picture a black hole, where it basically sucks up everything in its orbit… you know what? Don't picture a black hole, it's nothing like that. It's just collapsing in on itself. Wait. Maybe it would be like a black hole," he paused, lost in his own rant.
He began to pick up speed again as he rushed over to the center of a street, looking around as if he would see something that he didn't at first. "Time is rewriting itself with the could have beens and the what ifs… And after every possible route with one single decision is finished, it's deleted. And everything involved with that first decision is gone as well."
"Deleted? What's keeping us from being deleted?" She already had a feeling of the answer, remembering a time close to that with the Pandorica.
The Doctor glanced at her and smiled, "Nothing at all, but to be able to be deleted, your timeline needs to be unraveled. Once that's done, time will catch up with you…" He trailed off and sighed, grabbing his forehead again and pushing into his temples with his thumbs. "It's a temporal safety, but it will keep you balanced long enough in the time zone we first came through with."
"And what time would that be? 1912?" Amy asked and the Doctor nodded, "So, how is time…mixing?"
Another smile began to tug at the edges of the Doctor's lips, but he held it down. "When Rift energy is activated, it generally sends off a wave of power. If it's used to power something already holding energy from another rift, they can't coincide together… it's like a human body fighting off a virus. One of the energies believe the other as a foreign substance, so they ultimately attack it. And Rift energy is so strong that it can tear a hole in the fabric of reality, and if the hole is large enough then anything could happen." His hands went to his forehead again and he stared at the ground moving slowly below his feet, "Once a hole is there, you only need an idea. If the idea is strong enough, it can change the course of history and so much more."
"So someone did this on purpose?" Amy cried out, a tinge of disbelief ringing through her voice. "Who would do this?"
He laughed curtly, his head shaking at Amy's question. "So many people, so many aliens… for revenge, for anything really…" He laughed again as he glanced around, goose bumps forming on his arms. "Something's off."
"Everything's off," Amy muttered, pulling her hand away from the Doctor and crossing her arms.
The Doctor shook his head again, "No, no… it's different. It's-" He broke off, cringing as he jerked backwards. "Something's coming." He whispered, falling to the ground. "Something's… in my head." His voice grew quieter as he curled and uncurled in pain. Amy dropped down beside him, her hands hovering above his shaking body.
"Doctor? Doctor, what's coming back?" She lifted his head, resting it on her lap and she locked eyes with him.
He let out a quivering sigh, "Not a what, a who," his voice was barely audible, but the words hit Amy with a wave of confusion. A tear rolled down her cheek in silence as she stared at the Doctor, "Amy?" His voice caught her off guard and she found herself in a loss for words, so she nodded. "Gotcha," he tried to smile, letting his eyes flutter shut.
"No, no! Please, Doctor, open your bloody eyes!" She screamed, shaking his shoulders gently as footsteps rushed up behind her. A hand tapped her shoulder, but she didn't turn. It didn't matter; all that mattered was fixing the Doctor. Her hands pulled back one of his sleeves as she searched for a pulse. Finally satisfied, she sighed and let herself relaxed slightly.
"Sorry if I'm intruding, but is that the Doctor?" A man stepped in front of her and her eyes slowly adjusted, the fresh tears dripping down her cheeks.
"Yeah, yeah it is." She croaked, not being able to say anything else. The man looked odd, especially his old looking coat and the grin playing at his lips. "Who're you?" She eventually managed, her voice cracking.
The man laughed and bent down beside her and the Doctor, "I'm an old friend." He pressed his hands against both sides of the Doctor's chest and his grin widened. "Two steady beats," he dragged his hands away and looked at Amy. "I'll be back, so tell him I stopped by, okay?" The man rose to his feet, already starting to walk away.
"Wait! What do I tell him? I don't know your name!" Amy yelled out after him, having the urge to stand up and run after him. She didn't move and ran her fingers gently through the Doctor's hair instead.
"Uh, tell him it was the Face of Boe." His smile that had faded a few moments ago had returned, "He'll understand."
Amy watched him until he disappeared into the crowd roaming the streets and sidewalks. She frowned and looked back down at the Doctor's head in her lap. "The Face of Boe?"