Chapter One: The Close
So, yeah... my first public fanfic of any kind... first true story of mine that someone else's eyes will read-not to say I don't have any other stories- just severe trust issues... here you go? R&R kindly please, though constructive criticism is very welcome! BTW none of the chapters following this will be as long, warning you now...
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Doctor Who, that would be Mr. Moffat - always loved that name by the way... Moffat...
A man in a tweed jacket, suspenders, a bow tie and fez with a nom de plume- or rather, nom de guerre- of "the Doctor" was positively barreling down the street, his unruly mop of brown hair flopping about in time to his steps. Behind him, hand clasped to his and holding on as if for dear life, was a flaming-red-headed ultra-ginger by the name of Amelia Pond. Just a step behind her was a young, average-looking man with a rather large nose sporting nurse attire, panting with exhaustion, who responded to Rory Williams.
Said Rory decided that then, as the three of them were fleeing "like bats outta hell" (if you would please be so kind as to accept that simile), would be a good time to trip up. As it was, the three were all linked physically, with Rory holding Amy's hand even as she held the Doctor's, so as he swan dived into the pavement an unfortunate Amelia was dragged down under with him. The Doctor, now the last "man" standing- it's actually quite literally "last Time Lord standing," but eh, who followed correcting that mistake anymore (besides our unfortunate Time Lord himself)- found himself with one-of-his-arms-full of the impossible weight of two averagely heavy humans, and thus, he face planted.
Smack!
"Ow ow ow ow owww!" The doctor groaned as he quickly got to his feet, head spinning madly from the sudden move after hitting his head so hard on the pavement. Amy groaned as well, and Rory was by her side in a flash, nurse instincts kicking in, checking for a concussion. "What was that for, Rory?" The Doctor whined, his voice taking the tone of a child who had been reprimanded but didn't quite follow why.
"For? I didn't to that on purpose, if that's what you were implying, Mr. Twelve-Year-Old!" Rory began, a slight bit defensive at being accused of dragging them down to the ground, however true it was. "Okay then, well, we mustn't dwell nor dawdle, quick now, pip pip cheerio! Ooh, always wanted to say that before!" He laughed at that before continuing. "Come along, Pond!" The Doctor crowed, pulling Amy to her feet, quickly yet cautiously. She shook her head to clear it of a bit of the fog now clouding her mind, immediately regretting it and wincing at the pain it caused. None the less, the Doctor quickly started up the frantic race around some impossible turns and twists and treads down alleys until he was greeted by a familiar, beautiful blue phone box.
"Hello, Sexy!" The Time Lord said to the TARDIS as he sauntered up beside her, putting a hand on the rough wood that felt so ancient, even under his centuries-old hand. The TARDIS hummed in recognition, happy her thief made it back whole once more, though she began to feel that something was off. She whirred, concerned with the other life forms she was picking up. Alien life forms. She briefly wondered what trouble her thief had gotten into this time, chastening him for the unnecessary dangers he subjected himself to daily. Opening her door at the snap of the Doctors fingers, the TARDIS allowed all three to enter her console room before clicking the doors shut behind them. "Thanks, old girl." The Doctor said earnestly to her.
Pulling down a computer screen, he looked at the monitor in surprise. The footage from outside his TARDIS was full of what looked to be Judoon, but in the low light, one can never be certain. Amy and Rory, meanwhile, had collapsed into chairs offered graciously by the TARDIS and panted, catching the breath they had lost long ago. "It's the funniest thing, though." The Doctor burst out after only fifteen seconds of silence. "What's so funny?" Amy unwisely questioned. Rory looked at her warningly, reminding her that this could full well lead to a very complicated discussion on how exactly a pen worked. He does tend to go on, doesn't he? Amy though to herself as she prepared for the onslaught of science-babble.
"I didn't even comment on their attire this time, nor accidentally-but-not-accidentally insult their leader, or lack of bow ties - now that was appalling. All I did was say, quite politely I might add, 'how do you do?' to the nearest foot soldier to start up friendly conversation- ooooh... I see. Whoops..." the Doctor rambled, drawing to a close in a hushed voice. "What?" Amy persisted, curiosity tugging at her. "Wellll... you see... I may or may not have perhaps at some point in the past - not my past, per say, almost certainly in my future - ...come here and maybe probably insulted someone powerful." The Doctor explained rather sheepishly to the Ponds.
"Bloody brilliant. First the Hath, then Jim the Fish, now the interstellar bounty hunters. How many more usually peaceful alien races are you going to sic on us, Doctor?" Amy responded, voice flat. Rory made a noncommittal grumble from where he still sat upon the chair. This was supposed to be nice, carefree and simple. Just one day to get in some R&R, lord knows they need it. The Doctor looked away almost guiltily at that, cringing at how flat her tone was, how serious she sounded. Rory was still panting in his chair, recuperating from their earlier dash slower than the other two due to running inexperience.
The Doctor did a guilty hem hem once he found the courage to look up at his face again, and he glanced down after meeting her eyes briefly. "So, umm... Where to next? Croatia? Apalapucia? How about the Garn Belt? Those are good ones. I personally enjoyed Croatia, though Apalapucia is an extremely close second." The Time Lord rambled, words pouring out of his mouth in a flood. "How about we stop home for a brief time, Doctor. I recon when we last left, it had been close to Thanksgiving, or something." Rory suggested with a well hidden, though not to Amy, plea in his voice. "Aw, but your silly little house on your boring-y woring-y street on your funny little planet is so boring!" The Doctor whined like a child again. "But, hang on. Croatia is on Earth, why are you okay with there but not our house?" Amy interrogated defensively, a new glint in her eye as he had a go at her home.
"Fine, fine, fine, fine, back to good old planet Earth, gotcha, righty-o captain my captain- wait, no that's what Jack always said!" The Doctor began, finishing in a horrified tone as he realized what he had said. "Just take us home, Raggedy Man." Amy said with a sigh. "Right then, come along, Ponds." The Time Lord grinned manically as he pulled leavers, switched switches, pushed buttons, and turned a little lever-y spin-y thing. The TARDIS scrambled through the Vortex, with the wonderful whirring and wheezing and whooshing noise her pilot so loved.
Once back on Earth, in their time, when Amy and Rory were meant to be alive, they went to look at a paper to check just how off their landing was. 'November 12, a day off... well, he certainly doesn't get much better at piloting that thing, does he?' Rory found himself thinking.
Before long, the three were out there again, hopping about, fixing wrongs, saving species, conserving planets, the whole façade. But as the Doctor was jumping about through space-time, a resistance of sorts was started. A gathering of alien beings on Earth, and it started below Stonehenge. Five Judoon were there, along with three Raxacoricofallapatorius, four cyber men and the Cyber-King, the Shadow Proclamation, four Daleks, a couple of Hath- of all the alien species- and so many more. They all stood surrounding a large, black box with alien writing positively covering it. The Pandorica.
Within that box was one chair, restraints on the legs and arm rests, and along the back of the chair as well. A few hypodermic needles were hovering around the back, full of some strange drug of unknown origin or affects. "Now, we must begin to unseal the Pandorica, send a message to the Doctor, bring him here, and seal his fate. The Time Lord Victorious must not roam the galaxies any longer. He must be contained." The Architect of the Shadow Proclamation looked to the slowly opening prison. It truly was the perfect place to imprison the Time Lord. Guaranteed to keep him alive, yet not let his regeneration's face and body grow old, nor his regeneration cycle begin, the box would keep him alive for the rest of eternity.
"You are sure the Doctor will receive the message?" A cyber man asked in a monotone robotic voice. "Indeed, quite." She replied, a look of almost pride upon her face. Yes, she regretted doing this to such a brilliant mind, but it was necessary. The universe quaked in fear at the last outburst, sending subtle hints and pleas for help throughout the galaxies. This was necessary, it is necessary, she convinced herself.
Turning back to the convention of sorts, Architect of the Shadow Proclamation raised her head and spoke with determination and a bit of triumph in her voice. "We will send the message, we will bring the Doctor, and we will keep the universe safe!" She said, voice resounding in the cavern. Seeing as most life forms there felt little to no emotions, the burst of applause was incredible. "Send!" She shouted over the rebounding noise.
In a time zone far far away, near some planet or another, the Doctor sat within the TARDIS, mourning the loss of Rory. Amy already forgot him, because of the crack through time that consumed him, though the ring of marriage was still onboard the ship. Suddenly, upon the psychic paper, a message appeared. "The Pandorica Opens" it stated quite clearly. The Doctor's already doubley-fast hearts-beat grew faster still when reading it. He immediately set the coordinates for whenever and wherever the message came from, calling to Amy as he did so. He explained the message, she compared the Pandorica to the bedtime story Pandorica, he called her brilliant, and they were off... off to meet a Roman who looks like the friend they lost, and to be cornered by all the races and species in the galaxy who feared or revered the Doctor, which was admittedly many, very many.
"No, no no! Please! I'm sorry! You don't have to - I won't - you know I wouldn't - I - you have to listen to me! Please!" The Doctor screamed panic saturating his voice as he pleaded for his freedom. " I'm sorry Doctor, however, we cannot take any chances with you." "All projections correlate. All evidence concur. The Doctor will destroy the universe." The cyberleader said. "You will be prevented." "No, no please, you must listen to me! PLEASE!" The frantic Time Lord cried again. "Seal the Pandorica." The cyberleader commanded in his impassive, emotionless monotone voice. "NO no no no NO! Please, please!" The Doctor pleaded one last time. The heavy doors of the prison closed upon his pleas, shutting out the emotionless faces of his enemies. He was sealed in the dark forever. Just before the close, he felt a pain within him, his stomach dropped, his hearts ached with realization. Amy was dead.
'Calm down, calm down, keep calm, don't panic, breathe. You have gotten out of worse before.' The panicking Time Lord told himself, even though he knew it wasn't true as he thought the words. 'I just need to, umm, go into a self-induced coma! Yes, my healing coma, and then I will sit through the passage of centuries none the wiser until some overly curious, poking prodding human toddles along! Yes, I will be asleep and unawares concerning the passage of time.' He planned, not trusting himself to speak aloud, not wanting to hear his voice. He slowed his hearts to a sluggish, slow beat and was beginning to go unconscious when he felt a pin prick in the back of his neck.
White hot fire poured through his veins, and the writhing Time Lord stifled a scream as the drugs were spread through his system doubly fast because of his binary vascular system. He felt his hearts speed up once more and panic set in. 'What's it doing what's it doing?!' The Doctor thought frantically as he felt himself become sharply aware. Suddenly, images swam in front of his vision. 'A hallucinogen? No! Why? What?' He thought as the drug dredged up memories he didn't want to remember, the ones he fought to forget.
The burning of Gallifrey, the whole Time War, the loss of his beautiful home. The red grass burned, the elegant cities fell, his people ran screaming into the night even as he stood and watched. The hallucinogen made the memories surround him, made him truly relive every second of that horrible time. Then, the losses of his companions began. All of them, everyone killed or lost or forgotten while under his care. All the lives he took, directly and indirectly. All the planets he saved only to have condemned them. Every single failure of his long 984 year old life. Over and over and over and over again!
The War, the companions, the planets, the failures, repeated in front of his eyes, not even closing them brought respite. The images burned and danced behind his eyelids, but he was allowed no sleep. Awake every second. He slowly lost the ability to sense time's passage, he forgot the taste of fresh air. Forgot the feeling of sunlight, whether from a cold star or not. He forgot what light was like. He forgot. And he slowly lost his brilliant mind to the pain of his memories that slowly began to scramble themselves to preserve the last dregs of his sanity, so much so that if he tried to concentrate, to look back, he was in pain, and he couldn't hold a thought in his head for more than two minutes. He was unraveling, his seams bursting, the fabric of his mind-scape beginning to fray. He hated it, but he didn't understand why anymore. The Doctor was gone.
'Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose... wait, who's that? What's that? A flower, yes, a flower with the scientific name of Rosace- what? Who's Jack Harkness, no Jarah Sane, wait Sarah Jane, yeah that's the one with the hair on fire, right? Or was that Vicki? Or maybe it was- what's a duck pond if it has no ducks? Whys it got no ducks? Cause it's a sun burning billions of light years away!' The Doctor thought with his failing, damaged mind, giggling silently into the darkness before fear suddenly gripped him. "No no no, don't leave me alone, please, PLEASE!" He screamed to no one, his own voice startling him into silence. And there he sat, in the Pandorica, rotting away from the inside, loosing everything within his scrambled memories, even his own names, true and not.
There you have it, my first chapter! Again, R&R! Woot!