"Doctor!" Amy called out, plodding town the TARDIS stairs, Rory a few steps behind her. The control room was empty, no Doctor flying about. Amy didn't notice the TARDIS' ominous hum.
"That's weird," Rory muttered. "He never sleeps."
"Doctor?" Amy shouted, letting out a breath of relief when she heard the clicking of his shoes as he came up from underneath the console.
"I'm here," he said to them, mumbling soothing words to the TARDIS.
"So," Amy started with a slight smile, "what planet needs slaving today? Nebulon 5, or maybe Astreyrus?" Amy smile slid off as she saw the Doctor looking at her, eyes big and sad, a look she had grown accustomed to, but never before an adventure. "What? What is it?"
"No planet saving today, sorry," he said, turning away and slamming down a lever as the TARDIS dematerialized seamlessly, no jolts this time. "Today, we take care of something… terrible, just terrible," he paused. "I can drop you two at home if you want."
"No," Amy said, immediately. "We're with you no matter what. Right, Rory?"
"Uh, right," Rory said after Amy shot him a look. "But, Doctor," he said, "what exactly are we doing?"
"You know how there are fixed points in time?" Amy and Rory nodded. "Well, those are things that must always happen. But then, there are things that must never happen. And a force from another universe is making sure that one of those things does happen."
"Okay," Amy said, warily venturing a question. "And what happens if they succeed?"
"Time itself unravels." Amy and Rory shared a meaningful look as the impact of everything this would mean sinks in. "But," the Doctor continued, "this event is different. There's something very wrong with it. It has the qualities of an event in flux - my best guess is that the other universe isn't as strong as they need to be."
"Doctor, what is this event?" The Doctor looked at them for a moment and then pulled up the TARDIS screen.
"They're kids, they're just kids." On the screen was a picture of two teenagers smiling together, both blonde. A boy and a girl. "They can never be together. That's the event. Even if they fall in love, they must not be together. Whatever the cost or else everything ends."
"I don't get it. How are we supposed to fix this?" Rory asked.
"Like I said, this event is different. There are different timelines of their relationship almost intertwined with each other. We can visit them, but we have to be careful. And we can't get attached. Their story… always ends in tragedy."
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"So, Doctor, what does this subway have to do with anything?" Amy said, scrunching her nose in disgust.
"This is where they meet." Then, his voice at a whisper, "there they are. There's Lucas," he said, pointing to the boy sitting in the corner seat, "and there's Maya," pointing to a blonde girl holding the railing.
"But they're so young," Amy whispered.
"It's not until they're sixteen that we have to worry." They watched as Maya walked over to Lucas, sitting down next to him and then getting up a second later.
"They're kind of cute," Rory said, head tilted to the right, a nostalgic smile on his face. He always was the romantic.
"Remember what I said Rory," the Doctor warned. "You know how this ends." Amy looked closely as the brunette girl Maya was standing with fell into Lucas' lap.
"Who's that?" Amy asked, laughing.
"That's Riley, Maya's best friend."
"And does she end up with him in the way it's supposed to be?" Rory asked.
"No, she ends up with another boy. Farkle." Amy raised an eyebrow. "I know. Weird name. But it's a fixed point. In every reality, she ends up with him. No changing that." Amy glanced over at Rory. A slow smile was sliding onto his face. She was starting to wonder if they should have actually gone home for the day. She knew how Rory was, and she knew this might be hard for him.
"Doctor, how are Maya and Lucas supposed to end up?" Rory asked. Amy looked over at him sharply, almost fearing the answer. Without the Doctor's usual excitement, everything seemed a lot worse than usual, and Amy was starting to get a feeling of uneasiness she had never felt before.
"Well, Lucas ends up alone. He's still friends with Riley and Farkle, but he never married."
"And Maya?" The Doctor glanced at Amy and looked away just as quickly.
"Maya dies young. It always happens."
"You mean it's fixed?"
"No, it's not. I can't understand what's so different about those two. It's as if time doesn't like them."
"So we can change her death?"
"If it's even possible, we will certainly try." The subway slowed to a stop, and Amy's stomach lurched with it. "Come on, back to the TARDIS."
"Doctor," Amy said, holding her stomach as she stepped inside the console room, "I'm not feeling too hot."
"Yeah, I'm getting that, too," Rory said, glancing over at her.
"Right, forgot. You two are time travellers now. This point in time is very unstable, and your bodies are resisting it. It should be better once we get there."
"Where are we going now?" Rory asked him.
"Where everything ends. We will be able to see the alternate timelines, and this is the first one. I have absolutely no idea how this is going to play out." Amy grabbed for Rory's hand, intertwining her fingers with his, taking a deep breath and stepping out.
They were in the woods. It was a sunny day, the air smelled crisp and clean and the uneasiness in Amy's stomach vanished. She supposed it had accepted the inevitable. The Doctor mumbled directions to them, pulling them towards him and halting to a quick stop. "Here they are," he breathed.
Amy saw that they were holding hands too, and she immediately dropped Rory's. Amy pulled the three of them down, peering out between the leaves of a pine tree.
"Lucas, are you sure about this?" Maya asked, him looking down.
"Maya, I have always been sure about you," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, as she let out a little laugh.
"That's a lie and you know it. Don't you remember freshman year?" He flicked his eyes up towards the sky, with a slight shake of his head, breathing out a laugh.
"Don't remind me. In my defense -" she hit him, "in my defense… No, I got nothing." He pulled her in for a kiss, her laughing against his mouth.
"You're cute. You got that."
"I don't know how I didn't see it before, Maya. It's you. Of course it's you." Maya tossed her head back in a laugh, rolling her eyes.
"Enough with the cornball speeches and kiss me, huckleberry." Lucas tipped a fake hat, pulling her close to him.
"Yes, ma'am." Somehow, Rory's hand had found Amy's again, and as the ground lurched he squeezed it tighter. Everything trembled and shook, like it was being ripped apart. Which, in retrospect, it probably was.
"It's starting!" The Doctor whispered, frantically. With a violent surge forward, Amy was thrown to the ground, letting out a scream and causing Rory to shout her name. She looked up, through the trees again, to see Lucas and Maya holding tight to each other, and as soon as it started, everything stopped. But Lucas was looking around wildly.
"Did you hear that?" He said. Amy cussed under her breath.
"Lucas," Maya said.
"Somebody's out there," he cried.
"Lucas."
"Who's there?" He shouted.
"Lucas," she said a final time, and Amy and Lucas simultaneously looked towards her. It was like it happened in slow motion. Maya's knees folded out from under her as she crumpled to the ground, hitting it with a heavy thump.
In an instant, Lucas was at her side, hand finding hers and holding it tight. She took a wheezing breath.
"Maya, how can I help you? Maya!" He cried, urgently. Her eyes darted around wildly, trying to find something to hold on. She took her hand, the one Lucas wasn't holding, and held it to the side of his face, fingers trembling. She squeezed her eyes shut - in pain, Amy guessed - took three more empty breaths, and then stopped all together.
"Maya," Lucas breathed, eyes widening. He dropped her hand, reaching for her neck and cradling her head in his hand, checking for a pulse. "No, please," he whispered, trying her wrist. "Please."
She was dead? Amy scrambled to her feet, looking at the Doctor. "We have to help her," she urged. "There's got to be something we can do, please." The Doctor shifted his eyes toward her, head still pointed toward the ground.
"I told you not to get attached, Amy."
"What happened to her, though?" She asked, unable to tear her eyes away from Lucas clutching Maya's body. "She's just a kid." The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, thinking, until recognition flickered in his eyes, but fear too. The ground lurched again, harder than before.
"I told you, Amy, time doesn't like them. But I think it especially doesn't like her. That's why she dies young, and her body must have sensed what was happening. Her body sensed this was happening. It was trying to stop time from unraveling. That's why the ground stopped shaking. That's why things were still, but it's too late. It's happening now," he yelled.
"Um, guys," Rory said, looking at Lucas who was now looking directly at them. His face was drained of color and his eyes were red and watery. He still held Maya's hand. Amy took a step forward.
"Amy, no," the Doctor said. She ignored him, stepping into the clearing. Lucas flinched, crawling backwards, looking wildly about at the trees beginning to collapse. Amy took another step towards him. As if realizing something he reached forward and grabbed Maya's body, clutching her to him.
"You can't touch her! I won't let you," he screamed, pressing her face tightly to his torso. Amy could hear the Doctor and Rory calling her name.
"Lucas, we can't help her. We have to go, now," he looked up, slightly confused.
"I'm not leaving Maya," he insisted.
"There's nothing we can do for her now!" Amy felt the Doctor tugging on her arm pulling her back. She resisted, fighting against him, trying to push him away.
"Amy, we can't take him with us," he said, shouting over the roar of the wind.
"But we can't leave him! He's a kid! He's only seventeen, please!" She begged with the Doctor who now had his entire body thrown against her, trying to hold her back. She was fighting against him, reaching towards Lucas, who was still holding Maya, bewildered.
"Rory!" The Doctor called for help, and in an instant, Rory was at her side, putting his arm around her, too, and together, they pulled her off her feet and away.
"Get off me! He's only a kid, you have to- please!" They ignored her cries, pulling her farther and farther away. She looked back at him one more time. He was cowering. The entire ground was trembling violently and he was cowering in fear as a heavy oak tree fell down ten feet away from him. He buried his face into the crook of Maya's neck, and with a mighty roar, the sky began to rip apart. She only saw the first tear before the Doctor pulled her into the TARDIS, slammed a lever down and took off. Amy stood frozen for a second, and then she started to gasp, shoulders racked with sobs.
Instantly, Rory grabbed her and pulled her to him, burying her face in his shoulder, not unlike Lucas did with Maya just seconds ago. "They're children," she kept sobbing, "just kids."