The first shot rang out in the silence.
"DOCTOR!" yelled Amy, terrified for her friend.
"Amy, stay back," the Doctor ordered.
His long-suffering companion felt the others closing in, restraining her, but all she could see was the Doctor. She only had eyes for him, just as he only had eyes for her.
Another shot was fired.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, though she couldn't hear him. He knew what was coming – and he knew what this would do to his Amelia, the girl who waited, and who he would always worry about. The Doctor felt his regeneration coming on, but knew it was too good to last. Sure enough, the final shot scored a direct hit, stilling the process that would have brought him a new life form.
The Time Lord was dead.
"NO!" Amy yelled, breaking free and running faster than she ever had before, sliding to her knees beside the Doctor's prone form. "Doctor," she cried, resting her head on his chest where she should have been able to hear and feel his two heartbeats. Now, though, there was nothing – nothing but silence.
"You stupid noble idiot," she declared, though even as she insulted him, she realized that he would do it again, no matter the consequences – and no matter her opinion of him. That's who he was. He may have claimed to be running, but when it mattered, he stood and faced the future head-on.
Later, as she watched the boat that held her beloved Doctor burning on the lake, she felt numb. She remembered a conversation between her and the Doctor following the events of her and Rory's honeymoon. She hadn't known it at the time, but that would be one of her last conversations with the Time Lord, for whom she hadn't ever been able think of an appropriate adjective with which to describe him.
"Doctor, what made Kazran change his mind in the end?" asked Amy, perplexed.
"It's better to feel something than nothing at all, Amelia. Even if all you can feel is a pain that overwhelms the senses and makes you want to give up, at least you're alive. Remember that, Pond," said the Doctor, giving her one of his serious looks reserved only for when a situation was particularly grave, like when he'd been trying to get her to remember Rory, or, more painful for both of them, the look on his face in the final moments before the Pandorica had closed, separating them for what they'd thought would be forever.
"What's wrong, Doctor?" asked Amy, instantly on alert.
"Nothing. Why?" the Doctor replied.
"You've got your serious face on," she informed him.
"Have I? Hang on a moment." He turned away. When he faced her again, he had the cheesiest grin that Amy had ever seen plastered on his face. "Better?"
"Loads," said Amy through her chuckles.
"Good. Come here, you," he said, his grin dropping to that of a genuine smile, the one reserved only for her, and what the Doctor had deemed his 'mad, impossible Amy Pond' smile.
Amy fell willingly into his arms, the only place where she felt completely safe and as if no harm could come to her. After all, if monsters were scared of the Doctor, why should she worry when he was near?
Now, though, he was dead and gone. The Doctor - her fairytale hero come to life - had left her for the last time, never to return.