"I need you to stay with me, Amy," said the Doctor, kneeling over Amy's shuddering body. "Stay with me. Don't let them beat you."
The Doctor knew Amy was strong. He wasn't worried in the slightest; because he knew little Amelia Pond would make it through this.
But Rory was a different story. He stood between Amy and the door to the TARDIS, paper white and eyes like a deer in headlights. He held in his hands a repulsive, red and pulsing thing. Wood splinters littered the floor around his feet and stuck in Amy's fiery hair.
She did it for him. She did it all for Rory.
1 hour and 37 minutes earlier
"Here we are!" the Doctor announced excitedly, bringing the TARDIS to its usual noisy stop.
"And where exactly is here?" asked Rory.
"Oh, Ponds, you are in for a treat. We're in the year nine thousand and this is the hottest place in the universe where humans are capable of surviving without being burnt to a crisp! "
Amy and Rory exchanged a look, but they shrugged in the end. Despite every near death experience, unexpected turn of event causing fear or injury and grotesque alien creatures, they learned to trust the Doctor.
The Doctor grinned, straightened his bowtie and ran for the door of the TARDIS. The couple followed him out.
Through the door, they entered an oven. In fact, it was so hot that the trio began to sweat profusely in mere seconds. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was like being hit in the face with a warm tidal wave over and over until it became overwhelming and hard to breathe. The whole atmosphere was red, and the ground beneath their feet looked and felt like warm, sand-coloured snow. They had to squint to see due to the red star that provided heat for the planet that seemed a great deal brighter than the sun.
Even through the extreme discomfort of the situation and Amy and Rory's cacophony of swear words, they walked farther on to the burning planet.
It seemed they didn't have to walk for long before someone came to save them from the harsh climate.
"Here! Over here!" called a rough gravelly voice in the distance. The three turned to squint through the heat waves. It looked like a human form standing in the entry way of a green tent.
"Come along, Ponds," said the Doctor, running towards the figure.
It was indeed a man and his tent. They shuffled inside and were blessed by a blast of refreshing cold like an air conditioner. The tent was so normal and human that the Ponds momentarily forgot about being on a different planet.
"Tourists, I guess?" said the rough looking man before them as they sat down on sleeping bags placed on the tent floor. He would look quite menacing with his muscle shirt, black jeans and mane of tangled brown hair, but his twinkling eyes gave off a sort of kindness that was hard to explain. "Welcome to The Reef. My name is Granger."
"The Reef. Hmm," the Doctor muttered approvingly.
The man smiled kindly. Behind them, someone spoke. The voice was soft, but it startled them nonetheless. They hadn't seen anyone else in the tent.
"We are very pleased to see some company here. Eet has been deefeecult without frands."
A very gorgeous girl with brown doe eyes and a long black braid came in to view, looking down at them.
"My name ees Lo. Would you like to see my tent?" she said with her somewhat Romanian accent. Amy opened her mouth to respond, but her words died when she saw that she only stared at Rory, as if there was absolutely no one else in view.
"Um, okay. Yeah, sure," said Rory. Suddenly, Lo's arm shot out and grabbed Rory's, pulling him up and out of the tent with surprising force.
She pulled him a couple steps to a smaller tent next door. Rory was sure that it wasn't there before, but maybe the heat was messing with his head.
"Eet ees very nice to have you here weeth me," she said, pushing him in to the tent.
Rory was startled by her eagerness. She looked harmless, yet at the same time, she looked like a tiger ready to pounce.
"You have a very nice place here," said Rory, for lack of better things to say. She was very beautiful, but the awkwardness of the situation was escalating quickly. She moved closer to him so that her breath tickled his face.
Her breath smelt like perfume. It was odd, and he wanted desperately to get back to Amy and the Doctor.
"I'm glad you like eet. Maybe you like me too?" she asked, her long dark eyelashes blinking in an almost theatrical fashion.
"No, I don't think so"-
He was cut off by her lips against his, full force. She shoved him against the tent and all he could think about through the shock of it was that the tent would collapse and that the perfume in her mouth didn't taste very good and...
What the hell? He pushed her off of him, but she was like a brick wall. She pressed herself in to him harder, and another thought struck him. She wasn't sweating at all, which wasn't humanly possible in this kind of heat.
The next thing he registered was that he couldn't breathe and that someone had just entered the tent at the corner of his eye and said "Rory?"
Lo didn't stop, but Rory recognized the voice to be Amy's and this time he really pushed her off of him. She flew back in to the sleeping bags and he could have sworn her eyes glinted red.
"Amy," he gasped. Amy wasn't the type to get sentimental over this kind of thing, so she struggled over Lo's sleeping bag, slapped him across the face and left the tent, fuming. Rory took a moment to gape at the spot where she just disappeared before running after her - and far, far away from Lo.
"Amy! Come on!" Rory yelled, running – albeit, running quite slowly in the sizzling heat – across the sandy snow covered ground.
She stomped back towards the TARDIS, hands balled in to fists and lethally pissed off. Rory watched her long red hair and her dangerously short skirt as she went. How could she ever think he'd cheat on her? Why would he ever kiss some bimbo he'd just met? She can't possibly think he'd be that stupid.
Not after those 2000 years.
Rory was meters away from the TARDIS when something blocked his path. Two somethings. Two someones. He backed up and placed his hand over his eyes to take a better look.
A beet red and naked human figure clawed towards the face of a man laden in a corduroy jacket and a bowtie...The Doctor! The beet red figure dropped on all fours and bared rows and rows of shark teeth. Rory hoped back with a yelp.
The Doctor hit his sonic screwdriver against the palm of his hand. It seemed to be failing on him.
"Back! Back!" he screamed at the creature crawling towards him. It made a noise between a purr and a growl.
The Doctor waved his hands around like he usually did when he had no idea what he was doing.
"Plan B! Rory, in to the TARDIS!" he screamed, and ran – stumbled - towards the door of the TARDIS. Once inside the magnificently air-conditioned time machine, the Doctor shut the door and threw his backside against it to stop the odd creature from entering.
The moment Rory entered the building; Amy turned towards him on her place by the TARDIS controls and placed her hands on her hips.
"What the hell?"She asked, outraged.
"Amy, she," he gestured towards the door; "kissed me!" he gestured toward himself.
"I'm sure she did, Rory. Couldn't resist being her frand now could you?" She shouted with a horrible imitation of Lo's accent.
Rory brought out the big guns. "I walked 2000 years for you, Amy! Are you seriously so daft that you think I'd go and kiss some random?"
"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" she countered, hopping down from the platform and moving towards him until she was inches from him. "News flash, you're the stupid one!" she paused for a moment, searching his face for a word. "Stupid face!"
Rory groaned at Amy's inability to come up with a proper insult.
There was a sudden bang that made the two jump. They looked towards the door. The Doctor was still struggling to keep the door shut against the creepy red thing. The door bulged and creaked as the Doctor pushed harder and harder against it.
"You're both equally stupid! Now would you stop bickering and help me!" he shouted. Amy grabbed a large broom that Rory hadn't noticed sitting in the corner of the TARDIS. She shoved it between the handles of the door.
"There! Now would you fly us out of here so Rory doesn't take it upon himself to kiss anyone else?"
"I didn't kiss her!" Rory shouted, throwing his arms up in defeat.
"The Armora. Impossible," The Doctor whispered, out of breath from his recent battle.
"What?" Rory and Amy shouted, irritated at the Doctor's introverted and mysterious attitude when he knew something they didn't.
"The Armora!" He repeated, beginning to run around the TARDIS and speaking between every push and pull of the controls, "they crave love and they will do anything to get it. But...we destroyed them. The Time Lords destroyed them! How...?" He trailed off as the TARDIS began sparking in two places.
Amy looked at Rory with a somewhat apologetic expression. Rory looked back at her knowingly, and was about to say something along the lines of See? I didn't cheat. I was kissed by a crazy love-craving alien girl, but the TARDIS made a horrible screeching noise, and with a kind of pulling sensation, it was thrown back to the ground. Sparks flew and the three friends came crashing to the floor.
"No. No, no, no, NO!" the Doctor shouted, getting up from the ground and running his hands through his hair. "They're bringing down the TARDIS! Why are they so attracted to us?"
Amy giggled in spite of herself and the two men looked at her, confused. She sighed, smiling.
"Well, look at us. Who wouldn't be attracted?"
The Doctor groaned, disgusted, and went back to nursing the TARDIS.
Suddenly there was a collective hiss throughout the TARDIS that sent chills down all of their spines. At first, it was indecipherable, but with a harder listen...
"Rooooooooooory."
"Did they say...? Are we all thinking what I'm thinking that was?" said the Doctor, moving his head slowly to glare at Rory.
Rory looked sheepish.
The Doctor groaned. "Oh, Rory!"
Banging. Scratching. Whining. The TARDIS was under attack, and the Doctor truly seemed stumped as he leaned over the controls.
"If they crave love, then maybe we can just...give 'em a kiss and make them go away?" Rory suggested from his spot on the ground by the door.
Amy glared at him. She stood right smack in the middle of the TARDIS, arms crossed and looking extremely bored with all of this stranded in the middle of a burning hot planet business.
"No, Rory, these creatures are extremely proud, and they can get quite malevolent if they don't get what they want," the Doctor explained, obviously irritated.
"And what do they want?" Rory asked.
"Well, by the looks of things...you!"
Rory sighed. "Great."
The three were silent for a long time before the Doctor finally had his epiphany.
"Ah-ha!" he said, his eyes lighting up. He grinned and lifted a finger, as he usually did when he thought of something clever. "Rory, the girl you kissed...I mean, the girl that kissed you, she must be the leader of this particular Armora pack."
"Okay. So?" asked Amy, looking a bit more motivated now.
"So, she chooses the human to fulfill their needs of love. Which means, if we hand over Rory, they'll leave the TARDIS alone," The Doctor smiled, waiting for their reaction.
Amy furrowed her brow and looked at Rory. Rory flung his arms up in outrage.
"Excuse me? Brilliant plan, Doctor, but what about me? I don't want to fulfill their needs of love!" he protested.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and put on his Honestly, Rory face.
"Obviously once we got the TARDIS working again, we'd fly in and collect you, then we'd be on our way before they could attack again."
"Well...what if they're swarming all over me?" Rory visibly cringed at the thought. "You'd be collecting me and a bunch of creepy... pulsing red things!"
"No. They would take turns with you. Treating you as their husband or whatever else pleases them. We'd only be taking one of them with us, and we can take on one of them," the Doctor explained. He clapped his hands together excitedly, preparing for the plan that Rory and Amy still didn't 100% agree with.
"Doctor," said Amy, panic inching its way in to her voice.
"Haven't you two learned to trust me yet? My God,"-
"No, Doctor. Look," she said, more urgently.
Rory and the Doctor looked back at the door. It was bulging, and as they watched, the broom split in half. In one quick movement, the door burst open.
"Rooooooory," the Amora hissed. The leader - a pulsing, red version of Lo, Rory concluded - came marching in to the TARDIS, hissing and whining and baring her teeth. She had an army of Armora behind her.
"You leave my husband alone, you...dicks!" Amy screamed.
Lo whipped her head around and hissed at Amy, spit flying everywhere. Amy recoiled, grimacing.
"Roooooory," said Lo, louder now. She was advancing on him.
Rory glanced around, looking for a sign that the Doctor was coming up with a plan, but he just stood by the TARDIS controls and smacked his sonic screwdriver, trying to make it work. Rory backed up from the creature, but it was just advancing faster. The rest of the Armora stood outside the TARDIS, chanting something that he couldn't make out.
Rory's head whipped around the room, looking for something - anything- to kill the thing with. Or at least piss it off enough to get it out of the TARDIS.
"I think the TARDIS is working again!" the Doctor called.
"You think?!" screamed Rory, still backing away from the thing.
But it was no use. He tripped on an upraised platform in the floor and the Armora was on him in a second. Rory could feel the floor of the TARDIS vibrating, and hoped to God it was working. Lo's face was over top of his, her teeth bared and dripping some kind of burning venom on to his face. He cried out and pushed at the slimy thing, but she was ruthless and strong. She held on.
"Get...off!" Rory started to yell, but the venom burnt his skin and he screamed.
And then many things happened all at once. Lo came off him with a scream, and crawled over towards Amy. The TARDIS shuddered. There was a short, piercing scream and a grunt of pain. Rory blinked the tears from his eyes and looked over towards Amy.
There she was. She was lying on the ground and seizing, as if jolted by an electric shock. The Armora leader was over top of her, dripping the same venom in to her mouth.
That was enough for Rory to gain his strength.
He ran over to her, roaring in outrage as he ripped Lo off of Amy with incredible strength and jumped on her in a tackle. He plunged his hand deep inside her pulsing body and ripped out what he thought was most certainly her heart. Lo screamed in agony before shuddering and, finally, dying.
"Amy?" Rory heard the Doctor yell, though his ears were ringing.
No one messes with my Amy, said Rory, in his head, and he kicked the corpse of the Armora leader out the doors of the TARDIS, warning off all of the others.
The TARDIS doors were locked and the Armora had backed off, but they still hadn't lifted off the ground.
"I need you to stay with me, Amy," said the Doctor, kneeling over Amy's shuddering body. "Stay with me. Don't let them beat you."
The Doctor knew Amy was strong. He wasn't worried in the slightest; because he knew little Amelia Pond would make it through this.
But Rory was a different story. He stood between Amy and the door to the TARDIS, paper white and eyes like a deer in headlights. He held in his hands a repulsive, red and pulsing thing. Wood splinters littered the floor around his feet and stuck in Amy's fiery hair.
She did it for him. She did it all for Rory.
And he would never - never - let her die for him. Not ever.
He pulled himself together. He dropped Lo's heart, got on his hands and knees and crawled towards Amy, pushing shards of wood out of his way. The Doctor backed away, just a little, and Rory saw sweat beading on his forehead.
"Amy," Rory said quietly, grabbing her shoulders to steady her. She still seized and shuddered to no end, her eyes rolling back in to her head. Rory wiped the venom from the corner of her mouth and around her face.
He felt angry. So angry. Worried. Sick. He felt himself shaking and wanting to vomit, but he had to steel himself and stay strong.
For Amy.
"Amy," Rory yelled, louder this time. He pressed down on her harder and she seemed to calm down a little at his touch. Her eyes came back to their proper position, but they were glassy and unseeing. "Amy, it's okay, it's Rory. It's Rory."
He put his fingers to her temples as if trying to show her the memories they had together. Playing hide-and-seek all those years ago. Traveling in the TARDIS. All the different planets. Hand-holding. Their first kiss. Their wedding-
Amy gasped, turned over to her side and coughed up the venom that poisoned her. When she fell back on her back, her eyes were still glassy. Rory's heart turned to ice.
"Amy?" he asked, his voice cracking.
"Rory..."
Her voice was so faint, it was almost inaudible. He moved his face closer to hers...and then her eyes focused. They latched on to his. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard and passionately. Rory felt his heart soar.
He grabbed on to her tighter, pulling her closer to him. He buried his face in her hair and he could feel her laughing, just a little. The sound put a smile on Rory's face.
"Oh, boy," Rory heard the Doctor say, but it was far, far away.
When they pulled a part, they stared at each other. "You saved my life," said Rory.
Amy smiled a little. She still looked pale, but happy. Happy was good.
"Of course I did, stupid face."
Rory smiled too as they both stood up. And then Amy smacked him across the face and sent him stumbling backwards.
"Don't expect me to be so forgiving next time I catch you kissing another girl," said Amy, completely serious. She walked towards the Doctor who was now at the TARDIS control panel. She tied her hair in to a ponytail like nothing had ever happened.
Saving each other, and then forgetting about it. Just the way he liked it.
THE END.
Author's Note: I hope you all liked this little one shot. I just needed to write about some AmyxRory! I miss them a lot. Can you tell? Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you!