This idea was bugging me ever since I watched the God Complex, so I decided to make a fan fic about it. Enjoy
Discliamer: I don't own Doctor Who. Yet…
The Doctor closed his door, a panic-driven look filling his eyes. No, not all of it terror; sorrow. So much sorrow. He's so old now…
"Doctor?" a voice called out. The Doctor looked up to see Rory, staring at him from the other side of the hallway. Then, too quickly for the Doctor's taste, Rory was right next to him, looking into his eyes. "Doctor, are you alright?"
The Doctor nodded, pulling his mind out of what he had seen in his room. He couldn't think about it. Not now. Not ever.
"C'mon, then." Rory said warily, pulling him along slightly. "Amy's been worried sick about you. And she made some tea."
As Rory pulled him along, the Doctor felt himself moving, but his mind was trapped in the room, circling around one phrase…
Praise him.
/
Time passed. The Doctor wasn't sure how long, but he knew the hours were filled with horror. Someone else had died. He wasn't sure. But over and over in his head, he could see it. His room.
"Doctor, are you alright?" Amy asked, sitting down next to him.
The Doctor nodded, closing his eyes and laying his head against the edge of the sofa. "Just tired. Headache." The Doctor lied, his sentences short and choppy.
Amy brushed his hair back, and then kept her hand on his forehead for a moment. "Doctor, you're burning up."
This brought Rory over to him, feeling his forehead. "She's right- Doctor, you've got a fever."
"I'm fine." The Doctor protested, opening his eyes and sitting up. "It's just a headache."
"How long have you had this headache?" Amy asked, trying to push him back down.
"He started looking bad when I found him a few hours ago," Rory explained. "Doctor…did something happen?"
"Oh, God…" Any whispered, clenching his arm. "Did you see your room?"
The Doctor turned away, closing his eyes, letting the fear wash over him and turn to praise…his belief in his friends, his TARDIS…turned to belief in the minotaur.
Praise him.
"Doctor, did you just…" Amy whispered, and her eyes were filled with fear. "Did you just say 'praise him'?"
"He's going like the others." Rory explained. The Doctor shook his head, trying to explain; it wasn't bad. It was good. They should stay. His master was coming.
The footsteps of the minotaur echoed around them. The Doctor looked up at it with glee as it started down the steps, and he smiled. "Praise him…" he whispered, murmuring just loud enough for him to hear, just loud enough for the terror to subside. To turn to praise.
Suddenly, he felt himself being grabbed. Amy and Rory at his sides, pulling his arms. Away from the minotaur. From his master.
The Doctor struggled silently, only leaving words for his master. He ripped free of them for a brief moment, just to look at the minotaur, but they grasped him again and hurtled him into a room. Amy and Rory raced into the room with him, locking the door behind them.
"Doctor, what the hell is going on?" Rory cried, but the Doctor stood still.
They had put him in his room.
They had put him in his room.
The Doctor shook his head, turning to the door. "Damn it, let me out!" he cried, trying for the door, but it was locked. He pressed his head to the door and sighed, closing his eyes. He was so tired…
Amy turned him around and held him by his arms. "Doctor, what did you see? In your room, what did you see?"
"We're in my room." The Doctor whispered. Amy's face turned to shock, and both her and Rory turned around to see what could possibly scare the Doctor so much.
The sight around them was beautiful; towers seemingly made of glass, but the hardest crystal by touch…colors, everywhere colors…and they were singing. The towers were singing.
River Song stood in the midst of it all. "Sweetie…" she whispered. "Come. The Singing Towers are so beautiful…"
The Doctor stood still, so numb. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe…
"Doctor, what's so scary about these Towers? River doesn't even have her gun." Amy whispered, chuckling slightly.
"It…this is the place I…I will take River…just before she goes to the Library." The Doctor explained, moving his tenses around. He hadn't taken her…not yet…but he would.
"The Library?" Rory asked, moving in closer to The Doctor. "What Library?"
"The first time I met River Song, in one of my old regenerations, I met her in the Library." The Doctor explained, his voice crestfallen. "She…the Library was failing. It saved people on a database, after the Vashta Nerada, living shadows, piranhas of the air, came to the Library. It saved the people. But the core of the database was failing. There wasn't enough room. I was going to let the Library borrow some of my space, some of my brain power…River knew it would kill me. She knocked me out, and took my place…"
"River died in the Library. She told me that one day, just before she left for the Library, I came to see her, and I took her to the Singing Towers. I gave her my screwdriver, and I told her my name. This…this is the place I send her to die."
Amy stared at him, pity written in her face. "You have to do that? Wait until you can take her to the Singing Towers, and then send her off to her death?"
The Doctor nodded, his face filled with pain. "I can't…I can't do it. I can't take her there…" he murmured, looking on the bridge of unconsciousness.
Suddenly, the minotaur burst into the room, only eyes for the Doctor. The Doctor looked up at it, and then fell slightly. Amy caught him, laying him on the floor. He was so weak…
"Doctor…Doctor, stop. Wake up. Don't you let this beat you. You have so much time left with River…" Amy whispered.
The Doctor shook his head. "Doesn't matter." He murmured. "If I'm just going to kill her anyway, she's better off not knowing me in the first place. If I die here, the whole timeline gets re-written. Melody Pond is never taken from her parents. She lives happily ever after."
"And you?" Rory murmured. "You just die, just like this…Doctor, please, isn't there any way we can help?"
The Doctor shook his head. "I have to die, Rory. It's the only way."
"Doctor…" Amy whispered. "Just because River dies doesn't mean that she didn't love her time with you. You love her, and she loves you. I can see it. You're really willing to let that die just so you won't have to watch River die? She's so much better with you than without. Please…please don't let my daughter lose that. Lose you. Please."
The Doctor looked up at Amy, understanding and pain written in his eyes. He was so old…he had seen so much and hurt so many…but what was it without love?
"Never." He murmured. "I won't ever let that happen to her. I won't let her lose me, if that's what it takes. To watch her die. But Amy…is this really what you want? For River to die in the Library?"
"If it means letting her love you…letting her be happy…then yes. You did the best you could, Doctor. And we're so proud…that River chose you. That she loves you with all of her heart." Amy whispered, and she stroked the Doctor's hair.
The minotaur was gone. The Doctor's fear was no longer.
"Now sleep." Amy commanded, kissing the Doctor's forehead.
And so, the great and mighty warrior, who had seen so much and loved so many, lived on. Lived to save civilizations, to save love…
And lived to say goodbye.