Bye Bye Ponds

by Sabaku no Omi

The Doctor had been lonely. He'd found people to pass the time with. People to keep him from the darkness in himself. But Amy and Rory Pond had never, not for a second, left his mind or his thoughts. One-shot.

She'd gone peacefully, in her sleep, like her husband. He'd passed on not more than a week prior, her at his side, telling him there was not long to wait until she'd join him in the "Next Great Adventure". It seemed that, after her centurion died, it was all she could do to hold on for the little while she had to, to take care of the various things that needed to be arranged before she went. She was so stubborn, she went when she meant to and not a second before. Had a schedule for everything, that one.

The Doctor, tired and weary, nearly a thousand now, had been there for her. He had cremated them, according to their will, and with the permission of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, set out to send them afloat together into the nebulae where they had spent their tenth, and fiftieth wedding anniversary together. He watched them float away from his perch in the doorway of his TARDIS, remembering his companions, his friends, thinking of days passed.

When they had left him and his big blue box, he had traveled with a few others. There was this young girl, Dan-Feng Lau, from New Earth's Neo-China, who had decided to take up residence on the crystal clouds of Metabolee XII, because she had fallen in love with a young Metabolean boy. He wished her goodbye and left.

He picked a stray orphan from Earth in the early 30, 000's. Ackley had been adopted by a family on Ruton-loa Sune after three years of traveling with The Doctor. He'd had nine new sisters and four new brothers, but they were all three feet tall, so he got to look after them. He bid farewell, and left him to his new life.

The Doctor had been lonely. He'd found people to pass the time with. People to keep him from the darknessin himself.

But Amy and Rory Pond had never, not for a second, left his mind or his thoughts. He didn't think they ever would.

He watched solemnly as they drifted into the cloud, their ash staying close together, almost as if bound by an invisible bond. As they sailed into the Nebulae, the ancient eyes that held every second of forever cried for the two people who had left a permanent impression on his hearts.

"Bye-bye Ponds."