Here we go! A little short, but I wanted to get it posted. Beta read by thisisthevoiceoflightcity on AO3.
The Impossible Astronaut-Part One
"He's trying to get our attention." Amy puts the history book down. "I mean, look at this. It's like he's being deliberately ridiculous."
The doorbell rings.
"What, like he's waving to us from back in history?" Rory asks. He rolls his eyes, goes to open the door, takes the letters from the postman.
"Why not? It's the sort of thing he'd do," Amy argues.
"Yeah… but why?"
"He said he'd be in touch." She shrugs.
Rory hands her the mail. "Two months ago."
"Two months is nothing for him and the Dreamer, you know that. Hang on, what's this?"
A deep, dark blue envelope emblazoned with a gold-script '4'.
"What is it?" Rory comes closer, peers over her shoulder. She opens the envelope, looks at the letter inside-
"I think it's an invitation-look, date and time and a map reference." Amy grins.
"Who's it from?"
"No signature. But look," and she shows him the envelope again. "TARDIS blue."
~o*o~
Within the grey walls of Stormcage, a young blonde also receives mail. She looks within the dark blue envelope, grins, and from beneath a blanket she pulls a vortex manipulator.
The guard in the hallway runs to the phone. "You better get down here, sir," he says, voice trembling. "She's doing it again. Doctor Song, sir."
River laughs, buckling the vortex manipulator on her wrist and tucking a sonic blaster-she's kept it hidden since Jack got it for her, and the guards have no idea she has it-in the holster on her hip.
"She's packing. Says she's going to some planet called America."
With another laugh, River waves at the guard and winks. "I'll be back," she calls out, then her hand slams down on the button and she vanishes in a crackle of blue light.
~o*o~
When Amy and Rory disembark from the school bus, the first thing they notice is River Song standing there, waiting for her. River grins and waves, and the school bus pulls away to reveal the Dreamer casually leaning against the hood of a blue car.
"That's not TARDIS blue," River points out with a cheeky grin.
"Closest I could find." The Dreamer laughs. "Long time no see, Amy, Rory! How are you?"
"Two months," Amy says. "I'm surprised you waited that long to get in touch."
River rolls her eyes. "Only two months? Sweetie, you've got no patience."
"Well, actually…" Rory puts in. "I mean, two-"
The Dreamer shakes her head, cutting across his speech. "Spoilers."
"Hello!"
All four jump and spin around to see the Doctor standing about five feet away, beaming like a madman. And wearing a Stetson.
"Hello, Sweetie," River says, then before the Doctor can respond she pulls out her blaster and shoots the Stetson off his head.
"Oi! I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool," he says in an injured voice.
He leaves the hat on the ground.
There's a diner just down the road, and that's where they head, and it's been a while since she saw the Time Lords but Amy's pretty sure that something's going on. Something bigger than just going on an adventure. Because while who knows how long it's been for them, when the Doctor and the Dreamer got married they were a whole lot more affectionate.
And the Dreamer's never made a habit of staring at the Doctor with an almost quizzical look on her face.
They somehow manage to cram themselves all in one table, and Amy turns to River. "So how's Jack?"
Rory looks up at the immortal man's name. "And where is he, anyway?"
River blinks and shrugs. "It's not like we live together," she says, laughing. "I have no idea where he is. As for how he is… well, alive."
The Doctor watches River, and for a moment Amy sees a deep sorrow in his eyes, and something more, something she can't quite place but is certain she should recognize, and then the Dreamer speaks and the moment is broken.
"So why are we all here?" the Time Lady asks. There's something strange in her eyes, and if Amy didn't know better she would almost call it distrust.
(she's never seen anything other than trust in her eyes before)
"I've been running," the Doctor says quietly. Not meeting any of their eyes. "Faster than I've ever run, and I've been running my whole life. Now, it's time for me to stop. And tonight, I'm going to need you all with me."
"Okay," Amy says. "We're here. So what's up?"
He smiles. "A picnic. And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere brand new."
"Where?" Rory asks.
"Space, 1969."
~o*o~
A picnic. By the lakeside.
Not exactly what the Dreamer was expecting when she received a TARDIS-blue envelope marked with a golden '2' and containing space-time coordinates and the instructions not to tell her Doctor.
She'd tried to act normal, but it was hard-how far in the future exactly was this Doctor, anyway? And where was she?
"Salud!" the Doctor cheers, and they toast. The Dreamer clinks her glass of wine with Amy's, then River's.
"Since when do you drink wine?" Amy asks, and the Doctor laughs.
"I'm 1103, I'm sure I must've drunk it some time."
He lifts the bottle of wine and takes a swig, and the Dreamer knows what's going to happen a split second before it does. Sure enough, he leans over and spits it out, coughing. "Oh, that's horrid."
Amy laughs. The Doctor looks sheepish. "I thought it would taste more like the gums."
Amy looks over and seems to freeze, but the Dreamer doesn't pay that close attention. Something tugs at her timesense, something cold and hard and unyielding, and she swallows.
"Ah, the moon. Look at it. Of course, you lot did a lot more than look, didn't you? Big, silvery thing in the sky. You couldn't resist it. Quite right." The Doctor grins.
"The moon landing was in '69," Rory starts. "Is that where we're going?"
"No. A lot more happens in 69 than anyone remembers. Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you."
A truck pulls up nearby.
"Who's he?" Amy asks, nodding at the truck. The Doctor stand and looks at the truck for a moment, but doesn't answer.
"Oh, my God," River chokes out suddenly.
The Dreamer spins around, stares. Near the edge of the lake, there stands a-
An astronaut?
"You all need to stay back," the Doctor says, dropping the wine bottle, stepping towards the spacesuit. "Whatever happens now, you do not interfere." He turns, looks back over his shoulder, finally meeting the Dreamer's eyes for the first time. "Clear?"
She swallows, nods, suddenly terrified. But she can feel it, the choking-grasping-hard knot of a fixed point.
(but what's fixed?)
And she trusts him, always has, trusts him with everything-that's why the bond.
(it's called love)
He nods back, something painful in his eyes, and turns and walks towards the edge of the lake.
"That's an astronaut," Rory says slowly. "That's an Apollo astronaut in a lake."
"Yeah." Amy steps forward, stands next to the Dreamer. "What's happening? What's he doing?"
River says nothing, standing in place, and her eyes flicker towards the Dreamer and she realizes River knows. River feels it too.
(that should be impossible)
The Doctor says something, they can't tell what, and the astronaut lifts its visor. The Dreamer feels her hearts clench as she watched the Doctor bow his head, and then the astronaut extends an arm.
(No no no what's happening?)
And shoots.
Amy screams. "Doctor!"
The Dreamer and River get her stopped before she goes too far. "Amy, stay back!" River tells her, holding one arm. Amy fights, gasping, but lets them hold her there-
Then the gold regeneration energy begins to flow and eddy in his hands and his face and suddenly the Dreamer knows there's something wrong-she trusts him, even though she doesn't understand, but he wouldn't just let someone shoot him without reason, there's something there, some reason for it, and then he's regenerating-
(this doesn't feel like a regeneration the timelines are all wrong)
There's another shot.
(nononononoyoucant)
She screams, drops Amy and runs, and River's yelling at her to stay back but she can't, this is wrong this isn't what was supposed to happen he wouldn't do this to her and the astronaut is leaving but she doesn't care, the only thing that matters is the Doctor-
The Dreamer falls to her knees beside him. She can hear River shooting at the astronaut but she stares at the Doctor's face-still, white, no golden energy, and no this is wrong! Her hands are on his face, and she reaches, desperate, she's sobbing and she can't breathe and her respiratory bypass has kicked in now and still there's nothing there-no silver-and-blue waiting to twine with her pink-and-gold, something so foreign and strange she can hardly comprehend it, because he can't be dead there's no way.
(but his mind is gone and the bond screams and it's a wonder her Doctor hasn't come yet)
(he's not her Doctor but he will be in a couple hundred years and she's not here)
(and she's screaming)
"Rose," River's saying, "Rose, Arkytior, please!"
The sound of the Gallifreyan name from River's lips pulls her back to herself, and she stares up at the blonde woman. Amy's on the other side of the Doctor on her knees, Rory behind her, and both of them are crying but they don't feel it not like she does and suddenly something very cold squeezes her hearts and then she realizes-
There's a reason, he invited them for a reason, he'd do anything to spare her this pain, this is somehow better-
(wouldn't he? Isn't it?)
There's an old man standing behind River, the old man who got out of the truck, and something latches onto him. He's the key, right now, there's nothing she can learn from the Doctor's body-and suddenly she's ice, cold and hard and sharp.
She stands, breathes again, every motion cold and coiled and precise, tall and regal and utterly alien, and somewhere in the old man's eyes she sees a bit of fear and something wild and feral within her snarls victory.
"Who are you."
"Canton Everett Delaware III." Canton meets her eyes, holds them for a long moment, then finally looks away. "He said you'd need this," and he gestures to the can of gasoline.
River sucks in a breath. "A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere."
Arkytior turns, looks at Amy and Rory, dimly registering the way they almost flinch back from her. "We burn our dead." Her voice sounds strange even to her own ears.
Rory nods slowly, looks around. "There's a boat. If-" He licks his lips, swallows. "If we're going to do this, we should do it properly."
"How can you accept this?" Amy cries. "He's not dead, he can't be dead."
Arkytior whirls, pins the redhead with a hard gaze. "Oh, he's dead," she bites out. "Do not presume that I've just 'accepted' this, as you put it, Amelia Pond. Time can be rewritten, but not all of it. This is a fixed point, and everything that just happened must always happen this exact way. Do you understand?"
Her voice cracks like a whip, hard and cold and biting. Amy nods shakily, and she turns back to Canton, satisfied.
"Why are you here?"
Canton pulls something out of his jacket. "The same reason as you."
River steps closer, pulls out her own invitation, holds it next to the envelope Canton holds out. A match. Canton's envelope is labeled with a '5', Arkytior notices, and she lifts her eyes to his.
"Doctor Song. Dreamer. Amy. Rory." He nods at each of them in turn. "I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me."
The words have a weight to them, and Arkytior nods. Canton opens his mouth as though to say something else, then hesitates, shakes his head, and walks away.
River looks at them all.
"Five."
~o*o~
They're back at the diner, standing around the table they'd sat at earlier. River continues to expound on her earlier comment, at Rory's urging.
"The Doctor numbered the envelopes. I got three, Canton got five."
"Mine was two," Arkytior adds. "You must've gotten four, then, Amy?"
Amy nods.
Arkytior looks at River. "Where's one. That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"
"He sent out messages." River looks at Rory. "When you're going to your death, who do you call?"
"Your friends." Rory's eyes slowly light up with understanding. "People you trust."
"Who does the Doctor trust most in the universe?" River smiles.
Arkytior feels sick.
The door at the back opens at that moment, drawing all their eyes, and out steps the Doctor.
"This is cold," River says, voice hard. "Even by your standards, this is cold."
"You're okay," Amy breathes, staring at him in awe. "How can you be okay?"
"Or hello, as people used to say," he mumbles. "Arkytior, so this is where you've been!"
He flashes her a smile, but she can't quite return it, and when he reaches for her hand she pulls back. Not because she wants to-no, never that-but because the events of the day are still firmly in her mind and she can't yet hide them away.
He's hurt, she can see it. He looks at her for a long moment, staring into her eyes, before finally turning to greet the others. "Pond! Hello, Pond. Of course I'm okay! I'm the King of Okay!" He pulls Amy into a hug, then grimaces. "Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget the title. Rory the Roman, now that's a good title."
He leaves Amy to give Rory a quick hug, then nods at River. "Doctor Song. No dashing Captain with you?"
River shrugs, then without warning slaps his cheek with all the force she can muster. He reels back, raising a hand to his cheek. "Okay, I'm guessing that's for something I haven't done yet."
"Yes." River says no more.
"I don't understand," Rory says finally. "How can you be here?"
The Doctor holds up a dark blue envelope marked with a '1'. "I was invited. Space-time coordinates. Same as you lot, I assume, or else it's a hell of a coincidence."
His eyes travel to Arkytior's again, questioning. She looks away.
"River, Dreamer," Amy says, "what's going on?"
Arkytior takes a deep breath and meets River's eyes. She sees the knowing in them-something he hasn't done yet. Of course. But why were they invited separately? River's wondering that too, she can tell.
"Ask him his age," River finally says.
"That's a bit personal," the Doctor answers, confused.
"Just tell her," Arkytior says. "Tell her your age."
"Nine hundred nine," he says after a moment, shrugging.
"I don't understand," Amy whispers.
"Yeah, you do," Rory tells her.
"I don't!" The Doctor exclaims. "What are we all doing here?"
This time, River leaves the answer for Arkytior.
"We've been recruited," she says slowly. "Space, 1969, and a man named Canton Everett Delaware the third."
"Recruited." He mouths the word thoughtfully. "Recruited by whom?"
"Someone who trusts you most in the universe." She meets his eyes, silently begging him to trust her.
"Who is that?"
River takes a deep breath. "Spoilers."