Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, just the plot bunny

Warning: Possibly strong language, violence, and definite whump in later chapters. See any kind of pairing you like in it.

Thanks for the reviews, sorry this has taken a little while to put up. I remembered how to sleep again :) Anywho, onwards...

Under the afternoon shadows of the silver trees the slender blades of grass were beginning to turn pale blue from their original vibrant green. Amy sat in the threshold of the TARDIS, leaning her forehead against the bright wooden door, staring at her own numb fingers, feeling every second that dragged past as if each was a thousand years long. How much longer would they stay here, hiding in the silver forests at the bottom of those ominous mountains, planning, waiting... waiting for what? She had tried to understand what the Doctor was getting at, but he was currently tapping away at the TARDIS, apparently trying to get through to the Hive, searching for their particular frequency. River was sitting on the stairs with him, offering advice, flipping her small gun between her hands. After circling the TARDIS console for what felt like the hundredth time, Amy had finally given up and escaped to get some air.

Air that was changing. She could feel as she sat and tore her hands through her long red hair, rubbing her forehead wearily. She could feel the temperature slowly but surely dropping, feel the soft chill in the air that hinted at autumn. But still she couldn't make herself focus on the fantastical, sensational alien world around her. All she could think of was Rory. Or, in particular, what River and the Doctor had been discussing in hushed tones just a few minutes ago behind her, in voices they clearly thought she couldn't hear from the doorway.

"These Offspring of the Hive... they have reason to be angry with you, yes?"

A sigh hissed through clenched teeth from the Doctor. "Yes. Lots of reason."

"Would they have wanted to... I mean, if they knew that he wasn't you, would they still... Is their intent to..."

"They will want to kill me, yes," the Doctor said shortly, finally uttering the word she had clearly been having trouble forming. "They would have wanted to kill me. Maybe they would want some... answers... first."

"Answers?"

"There are things I know that they could use to return their Hive to its original power."

"I see."

There was a long pause, in which Amy struggled to make her mind process what River was getting at while at the same time trying so very, very hard not to picture the images those words brought up in her head. But it was River's next muttered statement that had really stuck, that was circling around her skull again and again and again even now, the words she thought might stay with her forever. The words that had made her skin prickle and her hands clammy and her heart seize up.

"Do you still have medical supplies lying around here? I'd better get them together."

Perhaps the only thing worse than those words was the silence that followed, the way the Doctor couldn't even reply. As if he was saying 'That's if there's still time to use them'. As if he was saying 'If it's not already too late.' Perhaps if the Doctor still thought there was the chance that they could save him, they might just pull it off. But if even the Doctor had reached that stage when nothing could be done, when everything was over...

She sat and felt dew eating its way through her bright tights. She swept both hands over her face, tried to gauge how well her tears were being hidden by her mascara and eye liner. She wanted to go back in and demand just how much longer the Doctor was going to take over this frequency search lark - this was the TARDIS, couldn't it find a simple radio signal which could only be at most two miles away? - but she couldn't bear to until she had brought her emotions under control again. It wasn't because she was embarrassed; both the Doctor and River were two of the most important people in her life, she trusted them completely and she knew that she could tell them anything. She knew that she could cry in front of them. But not now. Because right now, this was about Rory. Now, she was the one who had to be strong, she was the one who had to wait for him, she was the one who had to grit her teeth and give everything she had. This wasn't the time to sit in a corner and cry and feel sorry for herself.

So, having collected herself as best she could, she rose to her feet, wiped carefully at her eyes, and then turned on her heel and strode back into the TARDIS.

River glanced up as she came back in; the Doctor didn't move at all, attention entirely on the machine he was twiddling and tweaking. Amy climbed the steps to the console, tasting the air thicken with tension as she approached, doing her best to guess the situation from the Doctor's frown. She failed, and eventually cleared her throat softly.

"Anything?"

"Actually," the Doctor said loudly and abruptly, making both Amy and River start, "Yes. I think I have them."

Amy's stomach gave a huge lurch; River stood, her grip tightening on her gun.

"Their base is high in the mountains... River, I'm sending you the co-ordinates now."

"Then let's go-"

"Not yet," the Doctor said sharply as River started for the doors. "First we need to draw them out. There's only one safe path down from their base, and you can't afford to run into them on the way up, or everything's over."

"We can't wait," Amy stuttered. "We've already waited so long! Doctor, you can't ask me to-"

"I'm sorry, Amelia, I have to. I'll send them a message, I'll tell them where I am, I'll tell them to come here. You two will wait in the trees. As soon as they arrive, you'll be clear to go up to their base and get Rory back."

"What about you?"

The question came from River, as did the hesitation. The Doctor glanced at her, offering a small smile for the first time in hours. "I'll be fine, I always am."

She arched an eyebrow, but Amy just nodded. She could believe that the Doctor would escape with some crazy, random plan. She just needed to know Rory was alright. So if the Doctor said he could do it, and to go, she could go.

"Okay, fine. So make the call."

He looked at her for a moment, and something flickered in his eyes that she couldn't quite read. Then he was turning back to the machine and reaching for the intercom, his face darkening. Amy hugged her arms around herself, taking a deep breath in an effort to calm himself as he began to speak.

"Calling the Offspring of the Hive. This is the Doctor. And I believe you've made the mistake of trying to hurt a friend of mine..."

Rory floated in the area between unconsciousness and awareness with little other than fog in his mind. He was vaguely aware of a throbbing, pulsing agony in his leg, or somewhere near his leg, something that was persistent and angry and venomous and wouldn't let him slip into the blackness that yawned somewhere nearby. Sometimes he would open his eyes as much as he could, squint at whatever was in front of him. He could never make out more than blurred, fuzzy, shifting shapes and lines and colors. It was all so very... misty. All he could really remember was a heavy, terrible despair that had hit him at some point not so long ago, a monstrous grief that he really should be able to name. He could not for the life of him think of what it had been, or whether the thing had occurred a thousand years ago or five minutes ago. In fact, the only thing that was allowing him to think at all was that insistent pain in his leg, that pain that seemed to be growing slowly but steadily stronger, clearing his head inch by inch with every passing minute, or hour, or whatever time had begun to be...

"... your demands... the Offspring... grave mistake... if you think... the legends... they fear..."

"We don't... have no power... whatever you may... must accept... we have him..."

The two voices were very different, one crackling and gravelly, the other higher and tinged with fury. The second voice seemed very familiar, and brought a faint twinge of nausea rushing into his stomach. He couldn't quite place either, but he was sure it was important. He struggled a little closer towards clarity, but suddenly felt his head swimming and sank back down into the grey emptiness once more. Reality ebbed in and out with vague jabs of stinging pain that seemed to be coming from everywhere. And there were noises too, noises of something whimpering and moaning, maybe some kind of animal in pain, something wounded being kicked while it was down... Maybe he should try to wake himself up, go and help whatever creature it was. The sounds seemed to be quite close, after all...

"It's... hear that? Do... D-Doctor?"

Doctor. Now, there was a word he had been hearing a lot recently. Well, for most of his life, if he was honest. But more so than usual in the last space of time that had passed, he was sure of that. He tried to open his eyes again, caught a brief glimpse of blinding whiteness and then short flashes of black, felt that sting again, this time a little more vivid. The noises spiked, then died away a little. His roaring, muted ears snatched a short phrase from the crackling voice, still speaking somewhere in the background.

"... warning you - this time you will have no mercy. What happened all those years ago, it will be nothing if you touch him one more..."

There was something he recognised about that voice, something that again sent that garbled message through his body - something important was happening. He needed to get up, wake up, pay attention, because something was going wrong... something... something to do with... the Doctor...

"... you think, Doctor..."

"... stop it! Doctor, please, make them stop!"

That last voice, high-pitched, crackling too but achingly familiar. Amy. How could he not know who that was? But why was Amy sounding like that, so terrified, her voice choked with tears... With a surge of pain he found himself brought back to earth with a jolt, felt the hot wetness of blood plastering his jeans to his right shin, felt the coolness of tears on his face, felt the violent shocks tearing through him - and heard those distant noises ripping from his own throat. Only now, they were rising to a scream. All at once something changed, as if some of the pressure that was stopping him from breathing had lifted, allowing him to finally fall silent. His throat hurt now. Had that really been him making those noises before? Hands came down on his shoulders and the whole world suddenly swung violently; Rory's whole body protested, every limb howling with agony, his own loud retches sending shudders down his spine. The chair he had become so used to was suddenly gone, and he was being dragged sideways before being thrown downwards. He hit the floor and felt the world dropping away almost at once, spinning, whirling, tipping him over the edge into the darkness...

Amy. He hadn't thought to check on Amy. Something was happening to Amy and he didn't know what... But suddenly that didn't seem to matter anymore, because suddenly he couldn't think at all.

Amy held onto River as tightly as she could, trying to suppress the heavy sobs that were forcing themselves out of her chest. The other woman was talking rapidly, stroking her hair, clearly doing everything she could to calm her down, but she could barely hear River's voice.

The sounds coming over that intercom... she'd had no idea that a human could ever be in that much pain. That Rory would ever be making those kinds of sounds. And maybe she could have survived the start of it if they hadn't done whatever they did to make him scream like that. She had never, ever heard Rory scream like that before. Never.

"Amelia? Amy. Amy!"

She looked up, sniffing, struggling to concentrate. The Doctor was pulling her from River's grip, wrapping his arms around her. She clung to him like a lifeline, silently begging him to do something, to make a miracle happen, to bring her Rory back again.

"Amy, it worked. It worked, alright? They're coming to meet me in three hours. As soon as they get here you and River can go up there and find him. Amelia, it means he's still alive, it mean's they didn't kill him-"

"Three hours!"

"I'm sorry, I know, but he's going to be fine. Rory's strong, he's going to be alright. We're going to get to him."

None of it mattered anymore. Rory was alone up there. And all she could think was that if she had simply stayed with him, if she had waited, then they would be together. Maybe the whole thing could have been avoided it.

Maybe it was all her fault.

Naw, poor Ponds :( Next chapter will hopefully see a little more action since the Doctor's 'Plan' is about to get started...

Thanks for reading. Reviews are welcome.

SUPRNTRAL LVR.