The Doctor looked up at Amy from his position next to her, finally lowering his hands from his face. She noticed the tears on his face and smiled at him.
"Come on Doctor, it can't be that bad." She said, trying to re-assure him, something she'd never expected to need to do "What does it say?"
"Everything's wrong." He said quietly, running a hand through his hair "Every single assumption is wrong. Well, almost. I was right about what's happening. I was wrong about how long I've got though. So wrong."
"How long?" She asked "How long do you have left?"
"Twenty-five minutes." He replied "Twenty-five minutes until I cease to exist. Twenty-five minutes until I die."
"Is there anything you can do?" She asked "Some way to stop it?"
"Yeah, it was another thing I was wrong about." He said "The universe is imploding around me, I should've seen this solution before."
"What's the solution?" She asked, getting silence from him "Doctor, what do you have to do?"
He paused for a moment before standing up and walking away. He didn't want to answer her question, because he didn't like the answer. He turned to face her, sighing to himself.
"There's no perfect solution here, Amy." He said, sombrely "The only way to save the universe from total destruction is to blow up the TARDIS. The explosion will cancel out the implosion. But there's a catch, blimey it's a big catch."
"What's that?" She asked, once again receiving silence in response "Doctor!"
"Me, I'm the catch!" He said "Whoever does it will be erased from existence. Universe, fine. Doctor, not so much."
She looked at him, shocked. She'd never known him to resign himself so much before. She had a problem with that solution though.
"Doctor, if you're going to be erased, how were you able to come back?" She asked, slightly confused on the matter.
"I don't know, an afterimage maybe?" He replied "Chances are, the erasure would happen in increments, like it is already. That was probably me hopping back along my own time stream. Where did I come out from?"
"The door by the altar." She replied "Doctor, you've got to have another plan. You always have another plan."
"Not this time." He said "I've thought about every possibility, I even thought about the possibility of what happened the last time I was erased happening again."
"And?" She asked "Will it? I mean, you said the universe just couldn't go on without you."
"No, different situation." He said "This time, it's happening slowly, the universe is having time to compensate. It won't bring me back."
Before she could say anything, he looked at his watch before turning and walking out of the church. She followed him, jogging to catch up as he walked into the TARDIS, just catching the door as he went to close it.
"Doctor." She said, stepping inside "Surely, you've got time for a good bye while you set it up?"
"Yeah." He said, his voice hollow "Time for a good bye. Just got back and it's already time to go. Still, once more unto the breach I suppose."
"Hey, I'll still remember you." She said "I did last time. So you won't be totally gone."
"Different situation." He said, beginning to play with the controls on the central console "Like I said, incrementally, the universe, time itself, is adapting. I will never have existed. All I'll be is a story. Just a story of a mad old man in a big blue box. This big, old, impossible blue box."
"Best story ever told." She said, trying to raise his spirits as tears slowly formed in her eyes "Doctor, there has to be something here you can do. Maybe set it on auto-pilot or something?"
"No." He said, pointing at a switch in front of him "I'm going to be asking you to leave soon, once I've set it all up, so that I can hit this switch, once you're out and I've set it all up, that is. Then, it's goodbye from me and hello from everyone who was here. Everything I've affected will never have happened. All those things that will change. Still, maybe it's time."
"Time?" She said "Time for you to die?"
He continued playing with controls, apparently being careful to avoid the switch he'd pointed out to her a moment before. After a second, he turned to face her.
"Well, this is it." He said "It's time for me to go. I need you to leave now."
"Fine, I will." She said, going to walk out, opening the TARDIS door before turning around to face him and holding her arms out "One last hug, before you go?"
"Sure." He said, walking over to her and hugging her.
As he did, she got him in a vice grip, spinning them around. When he was by the door, she pushed him out.
"I'm sorry." She said, closing the door, locking it a second later.
The Doctor stood there, shocked. He went to try the key in the lock, finding that another was jammed in on the other side, blocking him from unlocking it.
"Amy, stop!" He said, welling up as he heard the engines start "Amy, please, stop this!"
As he said those final words, there was a bright flash of brilliant white light, dazzling him and blocking all of his senses out.
...
Ta-dah! I hope you liked this chapter. Now, only one chapter left; the big goodbye! Please, R&R. No flames please. B.
