AN: So this is the final chapter of this story. Big thanks to James Birdsong, Amelia E. Grey, avasinclair123, jordan, and Laughy-Taffy the Grape for the reviews, as well as tumblr user laduelliste for all of her support.
This chapter took a while, as I planned how she got stuck in the other universe without planning how she'd get out. So here's a pretty simple, nostalgic ending that I felt Amy deserved. Much simpler, much less dramatic, but more meaningful. Sort of.
You'll see. Spoilers xD
Thanks for sticking to the end!
Enjoy! xx
The Doctor grabbed Amy's hand and pushed open the door. They ran down the hallway and a few flights of stairs, and finally out of the exit.
"Just like the good old days, yeah?"
"Yeah," Amy said. She was getting sentimental, which shouldn't be considering the circumstances. Yes, she missed it, but she had given up this life for good in exchange for one of her own, and she didn't want to be caught in the middle again. She shook it off and asked, "Where are we going?"
"Back to the TARDIS."
"Can you get rid of this reality?"
"I think so. Just might be difficult. But once you've gone back, you'll never see me again."
"But I thought you could come visit in your TARDIS. Isn't that why the angels sent me back and tried to make me forget you? So that we'd never be in their way?"
They were at the TARDIS. The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the right door opened. Just like the first time. Except this was the last time.
"It's too dangerous," said the Doctor, once they were inside. "It could create a paradox, or rip apart New York. Or something else could happen to bring back all the angels, or some timelines—"
Amy was kissing him.
But it wasn't like the first time they kissed. It was merely a light kiss. Completely platonic, almost motherly, with just the right amount of care put into it.
"It's okay," said Amy, after she pulled out of the kiss. "This'll be goodbye. And I'll be done."
"One last run." The Doctor smiled and looked at her. "I said that to your daughter once. Oh, but spoilers."
"Not anymore. You can tell me anything. I'm never going to see you again."
The Doctor fiddled around with the controls a bit, then looked up. "Let's take advantage of it while it lasts."
He sat down on the couch and patted the space next to him, where Amy sat down.
"We're going to get you home. And I know just how to do it."
"How?"
"I'm going to bring you back to the graveyard."
"But that'll rip a hole in New York!"
"I'm going to get your daughter first."
He pulled a lever, and in a few moments, the TARDIS landed.
"Where are we?" asked Amy.
"Stormcage. River just came back from Manhattan."
"Okay." Amy started walking towards the door, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.
"No," he said. "I have to talk to her. She thinks you're dead."
"Fine," Amy sat back down on the couch and watched as the Doctor left.
She was alone again.
"Funny," she said out loud. "I used to dream of this box. Funny how it almost became a nightmare. It almost ended like one, too."
She shook her head. "And I'm talking to a machine!"
Amy looked up. "It's almost like I made it all up. The Doctor, the TARDIS, all the places we went. It's almost like a dream, almost like—"
The TARDIS door opened, and the Doctor came running in with River's vortex manipulator. "Ready to go, Pond?"
"Ready!"
"We can't take the TARDIS, because it'll already be there, and having the same TARDIS in an area that is already fragile would be catastrophic. Which is why I got this." He held up the vortex manipulator. "It shouldn't damage the continuum too terribly. We need to get you to the graveyard, but you cannot be seen. There's bound to be another weeping angel somewhere in the graveyard, and you're going to have to find it and touch it. Without past me, River, or past you seeing."
"What about you? This version of you?"
"This is where I leave you."
Amy stood up and walked over to him. She kissed him on the forehead, just like she had done when he dropped her off at her house. Now, she was leaving him. d
"It's been a blast. All of it. Really. You saved me. You changed me. And I don't know where I'd be without you. So thank you."
"Amelia Pond." The Doctor was most definitely crying by this point. "This face's first face. You made it smile."
Amy laughed nervously and hugged him. "Farewell, Doctor."
"Farewell, Pond."
Amy pressed the button on the vortex manipulator and vanished from his universe.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
She ended up in that goddamn graveyard. That same, fateful graveyard. She'd always end up where it all ended.
She was behind an oak tree that was far away from the TARDIS. She was hidden.
Now, all she had to do was find an angel.
She assumed that, since the angels wanted to find her, it wouldn't be too difficult.
That statue! The tall one.
It was quite angel-like, and it overlooked the whole graveyard. It was far away enough from the TARDIS that she didn't cause a scene.
This wasn't how she imagined she'd go.
Quietly, with no bravado. Just a simple touch, and she was gone.
The first time she was zapped, now that was a dramatic event. But this time— she wasn't going to risk it. It needed to be done without drama.
It just had to, well, happen.
She arrived at the angel, which seemed to be staring her down. It wasn't the traditional weeping one, but its hands were close enough to its face that it could have been crying.
"All I have to do is blink, yes? And you won't mess around with my head anymore?" She was talking to a stone statue that was actually a psychopathic alien. No wonder she was taken into a mental ward in the other reality.
"Right then. Farewell, Doctor."
She didn't know what else to do. There was no one to thank, no one to say goodbye to, really. That was over. It all was.
Too much spectacle.
So she blinked.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
She hadn't moved when she opened her eyes.
She had only fallen to the floor.
But the angel in front of her was gone.
And, as she looked around, she saw less graves. Less trees.
"Amy?"
Amy jerked up. "What? Where… what… who?"
She was so discombobulated that she didn't even notice her husband at her side.
"Oh God, you're okay, you're fine." He kissed her on the forehead, just as she had done previously to another friend.
"What happened to me?"
"The angel got me, and I ended up there." He pointed over by the oak tree, which was tiny at this point in time. "And it was a few minutes before you arrived, but then you were just, well, zapped here. And you were out cold for so long, Amy. At least an hour, but I couldn't call for help here—"
Amy pulled Rory down so that he was sort of half laying on her and half kneeling beside her. She hugged him and began to sob into his shoulder.
"Shh, it's okay. You're safe. He's got River. Everything's going to be okay."
"No," said Amy's voice, which was quite muffled. "I'm so glad you're here. I... I missed you."
"No, it's okay." Rory was very confused as to why she was so hysterical over the matter. "It's all back to normal now."
"You're all right, you're all right." Amy kept telling herself over and over again out loud. She felt like he had been miles and miles away, but he was right there the whole time. He was fine, she was fine, they were together. So why was she feeling so empty?
She was so sad and so happy at the same time.
The Doctor was gone. For her.
For him, she was gone.
But they were both all right. Both alive. Sort of.
It was all too much for her head, so she stopped thinking and fell asleep, still hugging Rory. This was where she belonged.
And now, dear reader, I talk to you.
For Amy never remembered her final farewell.
The Doctor never told her that she would forget. He granted her that bliss.
Her second reality was erased. You could say that this whole story was for naught.
But every story has the same ending, no matter how you get to it.
I suppose some call that fate.
