Chapter 9
The first thing Rory saw was Amy's hair framing her bloodless, fearful face as blood pooled on the forest floor beneath her. The terrible fear that gripped his heart was difficult to shake off, but eventually he found the presence of mind to remind himself that Amy was not dying alone in a forest. And there hadn't been any blood when the headless monk had blasted her, anyway.
But looking back at the trembling body and the hand reaching out for him, it was harder to remain certain of those things. So he started chanting in his head: Amy is alive, she is safe. Amy is safe. Amy is safe.
That didn't stop him from kneeling down, grabbing this Amy's hand, and pulling her head onto his lap. He tried to be strong for her, to not cry as she stared wide-eyed up at him and whispered his name. Instead, he clutched her hand tighter and whispered words of comfort back. Even a fake Amy shouldn't have to die alone.
When the last breath had left her body, he closed her eyes and stood. There were no clerics, no monks, no Doctor. Not even a TARDIS. They were alone. He was alone.
Now that his emotions were coming off overdrive, his brain took over again. He knew the real Amy was alive and they were both in a Silence base trying to rescue the Doctor. They were accompanied by two of the Doctor's previous companions. What he was seeing wasn't real.
Which raised the question: what was he seeing? It was almost a memory but not quite. Like a worst-case scenario constructed from that memory. And presumably all of this was connected somehow to the Doctor's condition - asleep - and perhaps that of the other patients in the room. Maybe he was sleeping now, too.
Sleeping...
And then this would be a nightmare. He never had nightmares. Nothing he had seen in all his travels - not even Amy's death - had changed that. So why now?
Sleep, nightmares, the Doctor... There had to be a clue.
Rory was fairly certain that the Doctor couldn't normally put people to sleep like that. Mostly because if he could, he would have some explaining to do about why he hadn't ever used that ability when they were in danger before. What had he done, anyways? He was... he was going to check the Doctor's pulse. That sounded right. He'd grabbed the nearest wrist.
Sleep, nightmares, and the Doctor.
Then he'd opened his eyes in this place, with Amy. The real world was gone, replaced by this too-real forest and a nightmare.
"Oh my god," he muttered. "Not again."
Because that would mean some sort of test, or a choice. And if he wanted out, he'd have to cut the strings and there were no time machines with self-destruct buttons anywhere nearby.
Trying not to resent the Doctor too much, Rory began scouring the area for a weapon with which to kill himself.
Rose stood in the center of a blast crater as deep as she was tall. The earth was in ruins under her feet, chunks of rock sprouting deep violet vegetation. She climbed to the edge of the crater and pulled herself up only to find worse devastation there. Fireballs erupted as pockets of gas escaped from the cracked earth. The landscape was ablaze before her eyes, flame catching in the branches of trees and consuming the silver-gray leaves that hung there.
The heat and fragments of rock stung her face, but she pushed forward. She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't want to stay here. She was about to crest a low hill when the air around her convulsed. A moment of pressure and the barren plains were gone.
Where was she now? She was surrounded by walls of metal, cold and dark and empty. She was alone again, but it felt worse this time. More ominous. Looking up, she saw familiar numbers on the wall high above her head. 139, they said. Squinting up ahead, she found the distinctive silhouette of the lift.
This was Satellite Five. But what was she doing here?
She told herself it was just a memory, but she couldn't quite believe it. And even if it was just a memory, she could see the Doctor's face - the face he had worn when they first met - one last time.
He'd be on floor 500 if he was anywhere. That was where they had gone, both times. Rose dashed for the lift and mashed the button.
Rory glared at Solomon's robots as they shot his dad in the leg and then the chest. He couldn't help a twinge of panic even though by now he knew it wasn't real. And, even though his escape attempt hadn't worked, he was pretty sure he knew what was going on.
"Dream Lord!" he shouted, frustration overwhelming his good sense, while the two robots stared at him. "I know this isn't real, so stop it. Show your face, you rotten-"
He stumbled as the ground shifted beneath him. When he glanced at his surroundings, he realized he'd moved again. But where was he this time? He'd never seen a room quite this white except for Amy's cell on Demons Run, and he knew without a doubt that this was not Demons Run. It was silent except for a muffled rasping sound, like heavy breathing.
"Hello," said a cheerful voice from behind him.
Rory spun around to face the Dream Lord. "You. Whatever's going on here, I want you to stop it."
"You?" the portly man echoed. "Is that how you all greet old friends? Very rude, you know."
Rory didn't even have to think. "The Doctor. Where is he? What have you done with him?"
The Dream Lord's face hardened into a scowl. "Loyal to the last. Even now that Amy's gone? Are you hoping that he'll find some way to save her?"
"What?" He groaned. The last thing he needed right now was a guilt trip, though he counted himself lucky that particular barb had fallen flat. "I don't want to play your stupid games. Just take me to the Doctor."
"I don't know why you'd want to see that idiot. What good has he ever done you, really? And, frankly, he's a mess right now..." The Dream Lord stepped smoothly to the side, revealing a figure on the ground behind him.
It was an awful sight. There he was, on the floor, collapsed into a tiny heap, knees clutched to his chest. Tear tracks ran from his tightly screwed eyes down to his chin. The quiet sound Rory had noticed earlier was the Doctor's breathless sobbing.
"Are you sure you still want him?" the Dream Lord asked, voice colored with distaste.
Rory wanted to be angry. He was angry. He was also sick and scared and concerned and a little repulsed. Out of all the people he had ever known, the Doctor was the last - the very last - he'd expect to see like this. He knelt down and put a hand on his friend's elbow.
"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?"
His grey eyes fluttered open and he had to focus on the person in front of him before recognition sparked. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he rasped. "I couldn't save her, Rory. Believe me, I would give anything to bring her back."
"Liar," snarled the Dream Lord.
The Doctor flinched, as though expecting a blow.
The older man leaned over his prey. "You wouldn't give up Koschei for her. You wouldn't give up Susan or the TARDIS. You didn't love Amy enough to protect her. That's why she died."
"Stop." The Doctor was practically whimpering now.
Rory watched in a horrified trance as the two interacted. The Dream Lord absolutely loathed the Doctor; his every action proclaimed it. It was difficult to imagine that they were the same person as the Doctor had told them. His darkness.
The Doctor seemed to shrink as his reflection moved closer. "You wouldn't give up Rose to save Amy. But you didn't love her enough, either. They're both gone, lost to you forever because you couldn't save them. How pathetic."
"No!" he sobbed. "No, she's happy. I gave her what she needed, she's happy!"
"Doctor, calm down," Rory cried in alarm. He tightened his grip on that stupid tweed jacket and moved so that he was between the Doctor and his antagonist. He shot a glare at the Dream Lord before turning back to his friend. "Everything's okay. Rose is fine. Amy is fine. She's alive - we both came back to rescue you."
With a feral howl of rage, the Doctor had his hands at Rory's throat and was pinning him to the white floor. "Don't do this to me!" He pushed down harder, until Rory was gasping for air, and then he suddenly collapsed against Rory's chest. "How could you?"
Uncertain, Rory sat up and pulled the Doctor into his arms. He didn't say anything, not wanting to set him off again, but he stroked the other man's back and wondered what the hell he was going to do now.
