The Big Bang
Present...
Agent Mackenzie, of UNIT, strode down the halls of the National Museum, heading for the Pandorica room just after the museum had officially closed. A quick flash of her ID was all that was needed to get inside and order the remaining crew and staff to leave. She supposed it was also a bit of her oh-so-friendly personality and her rather no-nonsense appearance that gave the impression that she was someone not to be trifled with. And nor was she. She dressed professionally, pencil skirt, blouse, her hair in a severe bun, glasses on her head. She was capable and more than willing to bark out orders when need be so it hadn't bothered her to go on this mission alone.
She looked down at the note in her hand, written in Gallifreyan, and stormed down the halls. She recognized the handwriting, of course she did, only one person had that chicken scratch. But he shouldn't be there. She'd have thought he'd likely be out there, flying among space and trying to work out where all the stars had gone. It was odd, she looked outside and saw blank space that should be filled with starlight…the humans looked out and saw the same blackness they always had. And that was wrong, something had happened and if that note would help her find out what it was and deal with this situation, she'd take it.
She entered the Pandorica room, as instructed, eyeing the rather large box as it sat there. A sort of distress beacon had been echoing from it, picked up by Torchwood and the box had been found beneath Stonehenge and moved there. She didn't understand how UNIT and Torchwood could even exist as they were given that there were no stars, however not every alien species required stars to live and there had been one or two invasions over the years. Still, as a Time Lady, she could tell when there was something wrong with time and she knew what it was, even if she hadn't her scanners and various programs had picked it up. Time was shrinking, erasing, spreading across the Universe and heading back for Earth, the eye of the storm…which made sense as no one seemed to find it odd that there was a sun out there when 'stars didn't exist' or so the humans argued.
None of them would realize it was a TARDIS exploding.
And there was only one idiot out there stupid enough to allow that to happen.
THIS was why she worked so hard to keep him from coming back to Earth, every time he set foot on any planet at all, it just all went to hell.
She stopped before the giant box, glancing around the room as stone Daleks on display, before she looked at the cube, seeing another note stuck to it in Gallifreyan.
"Place hand here?" she scoffed, "Honestly Doctor," she muttered before reaching out and touching the box.
Instantly it began to glow green through the intricate carvings along the sides of it. She stepped back, watching cautiously as it opened along the corner facing her, a bright light filling the room, revealing a ginger girl in a dress and cardigan sitting within, slightly hunched forward.
Mac blinked as she looked at her past self, "Could use a bit of help," she remarked, "Can't quite reach my paperclips like this," she nodded at her wrist cuffs holding her in place.
~8~
1,984 years ago...
"Rory what do we do?!" Amy gasped as she and Rory looked at the body of Mac lying on the ground, "She should be regenerating right?" she shook her head, "That's what they do, they turn all orange and change, they told me so!"
Rory just shook his head, his fingers pressed to Mac's wrist, "I…I can't feel her hearts beating Amy," he looked at her, tears in his eyes as he realized this was his fault, "Can…can they die before that happens?"
"Yes," a voice answered and they spun around to see the Doctor appear in a flash of light, a red fez on his head, a mop under his arm, "Yes it can, but that's not what happened here. Kenzie's not dead yet! She's just nearly dead. Still got that bit of life in her, but it's too small for regeneration to latch onto and be triggered. Anyway that's not the point. The point is it's not the end of the world. Well, it IS the end of my world if she does die, and it is the end of YOUR world too cos of," he pointed up, "But it'll all be fine because…oh, no, wait hang on!" he tapped something on a wrist device he was wearing and disappeared.
"Doctor?" Amy ran over to where he was standing, "Doctor!"
She nearly jumped back, would have fallen too if Rory hadn't caught her when the Doctor suddenly reappeared only inches in front of Amy, without the mop, "Listen, you lot need to get me out of the Pandorica. It's the only way to save Kenzie," he pulled the sonic out of his pocket."
"You're not in the Pandorica," Rory shook his head, he couldn't be if he was standing right in front of them.
"Yes, I am. Well, I'm not now, but I was back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from my point of view. Time travel, you can't keep it straight in your head. It's easy to open from the outside... just point and press. Now go," he tossed Amy the sonic and disappeared…only to reappear again the second they made to step towards Stonehenge, "Oh, and good luck!" he grinned and pointed at them before disappearing.
They waited only a second more to see if he'd return before Amy took Rory's hand and tried to pull him off towards the monument but he pulled back, pulling his cape off to drape it over Mac, wanting to keep her warm if she was still alive, before they ran off, clambering down the stone steps and dashing into the Pandorica's cavern. They slowed, spotting stone statue after stone statue of quite a few aliens, before they made their way before the box.
Amy held up the sonic and flashed it at the stone cube, the corner sliding open, revealing the Doctor sitting within, straps around his wrists and legs, a yoke over him, all of it slowly starting to release him as he gaped at them, "How did you do that?"
"Future you gave it to us," Amy answered quickly, gathering that much from what the other Doctor had said.
"That's nice," he smiled, starting to get up, "I've got a future."
"Doctor we don't have time," Amy lunged forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the box, "Mac's hurt."
"What?!" the Doctor cried, following Amy as she rushed off, leading the way, not even sparing more than a glance at the stone enemies around them.
"What are they Doctor?" Rory called as they ran, "Those stone soldiers. What happened to them?"
"History has collapsed," he said quickly, "Whole races have been deleted from existence. The statues are after-images. Echoes, fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were. Total event collapse. The universe literally never happened."
"But how can we be here?" Rory shook his head.
"Eye of the storm. We're just the last light to go out. Now where's Kenzie?" he looked around as they reached the top of the stairs.
"This way," Amy led him off, a few feet away, to where Mac was lying, pale as death, on the ground.
"Kenzie!" he fell to his knees beside her, sonicing her, tears in his eyes as he realized…if she still looked like this, then she died before regeneration could set in, "What happened?"
"I killed her," Rory swallowed.
"No," Amy shook her head, seeing the Doctor turning to glare at him and moved to Rory's side, "He was about to kill ME. Mac pushed me out of the way."
The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a breath at that, rubbing his face, that was her wasn't it. That was just so her. Ooh it was Teddy all over again, the boy was definitely his mother's son. It was Mac's doing, it was her choice, Rory hadn't been aiming for MAC, he had to keep repeating that in his head...or he was quite sure he'd find a way to melt a plastic Centurion...
"Doctor, what am I?" Rory asked.
"A Nestene duplicate," the Doctor murmured, turning back to Mac, scanning her again with the sonic, "A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity."
"But he's Rory," Amy frowned, "He remembered me, he remembered the ring, our engagement. He's not that…plastic stuff anymore."
Rory was silent, not wanting to speak about that, not wanting to have to say out loud that he wasn't human…just plastic, so he looked at Mac, at the Doctor lightly stroking her cheek, brushing hair from her eyes from her sidebang, "Can you help her? Is there anything you can do?"
The Doctor looked at the sonic intently, starting to smile, "There just might be!" he cheered, "Quick, get her up, we have to get her to the Pandorica, now!"
Rory ran forward and helped lift Mac up between him and the Doctor, the two men carrying her back down the steps, Amy ahead of them, lighting the way with a torch for them, helping them as they carried her to the box, gently setting her into the seat the Doctor had been strapped to.
"So you've got a plan, then?" Rory asked.
"Bit of a plan, yeah," he nodded, gently stroking Mac's face, cupping her cheeks, "The Nestenes used your memory Amy," he murmured, "With the time crack in your wall and the universe pouring through your dreams every night? Anyone could take a memory print, even of things forgotten," he glanced at Rory, "Got a bit more than they asked for, she remembered your heart and soul Rory," he told the boy before focusing back on Mac, closing his eyes and resting his forehead to hers, "I'll see you when you wake up Naery," he murmured to her, dropping a mental message in her mind, before he stepped back and flicked the sonic at the box, closing it again.
"What are you doing?" Amy frowned.
The Doctor swallowed, "Saving her. This is the ultimate prison. You can't even escape by dying. It forces you to stay alive."
"But I thought she died, before regeneration could happen."
"No," he shook his head, watching the box close completely, "She was mostly dead, too dead for regeneration to trigger but not dead enough where the Pandorica can't save her. It can stasis-lock her exactly like that and, if it gets a scan of her living DNA, it'll restore her."
"Where's it going to get that?" Rory scoffed.
The Doctor looked at his watch, "In about 2,000 years."
~8~
Present...
Agent Mackenzie jumped back, avoiding Mac as she fell to the ground on her hands and knees panting, knowing not to touch herself or risk a paradox as she didn't know exactly what was going on, "What did the Doctor do this time?" she demanded of her future self.
"Spoiler," Mac shook her head, "Just…give me a mo," she took a deep breath, "Doctor left me a message to rest s little…" she groaned, rubbing the side of her head, "Have to talk to him about not doing that. I'm not an answer phone," she looked around and up at herself, "Where are we again? Which museum's this?" they all started to look the same after so long.
"The National Museum," Agent Mackenzie remarked.
"Oh, right," Mac nodded, taking a deep breath, "And the year is?"
"1996."
"Nearly 2000 years then…" Mac winced, pushing herself to her feet, rubbing her back, she certainly felt it.
~8~
1,984 years ago...
"What," Amy frowned, watching as the Doctor dug around in the bag River had left there and pulled out an odd wrist device, "Mac's going to be in that box for 2,000 years?"
"Yeah," the Doctor glanced at hit, his discomfort and ill-ease with doing this evident on his face, "So we're taking a shortcut," he held up his wrist, "River's vortex manipulator. Rubbish way to time travel, but the universe is tiny now. We'll be fine."
"So the future's still there, then?" Rory asked, eyeing the device, "Our world?"
"A version of it," he nodded, "Not quite the one you know. Earth alone in the sky. Let's go and have a look," he held out his arm, smiling at them, "You put your hand there," the two humans looked at each other a long while before putting their hands on the device, seeing that the Doctor just wanted to get back to Mac as soon as possible and make sure she was ok, "Don't worry, should be safe," he told them, before slapping the button, the three of them disappearing in a flash of light.
~8~
Present...
"Why were you in the Pandorica to begin with?" Agent Mackenzie demanded.
Mac turned to open her mouth to utter 'spoilers' again, when a very distinct shout went off behind them, causing them both to freeze in fear.
"Exterminate!"
They spun around to see a Dalek heading for them, still appearing to be made of stone but alive nonetheless. They turned and ran for the Pandorica, hiding around it.
"Exterminate!"
They winced back when a flash of light went off before them and Mac could see the Doctor, Amy, and Rory appear with in it.
"Run!" Mac shouted at them, as the Dalek turned its laser arm on them.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek cried as it slowly wheeled towards them as the Doctor pulled Amy and Rory after him at a run, "Weapons systems restoring! Exterminate!"
The Doctor stumbled as he slid around the corner of the Pandorica, toppling right into Mac and nearly sending them both crashing into a small alcove display of North Africa. He reached out, trapping Mac between his arms as he tried to right the mannequin that he'd nearly knocked over, grabbing the fez that fell from its head.
"Who are you?" Rory frowned, looking at Agent Mackenzie.
"Agent Mackenzie," she held up her ID, "Of UNIT."
Mac blinked and turned to the Doctor, "Was I as bad as Harriet Jones in doing that?" she had to ask despite the situation.
"You still are," he nodded.
"Oi!" she slapped him on the shoulder, pushing him back so she could stand upright again, though he still had the fez in his hand.
"But THAT's Mac," Rory pointed at their Mac.
"Um…meat my last incarnation," Mac offered, gesturing at her last self.
Amy started to nod at that as though it were perfectly normal, before she shook her head realizing…regeneration really DID mean they turned into new people, "Ok, so what are we doing about the Dalek?"
"Running into a dead end, where I'll have a brilliant plan, that basically involves not being in one," the Doctor said.
Agent Mackenzie scoffed, "More like get us all killed. That's what you're good at, isn't it Doctor."
"Oh shut up," Mac glared at her past self, "You don't know everything that's happened or everything he's done, so stuff it. If I hear another word out of your mouth like that about the Doctor I'll give you a beaning, get it?"
The Doctor leaned over, "You DO realize you just threatened to give yourself a beaning, yes?"
"Yes, I'm well aware," she whispered back.
"Right, ok, just making sure," he smiled, his hearts warming to see her doing that, to see her defending him in this body against her own self, "First things first, you two," he looked at Amy and Rory, "Get out of here. You as well Agent Mackenzie, just go! Just run!"
"How about we ALL run," Rory suggested.
"We can't, we…" the Doctor's next words were cut off by Rory turning and dropping his plastic fingers, revealing his gun hand, which he fired at the Dalek, getting it right in the eyestalk.
"Vision impaired!" the Dalek shouted, before slowly powering down, "Vision..."
"Brilliant plan Rory," Mac beamed, hugging him quickly as they all ran out from behind the Pandorica, looking at the Dalek.
The Doctor glanced from that to the box and back, "The light! The light from the Pandorica, it must have hit the Dalek."
"If it's a restorative field…" Agent Mackenzie remarked, looking at the Dalek's laser arm as it twitched, "Go!" she turned and pushed them on, "Out, get out!"
They ran out into the hall, shutting the doors to the Pandorica room behind them, the Doctor quickly putting the fez onto his head as he realized he was still holding it, before he grabbed a mop to help barricade the door…
"The mop!" Rory shouted, pointing at the Doctor, "That's how you looked when you gave Amy the sonic."
"Yeah!" Amy nodded.
"Well, no time to lose then," the Doctor quickly activated the manipulator and disappeared in a flash of light.
"Who gave him that?!" both Macs demanded of the humans, their hands on their hips, though the agent version of her was looking more than a little annoyed whereas she was more exasperated.
Before they could answer, the Doctor reappeared again, turning to place the mop back into its place to try and lock the door even more, before he flashed out again, likely to finish the conversation with Rory. He grinned as he appeared once more, the sonic in hand, Amy having given it back to him after releasing him from the Pandorica, allowing this one to go back and give the original to her in the first place, "Off we go!"
"Doctor!" Mac called, "You're forgetting something," she nodded over to her past self subtly.
"Right yes," the Doctor moved over to her, "How did you know to come here?" Agent Mackenzie sighed and pulled out the two notes that she'd gotten, "In Gallifreyan, in my handwriting," he nodded, "Ok!" and turned to a nearby desk, grabbing the needed papers and pen, jotting down the notes he'd need before slapping the manipulator to go and deposit them at the lab in UNIT and stick it to the Pandorica near closing time.
"Ok," Amy shook her head and looked at the Time Ladies, "How's he doing that?"
"It's called a Vortex manipulator," Mac sighed, "Like an individualized time travel method.
"Cheap and nasty time travel," the Doctor corrected as he reappeared again, "Very bad for you. I'm trying to give it up. Unlike Kenzie."
"Hold on," Mac shook her head, "I'M not the one constantly using the manipulator. I don't have to give anything up."
"No I...I meant me, giving up y..."
He was cut off by a flash of light at the top of the stairs behind him, causing him to spin around, all of them watching in shock as a singed, smoking, beaten looking Doctor appeared, looking at them a moment before he collapsed, falling down the stairs to a small landing.
"Oh my god, Doctor!" Mac cried, rushing up to his side, her past self watching her curiously, not sure why she sounded so scared or worried.
"How can it be the Doctor?" Rory frowned as the Doctor scanned himself.
"Doctor, is that you?" Amy called.
The Doctor glanced at Mac and then to them, spotting someone missing among them, before he turned back to himself, "Yeah, it's me. Me from the future."
The future Doctor's eyes opened and he sat up, grabbing the Doctor by the lapels and tugging him closer, whispering in his ear as Mac looked at him intently, before the man fell back to the ground, unconscious.
"Are you... I mean, is he... Is he dead?"
Mac swallowed hard and took a breath, "Yes," she nodded, catching the Doctor's eye and nodding, "Yes he is."
The Doctor offered her a small nod of thanks, knowing she hated (really, REALLY hated) lying to the companions, but this was far too dire of circumstances to get concerned about that right now.
"Right," the Doctor clapped his hands and stood, holding out a hand to help Mac up, "I've got 12 minutes, that's good."
"12 minutes to live?" Amy scoffed, "How is that good?"
"You can do loads in 12 minutes...suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath, confess your deep, unending love for someone, well, actually no," he considered it, "Not that last one, would need more than 12 minutes to do that one. Oh well, come on, the roof!"
"We can't leave you here, dead!" Rory argued.
"Oh, good!" the Doctor spun around to face him, a bit of a snap in his words, his grip on Mac's hand tightening, "Are you in charge now? So, tell me, what are we going to do about Agent Mackenzie? Hmm?"
Rory and Amy looked to the side…only to spin in a circle when they saw that Mac's past self was gone.
"Where did she go?" Amy breathed, trying to find her, rushing down the steps, thinking she may have walked away.
"Agent Mackenzie?" Rory called out, frowning, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.
"That version of me doesn't exist anymore," Mac called to them, "And soon, I won't either. I was on Earth a long time before the Doctor, more permanently than him, history collapsing is affecting me now as well."
"We're all anomalies," the Doctor warned them, squeezing Mac's hand, "We're all hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eye is closing, and if we don't do something, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" he turned and led Mac off, heading for the stairs to the roof.
Mac looked back to see the two humans dallying, "Oi!" she shouted back at them, "Come on!"
Amy and Rory turned and rushed after them, following them to the stairs, all of them rushing up and up and up as high as they could go till they reached a ladder that led to the roof. The Doctor went first, then Rory and Amy, then Mac as the two women were wearing skirts, all of them gathering onto the roof to see that it was light out.
"What, it's morning already?" Amy squinted against the light, "How did that happen?"
"I just said history is collapsing Amy," Mac muttered, focused on the matter at hand, "I'd have thought it would be obvious what that meant. The universe is collapsing and our time is running out."
"What are you doing?" Rory asked the Doctor as the man pulled a satellite dish off a pole and started sonicing it, Mac moving over to help cross some wires for him.
"Looking for the TARDIS," he replied.
"But the TARDIS exploded."
"Ok, then. I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS."
"I don't understand," Amy shook her head, "So, the TARDIS blew up and took the universe with it. Why would it do that? How?"
"Not exactly a question we can answer right now Amy," Mac murmured, "Here's one you should be able to though…if the TARDIS exploding causes total event collapse, which means that every single star in the universe exploded and was never born…then how is THAT still here?" she pointed up at a large ball of fire in the sky, a little too close to be the sun, not even the right color for it, "Keep in mind, we're looking for an exploding TARDIS."
"But that's the sun," Rory blinked.
Mac turned to the Doctor, "I don't think it was just Donna."
"What?" he glanced at her.
"Missing the big picture," she remarked, "I'm starting to think it's a human thing in general. If they need it spelled out for them and STILL miss the answer."
The Doctor chuckled, "This ought to help," he called to the humans, "Because here's the noise that sun is making right now," he turned and held up the dish, flicking the sonic on to magnify the sound…and the wheezing of the TARDIS started to echo around them, "That's my TARDIS burning up. That's what's been keeping the Earth warm."
"Doctor…" Rory closed his eyes, focusing on something else he could faintly make out within the wheezing noise, "There's something else. There's a voice."
Mac reached out and took the sonic from him, setting the power and flicking the dish again with it, helping him adjust the range of the dish.
"I can't hear anything," Amy shook her head.
Rory just pointed to his ear, "Trust the plastic."
"I'm sorry, my loves," River's voice began to join the echoing of the wheezing, repeating over and over the same four words.
"That's River!" Amy gasped, "How can she be up there?"
"Oh no…" Mac looked at the Doctor, horrified, "The Emergency Protocols!"
The Doctor's eyes widened at that, "The TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She is right at the heart of the explosion."
"She's reliving it over and over," Mac turned to him, whacking his shoulder as she took the dish from him, "Go get her!"
He quickly tapped the code into the Vortex Manipulator and disappeared, though they could still hear them on the dish.
"I'm sorry my loves…I'm sorry my loves…"
And then the Doctor spoke up, "Hey there, I'm here."
"You're late!" River huffed, before she and the Doctor reappeared before them on the roof, "Mackenzie!" River immediately ran to hug her, pleased she was ok, before smiling at Amy and Rory, "Amy! And…the plastic Centurion?"
"It's ok" Mac reassured her, "Rory's with us."
"Good, good," River nodded, "I dated a Nestene duplicate once... swappable head, it did keep things fresh. Right then, I have questions. But number one is this...what in the name of sanity have you got on your head?" she turned to the Doctor, who was still wearing the fez.
"It's a fez," he smiled, "I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool. Though not quite as cool as the bowtie or headband," he winked at Mac, Amy using his distraction to grab the fez and throw it into the air where River shot it with her blaster, making him pout.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek war-cry rang out behind them as the Dalek levitated up the side of the building and floated before them.
"Go!" Mac shouted, pushing the others on, "Go, go, go!" she held up the dish, using it as a shield as they ran for the entrance to the stairs once more.
~8~
"Doctor, come on," River urged the Doctor to move faster as she stood at the base of the ladder that led up to the roof, her blaster aimed at the hatch the Doctor was sonicing to lock shut tight behind them, Mac, Amy, and Rory on the ground looking up at them.
"Shh," he whispered, pressing his ear to the hatch to listen, "It's moving away, finding another way in," he quickly climbed down the ladder, "Everyone ok?" he looked at them, "Kenzie?"
"I'm fine," she nodded, "I checked everyone out already, no one's hurt."
He nodded as well, he should have guessed that, she was rather a worrywart when people were in pain or hurt, "Right, so…it needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly…" he looked at his watch, "Four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity."
"How do you know?" River frowned as they turned to follow him down the stairs.
"Because in four and a half minutes it's going to shoot the Doctor," Mac offered, moving beside him as they walked, actually trying NOT to think about that particular detail.
"Shoot him!?" River gaped, "What do you mean, shoot him?!"
"Oh, shut up, never mind," the Doctor waved her off, turning to Mac instead, "How can that Dalek even exist? It was erased from time and then it came back. How?"
"The restoration field?" Mac shrugged, "If brought me back without using a regeneration."
"But YOU exist," he reminded her, "They never did."
"Technically they DO exist in some form if their remnants are there, even if they're only afterimages, they're still THERE, physically. And if something, even a memory, is there, it can come back."
"Ok," the Doctor nodded, following along, LOVING this, being able talk advanced knowledge with someone else, "So when the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total event collapse. A time explosion. It blasted every atom in every moment of the universe. Except..."
"Except inside the Pandorica," River realized, stepping over to them a the Doctor pointed at her, Rory and Amy trying to keep up.
"The perfect prison. Inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the bumper family pack."
"No, too fast, I'm not getting it," Rory shook his head.
"Me either," Amy agreed.
"The Pandorica holds a memory of the universe," Mac turned to them, "The restoration field can restore that memory."
"So that's how we're going to do it," the Doctor nodded.
Amy blinked, entirely lost, "Do what?"
"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe. Come on!" he turned to walk off, needing to get back to the Pandorica.
"But I don't understand," River rushed after him and Mac, "If the Pandorica partially restored one Dalek, could it really restore the whole of reality?"
"That's why we need to give it a moment of infinite power and transmit the restoration field to every moment in space and time at once."
"And how are we going to do that?" River raised an eyebrow, Amy and Rory just shaking their heads, giving up on trying to follow along.
"With the Big Bang Two!" the Doctor cheered, spinning around to face them, only for his eyes to widen and for him to lunge at Mac shoving her to the side just as a Dalek blast fired at their group, Mac just happening to be standing where the brunt of the blast would have hit, sending him flying backwards onto the ground.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek cried as it trundled towards them, "Exterminate!"
"Doctor!" Mac rushed to his side, River with her, keeping her cover with her blaster out, Rory pulling Amy around a corner, his hand-gun out as well, firing at the Dalek and impairing its vision, draining its power for now, "Doctor…it's ok," Mac swallowed, feeling tears in her eyes, even though she knew what was going on, even though she'd' been able to hear the whispered words the other Doctor had given…seeing him like that, seeing him hit by a Dalek blast…it was too much like when the Earth was stolen, it was too much like the war, "It's ok…"
The Doctor blinked and looked up at her dazedly, a happy smile on his face, "You're ok."
It wasn't a question.
Mac smiled and nodded, "I am. Cos of you."
"Good," he let out a breath, wincing as he turned to activate the manipulator, disappearing right in front of them.
"Where did he go?" River looked around, "Damn it, he could be anywhere!"
"He went downstairs," Mac whispered, staring at the spot he'd been laying, "12 minutes ago."
"He did?" River breathed a sigh of relief.
Till Amy spoke, "River, he died."
River looked at her, horrified, and then to Mac, but the Dalek began to move once more, "Systems restoring! You will be exterminated!"
"We've got to move," Rory called, seeing that, "That thing's coming back to life."
River swallowed hard and looked at Mac, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You go," she whispered to the Time Lady, "You have to go with them."
"And you?" Mac turned to her.
"I'll be right with you," she promised.
Mac nodded and stood, glancing at the Dalek and back to River, "Show no mercy," she murmured.
"Wasn't going to," River smirked, before pushing her on to face the Dalek.
Mac ran after Amy and Rory as they headed back for the Pandorica room, going down the stairs, only to stop when they saw that the Doctor's body was gone.
"How could he have moved?!" Rory blinked, "He was dead!" before he ran down the stairs, searching for him, "Doctor? Doctor!"
"But he was dead!" Amy agreed.
"No, he wasn't," Mac shook her head, moving past them towards the Pandorica room, "He told you that to create a diversion for the Dalek."
"Rule one," River joined them, rushing past the startled humans and towards Mac as she pulled the mop out of the doors, "The Doctor lies."
"Where's the Dalek?" Amy glanced back, worried it might come after them.
"It died."
Mac gave one more grunt and got the mop out from between the door handles, throwing the doors open to see the Doctor sitting, slumped over, in the Pandorica, "Doctor!" she shouted, rushing down the small hall towards the box, River and the humans after her. She knelt down before him, checking him over from all the injuries the Dalek had given him, reaching out to gently touch his face, trying to wake him as she grabbed the sonic and scanned him, wanting to know exactly where he was hurt and how badly, "Doctor?" she stroked his face, "Wake up, Doctor. Come on old man, time to get up…"
Rory looked up, squinting when he saw the sun getting brighter, "What's happening?"
"Without the explosion in the TARDIS on loop, reality's collapsing faster," Mac murmured.
"Look at this room," River agreed, seeing that the displays were all empty.
"Where did everything go?" Amy frowned.
"History is being erased. Time is running out."
"You silly old Doctor," Mac whispered, "Got your wires mixed up," she murmured, reaching over to where the vortex manipulator's wires were exposed, connected to wires in the Pandorica, and moved to fix them for him as he slowly woke.
"Mackenzie, what was he doing?" River asked her quietly.
"Big... Bang... Two…" the Doctor breathed.
"The Big Bang?" Rory blinked, "That's the beginning of the universe, right?"
"What, and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings it back?" Amy guessed, "Is that what you mean?"
"Oh…" River stared, finally getting it and turning to the humans to explain, "The TARDIS is still burning. It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire..."
"Then what?"
"Then let there be light."
"The restoration field would reach every moment of history, every point in time and space, at the same time," Mac remarked, "It would bring everything back."
River's smile faded when she saw Mac gently tracing the wires around the manipulator, following them to the Doctor's hand and holding it, "He's wired the vortex manipulator to the rest of the box…" she frowned.
"Why?" Amy asked.
River closed her eyes tightly at that, "So he can take it with him. He's going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion, isn't he?"
Mac swallowed hard and nodded.
~8~
"I don't want you to do this," Mac murmured as she helped fix the last of the wires up with the manipulator to the box.
"I have to," the Doctor wheezed, sitting there in the Pandorica, just…looking at her softly.
"No I mean…" she took a breath and looked at him, "I don't want YOU to do this, let ME."
"No," he shook his head, "If this doesn't work…" he looked at Amy as she and Rory spoke quietly off to the side, "I need you on the outside to remember me back."
"How do you know I'll be able to do that?" she scoffed, "You'll never have been born, I won't even know you then. You would be willing to bet your life on my memory?"
"Always," he nodded, "Because I think you will," he smiled, "I believe you will. I know, in my hearts, I could never forget you, no matter what, not entirely. You…have been seared into my hearts Naery," he said softly.
"Because I was the first face you saw after regeneration," she nodded. It was a common trait on Gallifrey, when they became new people, the regeneration could be slightly traumatic in the sense that you knew you were dying but then someone new with your memories took over. To compensate and try to make the transition easier, the mind would latch onto the first person it saw, they'd become a sort of anchor to help stabilize you. It was why the Doctor seemed to have especially close relationships with the companions that he saw just after regenerating.
"No," he swallowed, opening his mouth to tell her she'd been seared into his hearts long before he'd even regenerated the first time, when there was a flare of light that filled the room, the explosion getting even bigger than before. He let out a breath, he had been telling the truth, he would need more than just 12 minutes to explain to her how he felt, and right now…he'd be lucky if he had a minute twenty, "River?" he looked at her as she came around from scanning the back of the Pandorica, "Can you tell Amy to come over please?"
River blinked, tears in her eyes, the semi-hopeful/expectant look on her face falling completely when he requested Amy, the sight of it breaking Mac's hearts but there was little she could do as River walked away. If these were her last moments knowing who the Doctor was…she wanted to spend them with him. Despite all she'd suffered from his actions and all she'd felt about him, all he'd done and made up for, everything they'd been through…she wouldn't erase one moment of it for the world. She wouldn't ever want to forget him.
She looked over as Amy made her way to them, "Hi," the ginger girl whispered.
"Amy Pond," the Doctor smiled weakly at her, his grip on Mac's hand tighter than ever though, "The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"
"Shut up. Of course it was."
"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said 'No reason,' I was lying."
"It's not important."
"Actually, Amy," Mac interrupted lightly, "It's very important."
"It's the most important thing left in the universe," the Doctor agreed, "It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house. And just you."
"And Aunt Sharon," she corrected.
"Where was she though?" Mac asked gently, "That second time we came back, she wasn't there, nor the third…where was she? Or your mum and dad? Where did they go?"
"I lost my Mum and Dad."
"Yes…but do you remember how?" Mac looked at her, "What happened to them? Where did they go?"
"I..." Amy swallowed, starting to blink quickly, starting to get more than a little scared, "I don't..."
"It's ok," the Doctor reassured her, "Don't panic. It's not your fault."
"I don't even remember," she realized, looking at them, startled.
"That was the crack on your wall's fault," Mac told her, "It was erasing your memories Amy, eating away at the life in your head."
"Amy Pond, all alone," the Doctor sighed, "The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"
"How could I just forget?" Amy shook her head.
"Kenzie was right," the Doctor looked at her intently, "Nothing is ever forgotten, not really. But you have to try."
"Doctor!" River gasped as the ground started to shake, "It's speeding up!"
Mac took a breath and turned, placing the sonic into the Doctor's pocket.
"There's going to be a very big bang," the Doctor turned back to Amy, speaking quickly but seriously, "Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."
"How can I remember them if they never existed?" Amy shook her head.
"Because... you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back...you can bring them back, too. You just remember, and they'll be there."
"YOU won't," Amy started to step back.
"It's the same as with Rory, Amy," Mac shook her head, "Rory was never born, you remembered him. This time…" she took a breath, "This time it'll be the Doctor who…who's never born. You can bring him back too."
"And if you can't?" the Doctor shrugged, smiling contently, though Amy could see a sadness as he looked at Mac, "You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend anymore," he gave a soft laugh, seeing tears in Amy's eyes, "Amy Pond... crying over me, eh? Guess what?"
"What?" Amy whispered.
"Gotcha," he winked at her, before he looked at Mac as the walls of the box started to close, "I'll see you soon," he promised her, just as they shut completely.
Mac looked at the box once more before she headed over to the wall across from it and sat down, closing her eyes and focusing everything she could on remembering the Doctor, all the Doctor's she'd read about, the ones she'd met, the ones she'd loved and hated and cared for…the ones she didn't want to lose. She could hear it, the ground shaking even more, could feel it, could feel River and Rory and Amy sinking down around her, all of them bracing for when the Pandorica flew into the sky, right through the ceiling.
A few moments later, she felt her pocket heat up and opened her eyes, pulling out the psychic paper she hadn't given back to the Doctor from dealing with the Silurians.
'Geronimo.'
That was all it said. She smiled, gently touching the words in his handwriting, before she looked up at the explosion…moments before everything went white…
~8~
…and the next thing Mac knew, she was standing in the doorway of a large banquet hall, staring at the blue phone box as it stood in the middle of the dance floor, Amy, in her wedding gown, was banging on the door, calling to the Doctor inside it as Rory slowly made his way around a long table to join her, both of them so fixated on the box, that they didn't notice her standing there, completely and utterly confused.
"Ok, Mac?" Amy was calling as she knocked on the doors, "Open the doors! Mac?" she huffed, "Doctor! Did I surprise you this time?"
The doors suddenly opened and the Doctor, wearing a suit, top hat, and a scarf around his shoulders, peeked out, dressed for a wedding party, "Er, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that. How lucky I happened to be wearing this old thing. Hello, everyone," he called as he stepped out of the TARDIS, "I'm Amy's imaginary friend, but I came anyway. Well, I had to," he smiled, seeing Mac, "My date was already here," he quickly rushed to her, hugging her tightly for quite a few moments, before pulling away, "Though she's not quite dressed for a wedding," he smirked at her, "How fortunate that I thought to pull this for you," he pulled out an entire dress from his inner pockets, in a sort of dark pink color, almost reddish, matching the balloons around the room.
Mac let out a breath and looked up at him, "I have no idea what happened," she told him.
He smiled, "Neither do I," he winked, "But you may want to get ready, I'm sure they'll be extra excited to meet 'Kenny.'"
Mac rolled her eyes and turned to head for the TARDIS, only to stop when she saw him following her, "I think I can manage getting changed on my own Doctor," she smiled, "You don't need to help me."
"No!" he started to stutter, "No, no, I…I…I wasn't going to…not…I um…the TARDIS!" he pointed at it, "I was going to move the TARDIS, they're going to need the space for the dancing. And…yes, dancing? You do that at weddings right?"
Mac blinked, "You DID get married Doctor."
"Can't really remember it," he shrugged, "Not my fondest memory," he watched as Mac nodded and headed into the TARDIS before adding, "Maybe one day I'll have a better one though."
~8~
It had been…quite the party and quite the laugh after the Doctor had hit the dance floor. He'd been completely ridiculous with Amy, taught the children a fun little number he seemed to call the 'Drunk Giraffe,' before pulling Mac into a slow song that Amy and Rory had danced to, the only normal song and dance he'd done all night and it had been for Mac. But soon enough, the time came for them to take their leave, not wanting to interrupt the party any more than they already had, wanting to leave the newlyweds to their honeymoon plans.
So they'd made their way outside, heading towards where the Doctor had moved the TARDIS, just reaching the doors and Mac picking up her key when they heard River speak behind them, "Did you dance? Well, you always dance at weddings, don't you?" she smirked as they turned to her, a knowing look in her eyes.
"You'd know better than us," Mac joked.
"Ah, spoilers," she put a finger to her lips.
The Doctor nodded and handed River back her blue TARDIS journal, one that she'd managed to gift to Amy apparently to help spark her memory. The Doctor had told her as they danced that time had reversed for him, but that Amy could still hear him, so he'd tried to get her to keep remembering him like she had warned Amy to do. He'd told 7 year old Amelia about the TARDIS, the ancient, brand new, stolen blue box…much like the wedding rhyme, and THAT had gotten not just him, but Mac back into the present course of events.
"The writing's all back, but I didn't peek," he offered.
"Thank you," River smiled, putting it into her purse.
"Are you married, River?" he asked as he handed her the manipulator too.
"Are you asking?" she countered without answering, putting the manipulator on.
"Yes."
Her smirk widened, "Spoilers."
Mac laughed at that and shook her head, there was just…something about that woman, "Who are you River?"
River's smirk started to fade into a sad smile, "You're going to find out very soon now. And I'm sorry," she swallowed, tears in her eyes like she was remembering something devastating, "But that's when everything changes," before she activated the manipulator and disappeared.
The Doctor and Mac looked at each other for a long while before turning to enter the TARDIS again, "I don't know where I was," Mac mused as they headed up to the console, "It was like…one minute I was in the museum, and the next I was at the banquet."
The Doctor nodded, "I went through my entire life in reverse," he shrugged, and then I was back in the TARDIS with Amy banging on the door."
"Do you think…" Mac hesitated, "That it's just more proof that…that what happened with the War…that it wasn't your fault?" she asked, "If you had never been born, and all that I thought of you was true, the war would have never happened, I'd have memories of being back on Gallifrey, living out my life. But I don't. There's just…nothing. What if…what if the war still happened, but…everyone just died. I died."
The Doctor shook his head, "I don't like thinking about that."
"Theta the war really wasn't your fault no matter what I said and…"
"Not…not THAT," he looked at her, "I…I don't so much mind thinking about the war now, I…I don't like thinking about you dying."
"Nor I you," she nodded.
He smiled at her, moving over to take her hand, taking a breath, now…now they had time they had more than just 12 minutes and…he felt it now, confident that she felt something for him, something that he could use to tell her how he felt, "Naery I…"
"Oi!" Amy called as she entered the TARDIS, Rory rushing after her, making the Doctor close his eyes and run a hand down his face…he was starting to consider that the humans had worse timing than HE did…and that was saying something but it seemed like every time he tried to talk to Mac about them and their relationship, some human or another interrupted, "Where are you off to? We haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet."
"Amy!" Rory huffed, shutting the door.
Amy just laughed and turned, kissing him, "I was talking about US stupid."
Rory blinked, "Oh," and smiled, "Oh, right."
Mac laughed at that, "We're sorry, we just…had things to check on."
"You just saved the whole of space and time," Rory remarked, joining them at the console with Amy, "Take the evening off. Maybe a bit of tomorrow."
"Space and time isn't safe yet," the Doctor shook his head, "The TARDIS exploded for a reason. Something drew the TARDIS to this particular date, and blew it up. Why?" he frowned, a phone starting to ring, "And why now? The silence, whatever it is, is still out there, and I have to..."
He stopped talking suddenly as Mac made the 'stop talking' sign and answered the phone, "Hello?" she called, "Oh, yes, hello," she blinked and frowned, "No…no I'm pretty sure that's not possible. We were at the prayer meeting, we saw her sealed into the Seventh Obelisk."
"What is it?" the Doctor whispered to her.
Mac pressed the phone to her shoulder, "Egyptian goddess loose on the spatial Orient Express."
The Doctor grinned and took the phone, "Give us a mo," he called into it and looked at the humans, "Sorry, something's come up. This will have to be goodbye."
Amy smirked, "Yeah, I think it's goodbye," and looked at Rory, "Do you think it's goodbye?"
He nodded, starting to smile, "Definitely goodbye."
Amy kissed his cheek and dashed to the doors, opening them to wave outside them, "Goodbye! Goodbye," before she closed them and hurried back to the console.
"Don't worry about a thing, Your Majesty," the Doctor spoke into the phone, "We're on our way!" he pointed at Mac and she pulled a lever, sending them off to deal with their latest adventure.
A/N: I'm glad you all liked the little twist with Mac getting shot :) I wanted to experiment with what it would be like for a Time Lord in the Pandorica instead of Amy ;) Poor Doctor though, keeps getting stopped from talking to Mac, but I can say we'll see a breakthrough before the end of this story ;) I think you'll quite enjoy the title for the next story ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Yup, Mac was shot :( But no regeneration this time }:) I haven't watched the Princess and the Frog no, that's actually a really old saying, 'the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach ;)
Nope no Teddy here ;)