The Three Doctors all bowed their heads, paying respect to the old man who'd just passed. He wasn't a bloodthirsty tyrant or embodiment of evil as they'd expected. Their job was done, and if the current theory held true, Endymion's passing would alleviate any pain felt by Selene. None of them, none of them had failed her.
Amy however watched him silently and incredulously. She was the only one to notice that around the limp and lifeless body, a red aura formed. The blue sky above slowly turned blood red and began swirling towards the old corpse. "Uh, Doctor," she spoke, trying to get any of the Time Lords attention. They stood unmoving, their heads down looking at the grass. "Doctor!" she tried again, this time shaking Eleven by his coat. Still, there was no movement from any of the three Doctors. They'd been frozen. "What's happened to you?" she asked her best friend. She turned back to the only goings on the entire world, apparently.
"Tsk, tsk, Amelia Pond," a booming and evil voice spoke from all corners of the world. "They've bowed in reverence; they're now mine. And I've been waiting for you for some years. Thousands of them in fact. You've made a habit of making people wait for you… Thousands of years waiting for the ginger girl who could restore youth to my beloved Selene…"
Amy looked around, her head jetting about as she tried to get a fix on the voice. "Who are you? What are you talking about?" she asked, still not knowing who she was speaking to.
"There is no greater folly of being a king without a kingdom," the voice told her, "Or a queen. I laid waste to this entire world to find some way to restore my beloved Selene. Little did I know her salvation would come in the form of a Scottish girl from Leadworth."
"I don't understand!" Amy shouted. "All this? This was all to get me here?"
"Of course it was," the voice added. "Years ago, Selene would always talk about how magnificent the Doctor was; how he'd defeated Sutekh on his own, stopped Daleks and Cybermen, prevented countless species from taking over the Earth. Selene was enamored with him. No one had made as big a splash all over the cosmos as your Doctor." The voice moved closer to Amy, taking a place next to the departed Endymion. "Naturally, in the years I was stuck in that chair, I watched. I used my psychic power to observe. He's taken many friends. Always lots of young beautiful women with him; the shop girl so in love but lost in another universe, the doctor who walked the Earth for him, and the sassy temp who had to forget everything. But they all pale in comparison to you."
Amy had no idea what the voice was going on about. "How do you mean?" she asked.
The swirling red formed a human shape next to the body of deceased Endymion. "I can't believe I looked so bad; I'm so old and decayed. The Titans last prison for me…" the voice added, its unformed head looking at the frail old man. It turned to face the Doctor's companion. "But you, Amelia Pond… you can change all that. You conceived a child in the Time Vortex. Your womb is, for lack of a better word, magical. From it will be born a new Selene. One who can rule this kingdom with me at her side, as it always should have been."
"What? You're kidding," Amy said. "First off, you're not setting up camp in my uterus. Second, even if your plan worked, why would she want to rule a ruined place like this?" The place around was non-existent, as if a once great castle had stood there but was wiped from the face of the world, save for the gatehouse they'd emerged from moments ago.
The red form in front of her slowly formed a more solid shape; a human male. "Oh Amelia… I've accumulated a lot of power. And I've been trapped in that shell for thousands of years, so I know how to use it." From the red soup formed a face; one shaved clean and handsome. His black eyes pierced Amy's soul as his other features filled in. His body filled out, shaped in muscular lines covered in armor of a Greco period. "That's much better," he spoke as he examined his youthful body. "Now, for the finale…" The Greco soldier before her thrust his arms upward, calling forth the power of all the Titans he had slaughtered.
The earth quaked beneath her feet and slowly, buildings of stone and wood began jetting upward from the ground. In no time at all, the land had filled with massive walls and keeps, stone towers and barracks. Amy found herself surrounded, in the middle of a courtyard and standing toe to toe with whom she could only deduce was a young Endymion. "So, you're Endymion?" she asked, just for clarification. He nodded. "Right. So, all this to get me here to impregnate me?"
"Nothing as crude as a simple fluid transfer," Endymion spoke. "What we have in store for you is much less… yucky. Besides, you're married, and that'd be just rude. Now hold still." Endymion started for her.
Amy, instinctively, stepped back. "Now stop it. I'm not a walking in-vitro clinic for you," she warned.
Endymion grew tired of her resistance, but anticipated it anyway. He turned away and faced an especially dark tower in the courtyard. "Cerberus, here boy!" he called out. He waited patiently.
The ground shook in an even cadence. From the dark tower shot a horrible beast; a giant dog with three heads and three equally gross looking and drooling muzzles. It stopped swiftly at his masters' side, waiting orders like a good dog. "Cerberus, if she moves another inch, you can eat the Time Lords… wow, one for each mouth… convenient."
Amy overhead the order and stopped instantly, not wanting to surrender her best friend to the vengeful Endymion. "Okay, okay," she succumbed, "I'll stop." Endymion smiled sinisterly. "But I have a condition. I want to fight you."
The rage filled human laughed. "You? Fight me?" he asked quizzically. He wrested the short bronze sword in his hand from its sheath and tightened the shield on his forearm. "This should be a cakewalk… fine. Your body should still work for a few minutes after death, and then Selene can be whole again and she can rule with me on her right hand."
Amy's gambit had worked. "Good. Bring me the TARDIS. I at least want a sword to make it a bit of a fair fight," she told him. He closed his eyes and focused his remaining energy, calling forth a portal to bring the old Police Box into the arena of combat. Amy smiled quietly, recalling the past. "You know, over the past two years I've been trapped in the TARDIS, locked away in the Pandorica and been used as a pawn for an Alliance to trap the Doctor. The whole time I needed either the Doctor or Rory or River to come and save me. I waited and waited for someone to be a hero for me. Now I get to be the hero. It's a long time coming…" A plan formed in her mind, as she thought back over her years on the TARDIS.
The old brilliant Blue Box appeared in a flash of red light, next to the three frozen Time Lords. "Now, don't get too ahead of yourself," Endymion boastfully spoke, "I'm quite the swordsman."
Amy looked at the old Box, happy to see it. "We'll see. Now wait here while I get the Doctor's sword he fought against the Sycorax with." She turned and went to the box. It opened for her, without a key even and Amy disappeared inside.
Endymion waited. And waited. He grew impatient waiting for her. He and Cerberus sat outside, waiting for her to emerge. To pass time, he used a small amount of energy and formed a bronze sword and shield for himself.
Suddenly, the double doors of the Police Box shot open and from it emerged a beast covered in grey fur and a moustache. A giant cat's head poked out, followed by the entire cat's body. Behind the cat was Amy, who was clad in makeshift armor and wielded a sword with a secondary weapon tied to her back. "Meet Geoff," she said to a shocked Endymion. "He eats rhinoceroses and he loves me and the Doctor. He's also not too fond of dogs." Geoff hissed at the ugly Cerberus. "Oh, one more thing…" she said, remembering something forgotten as she disappeared into the TARDIS once more.
The air of the Titanic plane filled with loud choral voices, followed by soft string music that grew in intensity. Amy reemerged. "Duel of the Fates, from Star Wars…" she informed, "Perfect swordfight song." She and Geoff stared down their opponents for a moment. "Okay, go Geoff."
On her command, Amy and Geoff sprung into action. Geoff leapt at Cerberus, knocking the ugly dog down. Geoff however rolled away, not wanting to get bit by the multiple heads of the hellhound. The cat recoiled and hissed, his back arched high waiting for the retaliation.
Likewise Amy had delivered a fast opening blow to Endymion, who'd underestimated her. He reeled from her attack and barely had enough time to get his shield raised to deflect the blow. She followed with a jab and a few more slashes. "You know, I fought a whole boatload of pirates like this once," she informed.
Endymion smiled and regained his composure. "You surprise me, Amelia. I'd heard the Doctor often turned his friends into weapons, but I'd never imagined he could turn a flower like you into a warrior." He dodged a blow and swung his sword back, aiming for Amy's appendages. "You may have fought simple pirates… but I've slain Titans! My blade is lethal! Does a simple kiss-o-gram like you think that you can outfight me?" he taunted.
She evaded and took a wild swing at him. The blow impacted his shield, but the heavy iron sword she was using easily smashed and deformed the bronze at his disposal. His ploy to plant self-doubt in Amy wasn't going to work; she'd seen lots of things travelling with the Doctor and she knew her abilities. "Actually my husband taught me the blade. He's a Roman, you see. Best swordsmen ever. Score one for the Iron Age. Didja know the Scottish ushered in the Iron Age?" she asked, meeting his taunt with confidence. She could show no weakness.
Across the field, Cerberus tried as well as he could to keep up with the giant mustached British Shorthair, but Geoff was far too fast for the three headed dog. Geoff's strikes were quick and lethal, and each one depleted the fight in the mythical hellhound. Seeing his opponent losing steam, Geoff went for a crushing blow and leapt at Cerberus. He landed on the dog's back. The cat sunk his claws into the hide of the hound and went for a lethal bite to the neck.
Amy and Endymion continued sparring. Their swords smashed together in a volley of slashes and parries. Each blow was met by an equally powerful and reactive blow; no one gained an upper hand.
Endymion, slayer of Titans, was growing quite tired of being outclassed with the blade by a ginger Scot from England. He called forth his remaining power and summoned the strength of the Titans into his body. His speed and agility heightened, easily to the point of outdoing Amy. With a mighty leap he jumped over her head and got behind her.
Amy was barely able to turn and deflect the incoming blow. Doing so caught her horribly off balance. She stumbled for her footing and nearly fell. Fear raced in her mind and she feared she might be done for.
Endymion seized the moment and raised his blade up.
A flash of grey shot at him. Geoff leapt off Cerberus and moved to intercept Endymion, who was inches away from ending Amy. He head butted the Titan Slayer across the courtyard. The cat turned his head to check his friend, and in that instance, the hellhound struck. Cerberus delivered a massive blow to the cat, knocking Geoff off his footing and forcing him to slide across the grass.
"Geoff!" Amy cried. She got her footing and charged the hellhound, her blade ready to end the beast.
Endymion, still empowered by the Titans he'd slain, used the speed of Nike to interdict the Scot. With an outstretched hand, he turned her away from her strike at Cerberus and made her face him. He clutched her wrist and forced her to drop the blade. One lengthened fingernail scratched her perfect skin, just below the eye. "There. I said it wasn't as gross as fluid transfer." Amy gasped as blood trickled down from her cheek. Endymion had won their sword duel. Snidely, he turned to the dog. "Cerberus, kill the cat," he coldly instructed.
When he turned his back to issue Geoff's death sentence, Amy saw her chance. She'd been stripped of her sword, but her special secondary weapon was still tied to her back. With her free hand she grasped it, and like she'd done before, and to the Doctor no less, she swung mightily at Endymion's head with a cricket bat. The wood snapped into a thousand splinters and broke apart. Endymion fell over in a heap, unconscious.
The hellhound pressed Geoff up against a wall and bit at the cat with two of its three heads. "Hang on Geoff!" Amy called out. She retrieved her sword and Endymion's from the ground and charged the dog. The bronze blade sliced into Cerberus' gut. Her steel blade aimed at the dog's third head. She swung mightily and stuck the steel sword into the beast's muscled neck. Blood trickled down the blade and the mythical hound was caught unawares and off guard.
Weakened, Geoff seized the opportunity and freed himself from Cerberus' grasp. He swiped his claws at the neck of the first head, causing blood to spurt from severed veins. The dog moved off slowly and began limping away. Geoff arched his back and hissed, ready to deliver the knockout blow. "Geoff, wait," Amy instructed. "I think it's done."
Then Amy unexpectedly grimaced and fell to the ground in pain. Geoff watched Cerberus limp off and was confused when his friend fell to the ground. He sniffed her, trying to detect what was wrong with her. "Doctor… help me," she pleaded to the still frozen Time Lords. Again, fear gripped her.
A spark fired in the Eleventh Doctor's hearts. A terrible feeling overcame him; one of intense pain and fear. He'd felt it before; during his Ninth and Tenth incarnations. Each time it had a familiarity to it that he couldn't place. Each plea in the past caused him to undergo immeasurable pain, to the point of doubling over. The grip that Endymion had over him slowly faded as he recalled who he was. "Amelia…" he spoke, free of Endymion's grasp.
His gaze moved from the grass to find Endymion unconscious. Further out, he could see Geoff nudging and licking gently at Amy. His rage and fury grew and the grasp over him disappeared completely. He ran to his companion and knelt down at her side. It all made sense to him. "Oh Amy, I'm so sorry," he apologized. He cradled her in his arms as she struggled against the alien force streaking though her veins.
The blood trickling down her cheek mixed with a tear that streamed from her eyes. She was sad in her defeat but happy that the Doctor had been freed. "He took nasty blow with a cricket bat, but in the end he got me. And now I get to be a mum… again. To Selene I guess," she told him. Her body reacted with the seed that Endymion had placed in her.
"This whole time… the voice I was hearing, the one I thought was Serenity, it was you all along," he told her, having an epiphany. "This plane of existence runs parallel with the universe we're from. That plea, that simple cry for help you just made is what drew my past selves to find me and Serenity." As the words left his mouth, he realized that the small child from Northleach was not his friend; she was far from that. "Serenity. She used us. Used us to get to you… She needed Nine to free Endymion from that old prison and Ten to carry the device to do it. And worst off, she used me to orchestrate the whole thing. Our three TARDISes were her chariot home… and I fell for it. She couldn't just abduct you because this world was closed off to her… I fell for every word."
Amy watched, still in pain, as the Time Lord had his revelation. "Hey. It's what you do. You're the Doctor. You help people. You do what no one else in the whole universe can. You saw a young girl in distress, and she needed you. So you did what you do." She groaned and writhed more. "Oh this is painful…" she panted.
He smiled at his fallen companion. "Amy, again, right now I'm going to do what I do. Just like so many times in the past Amy, I need you to trust me. Remember the Byzantium? Remember running from the Weeping Angels with your eyes shut?" Amy nodded in agreement. "Just like then, I need you to trust me."
"I'll always trust you," she told him. She eked out a tiny smile from within the pain. "I trust you like no one else. Fish fingers and custard…" Tears rolled from her eyes and the pain became unbearable.
The Time Lord smiled. He pulled her into a tight embrace and spoke softly. "Let it take you," he advised. "Let the life force inside you overcome all and let it out." The Doctor laid her gently on the ground and stepped away.
Amy fought it for a moment, looking at him more frightened than she'd ever been. But as she looked over his goofy face and swoopy hair and that idiotic bowtie… she fully trusted her raggedy Doctor. She gave up. Her head fell back and eyes rolled into the back of her head. She let go of the fight against the life raging inside her. Every fiber that had struggled against the invading force laid down and let the new life ran rampant inside her. Her body twitched and convulsed as it was taken over by a new life.
The Doctor watched horrified as his friend, his friend Amelia of so many years, was used as a harbinger of a new Titan. She squirmed and writhed on the ground, her human flesh bearing a reborn Moon Goddess. The Doctor stood idly by, watching worriedly and hoping his guess was right. It was all going just as Selene had planned all along.
The spasms increased in ferocity and Amy rolled onto one side. The Time Lord fought every urge inside him to go and help his friend because he knew that the only way to help her was for her to rid Selene's life force from her body. Her jaw was forced open from the outside and she looked as if she was going to vomit.
Geoff, still worried, joined at the Doctor's side. "Oh, hello Geoff. Helped Amy did you?" he asked the cat whilst patting the giant kitty on the head. Geoff purred from under his moustache. "Yes I know it looks bad. But this is the only way she can get the new life out of her. Try not to worry, Geoff," he reservedly spoke. "You can go back to the TARDIS; I'll take care of her…" The cat meowed once more and then returned to his home inside the Blue Box. The Doctor took a deep breath and tried to follow his own advice and not worry.
With Endymion unconscious, rendered good and knocked out by Amy's cricket bat, his grip over Doctors Nine and Ten faded. Their eyes opened and they looked upward, as if coming out of a long slumber. The first thing they saw was Geoff, wiggling back into the tiny Police Box doors. Further away, they noticed Amy's convulsions on the ground. Instinctively, they moved to help her.
"Wait," Eleven told them, holding an arm out so they couldn't pass. "She's been impregnated, for lack of a better word. We just need to let her come…"
Nine and Ten looked at the Eleventh Doctor, who'd clearly been busy at work. "Impregnated? What do you mean? Who are we waiting for?" Ten asked.
"Selene…" Eleven sadly spoke. His message was simple and succinct and they both understood.
The Three Doctors watched silently, scared and wanting to help as Amy twitched on the ground. She began to go into dry heaves as the life inside her. The Doctors simply watched as a blue haze exhaled from Amy's lungs. It glowed and formed a humanoid shape of about five feet tall. It formed two legs and a clearly possessed a female form.
"So she used us," the Ninth Doctor asked. Eleven nodded silently as he waited for the new Selene to finish forming. "I don't like being lied to."
"How do you think I felt?" Eleven asked. His gaze didn't move from the woman who'd betrayed him.
The blue haze glowed brighter and brighter and eventually, a face formed. Adorned with long black hair and beautiful features, it was clearly the twenty-something Selene that the Ninth Doctor knew well. "She needed us to get here," the Tenth Doctor theorized. "It wouldn't have worked any other time. There had to be three TARDISes to activate the Mandala node. Our past selves were locked away and unavailable to her… it had to be now. That's why it took three Doctors."
The glowing around Selene's new form finalized, clad in long flowing blue robes. Amy slumped over, no longer convulsing but wholly knocked out. The Three started for Amy, none of them minding the new Moon Goddess and Titan Queen standing before them. "Doctor, I'm back," Selene spoke. She expected them to welcome her with open arms. She was quite shocked and angry when they bypassed her completely and went to check on Amy.
As the Doctors looked over their fallen friend, the hatred and anger bubbled away inside the Moon Goddess. "Hey! I'm alive! I'm back to rule this place forever! Pay attention to me!" she shouted.
Eleven checked Amy's vitals and then looked up at his former friend disgustedly. "We're not listening," he calmly told her. He looked back to Amy.
Selene couldn't believe the gall of the Mortals. "Not listening?" she asked.
"She doesn't get it," Eleven spoke. His gaze moved to the Tenth Doctor. "Tell her."
Ten looked over his shoulder. "We're not LISTENING!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He turned back to his other selves. "Good, right?" he asked.
"Oh yeah," Eleven congratulated, "We always were good at yelling."
Selene thrust her hand at their coven. The Three Doctors shot backward as a brilliant blue force pushed them away from Amy and across the courtyard. "You will listen! I am Queen of this domain and I will be respected!" she demanded.
The Doctors stumbled to their feet and faced her. Each of them carried a look of steely resolve that only the Doctor, in any form, could convey. "No," Nine told her. "We're not in your court, Your Majesty. You used and manipulated us…"
"You meddled in whole timelines and across thousands of light years to force us to bring you here and free your boy-toy from the prison your parents managed to put him in before they died," Ten added.
"And what's worst of all," Eleven took over, "You brought my best friend into this for your own selfish end. Remember what I told you on the TARDIS? My friends are the best parts of me. I would go to the ends of the Universe for Rose or Martha or Donna and especially for Amy.
"You've hurt the part of me that I care about more than anything; you hurt her. And now, you've made me angry! The last time I was this angry, I slaughtered the entire Dalek and Time Lord races. And they were both so much more vastly powerful than you are. I've ended Omega, a god held together by his own will. I've defeated Sutekh, the all-powerful Osirian. Amy and I stopped an Alliance of aliens who ended the Universe by trapping me in a perfect prison! Trust me, you don't want to be on my bad side, Selene," he warned.
She was taken aback by their defiance. "You… you called me Selene," she stammered.
"Yes I did. Serenity was that little girl that I ate chips with under an Ian Wright Arsenal shirt and Newcastle Ale sign. She was the one who lit up in delight when she saw the inside of my TARDIS. She was my friend. You're not," Eleven told her. "You're a power hungry crazed demigod who had her boyfriend slaughter her own parents so that she could ascend a throne… a throne with no subjects in a decaying world. Some kingdom," he remarked.
Her anger reached a boiling point. This man, three versions of the same man, one she thought she trusted had lied. Her hero from when she was a child had betrayed her. Again she thrust a hand at them. They again fell over. "I… I… you were supposed to welcome me back! You helped begin my reign!"
"It's a reign you weren't supposed to have," Nine countered with. He made it back to his feet and stared her down. "They exiled you for a reason. Not because you loved a mortal but because you were a psychopath. So in the years you were locked away you concocted a scheme…"
Eleven stood, his anger boiling and matching hers. "So you used a mortal from Earth; bewitched him with your beauty, into slaying your parents. But it all went wrong when they locked him in that old body, unable to let you back into your realm. So you thought of someway, of someone, to get you back here."
"But you didn't start off like that did you?" Ten asked, voicing his usual concern. Where Nine and Eleven were quick to take up arms, Ten always searched for the goodness that rested inside everyone, even in tiny amounts. "You didn't start off like that. I genuinely believe that when you clung onto me in that video game, you were genuinely scared. I know that my compatriots want to believe that the tiny girl and the twenty-something weren't corrupt megalomaniacs only lusting after power."
The Tenth Doctor, like no one else could, gave her an opening. He gave her a window to speak her true feelings; that was his purpose here. A war waged inside her. "It's true I wanted the throne. And I was scared during that game, and when I was lost and couldn't remember my past," she added, making sure her emphasis was caught by the Eleventh Doctor. "I hurt you the most. For that I do apologize. But this was the only way I could come home. Wouldn't you go back to Gallifrey if you could?" she asked.
All three thought about the question, and all three knew how the others would answer. Eleven stepped forward. "As amazing as Gallifrey was with the fire red fields and silver leafed trees, the cities in glass domes… my wonderful people… Gallifrey is gone. It was twisted and warped in the last days of the War. We remember Gallifrey for what it was, not what it became. Maybe you should do the same?" he asked.
She pondered it for a moment. The evil inside her crept forward. "Hmm… no," she told them. Ascending the throne of her parents had overcome her. Once more she thrust a hand at the Doctors, this time closing it into a fist. She slowly choked the life from them.
On the ground, Amy stirred from her ordeal. Her eyes opened and saw a strange woman clothed in blue robes closing her fist like something that Darth Vader would have done. Behind her, she saw the Doctors being choked, which was exactly something that Vader would have done. "Hey!" she protested as she got up. "Stop it. Stop!" she shouted. She stumbled forward a few steps toward Selene.
"Oh you're awake," the Titan Queen spoke. "You're just in time to witness the end of the Doctor." Her hand squeezed together again, squeezing the life from the last of the Time Lords.
"You'd really do that?" Amy asked. She fought off the inherent fatigue from birthing a goddess and took a few more steps. "I saw how the Doctor looked when he mentioned you. He loved you. He loved the little girl you used to be. I know he counted you as his friend; along with me and Rose, Martha and Donna. How can you do this to him?" she asked. Selene's grasp weakened. "He went literally to the ends of the universe for you; across a whole other plane of reality for you. He would have taken you travelling like he did with me. You could have seen more than a burnt out castle with no subjects and you could have taken Endymion with." Selene thought about it more. The goodness inside, the small lady called Serenity, fought back the evil ways of her older, more ambitious self.
With a weak grasp on him, the Doctor tried to speak. "It's true; I do love Serenity. She's a fantastic person full of wonder and magic. I love the little girl I ate chips with and who went to the Moon with me. Remember who you are, who you really are!" the Eleventh Doctor pleaded.
The war waging inside Selene was elevated to new heights. Inside her, two people vied for control; the megalomaniac who used the Doctors to bring her home and the little girl from the pub who was scared and alone. When he first whisked her off to the Moon, she'd felt more alive than she ever had. But with the Doctor, she would never be alone. She'd always have him, even when she didn't think that she did. Right now, in the face of certain death, all three Doctors fought for her. And she definitely wasn't alone.
A flash of blue surrounded the middle aged Selene. Fighting with all her might, the small lady emerged once more. The queen's robe disappeared and was replaced by the primary school uniform she had on when the Doctor had first met her. She grimaced in pain, fighting with every ounce of strength in her tiny body, doing her best to force back the angry, jealous, and lustful side that had used the Doctor she so idolized.
"You can do it, Serenity!" Nine shouted, cheering her on. Endymion stirred awake, but rested on the ground, watching the Queen revert from her old self to a younger one and back again.
The cheering section continued. "You're so strong and only you could do what you did! You can beat the dreadful parts of yourself! Let go of the anger and jealousy, Serenity! Fight it!" Ten urged.
The small girl appeared once more from the older woman. "Please Serenity," Eleven pleaded. "I've lost so much in my long life. Friends, colleagues, my own people… I don't want to lose you too. You're so special. You can turn away from the horrible things you've done; you can be yourself! You can be the little girl I love. Please Serenity."
"Listen to him Serenity," Amy urged, joining in. "For both your benefits, for you and the Doctor, please listen Serenity. He loves so fiercely and is so loyal. I know. I was you once; a little girl lost and afraid, without her parents and without anyone. But I always had my raggedy Doctor. Sure it took a bit for him to come around, but I never really stopped believing in him." Their cheers were working and slowly, the child fought back the elder. "Keep fighting. That's why he's the Doctor. He makes you better; better than you were. But you have to fight it. He's so worth the monsters; the ones in space and inside yourself. And only you can beat them."
Amy's advice took hold. Part of Selene's plot in the beginning was to make herself so similar to Amelia, the Doctor wouldn't be able to resist helping her. But the plot concocted by older Selene meant she was also effectively using herself. A feel of dread and self-loathing overcame Serenity. She hated what she'd done. The old self fed on the hatred. The world flashed blue once more and old Selene reemerged.
The small lady had been defeated. Older Selene breathed heavily, but relieved. "Oh, you naughty Doctors. And you too Amelia. I no longer have much need for you now, since I'm here and all." She raised a hand at Amy, ready to deliver a death blow. Amy stepped back, fearful of facing her end.
"Wait!" Endymion protested as he slowly rose. It was clear that Selene didn't expect him to come around so quickly after being smashed in the head with a cricket bat. Selene's hand lowered as Endymion struggled toward her. "Why kill her? Or any of them?" he asked. He hobbled unevenly over to his lover, fearful yet happy that she was back.
Selene couldn't believe his gall. "You question me?" she asked.
"Yes, I do," Endymion told her. He slowly stood upright, correcting what Amy's bat had done. "I did all this for you; I killed people, I razed an entire kingdom and I ensured you could be brought back to life from the netherworld. I think I'm owed a question or two." He peered into his love with a fear and curiosity that all lovers possess at one time or another.
Selene, for as evil as she'd been in concocting her takeover plan, was still in love with the handsome Endymion. Her brow softened and her eyes drooped downward. She melted in his presence, acting like quite the girly girl despite her great power and rage. "I… I don't know. We have no need for them. Why keep them around? They will not be subjugated. What would you have me do with them?"
Endymion shook his head. He raised a finger at the Time Lords. "This whole time, you used him. And her," he pointed to Amy, "And me. I did what you said because I love you. I did it because you mean more to me than anything else Selene. So long ago, I saw no other way for us to be together than for this plan to work. I did it because I couldn't stand to live without you." He brushed her long dark hair from her face and gazed lovingly at her.
"But seeing you now… seeing this lack of compassion; that's not the beautiful girl I fell in love with. You've changed. We were both alone for so long; it corrupts people. I was no different. I was stuck in that ancient prison that your father entombed me in on his deathbed. I was stuck there for a thousand years and the only thing that kept me going was thinking of you; of the girl I fell in love with." He put his hand back at his side and stepped back. "If she's gone; if the girl I fell for is no more, I have no reason for existing. You may as well kill me too." He knelt down and bowed his head, awaiting judgment.
Selene's heart dropped. She looked at him wide eyed and open jawed. It was an ultimatum she never expected he'd deliver. "But… you killed for me."
"And it was wrong," Endymion told her as he looked up. "I only did those things because I wanted you back. More than anything I wanted you back. If there was some way we could have been together and I could have spared your parents, brother and cousins, I gladly would have done that. I'm not a monster…" His head dropped again.
"Are you saying that I am?" Selene angrily asked, her voracious self still looking for fault everywhere but with herself.
Amy took a step closer. "He's not saying that at all. He's saying that this evil, twisted plan perverted you to the point where you're not who he thought you were. You are a good person who was ruined by evil. But you can let go of all of it." She stepped nearer, putting her hand on Selene's shoulder. "Take it from me, I'm married, I know how these fights work. You have to be able to forgive. You have to let go of the hatred. If you don't want to lose him, and he you, you have to forgive," she pleaded.
The three Doctors looked on. Selene's hand reached out for Endymion. Unexpectedly, her hand rested on his shoulder. He stood and clutched her still outstretched hand. He took a moment and gazed deeply into her eyes. Tears streamed from Selene's face as she realized what a fool she'd been. Sobbing quite loudly, she fell into her love and clasped onto him. "I'm so sorry I made you do all that," she said amidst her tears. "I should have never asked you to do such horrible things." She cocked her head outward, toward the ginger who gave her life. "And I'm so sorry Amy," she struggled to say. She left Endymion and reached toward the companion, pulling her into a hug
Amy embraced back and smiled. "It's okay," she told her as she fought off her own tears.
Selene broke free of the woman who gave her life. She looked off to the distance, to three figures without which the whole thing wouldn't have been possible. "And the Doctors! I'm so, so sorry I used you all." She went and embraced them all in turn; first Nine, then Ten and finally Eleven. She pulled away and looked at Eleven's goofy ears and swoopy haircut that she remembered from childhood. "But you most of all. I betrayed your trust; I betrayed all of you for my own end. And I'm so sorry."
The Eleventh Doctor smiled, seeing more of Serenity in older Selene than he thought possible. He took her hand and met her eye. "Hey, you did it. You fought the monsters; you fought the scariest monsters of all. The ones inside you and you won. You're you again. And that makes me… it makes all of us very happy," he told her. He wrapped her up once more in a giant embrace. Ten and Nine looked on, knowing that their successor had nailed their exact sentiments.
She pulled away, seeing him beaming happiness through his old eyes. "Those eyes. Those amazing eyes…" she said. "Can you forgive me?"
The Doctor smiled wider. "I already have."
Selene had finally lived up to her namesake; she was at peace. She stepped away and went back to her love. Her gaze wandered around the ruined castle restored by the power that Endymion had taken from the other Titans. "But what now? I'm a queen without a kingdom. What meaning is there in this life if I have no kingdom?" she asked.
"You still have each other," the Ninth Doctor reminded. "And you're both healthy and alive. Both good things," he told them, recalling barely escaping the Time War.
The Tenth Doctor stepped forward. "And maybe, just maybe," he said, "Maybe they stuck you on the Moon to give you a chance at happiness. Maybe they wanted you to fall in love with a man from Earth and live with him and be happy. Maybe your parents knew their time was running out and in their infinite wisdom saw how this would play out. They'd help their little girl fall in love, and learn to fight the monsters inside herself." He smiled in soft reflection. "I know all about time running out."
"The Ood?" Selene asked, remembering how he acted on Nova Atar when she was a teenager. He nodded. "I wouldn't worry about that. Yes it's scary, but you're the Doctor. Monsters are what you do."
Ten had a chuckle. "I suppose it is," he conceded. He looked to the Eleventh Doctor. "Besides… my future is in good hands."
Eleven smiled, catching his predecessor's approval. Eleven turned back to Selene. "But what should you do now indeed?" he asked, looking at the new couple with huge real estate holdings in a different plane of existence. "I have an idea. Do you fancy one more trip in the TARDIS?" he asked.
She curiously raised an eyebrow. "Where would you take me?"
He grinned stupidly. "Well, I know this little village in the Cotswolds. Northleach it's called. It's a nice place; mechanical music museum, good school, decent pub with good chips, great decor and plenty of Elvis tunes in the jukebox…" He took a step to the old Police Box and opened the door. "What do you say?"
Selene looked at the wondrous old Box; at the most magical shade of blue and the golden tones emanating from the doors. She took Endymion's hand and looked at him. "How about it? A normal life on earth? Just you and I?" she asked.
Endymion looked at the TARDIS, wondering how an old blue box travelled in space and time. He then looked at his beloved Selene. His heart skipped a beat as he drank in her lovely radiance; radiance he'd not seen since a thousand years ago. He smiled softly. "Why not? We've got one life together. That's enough, right?"
Happily, the couple made for the old Box. "Wait!" Amy called out. "There's one more thing you have to do, and it's a pretty big one." She intercepted the couple before they could go inside. "You two also need to forgive each other for what happened here; for the memory of her parents and family." A master of couple's negotiations, Amy knew they could leave no issue unresolved.
"Amy's right," Selene spoke, looking up at Endymion's handsome face and wonderful deep brown eyes. In their joy; in the rapture of being together again, they'd overlooked the fact that essentially, they were both murderers. Granted, they were both extremely remorseful murderers, but murderers nonetheless. Selene became sad, but, for the first time in centuries, not angry. Where before those two emotions were inexorably tied together, they now acted separately; Selene was indeed better. "If I were stronger… if we both were, perhaps we could give them their lives back. But the seed I gave you to put in Amy was a onetime only event, never to be repeated. And bringing Amy here was very taxing; we're both far too weak… so now my family is gone."
Endymion held his love in his arms and looked out at the Doctors and Amy. "We can't go to Earth," he spoke, knowing only one thing lay ahead for them. Selene nodded in agreement from his grasp. "There's really only one course you and I can take," he said.
Selene knew exactly what he meant. She broke free of Endymion and turned toward the time travelers. A flash of blue surrounded her, calling forth what little power she had remaining. Her body transformed into small Serenity again. "Doctor," she said in her childlike voice, "It's time for you to go." She stepped away from Endymion and stopped halfway between her love and the TARDIS.
Eleven knelt down next to her. "Serenity, what are you doing?" he asked, thinking he might know what she was doing. But he hoped that he was wrong.
She reached out and gave him the mightiest hug her small arms could muster. "The last time I disappeared like this, it was out of dishonesty. Not again; never again. This time, it's out of love," she told him. Eleven leaned away from her, looking at her once more. "Get back in the TARDIS. I'm going to send you all home. I've got barely enough energy left to swing the Mandala back the opposite direction. That has to be done from this side of the trans-spatial dimensional portal. And once that's done…"
His theory was correct. "Once it's done, your existence will end," the Doctor spoke, looking very seriously at the girl. He shook his head, disagreeing. "No Serenity, there has to be some other way. There has to be some way for you to come with us…"
"There isn't," she assured him. Never again, in memory or real life would she ever see his swoopy haircut, tweed jacket or bowtie.
She broke away and left him, moving off to the Ninth Doctor. Like Eleven had done, Nine crouched down to put himself on Serenity's level. "You I envy the most," she explained. "You're embarking on the most magical journey; off to do the most wonderful things. You get to be both of them," she told him, raising a hand at Ten and Eleven. "Life is all new for you. The most brilliant and scary things are still ahead of you. You'll see the end of worlds and the birth of whole new races; lost enemies and new friends… take care, Doctor." She leaned forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
She broke away and moved over to the Tenth Doctor. He too knelt. "And you, you magnificent old man, so near his end. The most taxing chapter of your life is still ahead of you. But you can handle it, better than anyone else can, because you're the Doctor. What awaits you is so magnificent and daunting, but I have full confidence in you. You, of all the Doctors past and present, only you can do what awaits you." She then wrapped him in a hug. "Remember me; think of me once on your farewell tour," she whispered. Ten looked at her curious, not sure what she meant by 'farewell tour.'
She then broke and returned to the Doctor she knew best. Tears formed in the corners of the Time Lord's eye. "Now Doctor, there's no reason to be frightened or sad. I've had enough sadness over the past millennium, and I don't want anymore. Endymion and I will be happy together for whatever time we have left and when it's over, we'll still be together." Tears formed in her eyes and she sobbed quietly a few times. "Now, you're going to take Amy, and go and find a nice loving home for Geoff. She can take my place by your side for my one last trip in the TARDIS."
"I did promise you I'd find somewhere for Geoff, didn't I?" he asked, trying not to focus on what was happening. "Serenity, I don't want to leave you," he admitted.
Her small hand brushed his swoopy hair from his face. "I know you don't. You haven't wanted to leave anyone; not since the very beginning. How you can handle the heartbreak… you're so amazing, Doctor... each one of you. I think your friend the Brigadier said it best; 'Splendid chaps, all of them'."
Eleven smiled. "How do you know about the Brigadier?" he asked, smiling and teary at the same time.
She cocked her head to one side, "I've been watching you for a long time; since Sutekh and your long, long scarf and poufy hair. Then I started watching you from the beginning; I had to see what adventures I had missed. All the way up until right now. This moment of time was in flux; I could have ended you or spared you. This moment in time was not decided until this very moment. And I'm happy I made the right choice. You made me better."
He looked at her once more. "You did that all on your own," he told her. Once more, they tied up in an embrace. "Goodbye," he whispered.
He stood and stepped away from the tiny Titan queen. He tightened his bowtie and then looked at his old selves. "Well, chaps, back to the TARDIS, eh? You've got to go investigate some Nestene signals," he said, pointing at Nine, "And you've got to go to the Planet of the Ood," he added for Ten. Eleven started back to the box, with Ten and Nine following. He slowly turned back as they piled into the old box and looked one last time at Serenity, hopeful he'd remember her forever. He then disappeared into the box.
Amy started a slow meander toward the Box. She turned back, watching as the young girl disappeared and turned into the elder Selene again. Endymion joined her side, taking her hand. "Amy, watch after him," Selene instructed. "He's always needed his friends; it didn't matter if it was Sarah Jane or Jo or Rose or I or you; he always needs someone."
From behind Amy, a loud clonk filled the air. The wind blew about, making speech impossible. "I will," she mouthed as the TARDIS started to dematerialize. Not wanting to be left behind, Amy jumped into the old Police Box as it disappeared, shutting the doors behind her.
Endymion and Selene watched silently as the old and magnificent blue box faded and disappeared completely. A tear formed in the queen's eye as that perfect shade of blue disappeared for the last time. "Thank you," she spoke. Her hand joined with Endymion and whatever remained of their power from before was used to press the Mandala open again, back toward Earth. She looked at her lover, happy that they were together finally, after so many millennia of being apart. She fell into him, their lips meeting for one last time.
Then… silence.