I know this chapter doesn't have much Rose in it but don't get mad please!

If you want to see what Rose's outfit looked like, I got it from one episode of Once Upon a Time. It's Snow White's outfit. The link is on my profile.

Sorry I've been gone. Christmas and travelling kept me busy.

Chapter 20

The Doctor and Amy stepped into Cleopatra's tent to find River Song, dressed up like Cleopatra.

"Hello sweetie." River said, taking a sip from her golden cup.

"River." Amy said, surprised. "Hi!"

"You gratified the oldest cliff face in the universe." The Doctor growled.

"You wouldn't pick up your phone!" River countered. She picked up a rolled up piece of paper and handed it to the Doctor.

"What's this?" The Doctor asked, taking the paper from River.

"It's a painting." River answered. "By your friend Vincent."

The Doctor snatched up the painting and unrolled it. The Doctor's mouth fell open as he stared at the picture of the exploding TARDIS. He knew this was going to happen, knew it the moment he looked at that shrapnel.

He just didn't know it would be so soon.

The Doctor and Amy went out to get horses while River changed into something more comfortable. She pulled out a radio from her bag and turned it on. "Hello? Rose?"

"River." Rose's voice came through the speaker.

"Yes, hello. I'm coming. Stay hidden and out of sight." River told her urgently. For once, Rose didn't argue.

The Doctor, Amy, and River were riding to Stonehenge on horses. River had said that the Pandorica was opening, but it wasn't real. The Pandorica was a fairy tale, a myth. It didn't exist nor would it ever exist.

But there was one part of him, one tiny smidgen, that believed that the Pandroica was real, and it was opening right now.

And it had something to do with his TARDIS exploding.

When they arrived at Stonehenge, Amy asked "Why is it already old?"

"Because it's thousands of years old." River answered before the Doctor could. "It's already been here for who knows how long."

I do. The Doctor though bitterly. If River would just stop being so annoying! He wanted to practically strangle the…

The Doctor shook his head. Those weren't his thoughts. Where had they come from?

River shouted that she was picking up tons of energy.

"If the Pandorica was here, it would contain the mightiest warrior in history." The Doctor said. "Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it." The Doctor pressed his ear to one of the stones on the ground. "We need to get down there."

River had been setting up sensors and lights all day, and now night had fallen. She wondered how Rose was doing, hiding for almost four hours. "Rose, come in." River said into her radio.

"River." Rose started. "Can I come out now?"

"Not yet, but soon." River told her. The radio cut off and River sighed. She turned around to face the Doctor and Amy.

"Right then, ready." River told them, pressing a few buttons on the device connected to the sensors. The stone in front of them began to move, revealing a staircase into the ground.

"The underhenge." The Doctor whispered, holding out his sonic and stepping inside. River sighed and rolled her eyes.

Before following them in, River radioed Rose. "You can come out now, just stay on the outskirts and, whatever you do, please don't come down the stairs."

There was no response, but River was sure Rose had gotten her message.

The Doctor lit a torch down in the underhenge with his sonic. He picked it up and walked around, examining things. There was a big gate blocking off the rest of the room.

He took the board that was keeping the gate shut and removed it. He pushed one of the doors and it opened. And there it was, in all its glory. The Pandorica.

The Doctor could almost hear the dramatic music playing. He smiled to himself as he thought of all those silly Earth movies where they played dramatic music when someone finds something important.

"The Pandorica." River breathed, snapping him out of his thoughts. "More than just a fairy tale."

The Doctor stepped up to the Pandorica, breathing heavily.

"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world." The Doctor whispered, thinking about himself. He had destroyed countless worlds and ruined thousands of lives.

If he thought about it, the creature in the Pandorica sounded a lot like himself. The Doctor shuddered involuntarily and kept examining the Pandorica.

"So, it's kind of like Pandora's Box, then? Almost the same name." Amy said, swinging around the torch that River had handed her, almost setting the cobwebs on fire.

"Sorry, what?" The Doctor asked, staring at Amy with wide eyes.

"The story. Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it. That was my favorite book when I was a kid." Amy said happily, but then caught the look the Doctor was giving her. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor did not like this, he didn't like it at all. "Your favorite school topic, your favorite story." He said slowly. "Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence."

"The Pandorica." River said. "It's opening."

The Doctor pressed his hands up to the Pandorica. "Hello you. Have we met?"

"Why is it opening now?" River asked. The Doctor ignored her and began scanning the stones.

"These stones are great big transmitters." He said, still scanning them. "Broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone… the Pandorica is opening."

"Doctor, everyone." River said urgently.

"Even poor Vincent heard it, in his dreams. But what's in there? What could justify all this?" The Doctor asked himself, hitting his sonic against his head as if it would give him an idea.

"Doctor! Everyone!" River yelled. "You said everyone could hear it. So who else… is coming?"

Realization hit the Doctor like a tidal wave, and he turned around to face River. "Oh."

Amy's eyes grew wide. "Oh? Oh what?"

"Stonehenge is transmitting, it has been for a while, so who heard it?" River said. The Doctor could see Amy was catching on now. He was trying to block the signal now. Trying to get it to stop transmitting, even though he knew it was too late.

"River what's out there?" The Doctor asked. River didn't answer. "River!"

River's eyes grew wide. "Around Earth there are… there are at least ten thousand star ships."

Amy laughed, but it was a nervous sort of laugh. "At least?"

"Ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, I don't know!" River exclaimed. "There's too many readings!"

The Doctor was almost shaking now. He was scared, he was really truly scared. "What kind of starships?"

A Daleks voice came through the speaker, and now he was shaking.

River had the radio turned on now and she was transmitting what was coming out of the scanner to Rose. But it wasn't up enough for Rose to hear them speaking to each other. "River, those are Daleks." Rose whispered.

And then a cyberman's voice came through. "River, it's like last time." Rose whispered.

River wished she was there to comfort Rose. River knew what happened when Rose was first separated from the Doctor. They were up against Daleks and Cybermen just like Rose was when she got trapped.

The Doctor was ranting about the element of surprise, but then cut himself off when he mentioned that they would be killed in an instant.

"12,000 Dalek ships, who knows how many Cybermen ships, four Sontaran battle fleets, Terileptil. Slitheen, Chelonian, Nestene, Drahvin. Sycorax, Haemogoth, Zygon, Atraxi, Draconian. They're all here for the Pandorica." River announced.

"River, did you say Slitheen? And Sycorax and Nestene?" Rose asked.

"Yes." River whispered, and she could here Rose let out a tiny whimper. River knew that Rose was afraid because she was too.

The Doctor had backed up to the Pandorica, fear evident in his eyes. "What are you? What could you possibly be?" He yelled to the Pandorica.

Everything began shaking and River could hear all the starships outside. "Rose, stay in Stonhenge, but stay out of sight." River said into the radio, and then cut off the signal.

Amy dropped the torch and the threesome ran up to the main ground.

There were starships everywhere, flying around and making tons of noise. "Doctor, listen to me. Everything that ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, just this one time, please, you have to run." River said.

She could see Rose in the distance, staring openmouthed at the sky.

"Run where?"

"Fight how!?"

The Doctor turned to face her. "The greatest military machine in history. The Romans."

He then sent River out to go get the Romans. River jumped onto her horse and rode over to Rose. "Get your horse." She told her. "We're going to recruit some Romans."

Rose smiled and jumped on her horse. Together, they rode to the Romans' camp. When they arrived, they were stopped by some soldiers. The took them to the commander's tent. "So. I return to my command after one week and discover we've been playing host to Cleopatra. Who's in Egypt. And dead." He said turning to Rose. "And suddenly she's got a friend."

"Yes, funny how some things work out." River said teasingly.

The ground shook and more spaceships flew past. "The sky is falling and you make jokes?" The commander asked. Rose had put her hand over her mouth, and she looked like she was about to start laughing. "Where do you come from?"

"Where do I come from? Your world has visitors." River said, tossing Rose her gun. Rose shot a wooden table, making it disintegrate. They all pointed their swords at her.

"What is that? Tell me what!" The commander said to Rose.

"A fool would say the work of the Gods, but you've been a soldier too long to believe there are Gods watching over us." Rose said.

"There is, however, a man. And tonight he's going to need your help." River added on. Rose stared at River, probably knowing exactly who she was talking about.

Another soldier called for him, and they began to discuss something. The commander soon came back.

"Well, seems you have a volunteer." He said. River and Rose both glanced at the soldier outside of the tent.

"So, are you proposing to someone?" Amy asked the Doctor, stepping forward. The Doctor stared at her, cocking his head, before he noticed the ring in her hand.

Amy's engagement ring. He stepped forward and snatched the ring away. "No, no. That's just a memory."

The Doctor suddenly felt sadness. The same sadness he had felt when he had seen the rose bush and the picture of the wilting rose. He slowly put the ring back into his pocket. There was something in the back of his head, telling him that he was missing something. The Doctor sat down and put his head in his hands. The Doctor heard Amy walk away; obviously realizing he needed some time alone.

He thought back to the last time he had felt this sadness that made no sense.

The Doctor was wandering the halls of the TARDIS when he stumbled across a door with a Rose intricately carved into it. He felt the sadness again, but this time completely overwhelming. So overwhelming that he fell to his knees and cried. He put his head on the door and let tears slip down his face as his body was wracked with silent sobs.

He stood up and ran his hand along the rose, tracing every line, every detail, with his finger. Slowly, the Doctor brought his hand down to the doorknob and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. He threw his weight against the door, but it did not move an inch.

"Let me in." He said to the TARDIS. He tried again but nothing happened.

"Why won't you let me in?" He yelled, which only ended up in him receiving a nasty shock that came straight out of the doorknob.

So the Doctor just stared at the door. The door that made no sense, yet made complete sense. He felt as if there was something there- on the tip of his tongue- that he could not place.

The Doctor let silent tears run down his face as he walked away from the door, which he never saw again.

The Doctor slowly pulled his head out of his hands and wiped his eyes. It seemed that everything that made him sad had to do with roses. A rose bush, a picture of a rose, and door with a rose carved into it. Everything except the ring had to do with roses, and the ring was Amy's.

Nothing made sense to him, so he got up and did what he did best: scan things with his sonic. Suddenly something started shooting at him and he jumped behind the Pandorica. Amy was beside him in an instant. "What was that?" She asked.

"I don't know… need a better look." The Doctor replied, trying to peek around the Pandorica. "I've got to draw its fire, give it a better look." He glanced at Amy. "You know how I always have really brilliant ideas?"

Amy nodded.

"Well…" He jumped out and yelled "Look at me I'm a target!" The thing, which was a cyberman's arm, began shooting at him.

"Cyberarm, arm of a cyberman." The Doctor told Amy, who was on the other side of the room.

"And what's a cyberman?" She asked.

"Oh, sort of part man, part robot. The organic part must have died out years ago. Now the robot part is looking for, well, fresh meat." He said, gulping as he said the last part. "It's kind of like being an organ donor except, well, you alive and… um… screaming."

He gave Amy and thumbs up, and she gave him a very scared one back. She ran across the room, screaming, and the Doctor dived for the arm. He grabbed hold of it and held it down as he shut it off with his sonic screwdriver.

Amy suddenly screamed and was yanked down by a cyberman head's wires. He reached for her, but the arm he was carrying sent up and electric pulse, and everything went black.

Well, after quite a bit of pain.

Rose stared at the soldier who had volunteered to help them as he gathered up his men. He slowly turned to face them and removed his helmet, revealing his face. Rose dropped her cup, splashing water all over herself. The soldier was Rory.

"Rory. Oh Rassilon, Rory." She whispered, stumbling forward and hugging him. She had all but forgotten about Rory and the fact that he had been shot too. He hugged her back after a few moments.

Rose pulled away and studied his face. "Rory, I-." He cut her off and smiled.

"You tried to save me, that's all that matters." Rose didn't even question how he was there. She hopped onto her horse, and she, River, Rory, and his team rode back to Stonehenge.

Rory just stumbled on his words as the Doctor talked to him as if he'd never been gone. "There's something staring me in the face, Rory, and I'm missing it!"

"Yeah, I think you are." Rory mumbled as the Doctor left the room with two cyber guns. Suddenly he heard a crash outside, probably the Doctor dropping the guns. The Doctor reinterred the room, a look of complete and utter shock on his face. The Doctor poked him in the chest. "Hello, Rory."

Rose nodded. "Hey." The two stood there in awkward silence, just glancing at each other. Rory shut his mouth and did not speak, making sure he followed River's orders.

Rory sighed as he remembered what River had said. "On no condition do you mention that Rose was here."

Disclaimer

Thanks to all my bowties

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Over and Out ~Greek-Whovian