chapter twentyone– Attack of the Requiem

Tardis

"Oh, it's colder!" Amy shuddered.

The Doctor placed a hand on each of Amy and Rory's shoulders. "The three of us have to agree now. Which is the dream?"

"It's this one, here." Rory said.

Amy stared at him, mouth open. "Reality in a world where you have the virus?"

"The virus?" The Doctor said, looking between them. "What do you mean?"

"The red spots." Rory touched his cheek. It was free from freckles. "The science is wrong here. Burning ice? It's not real." He pointed to the monitor.

"No, no, no. Ice can burn. Sofas can read. It's a big universe!" The Doctor said. "We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us. Now."

"Rixel doesn't even exist here!" Rory said. "This is the dream."

"And you're going to die in the other world!" Amy snapped back.

Rory stopped and looked at her. His shoulder slouched down. "Not if she finishes it in time."

"You don't know if she can." Amy grumbled.

"I'm sorry. Finishes what? Who?" The Doctor interrupted. "You all keep talking about things I don't know."

"The Sunstar Virus." Amy said, not taking her eyes off Rory. "Rixel thinks she can cure it."

"Of course she can. Clever girl, her." The Doctor replied.

"But you said she was dead." Rory answered.

"Yes, well. I say a lot of things."

"I have an idea!" The Dream Lord popped up on top of the stairs. "Let's split you up, shall we? I'll keep the ladies while you two scurry off."

"Amy? Can you hear that?" Rory asked. He slowly started to fall to the ground.

Rixel watched as the Doctor and the Rory fell asleep. But she didn't. Neither did Amy. She pounded on the glass. To her surprise, the Dream Lord looked up at her.

"Ah! Rixel! You getting enough entertainment from up there?"

"Where is she?" Amy asked. Her eyes scanned around the Tardis, looking right through Rixel.

"Amy!" Rixel pounded on the glass.

"Can't you see her? Right up there, where she's always been." The Dream Lord pointed directly at her.

"That's just the Tardis." Amy said. "Where's Rixel?"

"Oh Amy. I forgot. You're human mind can't really think that well. How about a little...illumination." As he said the last word, a bright yellow light filled the tube all around Rixel.

Amy's eyes grew wide. "Rixel!"

"Amy!" Rixel pounded on the glass. She was looking at her. She could see her! She existed!

"Now that you both know you're here, how about it, girls? Have you made your choice yet?" The Dream Lord sauntered over towards the seat, sitting down.

"What choice?" Amy asked.

"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy. The choice! You know what I mean! This reality, with the Tardis and adventure and traveling through all of time and space. Or the other reality, with Rory and guns and war."

She froze.

"Let me out!" Rixel yelled.

"And what about you, little Rixel?" The Dream Lord chuckled. "Which do you choose? A life where you're the hero, only to save a world that's already dead? Or to be the silent companion who forever stays with the Doctor, unseen?"

"What are you talking about!" Amy snapped.

"Better make your choice soon, girls. You know they'll be waiting for you." The Dream Lord smiled as the bird started to chirp. "Night, night, dears."

"You have to hurry!" Amy said quietly from the corner of the room. She was curled up with Rory, who wasn't looking so well. The red freckles had spread fast, and now he looked like he might be sick any moment.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Rixel pulled the slide off the scope and rushed over to the boiling tubes. It wasn't bad enough that she had no real technology to work with, but she had no idea what she was doing, either. She'd been messing around with the C-14 stored inside her locket for three years now, but she still didn't know enough about it. Just that, for some reason, it was able to stop the Sunstar virus. And she had no idea how.

"Amy, what did he say to you?" The Doctor asked.

"What? Who?"

"The Dream Lord." The Doctor said his name with distaste. "He held you back. Why?"

"He held back Rixel, too. She was there. I saw her."

"You did?" The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Rixel.

"Yes." Amy hugged Rory. "He said we had to chose. Pick the real reality."

Shots echoed from out in the hall. All four of them stopped and stared at the door, waiting. They kept hearing noises, but they had no idea how close they really were.

"We need to protect ourselves." Rory coughed. "Amy, get the guns."

"No, no. No guns." The Doctor said.

"We need more time." Rory laid his head down on Amy's shoulder. "Rixel needs more time."

"I'm hurrying." Rixel mumbled. She didn't know what she was doing, but she was trying to do it fast. Anything to help Rory.

"Rory, tell me about Amy. Tell me about how much you love her." The Doctor said.

Rixel focused on her work. She was close, she knew that. Everything rested on her. Outside the room, the Requiem were running around, killing those that had managed to stay alive. But their main goal was her. If they stopped her, they stopped the virus. She knew that. She never told the others, of course, but she knew it was her that was spreading the virus. The C-14 in her mother's locket had been it all along. That's why the people on the Titanic got sick. Why Martha's sister had red freckles. Why Jamie had them, too. All people she'd been in contact with. It was her fault. She was the one spreading the disease and now she had to cure it once and for all, before the Requiem came and killed her.

She took the slide and scraped it's contents into the boiling test tube in front of her. The liquid inside seemed to burn a bright red, then fade into orange. Like fire.

"Like a phoenix."

Rixel turned to see the Doctor standing behind her. She didn't know how long he'd been there. "Sorry, what?"

"It burned, like a phoenix." The Doctor replied, pointing to the test tube.

"Yeah, so?" She shrugged. "I don't think it's right."

"Maybe it is."

Before Rixel could answer, there came a loud pounding on the door. She froze. The pounding grew louder and louder. She heard shouts coming from the hall. She wasn't sure how, but the Requiem had found them. They found her.

"Rory!" Amy cried.

The Doctor rushed over to her.

"Rory! Wake up!" Amy slapped Rory across the face. "Wake up! Rory! Rory!"

"I'm sorry, Amy." The Doctor said softly. "I'm so sorry, but he's..."

Rixel stopped, staring at the door. It was too late. Rory was dead. The Requiem was here. She couldn't do anything. She'd failed.

Amy got her feet. "No. No. Come back." She looked over at the Doctor. "Save him. You save everyone. You always do."

"Not always." The Doctor said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Then what is the point of you." Amy marched over towards Rixel. "Or you. What have you got? Was it worth his life?"

Rixel was still staring at the door. It shuttered every time it was pounded on. That lock wouldn't hold forever. Soon, they'd all be dead.

"This is the dream." Amy said quickly. "Definitely this one. If we die here, we wake up, yeah?"

"Unless we die." The Doctor said.

"Either way, it's my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream."

"I won't exist." Rixel said.

"How do you know?" The Doctor asked Amy.

"If this is real life, I don't want it." Amy said. She glared at Rixel. "And neither do you."

Rixel looked down at the test tube in her hand. The orange liquid swished around. Amy was right. She was useless in this reality. She couldn't even cure Rory, let alone the world. She was no hero. The little red-headed girl looked up at Amy and nodded.

Amy took in a deep breath and headed towards the door.

"Be very sure." The Doctor said. "This could be the real world."

"It can't be." Amy said. "Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't, honestly. I didn't, till right now. I just want him."

The Doctor looked over at Rixel. "What about you? What if you never come back?"

Rixel shook her head. "I don't want to be here. It's wrong."

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Ok." He squeezed it. "Ok."

Amy opened the door, and the gunfire commenced.