Three Companions

Adelaide returned to consciousness as the Pandorica opened, meeting the Doctor's gaze across the room before they both looked at the man responsible for it. "How did you do that?" Rory was holding a sonic.

"You gave me this," Rory told them, holding up the sonic as Adelaide stood.

"No, I didn't," the Doctor pulled his sonic from his pocket.

"You did. Look at it." Rory held it out and the Doctor touched his sonic to that one, making them spark.

"Temporal energy." He nodded. "Same screwdriver at different points in its own time stream. Which means it was me who gave it to you. Me from the future." He chuckled. "I've got a future. That's nice."

"That's not," Adelaide said, nodding at the fossilized remains of everyone who'd shut him into the Pandorica as she picked her way through them.

Rory turned to look at the one closest to him. Yeah. What are they?"

"History collapsed," Adelaide moved towards one, looking closer but not touching. "Whole races have been deleted from existence and these are just echoes of what once was."

"The footprints of the never-were," the Doctor added.

"Er…" Rory looked between them, "what does that mean?"

"Total event collapse. The universe literally never happened."

"So, how can we be here? What's keeping us safe?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nothing. Eye of the storm, that's all. We're just the last light to go out." He looked around the room, noticing something, for one of the first times, which Adelaide had missed. "Amy. Where's Amy?"

|C-S|

The Time Lords knelt beside Amy's body, Rory standing behind them. "I killed her," Rory breathed.

"Oh, Rory."

"What am I?"

Adelaide turned to look at him. "You're a Nestene duplicate."

"A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity."

Rory shook his head. "But I'm Rory now. Whatever was happening, it's stopped. I'm Rory."

"That's software talking."

Rory looked down at Amy's body. "Can you help her? Is there anything you can do?"

The Doctor shrugged, standing, leaving Adelaide kneeling beside Amy. "Yeah, probably, if we had the time."

"The time?"

"All of creation has just been wiped from the sky," the Doctor gestured to the blackness above. "Do you know how many lives now never happened? All the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe."

Rory suddenly turned and punched the Doctor squarely in the jaw, sending him to the ground. Adelaide just raised her eyebrows at the two men. "She is to me!"

The Doctor leapt back up, grinning. "Welcome back, Rory Williams! Sorry. Had to be sure." He rubbed his jaw. "Hell of a gun-arm you're packing there."

"We need to get her downstairs," Adelaide said, standing. "No need to look like that, Rory."

"You're getting married in the morning!"

The Doctor lifted Amy and carried her down to the Pandorica, Adelaide helping the Doctor secure her into the Doctor's chair. Rory stood behind them, looking nervous. "So you've got a plan, then?"

He shrugged. "Bit of a plan, yeah. Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl."

Adelaide nodded. "She grew up with a time crack in her wall and the universe pouring through her dreams every night."

"The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got a bit more than they bargained for, like you," the Doctor gestured to Rory. "Not just your face, but your heart and your soul." He turned and, taking Amy's shoulders, pressed his forehead to her's. "I'm leaving her a message for when she wakes up, so she knows what's happening."

When he stepped back, Adelaide flashed her sonic to close the Pandorica.

Rory grabbed her arm. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?"

"Saving her. The Pandorica refuses to let you die once you're inside. It forces you to stay alive."

"But she's already dead."

"Almost dead," Adelaide corrected. "The Pandorica will stasis-lock her in that state. It simply needs a scan of her living DNA and it'll restore her."

"Where's it going to get that?"

The Doctor glanced at his watch. "In about two thousand years." He walked over to River's bag and pulled out the Vortex Manipulator they'd seen earlier, strapping it to his wrist.

"She's going to be in that box for two thousand years?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but 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."

"The future's still there, then? Our world."

"A version of it. Not quite the one you know."

Adelaide nodded upwards. "Earth is all alone in the sky."

The Doctor grinned. "Let's go and have a look." He held out his wrist, but Rory didn't move to take it. "You put your hand there. Don't worry, should be safe."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Rory looked back at the Pandorica.

"She's going to be fine," Adelaide told him. "Nothing can get into the Pandorica."

"Well, you got in there."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, there's only one of us. I counted."

"This box needs a guard. I killed the last one."

The Time Lord's eyes widened. "No. Rory, no. Don't even think about it."

"She'll be all alone."

"She won't feel it."

"You bet she won't!"

"Two thousand years, Rory. You won't even sleep. You'd be conscious every second. It would drive you mad."

"Will she be safer if I stay?" the Doctor looked away. "Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer!"

"Rory, you…"

"Answer me!"

"Yes," Adelaide said quietly. "She would."

Rory shook his head. "Then how could I leave her?"

The Doctor sighed. "Why do you have to be so human?"

"Because right now, I'm not." Rory turned and walked over to the Pandorica.

"It's not that human," Adelaide mumbled, making the Doctor glance at her. "Wanting to ensure the person you love is as safe as they could possibly be. Wanting to protect them from any possible threat." She swallowed and took the Doctor's hand. The Time Lord said nothing, but he had to fight not hugging her in that moment, or at least not confessing his feelings. "This is going to be the last bit of advice you're going to have in a while," Adelaide said to Rory, speaking louder. "You're living plastic, but you're not immortal or indestructible. There's no knowing how long you're going to last. But any damage is permanent. So please, try to stay out of…"

And then they vanished, reappearing inside the National Museum almost 2000 years later.

"…trouble," Adelaide finished, turning to look at the Doctor, about to scold him, when they both spot the Dalek behind them.

"Oh," the Doctor said, seeing an older and younger Amy Pond. "Ah, two of you. Complicated."

"Exterminate!" the Dalek called. "Weapons systems restoring."

The Time Lords ran forwards, each grabbing one of the Amy's hands. "Come along, Ponds!" They ran across the room and around the Pandorica.

"Exterminate!"

They ran into a display, the Doctor somehow managing to run right into one of the mannequins. He grabbed the fez before it fell, putting it on his head.

"What are we doing?" Amy asked them.

"Well, we are running into a dead end, where Adelaide or I'll have a brilliant plan, that basically involves not being in one."

"What's going on?" a man called.

The Doctor ran around the Pandorica, spotting the night watchman. "Get out of here!" he called, the man pointing his torch at the Dalek. "Go! Just run!"

"Drop the device!" the Dalek ordered, spinning on the watchman.

"It's not a weapon," the Doctor tried. "Scan it. It's not a weapon, and you don't have the power to waste."

"Scans indicate intruder unarmed."

"Do you think?" the watchman said, dropping the torch and opening his hand to reveal a gun. He fired at the Dalek's eyestalk.

"Vision impaired! Vision…" as the Dalek powered down, the watchman stepped out of the shadows to reveal Rory, which Adelaide had guessed the first time she'd heard the watchman's voice.

The Time Lords moved closer to the Dalek, sonicing it, as Amy stepped out from behind the Pandorica. "Amy!" Rory said, surprised.

"Rory!" Amy ran over to Rory and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry," he pulled back. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. It just happened."

"Oh, shut up!" And he did so, quite quickly, when Amy kissed him.

The Doctor, however, didn't give them that long as he ran up to them. "Yeah, shut up, because we've got to go. Come on."

Rory ignored him. "I waited. Two thousand years I waited for you."

"No, still shut up," Amy kissed him again.

The Doctor sighed. "And break! And breathe! Well, somebody didn't get out much for two thousand years."

Young Amelia walked up, tugging on Adelaide's sleeve. "I'm thirsty. Can I get a drink?"

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" the Doctor groaned, tossing the fez at Amelia, who just threw it back.

"The light from the Pandorica must have hit the Dalek," Adelaide reasoned, glancing at it just as the Dalek's weapon began to move. "Out!" she switched to holding Amelia's hand, dragging her along. "Everyone out!" They all ran from the room, Rory closing the door and the Doctor sonicing the lock.

The Time Lord turned to Rory. "So, two thousand years. How did you do?"

Rory looked to Adelaide. "Keep out of trouble."

"Oh." The Doctor put the fez back on. "How?"

"Unsuccessfully." Rory grinned. The Doctor grabbed a mop and moved towards the door. "The mop! That's how you looked all those years ago when you gave me the sonic."

The Doctor nodded. "Ah, well, no time to lose, then." He typed a few things into the Vortex Manipulator and vanished, reappearing a few seconds later to actually put the mop through the door. "Oops, sorry." And then he vanished again.

Amelia looked at where he'd been standing in shock. "How can he do that? Is he magic?"

Adelaide chuckled. "He's a miracle, that's for certain."

The Doctor reappeared. "Right, let's go then." He moved to leave before pausing. "Wait! Now I don't have my sonic. I just gave it to Rory two thousand years ago." He vanished again, then reappeared. "Right then." He pulled his sonic from Amy's top pocket. "Off we go!"

Adelaide grabbed his arm, making him stop as she looked at Amelia. "How did you know to come here?"

Amelia pulled a leaflet from her pocket and held it out, showing them the post-it note.

The Doctor nodded. "Ah, my handwriting. Okay." He turned and grabbed a leaflet and post-it note from a nearby table and vanished, appearing again with a drink, which he handed to Amelia. "There you go. Drink up."

Amy shook her head. "What is that? How are you doing that?"

He held up his wrist. "Vortex manipulator. Cheap and nasty time travel. Very bad for you." He grinned. "I'm trying to give it up." He reached out for Adelaide's hand and, together, they moved towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Amy called after them.

"The roof," Adelaide called, just as there was the sound of static from the stairs and she froze at the sight of a smoking Doctor, wavering where he stood.

And Adelaide felt sick. She watched as he fell down the steps, felt the Doctor's hand leave hers to go run up to his future self, but she didn't really register it. All she could think about was that the Doctor was in danger, that he was hurt, that something had happened to him.

The humans were saying something but Adelaide couldn't hear them, she didn't want to hear them. She watched as the future Doctor jerked awake, grabbing the Doctor's jacket to whisper in his ear, before falling back again.

The Doctor took a breath before turning back to Adelaide, rushing to her before focusing on anything else. "Are you alright?" he asked her quietly, and it took a few seconds for her to pull her gaze away from the body of the Doctor. "Adelaide?"

She just hugged him.

Quietly, the Doctor whispered to Adelaide what his future self had told him.

"Are you…" Amy said from behind them. "I mean, is he…is he dead?"

The Doctor pulled away from Adelaide, though they still held each other's hand tightly. "What? Dead? Yes, yes. Of course he's dead." Even though Adelaide knew he was lying, she still tightened her grip. "Right, I've got twelve minutes. That's good."

Amy shook her head. "Twelve minutes to live? How is that good?"

"Oh, you can do loads in twelve minutes. Suck a mint, buy a sled, have a fast bath." They moved more up the stairs. "Come on, the roof."

Rory shook his head. "We can't leave you here dead."

"Oh, good. Are you in charge now?" the Doctor scoffed. "So tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?" he gestured towards the two and they looked around in surprise, finally noticing that Amelia was no longer standing with them.

"Where did she go?"

"Amelia?"

"There is no Amelia," Adelaide managed to say. "History is still collapsing. Amelia never existed."

"But how can I still be here if she's not?" Amy asked.

"You're an anomaly," the Doctor said. "We all are. We're all just hanging on at the eye of the storm. But the eye is closing, and if we don't do something fast, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" The Time Lords turned and hurried up the stairs, leaving the humans for a few seconds. "Move it!" the Doctor called when there was no sign of them following. "Come on!"

The humans met up with them just as they ran up onto the roof. "What, it's morning already?" Amy asked, looking around at the oddly tinted daylight. "How did that happen?"

"History is shrinking." The Doctor sighed. "Is anybody listening to me? The universe is collapsing. We don't have much time left." He moved over to a satellite dish and soniced it.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the TARDIS."

"But the TARDIS exploded."

Adelaide nodded. "Then we're looking for an exploding TARDIS."

Amy shook her head. "I don't understand. So, the TARDIS blew up and took the universe with it. But why would it do that? How?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Good question for another day."

"The current question," Adelaide said, moving closer to the edge of the roof, "is that if a total event collapse meant that every star in the universe never happened, then what is that?" she pointed out at what looked, with a quick glance, like the normal sun.

"Like she said, I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS."

"But that's the sun," Rory said.

"Is it? Well, here's the noise that sun is making right now." The Doctor held out the radio dish, letting the humans hear the sound of the TARDIS. "That's my TARDIS burning up. That's what's been keeping the Earth warm."

Rory frowned. "There's something else. There's a voice."

The Doctor soniced the device again as Amy shook her head. "I can't hear anything."

"I'm sorry, my loves," River said, her voice joining the echoes of the TARDIS sound, just repeating over and over again.

"That's River. How can she be up there?"

Rory shrugged. "It must be a recording or something."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, it's not." He sighed. "Of course, the emergency protocols. 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." The Doctor tossed Adelaide the radio dish, messed with his Vortex Manipulator, and vanished. They could still hear him over the dish. "Hello there. I'm here."

River sighed. "And what sort of time do you call this?" A moment later River and the Doctor reappeared on the roof. "Amy!" River cheered, before spotting Rory. "And the plastic Centurion."

"It's okay," the Doctor waved a hand towards Rory, "he's on our side."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

River shrugged. "I dated a Nestene duplicate once. Swappable head. It did keep things fresh." She looked around the group. "Right then, I have questions, but number one is this." She spun to the Doctor. "What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"

The Doctor smirked. "It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."

Amy and River exchanged a look before Amy leapt up and grabbed the fez, chucking it into the air for River to shoot with her blaster.

"Oi!"

"Exterminate!" the Dalek cried, levitating up the side of the building.

"Run, move!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing Adelaide's hand and pulling her back. "Move, move. Go!"

Rory pulled Amy back down into the museum. "Come on!"

The Dalek fired at them, Adelaide just managing to raise the dish as a shield to protect them before they were hit. They all climbed back through the roof access panel, but the Doctor paused, listening.

"Doctor, come on," Rory said, him, Amy, and River moving a bit away from the access, though River still had her gun pointed at it.

"Shush," the Doctor whispered. "It's moving away, finding another way in. It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity."

"How do you know?" Rory asked, the entire group moving down the stairs.

"Because that's when it's due to kill me." The Doctor touched Adelaide's back as he spoke, at too odd of an angle to take her hand at the moment.

River's eyes widened. "Kill you? What do you mean, kill you?"

The Doctor waved a hand. "Oh, shut up. Never mind."

Adelaide took a deep breath. "How can that Dalek even exist?" Everyone looked at her a bit oddly and it occurred to her how out of practice she really was with teaching. "Daleks were erased from time, but it came back."

"You said the light from the Pandorica…" Rory said.

"It's a restoration field, not a light," Adelaide corrected. "It's what brought Amy back, but how could it bring a Dalek back when Daleks never existed?"

River sighed. "Okay, tell us."

Adelaide was able to chuckle before beginning. "The TARDIS called a total event collapse. It blasted open every atom in every moment in the universe."

The Doctor's eyes widened, catching on. "Except…"

"Except inside the Pandorica."

The Time Lord grinned. "The perfect prison."

"Inside it, perfectly preserved, are a few billion atoms of the Universe as it once was. In theory…" she grinned "you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them."

"And we've got the bumper family pack."

After a second, Rory shook his head. "No, no. Too fast. I'm not getting it."

"The box contains a memory of the Universe," the Doctor explained, "and the light transmits the memory, and that's how we're going to do it!"

"Do what?"

"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe." The Doctor grabbed Adelaide's hand, pulling her further. "Come on!" In the few seconds that they were apart from the others, the Doctor nodded to Adelaide. "Good luck."

She didn't want to leave him, but she knew what had to happen, she knew where she needed to go. Adelaide turned and ran off, needing to get to the future Doctor before anyone else did, even if she hadn't been able to be there the entire time.

A/N: Ooo, Adelaide got quite close to revealing her feelings there, didn't she?

Had to wait to post this until the announcement of the new Doctor and let me just say that I am quite excited. Can't wait for Christmas and 2018!

Notes on reviews:

time-twilight: Hints will come as time goes on as to why Adelaide is known as the Protector, but I will say that she has another name as well which isn't quite so nice ;)