A/N: I am so so sorry for being such a bad person and not updating in so long. I had uni work to get done as well as not being very well. But I will make it all up to you, honestly I will.
But anyway, I have kept you waiting long enough.
The Doctor and I walked into the console room, both of us were smiling away. After the whole incident with the time engine, he had been sticking by my side more than ever. Neither of us had realised how much it was going to have a bad impact on me until it happened.
I noticed Amy in the silly swing chair under the console that the Doctor insisted he needed for repairs. She seemed to be in a word of her own. "I take it you know where we are going today?" I asked the Doctor.
"Of course I do. Somewhere brilliant." He replied, before hanging his head over the edge of the platform and shocking Amy. "Vavoom!" He shouted, making her jump a little.
"Va-what?" Amy asked, finally leaving her little world. She watched as the Doctor disappeared before running up the stairs to join the pair of us, running around the console.
"I can't believe I've never thought of this before. It's genius. Right." He pulled a lever and the TARDIS bumped a little. "Landed. Come on." He grabbed my hand and we started walking towards the door.
"Where are we?" Amy asked. There was something about the way Amy was acting that was telling me something was wrong.
"Planet One. The oldest planet in the universe." I told her, keeping a smile plastered across my face. I didn't want her to know that I was worrying about her, she would just tell me that she was fine, like she always did.
"And there's a cliff of pure diamond, and according to legend, on the cliff there's writing. Letters fifty feet high. A message from the dawn of time. And no one know what it says, because no one's ever translated it." The Doctor told her, getting very excited. I had actually mentioned it to him before, but he always had somewhere more exciting to go.
"Till today." I pointed out, trying to stop the Doctor from getting anymore excited by kissing him on the cheek. It seemed to work, a little.
"What happens today?" Amy asked us curiously.
"Us. The TARDIS can translate anything. All we have to do is open the doors and read the very first words in recorded history." I said, dragging the Doctor over to the door with me.
Amy was quickly behind us, a smile on her face as well. The moment I saw the writing my face dropped, as did the Doctor's. Amy let a little laugh slip out. "Vavoom." She said, as she read the writing.
I let out a sigh. "Hello Sweetie and Honey. I guess we know who wrote it as well." I mumbled, not feeling to great about having to see that person again.
The Doctor wrapped his arm around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. "No, you can't go and hide away in the library. We do this together." He whispered, knowing how I was feeling.
"Fine. Let's go." I said, making my way back into the TARDIS and starting to input the coordinates on the console. My good mood was quickly diminishing, and there was nothing that the Doctor could say to change it.
"You okay?" He asked me quietly as he stood beside me at the console. I glared at him, he should know how I was feeling without having to ask me. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Don't worry about it, I'm here." He slipped his arm around my waist and no matter how much I wanted to pull away from him I just couldn't do it.
It wasn't long until we had landed and were stepping out of the TARDIS again in what looked like a wood. "Right place?" Amy asked, closing the door behind her.
"Just followed the coordinates on the cliff face. Earth, Britain. 1.02am, no pm…" The Doctor said, looking at his watch.
"I think you mean AD." I said, pointing to the camp of Romans at the bottom of the hill.
Amy looked on with wide eyes. "That's a Roman Legion."
"Yup, the Romans invaded Britain several times during this period." I told her, folding my arms across my chest.
"Oh, I know. My favourite topic at school. Invasion of the hot Italians." Amy said, a grin on her face. All I could do was smirk at her, that was our Amy. "Yeah, I did get marked down for the title."
We all stood there watching as one of the soldiers came running up to us and saluted. "Hail, Caesar!" The man said, causing the Doctor wave at him and say hello. "Welcome to Britain. We are honoured by your presence."
"Well, you're only human. Arise, Roman person." The Doctor said. I just rolled my eyes at him, I would do anything to get away from there right now.
"Why does he think you're Caesar?" Amy whispered to the Doctor. I just put a finger on the side of my face and then nodded at the man. There was a smear of lipstick on his face.
"Cleopatra will see you now." The soldier said, before leading us away.
"So, she's playing at being Cleo now, is she?" I mumbled. "This better be good."
I felt the Doctor snake his arm around my waist again. I kept pulling away from him before, but he knew how badly I did not want to be there. "I don't know what you're so worried about. She doesn't bite, you know." He told me, trying to calm me down.
I let out a heavy sigh. "Because, if you haven't remembered, she annoyed me last time I met her. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms. And even if this is before that for her, I still don't trust her." I told him, just as we approached the tent.
The three of us stepped inside. "Hello, sweetie. Hello, honey." River said, sitting down, drinking, and loving her time pretending to be Cleopatra.
"River. Hi." Amy said cheerfully.
I wasn't feeling as cheerful as she was, and I was about to let River know exactly how much when the Doctor beat me to it. "You graffitied the oldest cliff face in the universe." The Doctor said sternly.
"Neither if you would answer the phone." She countered, looking between the Doctor and me. She clapped her hands and we watched as her servants left. Once they were gone she held out a rolled up piece of large paper.
"What's this?" The Doctor asked her, not looking very impressed so far.
"It's a painting. Your friend Vincent." My body froze at hearing Vincent's name, and the Doctor snatched it out of River's hands. "One of his final works." The Doctor started unrolling the painting. "He had visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one."
I looked over the Doctor's shoulder and at the painting. In the centre of the canvas was the TARDIS, exploding. "Oh, Vince. I'm so sorry." I whispered. It made more sense now, now I understood why his life ended how it did.
"Doctor? Summer? What is this?" Amy asked, looking at the painting. "Why is it exploding?"
"I assume it's some kind of warning." River told her, not noticing the distant look on either the Doctor's face or mine.
"What, something's going to happen to the TARDIS?" Amy asked in shock.
"I don't like this, I really, really don't like this." I told the Doctor, leaning against him some more.
"I know, neither do I. This is what must have driven Vincent to the end." I could tell that he was just as upset as I was. Neither of us wanted anything to have happened to Vincent, but it would seem that our meeting him led to that painting. He knew us, so it upset him.
"It might not be that literal. Anyway, this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sign, see?" River pointed to that part of the painting before finally looking at me. "Star, are you alright?"
"Summer, my name is Summer." I told her sharply. There was only certain people allowed to call me Star, and she was not one of them. "Does it have a title?"
She looked at me in shock. "The Pandorica Opens." She said meekly.
"The Pandorica? What is it?" Amy wondered.
"A box, a cage, a prison. It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe." River's words made me tense up again. Of all the arguments the Doctor and I have had, the fact that I was the biggest threat to any universe had been one of them.
"And it's a fairy tale, a legend. It can't be real." The Doctor said, pulling me close to him and kissing the top of my head, trying to calm me and reassure me that everything was fine.
"If it is real, it's here and it's opening, and it's got something to do with your TARDIS exploding." River told him as he grabbed scrolls of maps. "Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map."
"No, but if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe, you'd want to remember where you put it." I said, my voice shaking a little.
"Star, are you okay?" River asked in concern again.
"I told you, my name is Summer." I spat at her, before turning to face the Doctor. "I can't do this, Doctor. I just…"
He instantly put his arms around me, holding me as tight as he could. "You can. You can do this. I know you can." I tried my best to stop shaking. "You are not the most feared thing in the universe."
"We both know that isn't true, Theta. We both know what I'm capable of doing."
"Hey, you okay, Summer?" Amy asked me softly, gently placing her hand on my back. I tried my best to nod at her, but she was like a sister to me, she knew better. "Liar."
I shifted around in the Doctor's hold to face her. "Amy, remember what I told you, after… the door thing?" Amy nodded at me. "Just keep in mind, that was nothing compared to what I can do." I whispered to her, not wanting River to hear too much. I couldn't explain why I didn't like her, there was just something about her I found hard to trust.
But that wasn't just me, the Doctor felt the same way as well. She knew too much about both of us, especially the Doctor, she knew his name. His real name, the only other person he ever told that to was me.
"Horses, we need horses." The Doctor said, dragging me outside with him.
"You know where we're going then?" Amy asked as she rushed out after us. The Doctor nodded at her, we had both searched the maps, and so we both knew where to look.
"Now we just have to wait for Queen Cleo to change so that we can go." I mumbled. I knew that I should probably be making more of an effort to get along with River, I was just finding it hard.
A while later, she was ready and we were on our way. It wasn't the most pleasant trip on a horse I've had, it was chilly and a little windy. I was glad when we had finally reached out destination, Stonehenge.
"How come it's not new?" Amy asked as we looked around.
"Because it's already old. It's been here for thousands of years. No one knows exactly how long." I told her, watching as the Doctor and River scanned the stones around us.
"Okay, this Pandorica thing. Last time we saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium." Amy said, walking over towards River.
"Spoilers." River said, putting a finger to her lips whilst looking at the scanner in her hand.
"No, but you told the Doctor and Summer you'd see them again when the Pandorica opens." Amy protested as I went and stood by the Doctor. He knew how uncomfortable I was feeling, having to deal with River was bad enough, but the whole Pandorica thing was making me even more uneasy.
"Maybe I did, but I haven't yet. But I will have. Doctor, I'm picking up fry particles everywhere. Energy weapons discharged on this site." River called.
"If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history." The Doctor said before looking at me. "And that is not you." He assured me. "Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it." He jumped off the rock he was standing on and put his ear against it. "We need to get down there."
"I take it you have a plan? Or is it a thing?" I asked him, ignoring the look that River was giving me.
"I have a thing. And before you say anything, it's a great thing." He insisted, before wrapping his arms around me and kissing my hair. "Now, go and talk with River. I can see she wants to talk to you."
I frowned at him. "Are you serious?" He nodded at me. "Well, if I get angry, don't blame me." I said, letting out a sigh and dragging myself over to where River was standing. "The Doctor seems to have it into his head that you want to talk to me." I mumbled, folding my arms in front of me.
"Summer, please talk to me. If I have done something wrong, then please, let me know so I can make it right." River pleaded.
"You want the truth, Doctor Song?" I asked her, and she nodded in response. "It's simple enough, I don't trust you. I don't have a clue who you are or how you know the Doctor or me. I think that is a good reason for me to be a little weary of you."
"I understand that, really I do. Is there anything I can do to make you trust me?" I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. "Summer, I know there are certain things that you still haven't told the Doctor, and I know you don't like to think about them." To say that she had my attention now was an understatement. I made sure to put up some barriers so that the Doctor wasn't going to hear what se had to say. He was too busy trying to find a way to get to the Pandorica.
"If you have something to say, then just get on with it." I told her, I didn't want her to know that I was curious as to what she knew.
"One day, you confide in me. You tell me something and it breaks my heart. Something that you haven't told the Doctor." Something about the look on her face told me that it was serious.
"What did I tell you, River?" I asked her, my voice shaking a little.
"I'm sorry, believe me, I really am sorry." She said, before leaning closer and whispering something in my ear. I felt River's arms around me as I broke down in tears. "Oh, Star, I'm sorry. I know, I'm sorry."
I continued to sob against the woman as she held me. If I had told her something before telling the Doctor, then it must mean that in the future I trust her, and that we are close. What she told me was something I never planned on telling the Doctor. Ever.
I felt someone pull me out of River's arms. "What did you say to her?" I heard the Doctor yell. "River, what did you do?"
I took a deep breath, trying to control my crying. "Doctor, it's okay, it's fine." I mumbled into his jacket.
"No, Star, it's not. What the hell did you say to her, River?" He spat. I could feel him starting to get angry.
I let out a sigh. "Theta, it's fine. Please, she told me something, like she told you."
He pushed me away from him a little and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "What did she tell you?"
"I can't tell you yet. As River would say, spoilers." I heard him let out a sigh of his own before pulling me closer to him again. "I trust you, River." I said, letting myself relax in the hold of my bond.
"Star, I really am sorry. I know how much it hurts, I wish there had been something else I could have done." It was easy to tell from her tone that she meant every word she said.
"Don't worry about it." I closed my eyes tightly and forced back the rest of my tears. "Come on, we have a Pandorica to find." The Doctor looked down at me, and I could see the worry and concern in his eyes. "Doctor, I'm fine, stop worrying. Everything is fine."
"I always worry about you. You're my Summer Star, I'm allowed to worry." I rolled my eyes at him and whacked him lightly on the chest. We really did have bigger things to worry about now.
It took quite some time to get everything set up, but we were eventually ready. The Doctor had not stopped asking me if I was okay, he just couldn't accept my answer when I told him I was fine.
"Right then. Ready." River announced before typing on her handheld. We could all hear what sounded like cogs turning and creaking and slowly the stone that the Doctor had stood on earlier and placed his ear against started to slide to the side.
"The Underhenge." The Doctor said, making sure to keep me close to him, as a set of stone steps were revealed.
"Let's see what all the fuss is about then." I mumbled, pushing the Doctor forward so that he was first down the stairs. River pulled out her torch as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to help light the way a little.
At the bottom of the stairs we came to a large set of doors. I took the sonic out of the Doctor hand and used it to light a wooden torch. He carefully took it out of the holder and used it to light the one River had picked up from the other side. I watched as the smirked at each other before throwing the wooden bar that was holding the doors closed to the ground before slowly opening them.
"It's the Pandorica." The Doctor stated as was looked upon the large box in the room in front of us.
"More than just a fairy tale." River stated. Straight away the Doctor snaked his free arm around my waist.
"You okay?" He whispered, as we both slowly walked forward.
"Yup, absolutely peachy." I said before looking down at something the Doctor kicked. "Oh, that looks promising." I mumbled, noticing the metal arm on the ground before walking forward again with the Doctor.
"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaking 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 said, inspecting the huge box.
"How did it end up there?" Amy asked, feeling the tension in the air. Everything the Doctor had said had just made me feel even worse.
"You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it. Or an enchantress." He said, a small grin on his face.
"I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him." River pointed out, passing her torch to Amy as she got her scanner out to check out the box herself. "I don't mind the enchantress so much." She said, looking over at me and smiling.
I smiled back at her. "I can't stand her. Why would anyone in their right mind think that I was an enchantress?"
"So, it's kind of like Pandora's Box, then? Almost the same name." Amy noted, looking around the room for herself.
The Doctor put his torch in the holder to the side of the room. "Sorry, what?" He asked, not really paying much attention to what Amy was saying. For some reason, I had a really bad feeling about what Amy was going to say next.
"The story, Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it. That was my favourite book when I was a kid." Amy told us, causing the Doctor to stop scanning the box and walk over to her. I was quickly behind him, knowing what he was thinking. "What's wrong?"
"Your favourite school topic. Your favourite story. Never ignore a coincidence." The Doctor told her. "Unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence." He said, returning back to the box.
"So, can either of you open it?" River asked. I knew exactly what she meant by asking me if I could open it.
"Easily. Anyone can break into a prison. But we'd rather know what we're going to find first." I told her, taking a much closer look at the box myself.
"You won't have long to wait. It's already opening. There are layers and layers of security protocols in there, and they're being disabled one by one. Like it's being unlocked from the inside." River told us, looking at her handheld.
"How long do we have?" The Doctor asked her, not paying much attention to the fact that I was keeping my hands pressed on the box.
"Hours at the most."
"What kind of security?" He asked her, starting to sound slightly more worried.
"Everything. Deadlocks, time stops, matter lines. The whole lot." I whispered. I could feel everything opening, as if the box knew that I was there.
"What could need all that?" The Doctor wondered out loud. "Don't you dare say it." He warned me, knowing what I was thinking.
"What could get past all that?" River corrected him.
"Think of the fear that went in to making this box. What could inspire that level of fear?" The Doctor asked, studying the box carefully. "Hello, you. Have we met?"
"So why would it start to open now?" River asked, poking her head around the corner.
"No idea."
Amy cleared her throat. She had been listening to everything that had been going on. "And how would Vincent have known about it? He won't even be born for centuries."
I turned and looked at her. "The stones." I told her, taking the Doctor's screwdriver from him and scanning them. "These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening."
"Star, everyone everywhere?" River asked. I turned to face her, hearing the panic in her voice.
"Even poor Vincent heard it, in his dreams. But what's in there? What could justify all this?" The Doctor rambled, not paying any attention to either River or me.
"Doctor, everyone?" River asked him firmly.
"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it. Why don't I know?" He said, still trying to figure out the box.
"Doctor, I said everyone could hear it. So stop and think, who else is coming?" I asked him softly, knowing that raising my voice was not going to get his attention.
Suddenly it dawned on him. "Okay. If it is basically a transmitter, we should be able to fold back the signal." River announced, placing her scanner against a stone pillar.
"Doing it." I called, using the Doctor's screwdriver on the stones that were transmitting.
Amy was still standing there, not knowing what was going on. "Doing what?"
"Stonehenge is transmitting, Amy. It's been transmitting for a while, so who heard?" I told her as I tossed the screwdriver back to the Doctor. "Okay, should be feeding back to you now." I said as I rushed over to join River.
"River, what's out there? You getting anything?" The Doctor demanded to know.
"Give me a moment." She replied, looking at the scanner in her hand still.
"River, quickly. Anything?" He snapped.
I looked at the scanner and bit my lip. "Around this planet, there are at least ten thousand starships."
"Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million. I don't know. There's too many readings." River added. I could see that she was starting to panic now. Ten thousand was enough, but the scanner couldn't handle the amount that was out there.
"What kind of starships?" The Doctor asked, trying his best to stay calm.
That's when we heard it, a voice coming through River's scanner. I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath as I recognised the sound of the Daleks.
"Daleks. Those are Daleks." Even Amy was afraid, although she was trying to keep her voice strong.
I looked over at the Doctor and saw the look of horror on his face. He seemed to be in a world of his own, so I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. He looked down at me and came back to his senses.
He kissed the top of my head before wandering around. "Yes. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Dalek fleet, minimum twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ah! But we've got surprise on our side. They'll never expect four people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships. Because we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise."
"Doctor, stop talking." I tried to make my voice firm, but I was shaking unbelievably. I tensed up when I heard another voice coming through the scanner. "No, no, no." I whispered, my eyes growing wide.
"Doctor, Star, Cyberships." River said, looking at her scanner again.
"No, Dalek ships. Listen to them. Those are Dalek ships." The Doctor was getting frustrated now, he hadn't heard what both River and I had.
"Yes. Dalek ships and Cyberships. Just listen." I told him, forcing him to stop pacing and tossing his screwdriver between his hands.
"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other. I mean, that's easy. It's the Daleks. They're so cross." The Doctor announced. I felt my chest tighten, ever since we had gotten River's message, I had a bad feeling.
"Sontaran. Four battle fleets." River announced, moving her scanner to another pillar.
"Sontarans!" I exclaimed. "Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?" I spun around and glared at the Doctor.
"Terileptil, Slitheen, Chelonian, Nesteen, Drahin, Sycorax, Haemogoth, Zygon, Atraxi, Draconian. They're all here for the Pandorica." River told us.
"Yeah, you can stop talking now as well, River." I said, glaring at the woman. She just nodded at me, understanding that things were serious and we all knew it.
"What are you? What could you possibly be?" The Doctor asked, glaring at the huge box.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, the whole places started shaking and the sound of ships hovering around in the sky became louder. The Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me with him as he ran back up the stairs and outside.
"What do we do?" Amy asked, as she and River caught up to us.
"Doctor, listen to me. Everything that ever hated you and Star is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this one, just this one time, please, you have to run. You have to keep Star safe." Both of us looked at her. "You need to get her away from her, now."
"Run where?" The Doctor asked her, tightening his grip on my hand.
"Fight how?" She countered. There was something about the look in her eyes that made me realise how much she actually cared about the Doctor and I, and it made me feel guilty for the way I had treated her before.
"The greatest military machine in the history of the universe." The Doctor announced. He had a plan, of course he did. He was the Doctor, he always had a plan, eventually.
Amy just looked confused, as did River, but it was her who spoke up first. "What is? The Daleks?"
"Nope. The Romans." I said, forcing a smile on my face. "River, I have no doubt that you can sort that out."
River looked at me, before stepping towards me and placing a hand on my arm. "Are you going to be okay?" She asked me softly.
"Of course I am, I'm made of tougher stuff. You go get us some men." River nodded at me and dashed back to the horses, on her way back to the Roman camp. "Right, back to work, you two." I called, before rushing back inside to the Pandorica.
A/N: I wonder what River told her? Okay, I don't wonder, I know what she told her. But it look's like the pair of them are going to get along now. Or are they?
Again, I'm sorry for taking so long to update, but I am writing more chapters right now. It will be worth all the stress, honestly.
Pippa.