I do not own Doctor Who

Amy studied the engagement ring twinkling between her fingers. Luke didn't know what to say. Sure the Doctor was pretty weird, but a wedding ring? That was new on the list. No way was the Doctor proposing to someone...right?

Luke paced in front of her as she sat on the swing under the console floor. The Doctor's head suddenly popped from above. 'Vavoom!'

Amy jumped, shoving the ring in her pocket. 'Va-what?'

Luke followed the Doctor, who jumped to the console. 'I can't believe I've never thought of this before. It's genius. Right. Landed. Come on.'

'Where are we?' Amy asked, walking up towards them.

The Doctor spun around the console like a dancer before grabbing Luke and Amy's hands and jumping to the doors. 'Planet One. The oldest planet in the universe. 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 knows what it says, because no one's ever translated it.'

'Until today,' Luke said, grinning. 'The Tardis can translate it.'

'Exactly. All we have to do is open the doors and read the very first words in recorded history.' The Doctor flung open the doors and jumped outside to read the mystery words.

Luke raised his eyebrows and grinned sideways. Amy smirked. The Doctor's excited expression turned to annoyance. They knew all too well only person in the entire universe who would vandalize the first recorded words in history to read 'HELLO SWEETIE."

'Vavoom,' Amy cheered.

Luke was still smirking at the Doctor's annoyance as the Tardis materialized at the edge of a forest. 'We're in the right place?'

The Doctor poked his head out. 'Just followed the co-ordinates on the cliff face. Earth. Britain. one oh two am. No, pm. No, AD.'

Below them was an ancient-looking camp. Amy stepped outside. 'That's a Roman legion,' she noted.

The three of them observed the legion below them. 'This is around the time the Romans invaded Britain, right?'

'Oh, I know,' Amy said. 'My favorite topic at school. Invasion of the hot Italians. Yeah, I did get marked down for the title.'

Luke laughed at the last part, but they were interrupted by a soldier running up to them and saluted. 'Hail, Caesar!' he announced, looking at the Doctor solemnly.

The Doctor faced the soldier who'd confused him for someone else. 'Hi.'

The soldier straightened. 'Welcome to Britain. We are honored by your presence.'

'Well, you're only human,' the Doctor said. 'Arise, Roman person.'

Amy leaned sideways towards the Doctor. 'Why does he think you're Caesar?'

Luke glanced at the lipstick smear on the soldier's mouth. 'I think River Song might have something to do with that.'

The soldier led them to a large grand tent. Inside, a very familiar-looking woman wearing a wig and crown to impersonate Cleopatra was sitting down with servants serving her a drink. She smiled at the Doctor and took a sip from her golden cup. 'Hello sweetie.'

Luke, Amy and the Doctor walked up to her. 'River. Hi,' Amy greeted. Luke smiled and waved.

'You graffitied the oldest cliff face in the universe.' The Doctor did not sound impressed.

'You wouldn't answer your phone,' River retorted. She turned to the slaves. 'Go on, give us some space.' Once the slaves bowed and left she stood up and walked to the table, spreading a large scroll out for everyone to see.

Chills ran up Luke's spine as he stared at the artwork. 'Isn't that...?'

'It's a painting. Your friend Vincent,' River explained. 'One of his final works. He had visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one.'

Amy frowned as she examined the artwork. 'Doctor? Doctor, what is this?'

The four of them stared at the Starry Night-like painting. Instead of stars rolling across the dark sky, bursts of flame erupted from the center of the painting. The center of the exploding Tardis.

Amy broke the tense silence first. 'Why is it exploding?'

'Vincent must've gotten a premonition or something,' Luke mused. 'Like a warning for something really big.'

'What, so something's going to happen to the Tardis?' Amy guessed.

'It might not be that literal,' River said. 'Anyway, this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sign, see?' Luke peered closer at the sign. On it, read the exact date and location they were currently at.

The Doctor leaned in. 'Does it have a title?'

River nodded. 'The Pandorica Opens.'

Amy looked around at them. 'The Pandorica? What is it?'

'A box, a cage, a prison,' River suggested. 'It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe.' Unbeknownst to Luke, the Doctor had glanced his way for a second before looking back at the artwork.

Immediately, suspicious suggestions arose in Luke's mind. What could that feared creature be? A Dalek? No, the Doctor had defeated them over and over again. A Cyberman? Also continuously defeated. The Boogeyman? Huh, that was actually a good analogy, but still no. There were worse monsters than the ones under your bed when you were five years old.

'It's a fairytale,' the Doctor insisted. 'A legend. It can't be real.'

'If it is real, it's here and it's opening, and it's got something to do with your Tardis exploding. Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map,' River said as the Doctor began fumbling through scrolls.

He slapped one of the maps over on the table over Vincent's artwork. 'No, but if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe, you'd want to remember where you put it.'

Luke examined the map. It was the landscape of their current location. There was the hill they'd came from, the large flat area was the camp, and a good distance away from that was...

He pointed at the location of what looked like a pile of stones. 'That's a strange thing to put on a map. Rocks or something?'

Amy tapped her finger on the table leg. 'Out-of-place rocks. Looks pretty promising unless they're just drawings of mini paperweights. How should we get there?'

River smiled. 'Saddle up, everyone.'

Luke didn't like horse-riding. He slid off the stallion, slightly dizzy, as Amy jumped off in front of him. She petted it thanks and turned to River and the Doctor, who were scanning the circle of stones.

Amy looked around. 'How come it's not new?' she asked. The stones had obviously been there for a long time. Long enough for pieces to be chipped off and eroded. Bugs rested on the grey rocks.

'Because it's already old,' River answered. 'It's been here thousands of years. No one knows exactly how long.'

'Okay, this Pandorica thing. Last time we saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium.'

Luke remembered the short topic that popped up ages ago as he ran his fingers over the stones, checking for any marking of advanced technology that was as alien to that time period as a Slitheen was to a cat. He shuddered as he remembered the time when Doctor defeated the Weeping Angels, including the one about to kill him from inside his mind. He, Amy, the Doctor and River were alone on a calm beach together, Luke wrapped in a blanket after the traumatic near-death experience with Amy by his side.

Luke and Amy had walked up to the Doctor and River. The Doctor was asking about the man River had killed and gotten sent to prison for.

River smiled and instead of giving her trademark answer to avoid literal future subjects, she replied, 'Yes. I did.'

Luke and Amy were silent as they watched the conversation. The Doctor's face didn't betray any personal opinion. 'A good man?'

'A very good man,' River confirmed. 'The best man I've ever known.'

'Who?'

River didn't state the man's identity. 'You'll see me again quite soon,' she had said. 'When the Pandorica opens.'

'The Pandorica. Ha!' The Doctor leaned in to whisper in River's ear loud enough for Luke and Amy to hear. 'That's a fairytale.'

River didn't protest. 'Doctor, aren't we all? I'll see you there.'

Luke snapped back to reality as they suddenly managed to open up an entrance. The Altar stone shifted aside to reveal a staircase leading down the ground. 'Not much of a fairytale, huh? Let's see.' he muttered to himself as the four of them descended into the darkness.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, the Doctor sonicked a handy torch, setting it aflame and sonicked another one, which he handed to River to light up their way. Luke and Amy followed suit as they unbared a large door and entered to see a massive black cube with circular designs on each face.

'More than just a fairytale,' River breathed.

Clang! Luke jumped as his foot hit something hard. He looked down to see a severed metal arm on the floor, gathering dust. He grimaced slightly, recognizing it as a Cyberman's from the time Sarah-Jane and he had hidden out in their house as Cybermen and Daleks swarmed their street.

The Doctor stared at the arm for a moment before handing his torch to Amy and turning to the Pandorica. He brushed his fingers over a surface, examining it closely. 'There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior,' he murmured. '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.'

'How did it get trapped in there?' Luke wondered, staring at the large prison that felt like it glared and towered over him with power instead of size.

'You know fairytales,' the Doctor replied. 'A good wizard tricked it.'

River rolled her eyes. 'I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him.'

The Doctor looked up, a strange look on his face when Amy commented on the Pandorica's similarities with Pandora's Box. 'Your favorite school topic. Your favorite story.' The Doctor stared at Amy, who blinked back. 'Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence.'

Luke's eyes scanned every detail of the Pandorica. The dust particles clinging to the sides, the thick markings, the patterns on each face. The outside betrayed no information about the deadly insides of the prison. He turned to the Doctor. 'Can you open it?'

The Doctor spun around, forgetting about Amy. 'Easily. Anyone can break into a prison. But I'd rather know what I'm going to find first.'

'We won't have long to wait,' River suddenly said. She pulled away from the wall that she had been closely examining. '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.'

Luke stepped away from the Pandorica slowly. 'How long do we have until we see what's inside?'

'Hours at most,' River replied.

'What kind of security?' the Doctor asked.

'Everything.' River read aloud from her device. 'Deadlocks. Time stops. Matter lines.'

The Doctor's exclamation was quiet but loud enough for Luke to hear the shock in his voice. 'What could need all that?'

'What could get past all that?' River agreed grimly.

The Doctor pressed his ear against a surface, running his fingers along the wall. 'Think of the fear that went into making this box,' he whispered. 'What could inspire that level of fear?' He turned to the Pandorica. 'Hello, you. Have we met?'

Luke wouldn't have denied that possibility.

Amy cleared her throat. 'How could Vincent have known about this? He won't even be born for centuries.'

'The stones,' the Doctor answered. These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening.'

The whisper of a chill wrapped its long cold fingers around Luke heart. 'Everyone, everywhere?' River glanced at him sideways and he immediately knew she was thinking the same thing he had just said.

'Even poor Vincent heard it,' the Doctor continued, oblivious to what Luke and River were thinking. 'In his dreams. But what's in there? What could justify all this?'

'Doctor!' River called. 'Everyone?'

'Anything that powerful, I'd know about it.' The Doctor tensed with annoyance. 'Why don't I know?'

'Doctor!' Luke shouted. 'You said everyone could hear the warning anywhere. So how do we know no one else is coming?'

The Doctor was silent at Luke's words. 'Oh.'

Amy's hand gripped the torch tighter. 'Oh? Oh, what?'

Luckily, they were able to fold back the transmitting signal. Unfortunately, that seemed futile as the readings on River's device began to display more troubles at hand.

'Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million,' River read. 'I don't know. There's too many readings.'

'What kind of starships,' the Doctor asked, eyes fixed on River as she tried to read the device. His answer was given by a horribly familiar voice.

'Maintaining orbit,' a Dalek commanded.

'I obey.' Terror prompted Luke's heart to pound at the second Dalek's voice. 'Shield cover compromised on ion sectors.'

'Daleks.' Amy's eyes were as wide as Luke's. 'Those are Daleks.'

The Doctor gripped his hair and spun around as more Dalek orders were given, the voices clearly indicating the familiar danger approaching fast. 'Yes. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Dalek fleet, minimum twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ah! But we've got surprise on our side.' Optimism faded fast. 'They'll never expect three people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships. Because we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise.'

'Course correction proceeding.' Despite only having heard that particular voice once, Luke remembered Sarah-Jane and him hiding in their house as Cybermen marched the streets, tearing people away from their homes.

'Doctor, Cyberships,' River shouted.

' No, Dalek ships. Listen to them. Those are Dalek ships.' The Doctor's face betrayed horror.

'Yes. Dalek ships and Cyberships.' River stared at him.

'You defeated them both last time, I saw them flying away from outside my house one time,' Luke pointed out. 'I saw them turning against each other.'

'Sontaran,' River called out again from her device. 'Four battlefleets.'

'Sontarans! Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?' The Doctor cried as total cluelessness began to settle.

Luke's heart sank as River read out the next readings. 'Terileptil. Slitheen, Chelonian, Nestene, Drahvin. Sycorax, Haemogoth, Zygon, Atraxi, Draconian. They're all here for the Pandorica.'

The Doctor stepped backwards like to the pounding rhythm of his heartbeats. He turned around slowly, facing the Pandorica with a mixture of horror and awe. 'What are you? What could you possibly be?'

Luke jumped off the white horse. River and he were sent back to the camp to recruit help by the Doctor. What Luke didn't know what after they'd witnessed billions of spaceships soaring around the sky, the Doctor had pulled River aside before sending them off to recruit help.

The Doctor cautiously eyed Luke walking over to the horses and looked back at River. 'Listen,' he whispered quickly. 'I don't want him involved in this, whatever we're doing.'

River didn't question it. 'What do you want me to do with him?'

The Doctor glanced at Luke to make sure he wasn't eavesdropping. 'Just trick him into his bedroom. The Tardis would lock him in.'

'Doctor...'

'I've done it before. He's a kid, River. I have to keep him safe.'

River paused, waiting for him to look at her solemn eyes. 'Vincent's artwork,' she reminded him.

The Doctor mentally slapped himself. 'Well, but that's a pretty unlikely outcome. You can't just make a Tardis explode. That would blow up the universe!'

'Doctor-'

'Just keep him out of this. Okay?'

Silence. 'Okay.'

As Luke and River walked back to the Roman camp, immediately, as the soldiers' eyes settled on them, the deadly shining blades of swords flashed right in front of them. Close enough to stab them with single jabs.

The two time-travelers raised their hands in surrender as they walked into the main tent by knifepoint. Inside, the commander was not amused. 'So. I return to my command after one week and discover we've been playing host to Cleopatra. Who's in Egypt. And dead.'

River smiled. 'Yes. Funny how things work out.'

A flashing spaceship flew past them outside. Luke was starting to wonder how the Doctor and Amy were doing while they were stuck in a confrontation. He didn't think hours was a very long time with the oncoming storm. 'We've come to gather help,' he spoke up. 'From your legion.'

The commander looked at Luke, sizing him up. 'A mere child, is this what you use as spies?'

Luke narrowed his eyes. River remained calm. 'Every word that has come from your mouth about us is wrong. You know nothing of who we are. And Luke's not a spy.'

The commander didn't look convinced. 'Where do you two come from? A place that fools people, that must be.'

River grabbed her gun and shot a wooden stand filled with ornaments. The object disintegrated instantly into thin air, or at least that was it would've looked like to people who didn't know the science behind it. The shining blades withdrew immediately from Luke and River. River pointed the gun at the commander. 'Where do we come from? That's an answer you're not getting. Now listen closely. Your world has visitors. Uninvited guests who don't care a bit about anything. We were sent to get your help.'

The commander looked fearful and worried about River's warnings. 'What is it? What is going on?'

'Our friend,' Luke explained. 'He knows more than you can possibly imagine, about all of this. He isn't a god, but he brings miracles to life. And tonight, he needs your help to save the world.'

A voice behind the commander called from the shadows. 'Sir?'

The commander turned around. 'One moment.' The centurion whispered something in his ear and he muttered back. The commander turned back. 'Well, it seems you have a volunteer.'

The centurion marched up to River and Luke. 'Where do you wish me to proceed?'

River smiled and lowered her gun. She pulled out a map and pointed to where the Pandorica was located. 'There. Get going.'

The centurion left with a handful of soldiers, the commander turned to them again. His gaze was guarded but didn't see them to be enemies. 'So, what are you two going to do?'

'We need to get to our spaceship,' River replied.

Luke and River ran inside the Tardis. River jumped to the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers. 'Luke,' she called without turning around. 'The Doctor said he left a list somewhere in here. Whatever's on it, bring the equipment here. I'm going to bring the Tardis to him.'

'Sure.' Luke entered the Tardis's many rooms, searching for a list of equipment. He hoped the Doctor and Amy were doing okay, as far as being okay went when the Pandorica was opening and pretty much every hostile alien was flying their way. Focus on the list, he told himself. The room he was in was devoid of the list, he pushed open the door to another room. The door slammed and clicked shut behind him just as he realized he was in his own room.

Luke spun around. The door refused to budge as he tugged and yanked at it. 'River!' he cried in fury. 'Let me out!' The Tardis gave him a sympathetic hum in reply. Luke growled and glared at the lock. How could he not have seen this coming? Every time there was a really dangerous threat, the Doctor tried to keep him out of it. Luke was really, really not amused.

'River!' he yelled as the Tardis began to make the familiar whoosh, whoosh noise that indicated materialization. 'River, I know you can hear me!'

Luke wrestled with the doorknob, but nothing worked. He knew that he couldn't get out of his room until the Tardis let him. Taking furious breaths, he clenched his fists and stopped trying to escape the safety confinement the Doctor had committed him to. He glared at the Tardis, knowing full well that she could see him in her own way. He opened his mouth to protest but he had no words.

Luke knew he couldn't get out, no matter what he did. He listened through his door as the Tardis settled somewhere and River exited. She was gone for a while, during which Luke examined every nook and cranny of his room, searching for some way to escape. Nothing.

Eventually, when River came back to the Tardis, to Luke's surprise and relief, she opened his door. 'River, what's going-' She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the console. The Tardis was wobbling around like crazy. The two of them gripped onto it as a bang erupted from the side.

'Something's wrong with the Tardis,' Luke exclaimed as he was almost thrown off his feet.

'River?' The Doctor's voice suddenly came on through the phoning device. 'What's going on?'

River yanked the controls with no effect. 'I don't know. It's like something else is controlling it.'

'You're flying it wrong!' he presumed.

'I'm flying it perfectly,' River yelled. 'You taught me.'

'When was that?' Luke wondered out loud.

'Luke?' The Doctor didn't sound pleased but unsurprised. 'River, didn't you lock him in his room?'

River rolled her eyes. 'If there's something wrong with the Tardis I'm not just going to leave him locked inside.'

There was a pause before the Doctor asked, 'Where are you? What's the date reading?'

Luke checked the console. 'June 26th, 2010.'

The Doctor's answer was quick and frantic. 'You need to get out of there now. Any other time zone. Just go.'

'Why? What's wrong about that date?' Luke asked, aware of the fact that was when Amy had left with them.

River yanked the controls. 'I can't break free.'

'Shut down the Tardis!' the Doctor shouted. 'Shut down everything.'

'I can't!' River yelled. 'Someone else is flying it. An external force. I've lost control.'

'But how, why?' The Doctor's voice was tense with wild confusion. 'Listen to me, just land her anywhere. Emergency landing, now. There are cracks in time. I've seen them everywhere, and they're getting wider. The Tardis exploding is what causes them, but we can stop the cracks ever happening if you just land her.'

With haste powered by fear and determination, Luke scanned the console. He noted every button and switch that wired up to the middle and under. He grabbed a handful of colorful wires under the console and pressed a few buttons. He rolled under the console, rewiring the wires.

'What're you doing?' River asked as her eyes focused on flying the Tardis.

Luke rolled aside as a shower of sparks burst from beside him. He inserted two wires into the main circuit. 'You fly. I'm rewiring some parts of the Tardis that conduct power from the core to rearrange the electricity flow. Maybe we'll have enough power to land somewhere.'

River's hands gripped the console as Luke rearranged the wires as quick as a flash. Sparks erupted from some parts as the Tardis bumped around. Slowly, the whoosh, whoosh noises sounded as it settled down.

River and Luke looked up. 'We've landed,' Luke called to the Doctor.

Luke could almost hear a sigh of relief in the Doctor's voice. 'Okay, just walk out of the doors. If there's no one inside, the Tardis engines shut down automatically. Just get out of there. Run!'

They rushed to the doors, but they were jammed. Luke yanked at the doors. 'Doctor!' he called. 'We can't open the doors. Doctor!'

River ran back to the console. 'Doctor, we can't open the doors! Doctor, please, we've got seconds!' There was no reply except for static. 'Doctor! Doctor, can you hear me?'

The Tardis jerked under Luke's feet, sending him sprawling on the floor. 'I thought we landed,' he protested as the Tardis began to fly again without being piloted to do so.

River checked the console. 'You sure you knew what you did down there?' she called, hanging onto the controls.

Luke stumbled towards her. 'I'm sure! That part of the Tardis's circuits isn't powerful enough to evoke movement. Whatever's happening is probably that same thing that didn't let us land earlier!'

They jumped back as a burst of sparks bloomed from the console. The Tardis was moving wildly, as if trying to shake something loose. River and Luke grabbed onto the console as they tried to land the Tardis again with no success. River grabbed two large tubes from under the controls. 'What're you doing?' Luke shouted over the clanging mechanical Tardis noises.

River slammed the two tubes together, emitting a large shower of sparks from where the two ends met and from the console. The Tardis stopped shaking and the controls shifted back.

Luke followed her as she ran to the doors. Upon opening them, their hearts sank at the sight of their blocked exit.

'I'm sorry, my love,' River murmured to the stone wall. They turned around at the sight of the console spitting sparks like fireworks.

I made up the stuff about mechanics, I know nothing about rewiring. Thanks for reading!