Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.
It was nearly dusk by the time they all heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS. Martha started to sputter indignantly as papers began to fly around the room. "Doctor! Don't bring that thing in here!"
Jack just laughed. "I don't think you have much of a say in this, Martha. You know he parks it wherever it is most convenient."
Amy was tempted to agree with Martha on this one. Some of Rory's IV bags started swaying in the wake of the TARDIS and it took both her and Mickey to keep them from toppling over onto her nearly comatose husband.
Of course the Doctor was oblivious to their exasperation as he waltzed out, big smile plastered all over his face. "Do you know that they have reinstated the sanitary elevators there? I forgot how much fun those things are - remind me to take you there sometime, Amy, you'll absolutely love it."
He finally noticed that they were all glaring at him - except for Jack, who seemed perfectly content to watch and laugh at all of the proceedings. "Um, right. Something happen while I was gone?"
"No, but you do realize that we are in an intensive care section of the hospital and you just blazed in here with no regard as to what effect it might have on the patient?" Martha snapped as she started to straighten the IV poles and check the readings on the screens.
"Ah, yes, sorry about that." The Doctor had the decency to look a bit guilty.
"Did you get the medicine?" Amy asked before he could get derailed by another question that she was almost positive Jack would contribute.
"Of course I did, Pond. When don't I deliver on my promises?" He came over to Martha, digging around in his pocket and pulling out a small packet filled with a sort of bluish gel. He handed it to the Doctor with a flourish. "Here you go - just put a small amount on the area and spread it around. This in here is enough for a week and by the time you have finished the packet, he should be all cured."
"Should be?" Amy asked.
"Well, yes, but if he needs more, I can always go back."
"If you do, I want to go with you. It's been far too long since I've been on the TARDIS." Jack strode forward, big smile on his face.
"And you think I'll just let you waltz on board her?" The Doctor turned a serious face towards the man, but he couldn't keep the sternness for more than a second. "I'd love to have you. In fact -"
"Doctor!" Amy interrupted sharply. "Rory has yet to regain consciousness. I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd leave the happy reunions for later."
That sobered up everyone in the room rather quickly. The Doctor came alongside her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Pond, I'm a little nervous about what I'm going to do next. And, you know me, whenever I get nervous, I start to ramble and -"
"It's alright, Doctor. What are you going to do?" Her voice dropped to a near-whisper as she examined Rory's pale features.
"I'm going to link up with his consciousness, essentially go inside his mind, but he's had people doing that to him all week so I have no idea what state his mind will be in at this point. This could be very dangerous...for both of us."
Amy looked between the two of them. "There's no other way?"
"I'm afraid not. The damage is in his mind - that's the only place we can go to fix it."
Martha, who was busy applying the paste to Rory's burns, paused in her ministrations. "Are there any steps we can take to pull you out should something go wrong?"
The Doctor drummed his fingers on the bed, his eyes fixed on Rory's face. "I suppose you could try to pull me away from him, but depending on how strong our connection is, that might not even been able to break our link."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Mickey jumped in.
The Doctor smiled. "I'm afraid not. Just keep being the beautiful people you are and hope for the best. Do you have a chair that I can sit in?"
"Of course." Martha took a step away from the bed.
"No, no, wait a second. That won't work. Our foreheads have to be touching in order for this to work. How are we going to do this?" The Doctor examined the unconscious man's body, coming up with and dismissing ideas in a few seconds flat. "There's no way around it. Can you shift him to the side of the bed? I'm going to have to sit down beside him."
They slid Rory over to the far right side of the bed, leaving enough room for the Doctor's lanky frame to scramble up on the left. He pushed up his sleeves and cracked his fingers. "Alright, I have no idea how long this is going to take, but if something appears to go wrong on either his end or mine, do try to disconnect us."
"Should we attach you to a heart monitor? Just in case?" Martha asked.
"No, no, but, you know, if I start spasming or something, that might be a good indication that I'm in pain." The Doctor leaned forward.
"Doctor!" Amy grabbed his arm.
He looked back at her.
"Be careful. Please, be careful. I want Rory back, but don't needlessly endanger yourself. I need my boys...both of them."
"We'll be back. I promise." He wasted no more time. His hands came to rest on either side of Rory's face and then he hunched over and touched their foreheads together.
The sky was a dusty red, clogged with all manner of debris from the broken city underneath it. The buildings were a mess - some from the Roman period, others from the Victorian, some modern day - but all broken down, abandoned and forgotten. Even the air felt heavy and oppressive.
The Doctor picked his way through the rubble, his shoes and trousers catching on bits of stone as he went along. He could detect no sign of life, but there were whispers all around him - accusing, vicious whispers. Rory's mind was in worse shape than he anticipated.
Speaking of the Roman, he was nowhere in sight and the debris stretched out for miles all around. Instead of wasting time trudging through the landscape, he cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Rory! Rory Williams! Where are you? It's me, the Doctor! I've come to help you."
The whispers in the air paused for a moment, as if listening to him, before they continued, stronger than before. Shouting wasn't going to work, but perhaps if he followed the general direction of the whispers, he could find the source.
He strode a few quick paces to the right, but, if anything, the whispers softened. He went back to the beginning and walked left. Still nothing. Continuing forward though - there was promise.
Each step he took, the whispers became a little more distinct, enough for him to catch a few words like "Pandorica," "Roman," and "fire." As he continued following the voices, he discovered they were leading him to an old structure that looked somewhat like a broken-down Roman temple. The whispers seemed to center around this area and, if he squinted, he could make out vague shapes moving in the dusty air.
As he reached the perimeter of the temple, he saw that the shapes were nothing more than shadows. They did nothing to hinder his approach, but it was clear that all of the vicious whispers came from them. They all directed their attention to the center of the temple, where a large column rested on its side and there, huddled up at one end, arms clamped over his head, was Rory.
The Doctor slowly walked up to him, being careful not to startle him. When he was within three feet of the man, he stopped. "Rory?"
Rory's already tense frame flinched in tighter, but he said nothing.
"Rory, it's me, the Doctor. I'm here to help you, but you have to look at me."
The man refused to budge.
"Please say something. At least acknowledge that I'm here. I'm not a shadow. I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm going to bring you home."
Rory's voice was hoarse, grating. "I don't have a home. I don't have anything anymore. And you're not real, so go away and leave me alone."
The Doctor crouched down in front of the man, careful not to get too close. He knew Rory had a mean swing. He put a hand on the man's knee. A shudder ran through the body. "Rory, look at me. I know people have messed with your mind all week, made you doubt what's real and what's not. I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to prevent that from happening. But you have a beautiful wife who needs and loves you, a daughter who wants to get to know you better, and I know you father misses you. I miss you too. You keep me and Amy grounded. We desperately need that. Come back with me."
"How do I know that you haven't killed my family?" Rory finally lowered his hands. His eyes were red and bloodshot, his hair sticking up all over the place. But it was his expression that worried the Doctor most.
Rory, in his own sort of deadpan way, always had a glimmer of joy about him, a deep thirst to live in a way that counted for something. He never gave up, even when the Silence nearly destroyed his family. He kept fighting for the ones he loved the most. But now, there was no sign of that determination.
"Rory," the Doctor said as he lowered himself to the ground, bundling his long legs up into an Indian style, "I need you to think back with me."
Rory scoffed. "Yeah, think back, think of all the history you've seen. Show us where all of its weak points are so we can take over the world, well, look around you! Does it look like this world needs to be taken over? The world is always being taken over - look at all the wars, destruction, and utter waste of life - and all from our own people! Do you honestly think that a new species taking over would bring peace? We're wicked, always trying to climb our way to the top, to prove that we're important and you lot are just the same! You try to crush everyone, rule them - you have absolutely no desire to help them. You're starting all wrong and that's why your empire will end up just like all of these other ones you see - broken and fallen and worthless. You keep tearing each other down in your greed and your hate and then you wonder what's wrong with the world."
"I know, Rory, I know. And believe me, I've seen it happen on more planets than this one. I may pretend that other species are more advanced than you lot, but really, there's always that one person that wants to destroy everything for the sake of their pride and greed. There's wickedness and arrogance rampant through all of time and space and sometimes, it gets to be too much and you wonder...is it all worth it? Why do I keep trying to fix things when I know these people are perfectly content to mess it all up again?"
Rory listened with rapt attention. His whole frame went still. For the first time since the Doctor arrived, Rory actually seemed to see the alien for the first time.
"You know why I don't lose hope?"
"Why?" Rory's voice broke on that one word.
"Because I meet people like you."