Chapter Nineteen:
"Up, up, up!" the Doctor said hurriedly as he helped Scarlett up off the ground, the debris from the explosion settling down around them.
When they finally caught up with Amy and Rory, people were shouting in the streets and running around in fear.
"Rosanna's initiating the final phase," the Doctor stated with a frown as smoke and vapour started to cover the sky.
"We need to stop her. Come on!" urged Amy, taking a step in the opposite direction.
"No, no. Get back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor.
"You can't stop her on your own," Scarlett reasoned.
"We don't discuss this! I tell you to do something, Amy, Scarlett, and you do it!" he practically yelled.
The girls jumped at the sudden outburst and Amy stormed off, leaving the Doctor, Rory, and Scarlett behind. The latter frowned and, with one last disappointed look at the Doctor, followed her best friend. She hadn't realised that Rory's words had hit so close to home and she never thought he would actually do something about it.
"Thank you," said Rory with a relieved sigh before he ran after his fiancé and best friend.
"Yeah… you're welcome," the Doctor frowned.
"You're too late. Such determination just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom," said Signora Calvierri as she entered her throne room to find the Doctor.
"The girls have gone, Rosanna," he said.
"You're lying."
"Shouldn't I be dead? Hm?" the Doctor said somewhat smugly as Rosanna turned to leave. "Rosanna, please, help me. There are 200,000 people in this city."
"So save them," she shrugged before exiting the room.
Amy, Rory, and Scarlett were making their way down the street when their path was blocked by a soaking wet Francesco – who just so happened to be Rosanna's son.
"Both of you; run!" Rory said as he picked up some candlesticks, using them to make the sign of a cross. Francesco ignored him, and started to advance on both Scarlett and Amy. The two girls clasped hands and backed away slowly in fear. "This way, you freak! Don't! This...this... this way, you big, stupid, great... SpongeBob!" continued Rory. If they weren't about to get killed by a fish from space, Scarlett would have laughed at his poor attempt to be intimidating. "The only thing I've seen uglier than you is... your mum!"
Francesco stopped abruptly and turned to face Rory.
"Did you just say something about Mummy?"
Rory's eyes widened and he picked up a broom that was resting against the wall, and started to brandish it like a sword. Francesco wasn't fazed. He simply pulled out a real sword and advanced on Rory who blocked the attack with the broom.
Scarlett and Amy glanced at each other, as if they were creating a plan without using their words. With a nod, Scarlett turned to watch the fight. "Careful! Hit him! This way, bring him this way! Rory!"
Francesco sliced the broom handle then, leaving Rory defenceless. He stuck his sword through a hanging drape and Rory quickly dodged out of the way.
"Ugh! You stink of fish!" said Rory with a disgusted frown.
"Well, I'm hardly going to smell of cheese and biscuits," the fish from space replied viciously.
Rory then tripped and fell backwards onto the ground, hitting his head. Francesco leaped, changing form in mid-air, and landed on top of Rory. During the commotion, Scarlett and Amy had made their way up the stairs that were just behind them.
"Hey! Mummy's boy!" Scarlett called.
Amy didn't hesitate, and pulled out a compact mirror from her pocket, watching as Francesco exploded in the reflected sunlight.
"Oh!" frowned Rory, wiping the dust off of his clothes.
"That was lucky!" sighed Amy as Rory made his way up the steps to them. "Why did you make the sign of a cross, you numpty?"
"Oh, oh, right! I'm being reviewed now, am I?" he replied before he was cut off by Amy pressing her lips to his in a passionate embrace.
Although she had seen this happen many times before, Scarlett still scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Really guys?" she said, only to be ignored as they continued to kiss. After a few moments, Scarlett rolled her eyes good-naturedly and walked off, calling over her shoulder; "I'm gonna go help the Doctor. Join me when you're done."
"What did I tell you?" the Doctor asked when Scarlett ran into the throne room.
"I don't know. You say a lot of things; it's hard to keep up," she shrugged as Amy and Rory caught up with her.
"Get out!" he tried again, "I need to stabilise the storm."
"We're not leaving you!" Rory said.
"Right," the Doctor frowned as he made his way over to Rory, "So one minute it's, "You make people a danger to themselves," the next it's, "We're not leaving you!" But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets –" He was cut off as the ground started to shake and parts of the ceiling fell down, causing them all to fall the ground.
"What was that?" Scarlett frowned.
"Nothing," the Doctor shrugged as they stumbled back to their feet. "Bit of an earthquake."
"An earthquake?" Amy asked.
"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about them."
"No?" questioned Rory.
"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake," Rory's eyes widened as the Doctor continued. "Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator."
The Doctor then runs out of the room as Amy, Rory, and Scarlett each sit at the throne, pulling out as many wires as they can. They barely noticed the sparks that emitted from the chair as they were so focused on helping the Doctor. Once they were satisfied, they stood up; running outside as fast as their legs could carry them.
"There he is!" Rory shouted, pointing to the sky where the Doctor was scaling the building. The rain was pouring down fast, obscuring their view slightly.
"Oh God, what if he falls?" Scarlett frowned.
Neither Amy nor Rory answered. Instead, Rory simply pulled both his fiancé and best friend into his side as he cheered the Doctor on. "Come on!"
"Come on!" added Amy.
Scarlett's teeth sank into her lower lip as the Doctor fiddled with some type of device. He searched frantically before finding a switch, and flipping it off. The rain then stopped, the clouds cleared, and birds began to sing.
Relief washed over the three bystanders before they laughed and hugged each other tightly. The Doctor glanced down at the street as if he sensed their gaze and gave a small wave.
"You did it!" Rory shouted happily.
As the townsfolk started to clean up after the storm; Amy, Rory, Scarlett, and the Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS.
"Now, then, what about you two, eh?" the Doctor asked. "Next stop Leadworth Register Office? Maybe I can give you away."
"It's fine. Drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've –" started Rory.
"Stay with us," Amy said suddenly. "Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."
He turned to look at the Doctor expectantly.
"Fine with me," he smiled.
"Yeah?" Rory asked with a smile. "Yes, I would like that."
"And it's fine with me, too," Scarlett added. "Thanks for asking."
"Nice one. We will pop the kettle on," Amy grinned, throwing her arm around Scarlett's shoulders. "Hey, look at this, Scarlie. Got our spaceship, got our boys… Our work here is done."
With a laugh, they both entered the TARDIS, leaving Rory to scoff and say "We are not their boys."
"Yeah, we are," the Doctor corrected.
"Yeah, we are," Rory sighed.
The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and just as he was about to enter, paused suddenly.
"Rory, listen to that."
"What?" Rory frowned as he listened carefully. "All I can hear is… silence."
A/N: So, yes, that was a crap ending and I apologise. I'm still experiencing those technical difficulties, so updates will be a little... all over the place, but I will do my best to update whenever I can. You can always check out the tumblr I made for this (raggedywrites) if you'd like, or just check out my contact information on my profile! Thank you for reading, and I'll see you soon with Amy's Choice! Xx