AN: Hello and well done to everyone for getting the wuote right- I should have said, and hope you understand, that all that is now 'bonus points' with only 2 chapters to go- but well done anyway, it was Barbara Johnson.
Also- apologies for multiple cliffies, especially to Spartacus, who doesn't even have Romans to push over them.
This chap's quote (and one of my favorites of all time):
If we discovered that we had only five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them.
Ok- so last chap- the Doctor's in a sort of control centre of the bomb, which we're now pretty sure is what the Time Lord's planned on using to destroy Time and Space- the Time Loop is deteriorating and way above him, which he hasn't yet noticed- Amy is stuck with a crazy time lady/warrior- who Amy's just attacked to stop her from setting off the bomb by activating level 3 interference by shattering the glass ceiling of the control room with a golden spear. Geddit?
Ok- Enjoy!
Unaware of what was going on above him, the Doctor desperately tried to shut down the systems. The familiar gallifreyan master layout had hit him with a wave of nostalgia, but he'd fallen back into it in seconds- like riding a bike, and found out quite quickly that this system was deadlocked.
The only way to physically stop the third level of interference setting off the bomb was by preventing it from happening. The readings said it would happen on the surface though, and the teleport was only working one way- not letting him out.
Suddenly- a thought that spiked guilt and fear through him at once occurred to him, and the Doctor paused mid electrocution.
"Amy…?" He looked around the darkened room- and though shadows hugged the walls, he could see enough to know she wasn't there. The girl he loved. How could he not have missed her?
Swearing the Doctor dropped the wires, exploding planet scurrying from his thoughts as they turned to his companion.
"Amy? AMY!"
She was nowhere and the Doctor slapped a hand against his forehead, running it over his face. She could be anywhere- hurt, lost…
Above him, muted by the thick glass, said girl and a Time Lady grappled with a golden spear.
Trying not to panic the Doctor ran back to the interfaces, moving the windows and crouching to tap in more instructions. The only way he could help Amy now was by stopping the bomb. He checked the clock in the far right of the circular screen. Six human minutes.
Suddenly something caught his eyes- a moving object reflected in the monitor. Glancing up, the Doctor saw a flash of red hair splayed against the glass roof, and above it, a knife wielded by a woman in full Gallifreyan armour.
"AMY!"
X
Amy gasped as the woman threw her to the ground, closing her eyes when she saw the knife. Her last thought was that she loved him. Or would have been, had the knife come down on her throat or chest as she'd expected.
Instead it plunged into the front of her thigh- and with a huff the woman picked up her spear again. Trying to move, then screaming with pain as she really felt the knife past the shock, Amy paused- then dragged herself closer to the woman. The Time Lady raised the spear high- as if this was some kind of ceremony.
"WAIT!" The human screamed, tears of pain and fear streaming down her face as she realized this woman was about to set off the bomb.
"W-why are you doing this? What good does it do blowing up a near deserted planet?"
The woman froze, then turned to her, a predatory look in her eye. "Wait- you don't know?" She glanced down at the Doctor, who was working frantically on the monitors. Amy stared helplessly at the back of his head and wished she could see his face one more time.
The Gallifreyan's words cut through her thoughts.
"Didn't he tell you?"
Amy frowned. "Tell me what?"
The woman laughed her icy laugh. "Oh- this is perfect."
She vanished, then reappeared, picking up her spear again- as she probably had done a hundred thousand times. Amy tried to sit up, escape. Quick as a whip the woman's hand went to her belt and withdrew the knife which had returned to her when she'd restarted her Time Loop- flinging it at the girl's other thigh.
Amy tried to move, but the blade was buried deep inside her leg, and she cried out as both bled profusely.
"It's not just a bomb." The woman called out, disregarding the girl's distress as she made her leisurely way over.
"It's the bomb- the one the Gallifreyan's plan to use to destroy all time and space." So she was right, thought Amy to herself, without much surprise. It was fairly obvious when an armoured Time Lady turned up and claimed this act would win them the war.
Weakly, sweating, crying and bleeding, Amy asked. "How?"
The Time Lady scoffed at the wounded human. "You wouldn't understand."
Amy closer her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm about to die with you. Just try me."
Struck by her bravery, the woman fell silent. The she spoke again. "When we're children, Gallifreyan's are made to look into the untempered schism.."
Amy nodded. "I know." Her voice was barely a whisper- and her vision was beginning to blur from pain and blood loss.
The other woman cast a scornful glance down at the Doctor. "I see. Well, we placed the schism at the centre of this planet, and set it up with hundreds of mechanical arms and claws, powered by the strongest explosives we could create, to pull it apart and destroy it. Much like a black hole, only faster- once the schism is damaged it will grow and grow and grow- swallowing all the universe."
Amy tried to keep her fear to herself. Instead her eyes met the other woman's. "And you really think that's a good thing? Really."
The Gallifreyan blinked. "I- I, yes of course!"
Raising a finger, as if she was pointing at a naughty child, Amy slumped down onto the glass. "You stuttered."
The woman shook her head, going to defend herself, but Amy held up a hand. "No- let me speak. I'm bleeding, I can't move, and you're about to kill me. You owe it to me to hear what I have to say."
At that the soldier fell silent, still walking mechanically forwards.
Amy took a deep, shaky breath, taking the dagger out of her thigh and hissing in pain, dropping it on the crystal.
"You might not be like Him, but you are part of his race- and I know, from a surprising amount of experience, that that means you'll share a part of his heart as well as his characteristics." Her tired eyes met the strangers. "I'm hoping it's the right part. This universe is so much more than your war- so much more than pain, and suffering, and bloodthirst. It's got so much to offer."
Amy took a shaky breath. The woman was only a few metres from the centre of the glass now- her spear was still clutched tightly in her hand.
"And it's more than Gallifrey. From what he's told me- Gallifrey was beautiful, and incredible, and I wish I could have seen it, if only for him. But you can't sacrifice the rest of life for its death. You've got to let it go. Don't do this. Please."
She let out a shaky breath.
The woman was already shaking her head, and Amy sighed, wishing the Doctor's people weren't so stubborn.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to be stuck in a Time Loop as a Time lady?" The woman demanded. Her voice was verging on hysteria, and she was standing still- they both knew she was stretching the limits of the loop.
"It used to be a torture. I've been conscious for two hundred and seventy six years- repeating the same two minutes over and over and over. Every time, trying to get here, to end it. Every time not quite getting there. I have nothing left except to fulfill my task- and if I don't- nothing has any purpose."
With that she raised her spear one more time- and this time Amy knew she'd kill them all. She stared down through the glass at the Doctor- and hoped whatever he was doing would work. Though she wanted to, she couldn't hope much.
X
The Doctor yelled in frustration, punching the fancy high tech monitors.
"No no no no no NO!"
He couldn't reactivate the Time Loop- something was interfering with it too much, and now there was nothing he could do. The predicted interference timer conveniently counted down the seconds till the bomb went off and ended time.
The monitor read sixty eight. Clapping his hands together the Doctor paced back and forth, shouting at himself.
"Think think THINK!"
He wished he could somehow slow down time- though the rational side of him reminded him that it was impossible. He glanced up- Amy was talking to the Time Lady and bleeding heavily on the glass. The other woman clutched a heavy ceremonial spear.
The Doctor swore, pacing back and forth, wishing now to just stop time, freeze this moment to give him longer.
He paused mid step, a thunderstuck expression breaking into his features.
"Freeze time!"
Running to another monitor he pulled up the windows on the Time Loop- the levels were critical, but if he rewrote the software…
Thanking the God of Time for the past fifty years of emergency reprogramming, the Doctor set to work, hands flying. He pulled out his screwdriver, laughing a little and zapping the controls. Then he typed in the final command and looked up to where the woman was raising the spear. Either the planet would blow up- or somehow this would work.
Of course- if he used his plan, it'd affect Amy too, and he didn't know how. The Doctor's hand hovered over the switch that would send off the command, as he stared up at the mad, beautiful, brave, childish, adventurous girl he'd grown to love, and a thousand moments flashed through his mind.
Amy, laughing and brushing her hair behind her ear, watching him sideways with those golden eyes…
Amy, leaning into him, holding him- making him whole again like no one ever could, her body warm against his.
Amy, crying, each new crystalline tear freshly breaking his heart.
Amy, her lips on his- warm and excited, tasting, exploring, wanting…
Amy, human and beautiful, fighting space bats, saving Star, starting a snowball fight- wearing a golden dress and dancing with him to poetry…
The Doctor gulped, then flicked the switch, meeting her eyes as he did.
He shouted over the deafening grinding off machinery as the Time Lady's spear came down and his command was processed. He didn't care about what would happen next, standing far below her and unsure whether these were his last moments.
Instead he stared into her face like it held all the secrets and beauty of the universe- to him it did, and she saw him mouth the words as he shouted them, knowing he could die if these were the last things he said.
"I LOVE YOU!"
So yes, I'm not that dramatic at all really- and this time you get no hints, plus 10 review rule-cos this is the last cliffie- and I'm mean, and hope you're enjoying this.
Thanks as ever for reading this whole series, I really hope you've enjoyed it!
Kat