"So what's this got to do with the TARDIS?" Amy asked as the Doctor examined the Pandorica, she and Alex standing a safe distance away from it.
"Nothing, as far as I know," the Doctor said, which Alex knew was an outright lie.
"But Vincent's painting! The TARDIS was exploding," she reminded him, remembering the charred and singed piece of the TARDIS sign he had showed her.
"Is that going to happen?" Amy picked up.
"One problem at a time," the Doctor told them. He peered at his screwdriver. "There's force-field technology inside this box. If I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge. Could buy us half an hour."
"What good is half an hour?" Amy scoffed.
"There are fruit flies live on Hoppledom Six that live for twenty minutes and they don't even mate for life," the Doctor retorted. He paused a moment, reconsidering this. "There was going to be a point to that. I'll get back to you."
Alex rolled her eyes. "I think he's trying to say that you can get a lot done in half an hour."
Amy nodded. That made sense. She watched as Alex circled the box, clearly impressed by it. Once she was out of sight, Amy removed the ring-box from her pocket and strolled up to the Doctor.
"So, are you proposing to someone?" Amy asked, her voice low so Alex wouldn't hear. "Because I fully support you asking Alex to marry you."
The Doctor nearly passed out from shock and at how right that sentence sounded. "I'm sorry?" he finally squeaked. He watched as Amy held the ring-box up and opened it, exposing the brilliant diamond ring inside.
"I found this in your pocket," Amy explained. "And, if it is for Alex, you should know it's far too big for her finger."
The Doctor tried to ignore what that statement implied. "No," he said, stepping closer to her. "No, no, that's, er, a memory. A friend of mine. Someone I lost. Do you mind?" He reached for the box, but Amy jerked her hand away, intently studying the ring.
At that moment, Alex came back around. She was about to ask what they were doing, but then she saw the ring-box in Amy's hand, so she stayed silent.
"It's weird," Amy murmured. "I feel. . . I don't know . . . something."
The Doctor watched her, wondering if Amy might be able to remember Rory based on this ring. Deciding to nudge her in the right direction, he began to explain. "People fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, luggage, half-eaten meals, rings. Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And if something can be remembered, it can come back."
The Doctor and Alex watched as for a split second, a flash of recognition lit in Amy's eyes. But just as quickly, Amy shook her head, pushing it away. She shut the box and handed it back to the Doctor. "So, was she nice, your friend?"
The Doctor didn't answer, instead taking back the ring and nodding his thanks. He tucked it in his jacket pocket, about to go back and examine the Pandorica some more, when he suddenly asked, "Remember that night you flew away with me?"
Amy smiled a little. "Of course I do."
"And you asked me why I was taking you and I told you there wasn't a reason." The Doctor paused a moment before revealing, "I was lying."
Amy blinked. "What, so you did have a reason?"
"Your house," the Doctor answered.
Amy rolled her eyes at his cryptic response, but Alex straightened up. She had always thought something was off about that house, and it had nothing to do with Prisoner Zero. "My house," Amy sighed.
"It was too big, too many empty rooms," Alex recalled, causing all eyes to shoot to her. Shrugging, she said, "I always thought that was a little weird."
"You grew up in a huge house!" Amy pointed out.
Alex nodded, acknowledging this. "Yes, but my grandmother spent money like it was going out of style. Your house. . ." She trailed off, not sure how to finish.
The Doctor nodded, acknowledging Alex's words with a quick tilt of his screwdriver at her. "Exactly." He stepped closer to Amy. "Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?"
But before Amy could even begin to formulate a reply, a sudden zapping shot rang out and hit an area of the box near her head. She screamed as sparks flew. Grabbing Alex's hand, the Doctor and her ducked and ran around the Pandorica, Amy going around and meeting them from the other side. They stopped to catch their breath at one of the corners that provided the most cover.
"What was that?" Alex demanded, her voice a bit wheezy from the sudden running.
"Okay, I need a proper look," the Doctor said. "Gotta draw its fire, give it a target."
"How?" Amy gasped.
"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes," the girls said slowly, wondering where he was going with this.
"Sorry," he said quickly before running out from behind the box to shout, "Look at me! I'm a target!"
"IDIOT!" Alex screeched as he was shot at twice by whatever was out there before he ducked behind another pillar. "Have you gone mad?!"
"What is that?" Amy shouted before the two could begin fighting again.
"Cyberarm!" the Doctor called back. "Arm of a Cyberman."
"And what's a Cyberman?" Amy questioned.
"Oh, sort of part man, part robot," the Doctor answered casually. "The organic part must have died out years ago. Now the robot part is looking for, well, fresh meat."
"What, us?" Amy shrieked while Alex shook her head. There was no way in hell she was letting that Cyberarm get a piece of her!
"It's just like being an organ donor," the Doctor explained, "except you're alive and sort of . . . screaming. I need to get round behind it. Could you draw its fire?"
Alex gaped at him. "What, like you did?!"
"You'll be fine if you're quick!" the Doctor assured her. "It's only got one arm, literally!" He grinned and gave the girls a quick thumbs up.
"That doesn't help!" Alex retorted.
Amy only gave a thumbs up back to him and grabbed Alex's arm. Alex sighed and quickly began running alongside Amy, both girls screaming as they did so. Shots whizzed past them, one coming so close that it singed part of Alex's hair. As the girls ducked behind a large pillar, Alex watched the Doctor pounce on the arm and use his sonic on it.
"Doctor?" she called out nervously. She and Amy cautiously stepped out from behind the pillar, one hand around Amy's wrist, ready to jerk her back at the slightest occurrence.
"Scrambled its circuits," the Doctor explained. "But stay where you are. It could be bluffing."
"Bluffing? It's an arm," Amy argued, taking a step closer despite the Doctor's warning.
"An arm that tried to kill us!" Alex pointed out. She took a few deep breaths, feeling her heart pound like a drum at a rock concert. Adrenaline rushed through her at lightning speed, the only thing really keeping her upright.
"I said stay where you are!" the Doctor shouted.
Suddenly, Alex felt something wrap around her ankle. She let out a surprised yelp, then looked down to see some kind of thick coil wrapped around her ankle. From beside her, Amy yelped as well as another coil wrapped around her ankle.
"Doctor?" the girls called out. Just then, they were both pulled to the floor. Alex screamed and thrashed around, digging at the coil with the toe of her free boot.
The Doctor looked up in alarm. "Amy! Alex!" he shouted. But just before he could make a move for them, the Cyberarm in his hand shocked him, electrocuting him, causing the Doctor to fall to the ground unconscious.
"Doctor!" Amy and Alex screamed.
Alex groaned. Well, that certainly helped. She turned her head to see what had a hold of her and Amy and was shocked to see a Cyberman head wriggling around on the floor, two of its wires gripping the girls. Alex growled and kicked at the coil, but it refused to budge.
"Alex!" Amy called out fearfully. Alex turned to see that coils were now wrapped around Amy's wrists, the head inching closer to her.
"Amy! Hold on!" Alex cried. She kicked once more at the coil, succeeding in the wire jerking back from her ankle and at sending a shooting pain up her leg. Alex closed her eyes, feeling painful tears water up, and she blindly reached out for Amy.
"Alex!" Amy cried again. Alex opened her eyes and looked up. Somehow, Amy had managed to get to her feet, the head now held in her hands before her. Alex watched, dumbstruck, as the head split open, revealing a human skull.
Amy screamed louder than before, Alex letting out a squeak as the head fell to the floor, landing just an inch away from her feet. Amy then struggled to keep the head at bay as the halves snapped at her, trying to eat her own head, seeing it as 'fresh meat'.
"Hit it against something!" Alex advised.
Amy acknowledged this with a slight nod of her head before quickly beating the head against a nearby column. After a couple of bangs, the head finally released her. Amy sighed with relief and tossed it to the floor, watching as it crawled away.
"Are you okay?" Alex demanded, rushing over to her, hopping over the skull as she did so.
Amy nodded, but she still appeared a bit shaken. "Yeah, I'm – OW!"
"What is it?" Alex asked fearfully.
Amy didn't answer, instead reaching behind her to pull something out of her neck. It was a tiny dart, apparently from part of the disassembled Cyberman. Just as Alex was beginning to hope that it hadn't been on her long enough to cause any damage, Amy stumbled, her eyes fluttering. Alex quickly caught her. "Okay, okay! Amy, stay with me!"
"You will be assimilated," a mechanical, robotic voice announced.
"Yeah? You and whose body?" Amy retorted, stumbling again as Alex struggled to keep her steady.
They didn't have to wait long. Heavy thumping sounded from around the corner, and a second later, a Cyberman missing an arm and its head appeared before them. It calmly picked up the head and reattached it before marching ahead, its lone arm reaching for the girls.
"Go, go, go!" Alex cried, putting herself in front of Amy and backing up quickly, forcing the redhead to keep up with her, less she get stepped on.
The girls continued going backwards until they fell into a smaller room, the doors falling shut behind them. The two leaned back against the wall, weary from the last few minutes. There was dead silence on the other side of the door, making Alex wonder whether something had happened to the Cyberman or if it was just pulling a trick on them. It had to have just a little humanity in it, and that seemed like something it might do before claiming them as new parts.
Amy and Alex inched closer to the door, pressing their ears to the cool metal to try and hear what was going on. Suddenly, a huge blade sliced through the door just inches from their faces. The girls screamed bloody murder, backing away as the door opened, revealing the Cyberman, now impaled with a huge Roman Gladius sword. A Roman soldier stood in the doorway.
Amy blinked and stumbled again as she struggled to stay on her feet. "Who, who are you?"
The Centurion stepped out of the shadows and removed his helmet. Alex's eyes widened. No, it couldn't be possible. He was dead! He didn't exist!
"Hello, Amy," Rory Williams smiled.
In response, Amy's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she tumbled downwards, the dart's effects finally getting to her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rory cried, quickly catching her. Alex watched, too stunned to speak, as he lifted his fiancée in his arms and carried her to a nearby stone.
"This is impossible," Alex breathed.
"Lovely to see you too, Alex," Rory retorted.
Alex nearly fainted herself hearing her friend speak her name. She inched forwards a little, reaching out far enough to tap his breastplate. The metal clinked under her nail. "Oh my God," Alex gasped. "It is you!" Before Rory knew it, the girl had flung herself into his arms, gripping him tightly.
"Okay!" Rory gasped, stumbling back under Alex's weight. "This is what I expected to happen. This is nice." He quickly hugged the brunette back.
Alex grinned and pulled back, starting to bounce on her feet, before she suddenly frowned as she thought of something. She cocked her head at Rory. "Rory, not that I'm not absolutely thrilled to see you, but how. . .?"
"Sir!" another Roman soldier called as he stepped into the room. "The man's coming round."
"Amy?!" the Doctor called out, right on cue. "Alex?! Where's Amy and Alex?!"
"She's fine, Doctor," Rory assured him as the Doctor came rushing into the room. "Amy's unconscious."
The Doctor hurried over to Amy and quickly scanned her. A moment later, he sighed in relief. "Okay. Yes, she's sedated, that's all. Half an hour, she'll be fine." Then, noticing Alex, he seized the girl in a tight hug, nearly knocking the wind out of her. "And Alex Locke! How are you? Are you alright? The Cyberman didn't snitch anything off you, did he?"
Alex laughed. "No, no, I'm fine." Still, she didn't budge an inch as the Doctor kissed her on the forehead, grateful that she was still alive. He didn't know what he'd have done if Alex died at the Cyberman's hand.
The Doctor turned to the Roman soldier standing behind him. "Okay, Romans," he surmised. "Good. I was just wishing for Romans. Good old River. How many?"
"Fifty men up top, volunteers," Rory reported. He turned to the Cyberman, lying lifeless thanks to the sword in its chest. "What about that thing?"
"I think we're good," Alex answered, taking a look at the Cyberman. She reached out to tap it on the arm, but the Doctor jerked her back before her nail could hit the metal.
"Fifty?" he repeated incredulously. "You're not exactly a legion." Alex then noticed that he hadn't even commented on Rory's reappearance; it was like he didn't see it at all.
"Your friend was very persuasive," Rory complimented, "but it's a tough sell."
"Yes, I know that, Rory!" the Doctor remarked irritably. "I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious!"
"Really?" Alex muttered as Rory gave him a questioning look.
"But we need everything we can get," the Doctor went on, not hearing Alex or noticing Rory's doubtful look. "Okay, Cyberweapons!" He reached over and pulled two guns from their slots, the weapons completely covered in cobwebs. "This is basically a sentry box, so headless wonder here was a sentry. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt."
"Doctor—"
"Hush, Rory!" the Doctor scolded, not really registering who he was talking to. "Thinking! Why leave a Cyberman on guard, unless it's a Cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Okay, no, not a Cyberthing, but what? What? No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory. Something big! Something right slap in front of me! I can feel it."
"Yeah, I think you probably are," Rory agreed.
"I'll say," Alex quipped. She was actually kind of enjoying this. She couldn't wait until the Doctor figured out Rory was right there in front of him.
"I'll get it in a minute," the Doctor sighed. He adjusted the weapons in his arms and headed out the door.
Alex and Rory exchanged a look. "Wait for it," Alex said, keeping her eyes on the door. "Three, two, one." Right on 'one', the Cyberweapons dropped to the floor with a clatter, and the Doctor cautiously re-entered the room, eyes wide. He stepped in front of Rory and placed a finger on his armor to push him, causing the young man to rock slowly on his feet. There was a short silence.
"Hello again," the Doctor said, breaking the stunned silence.
"Hello," Rory breathed back.
"How've you been?" the Doctor asked, not really sure what else to say. There wasn't a manual for this.
"Good. Yeah, good," Rory sputtered. "I mean, Roman."
"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude," the Doctor blurted, "but you died."
"Yeah, I know," Rory nodded. "I was there."
"You died, and then you were erased from time," the Doctor explained.
"You didn't just die," Alex jumped in. "You were never born at all. You never existed."
"Erased?" Rory repeated. "What does that mean?"
"How can you be here?" the Doctor questioned.
Rory shook his head. "I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?" the Doctor and Alex echoed.
"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting." Rory turned away from them to focus on the unconscious redhead on the stone in front of him. He ran a hand over the side of Amy's head, making her moan and stir, but she didn't wake. "Did she miss me?" he wondered.
But before the Doctor or Alex could respond, a sudden rumbling sounded throughout the room. It sounded like something was opening. The Doctor ran out of the room, Alex and Rory just behind him. They caught up with him in the Pandorica chamber and stopped in their tracks. In front of them, the circular symbols on the box were glowing bright green and moving.
The Doctor scanned the structure as Rory cried out, "What is it? What's happening?"
"The final phase," the Doctor answered, not looking away.
"It's opening," Alex revealed. She stared at the structure in wonder. What could be so powerful that it could escape the perfect prison? She was pulled out of her thoughts as something beeped nearby. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator.
"You're surrounded," River stated.
Tell us something we don't know! Alex thought.
"Have you got a plan?"
"Yes," the Doctor confirmed as he waved the sonic around the Pandorica. "Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment." He disconnected and stared at the box. "What are you?" he wondered. "They're all here, all of them, all for you. What could you possibly be?"
Suddenly, he turned and darted past them, barely pausing to grab Alex's hand and drag her along. Alex was swept along up the stairs and outside. Above them, all of the spaceships were whizzing by, their lights illuminating Stonehenge like a rock concert was about to take place, not a battle for something completely deadly. Alex watched, stunned, as the Doctor used the sonic on the communicator and began speaking into it like a microphone, his voice increased to an extremely loud setting.
"Sorry, sorry, dropped it. Hello, Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe! But bad news, everyone. . ." He jumped up onto a nearby rock and grinned up at the sky. "Because guess who?! Ha! Listen, you lot, you're all whizzing about. It's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute? Because. . .I. . .am. . .TALKING!"
Much to Alex's shock, all the ships stilled. Either they were humoring him, or the aliens really were terrified of the Doctor and his wrath.
"The question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica?" the Doctor continued. "Answer, I do. Next question. Who's coming to take it from me? Come on! Look at me! No plan, no back-up, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else! I don't have anything. . .to. . .LOSE! So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, and then. . .do the smart thing! Let somebody else try first."
He held up his arms in challenge, and to Alex's shock, all the ships retreated, like they couldn't get away fast enough. He jumped down triumphantly from the rock. "That'll keep them squabbling for half an hour."
Alex looked at him curiously. "Squabbling about what?"
"Who gets to take the first shot at me," the Doctor said breezily.
Alex gaped at him. "How does that help?!"
"Because, Ally, with that lot, their squabbling could turn into a war. They could forget all about the Pandorica!"
"Do you really believe that?" Alex asked.
The Doctor's face fell a little. "Probably not," he admitted. "But it's worth a shot! Alright, Romans."
"They're still out there," Rory pointed out as he followed the Doctor back down to the Pandorica. "What do we do now?"
"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll go home."
"Right. . ." Rory and Alex said, highly doubting this.
Suddenly, the Doctor tensed, seeing movement just over Rory's shoulder. Noticing this, Alex turned and her face fell as she saw Amy getting up, the sedative having worn off. She stepped over to the Doctor just as he said, "Rory, I'm sorry."
"Brace yourself," Alex warned.
"You're going to have to be very brave now," the Doctor added, a cautious look on his face as he watched Amy walk over.
Rory looked at them curiously and was about to ask them what was going on, when Amy walked right past him, rubbing her head. He gaped at her, his eyes fixed on her as she approached the Doctor.
"Oh, my head," she groaned.
"Go 'ah'," the Doctor instructed, widening his mouth in demonstration.
"Ahh," Amy mimicked.
The Doctor peered into her mouth. "Just your basic knock-out drops," he deduced. "Get some fresh air, you'll be fine."
"Is it safe up there?" Amy asked.
Alex snorted while the Doctor said, "Not remotely, but it's fresh!"
Amy sighed, reluctantly accepting this. "Fine." She turned to walk away and nearly bumped into Rory. "Oh, you're the guy, yeah?" she asked, completely clueless as to who he was. "The one who did the swordy thing."
Alex watched, brokenhearted, as Rory's love-struck face slowly fell and was replaced by gradual realization. "Yeah."
"Well, thanks for the swording," Amy said before tapping him on the shoulder and walking off. "Nice swording."
"No problem," he said. He then spun around, adding, "My men are up there. They'll look after you."
"Good," Amy said. She waved over her shoulder. "Love a Roman!" And then, she dashed up the stairs, none the wiser to the turmoil inside everyone's hearts because of her actions.
Rory watched her walk away. The second she was out of earshot, he said, "She doesn't remember me." He whirled around to face the Doctor and Alex. "How can she not remember me?"
"Because you never existed," Alex replied softly. She reached up and fiddled with one of her hoop earrings, unable to simply stand around and do nothing while all this occurred.
"There are cracks," the Doctor explained, also looking downcast. "Cracks in time. There's going to be a huge explosion in the future, on one particular day. And every other moment in history is cracking around it."
"So how does that work?" Rory questioned. "What kind of explosion? What exploded?"
The Doctor flashed back to a moment on the Byzantium, one he hadn't even told Alex about. And for those of us who can't read the base code of the universe? River had questioned.
He remembered the date on the scanner; June 26th, 2010, the same date he saw the clock in Amy's room flip to. Amy's time, he had replied.
Of course, he wasn't going to say any of this. No chance in alarming Rory and Alex. And, if he was being honest, he didn't want to get slapped by Alex for not telling her this bit of information. Besides, he could be wrong. He hoped he was wrong! Maybe the date was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with Amy or her wedding.
He hoped.
"Doesn't matter," he said now, waving the question off. "The cracks are everywhere now. Get too close to them and you can fall right out of the universe."
"So I fell through a crack and now I was never born?"
"Basically."
"Well, how did I end up here?"
"Yeah, how did he?" Alex asked. "It can't be possible. If it was, we would've bumped into those clerics from the Byzantium by now!"
"I don't know, you shouldn't have," the Doctor replied. "What happened? From your point of view, what physically happened?"
"I was in the cave," Rory recalled, "with you, Alex, and Amy. I was dying, and then I was just . . . here. A Roman soldier. A proper Roman. Head full of Roman stuff. A whole other life, just here like I'd woken up from a dream. I started to think it was a dream, you and Amy and Alex and Leadworth. And then today, in the camp, the men were talking about the visitors. The girl with the red hair. I thought you'd come back for me. But she can't even remember me."
"Oh, shut up," the Doctor interrupted.
"What?" Rory exclaimed.
"She can remember you," Alex assured him. "I've seen her crying sometimes without even realizing it and in Base Diana on the moon – long story, got put into a coma, don't ask – she told me that she felt like someone was missing from our little Dream Lord adventure. She can tell something's wrong, but she doesn't quite know what it is."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, and then reached into his pocket for the ring-box. He tossed it to Rory. "Go get her!" he urged in unison with Alex.
"But I don't understand," Rory argued. "Why am I here?"
"Because you are," the Doctor said. "The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous, and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles, and that's the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me."
"Now get upstairs!" Alex ordered. "She's Amy and she's surrounded by Romans. I'm not sure history can take it."
There was a brief moment of hesitation as Rory considered this. He fingered the ring-box and then turned and ran out of the room.
A/N: UGH, internet! Aside from out internet not working, my school's internet wasn't working today, so I couldn't update from there. :( Even my mom's school internet, which is two counties away from us, wasn't working. There are some problems with Windstream or something, so I have no idea if I'll be able to update tomorrow or not, but I will certainly try. I really want to live by my promise to update this story daily since I know you all love it so much. :)
To make up for the horrible updates, there's another chapter after this one! All review replies will be answered in the author's note at the end of it. :) Enjoy!
