"So, the universe ended," Rory said to the lifeless Amy in his lap. He stared up at the fully black sky, completely vacant of any and all stars. "You missed that, in 102 A.D. I suppose this means you and I never get born at all. Twice, in my case. You would have laughed at that." His heart sank as he looked down at his still fiancée. He still couldn't believe that he had shot her. He had shot and killed her just when she remembered who he was. It was like a more twisted version of Romeo and Juliet.
"Please laugh," he begged. "The Doctor said the universe was huge and ridiculous, and sometimes there were miracles. I could do with a ridiculous miracle about now."
Right at that moment, the Doctor and Alex popped out of thin air.
"Rory!" the Doctor cried. For some reason, he was wearing a red fez and carrying a mop. Beside him, Alex looked a little sick. She was clutching her stomach, at least. "Listen, she's not dead! Well, she is dead, but it's not the end of the world."
"Actually," Alex spoke up, somehow forcing herself to use her voice, "it's the end of the universe."
"Oh, no," the Doctor interrupted. He reached over to a device on his wrist and pressed a few buttons. "Hang on."
"Oh, no!" Alex started, grabbing his sleeve. "We are not—" But she was cut off as she and the Doctor disappeared in a huge light and a crackle of energy.
"Doctor?" Rory looked around bewilderedly, wondering if he had imagined the whole thing. "Doctor! Alex!"
Right then, the Doctor and Alex reappeared. The Doctor was no longer carrying the mop, but he was still wearing the fez. Next to him, Alex had a hand over her mouth, her face a little green. "You need to get us out of the Pandorica," the Doctor told Rory.
"But you're not in the Pandorica," Rory pointed out.
"Yes, we are," the Doctor insisted. "Well, we're not now, but we were back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from our point of view. Time travel, you can't keep it straight in your head." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and passed it to Rory. "It's easy to open from the outside. Just point and press. Now go!" He and Alex then disappeared, but a split second later, the Doctor returned.
"Where's Alex?" Rory demanded.
The Doctor winced. "She's a little . . . ill right now. But that's not important. What is important, is that when you're done, leave my screwdriver in her top pocket." He nodded to Amy. "Good luck." And then, he was gone.
"What do you mean?" Rory shouted, feeling very confused now. "Done what?!"
~Living the Life of Ally~
At the same time this was going on, the Doctor and Alex were still trapped in the Pandorica.
Alex couldn't believe it. She was stuck here for all eternity, assuming eternity was still happening outside. At least she wasn't alone though. The Doctor was in here with her. But it still didn't calm her down. With the Doctor in here, there was no way he could get them out. Worst of all, she couldn't see him. She could turn her head a little, but that only allowed her to see a bit of his jacket out of the corner of her eye. It was like those aliens knew she would be distressed at never seeing the Doctor face-to-face again, and had designed the Pandorica to torment her more than it already did.
Alex's lower lip quivered and she felt a few hot tears roll down her cheeks. She was never getting out of here. She was never going to see her friends again. Lacey and Marigold. . . They would never know what happened to her. For all they knew, she was dead on a distant star somewhere or had died in 1897 or something.
Was this what her fixed-point status meant? Was she always meant to be stuck in here? Was she always meant to help lead the Doctor to his downfall?
The Doctor. . . More tears fell and she bent her head down, watching as they fell and stained the fabric of her dress. He hadn't said one word since they came in here. If this had been under normal circumstances, i.e. not getting stuck in a giant box for the rest of time, Alex would have thought he was sick or something. But right now, he probably just didn't want to admit that he had messed up, that it was his fault she was stuck here.
Alex unwillingly let out a sob. She grit her teeth to keep the Doctor from hearing it and squeezed her eyes shut to block any more tears.
But it didn't do any good. "Ally?" the Doctor's voice broke out. Damn if he didn't sound a little upset himself.
"I'm fine," Alex said quickly. Out of habit, she moved to raise her hand to wipe away her tears, but met resistance. Oh, right. They were restrained. More tears fell down at this realization and another sob escaped.
"No, you're not," the Doctor said gently. There was a long pause and then, "Ally, I'm so sorry. I . . . I never meant or wanted you to end up here. Thanks to me, you're stuck here for all eternity." He laughed bitterly. "Funny. Most of my companions wanted to stay with me forever."
Alex snorted a little. "Guess you never imagined it happening this way."
"No, I didn't." There was another long pause, this one longer than the last. "Oh, Ally, I'm so sorry. If I had any inkling this was going to happen, I would've dropped you and Amy back home straight away."
"No," Alex said strongly, surprising the Doctor. Her voice was still thick with her tears, but it was also strong and determined. "Don't even think about that. And don't apologize to me, either. It was my choice to come traveling with you, and frankly, I wouldn't trade it for anything. If a sudden chance was offered right now, to turn back the clock and change everything, I wouldn't do anything differently. I'd still be traveling, seeing all the stars and planets, fighting monsters, meeting Winston Churchill and Elizabeth X, and all that wonderful, crazy stuff. . ." She sniffled again. "And I could never imagine not knowing you for a second. My life was so dull until you came along and made everything topsy-turvy."
The Doctor was silent for a moment after hearing her confession. He knew companions liked traveling with him, but he'd never heard anyone say so in the strong way Alex did. He wasn't sure what to say. Finally, the words came to him. "Thank you, Ally."
Alex nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "So. . . What do we do now?"
As if in answer to that question, the Pandorica walls suddenly began moving. Alex felt her restraints unlock and she jumped to her feet, whirling around to see Rory standing outside, holding the sonic screwdriver out. "Rory!" she gasped.
The Doctor, despite being freed, remained sitting. "How did you do that?" he demanded.
"You gave me this," Rory said sheepishly, holding out the sonic.
"No, I didn't," the Doctor argued. He pulled the same sonic out of his jacket pocket.
"You did!" Rory insisted. "Look at it!"
The Doctor slowly got out of the chair, turning to help Alex down. He saw her face was red from crying and that her eyes were that hideous neon green again. He pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head. He couldn't believe she had been stuck there, supposedly for all eternity. While the idea of having Alex by his side forever seemed good, now it seemed like she would be trapped and stuck with him, as if he were holding her captive.
He reluctantly pulled away from Alex to focus back on Rory. He cautiously approached him, remembering he was a Nestene duplicate, Alex right behind him. Hesitantly, he reached out and tapped his sonic against Rory's. The sonic's sparked, making the Doctor frown in wonder.
"Temporal energy. Same screwdriver at different points in its own time stream," he deduced. "Which means it was me who gave it to you. Me from the future. I've got a future. That's nice." His gaze then traveled past Rory and to something behind him. His face fell. "That's not."
Alex followed his eyes to see the Daleks from before. But this time, they looked rusted and lifeless, like fossils. "Doctor, what are they?" she asked.
"History has collapsed," the Doctor explained, looking around at all the fossilized aliens. "Whole races have been deleted from existence. These are just after-images. Echoes. Fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were."
"Er, what does that mean?" Rory asked.
"Total event collapse," Alex answered, already figuring it out. "The universe literally never happened."
"So, how can we be here?" Rory wondered, looking at the two questioningly. "What's keeping us safe?"
"Nothing," the Doctor replied, which certainly didn't reassure the two. "Eye of the storm, that's all. We're just the last light to go out." He then realized something. "Where's Amy?"
Rory looked down at the ground, ashamed. Alex watched him critically. "What happened?" she demanded. He looked up, and she saw that he looked incredibly guilty. She stepped forward threateningly. "What did you do to her?"
Rory only nodded to the exit, gesturing for the two to follow him. The Doctor wrapped an arm around Alex's shoulders and the two walked silently behind him. They soon reached the top of the stairs. Alex looked up, stunned, but not surprised, to see all the stars in the sky had vanished. There was nothing there.
She looked back down and then noticed a pair of legs sticking out from under a blanket. She slowly inched closer and peeled back the blanket. Alex gasped as she saw Amy lying lifeless. She stumbled back, her chest wracking with silent sobs. "Is she. . .?" She trailed off, unable to say the next word.
Rory nodded. "I killed her," he stated, his voice pathetic and grief-stricken.
"Oh, Rory," the Doctor sighed as he looked over Amy's body.
"Doctor, what am I?" Rory wondered.
"You're a Nestene duplicate. A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity."
"But I'm Rory now!" Rory protested as the Doctor ran the sonic over Amy's body. "Whatever was happening, it's stopped. I'm Rory."
"That's software talking," the Doctor retorted. He lifted the sonic and examined the results.
"Can you help her?" Alex asked. She knelt down and smoothed some hair away from Amy's eyes, noting that her skin hadn't gone cold yet. "Is there anything you can do?"
"Yeah, probably," the Doctor replied, tucking the sonic back into his jacket. "If I had the time."
Rory and Alex stared at the Doctor in shock. "The time?!" Rory snapped at him.
"All of creation has been wiped from the sky," the Doctor pointed out. "Do you know how many lives never happened? All the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe!"
"Doctor!" Alex cried, outraged. How dare he! But before she could reach over and slap the Doctor into a new regeneration, Rory grabbed his shoulder, whirled him around, and punched him in the face. "She is to me!" he cried as the Time Lord fell to the ground.
"Welcome back, Rory Williams!" the Doctor cried, jumping to his feet. He rubbed his reddening cheek. "Sorry. Had to be sure. Hell of a gun-arm you're packing there! Right, we need to get her downstairs!" Rory only looked at him, dumbstruck. "And take that look off your plastic face! You're getting married in the morning!"
"Was that a test?" Rory asked Alex as the Doctor knelt down next to Amy, ready to lift her up.
Alex sighed. "Yes, yes it was."
~Living the Life of Ally~
A few minutes later, the Doctor was strapping Amy into the Pandorica. Rory and Alex watched him nervously. "So you've got a plan, then?" Rory guessed.
"Bit of a plan, yeah," the Doctor confirmed, placing his hands on either side of Amy's head. "Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall. The universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestene's took a memory print of her and got a bit more than they bargained for, like you. Not just your face, but your heart and soul."
Alex watched as the Doctor touched his forehead against Amy's. "What are you doing?" she whispered. She wasn't sure why she whispered. It just seemed appropriate.
"I'm leaving her a message for when she wakes up, so she knows what's happening." Once he had done that, the Doctor pulled back and stepped out of the Pandorica. Once he was safely away, he took the sonic out and used it to close up the box.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rory cried, stepping forward. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm saving her. This box is the ultimate prison. You can't even escape by dying. It forces you to stay alive."
"But she's already dead," Alex pointed out.
The Doctor nodded, acknowledging her point. "Well, she's mostly dead," he corrected. "The Pandorica can stasis-lock her that way. Now, all it needs is a scan of her living DNA and it'll restore her."
"Where's it going to get that?" Rory wondered.
The Doctor checked his wrist-watch. "In about two thousand years." He knelt down next to River's abandoned pack and dug around in it for a moment before finally producing her vortex manipulator. Alex eyed it as he strapped it on. It looked like a brown square-shaped box with a few buttons, dials, and a screen on it.
"She's going to be in that box for two thousand years?" Rory cried.
"Yeah, but we're taking a shortcut." He tapped the device on his wrist. "River's vortex manipulator. Rubbish way to time travel, but the universe is tiny now. We'll be fine."
"So the future's still there?" Alex asked. She frowned a little. "I'd have thought it ended."
"A version of it," the Doctor explained. "Not quite the one you know. Earth alone in the sky. Let's go and have a look." He grabbed Alex's hand and guided it to rest firmly on the manipulator. "Keep your hand there."
"Is this safe?" Alex asked. She knew there had to be a catch if the Doctor didn't often travel by manipulator. He had said it was a rubbish way to time travel, after all.
"Don't worry," the Doctor assured her, but Alex caught a little worrisome gleam in his eye. "Should be safe."
"The 'should' part makes me feel so much better," she muttered, tightening her grip on the device.
The two looked over at Rory expectantly, but the man wasn't paying them any attention. Instead, he was still staring at the closed-up Pandorica. "The manipulator's not what I'm worried about."
"She'll be fine," the Doctor insisted. "Nothing can get into this box."
"Well, you got in there," Rory reminded him.
"Well, there's only one of me," the Doctor grinned. "I counted."
"This box needs a guard," Rory said suddenly, causing the Doctor and Alex's eyes to widen. "I killed the last one."
"Rory, no," Alex argued.
"Don't even think about it," the Doctor added.
"She'll be all alone!" Rory protested.
"She won't feel it," the Doctor tried.
"You bet she won't!"
The Doctor sighed and moved away from Alex. "Two thousand years, Rory. You won't even sleep. You'd be conscious every second. It would drive you mad."
But Alex could tell that Rory wasn't about to be talked out of it. "Will she be safer if I stay?" he asked. "Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer."
"Rory, you—"
"Answer me!" Rory demanded.
The Doctor sighed wearily, admitting defeat. "Yes. Obviously."
"Then how can I leave her?"
The Doctor and Alex smiled at him. "Why do you have to be so . . . human?" the Doctor wondered admirably.
"Because right now, I'm not."
"Listen to me," the Doctor ordered. He placed Alex's hand back on the manipulator, making sure she was gripping it tight before he continued. "This is the last bit of advice you're going to get in a very long time. You're living plastic, but you're not immortal. I have no idea how long you'll last. And you're not indestructible. Stay away from heat and radio signals when they come along. You can't heal, or repair yourself. Any damage is permanent. So, for God's sake, however bored you get, stay out of—"
But he was cut off as he pushed a button and he and Alex disappeared.
Traveling by manipulator, Alex discovered, was not fun. It felt like she was getting ripped apart and put back together again multiple times. And even as this was happening, she could still feel her organs protesting the sudden movement. She felt like she was going to be sick. All around her was a bunch of swirling colors, but Alex found that if she tried to focus on them, they simply melded together until it was impossible to discern where one color began or where another ended.
Finally, it was over. Alex suddenly found herself landing on solid ground. She stumbled, trying to regain her balance as her stomach made its displeasure with the travel known.
"Trouble!" the Doctor finished. Unlike Alex, he didn't look nauseated or anything. Alex figured that Time Lords were better equipped to travel by vortex manipulator. He looked around and finally spotted an alive Amy and her younger self, Amelia, in front of the Pandorica, now housed in what appeared to be a museum.
"Oh! Ah, two of you," he murmured. "Complicated." Beside him, Alex lifted her head up and blinked. She had seen photos of Amy's younger self, but she never thought she'd actually be meeting her.
"Exterminate!" a familiar voice shouted. The two turned to see the Dalek from the Pandorica now fully alive and coming closer to them. The Doctor and Alex backed up as the Dalek reported, "Weapons systems restoring."
The Doctor reached behind him and grabbed Amy's hand, who in turn grabbed Amelia's. The Doctor's other hand grasped Alex's. "Come along, Ponds!" he called as he ran them around the Pandorica.
"What are we doing?" Amy wondered as they ran through a nearby exhibit.
The Doctor was about to answer when he suddenly bumped into a dummy, knocking its bright red fez off. Catching it, he replied, "Well, we are running into a dead end, where I'll have a brilliant plan that basically involves not being in one."
"What's going on?" a male voice called out. A moment later, a figure stepped into the doorway, shining a flashlight into the room.
"Get out of here!" Alex called out to him as the Doctor told the girls, "Go! Just run!"
"Drop the device!" the Dalek demanded.
"Not a very intelligent Dalek, is it?" Alex murmured.
The Doctor let out a light snort in agreement. "It's not a weapon! Scan it! It's not a weapon and you don't have the power to waste!"
"Scans indicate intruder unarmed."
"Do you think?" the stranger scoffed, dropping the flashlight to the floor with a clatter. Two shots came from out of nowhere, shooting the Dalek in the eyestalk.
"Vision impaired!" the Dalek shrieked. Its head started whirling around, the rest of its body quickly following as it spun to the other side of the room. "Vision. . ." But its voice slowly died down and the Dalek stilled, its eyestalk drooping as it seemingly shut down.
The Doctor grabbed his sonic and aimed it at the Dalek as he ran towards it. Alex, Amy, and Amelia, on the other hand, went over to the stranger.
"Amy!" the now familiar-voiced stranger cried. The girls all looked up to see none other than Rory Williams, his Roman Centurion garb replaced by a museum security guard uniform.
"Rory," Amy breathed, before rushing into his arms.
"I'm sorry," Rory apologized. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. It just happened—"
"Oh, shut up," Amy interrupted, before quickly pulling him in for a kiss.
"Yeah, shut up," the Doctor agreed, approaching them just as they parted. "Because we've got to go. Come on!"
"I waited," Rory said, ignoring him. "Two thousand years I waited for you."
"No, still shut up," Amy whispered, quickly pulling him back in for another lip-lock.
"And break," the Doctor urged, pacing around them. He paused to truly watch the two kiss, something Alex thought was a little invasive. "And breathe!" When neither Amy nor Rory followed this, he muttered, "Well, somebody didn't get out much for two thousand years."
"Don't be rude!" Alex hissed, lightly hitting him on the arm. "He didn't see her for two thousand years. If you waited two thousand years for someone, what would you do?" She paused, thinking something over. "Actually, would you wait for someone for two thousand years?"
The Doctor looked down at her, his features going from baffled to dead-serious in a split second. "For you, Ally, I'd wait more," he swore. He reached out and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.
Alex giggled a little. He'd wait two thousand years for her? That was so sweet! "I'd do the same, Doc," she murmured, causing him to smile a little.
But before their moment could continue, a tiny hand tugged on the Doctor's jacket. The two sourly looked down at young Amelia. No matter what age she is, she has horrible timing, Alex bitterly thought.
"I'm thirsty," the seven-year-old informed them. "Can I get a drink?"
"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" the Doctor playfully frowned. He bent down to Amelia's eye-level and placed the fez he was still carrying on her head. Amelia giggled and grinned, but quickly pulled the hat away from her fiery hair and handed it back to him.
The Doctor took the fez, but his eyes were focused on the Pandorica and the small amount of light emitting from it. "The light," he mused. "The light from the Pandorica, it must have hit the Dalek."
As if it could hear him, the Dalek's eyestalk slowly began lifting, the sound of machinery whirring inside it, audible throughout the room. "I think you were right," Alex murmured.
"Out, out, out!" the Doctor shouted, forcing Amy and Rory to break apart, and causing everyone to break out into a run. The group sprinted down a hall and through another door, entering museum reception. The Doctor and Rory shut it and the former tried to seal it with the sonic.
"So, two thousand years," Alex said to Rory as the Doctor pocketed the sonic. "How'd you do?"
"Kept out of trouble," Rory nodded.
"Oh," the Doctor murmured. Alex watched, baffled, as he stuck the fez on his head and began looking around for something. "How?"
Rory grinned a little. "Unsuccessfully."
The Doctor nodded, having expected this, and grabbed a nearby mop to use to try and seal the doors. "The mop!" Rory suddenly cried out, causing all eyes to shoot to him. "That's how you looked all those years ago when you and Alex gave me the sonic."
"You mean I have to travel by that thing again?" Alex bemoaned.
The Doctor laughed and grabbed her hand, placing it on top of the manipulator. "Ah! Well, no time to lose, then!" He pressed a button and he and Alex disappeared in a bright light and a crackle of energy.
Alex felt herself traveling through the vortex, her physical being getting ripped apart and put back together again as her stomach protested the movement. A moment later, she found herself standing outside Stonehenge. In front of her, Rory was leaning back against a log, a mostly dead Amy sprawled across his lap. Feeling a wave of nausea wash over her, Alex clutched her stomach.
"Rory!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Listen, she's not dead! Well, she is dead, but it's not the end of the world."
"Actually," Alex corrected, somehow managing to get her vocal chords working, "it's the end of the universe."
"Oh, no," the Doctor interrupted, reaching out to press a few buttons on the manipulator. "Hang on."
Alex's eyes widened. No. There was no way she was traveling back and forth by manipulator. "Oh, no!" she protested, grabbing onto his sleeve. "We are not—" But she was cut off as they disappeared.
The two reappeared in front of a stunned Amy, Rory, and Amelia. "Doing that again!" Alex finished, stumbling on her feet and clutching her stomach.
The Doctor didn't seem to hear her, instead pushing the mop through the door handles on the door. "Oops, sorry!" he apologized, though whether this was to Rory for leaving his past self hanging, or to Alex for causing them to make multiple back and forth trips, was unclear.
Amelia tugged on her older self's sleeve. "How can they do that? Are they magic?"
Amy laughed a little and was about to try and answer when the Doctor grabbed Alex's hand and the two disappeared again.
Alex clapped a hand over her mouth when they landed back in front of Rory. She was sure her face looked green. She could feel a bunch of bile rising up her throat. In an effort to keep from throwing up, she focused on the Doctor and Rory's conversation.
"You need to get us out of the Pandorica."
"But you're not in the Pandorica!" Rory argued.
"Yes, we are. Well, we're not now, but we were back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from our point of view. Time travel, you can't keep it straight in your head." The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and handed it off to Rory. "It's easy to open from the outside. Just point and press. Now go!" And then, he and Alex disappeared again.
The instant they reappeared in the museum, Alex dove for the trash can in a small corner. The second her head was over the rim, she threw up. She gasped and choked as the vile liquid splattered the inside of the trash can.
The Doctor rushed over and patted her back as Amelia went over and gathered her hair up in a loose ponytail to keep it from falling in her face. "Is she going to be okay?" the little girl asked worriedly, only proving that she and Alex were going to be good friends.
"Manipulator travel is a bit straining on humans," the Doctor admitted. "She should be fine in a moment."
"Doctor, she wasn't with you the third time I saw you," Rory provided. He winced as another burst of vomiting erupted from Alex. "And I think I now know why."
The Doctor blinked. "Third time?" he repeated, puzzled.
"Sonic!" Alex gasped before coughing a little, a thin strain of saliva dangling from her bottom lip.
The Doctor jumped. "Oh! Now I don't have the sonic! I just gave it to Rory two thousand years ago." He pressed a few buttons on the manipulator and vanished.
Alex groaned and hesitantly stood up. "You feeling okay?" Amy asked.
Alex nodded. "I think so." She stumbled over to lean against the banister on the stairs. "As long as I don't have to use that manipulator again, I'm fine."
A second after she said this, the Doctor appeared in front of her on the stairs. "Right then," he murmured. He reached into Amy's jacket and pulled out his sonic. "Ally, how are you feeling?"
"Fine," Alex said, but her gaze wasn't focused on the Doctor directly, but on the hat on his head. "Doc?"
"Hmm?" the Doctor muttered as he checked his sonic to make sure Rory hadn't messed with it.
"Why are you still wearing that fez? We don't need to use the manipulator anymore."
The Doctor looked over and smiled at her. "I think I might keep it. It's cool."
Alex was about to burst out laughing when she realized the Doctor was serious. "You look ridiculous," she stated flatly. Behind her, there were muffled snickers from Amy and Rory.
The Doctor frowned at her and pocketed the sonic. "Don't be snippy, Alex. Now, off we go!" He turned to run up the stairs, but Alex grabbed his jacket.
"Wait!" she called out. Once the Doctor whirled around, she nodded her head back to Amelia. "What about her?"
The Doctor's eyes widened and he nodded. He rushed forward to kneel down in front of Amelia. "Good job, Ally. I forgive you for insulting my fez." Alex rolled her eyes but the Doctor didn't see this. "How did you know to come here?" he asked Amelia.
Amelia reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a brochure for the museum. A post-it note was attached to it, which the Doctor quickly examined.
"Ah, my handwriting," he realized. "Okay." He tossed the brochure and post-it over his shoulder and dove over to the main desk for supplies. A quick press of the manipulator buttons and he was gone. A second later, he reappeared, sans supplies, but now carrying a large drink, which he handed off to Amelia. "There you go. Drink up."
"What is that?" Amy asked as the Doctor rushed past her and up the stairs.
"Vortex manipulator," the Doctor answered. "Cheap and nasty time travel. Very bad for you."
"Amen," Alex agreed, cringing as she thought about her bout of vomiting. She really wanted to brush her teeth right now.
The Doctor reached over and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm trying to give it up."
"Where are we going?" Alex asked as they started up the stairs.
"The roof." The Doctor turned to lead them up the stairs, but he froze as a crackle of energy and light appeared at the very top. Standing there was another Doctor, this one looking much the worse for wear, his clothes and hair singed and covered with smoke and ash. Everyone watched, horrified, as he stumbled down the stairs before landing flat on the step above where the Doctor and Alex were standing.
"Oh my God!" Alex shrieked, diving down to examine him while the present Doctor scanned his future self with the sonic.
"Doctor, it's you," Rory stated, pointing out the obvious. "How can it be you?"
"Doctor, is that you?" Amy asked fearfully.
"Yeah, it's me," the Doctor confirmed.
"It's him from the future," Alex elaborated. Her head rested on the future Doctor's chest, trying to hear his heartbeats. She could hear a faint thudding, but that was it.
Suddenly, the future Doctor leaned up, startling Alex so much that she nearly tumbled backwards down the stairs. She watched, curious, as the future Doctor whispered something into the current one's ear, then fell back on the floor, his eyes shut.
Alex hesitantly stood up, vaguely aware that she was shaking from fright and confusion. No, no, she thought. He can't be. . .
"Are you. . ." Amy started as they all stared at the two Doctors. "I mean, is he. . . Is he dead?"
"What?" the Doctor murmured. He stood and turned to face them, looking surprisingly calm considering the circumstances. "Dead? Yes, yes! Of course he's dead!" He checked his watch. "Right! I've got twelve minutes! That's good."
"Good?" Alex cried, looking at him incredulously. She ran behind him up the stairs. "How is you being dead good?!"
"Yeah!" Amy chimed in. "Twelve minutes to live? How is that good?"
"Oh, you can do loads in twelve minutes!" the Doctor replied. "Suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath." He reached behind him to grab Alex's hand so he could pull her along after him. "Come on, the roof!"
"We can't leave you here dead!" Rory argued as he kneeled over the future Doctor.
The Doctor frowned and whirled back around. He dragged Alex back down to his future self's corpse. "Oh, good! Are you in charge now?" Not giving Rory time to retort, he added, "So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?"
Amy, Rory, and Alex frowned. He was right. Amelia wasn't anywhere with them. The three craned their heads, looking all around for the seven-year-old. A moment later, their attention was drawn to the floor. The drink the Doctor had handed Amelia was sitting there, the only sign she'd ever been there at all.
"Where did she go?" Amy wondered.
Rory rushed down the stairs. "Amelia!" he called out, but there was no reply.
"There is no Amelia," the Doctor explained. "From now on, there never was."
"History is still collapsing," Alex added.
"But how can I still be here if she's not?" Amy questioned.
"It's that eye of the storm thing, isn't it?" Alex guessed.
The Doctor nodded. "You're an anomaly," he said to Amy. "We all are. We're all just hanging on at the eye of the storm. But the eye is closing, and if we don't do something fast, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" He tugged on Alex's hand and the two sprinted up the stairs.
"Doctor. . ." Alex murmured as they skidded into a hall.
"Not now, Ally," the Doctor said. He glanced over his shoulder, not surprised to see that Amy and Rory hadn't followed them. "Move it! Come on!" he hollered.
"Doctor, you're dead," Alex hissed.
The Doctor sighed and stopped, nearly causing her to bang into him. "Ally," he murmured, tilting her chin up so she could look into his eyes, "I promise you, I'll be fine. I'd love to explain it a bit more fully, but right now, history is collapsing, and I have only twelve minutes to stop it."
Alex nodded and took a few deep breaths. "Right. Focus. Sorry."
"Don't be," he told her, just as footsteps could be heard coming up the steps. "It's nice to know you care, Alex."
A/N: Aw, cute fluffy moment at the end! Actually, there were a few fluffy moments in this chapter. Who liked their conversation while in the Pandorica? No declarations of love or anything, but I think it was still pretty sweet. :) Also, early update! I'm on fall break so I'm definitely using it to my advantage. :)
Notes on reviews. . .
SopherGopher'sAwesomeSister - Ooh, that sucks. But Season 2 is pretty good though, except for the final two episodes. Those are so depressing, I've only watched them once. Hmm, I think the 'Rory the Roman' line is later. I remember he says it to him in 'The Impossible Astronaut'. :) I'm glad the chapters made your day. Hope you get to feeling better! :)
dream lighting - I like Rory too and Mickey's great as well. :) Hope you like the chapter!
We're All M-M-Mad Here - Thank you! That really means a lot! :) I tried to make Alex a kind-of female version of the Doctor. With all those similarities, they just connect with each-other. :) Nope, Alex didn't get killed, but that's a good idea though. I'll also say that Alex won't be flying the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS with the Doctor, but that doesn't mean she isn't going to try though. :)
ElysiumPhoenix - I feel bad for him at that part too. And yeah, I wouldn't cope being in a box for eternity either, even if it was with the Doctor. :) Yep, nearly at the end of Season 5 but we've still got a little ways to go on this story! :)
ShadowTeir - Lol, River and Alex will have quite a bit of tension, which we'll see in 'Let's Kill Hitler' and 'The Wedding of River Song'. A cat fight between those two...not sure if an all-out brawl would happen, but anything's possible. :) Glad you liked the chapters!
Gwilwillith - They talked, but no declarations of love though. :( Glad you liked the chapters though! :)
moonsword17 - Oh, I hope so! He's a master at trickery and deceit, so being compared to him is awesome. :)
JackSpicer2311 - Don't worry, I understood. And again, that's a really cool idea. :) Actually, while Marigold and Lacey will be in 'Death of the Doctor', they won't be attending the funeral with Alex. They'll be there when Alex learns the Doctor 'died'. :)
SasuTenLuvr - Lol! While that is true, the title comes from the saying 'living the life of Riley', which my dad sometimes says. It means that you're living a very ideal, content life, and Alex is living a life many of us would want to live. :) Oh God, that scene is heartbreaking. At least in here, the Doctor didn't go alone. :) Alex is more famous for her association and relationship with the Doctor, not one thing she does. As for the River question...yes and no. That's all I'm saying on that. :)
SopherGopherroxursox - No, since those episodes already happened, she can't be in them. But, for the story I'm planning where she has to go back in time to fix something in the Doctor's timeline, she makes a brief appearance in 'Silence of the Library'. Poor Ten will have no idea what to do with Alex and River in the same room. :) Yep, Alex is in the Pandorica. But she got out though! :)
tardis-tea-time - Sadly, that didn't happen. :( But I think where Alex told him how much she loved traveling with him made up for it a little. :) Thank you! That means a lot! :)
Neko 97 - Lol, I'm glad! I say this all the time on here, but that really means a lot to me! Really and truly it does! :)
titieli - Aw, thank you! :D Again, really means a lot! :) Hmm, can't say when the next make-out session will be, but we'll see the Doctor's point of view on his kiss with Alex in the Byzantium in the next chapter, so I guess that's something. :) Thanks! It's working right now and I'm taking full advantage of it. I hope yours gets fixed. :)
MeemeBear - Thanks! Yeah, there aren't very many where the OCs get stuck with him. I've only read one where that happened. I can't say when the next kiss will be! And I did update today! :)
jesterlover - That's alright, I heard there was some kind of glitch where people weren't getting alerts or something. :) Yep, Alex was in the Pandorica, but she got out here! Lol, yes, long live prinos and Pandorica's! :)
TheGirlWhoWaited - Yep, two chapters in one day. My loss of internet for one day is your gain. :) Lol, glad to hear you weren't expecting her getting put in the Pandorica. :) Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Guest - Good question. I believe Alex has thought about suing, but after getting kicked out of Octavian, she didn't have enough money to do that. Plus, the will is pretty contract and hard to break, as I'm sure the Locke's would've made sure of. So, Alex can't really afford to sue. Also, she hasn't really thought about her inheritance since she met the Doctor. He's shown her that there's more to life than money and inheritances ad greedy relatives. :) Hope that clears things up!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters! That was the highest yet! And, oh my God, we are almost at 500 reviews! *nearly passes out from shock* I want to do something really nice after the 500 mark. Maybe a sneak peak at a future chapter? Let me know what you guys think. :) Also, that you to those who followed/favored this story. You are all fantastic! :D Please review and see you tomorrow!
