The Five Times Rory Fought with a Sword
Characters: Rory Williams, Amy Pond, 11th Doctor
~Pairings: Amy/Rory
Rating: T, for death
Word Count: 965/2,204 (or close to it, the total changes as I edit)
Four
He was trapped; he knew he was, trapped with the Doctor.
"What do they want?" He asked finally, staring at the man.
The Doctor looked at Rory sadly as his nonexistent eyebrows furrowed.
"Doctor?"
"You, Rory the Roman, they want you."
Rory stared in confusion, "why?"
The Doctor's mouth formed a thin line and he stared at the man, "sometimes there are echoes of things that haven't happened and people remember these echoes. The Lone Centurion is one of these echoes…and Rory I am so sorry, but they seem to recognize you."
Rory froze, "you don't mean—"
The Doctor nodded, "you seemed to have made quiet a name for yourself when you lived here in Rome, the demon under the hill that guarded a magical box. The man who was cursed by the guards to live on and on as the world died around him, then you showed up. A man matching their paintings and sculptures of this demon or cursed man, at the very least they believe you to be a host for the Lone Centurion."
"Doctor what are you saying?"
The Doctor's gaze was hard, "they expect you to fight Rory, they expect you to fight and win."
Rory paled, "I don't want to fight anymore," Rory tried to ignore how pathetic he sounded. "Doctor I am so tired of the fighting and of the death…and please I don't want to."
The Doctor looked sad, "I know and if I could do something I would, but I—"the Doctor halted as if the next words pained him. "I don't know what to do or how to help. I'm afraid it may come to just that."
The guards showed up then and Rory stood to face them, watching carefully as one of the them yanked the Doctor by the arm and pulled the Time Lord away.
"Oi! Watch it! This suit is new you know and I don't—"
"Shut-it," the Roman soldier holding the Doctor growled, pressing a sword to the alien's neck.
"Well that's hardly polite, I mean you could've just asked me too—"The sword pressed into the skin, the Doctor stopped talking.
"The Lone Centurion," another soldier spoke swiftly and Rory went ridged staring at the man. "The demon that lived under the hill, the man who held the power of the gods in his hand, show us this power."
Rory froze, the gun, they were talking about the plasma gun that had taken on the appearance of his hand…he didn't have that anymore.
"I'm sorry I can't."
The roman soldier's face hardened, "you will, or you're friend here shall not live to see night fall."
Rory stared at the Doctor, the Doctor stared back.
Rory opened the closed door slowly, carefully, trying to only let in enough of the Lone Centurion to allow him to talk his way out of this.
"I…I don't have the power anymore," Rory said slowly, begging them to understand. "I…the gods took back their power after my quest was done. For I no longer needed it now that the treasure from the box is free. I am no longer the Lone Centurion of myth, I am no longer the demon under hill, I am no longer cursed, I am simply a man, a mortal."
A tense moment of silence and for a moment Rory dared to hope that they would listen to him. Then that moment ended as the man laughed.
"You expect us to believe this? You expect us to believe that the gods would simply lift a curse? No! Now show us!"
"I can't please you—"
The man tossed him a sword, "show us! Fight me! For I am the greatest soldier of Rome and I challenge you!"
Rory stared at the sword in dismay; already he could feel the door opening wider. He could feel the memories leaking into his mind. t would be so easy to just—No! He couldn't! He wouldn't! He—the man lunged at him and Rory found instincts taking over, as the door flung open completely.
A quick dodge to the right, a flash of his sword and the man was gone.
Rory stared, "I warned you." He said in a low voice, "I warned you and you didn't listen…why don't they ever listen?"
He warned everyone who tried to cross paths with him. He gave them they're one chance and some of them took it, but most did not. Rory still couldn't figure out why.
Schooling his features he turned to the soldier holding the Doctor, "release him or suffer the same fate."
Please just let him go, please don't make me fight.
The man wasn't going to back down; Rory saw it in his eyes.
With an angry curse the soldier flung the Doctor at Rory and then slashed at both of them.
NO! DON'T!
Rory was prepared; grabbing the Doctor's collar Rory flung him to the ground and parried the soldier's blow.
A swift kick and the soldier was on his back.
"Yield," Rory growled, pointing his sword at the man's neck.
Please yield.
He didn't see the knife, nor did he see the soldier throw it, but he heard the Doctor's pained gasp and the sound of a body hitting the floor.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a friend for a friend," the soldier uttered his last words as Rory sank his sword into the man's chest and left it there.
Why didn't you listen? Why didn't you yield?
With adrenaline pumping in his veins Rory carried the Doctor to the TARDIS and laid him down gently in the sick bay.
It was only until after the Time Lord was stable and breathing, the knife removed from his side, that Rory allowed himself to cry.
This one is probably the most violent out of all of the stories.
I like to think that The Lone Centurion remained in the rebooted universe as a myth and legend, a bit of the old world that leaked it's way into reality. A bit like how Amy was able to bring the Doctor back, if something is remembered it can be brought back and well Rory remembers the Lone Centurion.
I also tried to draw lots of parallels between Rory and the Doctor in this chapter.
Tried to show that like the 10th Doctor Rory always gave them one chance and what happened next was their own doing
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