Author's Note:

Alright ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the first real hint about the plot. Can you spot it? If you can, what do you think it means? This is also the longest chapter so far so please enjoy!

On another note, my update time may well be longer than a week this time. I know, I know, I'm bad. I blame Olympic hockey, it's very distracting, and also three lovely mother goats who decided the last three days were a great time to go into labour. Good times. Anyway, I should be free and clear of any more babies for the next few weeks and Canada's only got the gold medal game left to win so I should be less distracted starting soon. XP Still, I'm a lot further behind they'll likely be a bit of a gap… Sorry in advance.

That's all from me!

Happy Reading!

Chapter Seven

Silence Will Fall

Despite the speed at which Rory was driving an awkward silence still managed to permeate the Mini as they bounced along the narrow road. After a quick discussion regarding how quickly the young nurse could get them to the hospital the vehicle had gone quiet and as he searched for conversation starters, Wilfred realized just how little he knew about the younger pair sitting in front of him. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure that Rory knew his name...

"I'm Wilfred, by the way," he introduced himself, smiling so that he could be seen in the rear view mirror, "Wilfred Mott. Not sure if the Doctor introduced me or not."

Rory jumped slightly as the older man's voice snapped him back from wherever his head had been. "He didn't. Not to me," he replied before his manners caught up with him, "Sorry. Rory Williams." He took one hand off the wheel with the intention of shaking hands.

The old human chuckled softly. "Let's forgo the handshake, you're driving," he said kindly, "Pleasure to meet you, Rory."

The nurse shook his head. "God, I'm so scattered. I'm not usually like this."

"Aliens have just invaded your hometown and you've been asked to help save the world by a man you believed to be a character in a childhood dress-up game," said Wilf calmly, still smiling, "Any sane person would be a bit scattered right now."

Rory nodded and the car lapsed into silence once more, not quite a comfortable silence but an improvement on the one before. It stayed that way, devoid of all talking, until (in the middle of a corner while the Mini's tires were squealing away loudly) Amelia spun around to face him.

"All those things the Doctor said. Aliens. Time travel. A box that's really a ship. Everything..." she shook her head and stared into the old man's eyes with the expression of someone who wanted so badly to believe but couldn't quite get herself to. Someone who had seen her faith shattered but still held on to all the pieces because she just couldn't bring herself to throw them away.

"It's true," Wilfred replied, answering the question the girl couldn't quite ask, "All of it. And for what it's worth, he really did mean it when he said five minutes."

Amy pursed her lips but didn't dispute the claim, settling instead for another question. "How do you know him?"

"We were travelin' together when we crashed into your backyard," the elderly man explained, purposely leaving out any mention of just what those last few adventures had entailed. The Daleks. Donna losing her memories. The Master... He pulled himself free of the images which were bombarding his head with considerable effort and focused on the young redhead before him once more. "And before that my granddaughter traveled with him. They were best mates, Donna and the Doctor…" He smiled sadly.

Amelia frowned at his choice of words but before she could question him about it the Mini came to an abrupt stop in front of an old brick building which served as the local hospital and the redhead flung herself out the car instead. Wilfred and Rory followed her lead, running up the front steps and into the lobby where they found a small crowd of people milling about as though they didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

Wilf frowned. "We need to get up to the coma patients," he reminded the other two, "Rory, you work here. Do you think you could get us up there?"

The nurse gave a stiff nod and hurried over to the crowd while Amy and Wilfred looked on. It didn't take long for Rory to return but he was frowning. "Something's happened up there. We can't get through."

"Yes," said Amy, looking frustrated, "But what's happened?"

"I don't know," her boyfriend glanced over his shoulder at the crowd, "No one knows. Phone him."

But Wilf, who had been watching the exchange, smiled suddenly. "No need," he cut in, gesturing towards the redhead, "We've got everything we need to get up there right here."

Rory and Amy exchanged looks of confusion before the latter's face lit up. "Ha ha! Uniform. Of course! Nice one, Wilfred!" She grabbed at her long red hair, pulling it up into a quick bun on the top of her head. "C'mon!"

And they were off once more, sprinting up the stairs as fast as they could. No one moved to stop them, Amy's presence in the lead doing just what Wilf had hoped it would and clearing a path but any victory they may have felt at their plan's success dissipated the moment they arrived on the first floor where the coma ward was housed.

"Oh god..." Amy whispered, looking around even as they kept walking.

"Blimey..." Wilf added.

The whole floor was in disarray. There were overturned medical carts lining the corridor, papers strewn all over and even a few beds had their blankets and pillows thrown about. The crowd downstairs was right, something had obviously happened and Wilfred had the sinking feeling that he knew what it was. Prisoner Zero was here. He was about to voice these thoughts when a woman stepped out from around a corner, cutting them off and bringing them to a halt. She had two young girls with her, one clinging to each of her hands.

"Officer," said the mother quickly, staring at Amy.

"What happened?" the redhead asked, staring at each face in concern.

"There was a man," the mother explained, but something about her voice made the hairs on the back of Wilf's neck stand on end, "A man with a dog. I think Doctor Ramsden's dead. And the nurses."

The elderly man narrowed his eyes. "What else? Did you see him do the killin'?" he asked suspiciously.

The mother and her two children turned to face him in unison, all of them tilting their heads slightly at the question. "No," came the reply, "That would have been horrible." But the slight smile on her face didn't match the statement at all.

Wilfred glanced towards his two companions. Rory was listening to the mother's tale with wide eyes while Amy was on the phone with the Doctor, explaining to him that Prisoner Zero was at the hospital with them. Standing right in front of them, more like it, the old human corrected mentally but he was unable to voice the thought yet again as the mother spoke up once more.

"He was so angry," she continued to explain, but something was really wrong this time. It was the elder of the two children whose mouth was moving yet the mother's voice which spoke, "He kept shouting and shouting. And that dog. The size of that dog."

Wilfred carefully took both Rory and Amy's hands and began pulling them backwards and away from the family.

"I swear it was rabid. And he just went mad, attacking everyone," the child continued, still in an adult's voice, "Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies."

"C'mon..." Wilf hissed, tugging the young couple even further away.

"Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I?" said the creature suddenly, this time from the mother's mouth once more, "I'm always doing that. So many mouths." And all three faces opened those aforementioned mouths wide to the telltale needle-like teeth.

"Oh, my God!" Rory yelped, jumping back.

"Run!" Wilf shouted, giving their hands a final pull.

And run they did, as fast as they could, into the coma ward with the creature hot on their heels. Amy and Rory pulled the double doors shut behind them and Wilfred grabbed a push broom and shoved it through the handles to hold the doors closed. Hopefully. Maybe. For a bit. The trio backed slowly away while mumbling from the redhead's mobile reminded everyone that the Doctor was still on the line.

With a shaking hand Amy raised the device to her ear. "We're in the coma ward, but it's here. It's getting in." There was a pause in which they continued backing up and then, "What, sorry?"

"What's he on about?" Wilfred asked tensely, keeping his eyes fixed on the door which was now perilously close to breaking open.

"Wants to know which window we are," Amy muttered before doing a quick count of the windows and speaking into the phone, "First floor, on the left, fourth from the end."

The snapping of wood alerted them to the fact that the broom had finally given up and they all watched in horror as the doors swung outwards to reveal Prisoner Zero, still in the form of the human family with its teeth barred.

"Oh, dear," it spoke calmly, still using the mother's face and voice, "Little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up." The creature stepped across the threshold and began walking slowly towards them, obviously taking pleasure in the fear it was causing, "Twelve years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return. But not this time, Amelia." And the needle-like teeth were bared once more.

Of course Amy's mobile chose that moment to beep out a text alert. The redhead glanced at it and Wilfred saw her eyes go big before she sized both he and Rory by the shoulder and forced them to the ground. Just in time too. They were barely down and out of the way when the window behind them smashed, glass raining down all around them and stopping Prisoner Zero in its tracks. Wilf risked a look over his shoulder and saw a fire ladder, the sort one would find on a fire engine, poking in through the now open window.

And monkey crawling along the ladder and into the room was none other than the Doctor. "Right!" he said brightly, couching down behind the three humans and clapping them each on the back in turn, "Hello. Am I late?" He stood up abruptly, glancing at the clock on the wall. "No, three minutes to go. So still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" said Prisoner Zero coldly, drawing their attention back to it.

The Doctor took a few steps towards her and though Wilfred couldn't see his face, his body language radiated confidence. "Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time," the creature smiled grimly, "If I am to die, let there be fire."

"Okay," the Doctor laughed humourlessly, "You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."

Prisoner Zero tilted all three heads. "I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from?" the creature scoffed, "You don't, do you?" A taunting smile appeared on the mother's face ever as her voice changed to that of a child. "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know! Doesn't know! Doesn't know!" And then the adult's voice was back, just as cold as before. "The universe is cracked. Time bleeds and he knocks still. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

Wilfred felt the colour drain out of his face. He knocks still? But that was him, wasn't it? The one who knocked four times. The one who, for all intents and purposes, killed the Doctor. Was he destined to be the cause of his friend's death yet again, is that what the prisoner meant? He didn't think he could take that…

But the Time Lord didn't seem troubled by the cryptic statement in the slightest, in fact he didn't appear to have been paying any attention at all, his eyes focused instead on the same clock as before. "And we're off!" he said with a smile, glancing pointedly towards the timepiece, "Look at that. Look at that!"

Shaking his head, the elderly human forced himself to do as he was told. To his surprise he was met with the sight of a clock which read 0:00.

"Yeah, I know, just a clock," the Doctor continued, "Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is Zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" He reached into his pocket and produced Rory's mobile phone, "The source, by the way, is right here."

Right on cue a blinding white light appeared outside, shining in through all the windows. Wilf grabbed hold of his two fellow humans' hands once more and pulled them away from everything, the Doctor, Prisoner Zero and the light. Then came the sound of something moving overhead and the trio exchanged looks before poking their heads out of the furthest window from the action. Hanging in the sky above the hospital was one of the Atraxi's ships, its giant eyeball casting the beam on light into the room.

"Oh! And I think they just found us!" the Time Lord grinned.

Prisoner Zero seemed less than pleased but stood its ground all the same. "The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeah," the Doctor conceded, though he still looked very pleased with himself, "But this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here." He grinned again and tapped the mobile's screen a few times, "Oooh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man?" he asked, spreading his arms wide. Silence. Wilf shook his head and sighed while Amy gave him a pained look and the Time Lord dropped his arms again, "Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine."

"Then I shall take a new form," said the creature, tilting the heads of all three family members slightly to one side.

"Oh, stop it," the Doctor scoffed, "You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"Oh no…" Wilfred whispered as a horrible thought wormed its way into his head. Prisoner Zero had lived in Amy's house for twelve years, it had watched her grow up…

The creature smiled. "And I've had years."

"Doctor!" Wilf shouted in warning.

But it was too late. As Prisoner Zero began glowing an eerie red, Amy collapsed and Rory and Wilfred dropped to their knees next to her.

"No!" the Doctor was by her side in a heartbeat, kneeling next to the two humans as he placed his hands on either side of the redhead's face, "Amy? You've got to hold on. Amy? Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

"Doctor," said Rory suddenly, and the elderly human followed his gaze to the spot where Prisoner Zero stood.

The multiform had transformed, but not into Amy, as Wilf thought it would but instead into the Doctor himself complete with his ripped and mangled clothing.

"Well, that's rubbish," said the Time Lord, who, like the others, was staring at the creature's new form, "Who's that supposed to be?"

"That'd be you, Doctor," Wilfred replied.

"Me?" the alien looked down at himself in surprise, "Is that what I look like?"

"You don't know?" Rory asked, confusion etched clearly on his face.

"Busy day," the Doctor shrugged before focusing on Prisoner Zero instead, "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not." The reply came in a little girl's voice with a Scottish accent dripping off her words and as they watched a red haired child stepped out from behind the duplicate Doctor. "Poor Amy Pond," the creature continued speaking through the younger Amy, "Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

The Time Lord stared for a moment. "No," he said at last, "She's dreaming about me because she can hear me." And with that he turn his attention back to the fallen redhead and placed his hands on her face once more. "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy, dream about what you saw."

"Dream about the giant worm, Amy!" Wilf added, catching on to the Doctor's plan. He wasn't sure if he was really helping but it sure made him feel better.

"No," Prisoner Zero cried, "No. No!" But the transformation had already begun, the prisoner was glowing red once more and a few moments later, as the glow dissipated, it hung in its true form before them. The massive worm-like creature from Amelia's house.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero," said the Time Lord, ignoring a roar from the creature, "A perfect impersonation of yourself."

The white light from the Atraxi's focused on the multiform before the creature could hope to move, pinning it in place while it writhed angrily. "Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."

Finally giving up its struggle the worm fixed its gaze on the Doctor. "Silence, Doctor," it hissed and then, to Wilfred's complete surprise, it turned its head so that its alien eyes were boring into his human ones instead and spoke once more, "Silence will fall." And then, with a rush of wind, Prisoner Zero was gone.

The old human's eyes remained fixed on the spot where it had hung, even as the Doctor ran over to one of the windows and peered out at the sky, and even as Rory asked one panicked question after another. The prisoner had spoken to him, directly to him, and a feeling of cold dread settled into the pit of his stomach at the thought. Why? It was only when Amy woke up again that he tuned back into the world around him.

"Amy," the relief in the young nurse's voice was evident as he helped his girlfriend sit up slowly, "Are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" the redhead asked.

"He did it. The Doctor did it."

But the Doctor, who was still fiddling with Rory's mobile phone, cut the praise short. "No, I didn't."

Taking a deep breath and pushing Prisoner Zero's words well and truly out of his head for the time being, Wilfred gestured to the phone. "What are you doing?"

"Tracking the signal back," the Time Lord explained before glancing up at Rory, "Sorry in advance," he added.

"About what?" The nurse sounded understandably suspicious.

The Doctor grimaced. "The bill." Rory groaned audibly but the Time Lord already had the mobile up to his ear, "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now." He hung up and tossed the phone back to its owner. "Okay, now I've done it."

"Did he just bring them back?" the nurse asked, his voice bordering on hysterical as his girlfriend clambered back to her feet, "Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"

But no one answered him. Wilfred and Amy were too busy hurrying to keep up to the Doctor and the Time Lord himself, well, Wilf couldn't speak for his reasons though he suspected Rory was simply being ignored. They caught up to the alien as he was walking back down the same corridor in which they'd first met Prisoner Zero.

"Where are you going?" Amy demanded.

"The roof," the Doctor replied, "No, hang on." And he swung off into a side room without warning.

The three humans followed him, exchanging glances in the process, and found themselves in the hospital's locker room.

"What's in here?" Wilf asked, looking around.

"I'm saving the world," the Time Lord reminded them unnecessarily as he began picking up various items of clothing from around the room and throwing the ones he didn't like over his shoulder, "I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show. Wilf," he added, giving his companion a quick once over, "You may want to see if anything catches your fancy as well."

The elderly man glanced down at this once pristine suit which was now tattered, much like the Doctor's, and still rather damp and conceded the point with a shrug. "Aye… Have you come by any jumpers?"

The Doctor grinned, tossing him a dark green jumper and a pair of tan slacks.

"Ta," Wilf snatched up the clothes, hurried off to one side of the room and turned his back on the group in an attempt to find some sort of privacy while he changed.

The Time Lord, it seemed, didn't bother looking for privacy if Rory's reaction was anything to go on. "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off!" The nurse cried, before adding more quietly, "Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you."

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know," Rory continued then glanced at his girlfriend, "Are you not going to turn your back?"

"Nope," Amy grinned.

Five minutes and one extremely flustered Rory later the group found themselves on their way up to the roof of the hospital. Wilfred's new clothes were slightly too big but he couldn't bring himself to care, he'd forgotten how nice being fully dry felt. The Doctor's outfit wasn't quite complete, he'd found himself a new shirt and trousers and had braces hanging around his waist but had yet to decide on a tie as several of them were draped around his neck.

"So this was a good idea, was it?" Amy asked doubtfully as they emerged onto the rooftop and came face to face with one of the Atraxi ships hovering overhead, "They were leaving…"

"Leaving is good, never coming back is better," the Time Lord replied, taking a few extra steps forward and addressing the ship, "Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now."

"Oh my word," said Wilf softly, "As if that wasn't creepy enough…"

The giant eyeball had dropped from the center of the ship at the Doctor's words, coming to rest directly in front of the Time Lord and scanning him from head to foot. "You are not of this world," it decided.

"No," the Doctor pulled his braces up over his shoulders, "But I've put a lot of work into it." He looked down at his selection of ties and held one up to the eye. "Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think?"

Amy caught Wilfred's eye and they shared a smirk at the alien's antics.

"Is this world important?" the Atraxi ship asked, ignoring the fashion question.

"Important?" the Time Lord repeated, "What's that mean, important?" He pulled off one of his many ties and tossed it over his shoulder towards them and Rory caught it. "Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" Another tie came flying their way. "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Atraxi didn't respond straight away, instead a projection of the earth as a whole appeared between the eyeball and the Doctor. Images of humanity flashed across it in rapid succession before the ship finally replied, "No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

More images played and once again the response was the same. "No."

"Okay," the Doctor continued, turning up his collar and beginning to fasten his remaining tie, "One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many."

This time the projection showed a variety of monsters, some, like the Daleks and Cybermen, Wilfred recognized while others he'd never seen before.

"And what you've got to ask," the Time Lord continued, "Is, what happened to them?"

A series of faces flashed across the projected globe and it wasn't until the last one, with his spiky 'modern' hair and his big, dark eyes, that Wilf realized that he'd just seen ever face the Doctor had ever worn and he found himself wishing that he could have studied them longer.

But the projection flickered and died as the Time Lord stepped through it, his bowtie done up, a smile on his face and sporting a tweed jacket. "Hello," he said calmly, "I'm the Doctor. Basically, run."