"Imagine you were dying. Imagine you were afraid and a long way from home and in terrible pain," the Doctor said as he looked down at the broken Dalek. "Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, you looked up... and saw the face of the devil himself. Hello, Dalek."
The Dalek is on its side, small fires burning around it. "Emergency, emergency, weapon system disabled, emergency! Emergency! Emergency!"
"Be quiet!" Claudia hissed as she used her sonic pen to remove the casing lid. "We need more info about the Silence. And since you're the only survivor," she takes the data core with a mischievous smile. "I can't waste it away, can I?"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Inside a bar, the Doctor and Delaney walk straight up to the bartender, at a red-skinned alien behind a grate. "Gideon Vandaleur," Delaney called.
"Who says he's here?" The bartender snickers.
Delaney quietly puts the Dalek's eyestalk down on the counter, causing the alien to scurry off. As they wait, Delaney grips her arms as she notices several aliens on the bar are looking at them with wary and dangerous glare, ready to kill them in place. She didn't want to get into trouble, but if a fight might happen…
The Doctor nudges Delaney, gesturing at a hooded figure who has been sitting down on a chair at the end of the bar. Both of them sit down in front of him before the figure lowering down the hoodie, revealing a man wearing an eye patch.
"Father Gideon Vandaleur. Former envoy of the Silence. My condolences," the Doctor greeted.
"Your what?"
"Gideon Vandaleur has been dead for 6 months," Delaney informed as the Doctor uses the sonic on him who gets winces. The woman leans closer to his one eye, noticing a tiny soldier. "Hello again, the Teselecta time-travelling shape-changing robot powered by miniaturised people. Long time since Berlin, when you almost made my boyfriend don't exist."
She's still not happy with that ordeal. Finding out that Melody Zucker is Melody Pond AKA River Song, gets threatened to send her back to Nazi' HQ, witnessing the Doctor dying, a weird shape-shifting robot almost murdered River, discovering that the Doctor will die in Utah, having to tell young River of Arthur…it was a strange, exhausted, and messy day. She didn't like to see these people again, not liking the notion of getting help from a group that willingly wanted to make Arthur Jonas cease to exist.
But with how secretly the Silence is, even Arthur had no idea about the Silence with his precognition. Which is why they need as much info as they can. Even if it means meeting the Teselecta again.
"Dame Redwood, what have you and the Doctor done to our systems?" Mr. Carter demanded.
"The Doctor just deactivated it. It will come back if you listen to what we want."
"Now, this unit can disguise itself as anyone in the universe, so if you're posing as Vandaleur, you're investigating the Silence. Tell me about them," the Doctor said.
"Tell you what?"
"One thing. Just one. Their weakest link."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor is sitting opposite Gantok, a Viking with an eye patch. Between them is a table bearing a chess set. One of the pieces is charged with electricity. A crowd cheers them on from above, where Arthur, Delaney, and Claudia are right now, watching.
Gantok hesitates to move the charged piece. The Doctor smirks. "The crowd are getting restless! They know the Queen is your only legal move. Except you've already moved it 12 times, which means there are now over four million volts running through it. That's why they call it live chess. Even with the gauntlet you'll never make it to bishop four alive."
"I am a dead man. Unless you concede the game," Gantok proposed.
"But I'm winning."
"Name your price."
"Information."
"They're going to kill me too, very soon, and my Sunny as well. I was just going to lie down and take it, but you know what? Before I go, I'd like to know why I have to die."
"Dorium Maldovar is the only one who can help you."
"Dorium's dead. The Monks beheaded him at Demon's Run."
"I know. Concede the game, Doctor, and I'll take you to him."
The Doctor looks at the crowd. Or to be precise, at his family he had got. The three of them give him an affirmative nod, trusting him on what to do.
He concedes and the crowd groans.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Gantok leads the Doctor and Arthur through an underground tunnel, torch in his hand. There are skulls on every available surface, making Arthur nervous. "The Seventh Transept," Gantok shared. "Where the Headless Monks keep the leftovers. Watch your step, there are traps everywhere."
There is the sound of something scurrying across the floor.
"Oh, crap, are there rats?" Arthur whimpered.
"There are no rats in the transept."
"Oh. Okay."
"The skulls eat them."
"Not okay," Arthur yelped, noticing the skulls on the shelves turned to watch them. But Arthur tries to handle his nervousness as Gantok talks to them.
"The headless monks behead you alive, remember?"
The tunnel opens into a room. There are pedestals in the centre with wood boxes resting on top.
"Why are some of them in boxes?" The Doctor pondered.
"Because some people are rich and some people are left to rot. Dorium Maldovar was always very rich," Gantok explained, putting the torch into a sconce. The Doctor uses the sonic to scan a beautifully decorated box.
After he hears the latch unlock, the Doctor slides the door open. He and Arthur peer at Dorium's head before the man coughs. "Thank you for bringing me, Gantok."
"My pleasure," he said and aimed a gun at them. The Doctor hides Arthur behind him. "It saves me the trouble of burying you. Nobody beats me at chess!"
"This isn't chess," Arthur remarked, looking down at the trap that Gantok step into, making him falls through the trapdoor on the floor with a scream. Arthur didn't flinch at that, knowing that Gantok will die eventually by his own.
The Doctor quickly looks down into the pit and sees Gantok surrounded by skulls as they attack and he is subsumed. The skulls then turn and look up at him. Shocked, he pulls back and uses the sonic to close the trap. The door slamming shut, startles Arthur and wakes Dorium.
"Hello? Is someone there?" Dorium asked as the Doctor walked over. "Ah, Doctor! Thank God it's you. The Monks, they turned on me."
"Well...I'm afraid they rather did a bit," the Doctor sheepishly replied.
"Give it to me straight, Doctor! How bad are my injuries?"
"Are you serious?" Arthur huffed, shaking his head.
"Can't fool a visionary, huh. Ah, it's not so bad really, as long as they get your box the right way up. I got a media-chip fitted in my head years ago, and the wi-fi down here is excellent. So I keep myself entertained."
"We need to know about the Silence."
"Oh. A religious order of great power and discretion. The sentinels of history, as they like to call themselves."
"And they want me and Sunny dead," the Doctor concluded.
"No, not really. They just don't want you or your son to remain alive."
"Wonderful," Arthur remarked, shaking his head.
"Your father is a man with a long and dangerous past. And you, Arthur Jonas, have the potential to become exactly as the Doctor, maybe even more dangerous with the Time Vortex you had. Both of your futures are infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted."
"You know you could've told me all this, the last time we met," the Doctor huffed.
"It was a busy day and I got beheaded."
"What's so dangerous about our future?"
"'On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature could speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered. A question will become a catalyst of an unexpected future. And by doing so, the Explorer must pay a high price,'" Dorium recited.
"What price?" Arthur demanded as the Doctor pulled out a small notebook, writing it, trying not to explode in front of Arthur with what he just heard.
"I can't tell you. But you're a smart kid, I'm sure you can figure it out."
A husky voice of an old man kept asking. "Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who?"...
"Silence will fall!" Many people in a dark room chanted. "Silence will fall!"...
Arthur looks at the crack and gently holds it. His eyes glowing in yellow before his hand also glowing…
"'Silence will fall when the question is asked,'" the Doctor recalled what the Teselecta told him.
"'Silence must fall', would be a better translation. The Silence are determined the question will never be answered. That the Doctor and his family will never reach Trenzalore."
Arthur closed his eyes as he tried to process all the information he was hearing. What exactly was going to happen in Trenzalore, that Kovarian would torture him, kidnap Amy, take River and set her up to kill the man who would become Arthur's father? Did Kovarian really do it because she felt that all the craziness she was doing was justified by what was going to happen in Trenzalore... or was Kovarian just as crazy as Missy?
"I don't understand. What's it got to do with me? With Sunny and Delaney and Claudia?" The Doctor asked.
"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Would you like to know what it is?"
"Yes!" Both of them answered.
"Are you sure? Very, very sure?"
"Of course," the Doctor said while swallowing his saliva.
"Then I shall tell you two. But on your own head be it."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Doctor?" Delaney called as the Doctor and Arthur returned, now with a box. She didn't like how serious and grim these two look. "Did you find Dorium?"
"It's not my fault. Put me back. Ow!" A voice from a box complained. "I've fallen on my nose."
"I guess that answers my question."
"Have you got wi-fi here? I'm bored already and my nose is hurting. We all have to die, Doctor, but you more than most. You do see that, don't you? You know what the question is now. You do see that you have to die."
"Care to explain?" Claudia asks as the Doctor looks at his date of his death from the monitor on the Tardis.
"Long story short. The Silence deem us dangerous for whatever we will do in Trenzalore, convinced that me and the Doctor should die to prevent it," Arthur summarised. "Also, it turned out that my biological mother would still kill my biological father at Lake Silencio."
Delaney scrunches her face. "That sounds insane." Then again, since the leader is none other than Kovarian, who is she to judge? "But River wouldn't do that," she continued. "I mean, she saved your life, Doctor. There's no way she would have killed you right away after her efforts in Berlin."
"Not if she was forced to," Claudia surmised cautiously. "According to some sources, the person who was going to kill the Doctor was dressed as an astronaut. I believe the astronaut's suit the assassin is wearing is one that was once found in Florida. I wouldn't be surprised if Kovarian made an upgrade so River couldn't escape."
"Doctor, anyone, please, open my hatch. I've got an awful headache. Which to be honest means more than it used to. It's like some terrible weight pressing down on my—" Claudia quickly opens the hatch, showing Dorium's head upside down. "Oh. I see."
"Why Lake Silencio?" The Doctor asked. "Why Utah?"
"It's a still point in time. Makes it easier to create a fixed point. And your death is a fixed point, Doctor. You can't run away from this."
"Been running all my life. Why should I stop?"
"Because now you know what's at stake. Why your life must end."
"Not today. Not when I know what they did to Sunny!"
"What's the point in delaying? Because you know that he's your son? That River, the mother of your son, will kill you? How long have you delayed already?"
"Been knocking about. A bit of a farewell tour. Things to do, people to see. There's always more. I could invent a new colour, save the Dodo, join the Beatles," he argued as he made a phone call. "Hello, it's me. Get him. Tell him, we're going out and it's all on me, except for the money and driving. I have got a time machine, Dorium. It's all still going on. For me, it never stops. Liz the First is still waiting in a glade to elope with me. I could help Rose Tyler with her homework. I could go on all of Jack's stag parties in one night. I could get Claudia with someone she might like!"
"Time catches up with us all, Doctor," Dorium warned him.
"And I can choose whom I like to date, thank you very much!" Claudia added with annoyance.
"Well, it has never laid a glove on me! Hello?" He called, but then his face gradually got sad and sad. "Yes. Yes, I…"
"Dad?" Arthur frowns, tugging his jacket. "What is it?"
"Nothing, Sunny. It's just," he quickly puts the phone back and hugs him, looking at Claudia and Delaney with sombre expression. "It's time."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor, Arthur, Delaney, and Claudia are standing in front of the Teselecta, who's still disguised as Gideon Vandeleur.
"Surely you could deliver the messages yourself?" Mr. Carter asked, gesturing at the blue envelopes that the Doctor addressed to Amy, Rory, Canton, and River.
"It would involve crossing my own time stream. Best not," the Doctor said.
"According to our files, this is the end for you and your acquaintances will disappear. Your final journey. We'll deliver your messages. You can depend on us."
"Thank you."
As four of them took a step out, Mr. Carter asked again. "Doctor, whatever you think of the Teselecta, we are champions of law and order just as you and your acquaintances have always been. Is there nothing else we can do?"
The four of them looked at the Teselecta for a moment before leaving the bar.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Inside the invisible Tardis, Delaney and Claudia watch from the monitor as the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Arthur are having a conversation in Utah, exactly as what the information told them. The Doctor told them that they should stay on the TARDIS to keep an eye on any unprecedented things that may have prevented his future death.
"Ah, the moon. Look at it. Of course, you lot did a lot more than look, didn't you?" The Doctor mused upon the view of the moon. "Big, silvery thing in the sky. You couldn't resist it. Quite right."
"The moon landing was in '69," Rory remembered. "Is that where we're going?"
"No. A lot more happens in '69 than anyone remembers." He looks solemn and Delaney knows he remembers what had happened to River and Arthur in 1969. "Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you."
A truck pulls up nearby and an older Canton gets out. The Doctor waves to him with a bitter smile.
"Who's he?" Amy wondered as the rest stood up.
"Look!" Arthur points at a figure in a NASA spacesuit standing up to its knees in the lake.
"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" The Doctor orders, takes one last glance at River and Arthur before going to meet the figure, who has stepped out of the water.
Claudia quickly zooms in the camera on the monitor so she and her mother can hear the conversation. The astronaut lifts up the visor, revealing another River Song, looking more fearful than usual.
"Well, then. Here we are at last," the Doctor said sadly.
"I can't stop it. The suit's in control," River lamented. "They upgraded it. They intend to make Arthur do this. I—"
"You did the right thing. This has to happen."
"Run! Just take Arthur and run!"
"I did run. Running brought me and our son here."
"I tried to fight it, but I can't, it's too strong."
"I know. It's okay. This is where I die. This is a fixed point, this must happen, this always happens. Don't worry... You won't even remember this. Look over there," he looks in the direction of the others, showing another River from the future, standing with Amy, Rory, and Arthur.
"That's me," she realised. "How can I be there?"
"That's you from the future, serving time for a murder you probably can't remember. My murder."
"Why would you do that? Make me watch? Make our baby watch?"
"So that you and Sunny know this is inevitable. And you are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven. By me. By our son. By Delaney and Claudia."
"Please, my love, please, please just go!" She pleaded as her hand just automatically rises up and the beam's already on. "You're going to doom Arthur and Claudia with this!"
"I can't."
"Time can be rewritten."
"Don't you dare. Goodbye, River," he said with a wink then shut his eyes. As Claudia and Delaney prepare for the outcome of what will happen… something else happened.
As River shot him four times, no beams came out of the suit to hit the Doctor.
He's still alive.
"What?" Claudia reacted in utter confusion as the Doctor slowly opened his eyes.
"Hello, Sweetie," River smirks.
"Oh, no. River!" Delaney muttered, gripping the console.
"What have you done?!" The Doctor gawped.
"Well, I think I just drained my weapon systems."
"But this is fixed. This is a fixed point in time."
"So? I won't let my son and my granddaughter cease to exist."
"Oh, River, come on!" Claudia groaned in frustration as she started to navigate the Tardis. "Have you learned absolutely nothing after Berlin?!"
Before the bluenette can pull the lever, a bright light blinding them.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Well? What happened?"
Arthur blinks for a moment, looking below, realising that he's wearing the same outfit he had worn in Orient Express. Ah, that's right. After the light went off, the entire world just collided into one massive timeline, where the past, present, and future just exist together. He seems drifting too much into his past, he forgets that he, his dad, his future daughter, and Delaney are currently standing inside the senate room, where Churchill insists on learning what made this whole thing happen in the first place.
Even so, given that he deliberately keeps his consciousness not always awake so that his head doesn't explode (literally, of course)... well, it's only natural that he often daydreams and loses concentration.
"Nothing," Delaney remarked, seems to be extremely caution, gripping her pink-and-white 1880s dress she's currently wearing.
"Nothing?" Churchill repeated, walking to the Doctor who's standing next to Arthur.
"Nothing happened. And then it kept happening. Or, if you prefer, everything happened, at once, and it won't ever stop. Time is dying. It's going to be 5:02 in the afternoon for all eternity," he explained. "A needle stuck on a record."
"A record? Good Lord, man, have you never heard of downloads?"
"Said Winston Churchill."
"You seem to have fired that," Claudia noted to Churchill's gun in his hand, noticing that she was also carrying a spear like the Doctor as she was also in battle position, holding her red sling bag.
"We seem to be defending ourselves," the Doctor realised.
"I don't understand," Churchill admitted.
"The Silence. The creature, I mean," Arthur said as he looked around, trying to find out where those creatures are. "They had this nasty ability that you can't remember them. The moment you look away, you forget they were ever there."
The Doctor glances at his arm. Four tally marks. "Don't panic. In small numbers, they're not too difficult," he assured others, but when he looked at his other arm, it was covered in marks.
Soon, he glances up, followed by others as they see the creatures are hanging from the ceiling in a big cluster.
"Ah," Arthur said stammery before noticing a grenade rolls in.
The Doctor quickly takes Churchill down as Delaney takes Claudia and Arthur down before the grenade explodes. Soon, several soldiers barge in, with one of them commanding, "Go! Go! Go!" Keep the Silence in sight at all times, keep your eye drives active."
"Who the devil are you?" Churchill asked. "Identify yourselves."
"Pond," a silhouette responded. "Amelia Pond."
"Amy?" Delaney frowns.
"No! She's on our side. It's okay," the Doctor assured Churchill as the man's ready to shoot her.
"Why are you wearing that?" Claudia quickly asked, gesturing to the eyepatch on her.
Without any word, Amy shoots four of them.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Arthur slowly wakes up, finding himself sitting on a soft chair. The ground beneath him moving alongside a train whistle.
"The Government has again apologised for extensive radio interference caused by solar flare and sunspot activity," a voice announced, shifting Arthur's gaze to a radio.
Then, his eyes find the Doctor slowly waking up as well, with Claudia and Delaney following as they lay down on the floor. "Amy?" he whispered.
"Those stun guns aren't fun," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I wanted to avoid a long conversation. You need to get up, though. We'll be in Cairo shortly."
"Amy Pond. Amelia Pond from Leadworth, please, listen to me." The Doctor forces himself to a sitting position. "I know it seems impossible, but you know us. In another version of reality, you and I were best friends. Arthur was your teacher for 12 years."
The brunette slowly notices some drawings on the wall. "Dad?" He called, but got ignored.
"We…we travelled together. We had adventures."
"Doctor," Delaney interjected as she gazed on Amy's face.
But he still didn't listen. "Amelia Pond, you grew up with a time rift in the wall of your bedroom. You can see what others can't. You can remember things that never happened."
"Uhm, Doctor?" Claudia asked as she looked around, realising her surroundings.
"And if you try, if you really, really try, you'll be able to—" He looks at the Tardis model on his hand, then at the wall as well. "Oh. Oh."
"You all look rubbish," Amy remarked.
"Blame the guard. They don't give any luxury in the jail," Delaney huffed. "Please tell me you had decent clothes for us."
"Of course," Amy smiles and gives them their usual attire.
"Oh, Geronimo," the Doctor beamed.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"So, let me get this right," Amy said after learning where Claudia and Delaney were during Lake Silencio. "You two were hiding inside the Tardis to make sure he died?"
"Fix point in time is a delicate matter, Amy," Delaney explained after they got their clothes back. "One wrong move, and we could risk the universe into total darkness." She frowns. "What's up with the eye patch?"
"It's not an eye patch. Time's gone wrong. Some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it, you'll see."
"Right. And where's Rory?"
"My husband Rory, yeah?" Amy holds up a sketch. "That's him, isn't it? I've no idea, I can't find him. I love him very much, don't I?"
They all look at her sketch that looks absolutely nothing like Rory Williams. "You need to check again," Arthur said before frowning, looking lost.
"I have to keep doing this. I have to keep writing and drawing things. It's just so hard to keep remembering…"
"It's not your fault, time's gone wrong," the Doctor told her as he kept his gaze at his son, unable to see comfort from him. "Do you remember why?"
Amy nods. "The lakeside."
"Lake Silencio, Utah. I died."
"But then you didn't. I remember it twice, different ways."
"Two different versions of the same event, both happening at the same moment," Claudia shrugs. "Time splits wide open, causing all history to happen, colliding against each other."
"Does it matter? I mean," Amy glances at Arthur for a moment, "can't we just stay like this?"
"Time isn't just frozen. It's disintegrating. It will spread and spread and all of reality will simply fall apart," the Doctor added grimly. "And it will harm Arthur in the most horrific way."
There is a knock on the door and a soldier leans in, also wearing an eye patch. "Ma'am, we're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark," the soldier, AKA Rory Williams, says.
"Good point. Thank you, Captain Williams."
"Hello," Delaney smiles.
"Hello, sirs, ma'am, miss. Pleased to meet you," Rory nods.
"Captain Williams, best of the best, couldn't live without him," Amy introduced before Rory turned away.
Delaney can't help but snort. "You've set a big expectation," she mused as the Doctor laughed at the comparison between Real Rory and Sketch Rory.
"What's wrong?"
"You need glasses if you don't get what I mean."
Amy shook her head, deciding to ask another thing towards the Doctor. "Why are you older? If time isn't really passing, then how can you be ageing?"
"Time's still passing for me. Every explosion has an epicentre. I'm it... I'm what's wrong," he replied, walking away, looking at the window, unable to seek comfort from holding his son without risking more damage he might did.
"What's wrong with you?"
"He's not dead," Claudia simply said, more worried than she could ever imagine.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Rory leads the way down the narrow stairs. The Doctor's holding his eye patch with distaste, keeping an eye on Arthur so the boy won't get lost as Amy, Claudia, and Delaney follow behind. "You have to put it on, sir."
"An eye patch. What for?" He asked.
"I assume it's more than just for decoration?" Claudia guessed.
"It's an eye drive, miss. It communicates directly with the memory centres of the brain, acts as external storage," Rory answered.
Amy nods. "Only thing that works on them. Because no living mind can remember these things… well, except Arthur."
"Hmm," the boy mumbled, as if he's drifting in his thoughts.
They enter a room, which consists of containment chambers in which the Silents are suspended in fluid.
"The Silents. We've captured over 100 of them now, all held in this Pyramid," Rory told them
The Doctor walks up to one of the chambers. "Yeah. I've encountered them before. Always wondered what they looked like."
The Silent in the chamber tilts its head at him and Arthur.
"Put your eye drive on and you'll retain the information. But only as long as you're wearing it," Amy reminded him.
"Hence why the crazy lady wears one," Claudia wondered, holding Arthur closer to her side.
"This way," Rory gestures to them to follow him. The Silents watch the Doctor and Arthur as the older Time Lord puts on the patch. "They seem to be noticing you and Mr. Jonas."
"Yeah. They would," the Doctor agreed, glaring at them. Maybe it's a foolish thing to do, but he still can't let go of the fact that these creatures had tortured his own son.
"So why aren't the human race killing them on sight any more?" Amy asked.
"That was a whole other reality," Claudia stated. "So, the tank. What for?"
"They can draw electricity from anything, it's how they attack," Rory responded. "The fluid insulates them. And I don't like how the way they're looking at you and the boy."
"Me neither," Delaney agreed with a distasteful look.
"Ma'am, I'm sure it's nothing, but I should check it out. They haven't been this active in a while," he addressed to Amy before calling the closest soldiers. "You two, upstairs, check all the tank seals. Then the floors above, get everyone checking." As they leave, Rory looks at Amy. "You go ahead, Ma'am."
"I'll go with you," Claudia volunteered.
"With due respect, miss—"
"I can fight them. We need as many people as we can to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Rory looks down. "Okay. I'll accompany you," he decided.
"Don't do anything stupid," Delaney reminded her as Rory and Claudia left.
"Captain Williams, nice fella," the Doctor complimented as he followed Amy. "What's his first name?"
"Just Captain."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"So," Claudia starts talking as she and Rory are checking the seals on the tank. "Why would you stay silent?"
Rory frowns. "Sorry, miss?"
"Amelia? Your boss? Just ask her out. I'm sure she likes you."
"Really?"
"Mhmm. Gosh, I wish I won't be this silly when I get a girlfriend," Claudia mumbled as she stared at the Silent, holding her dagger.
Rory decided not to say anything for that statement and simply make an announcement. "Attention, all personnel. Please check all assigned containment units,"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor, Arthur, Delaney (who holds Arthur), and Amy walk into a large open chamber that is acting as the nerve centre for the project.
A female doctor, Kent, is speaking to the woman in charge. "You were right. Just his presence in the building caused the loop to extend by nearly 4 chronons."
Delaney raises her eyebrow as she looks at a digital clock now reads 5:02:57. The seconds keep changing.
"Hi, honey. I'm home," the Doctor teased.
River turns around. "And what sort of time do you call this? You're taking too much time with our kid."
"The death of time. The end of time. The end of us all," Kovarian sneered at the Doctor and Arthur. "Oh, why couldn't you two just die?"
"Say one more thing, and I'll make sure you die instead," Delaney threatened her.
"Is that so, Dame Delaney Victoria Redwood? You certainly learn to show your teeths from the best."
"Well, of course she learns from the best," another voice suddenly speaks up. They shift their head to a brunette man with brown eyes in his early 20s wearing a white lab coat. "After all, my dad taught her."
"Artie?" Delaney muttered, very confused to see him in a place like this. "What on earth—?"
"Blame River for that," he points at River, who is simply rolling her eyes.
"I was trying to save you," River insisted.
"And made me blackmail Cleopatra to get the Pyramid."
"It was a negotiation."
"Do I have to watch this?" Kovarian retorted, glaring at both mother and (older) son. "You don't know what you will do, boy. You think Trenzalore is the only reason I did this? The Hybrid, the Flux, the Division…many will come after you and your family. You will cause more suffering to the entire universe! Trenzalore is just the beginning!"
"And it was such a basic mistake, wasn't it, Madame Kovarian?" Older Arthur asked with cold gazes as he steps closer to Delaney and holds her hand in his. "Take a child, experiment on him, kidnap his grandmother and take her daughter, raise her into a perfect psychopath, and introduce her to the Doctor, her future husband. You're essentially causing my own existence, hag."
"Whoa! Where did you learn that word, young man?!" the Doctor yelled.
"Hey, I'm 945 years old! I can swear as much as I want! Besides," he glances at his younger self. "Shouldn't you put younger me to sleep? Time's chaos and it can make his brains go kaboom if he keeps thinking."
"He'll be fine. Younger you and I manage to force his mind to drift to the past very often so the Time Vortex won't hurt him or anyone else." He glances at his future wife. "But we can't waste any more time. Reality is fatally compromised. Tell me you understand that, River."
"Dinner?" she suggested.
"I don't have the time. Nobody has the time, because as long I'm alive, time is dying. Because of you, River."
"Because I refused to kill the man I love and save my child?"
"Sunny won't be save if he stays here!" He shouted, trying to get River's wrist. But several soldiers just grab him, distancing him and River.
"I'm not a fool, sweetie. I know what happens if we touch," River told him as Amy takes Arthur in her care.
With a quick smile at the soldiers, the Doctor lunges at River and grabs her wrist.
"Get off me, get him off me!" River yelled.
"Doctor, no, let go! Please, Doctor, let go!" Amy begged.
Delaney and Older Arthur look at the clock that already moves to 5:03.
"It's moving. Time's moving!" Kent informed.
"Mama, just let it happen!" Older Arthur pleaded, unable to help the Doctor without making the Time Vortex goes unstable. "You know it's the only way!"
For a brief moment, they are back at Lake Silencio. Younger Arthur winces as he's standing on Lake Silencio, watching the Doctor and the astronaut—younger River—talking before she shot him.
Then, the soldiers pull the Doctor away. River rubs her wrist, looking conflicted. "Cuff him," she ordered, wanting to hold her son, but afraid to risk his life.
"Oh, why do you always have handcuffs?" the Doctor huffed as the soldiers handcuff his hands behind his back. "It's the only way. We're the opposite poles of the disruption. If we touch, we short out the differential, time can begin."
"And I'll be by a lakeside, killing you. And by doing so, killing our son as well."
"And time won't fall apart," Delaney added. "Reality will continue. Please, River. You know this isn't going to save Arthur from death!"
"I won't let my son die."
"He won't die," the Doctor insisted.
"You don't know that! He's your child! If you die, he dies! Why can't you see the risk you're taking? Do you really hate him that much?"
"What I felt to Arthur before and now doesn't matter in this situation!"
"It is with us as his parents!"
"Please, stop, both of you!" Older Arthur shouted, making his mum and dad look at him. "I'm very honoured to know how much you care about me. But I really don't like you arguing and fighting because you don't want me to get hurt. For God's sake, I'm 945 years old. Legally, I'm an adult. I can choose what I want. And sorry, Mama." He shook his head at a confused River. "I don't want to live in a world that will be ruined because you weren't willing to give me up to an orphanage. And I'm sure my young self feels the same way."
Delaney feels something drip on her head. She looks up and notices a drop of water from above. "That's not good, right?" Delaney alluded.
"The pyramid above us," the Doctor says after looking up. "How many Silence do you have trapped inside it?"
"None. They're not trapped. They never have been. They've been waiting for this, Doctor. For you and your son," Kovarian smirks.
From the door, Rory and Claudia burst in. "They're out!" Rory warned. "All of them."
"DAD?!" Claudia reacted to seeing an adult version of Arthur Jonas standing beside her mother. "How… What?!"
"No time!" Delaney interrupts as she and Rory bar the door. "How many soldiers are outside?"
"We have them outnumbered," Rory told her, glancing at Amy. "Ma'am, my men out there should be able to lock this down."
"And you're wearing eye drives based on mine, I think," Kovarian added. "Oops."
"What do you mean?" Older Arthur demanded as Kent suddenly screamed. He quickly runs to her side, but it's futile as she falls down, already dead.
Claudia manages to remove it all by herself, running to her mother's side. "Remove the eye drive. NOW!" She commanded as she and Younger Arthur tried to remove Delaney's eye drive. Amy takes the Doctor's eye drive off him, but then her own powers up. Older Arthur runs to their side, helping them out.
"The Silence would never allow an advantage without taking one themselves. The effects will vary from person to person. Either death or debilitating agony. But they will take you all, one by one," Kovarian informed with a smirk…before her own eye drive starts to zap. "What are you doing? No, it's me. Don't be stupid. You need me. Stop it. Stop that!"
"We could stop this right now, you and I," the Doctor insisted to River as Older Arthur helps her, while Amy holds Arthur by her side, and doesn't want him to go away. "Amy, tell her."
"We've been working on something. Just let us show you," Amy pleaded.
"There's no point. There's nothing you can do. My time is up."
"We're doing this for you!"
"Then people are dying for me. I won't thank you for that, Amelia Pond."
"It's for your son! For your daughter-in-law! For your granddaughter!" River yelled. "Just let us show you."
"Well, I don't want it!" Older Arthur remarked, not in the slightest regret after saying it. His mother was too selfish and too emotional at the moment. Soft words would not work on her.
"Captain Williams, how long do we have?" Amy asked.
Rory looks around. "Er, a couple of minutes."
"That's enough," River denoted, looking at both her son and daughter-in-law. "We're going to the Receptor Room right at the top of the pyramid. I hope you're ready for a climb."
"I'll wait down here with Miss Redwood, ma'am. Buy you as much time as I can."
"You have to take your eye drive off," Claudia said as she's taking a gun and aiming it at several Silents.
"Can't do that, miss. Might forget what's coming."
"But it could activate any second," Amy argued.
"It has activated, ma'am. But I'm of no use to you if I can't remember. You have to go now, ma'am."
"Yes."
"Now!"
"Yes, thank you, Captain Williams."
Amy leaves, taking one last look back. Rory fights the pain to keep his gun hand steady as Claudia's holding him to her side, pointing her gun as well with three Silence break through the door.
"Rory Williams, the man who dies and dies again. Die one last time and know she will never come back for you," they taunted.
"As if!" Claudia shouted, ready to release all the bullets she had…before Amy let loose a machine gun at those creatures.
"Come on, you. Up you get. You all right?" The ginger asks, takes Rory's eye drive off and leads him and Claudia to the stair.
"Amy… Claudia… help me."
"Just go," Claudia told Amy, stepping closer to Kovarian as Amy took Rory upstairs. She looks at the insane woman in front of her. "You had some nerve to ask for help."
"That's what that stupid father of yours taught you. And you would never shed another blood, not after your dear Auntie Jenny."
Claudia grabs Kovarian's lapel as she hisses with venom. "You took my father, an innocent child, to be your sick subject of experiments. Then, you and your stupid army kidnapped my great-grandma, taking away her own baby for your next subject. You made her into a killer, using any means of painful things so she will obey you to kill my grandfather. WHY the hell should I help you and not let you die in hell?"
"Because you'll still save me, though. Because your father would, and you'd never do anything to disappoint your beloved grandfather."
"Perhaps. But, what's the fun of letting you go away?" She smiles darkly and quickly shoots Kovarian's legs, not even bothering the scream that comes right after. "This is for hurting my family," she whispered to her ears before walking away.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
River, Delaney, the Doctor, and Arthur (both child and adult versions) arrive at the top of the pyramid. Younger Arthur blinks his eyes, trying to adjusting his minds while his older version winces his head as the sensation of pain hitting him.
"What's this?" The Doctor glances at the machine in front of him. "Oh, it's a timey-wimey distress beacon. Who built this?"
"I'm the child of the Tardis, I understand the physics," River explained.
"Yes, but that's all you've got. A distress beacon!"
"I've been sending out a message, a distress call. Outside the bubble of our time, the universe is still turning, and I've sent a message everywhere, to the future and the past, the beginning and the end of everything. 'The Doctor is dying, please, please help.'"
"River, River, this is ridiculous. That would mean nothing to anyone, it's insane. Worse, it's stupid! You embarrass me—ow!"
"Hey, she cares about you, you know!" Delaney retorted with annoyance, can't handle the Doctor's harsh comment on River. "Sure, she caused all this problem, but she did that because she's just that desperate!"
Soon, Claudia, Amy, and Rory arrive. "We barricaded the door," Amy informed. "We've got a few minutes…just tell him. Just tell him, River."
"Those reports of the sunspots and the solar flares. They're wrong, there aren't any. It's not the sun, it's you, the sky is full of a million, million voices, saying yes, of course we'll help. You've touched so many lives, saved so many people," River revealed. "Did you think, when your time came, you'd really have to do more than just ask? You've decided that the universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree."
"River, no-one can help me. Not even Sunny could," he said harshly so River can see what she must know. "A fixed point has been altered, time is disintegrating."
"I can't let you die."
"But I have to die."
"Shut up! I can't let you die without knowing you are loved by so many, and so much. And by no-one more than me and Sunny."
"River, you and I, we know what this means. We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality. Billions on billions will suffer and die. Even as we're speaking, Sunny is slowly dying! He can't stay. Please, River. This isn't the way to save me and Sunny."
"I know, I know. But I can't lose you two! If I let you die, then I spend my entire life in prison for a crime I was forced to do. I won't remember that I had a son, a granddaughter. I will forever be branded as a criminal, a woman who killed the Doctor and let her own son die from existence. How can you expect me to be rational about this, after everything I had to endure?! Why can't I have a normal life?!"
Both versions of Arthur sigh. The younger Arthur knew that he could not ignore his mixed feelings about his parents for the these past adventures Does he loves River? Of course he loves his mother, just as he loves his father. But does he still have a sense of disappointment towards his parents? Bitterly, he would answer 'yes'. Because while everything River and the Doctor did was an attempt to keep him safe, it doesn't change the fact that they abandoned him in an orphanage, kept an information that they're his parents, and endured physical and mental torture at the hands of a cult leader in order to exterminate his real father.
Meanwhile, the adult version of Arthur could only stare at his young self with a sad look. He knew that the ordeal of understanding his parents' feelings was still difficult. He couldn't blame his young self for not understanding sooner. All of this is very complicated and dizzying to digest.
Younger Arthur looked at him with an unsure look. Older Arthur just gave a small smile and a slow nod, giving him approval of what he was about to say. "I don't blame you," Younger Arthur admitted to his biological mother. "I don't hate you for everything I've been through up to this point, either. I knew, from the moment I jumped, that my life would never be normal again. I did yearn for an adventurous life. Maybe I expected too much."
"Arthur..."
"I just want you to know this, Mama. So please. Please give up your idea of preventing Dad's death at Lake Silencio. What happens, happens."
The Doctor could only look at all this with a heavy feeling. "I'm so sorry, River. I know I asked too much," the Doctor said with a shaking tone. "You don't deserve this." He looks at Amy, Rory, Claudia, Delaney, and his son, both younger and adult. "None of you deserve this. Any of these stuff that happened because of me."
"Dad..."
Which is why… Amy, uncuff me."
"Uhm, what?" Younger Arthur asked as Amy quietly uncuffs the Doctor.
"Are you sure about it?" Older Arthur asked him.
He nods. "She needs to know. She deserves it more," he smiles, trying to stay steady. "I need a strip of cloth, about a foot long. Anything will do. Never mind." He quickly unties his bowtie. "River, take one end of this, wrap it around your hand, and hold it out to me."
"What am I doing?" River frowns, but doing exactly as he told her.
"As you're told. Now, we're in the middle of a combat zone, so we'll have to do the quick version. Captain Williams, say 'I consent and gladly give.'"
"To what?" Rory frowns.
"Just say it. Please."
"I consent and gladly give."
"Need you to say it too, mother of the bride."
"I consent and gladly give," Amy quickly said.
"I consent and gladly give," both Arthur speak up.
The Doctor nods. "Now, River, I'm about to whisper something in your ear, and you have to remember it very, very carefully and tell no-one what I said."
He whispers in her ear and she reacts in utter shock, from listening to his actual name and another secret he had given to her. River glances at her son. Younger Arthur simply shrugs while Older Arthur looks around awkwardly, even Delaney gives River a 'you should listen in the first place' look.
"I just told you my name. Now there you go, River Song. Melody Pond. You're the woman who married me. And wife, I have a request." He looks at her in the eyes. "This world is dying, and it's my fault, and I can't bear it another day, knowing that our child will suffer the same. Please, help me. There isn't another way."
"Then you may kiss the bride," River replied, getting closer.
"I'll make it a good one."
"You better."
They kiss and time begins to move once more.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Arthur gasps as he finds himself standing back in Lake Silencio. He quietly holds his jacket rather tightly, watching as the astronaut's arm moving towards the Doctor's chest—
And a beam of light hit him.
"Doctor!" Amy yelled, trying to get closer before Arthur, Rory, and River stop her from doing it.
"No, Amy! Don't!" Arthur shouted as another beam hit him, holding his grip on Amy despite winces at the sound. "We can't interfere! We have to stay here!"
"No! No! Let me go!"
"You have to stay back!" River reprimanded her mother.
"No! Doctor!"
The Doctor slowly stood up, looking below on his glowing hands. He looks at Amy and Rory, then he takes a long look at River and Arthur. "I'm sorry," he said, closing his eyes as the astronaut shot for the third time, killing him before the regeneration even finished.
Even if he knows the Doctor's safe inside the Teselecta, seeing him die doesn't comprehend the fact that he watched his father die in front of him. He simply falls to his knees, watching Amy, Rory, and River running to him after the astronaut walks back to the lake, trying to stay calm with the knowledge that this is all just a stage, that he's safe and sound, and he has to stay gripped on that reality.
He must stay in that position for 5 minutes, since Older Canton kindly helps him stand up and guides him to meet up with others who look miserable. "I believe I can save you some time," Canton uttered. "That most certainly is the Doctor, and he is most certainly dead. He said you'd need this."
"Gasoline?" Rory noticed as Older Canton put gasoline on the Doctor's feet.
"A Time Lord's body is very sacred, living or dead," Arthur shared without emotion. "Regeneration is one of the most powerful abilities in the universe, to the point that many empires willingly get it for their benefit. Which is why Time Lords usually burn the body."
"Wake up!" Amy begged. "Go on, wake up, you stupid bloody idiot! What do you think Claudia and Delaney will do without you?!" She rests her head on his chest, looking at Rory. "What do we do, Rory?"
"We're his friends. We do what the Doctor's friends always do," River consoled her and picked up the gasoline. "As we're told."
"There's a boat in there," Arthur pointed at a small boat near the lake (which had been secretly prepared by the Doctor himself).
"If we're going to do this...let's do it properly," Rory said.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Who are you?" River pondered at Older Canton, hugging her son in a kneeling position as she watched the cremation happen. "Why did you come?"
"The same reason as you," he responded, holding out his blue invitation. "Doctor Song, Amy, Rory. I'm Canton Everett Delaware the 3rd. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me."
As they watch him leave, Arthur blurts, "4 envelopes."
Rory looks at the boy. "Sorry, what?"
"A clue the Doctor left behind. He sent 5 envelopes, but only four people arrived here. At least… that's what he told me."
Before anyone can say anything else, he disappears.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Dorium's box is being returned to its pedestal by a cloaked figure. "Who's carrying me? I demand to know. I'm a head, I have rights. I want my doors open this time. I demand that my doors are open." The figure opens his door and turns to leave. "Is it you? It is, isn't it. It is you, I can sense it. But how did you do it? How could you possibly have escaped?"
The figure removes the cloak, showing the Doctor. "The Teselecta. A Doctor in a Doctor suit," he said as he stepped to Dorium. "Time said I had to be on that beach, so I dressed for the occasion. Barely got singed in that boat."
"So you're going to do this? Let them all think you're dead?"
"It's the only way, then they can all forget me. I got too big, Dorium. Too noisy. I can't jeopardise the safety of my son and his own family. Time to step back into the shadows."
"And Doctor Song, in prison all her days?"
"Her days, yes. Her nights? Well, that's between us three, eh? So many things for the three of us to catch up now," he looks down. "I owe them."
"I'm sure your wife didn't mean what she said in the Library," Dorium empathised, knowing the rumours on what transpired in the Library, the place where River Song died to save 4.022 people.
"Oh, she means it, alright. She means any of those words. And she has every right to say that. River loves our son that much, to the point she's having a hard time being reasonable."
"So many secrets, Doctor. I'll help you keep them, of course."
"I assume you won't tell me what I want to ask you."
"Unfortunately, no, Doctor. Your future son has made me swear in my own name that I can't share what exactly will happen. After all, It's all still waiting for you and your family. The fields of Trenzalore, the fall of the Eleventh, the question, and the sacrifice."
"Goodbye, Dorium," he said before leaving.
"The first question. The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from all your life. Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor… Who?!"