The Doctor, dressed in roman garbs, with his hair long and a beard growing out, chained, with his head bowed, was escorted by roman soldiers through the Senate House to the Holy Roman Emperor, Winston Churchill, at 5:02pm on 22nd April 2012, as the date and time was always the same.
Time had fallen apart.
All of history was now happening at once, the past, the present, the future. Steam trains ran down the underground, cars whizzed around attached to hot air balloons, pterodactyls flew through the sky's, the War of the Roses was still happening, Charles Dickens was still alive and still writing.
He had tried to tell people that time was all wrong and he probably had gone about it the wrong way. Thea probably knew a better way of shouting it without then getting locked up as a mad old soothsayer as he had done.
She was probably doing a better job at getting people to understand time was wrong, but he had no idea where she was.
When River hadn't killed him at Lake Silencio and time fell apart, he had lost her.
He had no idea where she was, if she was even alive in this alternate reality.
The Doctor was shoved to his knees from the roman soldiers before Winston Churchill in the Emperors office.
"Leave us." Winston ordered. The soldiers left as Winston turned to the Doctor, "Tick tock goes the clock, as the old song says. But they don't, do they? The clocks never tick." He glanced back at the grandfather clock behind him, frozen at 5:02, "Something has happened to time. That's what you say. What you never stop saying. All of history is happening at once. But what does that mean? What happened? Explain to me in terms that I can understand what happened to time."
The Doctor lifted his head to look at him, "A woman."
The Doctor was growing quite concerned for his daughters mental stability as he followed Thea through the fallen ship of their enemies, Craigs Stetson on his head as they approached the twitching Dalek.
If she had been on Gallifrey at the time, he knew Rassilon would be delighted to use her as a secret weapon during the Time War.
They'd already gathered a bit of information from Cybermen and Slitheen and then she had taken down a Bane ship, not for any information on the Silence, but just because it had been nearby and she had gone to brag to the Bane on board how she had been the one to kill the Bane Mother. He was very tempted to drop her with Sarah Jane and get the information himself, but she said she had a plan and he would trust her. And maybe a small part of him was proud to see her survive their enemies so easily.
"Imagine you were dying." The Doctor began, "Imagine you were afraid and a long way from home and in terrible pain. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, you looked up and saw the face of the devil himself...""Hello, Dalek." Thea grinned wickedly.
"Emergency!" The Dalek cried as it laid on its side, it's eyestalk twitching, "Emergency. Weapon system disabled. Emergency."
"You gave our people no mercy, expect none from us." Thea stated.
"We need some information from your data core." The Doctor stepped up with the sonic to unlock the Daleks casing, "Everything the Daleks know about the Silence."
~.~
The Doctor and Thea stood on the darkened dock on Calisto B, lurking in the shadows as they watched a tall, hooded figure slip into a bar.
They followed him inside, heading straight to the bar to find the man they were looking for, not wanting to waste time looking around the other patrons.
"We're looking for Gideon Vandaleur." Thea said sweetly under her dark cloak.
The Doctor knew she just put the cloak on to be dramatic.
"Who says he's here?" The bartender sneered.
She threw down her hood, dropping the Dalek eyestalk on the counter, "I'm Thea, and I tore this of a Dalek with my bare hands after destroying all its little friends. So go get." She sneered.
The bartenders eyed widened, and he hurried off.
"Been here before?" The Doctor frowned at her. It was almost like the man knew her name.
"Don't think so." She crossed her arms, looking around before shrugging.
Even if she had, it would have been a different face.
The Doctor hummed, fully aware at one point in her life she had been up to no good. Oh, he knew she was lying about claiming to not remember it. But he wasn't going to bring it up, not when she did seem to be desperate to forget those times. Neither of them had yet run into any consequences of what she may have done.
He turned and led her over to a nearby empty table to wait. A few moments later, the hooded figure sat down. "Father Gideon Vandaleur, former envoy of the Silence." He greeted, as the man lowered his hood to reveal in pale face with blonde hair, "our condolences."
"Your what?" The man looked confused.
"Gideon Vandaleur has been dead for six months." The Doctor stated and before the man could reply he flashed his sonic at him, making him wince as he froze. The Doctor leaned in closer, seeing a tiny person in the eye, "Can we speak to the Captain please?"
"Long time since Berlin." Thea commented as though talking about the weather to an old friend.
The Doctor grinned at the robot, "Hello again, the Teselecta time-travelling shape-changing robot powered by miniaturised people." He glanced at Thea, "Never get bored of that."
"Doctor," the captain spoke, still using Gideons voice, "what have you done to our systems?"
"They'll be fine if you behave. 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."
"Tell you what?"
"One thing. Just one. Their weakest link."
~.~
The Doctor sat opposite a Viking-like alien wearing an eye patch similar to one Kovarian wore, sitting in the open area of the Live Chess game they were playing as Thea stood in the front of the stands with the rest of the crowd.
One of the pieces was crackling with electricity as the alien hesitated to make his move, knowing it was the only move he could make and to move it would kill him.
The Doctor had cheated slightly to get this far in the game, not that he was terrible at chess, their people had practically created the game and other species had taken their own take on it, like creating Live Chess, not that many stayed alive after losing the game.
Thea had warned him of the aliens possible moves and so all he had to do was play well enough to ensure the alien before him ended up at this point.
"I am a dead man," the alien agreed, "unless you concede the game."
The Doctor leaned forwards, that was exactly what they'd been hoping for, "But I'm winning."
"Name your price."
"Information."
"I work for the Silence. They would kill me."
"They're going to kill me too, very soon. I was just going to lie down and take it, but my daughter over there," he nodded to her as she wiggled her fingers back at them, "she is far too curious for her own good and wants 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 glanced at Thea as she nodded and tipped his piece, conceding the game as the crowd boo'd.
~.~
The Doctor followed behind Thea as she walked ahead of him, following the Viking alien through the dark tunnel of the Seventh Transept.
"The Seventh Transept," he informed them, leading the way with a torch, "where the Headless Monks keep the leftovers. Watch your step. There are traps everywhere."
The Doctor grimaced at a scurrying noise, "I hate rats."
"There are no rats in the transept." The alien stated.
"Oh, good."
"Only because the skulls eat them." Thea murmured, absently turning her gaze to the skulls around them as they watched them walk.
"The headless monks behead you alive, remember?" The alien continued as they stepped into a circular, cavernous room at the end of the tunnel, skulls on the shelves around the walls with several pedestals around the room, a wooden box resting on one of them.
"Why are some of them in boxes?" The Doctor frowned.
"Because some people are rich, and some people are left to rot." He explained, setting the torch in a sconce, "And Dorium Maldovar was always very rich."
"So rich he's just a head in a box." Thea muttered, stepping up to a rather decorative box and opening it to see Doriums head inside, "Thank you for bringing us, Gantok, do watch your step."
Gantok blinked in surprise as how she knew his name, "my pleasure," He sneered, pulling out a gun, "It saves me the trouble of burying you. Nobody beats me at chess."
The Doctor spun to face him at his betrayal, not that they were really surprised, only to see the man about to step on a trap door but was too late to warn him.
Gantok screamed as he fell, the Doctor rushing over, seeing the pit filled with skulls all of them swarming on Gantok. The Doctor quickly sonicked the door shut again, the slamming waking Dorium from his slumber.
"Hello?" Dorium called, "Is someone there?" He spotted the Time Lords, "Ah, Doctor. Thea. Thank God it's you two. The Monks, they turned on me."
"Well, I'm afraid they rather did, a bit." The Doctor nodded.
"Give it to me straight. How bad are my injuries?"
"Well..." The Doctor hesitated, unsure of what to say.
Dorium laughed, "Oh, your face."
~*~
"This is absurd." Winston cut in from the Doctors retelling, "Other worlds, carnivorous skulls, talking heads. I don't know why I'm listening to you."
"Because, in another reality, you and I are friends." The Doctor replied from where he had moved to sit at the table, "And you sense that. Just as you sense there is something wrong with time."
Winston eyed him, "you mentioned a woman."
"Yes." He nodded, "I'm getting to her."
"What's she like? Attractive, I assume."
"Hell," he said, "in high heels."
Winston nodded, "Tell me more."
~*~
"Oh, it's not so bad, really," Dorium told them, "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."
"I need to know about the Silence." The Doctor cut him off.
"Oh. A religious order of great power and discretion. The sentinels of history, as they like to call themselves."
"And they want me dead."
"No, not really. They just don't want you to remain alive."
"That's okay, then." The Doctor scoffed, "I was a bit worried for a minute there."
"You're a man with a long and dangerous past, but your future is infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted."
Thea snorted, "they really should have got more knowledge on me then."
The Doctor sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to Dorium, "You know, you could've told me all this the last time we met. What's so dangerous about my future?"
"On the Fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked." Dorium recited, "A question that must never, ever be answered."
"Silence will fall when the question is asked." Thea rolled her eyes, "So everyone's been saying."
"I don't understand." The Doctor shook his head, "What's it got to do with me?"
"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Would you like to know what it is?"
"Yes!" The Doctor shouted.
"Are you sure? Very, very sure?"
"Out with it, already." Thea rolled her eyes, not at all perturbed as the skulls turned to look at them.
"Then I shall tell you. But on your own head be it." Dorium laughed, gesturing them closer.
"Oh, I don't know that answer." Thea nearly pouted. She smirked at a bit, seeing Doriums eyes widening that she didn't know something. People always made funny faces when she said she didn't know something, especially an answer to THAT question. She really should know that, but honestly didn't care to know.
"It has to be his words from his mouth." Dorium continued.
"Why isn't my name as important?" She huffed, "Not that I want anyone knowing my name. Honestly, you don't want to know it."
~.~
"It's not my fault." Doriums muffled voice called as they raced into the TARDIS, Thea tossed the box with the head in, on the captains chair, "Put me back. Ow! I've fallen on my nose."
"Oh, no you haven't." Thea rolled her eyes as she joined the Doctor before the monitor, bringing up the Teselectas information of his death.
"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."~*~
"But what was the question?" Winston asked as he and the Doctor walked into the large Senate room, "Why did it mean your death?"
"Suppose there was a man who knew a secret." The Doctor began, "A terrible, dangerous secret that must never be told. How would you erase that secret from the world? Destroy it forever, before it can be spoken."
"If I had to, I'd destroy the man."
"And silence would fall. All the times I've heard those words, I never realised it was my silence, my death. The Doctor will fall." He blinked, suddenly realising they had left the other room, "Why are we here?"
"This," Winston looked at him confused, "this is the Senate Room."
"Why did we leave your office?" He wondered.
It was moments like this when he wished Thea was around, oh he was certainly glad she wasn't chained up and declared a mad old soothsayer, she would hate that, but she would know why they had left the other room, or at least have a feeling to warn them if it was dangerous.
"Well, we wanted a stroll, didn't we?" He looked at the resolver in his hand.
"I think I've been running. Why do you have your revolver?"
"Well, you're dangerous company, Soothsayer."
The Doctor glanced down at his arm, seeing a single tally having been drawn on, "Yes. I think I am."
"Resume your story."
~*~
"Will one of you please, open my hatch. I've got an awful headache..." Dorium called.
"Not from being upside down though." Thea grumbled as she moved over to open the box seeing the Dorium was the right way up, as she said.
"Which to be honest means more than it used to." Dorium continued.
"Why Lake Silencio?" The Doctor turned to him, "Why Utah?"
"It's a still point in time. Makes it easier to create a fixed point."
"And make it harder to change it." Thea nodded.
"Impossible." Dorium corrected. "It's impossible to change a fixed point in time."
"Nothings impossible, it's just incredibly dangerous and no one in their right mind would mess with a fixed point in time." She tilted her head, "No one is quite sure whether Visionarys were inspired or are mad."
People really needed to stop underestimating her. Always being over looked as a sweet and innocent little girl. When people believed that it made it so much easier to manipulate them for her own selfish needs.
Doriums eyes widened as he looked at her, realising she wasn't kidding and she was prepared to change a fixed point in time for her father. Maybe she hadn't been joking when she said Kovarian should target her instead. She was certainly fiercer than the Doctor.
"Besides," she continued lightly, "I already know what to do."
"I've been running all my life." The Doctor shrugged, getting Doriums attention back to him before the head understood Thea words. She had a plan, but it was a slim possibility of it working in their favour, "Why should I stop?"
"Because now you know what's at stake." Dorium replied, "Why your life must end."
"Not today." He stated, moving to the phone on the console.
"What's the point in delaying? 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."
"Ooh, I've always wanted to visit Akhaten." Thea gushed as the Doctor dialled a number.
He snapped his fingers, "See? Now I've got to take the kid to Akhaten." Someone picked up the phone, "Hello, it's me. Get him. Tell him, we're going out and it's all on me, except for the money and driving."
"We have got a time machine, Dorium." Thea pointed out, "that date has already come and passed for us while also has still to come."
"It's all still going on." The Doctor agreed, "For us, it never stops."
"Best avoid certain places though. Lizzie the first," Thea whistled, "don't remember what I did but I must have irritated her. Maybe I stole her betrothed and that's why she's known as the virgin Queen."
"I could help Rose Tyler with her homework." The Doctor added, "I could go on all of Jack's stag parties in one night."
Thea grimaced, "I'll pass."
"Time catches up with us all." Dorium remarked.
"Well, it has never laid a glove on me! Hello?" He spoke the last part into the phone.
"Doctor, I'm so sorry." The woman on the line said, regretfully, "We didn't know how to contact you. I'm afraid Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart passed away a few months ago. Doctor?"
"Yes." The Doctor swallowed, glancing to Thea as she looked away and he knew she had known he had passed, "Yes, I..."
"It was very peaceful. He wasn't alone, a young girl sat with him, until the very end. He talked a lot about you, if that's any comfort. Always made us pour an extra brandy in case you came round one of these days."
"I'm sorry." Thea mumbled, as the Doctor hung up the phone, "I should have told you..."
She had never thought to tell him. With time travel at their fingers tips they can go back in time and see the Brigadier any time they wanted. But now he knew the man he had known for so long had finally passed away.
She had never even told him the man had been ill, never said she had gone to visit him herself.
"It's ok," he offered her a small smile, not wanting to let her feel guilty about that, "it's...it's time."
"Let's do this." Thea agreed. Not to send him to his death, but for the plan to unfold.
~.~
The Doctor set the blue envelopes on the table before the Teselecta, requesting for them to be delivered. Thea had hung back, mostly to make sure no one was eavesdropping and have risk of the plan being discovered.
"Surely you could deliver the messages yourself?" The captain asked, still in disguise as Gideon.
"It would involve crossing my own time stream." The Doctor shook his head, "Best not."
"According to our files, this is the end for you. Your final journey. We'll deliver your messages. You can depend on us."
"Thank you."
"Doctor, whatever you think of the Teselecta, we are champions of law and order just as you have always been. Is there nothing else we can do?"
"Oh, I was so hoping you'd ask that!" Thea bounced over behind the Teselecta.
The Doctor had to chuckle as her smile only grew and he knew the captain was regretting asking, but her entire plan depended on that offer.~*~
"Why would you do this?" Winston asked, interrupting the Doctor from his memories of the Amy, Rory, Thea and River receiving the letters. "Of all the things you've told me, this I find hardest to believe. Why would you invite your friends to see your death?"
"I had to die." The Doctor sighed, "I didn't have to die alone. Amy and Rory. The last Centurion and the girl who waited. However dark it got, I'd turn around, and there they'd be. If it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me." He smiled fondly.
"And you invited your own daughter too?" Winston frowned.
The Doctor swallowed. Oh he knew that had been a hard thing for Thea to have to see, but it was a paradox in a way. She had already seen him die, and so he had to send an invitation too her in the past. He couldn't risk not doing so, but he could at least ensure she would have some comfort with Luke tagging along.
They'd been in the diner waiting for them to meet. Oh he knew she had known something was wrong as soon as she figured out he was crossing his own time stream but she hasn't said anything. Mostly because she had been rather upset to know she had been accused on bringing the plague to Easter Island.
Winston nodded, understanding the mans silence, "And did you tell them this was going to happen?"
"It would help if you didn't keep asking questions." The Doctor remarked, glancing down to see more tally marks on his arm now. "We don't have much time."
"And this woman you spoke of. Did you invite her?"
"Yes, she was there." He nodded, recalling how she had shot the stetson of his head, "River Song came twice."
In a way Thea had also been their twice. She had been watching safely on the TARDIS wanting to be close by, but also ensuring her younger self wouldn't be able to sense her.
"Everything was in place. I only had to do one more thing. I only had to die."
He had seen Canton arriving and turned to the lake to see a younger River rising out of the water in the astronaut suit. He had made them promise not to interfere. Made Luke swear to hold Thea back.
So he'd gone to meet his fate, standing before the astronaut, the visor opening to reveal the sobbing River inside.
She had warned him that the suit was fully in control and she couldn't stop it. He had tried to reassure her that it was alright.
That this was a fixed point in time and not even Thea could try and change it.
That had been a lie of course.
He told her that he forgave her, that it wasn't her fault, told her to watch out for Thea and closed his eyes ready for the blast...
But it never came.
The shots River fired missed him and drained her weapons system and a bright flash of light dissolved time around them.
"Well?" Winston pressed as the Doctor didn't speak for a while, "What happened?"
"Nothing." The Doctor said simply.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing happened. And then it kept happening. Or, if you'd 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. A needle stuck on a record."
"A record? Good Lord, man, have you never heard of downloads?"
"Said Winston Churchill."
Winston sniffed, "Gunsmoke. That's gunsmoke?" He looked down at his gun, "oh, I appear to have fired this."
The Doctor looked down at the spear in his hand, "We seem to be defending ourselves."
"I don't understand."
"The creatures that lead the Silence. Remarkable beings. They're memory-proof."
"But what does that mean?" Winston asked.
"You can't remember them." The Doctor explained, "the moment you look away, you forget they were ever there." He glanced down at the slowly growing tally marks on his arm. "Don't panic. In small numbers, they're not too difficult."
He caught sight of his other arm, covered in tally marks, slowly looking up to see a large group of them hanging from the ceiling.
Suddenly a cylindrical device was throwing into the room, beeping.
The Doctor pushed Winston out if the way, recognising a smoke bomb as it went off and soldiers ran into the room, all with their guns pointing to the ceiling
"Who the devil are you?" Winston demanded, as a woman with red hair and a dark suit sauntered in, "identify yourselves."
"Pond." She replied, "Amelia Pond."
"No!" The Doctor out to grab Winstons arm as he made to fire at her, "She's on our side. It's okay..." he trailed, seeing her wearing a black eye patch like Kovarian wore. "No. No, Amy. Amy, why are you wearing that?"
Amy held up a gun and fired at him.
~.~
The Doctor slowly came to the sound of a radio, reporting about a solar flare and sun spot activity that had been affecting many things lately. He blinked seeing a ceiling fan above him as he laid on a sofa in a train compartment.
"Morning sleepy head."
He looked over to see Thea sitting on the floor, cross legged, grinning at him, in her usual typical outfit, but instead of black and colourful stripes, her arm warmers and socks were block black.
"Thea" He smiled as she got up to hug him, "Oh, I've missed you."
"So how was being a mad old soothsayer?" She joked.
"Not fun, actually. Neither was that stun gun."
"I bet." She laughed, "We'll be in Cairo soon. Area 51 is currently located in the pyramids."
The Doctor nodded slowly, looking around the compartment, "do you have an office on a train?"
"No. It's Amys." She nodded of to the side where Amy was standing by the doorway, watching with a soft smile.
"Amy Pond." He turned to her, seeing her standing all in black, with an eye patch on her face, "Amelia Pond from Leadworth, please, listen to me..." Thea put a hand over his mouth.
"She knows." Thea told him.
He lowered her hand, scanning the room to see drawing of their adventures hanging over the walls, a small hand made TARDIS sitting on the desk.
"Oh." He nodded.
"You look rubbish." Was Amys way of greeting as she moved closer.
"You look wonderful." He hugged her.
"So do you. But don't worry, we'll soon fix that." She moved further down the compartment to a small cupboard holding up the Doctors jacket and bowtie.
"Roman soothsayer is not your style." Thea remarked.
"Oh, Geronimo." The Doctor cheered, taking the clothes.
~.~
"Okay, how do I look?" The Doctor asked as he returned to the compartment now back in his usual clothes, his beard shaven, though his hair still longer than normal.
"Cool." Amy nodded as she sat on the desk.
"Really?"
"No."
"At least there is no fez." Thea remarked as she laid on the sofa, lightly tossing the handmade TARDIS in the air and catching it again.
"Cool office, though." The Doctor looked around, "Why do you have an office?! Are you a special agent boss lady? What's that mean? I'm not sure about the eye patch, though."
"It's not an eye patch." Thea told him, holding up one of her own. "It's an eye drive, helps to remember the Silence."
The Doctor frowned, not at all liking the idea of something that he knew Kovarian wore and possibly had a say in creating for her own benefit. His frown deepened as he took the eye drive, seeing Thea smiling sweetly, far too sweet. which meant she had done something. If she said they were safe, then he believed they were.
"Time's gone wrong." Amy added, "some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it, you'll see."
"And you've got an office on a train." The Doctor commented, "That is so cool. Can I have an office? Never had an office before. Or a train. Or a train slash office."
"What's the point of you having an office?" Thea shook her head, "you're never around enough to use it."
"God, I've missed you!" Amy laughed, pulling the Doctor into a hug.
"Don't leave me out of this hug." Thea squeezed her way between them, like a sandwich, "all we need now is Rory."
"Yes, where is the Roman?" The Doctor agreed.
"You mean Rory. Amy moved to her desk, picture up on of the pictures she had drawn, "My husband Rory, yeah? That's him, isn't it? I've no idea. I can't find him, but I love him very much, don't I?"
"Apparently." The Doctor smirked at the sketch of a far more masculine Rory.
He glanced to Thea who had a hand over to mouth to silence her giggles. Obviously Amy had shown her the drawing before and she had found it amusing too.
"I have to keep doing this, writing and drawing things. It's just it's so hard to keep remembering..." Amy leaned back against the desk.
"If only your daughter did as told." Thea smirked, leaning back next to Amy.
"Two different versions of the same event," the Doctor nodded, "both happening in the same moment. Time split wide open. Now look at it. All of history happening at once."
"So, not chance of staying like this?" Amy asked.
"Time isn't just frozen, it's disintegrating." the Doctor sighed, "It will spread and spread and all of reality will simply fall apart."
There was a knock on the door and Rory stepped in, dressed as a soldier, wearing an eye patch of his own, "Ma'am? We're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark."
"Good point." Amy nodded, "Thank you, Captain Williams."
"Hello." The Doctor grinned at him.
"Hello, sir." Rory returned the greeting, "pleased to meet you."
"Captain Williams, best of the best. Couldn't live without him." Amy remarked.
"No, you really can't." Thea agreed while the Doctor just laughed, comparing the drawing to the real thing as Rory left.
"What is wrong?" Amy eyed them.
She had gotten used to Thea randomly bursting into a fit of giggles whenever Captain Rory was around and now the Doctor was acting just as odd.
"Amy, you'll find your Rory." The Doctor told her, "You always do. But you have to really look."
"I am looking." She insisted.
"Not always hard enough." Thea said softly.
Amy shook her head, eying the Doctor, wanting to change the topic from how she hadn't found Rory yet, "Why are you older? If time isn't really passing, then how can you be ageing?"
"Time is still passing for me." The Doctor remarked, "Every explosion has an epicentre. I'm it. I'm what's wrong."
"What's wrong with you?"
He closed his eyes, "I'm still alive."
~.~
The train pulled up to the pyramids of Giza, now turned into Area 52 with a large spire on top.
As the train came to a stop, Amy led them onto a platform where Rory joined them and started
leading them down the narrow stairs further into the pyramid, Rory stopping a moment to ensure they all had their eye drives on before they went any further.
"The Silence." Rory led them down the hall to see tanks on the walls, filled with liquid enough to submerge the Silent within them, "We've captured over a hundred of them now, all held in this pyramid."
"Yeah." The Doctor eyed them, "I've encountered them before. Always wondered what they looked like."
"Well, put your eye drive on and you'll retain the information," Amy explained, "but only for as long as you're wearing it."
"The Silence have human servants. They all wear these."
"This way." Rory turned to lead them off as the Doctor put the patch over his eye, "They seem to be noticing you."
The Doctor scoffed, "Yeah, they would."
"So why aren't the human race killing the Silence on sight any more?" Amy wondered.
"That was another reality." Thea reminded her.
"What are the tanks for?" The Doctor asked.
"They can draw electricity from anything." Rory answered him, "it's how they attack. The fluid insulates them. And I really don't like the way they're looking at you."
"Me neither."
"Ma'am," Rory turned to Amy, "I'm sure it's nothing, but I should really check this out. They haven't been this active in a while." When she nodded he turned to the two other soldiers, "You two, upstairs. Check all the tank seals. Then the floors above. Get everyone checking."
"Sir." One nodded as the two headed off as told.
"Ma'am," Rory turned to Amy, "I'm sure it's nothing, but I should really check this out. They haven't been this active in a while." When she nodded he turned to the two other soldiers, "You two, upstairs. Check all the tank seals. Then the floors above. Get everyone checking."
"I'll catch up with you." Thea called as the Doctor moved to follow Amy.
The Doctor smirked behind Amys back as Thea hurried back after Rory.
"Rory!" She called getting him to look over at her.
"Ma'am." He greeted.
He had been rather surprised the first time he met her that she had known his name, no one else did, he was just Captain Williams here. She was the only one to call him by his first name.
"I'm going to be blunt because Amy will get annoyed I'm taking too long otherwise. You like Amy and she likes you. She told me so."
"Did she, ma'am?" Rory looked closer at the tank, trying to look disinterested, "what exactly did she say?"
She smiled, not even needing to lie, "she said you were the most beautiful man she had ever met."
Rory blinked, looking over, startled that she would have said that about him, "she did?"
"Yeah, she did."
"See you in a moment, ma'am."
"It's Thea to you, Rory." She rolled her eyes as she hurried back to see Amy and the Doctor having waited for them.
"Come on," Amy called as the Time Lady returned, "Time for you to meet some old friends."
"Attention all personnel." Rorys voice came over the speakers as they walked into the kings chambers, converted into a lab, "Please check all assigned containment units."
"You were right." A woman in a white lab coat spoke to River, "Just his presence in the building caused the loop to extend by nearly four chronons." She gestured to the clocks as time slowly started to change, the seconds changing from 57 to 58.
"I brought the old man home!" Thea announced to the room, heading down the stairs and tripping over the bottom step, almost falling flat on her face before a young man in caught her in his arms. He was young looking, rather tall, though compared to Thea, everyone was tall, with dark eyes and messy dark hair, wearing a white ruffle shirt and pants, under a white lab coat. No name badge like the rest of the crew.
"Well, it looks like you just fell for me." He smirked, helping her back onto her own two feet, as her face reddened, "be careful, princess, you wouldn't want to hurt that pretty face of yours," he winked, heading up the stairs as Thea stared after him.
The Doctor frowned, eying the boy as he left the room, "who was he?" He wondered, turning to Thea, as she dipped her head, her hair falling over her face as though to hide her red face, whether from embarrassment from tripping or because of a cute boy, he didn't know.
River shrugged, "No idea, but you took your time." She stepped aside as Thea headed over to reveal Kovarian tied to a chair.
"The death of time." Kovarian sneered, "The end of time. The end of us all. Oh, why couldn't you just die?"
"Did my best, dear. I showed up." The Doctor defended, "you just can't get the psychopaths these days. Love what you've done with the pyramids. How did you swing all this?"
"Hallucinogenic lipstick." River answered, "Works wonders on President Kennedy. And Cleopatra was a real pushover."
"I always found Hallucinogenic lipstick rather basic." Thea commented, "rather like a Time Agent."
"And how would you have done it?" River asked her.
"Spoilers." She smirked.
"We should have taken you." Kovarian muttered.
"I told you so." Thea brought up another chair, sitting on it backwards, her arms over the back of the chair as she glared at the woman, "you had you're chance, I tried to make it easy for you. It was your own mistake."
"It was such a basic mistake, wasn't it, Madame Kovarian." River mused, "take a child, raise her into a perfect psychopath, introduce her to the Doctor, to Thea. Who else would I want to be friends with?"
"It's not funny." The Doctor chastised, "Reality is fatally compromised. Tell me you understand that."
"Dinner?" River offered instead.
"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 refuse to kill you?" She scoffed.
Seeing she was about to cross her arms, the Doctor lunged to grab her.
"Get him!" Amy shouted as soldiers instantly jumped into action, holding the Doctor back as River stepped back.
"I'm not a fool, sweetie." River remarked, "I know what happens if we touch."
"I'm sorry, River. It's the only way." He twisted out of the soldiers grasp, trying to reach for her again even as Thea grabbed him to keep him back, "Thea!"
"Cuff him." River called, seeing him distracted.
"I'm sorry, River. It's the only way." He twisted out of the soldiers grasp, trying to reach for her again even as Thea grabbed him to keep him back, "Thea!"
"Oh why do you always have handcuffs?" The Doctor groaned.
"Role play." Thea joked.
"River, it's the only way. We're the opposite poles of the disruption. If we touch, we short out the differential. Time can begin again."
"And I'll be by a lakeside killing you." River stated.
"And time won't fall apart. The clocks will tick. Reality will continue. There isn't another way."
"I didn't say there was, sweetie. There are so many theories about you and I, you know."
"Idle gossip." He waved off.
"Archaeology."
"Same thing."
"Those theories get even more ridiculous." Thea remarked, moving to sit on the steps.
Amy looked up, feeling something drip on her head.
"This is no fun at all." The Doctor remarked.
"It isn't, is it?" River agreed.
"Doctor," Amy called, "Thea?" They turned to see her staring at the ceiling, a drop of water on the palm of her hand, "what's that?"
"That'll be the Silence getting out now dad's here." Thea stood up as everyone looked at everyone looked at her, "eye drives off."
No one even questioned her as they all removed their eye drives.
No sooner had she spoken did Rory run in the room, shouting, "they're out! All of them." He rushed over to help another soldier place a plank of wood across the doors to the chamber, "No one gets in here! Ma'am, my men out there should be able to lock this down. We have them outnumbered."
"And you're wearing eye drives based on mine, I think." Kovarian smirked, "Oops."
"Really?" Thea scoffed, "I think you should be saying 'oops,' look around," she gestured to the room, "you're the only one left wearing one."
Kovarian smirked, waving off her warning as no more than an empty threat, "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..." she broke off as er own eye drive started to buzz with energy, "What are you doing? No, it's me. Don't be stupid. You need me..." it crackled with electricity, "Stop it. Stop that!"
The Doctor turned to River, "We could stop this right now, you and I."
"Get it off me!"
Thea turned from watching Kovarian twitch to look at the Doctor, "you need to see something first."
"We've been working on something." Amy told him, "Just let us show you."
"There's no point." The Doctor sighed, "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."
"Please." Thea stepped over to him, "We worked hard on this, just come and see it."
"Thea..." He sighed.
"Captain Williams," Amy turned to Rory, still guarding the doors from the Silence, "how long do we have?"
"Er, a couple of minutes." He replied.
"That's enough." River nodded, "We're going to the Receptor Room right at the top of the pyramid. I hope you're ready for a climb."
"I'll be right up." Thea said, as River nodded and led the Doctor up the steep set of stairs as Thea approached Kovarian, the woman, still tied to the chair, her eye drive hang off. "I said it before, you should have taken me when you have the chance."
"But you'll still save me." Kovarian looked at her, "because he would. You wouldn't want to disappoint, dear old dad, would you?"
"I am not my father." She stated, "neither is he here. I had a life before I met him you know. Don't you even wonder why I never talk about it?" She leaned forwards and put the eye drive back over her eye, pulling out a tube of lipstick, pointing it at the eye drive to increase its voltage, "Never underestimate how far I'd go for my family."
She straightened, turning her back on Kovarian as the woman screamed, sending a curt nod to Amy as she spoke to Rory, the man still wearing his eye drive to defend against the Silence as she followed the others upstairs.
~.~
They stepped out on top of the pyramid, the Doctor instantly caught of the large device set up in the middle, "What's this? Oh, it's as timey-wimey distress beacon. Who built this?"
"I'm the child of the TARDIS. I understand the physics." River replied.
Thea snorted as she followed them out, "understand them sure, but if not for me you'd still be looking at a pile on the floor."
River rolled her eyes, elbowing her to silence.
"This is what you wanted to show me?" He looked at them, "a distress beacon."
"Call it a science project." Thea shrugged.
"We've been sending out a message." River explained, "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."
"We barricaded the door." Amy shouted as she and Rory ran over, the man now without his eye drive, "We've got a few minutes. Just tell him. Just tell him, River."
"Those reports of the sun spots 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. 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. A fixed point has been altered. Time is disintegrating."
"I can't let you die!" River cried.
"But I have to die." He argued.
"I know!" She snapped, "but I won't let you die without knowing you are loved. By me, by Amy, by Thea, by...by everyone who's ever met you."
"River," The Doctor sighed, "we know what this means. We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality. Billions on billions will suffer and die."
"I'll suffer if I have to kill you. I don't want to kill you, I promised Thea I'll leave it to her."
"Is that promise worth more than everything little thing in the universe?" He asked her.
She didn't hesitate, "Yes."
"River, River, why do you have to be this?" The Doctor shook his head, glancing over to Amy and Rory standing aside, "Melody Pond, your daughter. I hope you're both proud."
Rory leaned closer to Amy, confused by his remark, "I'm not sure I completely understand."
"We got married and had a kid and that's her." Amy said simply.
"Thea, uncuff me, now." The Doctor ordered. She hesitated, "I'm not going to grab her, I promise."
"Fine," Thea said slowly, uncuffing him but keeping a close eye on him in case he decided to make a sudden move and try to grab River.
"Ok, I need a strip of cloth, about a foot long, anything will do. Nevermind," He undid his bowtie.
"What are you doing?" Thea eyed him.
"You take one end of this," he wrapped one end of the bowtie around her palm, "and then River you take the other end." he handed it over, careful not to touch her.
"What are we doing?" River shook her head as she wrapped the bowtie around her palm.
"As you're told."
"You're trying to marry us off!" Thea gasped.
"What?" River exclaimed, "oh, no I don't do weddings!"
"Well, you're in the middle of one!" The Doctor told her, "and there is no one I'd rather have as my daughter-in-law."
"No, no, no." Thea dropped her end of the bowtie, "River doesn't want to marry me and I, surprisingly, don't want to marry her."
"Of course you do."
River dropped her end of the bowtie as it fell to the floor, "we're not getting married. Neither of us consent to this. Doctor, I appreciate that you think I'm good enough to marry, Thea, also slightly concerned by that, but, we're not getting married."
"Please," the Doctor nearly begged, "she actually likes you and I can't deal with her complaining all the time!"
"You're trying to marry me off just to get me to shut up!" Thea shouted, grabbing his hand and quickly forcing him to touch River, keeping it there as time resumed.
And the pair found themselves standing back at the lakeside, with River in the astronaut suit 'killing' the Doctor.
~.~
The Doctor ran into the TARDIS, pointing at Thea as she stood by the console, "what was that?" He demanded.
"You tried to marry me off like that!" She exclaimed.
"You're constantly flirting with her," he defended, "I thought..."
"I do like River, but, I don't want to marry her, I mean we never meet in the right order. A marriage like that is...well, it worse than a marriage you don't even remember." She shook her head.
"What's wrong?" He eyed her, seeing something was bothering her.
"I might have killed Kovarian." She admitted quietly, rubbing her arms, "her eye drive was hanging off and I put it back on and increased the voltage and...I'd do it again."
She had killed Kovarian in an alternate reality, one that had never existed or happened now which meant somewhere across the universe, Kovarian was still alive.
So they'd have to hide in the shadows for a bit, ensure no words got out that he was still alive.
Worst still, that she did decide that Thea was a worse threat then him and try to kill her instead.
Hiding in the shadows was their best bet.
The less people knew, the better.
~.~
Two hooded figures walked down the Seventh Transept, the taller of the two carrying Doriums box, placing it back on its pedestal.
"Who's carrying me?" Dorium demanded, his voice muffled in the box, "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 smaller figure reached out to open the door before following the first figure out again.
"Is it you? It is, isn't it?" Both figures slowly turned round, "It is you, I can sense it. But how did you do it? How could you possibly have escaped?"
"The Teselecta." Thea threw back her hood, smirking at the head, "they offered to help, how could a girl refuse?"
The Doctor threw his own hood back, "a Doctor in a Doctor suit." He grinned, "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?" Dorium frowned, "Let them all think you're dead?"
"And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep quiet." Thea pressed a finger to her lips as she looked at him.
"It's the only way," the Doctor sighed, "then they can all forget me. I got too big, Dorium. Too noisy. Time to step back into the shadows."
"And Doctor Song, in prison all her days?" Dorium looked between them.
"Her days, yes." Thea agreed, "the rest of the time is another story. We're swearing her to secrecy though. The ancients only know what she will spill when drunk."
"So many secrets. I'll help you keep them, of course."
"Well, you're not exactly going anywhere, are you?" The Doctor quipped.
"But you're a fool nonetheless. It's all still waiting for you. The fields of Trenzalore, the fall of the Eleventh, and the question."
"Goodbye, Dorium." The Doctor waved him off, wanting to hear nothing more about that damn question.
"The first question!" Doriums voice followed them as they walked away, "The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from your whole life. Doctor who? Doctor who? Doc...tor...who?