the hourglass (doctor who fan fiction)

Amy's Choice pt. 4

I woke up in the passenger seat of a van. "Doctor!" I yelled. "What? I'm here. No worries, still alive." he was in the drivers seat. "But we were in the..." I trailed off. "Yeah, long story short I carried you in here." the Doctor explained. He stopped the car outside a cottage. "Okay." he mumbled. "They're in there?" I questioned. "Yep." the Doctor got out of the car and made it for the house.

While the old people were distracted I saw him climb up to one of the windows. He waved to me. "Oh. Right." I ran out and followed the path he took up to the window. He opened it, "Sorry. We had to stop off at the butcher's." we climbed in. "What are we going to do?" Rory asked. "I don't know. I thought the freezing tardis was real but now I'm not so sure." the Doctor answered. "Oh! I think the baby's starting." Amy yelled. "Honestly?" Rory questioned. "Would I make it up at a time like this?" she yelled. "Well, you do have a history of..." Amy glared at him, "being very lovely. Why are they so desperate to kill us?" Rory asked. "They're scared. Fear generates savagery."

A gnome was thrown through the window, making Poggit able to breathe on Rory. "Rory!" Amy yelled. I ran over and knocked Poggit off the roof. "No, I'm not ready." Rory protested. "Stay." Amy began to tear up. Rory was turning to dust. "Look after our baby." he said, before he was a pile of dust on the floor. "No. No! Come back!" Amy picked up the dust. "Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do." she looked at me and the Doctor, tears streaming down her cheek. "Not always. I'm sorry." the Doctor looked down. "Then what is the point of you?" she yelled. "This is the dream. Definitely this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?" Amy stood up. "Unless we just die." I shrugged.

"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream." Amy nodded. "How do you know?" the Doctor quizzed. "Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it."

"Why aren't they attacking?" I asked as we stepped outside. "Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do." the Doctor answered. Amy held out her hand for the van key. "Be very sure. This could be the real world." the Doctor warned. "It can't be. Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't, I honestly didn't, till right now. I just want him." Amy said. "Okay. Okay."

Amy started the engine. Me and the Doctor climbed into the van. "I love Rory, and I never told him. But now he's gone." Amy reved the engine and drove the  van through the cottage.

There's a thick layer of ice over all of us and everything now. When I woke up the Doctor was still where I put him when it was just me and Amy. Amy reached for Rory's hand. "So, you chose this world. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up." the dream lord said. The tardis power was restored. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell." the dream lord vanished for the last time. "Something happened. I. What happened to me? I-" Rory was interrupted by Amy hugging him. "Oh. Oh, right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said? Could you tell what it was so I can use it in emergencies, and maybe birthdays."

The Doctor stood up and went to the console. "What are we doing now?" Amy asked. "Me, I'm going to blow up the tardis." he answered. "What?" Rory questioned. "Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was? Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick. But he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality." the Doctor explained. I stood up and began to press some buttons around the console. "What are you doing?" Amy asked me. "Doctor, the Dream Lord conceded. This isn't a dream." Rory shook his head. "Yes, it is."

"Stop them." Amy said. "Star burning cold? Do me a favour. The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams." the Doctor scoffed . "How do you know that?" Amy quizzed. "Because I know who he is." I flicked a lever making the tardis explode.

The tardis was back to normal. Rory and Amy came from the stairway. The Doctor was looking at something small and yellow on his palm. "Any questions?" he asked. "Er, what's that?" Amy questioned. "A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us." he took it to the door and blew it into space. "So that was the Dream Lord then? Those little specks." Rory said. "No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen. It's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you, gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm nine hundred and seven. It had a lot to go on."

"But why didn't it feed on us, too?" I asked. "The darkness in you pair, it would've starved to death in an instant. On the other hand Juno, you're still remembering things from your Time Lord life. I choose my friends with great care. Otherwise, I'm stuck with my own company, and you know how that works out."

"But those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?" Amy asked. "Amy, right now a question is about to occur to Rory. And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention." the Doctor replied. "Yeah. Actually, yeah."

"There it is." I smiled, walking over beside the Doctor. "Because what I don't get is, you blew up the tardis, that stopped that dream, but what stopped the Leadworth dream?" Rory asked. "We crashed the camper van." Amy replied. "Oh, right. I don't remember that bit."

"No, you weren't there. You were already..."

"Already what?"

"Dead. You died in that dream. Mrs Poggit got you."

"Okay. But how did you know it was a dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?"

"I didn't."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Rory kissed Amy. "So, well then, where now? Or should I just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?" the Doctor asked. "I don't know. Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice."