Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Freedom's Price

The night sky was alive with spaceships. I mean, it was crawling with them. All different shapes, colors, and sizes. I felt like someone stabbed me when I saw an Atraxe ship amongst the mix.

"What do we do?" Amy asked the two who has no clue what the hell we were all going to do.

"Doctor, listen to me. Everything that ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, just this one time, please, you have to run!" River begged.

"Run where?" He demanded, seeing how impossible that would be.

"Fight how?!" She yelled, fed up. I'd stand up for her, except I really couldn't care less about The Doctor's safety, and that was what this argument was based on.

"The greatest military machine in the history of the universe," he murmured as I fixed my hat. I paused, and then confronted him.

"What is? The Daleks?"

"No. No, no, no, no, no. The Romans."

I smirked, staring up at the cloud of swarming starships.

"I seriously doubt that." I looked up at the colorful spaceships in awe.

Out of the corner of my eye, or saw that The Doctor looked at me and he smiled warmly, almost curiously. I didn't look back at him, but he couldn't seem to look away from my wonderstruck features for quite a while.

***

Amy and The Doctor were having a conversation by the Pandorica, and I sat against the gray box on the other side, my head in my hands and my knees pulled up to my chest. No particular reason, I suppose, but I wasn't needed at the moment, and I was, quite plainly, bored.

"Remember that night you flew away with me?" The Doctor asked Amy quietly on the other side of the box. I stood up and neared the corner, to listen.

Amy cleared her throat. "Of course I do."

"And you asked me why I was taking you, and I told you there wasn't a reason. I was lying."

I stepped out to face him, folding my arms. "What, so you did have a reason?" I asked with an accusing edge to my voice. He looked up at me, but didn't look surprising. He could hear like a bat. He looked at Amy.

"Your house," he told her.

"My house," she nodded sarcastically.

"It was too big. Too many empty rooms. Does it ever bother you, girls, that your lives don't make any sense?"

How so? My life was simple. I met Amelia, met him, was nearly beaten to death on several occasions, losing a child in the process, and then he came back. Bam. Case closed. I smiled, thinking of how River said "Case closed," last time we met, and directed it at me.

Suddenly, bolts of energy whizzed past us. We all raced behind the Pandorica. I walked over near the edge.

"Ruby!" The Doctor hissed. I ignored him.

"What was that?" Amy demanded frantically. That was tally mark number five for stupid questions for her today.

"Okay, I need a proper look. Got to draw its fire, give it a target," The Doctor said, directing it at Amy.

"Yeah, uh, how?" I hissed.

"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?" He asked.

"Yes."

"No."

You can kind of tell which answer came from what person.

"Sorry," he said, before sprinting out between the Pandorica and the pillar thing. "Look at me, I'm a target!" He yelled, spreading out all his limbs like a starfish before whatever was shooting at us. He appeared behind the Pandorica moments later, breathing hard.