The Time Lord's Apprentice

The Big Bang

There are no stars in the sky as Peyton sits on the cold grass, shoulder to shoulder with Rory Williams holding Amy Pond who lies across their laps. Dead.

Peyton assumes the Doctor is dead too, after the centurions descended, she hasn't heard anything since.

She looks across at Amy's face, cradled in Rory's arms. She looks like she's sleeping, she wishes she was just sleeping.

Rory's sobs had quietened to no more than whimpers, she didn't know how a robot could produce so many tears while all hers had long dried up.

In between the silent spells like now. Peyton had asked him to tell her stories of his life as a Roman and in turn, she told him about the adventures that she, Amy, and the Doctor went on while he was gone.

He begins telling another one of his stories. The one of today. He starts at the beginning, his breakfast at the camp with Marcus and Domitus, the call for volunteers as a personal request by Cleopatra, who had been whiter than Rory imagined, and all the way up to now.

"So, the universe ended," he sighs. "You missed that. In 102 AD. I suppose this means we never get born at all."

"Twice, in your case," Peyton says, looking up at him, a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"You would have laughed at that," Rory looks down at his fiancée, bringing a hand up to cup her cold face. "Please, laugh."

"The Doctor said the universe was huge and ridiculous, and sometimes, there were miracles. We could do with a ridiculous miracle about now," Peyton says absentmindedly.

Right on cue, as if summoned, with a fizzle of sparks the Doctor appears in front of them, holding a mop underneath his arm and wearing a strange red hat on his head.

"Peyton, Rory! Listen, she's not dead," he explains before either of them can get a word in. "Well, she is dead, but it's not the end of the world. Well, it is the end of the world. Actually, it's the end of the universe. Oh, no. Hang on!"

He touches a device on his wrist and disappears as fast as he arrived.

Neither Peyton nor Rory say anything, too shocked to even process what had just happened.

"Doctor? Doctor!" Peyton shouts as she snaps out of her daze.

As if he could hear her, the Doctor reappears in front of them. This time, missing his mop. "You need to get me out of the Pandorica."

"But you're not in the Pandorica," Rory frowns.

"Yes, I am. Well, I'm not now, but I was back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from my point of view. Time travel; you can't keep it straight in your head," he tosses

Peyton his sonic. "It's easy to open from the outside, just point and press, you know the drill."

And just like that, he disappears again. Peyton looks to Rory, sure that she has the same dumbfounded expression on her face as he does on his.

"Oh, when you're done, leave my screwdriver in her top pocket," the Doctor says as he flashes before their eyes again. "Good luck."

He disappears yet again.

"What do you mean?" Rory yells into the empty night. "Done what?"

• • • 

The corner of the Pandorica separates as Peyton points the screwdriver at it. Rory insisted on staying with Amy, leaving Peyton to venture down into the Pandorica's chamber alone. 

Scattered around are stone remnants of creatures, some of which she had never seen before. Of the ones, she recognised there is a Dalek, a Cyberman, and a centurion.