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Danni and Rory both landed on the dark New York street with the stars above them shining bright and no other traffic or people around them. Rory stumbled at the sudden displacement, but immediately went back to tending to his friend, who was still struggling to breath. Her eyes were irritated from the never-ending downpour of tears that were streaming down her face but wiping them away just seemed to be making it worse. Everything was making everything worse! This was it! Everything was ending!
"I can't!" She cried, choking on her breath, "Rory!" He stepped back in front of her, ignoring their situation to help her.
"Look at me." He told her firmly and she tried, she really did, but he could see her mind working, her eyes looking around them for whatever she was perceiving as the threat, "Danni, just focus on me." He told her, firmly but as gently as he could. Her eyes snapped to his as she took short, sharp gasps in.
"It hurts." She whimpered and he nodded.
"I know." He reassured her, letting her know that what she feeling was valid, "I promise it'll stop, okay?" She nodded quickly, wanting to believe him, "Now this will feel unnatural, but I promise it'll work." She nodded again as she felt if she spoke she'd lose any oxygen she had left to keep her alive, "Let your breath out. Force out all the air you can, then take a deep, slow breath in." She shook her head, looking panicked once again, "I know, it doesn't sound right but it will help. Deep breath out, then one in." She took another couple of short breaths to try and steel herself, then did as he asked. She let out all of the, what she considered incredibly vital, air out of her lungs before taking another breath in, slowly drawing the air through her lips until her lungs felt like they would burst.
"That's it." He praise as she did it, "Now, count to three and do it again." Mentally she counted to three, holding her breath then let it all out. The next breath felt easier and she felt herself immediately start to feel better, drained and still terrified, but less inclined to pass out. She continued to breathe steadily with Rory's coaching, focusing on his voice and his kind eyes and face. Her Murse.
"You look better." He eventually told her, smiling at the colour that had returned to her skin.
"I feel better." She admitted quietly, "Well, no, I don't. But I don't feel like I'm going to die." Yet. She took another look around area they'd landed in, seeing the Empire State Building lit up in all it's glory, "We're still in Manhattan." She told him shakily, going back to her normal role in these situations, which was information giver, "River must be around here somewhere." She tried to stay focused on the here and now, not what was coming. Deal with finding River first, then the Doctor, then work out exactly what Gwyneth's foreboding warning had actually meant. Seeing her parents could mean a variety of things, after all. Maybe she'd see them through a hole in the universes and finally be able to say goodbye. Maybe they'd come to her. Yeah, she liked the sound of that. She mentally clutched onto the thread of hope she gave herself.
"River?" Rory asked her and she nodded, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"She's Melody Malone." She explained, "We've been sent back by the Weeping Angels and we need to find her." River was the key. She knew the future, perhaps she could tell her what was going to happen.
"The Weeping Angels?" Rory repeated as she started to, slightly shakily, head off down the street, looking down every alley and into every shadow looking for the bushy-haired woman. He quickly jogged to fall into step with her, "Amy told me about them. They zap you into the past, don't they?" Danni nodded.
"We're in like, the 1930's or 40's or something." She rattled off, her mind totally focused on finding River now, "Can't remember, don't really care either. We need to find River."
"Can she take us back?" He asked and Danni paused, looking at him with such sadness that he actually stopped, checking behind him in case someone was about to kill him.
"No." She whispered, "But she can help me." Rory frowned as she set off again.
"Danni, stop running off!" He called, catching up to her again, "You're not making any sense."
"You've known the Doctor for ten years, when does anything make any sense?" She shot back, "River!" He couldn't argue with that, very little made sense when it involved the Doctor or Danni, but it still didn't explain why she needed help.
"On the phone, you said you were going home." He recalled, testing the waters by gently prodding her, "Is that River? Is she taking you back to your universe?" She shook her head.
"No." She declared with such conviction, falling into denial over the entire situation, "I was told by a girl named Gwyneth I will see my parents again after the Stone Angels take..." She trailed off, even in her frenzied state she couldn't break that to Rory, "After the Stone Angels take Manhattan. She can stop it, though. River won't want me to go back any more than I do. She can save me." She didn't want to talk about this anymore, Rory could tell as she started screaming for River again. He just followed, he didn't know how to calm her down or fix what was happening, but at least he'd gotten to the bottom of her panic. Hopefully she was right and River could help, because he didn't want her to go either.
Then, as they turned around yet another corner, there stood River, wearing a trench coat and a fedora, looking particularly creepy if Rory had to put a word to it.
"River!" Danni cried, her relief clear in her voice as she chucked her arms around the woman. After all this time, she never thought she'd be so happy to see the youngest Pond.
"Danni-Girl." River replied before looking over her head, "Hello, Dad."
"What's going on?" Rory asked, still perplexed and unnerved by everything.
"We were zapped here by some Weeping Angels, why does no one ever pay attention to me?" Danni cried before turning to River, "I need your help, please River. You have to get me away from here!"
"I can't." River told her gently, "If you're here, the Doctor will follow and..."
"Exactly!" Danni cried, "Please, River. I can't do this! I can't go home! He'll never forgive me, please!" River looked over at her father again, quite confused but also very aware they didn't have a lot of time.
"Home?" She repeated and he nodded.
"She says this is when she goes home." He explained, "Something about seeing her parents again." River nodded slowly before taking a firm hold of Danni and pushing her off. She ducked slightly to be able to meet the shorter woman's eye line.
"Danni, you'll be fine." She reassured her, "It will all work out, and you are fine, but you can't leave." Danni stared, confused before gasping in shock.
"You know!" She hissed, "River, what happens?" River shook her head.
"Spoilers." Danni's chest tightened at the realisation River wouldn't help her, that she was stuck, "Now, Dad, you'll probably want to put your hands up." Rory turned around, seeing River spot something and was greeted with a man aiming at gun at him. He quickly chucked his hands in the air, eyes trained on the barrel, missing the other man appear behind River and Danni, also with a gun.
"Melody Malone?" He asked as if he didn't know who she was.
"You really are Melody?" Rory called over his shoulder but River just continued to smirk. A black car pulled up between the trio, tires squealing as it stopped.
"Get in."
~0~0~0~
Danni stared at her hands as River tried to explain what was going on, and why the Doctor couldn't have brought them back in time. She didn't care, she knew all this. Nothing mattered anymore, what was the point in trying? A tear fell down from her eye and dropped onto her palm. Even if she made it to the end of the episode, there was no way the Doctor would forgive her for letting the Ponds leave his life forever, but there was no way around it. Amy always had to be with Rory, it was the way the universe was supposed to be. She'd leave this universe, go back home knowing the Doctor was going to hate her.
"Danni?" She looked up at River, who looked vaguely apologetic, "It'll be okay."
"No it won't." She snapped, looking back down at her hands again.
"Maybe your Manipulator will go off before anything can happen." Rory suggested, always the optimist but Danni just shook her head, devastated.
"It won't. It doesn't work, and never when I want it to." He rubbed her arm, not really knowing how to comfort her but she didn't even flinch at the touch, just continued to stare down.
"Well, how did you get here?" Rory asked River, falling back to the conversation because he really hated how he couldn't help her.
"Vortex Manipulator." She declared, showing her own device to Rory. Danni's head shot up as she stared out at the front of the car, her mind suddenly working overtime.
The Doctor had always known his death at Lake Silencio had been a fixed point in time, and while he couldn't escape it, he dragged it out the best he could. 200 years of running, having adventures and taking one last tour around all his old friends. It was what he did, if he didn't like it, he ran. He ran away from the Time War, he ran away from his regeneration at the hands of Wilfred Mott and he ran away from the Lake and the Silence. Why couldn't she do the same? What was holding her to following the episodes she landed in? Normally it was lack of transportation, the TARDIS went with the Doctor and Danni was stuck following wherever he led. But she had another option now. She could run too. All she had to do was leave, then she'd miss the end of the Ponds and she could meet up with him afterwards, pretend she hadn't had a clue and they'd be happy, and most importantly, they'd be together.
First, though, she had to get River's Manipulator.
"Oh, River." She whispered before she started crying, loud sobbing that caused both of the passengers to start in surprise. She turned and chucked her arms around River, letting the woman comfort her as she squeezed her tight. Then, in a quick move she would always be proud of, her hand was in River's trench coat pocket and out she came with a gun, cocking it in the way Jack had shown her many moons ago and aiming it directly at her head.
"Danni!" Rory cried in surprise but she ignored him.
"The Manipulator, River." She said steadily.
"You're going to shoot me, again?" River asked in exasperation and Danni's face hardened.
"I'm not doing this." She explained, "I will kill you, and this time you'll stay dead."
"No you won't." River replied calmly.
"I've killed for the Doctor before." Danni hissed, "Don't think any of you are safe when it comes to him. Give me it, River." The bushy-haired woman sighed and unstrapped it, handing it over.
"You don't even know how to use it." She pointed out as Danni dropped the gun, quickly strapping the device on her other wrist, above the black band Koschei gave her.
"Show me, then." She demanded shakily, "Send me somewhere else. If you love me as much as you always claimed, please send me somewhere else." She flipped the flap on top open, slightly overwhelmed by all the buttons on the inside. She'd never learnt how to use her own, what was the point when it wouldn't go anywhere? She guessed the green button was the 'go' button, but otherwise the rest meant nothing.
"Here." River sighed, pulled her arm across, "Time, Day, Month, Year." She pointed down the columns, "Destination is set using these, but you need the exact co-ordinates." She pressed each of them, setting a time, date and location in for her, "Then press the button, and you're off." Danni did just that, disappearing in the white light they'd all become accustomed to.
"Why did you do that?" Rory asked her, "Why did you let her go?"
"Because she can't escape it." River explained, sounding tired, "She'll always end up back here, she needs to realise she can't run away from this."
"What happens?" Rory asked gently, seeing how upset River was over what was to come. His daughter had been bold and feisty in both the regenerations he had known. Mels had never let anything phase her, and as the flirty, danger-seeking woman River had always seemed to be, his knowledge of his own daughter was contradicted by the devastated look on her face at that moment, "Why can't she escape this?"
"Because everyone has to die." River replied solemnly.
~0~0~0~
Danni actually couldn't believe how smooth a ride it was when travelling through the Time Vortex voluntarily. She materialized in a hallway of what appeared to be an outdated hotel, rooms stretching in front of her, wondering why she was always stumbling and hurting but everyone else just glided in. She held the wrist up in front of her, examining the new Manipulator, impressed.
"I need to trade up." She declared to herself before looking around once again. Having no idea where she had landed, she started to walk down the hallway, "Doctor?" She called, hoping River would have sent her somewhere he would be. Already she felt a lot calmer, maybe slightly in shock but she was away from Manhattan, she didn't have to go through it anymore.
She screamed slightly as she spotted a man lying against a wall just down the hallway she'd turned into. His head rolled to one side and she started running towards him, kneeling down.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" She asked him but there was no answer. She held her hand in front of his mouth then sighed in defeat, he was already dead.
"Joe!" She looked up at saw Eleven there, panting slightly as if he'd been running. She shook her head sadly and he winced in frustration, turning as if he wanted to punch something but he didn't. Instead he walked over and helped her up.
"When did you get here?" He asked, brushing her dress down, as if he needed to try and help someone.
"About a minute ago." She replied, "Where are we?" He took her hand, linking his fingers in hers as they started walking back the way he came.
"Well, it's a little bit hard to pin it down exactly." He replied, meaning he had no clue, "But it's a never-ending hotel where there's a monster that's slowly killing us all off." She nodded slowly, shrugging.
"Another day in the office, then." She muttered sarcastically, "Good to know I always find trouble." He chuckled lightly, lifting her hand to place a kiss on the back of it when he frowned, noticing the new addition to her arm wear.
"Another Manipulator?" He asked, surprised and she nodded.
"Yeah." She drawled, "It's not mine, it's River's. I kinda... stole it." She shot him a sheepish smile, but the explanation just threw up more questions.
"Why did you steal her Manipulator?"
"Because mine doesn't work." She replied simply, "And I needed a way to run." Down the new hallway she spotted a ginger head peak out of one of the doorways, "Ah, Amelia." She tried to keep walking but the Doctor stopped, using his grip on her hand to pull her against him. His eyes searched hers curiously, as if he was just sensing something was wrong.
"Running?" He asked, "From what? Why are you so sad?" She tried to smile at him reassuringly, after all she was always touched by the way he seemed to be able to read her, but it just came across as defeated.
"What we're all running from." She explained, stepping away from him, "The end of my story."
"The Stone Angels." He whispered in realisation. She pushed off him and turned to walk away.
"Let's go see Amelia." She declared loudly instead, trying to make him walk after her. He did for a few steps, until he remembered what was in the room and decided it wasn't the best idea to confront the Weeping Angels.
"Wait!" He cried in panic and she started, staring at him in confusion, "Come along, Pond!" He called down the hallway, "We have to head back to the dining room."
~0~0~0~
Danni recalled parts of this episode, with the Minotaur that feasted on people that were brought into his prison. Why, she couldn't exactly remember but the sight of Joe laid out in front of a load of ventriloquist dummies was quite disconcerting. The Doctor scanned him with his screwdriver, reading the results as the end popped out.
"So?" She whispered and he pushed the end back in, putting the screwdriver back in his pocket.
"Nothing." He admitted with a frown, "He just... stopped. There isn't a 'cause of death'." He reached over and covered the body up with a sheet, out of respect more than anything.
"We all do that eventually." She noted, "His story ended."
"Yours won't." He told her firmly, turning to cup her cheek. She leant into it, drinking up the sensation of his touch on her skin, "I won't let it. You're not leaving me, Danni-Girl." She smiled softly as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Oh, if only we were in the TARDIS." She said out loud without thinking and he frowned in confusion.
"Sorry?" She smirked, turning her head to kiss his palm before reaching out and pulling him down, her lips millimetres from his ear.
"Remember last time I thought I was going to die?" She whispered and his eyes widened as he turned to look at her.
"Really?" He asked, his voice going up in pitch and she licked her lips, "Danni!" He whined, pulling away and blushing slightly. Was the room warmer?
"Twice." She told him without shame and ran a hand through his hair, shaking it out as he tried to rid himself of the images of the pair together...
"Would you like a cup?" A young woman in scrubs appeared next to them carrying a tea tray. Danni smiled warmly at her and reached out to take a cup.
"Thank you." She offered, "I'm Danni."
"Rita." The woman replied as the Doctor took his own cup, looking over at Joe again, "What exactly happened to him?"
"He died." The Doctor replied and she looked at him sceptically.
"You are a medical doctor, aren't you?" She asked, "You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."
"No!" He protested before thinking about it, "Well, yes, both, actually. I mean, there is no cause, all his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just..." He trailed off for a moment, sniffing the cup that he'd just realised was in his hand, "taken, and this is a cup of tea."
"Of course," Rita replied, "I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting." Danni giggled.
"Oh, I like you." She told the other woman, "She's clever and witty."
"How do you know I'm clever?" Rita challenged with a small smile and Danni waved at her.
"You're in scrubs. You're like, a proper doctor."
"Hey!" The Doctor exclaimed, slightly offended, cheering up only after she leant across and kissed him on the cheek, "But how did you make it?" He asked Rita, getting back to the important matter of the cup of tea.
"All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones." She replied knowingly, smirking at the surprised look on the Doctor's face, "I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory or mi..." She paused for a moment, as if the thought of her theory scared her, "or mine."
"Which is?" The Doctor asked leadingly.
"This is Jahannam." She replied factually, as if she had already decided that was the facts of what was happening.
"You're a Muslim!" He cried with a smile, merely enjoying finding out something about someone he'd just met.
"Don't be frightened." She replied with a cynical grin of her own.
"Ha!" The Doctor muttered, amused at her suggestion, "You think this is Hell?" He took a sip of his tea.
"The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though." Rita admitted.
"She's not wrong, though, is she?" Danni pointed out, wondering how the woman knew how to make such a wonderful cup of tea. Maybe she should ask her for pointers, "I mean, this is pretty Hellish."
"You think this is Hell too?" The Doctor asked her with a tilted head, surprised. She'd seen too much to believe something in something so superstitious.
"Well, Hell is relative." Danni explained with a shrug, "That guy over there," She nodded towards the alien, Gibbis, "He's scared of the Weeping Angels. You told me Howard saw a lot of girls making fun of him. That's his idea of Hell. I suppose you have to wonder whose idea of Hell is a never-ending '80s hotel."
"What about you?" Rita asked, "What's your idea of Hell?"
"I've just come from it." She replied, the Doctor the only one to have any idea what that was, "So I'm not afraid of anything that this place could possibly hold."
~0~0~0~
The Minotaur took Howie next. The Doctor had tried so hard to save him, but he was just another life he had failed to save. So he had to draw the creature away from anyone else, find a way to stop it before the rest were taken as well. He found the security cameras and needed to find the control room, use it to find the Minotaur and lead it somewhere where he could deal with it and save everyone else.
His own room hadn't been a surprise, but seeing Rita give herself over to the beast that was more than he could take. Amy and Rory joined him and Danni as he begged the would-be doctor to come back, to let him find her. But it was too late, and he granted her last request to let her go in private. Amy and Rory were devastated behind him and Danni sobbed quietly next to him as he turned the monitor off, knowing Rita was dying and there was nothing he could do.
He grabbed Danni and pulled her onto his lap, letting her curl up into him and bury her head in his shoulder, shushing her and promising her everything would be okay as he soothingly stroked the back of her hair. She always took it so hard, even when it was him who had failed. He'd promised Rita he'd save her, and he'd failed.
"Come on." He whispered encouragingly in her ear, "Let's go sort this out, eh?" He gently moved her so he could cup her face, smiling warmly at her, "No more of that, Danni-Girl. We have places to go, ice cream to eat." She giggled, sniffing at the end and he gently helped her up, "Right, I need to talk to the Minotaur again, properly this time..." He began to explain to the Ponds, leading the way out of the room. Amy and Rory followed, solemn but ready to help if he needed it and Danni fell into step next to Amy.
Then she spotted it. Room 12 which, when she thought about it later, fitted perfectly. Amy's was 7, the age she met the Doctor, whose door was 11, his current incarnation. Hers was 12, always one step behind the Doctor, and the regeneration she was most afraid of, because it was the first one she didn't know about. The Twelfth Doctor, the one she never met.
She glanced back at the trio, none of which had seen her stop and she looked back at the door again. She'd always been drawn to things she shouldn't have, one more couldn't possibly hurt, right? She turned the handle and pushed it open, frowning in confusion at the empty room. No Doctor, no River, no Silent. Not even a Dalek. She walked in, freezing in horror as she saw it lying on the bed.
"Danni!" The Doctor skidded into the room just as she stepped further in, "What are you doing?" Amy and Rory appeared only a moment later, both as confused as he was.
"Your scared of an empty room?" Amy asked sceptically, "Because that just seems odd, you've seen plenty of things scarier than this." Danni shook her head, heading to the bed and picking up the copy of 'Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town'. She smiled bitterly as she looked at the, rather accurate, drawing of Melody on the front. It did look a lot like River, except for maybe the gratuitous cleavage she had on display.
"This book is the end." She stated, turning it over and flipping to the Afterword, one she knew off by heart, "I know it off by heart. I need to, I can't forget it. I won't let myself." Hello, Old Friend...
"A book?" Rory asked, confused and she nodded.
"River thought I was scared of dying." She replied, although it wasn't clear if she was talking to herself or to them, "She tried to make me feel better about it, about the Stone Angels, but that's not what this is." And here we are. You and me on the last page.
"Then what is it?" The Doctor asked quietly, because he didn't understand.
"What terrifies me more is that I'll make it to the end. Because I can't change it, and you'll never forgive me." She placed the book back on the bed, smoothing her hand over it, making sure it was presentable. She turned and found him stood just a couple of steps behind her.
"There's nothing I wouldn't forgive you for." He tried to reassure her, but she shook her head.
"Nothing I have done is as bad as that will be." She replied instantly, "Everything else will fade into insignificance. This will make you hate me." Her certainty unnerved him, "I'm not afraid of dying at the hands of the Weeping Angels. I'm afraid of surviving them and having to see you despise me." He stepped forward to try and comfort her, but the tell-tale sign of her arm burning gave her only enough time to snatch the book up and disappear without a trace, leaving him wondering what it was that had her believing that so deeply.
~0~0~0~
He leant against the console, hands clenched against the cold metal so hard it felt like it was cutting into his palms, but even the pain it was causing couldn't distract him from the unadulterated grief running through his system. Then he turned, and it all transformed into anger, unrestrained fury and a hatred he couldn't remember feeling in a very long time. All focused on the one pathetic little human was stood there when Amy wasn't. All that anger, all that hatred... turned to indescribable horror as he took what had been a tragic event and annihilated it beyond repair or retribution. His one act, his most unforgivable action that would make him hate himself for the rest of time unfolded before his eyes, all because she was scared.