102 - An Auton

The Doctor disappears with a small flash and a puff of smoke, leaving Rory alone in the underhenge. For a brief moment, he's determined, fierce, ready to be the mighty warrior he's been forced to become; until he realizes there's nobody here to fight. There are just the frozen figures of the Doctor's enemies, no longer a threat. He sits next to the Pandorica, sword loosely in hand.

The other autons have all shut down, and it's days before the rest of the legion bother to come looking. They find the path beneath Stonehenge with ease. The legatus is surprised to find a survivor but more surprised to see the Pandorica. Convinced that it is full of treasure, he proposes to take it back to Rome.

He is outraged when the centurion refuses, drawing his sword against his superior.

The legion leaves empty-handed, finally convinced when they see the gift the gods have left the centurion. Rory isn't sure he wants to call the Daleks gods, but for now the gun-hand that got him into this mess is actually being helpful.

It will be 16 years before the Pandorica makes its journey to Rome, and Rory will ride alongside it the whole way. Even the Caesars will be afraid to open the box, protected as it is.

The sky above Stonehenge is blank, and Rory will stare up at it sometimes, wondering where the stars have gone. It will be 48 years before he sees one of the cracks again in person, haunted by vague memories of dying and waking millennia in the past. It isn't long before he is certain of his theory. He will watch as people, things, places, events disappear from time. He will see people struggle to remember things that never happened, people they never met. Nobody's life will make any sense.

In 1,894 years, the Pandorica will open, the cracks will close, the universe will repair itself. But time itself has been ripped open, and the cracks appear in both directions, reaching long before the Pandorica's creation and far beyond its future destruction.

For now, Rory settles back against the wall and stares up at the box.

He knows he's given up his only out. The Doctor won't be coming back to give him a second chance at taking the short path. All he can do is stay with the Pandorica and protect it as best he can.

He has a very long wait ahead of him.