Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, situations, or general insanity of Doctor Who.

Summary: He prefers the universe as a highlights reel.

Rating: PG

Characters: The Doctor, Amy, Rory, the Dream Lord

Timeline: Post "Amy's Choice"

Note: Blundering into the world of "Doctor Who." I'm not even sure where to post this so if any f-listers know a decent archive ….

Iocane Powder was Easier than This

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"Our existence deforms the universe. That's responsibility." Delirium, The Kindly Ones

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They're already on their way elsewhen and he's still wondering about the birds.

(One of his names means the Oncoming Storm.)

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He's the Time Lord and he's the Dream Lord and something is off. He considers poking himself with a stick. But there's Rory and there's Amy to consider who are always just around the bend because right now the most he can do is put a little space between them. And they'd ask, of course they'd ask. Psychic pollen and cold stars and now the Doctor's poking himself in the head!

And the whole thing makes his (cool!) bow tie feel a bit tight.

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It's not quite right to say the TARDIS has changed. He still never knows what she'll turn out.

Rummaging around under the console, he finds a scratchy blanket and a still-steaming cup of tea. He stands and turns. And turns. But there's no one there to need either now. So he just looks around the bridge and it's warm and bright and not at all frost-covered. He doesn't know what he expected. It might be … it could be consequences.

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It could be that he's chosen his companions too carefully this time. Rory had come so close at the beginning. He'd wondered why it was a nightmare – a sleepy village, a good job, a pregnant wife – he'd wondered why that was the Doctor's nightmare. The first answer is that it's Rory's dream (and how depressing is it that a human, any human, might dream of nothing more than Upper Wherever and living into his nineties?) The second answer is that it might also be Amy's dream.

(The answer, the real one, is that it's always been his nightmare to accidentally bump into someone he used to know and see what a day without him is like. He prefers the universe as a highlights reel.)

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The Dream Lord smirked and laughed and joked. Because danger keeps best, stays interesting even after you've done everything else.

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His darker side tries to break her, make her choose. Rory or the Doctor. Life or a dream. And it's awful because she chooses to kill them all in a world she swore (so many times) was real. And it's awful because he can't really fault her. He didn't want to stay there either.

(And really, it's awful because the choice was never hers in the first place. Only he could wake them up. But he made her choose anyway.)

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The worst thing for Amelia is that after she met him, she became Amy and she doesn't even know his name.

The worst thing for him is that he's full of tawdry quirks and the most tawdry is that he's becoming a storm metaphor.

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His dark side is cruel and that's no surprise. It's in the title. But the question is whether or not he's right.

The Dream Lord called him an old man who loved the young and it's no secret that he can't ignore a crying child. But what about a child who grew up when he wasn't looking? (Who, in his nightmare, is about to have a child of her own.)

The Dream Lord taunts Amy and calls Rory the weaker choice. And isn't the worst thing about the Doctor that he makes people want to impress him?

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It's only his dark side that wants to crack her.

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They met (and met again) while he was still cooking. She grew up while he was still finishing up. And now she's followed around by a great big Crack in Everything.

It's only his dark side that wants to crack her open and try to put it all back together better.

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Before a storm is silence. Outside the dream they can no longer hear the birds.