A Dream

Lizzy ran. She ran because he told her to. That wonderful, stupid old man, who looked so young. She ran from the machines as they screamed "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

"Need...to get...the sonic..." she panted as she ran. She ran past gravestones, barely registering the names: River Song, Rory Arthur Williams, Clara Oswald. Pale hands with eyes on their palms reached out to grasp her feet, and Zoe let out a sob. She knew she could never dance through them all.

Suddenly there was a wooshing sound, and she stood next to the TARDIS. Beside her was a young man with silver hair. "You didn't see that coming," he panted heavily.

"Pietro! Help me find the Doctor's sonic!" Lizzy cried. He nodded quickly, and she pushed her key into the door. It opened, and at once Pietro disappeared from her sight, zooming and dashing all over the inside of the TARDIS. In ten seconds he reappeared in front of her, holding out the screwdriver. "Why is it bigger on the inside?" He asked her, but she shook her head. "Get me back to the Doctor, now! He needs this!"

Pietro nodded, and in three seconds Lizzy and he were standing behind the Doctor.

"Hahaah!" The Doctor cried, putting his arms around us. "And this is why you should never let me talk, Davros! Unlike your very old self I have many friends, and they never, EVER, let me down!"

"I have no need of FRIENDS, Doctor," Davros retorted, his aged form slumped in the Dalek chair. "My children do my every bidding without question. And, unlike your human friends, my children do not easily die! Daleks! Exterminate the Doctor!"

The surrounding Daleks repeated Davros's words, and moved their weapons to target the three figures.

"Got a plan?" Lizzy murmured. "Because I am a teeny bit frightened."

"Ah, don't worry Liz. I've always got a plan. Though sometimes they tend to be a bit rubbish!" He yelled the last part as he pointed the screwdriver at the ground; a jagged crack materialized as the Daleks fired; Lizzy screamed as they fell down into a building. There were parts of smashed concrete and roofing scattered everywhere, and Lizzy saw two people looking astonishingly at the three of them.

"Where did you come from?" the Asian woman asked. The massive guy with her yelled a name and brushed past us to dig frantically at the pile of masonry that we had fallen into.

"Is somebody under there?" Pietro asked with his Sakovian accent.

"TURBO!" yelled the big man gleefully.

"Mack," came a weak reply from under the masonry. "I think...I think my legs are broken."

"Oh my God!" Lizzy cried. "It's you! Fitz, Mack, Agent May! Oh my God..." She covered her mouth with her hands. "Doctor...did we just kill Agent Fitz?"

"Like I said, Lizzy," the Doctor said sadly, "some of my plans are rubbish."

Lizzy gasped in dismay, and broke down crying when Mack lifted off a heavy rock to show the piece of roofing nearly cutting Leopold Fitz in half. The Doctor rested a comforting hand on my head. "The night's not over yet, Lizzy," he said, and the TARDIS formed around the two of them. He ran around the controls fiddling with them, but Lizzy slumped down and sobbed wretchedly. Leopold James Fitz...she had seen him from another universe. She had seen them all: Director Coulson, Melinda May, big Mack, Daisy Johnson the Destroyer of Worlds, and...Fitzsimmons. Jemma Simmons, oh how would she feel, how would she bare the news of her husband, dead in a flash...

"We killed him, Doctor." Lizzy said woodenly. "We killed Fitz."

"I'm sorry, Lizzy," he said quietly, coming over to sit next to me. "It was the only way..."

"To break the paradox?"

"Yes, to break the paradox. And Lizzy, I know you've been through so much, but please, hold on tight. You can do this, I know you can!" He kissed her on the head, and held her face in his hands. "My impossible girl," he whispered, and smiled at her.

And then, Lizzy fell.

She didn't just fall through air: she fell through scenes, and fell slower every time someone died. She passed Boromir , riddled with arrows, Aragon kneeling by his side. She passed Chuck pressing the bloodstained carving into Thomas's hand; then Newt, covered in black blood, whispering "Thank you" to Tommy as the knife stole his life away; then Teresa, she too falling into fire after saving Tom. Lizzy's tears fell more frequently each scene she came across. Kanan Jarrus, Fives, 99, Chirrut, Baze, Bhodi, K2-S0, Jyn and Cassian, Amy and Rory, Shrike, Wolverine, Ru and Finnick, Maul and Anakin...

It went on and on. Lizzy was crying so hard she could barely breathe. All of a sudden, she wasn't falling anymore: she was sobbing on the ground, her wet hands already covered with dust and tiny rocks. She raised her head, and her sobbing reached a crescendo.

It was Fitz again. Her saddest moment...of course it would be this.

"I think my legs are broken."

"No, Fitz!" She howled. "You're going to die! And it's all my fault!"

"No, no, it...it isn't your fault," he said, turning his head. "Loo...look at me."

Lizzy heaved in deep breaths as she crawled closer, and took his hand. "You sound...so Scottish," she blurted out, and her tears increased.

"Look, death is like...its like before I was born, I...that's what my mum used to say to, to me..." he trailed off, no more words to say. His hands were trembling badly: Lizzy held them tight. "Jemma should be here, not me. It should be Jemma."

"Shoosh, shh, Jemma would only worry, and Ma...and Mack can tell her once I'm, er...gone..." His eyes were glazing over. Lizzy wiped his dusty face clean. He wasn't even crying: he was peaceful, almost happy. "Liz...Liz. Lizzy, can you do one, one thing for me?"

"Yes, Fitz, of course, of course: anything!"

He paused to look away, then looked back into Lizzy's eyes. "Wake up," he said, and stopped breathing.

"NOOOO!" Lizzy bawled, curling up into a ball and holding Fitz's hand.

"Zoe?"

"My...my legs are broken..."

"...um, no they're not," Georgia said. "Wake up, sleepyhead! We'll be late for work!"

Lizzy uncurled herself slowly, opening her tear-crusted eyes. It was morning. All the crying had been in the dream...at least, she thought so until she saw her soaked pillow.

"I'm...coming, Georgia," she said quietly.