Demon's Run's lost Pond

The Doctor bid farewell to Clara as he got back to the Tardis. She had just graduated and had been recruited as a teacher in a good school. It was a bit difficult now to fetch her whenever he liked. Of course, he was proud of his little protégée but he also feared she would leave him anytime soon. As many of his former companions, she'd find someone worth staying on earth, they all did at some point. Unless they died.

That's when they crossed his mind, the Ponds… Amy, Rory… and their daughter Melody. Well… River, his wife, whom he had driven to the Singing Towers of Darilium weeks ago, or was it months? Years? He was starting to lose track. Too old, and the proof of it was there: most people he had encountered, at least with this face, had died. Amy and Rory had gotten old and died in a time that wasn't theirs, and River had been "saved" in the Library's database, that did not exist yet, or was she? Last time he had seen her, it had been in the fields of Trenzalore, a mere ghost, but it had hurt so much.

Still, he had been able to say goodbye, though he wasn't sure she was gone for good. She had said the word: "Spoilers", but he didn't know if she had meant he could still save Clara, or something about herself. In doubt, he preferred thinking of her as dead: it was painful than thinking she might come back. Sometimes, hope was not the best way to recover from a heartbreak. Yes, his regular companions had all died, and Clara herself had already died on him twice.

"Let's be realistic, I'm not the sauntering young man who landed in Amelia's garden anymore…"

He remembered their first adventure, tricking Prisoner Zero. Great times.

That's when the Tardis took off… on itself. The Doctor just got time to grab the console when suddenly a golden light burst from it. At that precise moment, he spotted a pair of golden eyes staring at him fiercely.

"Hello, my sweet raggedy man."

The doctor couldn't believe his eyes. A red-haired young woman he knew too well stood in front of him. Suddenly the Tardis started to shake again, the Doctor, astonished, was thrown out of balance and his head hit the console. All went blank.

When he awoke, his vision was not clear at first. First, he distinguished the golden eyes, then the long flaming ginger hair, then the creamy white face. It couldn't be. That's when he started to notice something was off. Amelia had never had golden eyes. No human did. And the face, it wasn't exactly the same.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor."

"Doctor… Who?"

"Ah! For once you're the one asking that question. More seriously, I'm no doctor, not even close. I'm a virus."

"A virus…"

The doctor was feeling that his head was still not operational.

"Are you… a corrupted version of the Tardis' voice interface?"

"You are quick, that's what I was told. But… no."

The doctor got to his feet.

"How did you get inside my Tardis."

"Your Tardis… Come on, you stole it."

"How do you know?... Doesn't matter, when and how did you get in?"

"I sneaked up on you a few days ago."

"I'd have noticed."

"But you haven't."

"No, stop that. Ok, you're a virus, you're already virusing my environment. You're not real. Am I on drugs? No, I'm immune to most of them. I may have knocked my head harder than I thought… Or you're actually a virus trying to take over my ship, which means I actually should get rid of you as quick as possible, but first… I'd like to know how you got passed her defenses."

"I was kind of joking when I said I was a virus. Look at me, what do you see?"

"Her face, her hair… But you should know given that you stole her appearance. But poor copy, Amelia had green eyes, yours are golden, and you should know humans don't have golden eyes… only vampires in Twilight do. And your face is not exactly right."

"How dare you? You're saying my face is weird. I might not be perfect but I'm pretty enough, thank you."

"That's not what I meant… Voice interface, show me Amy Pond."

An hologram representing Amy appeared out of thin air.

"See? That proves you're not hijacking the Tardis' voice interface, so it might be worse than I thought."

The girl wasn't listening to him anymore; she just stood in front of the hologram, her face frozen. She tried to reach for it, but her hand went through.

"This is the real Amelia Pond; you can't fool me. It's the first face this face saw."

"I know who she is. It's you who doesn't who I am." She said with a smile.

"And who or more precisely what would you be?"

She moved next to the hologram.

"I'm Demon's run lost child.

The Doctor's face hardened and he drew out his sonic.

"You've crossed the line, now you tell me truth." He said, pointing the sonic towards her.

"I am."

"The only lost child of Demon's run is a girl named Melody Pond, better know as Professor River Song, my very own… wife. So I should know."

"Melody Pond… wasn't the only child born on Demon's run base."

"Oh, so that would be a small detail my dear friend… well… mother-in-law would have forgotten to tell me about? Try again."

The Doctor was now walking menacingly toward the girl whose face, so like the one of his departed friend, hurt his very eye.

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Don't push me. I know all what happened there. Don't you think I inquired. I've searched for little Melody Pond long before she became River. I wanted to change the past, even if she did forbid me. I was desperate to give Amy and Rory their daughter's back."

"I know, that's why I've come here. We have that in common. I want to take Melody's place."

"What?"

The doctor was astonished… Could that be true? No, surely it was a trap from the Silence or from someone who knew about River's story. He scanned her with his sonic screwdriver.

"Hmm… Not human, I knew that much." He concluded.

"Of course not! You know Melody's got Time Lord's DNA. She could regenerate."

"So you're telling me you can do that as well."

"No. I can't. I'm not part I'm part Time Lord. To be honest, I don't know what I am. The Silence experimented on us. They needed to develop Melody's Time Lord genes… But for me… I was just plan B, and they sure than plan A would succeed. They could have… Time Lorded me, but they did not need two. Believe me or not… I'm sort of… part Tardis."

"What?" The Doctor made a face. "Now you're getting out, you're a big fat joke, I never heard something quite so stupid."

"Look into my eyes"

The Doctor looked. That's when he understood, the gold in her eyes was not fixed, it was slowly spiraling in small particles.

"Time vortex… and Tardis'… something… What can you be?"

"I'm the child of the Tardis. That's why I could hide in here for days and you haven't spotted me."

"But… twins? Amy had twins? That's just not… possible… unless…"

"They erased my mother's memory and were extremely careful with database. I don't exist. I appear in no file, and the ones who were there when I was born were executed. All except Madam Kovarian and one scientist. I was plan B, no one was entitled to know."

"This means you're here to kill me like River first was."

"Not you. They wanted me to destroy the Tardis."

"One girl for the ship, one girl for the captain. They wanted me dead, and if they failed, they at least wanted me stuck."

The Doctor was deep in thought, but he suddenly smiled, and giggled.

"So you're Amy's daughter too? That makes family… er…"

"My name's Mira. Well, actually that's Mirage. That's the name the Silence gave me, it was a code project name, and I hate it. So it's Mira."

"Mira Pond…"

The Doctor's face grew deadly serious again.

"How do you plan on destroying the Tardis?"

"I don't…"

"Don't play games with me, I'm too clever for that. The Silence brainwashed Melody Pond, and they did it well, so don't let me believe they didn't do anything to you."

"Well… I didn't tell you everything. I'm not a virus… but I'm carrying one. See… The persons who raised me always talked to me about my parents, and about you. Above all, they insisted that I should find you because only you could bring me back to them. When I escaped, I tried to find you of course, and I did. Then, I started to think. It seemed too easy, the escape, and finding you… Even with my abilities."

"Which are…"

"I travel in the whole of time and space. I'm a sort of… human Tardis. I didn't know, I found out when I got free. The walls of my prison were probably preventing me of using that ability. Outside, all I have to do is wishing and I can be anywhere anytime."

"Oh… I expected something like that. Then why not going back to your parents? One human being, with such an ability could reach them without making any damage."

"I did… I watched them, but I couldn't. I want more. The Amy and Rory I saw were not my parents. They had an adopted little boy, and brilliant careers."

"Amelia Williams, the writer."

"I want to start over. Save me in the past. Steal me from the silence and give me back to my parents. Tell them I am Melody."

"Nonsense, this plan is flawed. I'd break River's heart. She'd understand, but her fate and Amy's are too entwined. It's not as if Melody had gone for good. She changed. Amy will believe it if I give you back to her, but what is going to happen when we meet the real Melody? Damn family, you enjoy destroying timelines. I swear, you Ponds are going to be the end of me."

"You have to find a way. I can't be this. Do you know what it is? Having those eyes. It's not just the eyes, it's me. It's been driving me mad for months."

The Doctor saw Mira Pond as she really was: an anguished teenager… But most of all, she was doomed. He scanned her again and understood. Myra was being consumed. First her eyes, and probably other things.

"You should never had escaped. They keeping you safe."

"I was a prisoner, and I have been thinking. They wanted me to go after you. They knew my powers would reveal once outside their walls."

"Oh Mira… I wish I could do something."

"You're the Doctor, of course you can. All my life, I was told you could achieve anything. I'm not a fixed point, I don't exist, they made sure my existence was as concealed as can be. No one would know. Fetch me at Demon's run, erase Madam Kovarian memory the way she erased my mother's."

"I can't."

"Don't say that. You could drop me… anytime."

"You are being silly, I can't change one line of what happened. I'd destroy the timeline, and I promised her I would not change our past. I've wanted to, so much, and I tried. But the years passed and I grew wiser."

Mira's eyes filled with tears and the Doctor sensed he was loosing her. Her tears glistened with gold. She took a swift glance at the Tardis' console.

"You will do as I ask."

"No, and don't think you can make me do anything."

"If I touch this console, the Tardis dies. Remember, I'm carrying a virus."

"You wouldn't…"

"Then do as I ask."

The Doctor was experiencing a hard internal conflict. The sanity of the girl, or the sake of his ship.

"Ok, I'll go and fetch you at Demon's run. And you're coming, but keep your hands off my Tardis."

"I have your word?"

"You do."

Mira took a deep breath and crossed her arms. The doctor hurried towards the Tardis' console.

"Don't worry you sexy thing, I won't let the bad virus girl infect you." He said stroking the console. "So… to Demon's run it is."

"How do you plan on infiltrating the base without them noticing?" Mira asked when they landed.

"First, camouflage… Pull this lever."

"Hmm… You mean, that one?" she answered designated another lever.

"Oh! Not you too, River's already annoying enough. You both are boring. Ok, put on that cloak."

"What is it?"

"An invisibility cloak. That's… a thirtieth century's creation from an old Harry Potter fan, but so much better, not only you are invisible, but absolutely no technology can detect you. I keep upgrading it, funny accesory, wish it had a matched hat. Put in on."

"Ok… And you?"

"I know this base, it's my past remember, I have my own ways of disappearing."

They walked outside the Tardis into the place where Amy had given birth to Melody. She was in labour.

"We're to early…" whispered Mira.

"Not at all."

A cry filled the room, a few minutes later, a doctor gave baby Melody to Amy.

"This is my sister's birth, I'm coming next, you want to fetch me right there?"

"Where else?"

They waited as the doctors moved around the room, tidying things, cleaning the room, sedating Amy and taking care of Melody. Amy protested weakly then she passed out.

"What's happening? Where am I?" asked Mira.

The Doctor took her arm and lead her back inside the Tardis.

"You do not exist. As I told you, I know the whole story. You're the virus Mirage. Your existence is fake, and what they did was cruel. You're a flesh avatar of what would be Melody Pond without regeneration. You do belong to the Silence, you are a mad plan, a sort of bomb about to explode…"

"No! I'm human, I'm Amy and Rory's daughter, I'm Mira Pond!"

"You are a copy of Melody Pond, you bear some of her DNA, that's how they changed you into this virus bomb."

"No… No…"

Mira was now shaking, and covering her ears.

"Your very memories are fake. You are exactly four days old. They sent you here. But more important, you are dying, but I can help. Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

Suddenly, Mira calmed down.

"You'd help a flesh avatar filled with a virus capable of destroying your oldest partner?"

"Of course, we can make you real, we can take out the virus, and the altered DNA which is leading you to an early death."

"I'm nothing, and no one, but still, you'd help. It's all clear now. I really don't exist. It would have been great though… You could have given Amy her daughter's back. But you knew from the start, you did not refuse because of the time line, you refused because I can never replace her. You'd give me a life… and yet, my memories are there, I have only one purpose, it's… engraved in my mind. I have to find my parents, I have to change the past. If you make me permanent, I'll spend this life trying to break your time line; and the silence knew. Oh no, Doctor… you won't."

And before he could stop her, Mira picked up the sonic In his pocket and directed it against her own chest.

"Noooo!"

Mira exploded in a white pool, black particles mingled in, which were what was left of the virus. A small golden cloud was suspended in the air, a cloud that took the shape of a girl…

"What's happening."

"You're… you're coming back to the Tardis, or at least, the part of you who belongs to her."

"I am… saved." She said, smiling.

The Doctor had a sad smile on his face.

"Welcome back, Mira Pond."

Mira turned into a golden cloud again, and infiltrated the console. The Doctor fell back into his seat and took his face into both hands. Was it the destiny of the Ponds? Being "saved", away from him, in another time? In a database? In his ship's console? He kept telling himself Mira wasn't real, a mere mirage of a girl that could have been. He had known her for a few hours, but still, it hurt. It would have been great. He could have gone back in the past, during the many days he had been away from Amy and Rory. He could have come back a hero, with at least one baby, and with proper arrangements, the timeline could have been left undamaged.

But there was no Mira, just the hard truth: the Silence had destroyed part of Amy's life. Well… he had. There was no going back. Things had been set in motion the minute he had landed in that garden, shared fish fingers and custard with a little girl, and tried to fix the crack in her wall.