A/N: See? I finish what I start. This storyline is very dear to me. But life decided to interfere with my creative flow. Or maybe I needed to grow as a person to be able to finally write the second act? Who knows?
All I'm saying is that this act is finally all written up and should be updated quite frequently until its completion.
As a sidenote... I don't have a beta reader anymore. So, this is all edited and stuff by me, myself, and I. Mistakes will probably exist in this text but they shouldn't be huge. I hope...
But now enjoy reading!


Chapter 1 - Ich bereue nichts (I regret nothing)

Ich bereue nicht ein falsches Wort, nicht einen Augenblick
Ich nehme keinen Schritt zurück
Denn ich bereue nichts
- Ich bereue nichts – Silbermond –

[I don't regret a wrong word, not a single second
I won't take a step back
For I regret nothing]


Shadow stumbled upon it quite by accident. And even then didn't believe it. It just couldn't be true. She refused to accept it. After everything she did that was just something that was really unfair.

But it seemed as if it was a fixed point. Something she couldn't change. Or just by changing lots of different things that were in flux. Because against common belief it was indeed possible to change a fixed point. It just took the knowledge of the many, many little points that were in flux beforehand and afterwards and how they worked together to create the fixed point. And to change the fixed point you'd have to change almost every or indeed every point responsible for the fixed point. And that was a work for some other day...or if there was no other way out.

But there was almost always another way. She just had to find it.

Well...the fixed point was that River would have to die on her mission or expedition to the Library.

Now all that was left to do was to find a way around that. Or at least to find a way that let River die...but not die. Regeneration was out of question, she had none left.

Alright, maybe Shadow should find out the exact cause of death first. That would definitely make the solution conundrum a bit easier.

By now all she had was a small snippet from the news where the casualties of the "Silence of the Library"-expedition where listed; and a Professor River Song was on the list. Next step: finding out if there were survivors and if yes, contact them and interrogate them about the incident.

And indeed there were survivors. 4,023 to be exact. But after Shadow had acquired the list of names, only one struck her as odd. Strackman Lux of the Felman Lux Corporation. His date of birth didn't add up with the others. He was born roughly a hundred years later than the other humans on the list. Shadow didn't believe in coincidences and so she decided to let this Mr. Lux report to her.


A week later, Strackman Lux was sitting on the other side of Shadow's big, dark mahogany desk. A little bit dwarfed but still trying to look unimpressed.

She quite knew about the effect her office had on people.

The 4 meters high ceiling and the 20 by 25 meters big room was admittedly inspired by Hitler's office. Not that she had any form of admiration for that guy, but he knew how to intimidate via grandeur. And sometimes you just needed the bonus. After all, she was the head of the Shadow Proclamation.

Sometimes she hated that job and sometimes she loved it. Well...she hated that her job required a lot of paperwork. Sometimes she was feeling like she was going insane because she had to stare at numbers the whole day. She was glad for the accounts department, but still, she had a few 'employees' she didn't have on record and that for good reason. After all having convicted criminals on the payroll didn't go well with potential clients, if it came out.

But she really should be interrogating Mr. Lux about his knowledge of the Library incident.

So, Shadow looked icily at Mr. Lux and grabbed the topmost file from the pile to her right, opening it and taking a short glance inside. She was glad that it was one of the thicker files, although it wasn't the one about the Library incident, for there didn't exist one. This was a private mission, a black ops inside an organization that had a special branch for black ops. But all the theater was just to unnerve the small guy opposite her. She smirked at him. It worked. He got nervous.

Rule number 1 when being interrogated: Never get nervous. Keep your cool or you're going down. And Strackman Lux was going down faster than a piece of lead in a bucket of water.

"So... Mr. Lux..." Shadow's voice was soft as velvet. "Do you know why I have called you here?"

"No." He was still trying to maintain a front of nonchalance but failing rapidly. One look was enough to break him. "No...ma'am?"

She suppressed an eye roll. She hated it when people called her "ma'am". But for the sake of getting the desired information she said nothing and went on with the interrogation.

"Mr. Lux I have called you here because I have a few questions about what happened at 'The Library'." That obviously struck a nerve. Suddenly there was no color at all in his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about. All there is to know is in the reports. There is nothing else." Now that guy was lying. Like a sleazy politician about an illicit affair with his secretary.

"Mr. Lux. We both know that the reports are bogus. The facts just don't add up." She smiled sweetly.

"I still don't see what you mean." Now he was playing dumb? Well, she had to step up her game a bit. Information was crucial and right now she had enough to put that guy in his place.

"For example..." Shadow glanced again at the file in front of her. "In the reports it states that the Library was silent for 100 years. And suddenly you decide to stage an expedition there? And what about that business that "4,022 people were saved"? The message that was the last life sign of the Library? I'm assuming that you knew what the message meant but no one wanted to go there because there hasn't been a distress signal. And then when you go there with...who was it?"

Now Shadow turned to a random page in the file. "Oh, right. Miss Evangelista, two Dave's, one Anita and one Professor River Song." Shadow raised her eye brows at Lux. "I take it you didn't have to pay them?"

"That's enough!" Lux had raised his voice. Now was the time to reel the fish in.

"Oh, you're going to tell me now what happened to them or shall I go on?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm going to tell you. But don't let anyone else know."

"It won't leave this room." Shadow clasped her hands in front of her and put her elbows on the desktop. Looking over her hands at Mr. Lux, she decided on her first move. "So, tell me what happened."

"Miss Evangelista was the first they got. We didn't pay attention to her. She was my personal assistant. Slightly ditzy but did what was required of her. Then they took Dave. And after that they got the other Dave, too. But before that they might already have gotten Anita, but he didn't let us see. Tinted the visor of her helmet. I assume she was dead the second he had tinted her visor. Or maybe they let her live until the end. I don't know." Lux seemed a little weird now.

He kept talking about 'they'. Whoever 'they' were, they seemed trouble. And the 'he' Lux had mentioned? Shadow presumed it was the Doctor. In one report there was someone that talked of a mysterious figure in a long coat that just called themselves the Doctor.

But Lux was getting to the interesting part now.

"And Professor Song? What happened to her?" Shadow questioned.

"I honestly don't know. She and I were supposed to go and prepare the computers for a clean download from the main hard drive and after I told her I could manage on my own, she left me and rushed back to him. I don't know what happened then. All I know is that he came back, and she didn't." Lux was hiding something.

"Mr. Lux... I appreciate you telling me all this, but I suppose there is more you can give me. I really want to put an end to this investigation and all I need to know now is how the members of your team died." Shadow tried to be empathetic.

"They got them. Ate them. Like the chicken legs." He seemed scared.

"Who are they?"

"He said, they're called Vashta Nerada. The..."

"...piranhas of the air. I've heard about them. But why would they hunt you down?"

"Apparently we were in their forests. He said the books were their forests. They hatched from microspores in the books."

"He?" Shadow raised an eye brow again. She really had the brow thing down pat.

"The Doctor. Only the Doctor. Apparently some friend of Professor Song's. But he didn't know her and they kept squabbling like an old married couple."

"And Professor Song was also devoured by the Vashta Nerada?" To Shadow it seemed unlikely that River had met such an unceremonious end. She had faith in the Wolf and the bond that existed between them.

"No, she saved everyone." Lux looked shocked that he disclosed that much information. "Or...or so the Doctor said."

"Oh, I think you can give me more than just that, Mr. Lux." She was laying it on thick now.

"I don't think I can." He was fidgeting. Clear sign he was hiding something important. She had to take a shot in the dark. And had only one chance. This had to be spot on or she'd lose it.

Narrowing her eyes, Shadow leaned forward and mustered Strackman Lux for a moment. "Mr. Lux, you seem like someone that values control. Control over your employees. And over every aspect of your life. I don't think you would leave something like that out of your control. Am I right?" An almost imperceptible twitch of Lux' told Shadow she was correct. And now to the grand finale. "You know what I think? I think you have surveillance footage of the whole incident saved somewhere. Correct?" Now he looked disgruntled. That was correct. And now all was left to do was get the footage from him.

"I can't give you the footage. I would endanger the entire corporation."

Shadow heaved a melodramatic sigh. "Mr. Lux, do I have to remind you, that this is an investigation and you are bound to give me anything I need to close this case. Otherwise I can charge you with obstruction and that would definitely 'endanger the corporation'." Now Shadow was the one lying. But she could lie compared to Mister Pompous.

He looked at Shadow and then grimly said "Alright." He took off a ring and pulled it open. Inside was a data drive. He pushed it over the desk towards Shadow. "On this is everything you need to know. All deaths. Even the one of Professor Song. But that is one you probably shouldn't watch. It's gruesome. And there is no sound, just video footage."

Shadow took the data drive and put it into her desk drawer. "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Lux. I will contact you, if I have further questions. Good day to you!" And Shadow curtly dismissed Lux.

"Goodbye, ma'am." And he showed himself out of her office. Outside would be someone to bring him back to his shuttle.

Shadow closed the opened file and replaced it on the stack again. Then she took the data drive from her drawer and laid it down in front of her on the desktop. It was small, but probably the most important piece in this operation.

She stared at it for some hours. Unable to decide if she wanted to see what was on this.

What if it showed her that there was no way she could save River? It was something she didn't want to think about. She had to believe there was a way.

Not that she regretted anything about the time she had had with River, but she just didn't want to accept that she should be dead whilst she, Shadow, was alive. There was a sadness overwhelming her, when she just thought about it. No! There had to be a way. There was always a way. She just had to find it.

Suddenly Shadow grabbed the data drive and jumped up. She tucked it safely into her pocket.

With long strides she walked out of her office, grabbing her coat on the way out and throwing it on.

She had decided that she would watch the footage but not here, not in her office at the Proclamation. She was going home.

Her assistant was looking strangely at her when she passed by. "I'm heading home. And I absolutely don't want to be bothered except the Proclamation itself is under direct attack, got it?"

The assistant nodded. "May I ask how long you'll be gone?"

"I don't know. Tell Safihyah she's in charge while I'm gone." Shadow turned to go but was stopped by her assistant.

"Commander, there are clear orders for who has command should you not be available. And in this case Professor Song would be the one in charge."

Shadow turned around, the assistant practically withering under her dark stare. A new assistant, she gathered when looking at her. "No. Professor Song will also be out in a short while. And when I say that someone is in charge when I am gone, that one is in charge. I am the bloody boss of this whole institution and what I say goes. Have I made myself clear?"

"Absolutely, Commander. Have a save trip." The assistant was put into their place and sat down. Shadow turned around and walked out, her coat billowing impressively behind her.

It was true, River was her second-in-command but in this case, Shadow really rather not have River in charge of the Proclamation.

True, River was an employee of the Shadow Proclamation, and a very high ranking one at that. But all requests for endeavors that weren't directly governed by the Shadow Proclamation had to be sanctioned by the commanding officer or direct supervisor of the employee in question. And River was the head of the history department; therefore Shadow was the direct supervisor.

At the Proclamation, no one knew what was going on between River and Shadow. They knew how to keep a secret after all. Officially Shadow was single and River married to the Doctor. Of course, there were rumors about them. It was natural; they had frequent meetings and some of them at very odd times. People were still very imaginative when it came to saying who was shagging the boss. It didn't matter that they were actually right because this 'affair' was something that by regulation was forbidden. No supervisor or CO was to have a relationship with an employee or someone of a lower rank. And this rule applied to the Commander of the Shadow Proclamation, too. The boss didn't stand above the law after all.

But that wasn't the reason she didn't want River to be in charge. She had gotten the request for River to be a part of the team that was going to investigate the "Silence of the Library".

Correct, Shadow had interrogated Strackman Lux a few hours earlier about the outcome, but that Lux was from the future. She had a few people on hand that could transport people through time without them noticing anything. Those were not on the official payroll or any payroll really. Those were her own black operatives.

She had to grant the request because it was a fixed point in time. Well, not the expedition as such but that River would be there.

She had reached the transportation hub. Here was the only place where her Vortex Manipulator would work. She had gotten her own one when they were distributed to the Time Agency. It was just a convenient way to travel between the Proclamation headquarter on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere and Earth.

Shadow entered the coordinates and was gone in a flash.