24 hours ago - 24,000 light years away
A/N For those wondering, this takes place just before Melody meets Cyril at Demon's Run
Stormcage Containment Facility
River Song sat on her rickety bed, the thin blanket covering her legs, holding a blue, TARDIS pattern journal in one hand and a picture in the other.
It was a picture of a boy, with a mop sandy blond hair, brilliant yet haunted blue eyes, and a grimace. She had found the image tucked inside her journal that morning, but she had no idea who he was or what he meant to her.
River placed the photograph back inside the journal and shut the blue book with a sigh. Setting it down on the bed next to her, she stood up, retrieved her vortex manipulator from its hiding place, and buckled it onto her wrist. She was bored and in a distressingly bad mood, and there was only one person in the universe who could possibly make her feel better at the moment, and that was Rory Pond, the Last Centurian. (She didn't much like the nickname herself, but ever since The Doctor had started calling him by it, it had stuck.)
River plugged the coordinates for Ledworth and grabbed her diary and her gun (you just never knew) before activating the manipulator.
River arrived in the back garden, trampling a patch of pansies. It was dark, and so she was rather surprised to see the light on on the porch, a figure standing, hidden by shadows.
"Rory?" She asked tentatively, because if it was her mother, she would be in trouble for mistaking her beautiful mother for her father, even if it was dark out, and if it was, by startling chance, The Doctor, she would leave.
"River?" Rory stepped into the light, looking pleasantly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I couldn't sleep and was feeling depressed, so I just thought I pop in for tea and condolences."
"Where are we then? The diary's upstairs, but we just did New Arizona. You can pull up a chair if you like." She did so.
River smiled. At her request, the Pond's had been keeping their own journal, so that River never accidentally revealed spoilers - or vice versa.
"Oh, we're in sync then, or at least close."
"Yep. Have you seen The Doctor recently? And Melody! How is she?"
River looked down at the ground.
"What's wrong, River?" asked Rory, looking concerned.
"Nothing."
"You're crying, River."
"Am I?" She hadn't really noticed.
"River, what happened?"
"She's gone." Said River in a choked whisper.
To his credit, Rory did not ask who River meant. However, he still sounded incredibly confused.
"Where did she go? Was she kidnapped?"
"No. She ran. We don't know why or where she might have gone. We just woke up one morning and-" River stopped mid sentence, standing up. "Did you hear that?"
"Um, no. Hear what?"
River turned toward him.
"Who's in there?"
Rory followed River as she opened the door to the house.
"No one." He said. "Just Amy. She's asleep. Wait, River, where are you going?"
River gasped.
"My God, is that the TARDIS?" she said, more to herself than anybody else. "No, it can't be, the TARDIS isn't purple."
Suddenly, the door opened and a girl's head popped out.
"Where have you taken me now, Tilly? This certainly doesn't look like-" She stopped when she caught sight of River. "No, no I can't be here, please get us out right now." She shut the door.
"Melody!" River shouted, reaching out to touch the box her daughter had disappeared into. "Melody, open the door!"
But the police box dematerialized under River's fingers.
Inside the box, Melody Pond began to cry. Nurse laid a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort, but it didn't help.
"I don't know how much longer I can do this, Nurse." She whispered. "But I have to stay away. People will die if I don't."
