The cobwebs all around were engulfing the time travellers in the sticky glue-like silk trapping them in a net of almost impossible escape. The webs grew thicker as they continued onwards and upwards slowly getting closer to the Tapestry.
Emerging from the cobweb wall first was the Doctor closely followed by River, it was dark up ahead yet there were lights like before. The floor was shadowy but the walls were still bright and illuminated by the orbs of time energy suspended in the dishes. This may seem incomprehensive but, the Doctor knows all too well that there is always something lurking in the shadows or in this case something is the shadows...
"River..." he spoke seriously, keeping his eyes on the dark patches at the intercepts of the wall and the floor. "I want you to follow my exact steps and keep an eye on what's at your feet." He warned.
"Ooh, taking charge now are we?" she playfully teased, trying to make him embarrassed and bashful again. "First the kiss, and now the orders. Moving fast aren't we Sweetie?"
"No River, listen to me this is extremely important." His voice turned stern with a little shake of guilt-ridden, sorrow filled regret. He had turned around now with his arms clutching River's shoulders as his eyes locked onto hers "You must do exactly as I say otherwise I could lose you forever... and I would never forgive myself." The last part was shaky, quieter as he had a flashback of the first time he lost her with the same foe but different circumstances.
River stared into his eyes deeply; she could see the twinkle of sadness that filled them. "...Ok." she nodded her head breaking eye contact with the Doctor.
He nodded in return before facing the path of shadow patches just ahead. He took hold of one of the spheres and tossed it towards the path, the shell exploding releasing the cloud of time energy that had been sealed within. The shadows dispersed, clearing a path of light as an enraged hissing echoed in the cave.
"Follow me." The Doctor ordered.
He walked carefully in the light patches keeping an eye on his shadow making sure it never came in contact with any others. He glanced back to check on River's too, he couldn't bear the thought of losing her again. He held his hand behind him waiting for River to hand him another time energy sphere, knowingly she did. They repeated the process with ease out of practice as they continued making their way safely past the swarm of Vashta Nerada that lurked in the corridor.
"Doctor, what's so dangerous about the shadows?" River questioned looking at the floor up ahead as the shadows dispersed.
He hoped she wouldn't ask that, it just brought back the painful memories of him losing her after trying so hard to save her. True it had been her own choice but it was all for their future and that guilt of watching her die right in front of him still loomed, stabbing through his hearts whenever the subject was mentioned, whether it be the Vashta Nerada, or the Library or anything else that remotely reminded the Doctor of that dreadful day. He blanked the question, his mind drawn on the thought of that day in the Library he lost the one he loved, finally admitting he loved her, forever. He stared blankly sighing heavily, his hearts pounding against his chest slowly falling into his stomach making him feel sick.
"...Doctor?" River was growing concerned at his silence. "Are you ok?" she asked.
"Sorry, yes I'm fine." He spoke flatly, trying to mask the pain.
"Then why did you blank my question?" She folded her arms, fed up with his strange behaviour.
"What question?" he asked over his shoulder, he was lost mainly because his mind was preoccupied.
"Precisely..." she rolled her eyes, exhaling a heavy sigh after.
"No, what was the question? He whined, wanting to know what he wasn't paying attention to. He turned around to face her but remained where he was.
"What's so dangerous about the shadows?" she repeated, a bit annoyed this time.
"Oh right... that one..." he sighed remembering and realising that he was silent the first time. His eyes fell to the floor for a moment before gazing up at her. "...Spoilers." he grinned.
"Stop stealing my line!" River smirked.
"Haven't we been through this already?" the Doctor chuckled.
"Yes we have! And you can't have my line!" she laughed with him.
"Oh I think you'll find that I can, now let's keep moving I fancy existing so we can end this argument once and for all!" he changed the subject as he often did when he couldn't be bothered to keep up an argument; this was becoming more regular now.
"Fine..." River mumbled, smiling cheekily, and following him as he walked onwards.
The Doctor turned his head back glancing down to River's feet, one shadow, not touching any of the others- she was safe. He checked his own; it was the same they had made it past the Vashta Nerada onto the greater challenge.
A large opening was up ahead. The Doctor had a sphere in his hand just in case any Vashta Nerada were around the area. He reached the alcove leading into a larger cave and paused behind a boulder, hunched over to keep him hidden. A hand slipped between his free one, squeezing it tenderly with love. It was River's warm, welcoming hand comforting him- she would always be the lax water that extinguishes his raging fire. That's why her name was so suiting for her.
In the centre of the large cave was a podium with a deep purple, almost black, stone. All around were long stretches of canvas with pictures on them, the beam being emitted from the stone created the pictures by the second.
"There's the Tapestry of Time." The Doctor whispered pointing to it, looking over his shoulder to River.
"Isn't that the Chrystalite? It's a different colour to the other one I done my research on, it's meant to be a green/yellow colour glowing brightly." River inspected the Chrystalite from afar.
"It is, but it looks like someone's been misusing it and it knows."
"We have to fix it before everything, including us, get's written out of time!" River reminded him.
As the Doctor was just about to step out from behind the boulder he froze then knelt back down when he caught sight of a large eight-legged arachnid wondering over to the Chrystalite, several others weaving webs over already printed canvas getting the Chrystalite to rewrite time, sending messages to the Chrystalite to write a new time stream, and severing parts of the canvas to un-write time.
"There's too many of them, we can't do this subtly, there's no way!" the Doctor ran a hand through his hair considering all the options they had.
"No worries then, I buried subtlety years ago." River smirked reaching for the holster wrapped around her thigh adjusting the settings of the gun. Once satisfied she twisted the gun on the trigger round her finger expertly, almost as if implying she murdered subtlety with her faithful gun.
"Don't!" The Doctor placed his hand on top of hers lowering the gun. "If you use that, you could cause serious damage not only to the Racnoss but to the Tapestry itself." He spoke cautiously never losing eye contact with River.
She sighed in admitted defeat and she lowered her gun, placing back into the holster which questionably wasn't very noticeable under her very tight dress. "So then, how do we stop them?"
"We start with a blank canvas and write out a new day, how it should be without the interference. As we are the Lord of Time and Lady of space, it should be a piece of cake... ooh, I fancy some cake now. A gateau, maybe some Victoria sponge?" he rambled, going off-task as his long-winded explanation diverted from the initial point.
"Sweetie, you're rambling..." River reminded, interrupting his train of thought.
"Oh I am? Sorry..." he blushed.
"Right... so you said write a new day with a blank canvas, how do we do that when they've already written out the day?" she averted her attention back onto the current matter.
"Simple, we get rid of their day and write our own as a replacement." He smiled making it sound much easier than it was; things are never easy with the Doctor.
"Getting rid of it would involve us..." River trailed off expecting the Doctor to finish off her sentence.
"...Cutting the canvas..."
It could be risky, but that's the risk they'll have to take in order to save the universe and fix time. How this'll work- they don't know, what could be the consequences- they don't know. All they do know is if they don't change time soon, they may never be together again as time slowly shreds around them enclosing them in an inescapable fate if nothing is done to stop it soon...