I think I mentioned a writing frenzy, yeah? Just now typed this up after I uploaded the last one. I kinda don't know what came over me, but I don't mind it! So here ya go! Chapter ten! Woo! With this the River arc is done and we move on to Turn Left.
Rose Tyler is not giving up until she gets back to her Doctor.
Oh yeah! Wanna send a quick thanks to SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e. Thanks to their review I remembered something I was gonna do for one of the specials. So yay for that! I also feel more normal now that I have eaten, so double yay for that as well!
I was gonna say something else...
"Auto destruct in ten minutes."
::
As the small group of four ran back into the blue-lighted room of the data core River couldn't help but roll her eyes as the Doctor started going off into yet another one of his mad techno-babbles. She had actually been surprised when she first learned that Rose could keep up with him.
"Easy!" the man shouted, running around the room and pulling cords and opening hatches. He looked like a bouncy ball that wouldn't stop bouncing. "We beam all the people out of the data core! The computer will reset and stop the countdown-oo, that'll be tricky," he muttered before jerking a cord over his shoulder and pushing his glasses up. "Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer...
"Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer!" Once River managed to decode the words in his babble spree she felt the sudden urge to strangle the man in front of her. "She can borrow my memory space."
"Difficult," River butted in, countering his easy. She looked frantic as she tried to get her point through to him...Rose was much better at making him see sense than she was. "It'll kill you stone dead!" she yelled, glaring at the man who was now going through the wires in his hands and trying to sound rather laid-back.
"Yeah, it's easy to criticize," he nonchalantly replied back while holding up one of the wires for inspection. He frowned at it before setting it down carefully and picking up another one. River felt the urge to strangle the hell out of him creep up again. This had to be the strongest urge yet.
"It'll burn out both your hearts," she hissed, "And don't think you'll regenerate!"
"I'll try my hardest not to die, then," the Doctor quickly spoke back, looking as if this was just another day for him, which it actually was. "Honestly, it's my main thing. Not dying."
"Oh I don't know how Rose can deal with you!" River finally shouted, the Doctor letting out a quick laugh before looking over at the woman and winking.
"I'm just that brilliant." It took a few seconds before he realized he had spoken like Rose was still there, and not... Shaking his head clear he looked back over at River. "I'm right, this works. Shut up," he interrupted her before she could even start, "Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime and data cells you can find for maximum download," he spoke quickly, sonicing the wires in his hand.
"And before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up!" he quickly pointed both hands at her before running back to the terminal and going through the programs.
"Oh! I hate you sometimes!" River shouted, her annoyance reaching whole new levels. When she got out of here she was going straight back to her timeline, finding the Doctor, and slapping the hell out of him.
"I know!" the Doctor shouted, not surprised. He mentally apologized to his future self at the slap he was sure to get after all of this was over.
"Mister Lux, with me," River ordered before looking at Anita, "Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!" she shouted, shooting a glare his way before she followed Lux out the door.
"What about the Vashta Nerada?" the spacesuited woman asked, her voice sounding too flat for the situation they were in. The Doctor didn't even pause as he kept running around, getting things ready for what he was about to do.
"These are their forests," he spoke quickly, "I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world and take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content."
"So you think they're just going to let us go?" she asked, the Doctor slightly flinching before continuing with his work.
"Best offer they're going to get," he replied flatly, sounding close to growling.
"You're going to make 'em an offer?"
"And they'd better take it," the Doctor finally snapped, turning around to face the suit in front of him, "Because right now I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. And you know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying," he frowned, pulling something up on the screen he was now in front of again.
"And she never gave in. And you ate her." A quick burst of the sonic and the visor was cleared to show the bleached skull staring back at him. Reigning in his anger he took a deep breath before looking back down at the terminal. "But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you them pass," he explained coolly, tucking his sonic away as he turned back to stare at the swarm in front of him.
"How long have you known?" Anita's voice asked, the Doctor's eyes narrowing in response.
"I counted the shadows," he muttered, glancing at the neural relay on the suit. "You only have one now, she's nearly gone... Be kind."
"These are our forests. We are not kind."
"I'm giving you back your forests! But you are giving me them. You are letting them go!" he shouted, turning to walk away as he did so.
"These are our forests. They are our meat," the voice said, an arm raising as shadows stretched forward from Anita's spacesuit to the Doctor.
"Don't play games with me!" he snapped, spinning around. "You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand! I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up." There was a pause, the very air itself still, before the shadows slowly withdrew.
"You have one day." The Doctor turned back to the terminal as the spacesuit collapsed. A set of footsteps running cause him to glance over to see River's expression of sadness and horror as she bent down to rest a hand on Anita's helmet.
"Oh, Anita..."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor softly spoke up, "She's been dead a while now. And I told you to go!" he snapped the last part, furiously typing into the terminal. He had to move fast if he wanted his plan to work.
"Lux can manage without me, but you can't," River said coldly. "The only one who can keep you from doing something stupid is Rose, but she's not here, so now I have to stop your idiotic Time Lord self from doing this!" The Doctor finally felt himself snap as he spun around to tell the woman off.
He hadn't been expecting the fist to his face.
As he felt his mind fall into unconsciousness he couldn't help but think that Jackie Tyler would have been very proud of that punch. It was almost certainly on par with that woman's slap... A world of Jackies and Rivers...now that was a frightening thought.
::
"Auto destruct in two minutes." River sighed softly before glancing at the terminal and then back to the wires in her hand that she was twisting, looking determined yet detached.
The Doctor slowly stirred, wincing as he felt his arm burning in pain. Looking up and feeling the memories of what had happened come rushing back he jerked up and looked over at River. "Oh, no, no, no, no! Come on, what are you doing?! That's my job!"
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" River joked, the Doctor hearing the tears in her voice that she was trying so hard to hold in. She was joking and trying not to show it, he should know...he had done that too many times to keep count of. He had been about to jerk forward before he looked at his arm and saw what was holding him back.
"Why am I handcuffed?" he asked incredulously, not quite believing what was happening. "Why do you even have handcuffs?" He tugged on them and found that they were actually very sturdy. River looked at him for a few seconds before an absolutely filthy expression took over.
"Spoilers...although...they aren't exactly mine to begin with," and here the Doctor flinched as her grin grew wider. "I actually borrowed them from Rose not too long ago, she said she had gotten better ones." The Doctor stared at River blankly as his mind seemed to shut off at that thought.
River counted it at ten seconds before he finally shook his daze off.
"This is not a joke! Stop this now," he pleaded, his voice starting to get frantic. "I'd have a chance, you don't have any!" He could see her. When he looked hard he could see the Time Traces that were scattered around her, not as many as Rose had but still more than a normal human should have. Rose's could be blamed on Bad Wolf...but what was causing River's?
And why did it feel like he was watching Jenny die all over again?
"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I!" River shouted before she slowly reigned in her outburst and went back to twisting the wires and smiling sadly. "I'm timing it for the end of the countdown," she explained as she looked over at the terminal, where there was little over a minute left. "There'll be a blip in the command flow, that way it should improve our chances of a clean download."
"River, please... No." The woman tried not to flinch at the words. For a second, a single second, she had heard her Doctor's voice, and oh did it burn her.
"The funny thing is...this means you and Rose have always known how I was going to die," River talked, her voice shaky as she forced the words out. "The last time I saw you and her, the real you, the future you, I mean. You two turned up on my doorstep...you had a new haircut and a suit of all things, and Rose was wearing such a beautiful black dress, with her hair all done up...
"You both took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers...what a night that was. The Towers sang and then Rose started to cry...and you were so silent as you held us both."
"Auto destruct in one minute." River shook off most of her thoughts as the computer interrupted her.
"You two wouldn't tell me why but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. Rose even gave me her old screwdriver that you and her had built together...that should have been a clue," she chuckled and the Doctor winced at the sound. Her voice sounded like she was starting to accept what was happening to her, and that was what killed him more than anything.
"River...why do you know Rose in the future," the Doctor shakily asked, sounding close to tears himself as he jerked on his handcuffs. "Rose is gone. She's sealed off in another universe! She's never coming back!" he finally screamed, letting his grief and anger out in that one sentence.
"I told you, you silly man... You were never one for believing in the impossible," River grinned before the Doctor jerked towards the two screwdrivers and her diary, the items just out of his reach. "There's nothing you can do." She sounded tired, and sad. Resigned to what was about to happen to her.
"You can let me do this." At that River's eyes narrowed as she glared at the man in front of her.
"If you die here it'll mean I've never met you!"
"Time can be rewritten!" And at that River looked like a wolf that had just had it's pack threatened. Raised hackles and growling voice.
"Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. If you die here then Rose will never see you again either, and she needs you just as much as you need her!" River shouted, the Doctor finally falling silent as he stared at her.
"I...I see Rose again?" River softly smiled as she saw the hopeful look in his eyes. It was an expression that almost broke her heart. "But..."
"It's okay," River said soothingly, now smiling softly. "It's okay. It's not over for you, not by a long shot. You'll see both me and Rose again. You've got all of that to come... You and me and Rose, all of time and space. You just watch us run."
"River..." the Doctor spoke up shakily, tears now clouding his eyes, "You know my name."
"Auto destruct in ten."
"You whispered my name in my ear... There's only one reason I would ever tell someone my name. There's only ever one time I could."
"Nine, eight."
"And what makes you think I learned it from you?" River asked softly, a watery grin on her face as she placed the wires on her head and looked over at him.
"Seven, six."
"The only way I could know your name was if I married you...or if you wife had told me..." At this the Doctor couldn't help it as his eyes widened and he started shaking.
"Five, four."
"There was only one person I would every consider marrying," he said, a few tears finally slipping past him, "One human... But she's..."
"Three, two."
"Spoilers," River smiled sadly, joining the two thick cables in her hands together.
"One."
There was a blinding flash of white light and then Professor River Song knew no more.
::
The Doctor absently traced one of the squares on River's diary as he set it down on the balcony rail that he and Donna had first arrived at. Coming up beside him Donna stared at him sadly as she looked down at the book.
"Your friend, Professor Song," she started slowly, "She knew you in the future, but she didn't know me. What happens to me? Because when she heard my name...the way she looked at me..." That look had been terrifying.
"Donna, this is her diary. My future," he explain, his hand nervously twisting the book back and forth. "I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?" Really he wanted to look up what the book had to say on Rose and what River knew about her, how she had known about her.
"Spoilers, right?" Donna half-asked. The Doctor pressed his hand against the book flatly, stopping the book's movement. When Donna put it like that...
"Right," he muttered, the two sharing a small smile as he lifted his hand off the book. He supposed he would just have to take his story one page at a time... Ugh, the slow path. There was a reason he never stayed still for very long. Carefully pulling out River's sonic he set the screwdriver down on the diary gently. "Come on. The next chapter's this way."
The two slowly walked back up the stairs, an air of depression about them. They had both lost someone they cared for that day, even if they hadn't known them like they should have.
"When you run with the Doctor and his Rose it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like those two. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if they ever, for one moment, accept it."
The Doctor suddenly found himself running back to the balcony and picking the screwdriver back up, looking beyond stunned at what he was now holding. Donna came up from behind him, looking confused.
"Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that?!" he shouted, hands ghosting across the surface as he looked for something that he just knew was there. "Thing is, future me and Rose had years to think about it. All those years to think of a way to save her, and what we did was we gave her a screwdriver!" the Doctor explained, looking frantic and not even noticing that he had mentioned Rose in the future tense.
"Why would we do that?!" Suddenly tearing something off the side he grinned widely, a neural relay blinking back at him with two yellow-green lights. "Oh... Oh! Oh! Look at that! We are very good!"
"What have you done?"
"Saved her," the Doctor grinned, running back out the archway, Donna looking after him in confusion before deciding to head back towards the TARDIS. She had a feeling this was something that he needed to do without her.
::
Running through the stacks of books the Doctor looked as one of the lights went out. Cursing he sped his pace up. "Stay with me! Come on you can do it! Stay with me! One last run with me and Rose!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he felt a hand grip his. A hand that was so very, very familiar to him. The Doctor grinned even wider as the three of them raced down the halls of books, three because he knew she was there.
He grinned as they ran and ran.
"Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today."
::
River couldn't stop her teary smile as she looked around at what had now been given to her. "Those two...those two impossible people...they just couldn't do it... They never could."
"Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days nobody dies at all."
The Doctor's fingers snapped before the doors to his beloved TARDIS swung open, welcoming him home. The Doctor's grin grew even wider as the sparkle flashed back into his eyes at the feeling of a small presence against his mind, so small he could barely even feel it. It was a feeling that reminded him of a small pink and yellow human. If River had been right in what she had told him...
He had some interesting things to look forward to...
::
"Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days when the wind stands fair and the Doctor and his Wolf comes to call... Everybody lives," River spoke softly, closing the blue book in her hands gently before she absently ran a hand over it.
Quietly standing up she bent down and gave Charlotte a kiss goodnight on her forehead, lingering for a few seconds before turning to glance at Ella and Joshua as she did so. Seeing that all three children were asleep River grinned and headed back out towards the door.
"Sweet dreams," she spoke softly before turning the lights off and glancing down at her diary one more time. Even though her days of running with the Doctor and Rose were over those two still had so many to come. So many wonderful adventures...and so many terrible heartaches. They would share them together.
The Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler... As it should be.
I couldn't help but grin as I typed out those last few lines. The fact that happy music was on at the time was also a plus. Soon we will be done with bits and pieces and we'll be getting into the full re-writes, so stay tuned! And what was that thing I was going to say... Something... Something important...
Hmph...watch me think of it right before I go to sleep or something...