Once I saw the creatures, I remembered every terrible thing they had done to me, and it all rushed back at me in one moment. I gritted my teeth, holding back a bank of words that begged to be shouted.
"What are you planning?" The Doctor asked again warily. He looked dark, dangerous even, and I knew this must be reminiscent of years of torment from this group.
"Easy now, Doctor. This is nothing to do with you," Kovarian taunted, grinning like a crazy person.
"It has to do with Ariadne. Therefore it has everything to do with me."
She tutted once. "Alright, then. As you may have gathered, we were able to extract memories from your daughter, with some difficulty. It was more difficult still, to find some way of viewing them and gaining information from them, but we got there. Once she stopped resisting us it was much easier to research, figure out what would get us the most energy. Oh yes, we had some great experiments, didn't we Ariadne?" She turned her head to me, still wearing that same, sick smile.
"Go to hell," I told her, a phrase I had used often in captivity but never with as much force as I had used now. I was not the same weak girl she had complete control of anymore. I was new, stronger than she could ever believe.
"Of course. That's my girl. I bet you are just dying to know what we've got up our sleeves this time. We've been building this for years and you lot are the final step."
"Right, stop stalling and explain," River demanded. I saw her hand resting on her hip, where her gun was, but it would be useless to draw a weapon with the Silent creatures in the room.
"With the help of these magnificent creatures, we've created a suggestion machine. It really was a technological feat! We've taken the abilities of the Silence and applied it to a large scale: we can suggest ideas to people from a long distance, to whole planets at a time! Not only across space, but with the help of a timelord, across all of time as well. All that ever was and will be, now and always, will belong to us. Every decision, every living being, will be under our command as the energy is amplified as time passes on. So, Ariadne. Where do you fit in? Well, any timelord will do under the circumstances but you were the perfect package. You are young, and were raised with exposure to the time vortex, so much so that it is wired into your genetic code. Once we looked through your memories and got enough information about your species, we were able to devise our experiments, and each time you healed in the stasis cell you released radiation to power the machine."
No one spoke for a few moments. It made so much sense, and the plan was so clear to me now that I felt stupid for not seeing it sooner. Of course they wanted control of the universe; The Silence had been a part of so many historical events that their obvious next step would be universal control. And what better way to do that than using temporal energy? All of time and space would be under their command, simple as that.
"Don't do this. Seriously, manipulation of time on such a large scale would make the universe extremely unstable. The entire thing would implode on itself, forever erased from existence. Trust me, I've already rebooted the universe once, I don't think I can do it again." The Doctor spoke quickly, but the urgent tone in his voice made me uneasy. I hadn't considered this, but then again, it wasn't something I could remember learning about.
"No need to play games with me, Doctor. I know how this ends. You will die, there's no way out this time. Did you really think Melody Pond could overcome our hypnosis just like that? With the suggestion machine we can get her to kill you with a snap of our fingers. In fact, all of you will die. There will be no need for timelords in our new world, silly species." Kovarian turned away from us and watched the door. Sure enough, four more men entered the room, all of whom I remembered very clearly. The man furthest to the right eyed me hungrily, and I remembered his face from some of my darkest days.
Frem's hand squeezed mine even tighter.
"Fascinating, very well done. You've forgotten a few things, though. First of all, I am not your Melody Pond anymore. My name is River Song, and I'm a whole new person than the young woman you knew so well. Second, you are dealing with not only the Doctor, the man who has evaded you for centuries, but you also have to face my parents. And third, I don't think you want to understand the effects of your actions. You will die too, as the universe collapses around you." River paced around the room, her eyes never leaving Kovarian's. She didn't seem fazed at all by the creatures or the burly men that had just arrived.
"The universe will not collapse if we don't want it to. Haven't you been listening? All of time and space at our beck and call. You can't just talk your way around this one, Melody. Give us a little more credit," Kovarian droned on, almost bored with us. "Now, you did us a favor by landing the TARDIS so close to here. We just needed that extra energy release to give things a kick start." She walked right past us to the beeping machine, so close to me that I could smell that same bitter perfume she always wore. I stared at the woman who I had hoped to never see again. Her face looked exactly the same, eye patch, dramatic make-up, and all. Her mouth was permanently fixed in a cruel grimace, the result of years of evil. "Yes, should be ready in exactly an hour."
"Please," I said to her, the first I had spoken in what felt like a long time. "Don't do this. What else do you want? Whatever it is, we can help you, just don't destroy these lives. No one could handle that much power." I took a step towards her, my wide eyes locked on her as she appraised me, one eyebrow raised in disgust.
"I could make you kill your father as easily as I will make your mother kill him, so don't test me, child. You were special once. But you're nothing now. And I will kill you. When this is all over, when you have watched everyone you love die, then I will take you myself as a reward for looking after you for months." She sounded utterly disgusted with me.
She then proceeded to turn her back to me, headed for the door, walking away from me because I was nothing. I think that is what did it, the way she looked as she turned around triggered something violent in my mind. My instincts took over and I pulled out the small gun, loading it with a click. "Not if I kill you first," I spat through gritted teeth. It didn't feel like me, this anger, but it consumed my spirit, turning all my energy to something akin to a machine; I didn't think, I just acted. I heard the Doctor's harsh voice telling me to stop, that it wouldn't be worth it, but I ignored it. After all, he said he could kill her. So why couldn't I try.
If anything, it made her turn around. "Oh, now look at this! Little Ariadne means to kill me. Well, no one's stopping you. Go ahead. Do it," she sneered at me, laughing maliciously.
I could picture it in my mind, her body lying on the floor, right in the spot where she had hurt me so many times. I watched the life leave her face, her all-seeing eyes closing for the last time, her body growing cold as it deserved. But I knew I would never pull the trigger. Not because of morals, or the Doctor's aversion to guns, but because she made me. Without a memory, I was a product of Madame Kovarian and no amount of time or violence could change that. She held the answers to my questions, had the materials necessary to fill the gaping holes in my head. And putting one in hers would do nothing to fix it.
My hand began to shake as she called my bluff, the failure written all over my face. I heard Frem whisper, "You're better than them, Ari." And I wished so badly for it to be true.
Kovarian laughed, louder this time, a wild cackle from her painted lips. "Take her," she said offhandedly, an afterthought of the day's work.
I hadn't even registered what the two words meant when everyone sprang into action. It happened very quickly: I went from Frem's side to directly behind him, almost flush against the wall. "If you touch her, I swear to you-," Frem started, but was cut short as the largest man took a powerful swing at him, missing by centimeters. He held his arms out as the rest of my family surrounded him, steeled expressions on their faces. One of the creatures at the door sent an electric shock shooting through the air, narrowly missing Amy. River's gun was drawn and she managed to shoot one Silent, but it was quickly knocked away as another man, Ratches was his name, delivered a swift chop to her hand. Rory was eye to eye with the short muscular man, his arms straining to push him back. The Doctor, not one I'd peg as a hand to hand combat man, was maneuvering around the fourth man, leading him backwards.
The large man whose name I didn't know was still cornering me and Frem, backing us further away from the group. Frem was putting up a good fight, but he was no match for the man. When my back hit the wall, I knew I needed to act. I had no idea how to fight, but I hoped instinct would kick in again and help me. I spun away from Frem, facing the attacker's side, and raised my gun above my head, ready to smash it into his skull. Just before I could make impact, he grabbed both my wrists in one hand and hit Frem square in the face with the other, sending him crumpling to the ground. I reached for him, thinking of nothing else but the blood pouring from a huge gash in his forehead, but it was too late. I struggled against the man, kicking and clawing at his skin, but it was as if he was made of thick leather. I fell to the ground, trying to squirm out of his grasp but it was useless. In one quick movement, he swung me up and over his shoulder, my torso hanging down his back.
And that was when I truly lost it. I screamed and kicked and twisted and bit at the man. I cursed and moved in ways that could only cause him pain. But he had a grip of steel, an unyielding force from years of experience.
It had not gone unnoticed by the others. The men swarmed around me, Ratches giving me a wink as they fended off River and Amy's furious punches. Everyone was screaming, but I couldn't hear what they were saying over my own screams. I saw Rory, though blurry from tears, unconscious on the ground, though not appearing to be seriously wounded. The Doctor was yelling at the top of his lungs, pounding at the man nearest to him but unable to get through. I saw all their faces and in that moment I prayed they wouldn't be the last things I ever saw.
I knew where the large man was taking me. It was home, my place of residence for 136 long days and nights. The stasis cell waited for me, its hatch staring up at me with cold indifference. I was getting dizzy from the fighting, and it was like day one all over again as the man bent down, opened the hatch, and forced me into the dark chamber. He had to shove me in a few times as I lunged for the door, but closed it with a resounding thud and I was consumed by the darkness.
I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. If I could smell, I was sure I could have smelled the stench of my own flesh and blood, but my senses had turned off. I was numb, a shell of primitive emotion in the darkness. I was completely sealed off from the outside world, with no hope of escape.
Seconds, minutes passed, and the shell cracked. Terror, pure and unbridled, ripped through me like a sharp wind as sight and smell returned to me. Now I was on sensory overload. I could see every dark crevasse of the cell, smell everything that had ever been in here with me, and hear absolutely no sound from the outside. Reality hit me; I was going to die in here. There would be no way for the Doctor to overpower the men and the Silence. I was trapped, not only within the chamber but with every nightmare I had ever had. Things whispered at me from the dark, taunting laughs and painful cries, smoke and flames, ice and chains. It was all here, everything was happening at once and my head hurt and I thought I was losing my very sanity.
And then it shifted again.
Day one. In the brief flash of light that falls across the cell as I meet it for the first time, I observe the room. The floor is an ambiguous dirt, the walls grey stone. But something is there… in the far corner there is a flash of white, something hidden in the wall. But before I can make it out I am surrounded with darkness, awaiting my healing from the first beating I received. The white is probably just a blip in my sight, a side effect of the concussion I most surely have, a hallucination maybe.
I will not give up hope yet. I do not know who I am, cannot answer the strange people's questions, but I have a feeling there is someone out there who is looking for me.
If not, I will save myself. I'm that sort of girl.
And in that simple moment, that one insignificant detail, I know what I have to do.
It's me. I'm going to save the universe.
And there, another chapter! I'm headed on a vacation so I won't have internet access for over a week… *shudder.* So stay tuned until then! Thanks for reading or better yet, reviewing!
xJessica