Me And You, Heartbreak

by itsthetruth

10/OC. Rewrite of Series 4. Rose Tyler is coming back, Donna is now travelling with The Doctor, Flo and Martha, Flo's losing Maria and gaining Rani and River Song's going to her death. "So a bit after 1913, we met Donna Noble. Of course you know that's when everything really began. If only River could have warned me the three of us were heading for Winter Quay. Goodbye, Ponds."

14. Forest Of The Dead

River turned, using the squareness gun on the wall. "This way! Quickly Move!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the wall.

...

"Okay, we've got a clear spot!" River shouted as we ran into another one of the reading rooms. "In, in, in!" The Doctor bolted across the room and immediately began to check for shadows. "Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor!"

"I'm doing it." The Doctor called over.

"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?"

"Maybe. It's getting harder to tell." He muttered, whacking the sonic. "What's wrong with you?"

"We're gonna need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?" Other Dave quickly handed River one. "Thanks, Dave." She threw it into the shadowm only for it to be stripped of its flesh immediately. "Okay, we got a hot one. Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming."

The Doctor began to check the shadows and I glanced from afar, watching River and the other members of the expedition talk behind us.

"Who is he?" Other Dave asked. "You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him."

"He's the Doctor." River replied as I made my way towards them.

"And who is "the Doctor"?" Lux asked.

"The only story you'll ever tell-if you survive him." River and I said in unison. I blinked, looking at her in shock before walking back over to The Doctor.

"Are you ok?" The Doctor muttered to me as he continued sonicing.

"Scared." I laughed nervously as River popped up next to us.

"What's wrong with it?" River asked, gesturing to the sonic.

"There's a signal coming from somewhere interfering with it." The Doctor frowned.

"Use the red settings." River shrugged.

"It doesn't have a red setting."

"Well, use the dampers."

"It doesn't have dampers."

"It will do one day." She said, holding up her sonic.

The Doctor snatched it from her and stood up, "So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver?"

"Yeah."

"Why would I do that?"

"I didn't pluck it from your cold, dead hands if that's what you're worried about." River smirked.

"And I know that because..."

"Listen to me. We've lost Donna, you're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now." I snapped.

"Less emo-I'm not emotional!"

"There are five people in this room still alive." River and I said once again in unison, making both me and The Doctor stare at her, wide eyed.

"Focus on that." River finished. "Dear God, you're hard work young."

"Young?" The Doctor snapped. "Who are you?!"

"For Heaven's sake!" Lux snapped, standing up and looking at me and The Doctor. "Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple." Me and The Doctor looked at each other in shock.

"Married." River laughed, making us look at her, before she immediately sobered and looked at The Doctor. "Doctor... One day I'm going to be someone you trust completely. But I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really...very sorry." River reached up and whispered in his ear. When she pulled back, The Doctor stared at her in shock before grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. "Are we good? Doctor...are we good?"

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, we're good."

"Good." She nodded, taking the sonic and walking off.

"What did she say?" I whispered.

"My name." The Doctor gulped.

"She knows your name?" I asked. He looked down at me guiltily.

"Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?" He asked, walking off. "Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing strong enough... Well, maybe some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So, there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed? Come on, what's new?! What's different?!"

"I dunno." Other Dave shrugged. "Nothing. It's getting dark."

"It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark." The Doctor looked up at the planet's sky at the artificial moon. "Moonrise. Tell me about the moon. What's there?" He asked Lux.

"It's not real." Lux said. "It was built as part of The Library. It's just a doctor moon."

"What's a doctor moon?"

"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet."

The Doctor began to sonic up at the moon, "Well, it's still active-it's signalling, look. Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through-"

"Doctor." River said, nodding as a projection of Donna appeared.

"Donna!" The Doctor cheered before the projection suddenly disappeared.

"That was her. That was your friend. Can you get her back? What was that?"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength. Argh! I'm being blocked!"

"Professor..." Anita called over.

"Just a moment." River replied.

"It's important. I have two shadows."

I looked round in shock, grabbing The Doctor's arm as looked over at Anita.

"Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours."

"Didn't do Proper Dave any good."

"Just keep it together, okay?"

"I'm keeping it together. I'm only crying. I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction."

River walked over and grabbed Anita's helmet, putting it on her before The Doctor turned to face her.

"Hang on." The Doctor said before sonicing the helmet and blocking the visor.

"Oh, God, they've got inside." River gasped.

"No, no-I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already is there and leave her alone."

"You think they could be fooled like that?"

"Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm-it's not like we chat."

"Can you still see in there?" Other Dave asked.

"Just about." Anita muttered.

"Just-just-just stay back." The Doctor said. "Professor, quick word, please."

"What?" River asked.

The Doctor squatted down, "Down here."

"What is it?" River asked, squatting down beside him.

"You said there are five people still alive in this room."

"Yeah, so?"

"So..." I began before The Doctor could say anything. "Why are there six?" And there, in the opening, stood what was Proper Dave.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave asked.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted, jumping up and grabbing my hand, pulling me out of the room.

...

"Professor, go ahead." The Doctor said to River as we ran down the hallway. "Fine a safe spot."

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit! You can't reason with it." River and I snapped in unison, making me stare at the woman.

"Five minutes!" The Doctor called back. "Keep Flo safe!"

"She's pregnant, I'll protect her with my life!"

"How did you know that?!"

"Spoilers."

"Other Dave, stay with him." I said to Other Dave as River began to pull me away. "Pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor!"

...

"You know...it's funny," River said, sonicing at the shadows. "I keep wishing the Doctor was here."

"The Doctor is here, isn't he?" Anita asked. "I mean, he's coming back, right?"

"You know when you see a photograph of someone you know but it's from years before you met them, and it's like they're not quite...finished, they're-they're not quite done yet? Well...yes, the Doctor's here." She turned round and looked at me. "And you, yes. You came when I called just like you always does. But not my Doctor and Flo. Now, my Doctor and Flo... I've seen whole armies turn and run away, and you'd just swagger off back to your TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of your fingers. The Doctor and Flo...in the TARDIS-next stop: everywhere." She smiled tearily in me.

"Spoilers!" I looked round to see The Doctor appearing from the other side of the room. "Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. Doesn't work like that."

"It does for the Doctor." River said sternly, looking back at him.

"I am the Doctor."

"Yeah. Some day."

The Doctor glared at her before walking up to Anita, "How are you doing?"

"Where's Other Dave?"

"Not coming. Sorry."

"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita asked nervously.

"I don't know." The Doctor said, looking down at the two shadows. "Maybe tinting the visor's making a difference."

"It's making a difference all right. No one's ever gonna see my face again."

"Can I get you anything?"

"An old age would be nice. Anything you can do."

"I'm all over it."

"Doctor-When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear and you did. My life so far, I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" The Doctor stared at her sadly and the woman chuckled. "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe." I shouted, spinning around with my arms in the air, making River and The Doctor. "Safe. You don't say, "saved". Nobody says, "saved", you say, "safe". The data fragment-what did it say?"

"4022 people saved. No survivors." Lux said.

"Flo?" River frowned.

"Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe." The Doctor exclaimed, looking over at me in realization. "It didn't mean safe. It literally meant...saved!" The Doctor bolted over to a terminal, pressing at the buttons. "See?" He called over. "There it is! Right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out."

"It tried to teleport 4022 people?" River asked.

"Succeeded." The Doctor nodded. "Pulled 'em all out. But then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library with Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4022 people, all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent-like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them." River nodded as The Doctor ran over to a table, pushing the books out of the way and began to draw on a surface.

"The Library." He said, drawing a circle on the table with a smaller one inside. "Whole world of books. And right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written. Backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them...to the hard drive." He drew an arrow to the middle circle before looking over at me.

Suddenly, an alarm bared through.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Lux asked.

"Auto-destruct enabled in twenty minutes." The Computer announced as The Doctor and River bolted over to one of the terminals.

"What's maximum erasure?" River asked.

"Twenty minutes, this planet's gonna crack like an egg." The Doctor said.

"No. No, it's all right." Lux said. "The doctor moon'll stop it. It's designed to protect CAL."

Suddenly, the terminal shut down, making The Doctor shout at it loudly. "No, no. No, no, no, no!" He shouted, climbing onto the desk and using the sonic on the top of terminal.

"All Library systems are permanently offline." The Computer announced. "Sorry for any inconvenience."

"We need to stop this." Lux insisted. "We've gotta save CAL."

"What is it? What is CAL?" The Doctor asked.

"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you."

"It's at the core of the planet."

"Well then... Let's go!" River said before aiming her sonic at the seal in the middle of the floor, making in open and show a big beam of light. "Gravity platform."

"I bet we like you." I grinned.

"Oh, you do."

...

"The data core." The Doctor said, looking up at the date core. "Over 4000 living minds trapped inside it."

"They won't be living much longer." River commented. "We're running out of time."

The five of us stepped off of the gravity beam and The Doctor ran over to a terminal.

"Help me. Please, help me." The Girl's voice called.

"What's that?" Anita asked.

"Was that a child?" River frowned.

"The computer's in sleep mode." The Doctor said, tapping on the keyboard of the terminal. "I can't wake it up. I'm trying."

"Doctor, these readings." River frowned, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

"I know. You'd think it was...dreaming."

"It is dreaming-of a normal life, and a lovely dad, and of every book ever written." Lux said.

"Computers don't dream." Anita said.

"Help me. Please, help me." The Girl cried.

"No, but little girls do." Lux said sadly before pulling on a lever and leading us into another room. In the middle was a Node connected up to the main frame with a little girl's face on.

"Help me. Please, help me. Help me. Please, help me."

"Oh, my God." River gasped.

"It's the little girl." Anita gasped. "The girl we saw on the computer."

"She's not in the computer." Lux said sadly. "In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is CAL."

"CAL is a child!" I shouted. "A child hooked up to a mainframe! Why didn't you tell us this? We needed to know this!"

"Because she's family!" Lux screamed. "CAL - Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything. And he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.

"A child, on her own. For years."

"So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her." The Doctor whispered.

"This is only half a life, of course..." Lux gulped, stroking her face. "But it's forever."

"And then the shadows came."

"The shadows." Cal said feebly. "I have to...I have to save. Have to save."

"And she saved them." The Doctor sighed. "She saved everyone in The Library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" Anita asked.

"Because she's forgotten. She's got over 4000 living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like...being, well, me."

"So what do we do?" River asked.

"Auto-destruct in ten-" The computer began.

"Easy!" The Doctor cheered, running back to the terminal. "We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer." He babbled as he bolted over to a bank of wires. "Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer, and she can borrow my memory space!"

"Difficult." River said. "It'll kill you stone dead!"

"Yeah, it's easy to criticize."

"It'll burn up both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate!" I laughed.

"I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing."

"Doctor!" River shouted.

"If I'm right, this'll work. Shut up! Now, listen, you and Luxy Boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download. And before you say anything else, Professor, and my beautiful amazing girlfriend, can I just mention, as you're both here, shut up."

"Oh! I hate you sometimes!" River and I shouted in unison before River grabbed my arm and pulled me off.

"I know!" He shouted over his shoulder.

"Mr Lux, with me." River called over. "Anita, if he dies...I'll kill him!" And so she pulled me off.

"Who are you?" I hissed.

"Professor River Song, University-"

"To me, River."

"I-" River began when a sudden thump echoed through from the room we'd just left. The two of us shared a look before running back in to see Anita's suit laying on the floor. "Anita!" River gasped, kneeling down next to it.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor called over from the terminal. "She's been dead a while now. I told you to go!"

"Lux can manage without me...but you can't." I jumped out of the way as River got up and punched The Doctor, sending him flying to the floor, unconscious before pulling a small vial out of her pocket and jabbing it into my arm.

...

"I'm sorry." I heard River's voice as my eyes opened. I glanced up at her, sitting in a chair, connecting wires. "I couldn't hit you, you're pregnant.

"Auto-destruct in two minutes." The Computer announced. I jerked forward, only to be pulled back by a pair of handcuffs connecting me and The Doctor, who was still out cold, next to me.

"That key." I gasped out, making River look over at me guiltily. "Melody. Mels. She's my best friend. And she was given that key. By Amy. You know her don't you?" River just stared back at me. "Amelia Pond. Cause one day this man," I pointed down at The Doctor. "Is going to crash into her garden. He will crash in Leadworth, and you're connected to him, and that's the connection to Amy." I gasped out, tears rolling down my face. "Did you kill her? Did you murder Mels? Did you kill my best friend...?"

River opened her mouth to speak when The Doctor suddenly jolted forward, waking up.

"Oh, no, no, no!" He shouted. "What are you doing? That's my job."

"What, I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" River asked.

"Why am I handcu-Why do you even have handcuffs?"

River smirked, "Spoilers."

"This is not a joke." He snapped. "Stop this now. This is gonna kill you! I'll have a chance, you don't have any!"

"You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I!" River shouted at him. "I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."

"River, please, no!"

"Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die." She laughed sadly, tears forming in her eyes, looking between the both of us. "All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you -the real you two, the future you two, I mean- you turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit, Doctor and beautiful dress, Flo. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. Oh, what a night that was. The towers sang...and you cried. Both of you."

"Auto-destruct in one minute." The computer announced.

"You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time-my time, time to come to The Library. You even gave me your sonic screwdriver-that should have been a clue." I looked across the floor, seeing both screwdrivers sitting on River's diary, just out of our reach. "There's nothing you can do."

"Let me do this!" The Doctor shouted, trying to grab the sonics.

"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you."

"Time can be rewritten!"

"Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare." She shouted. "It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run. And your son. Oh he's beautiful, he's brilliant."

"River, you know my name." The Doctor gulped.

"Auto-destruct in 10..." The computer called out.

"You whispered my name in my ear."

"...9, 8, 7, 6..." River placed a circlet on her head, watching us tearily.

"There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name-"

"...5..."

"There's only one time I could..."

"...4..."

"Hush, now." River whispered.

"...3, 2..."

"Spoilers."

"...1"

River connected the cables in her hands, staring at us tearily as a blinding light filled the room.

...

And she done it. That mad, impossible, bloody River Song. She saved 4,026 lives. 4,022 people on the hard drive and the other 4 being me, The Doctor, Donna and the baby.

"Any luck?" The Doctor asked as Donna returned, leaning against the wall in between me and The Doctor.

"Wasn't even anyone called Lee in The Library that day." Donna sighed. "Suppose he could have had a different name out here, but let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?"

"Maybe not."

"I made up the perfect man-gorgeous, adores me, and hardly ever speaks a word. What's that say about me?"

"Everything." The Doctor said absently. Donna looked over at him, offended and I reached over, whacking him in the arm. "Sorry, did I say "everything"? I meant to say "nothing". I was aiming for "nothing". I accidentally said "everything"."

"What about you two? You all right?"

"We're always all right."

"Is "all right" special Time Lord and expert time traveller code for..."really not all right at all"?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm all right too."

I gave her a soft smile. "Come on." I said as me and The Doctor both took her hand and we walked off.

...

The Doctor placed River's diary on the edge of the balcony, placing his hand on it with a sigh.

"Your friend...Professor Song." Donna said to me and The Doctor. "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-"

"Donna...this is her diary." I said. "Mine and The Doctor's future. We could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?"

"Spoilers...right?"

"Right." The Doctor nodded, laying her screwdriver on top of the diary. "Come on. The next chapter's this way." And we walked away, up the stairs...

When you run with the Doctor, 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 the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of the all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it.

Saved.

SAVED.

S.A.V.E.D

I turned and sprinted back, picking up River's screwdriver as The Doctor watched my with shock.

"Why?" I asked quickly, looking back at him. "Why would we give her your screwdriver? Why would we do that? Thing is, Future You had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her. What you did was give her a sonic screwdriver-why would you do that?" And then I found the panel, sliding it open and showing The Doctor the neural relay. "Oh, oh, oh... Look at that! You're very good!" He stared at the screwdriver in horror, but good horror, shock.

"What have you done?"

"Saved her." The Doctor said, running towards me and snatching the screwdriver before running off.

"You and us River." I laughed as I watched him run off. "One last run."

Everybody knows that everybody dies... But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call... Everybody lives.

...

Hero made his way through the room, darkly looking over at the chair where River had died in, not hours before. The wires were starting to die down now, not sparking as much as before.

"It's safe Jenny." He called back. Jenny slowly made her way out of through, looking sadly round at everything. She made her way over to the chair, frowning at one of the arms. On the side of the metal arm was a crack, with a piece of paper sticking out of.

"Hero." She called over, pulling it out of the crack.

Hero looked over and frowned, "What?"

"It's a page, from Melody's diary."

"What does it say?"

Jenny gulped and held it out to him, "I think it's for you."

Hero gently took it from her and turned it over. His eyes widened in horror and his breathing became extremely heavy as he began to hyperventilate. He grabbed Jenny's hand and sprinted off, making her yelp as her arm was nearly pulled out of her socket. The piece of paper dropped to the ground, with the beautiful, well written handwriting of River Song faced the ceiling as it read: BAD WOLF