I own nothing.
I was lucky to have learned my way through the pyramid as well as I had. I had made a mental note to all of the places the Silence had access to, and was now carefully avoiding those places while still managing to hurry the Doctor to the top of the pyramid.
"River, nothing you have up there will do anything. My time is up. I'm over eleven hundred years old. I've lived the longest life I know of, besides one person. And he's basically been inserted as a fixed point in time."
"Doctor, just give us a chance to show you and try to change your mind, even if you are the most stubborn man in the universe."
"A universe that won't exist for much longer, because you broke a fixed point in time!"
"Like you've never done it," I fought back.
"No, I haven't!" he argued. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I had done enough research to know he had tried.
"Not from a lack of trying. Does the first Martian colony ring any bells? You could have destroyed human history, and you would have if it wasn't for Adelaide Brooke taking her own life."
That shut him up.
Once we approached the top, I saw my beacon sitting their strongly. Luckily, the Silence had not gotten up here yet.
"What's this?" he asked, only half a moment before he answered himself. "Oh, it's a timey-wimey distress beacon. Who built this?"
I was surprised he hadn't already figured it out. "I'm the child of the TARDIS. I understand physics."
"But that's all you've got," he stressed, still clearly annoyed, "a distress beacon."
Ugh, that man could be so irritating! Couldn't he let me explain its importance before insulting what we've been working on to help save his life? "I've been sending out a message, a distress call. Outside the bubble of our time, the universe is still turning, and I've sent a message everywhere, to the future and the past, the beginning and the end of everything. 'The Doctor is dying. Please, please help.'"
I could feel myself begin to crack as I finished explaining. People were out there trying to find ways to help him, if he could only see that then we could find a way out of this mess.
"River! River, this is ridiculous. That would mean nothing to anyone! It's insane! Worse, it's stupid. You embarrass me!" His words stung more than they probably should have. But damn him, I had been sending out a message for help and getting a response back!
I was trying to figure out how to respond when Amy came up with Rory on her tail, as usual. "We barricaded the door. We've got a few minutes." Apparently my mother could tell that I had yet to tell him about the response, because she told me, "Just tell him. Just tell him, River!"
He looked at me expectantly, so I told him, now that my voice would be more stable. "Those reports of sun spots and solar flares, they're wrong. There aren't any. It's not the sun; it's you. The sky is full of a million, million voices saying 'yes, of course, we'll help!'" I could feel myself ready to sob, but I attempted to hold it back. "You've touched so many lives, saved so many people. Did you think when your time came, you'd really have to do more than just ask? You've decided that universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree!"
"River, no one can help! A fixed point has been altered. Time is disintegrating!"
"I can't let you die!" I yelled at him, since he was apparently not grasping that fact.
"But I have to die."
"Shut up!" I yelled at him, even louder. "I can't let you die, without knowing you are loved by so many and so much. And by no one more than me," I admitted more softly, now on the verge of tears.
"River," he sighed, "you and I, we know what this means. We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality! Billions on billions will suffer and die!"
He was right, I did understand; but unlike him, I was not willing to give him up for the universe. If he didn't want suffering, then he wasn't going to win this argument. "I'll suffer if I have to kill you."
"More than every living thing in the universe?" he challenged.
"Yes!"
He was clearly annoyed. "River, River, why do you have to be… this?" he demanded, before turning to my parents. "Melody Pond, your daughter! I hope you're both proud."
Rory and Amy had a conversation I couldn't make out, while the Doctor looked deep and thought. Finally he looked at my mother. "Amy, uncuff me now." I realized that this was it, if we had not convinced him by now, there was nothing that would do so. It hurt knowing in a few moments, I would be killing the one man I loved more than anything and would die for.
"Okay," he continued, "I need a strip of cloth about a foot long. Anything will do. Never mind." He pulled off his bow tie. I was surprised, it was the first time I had seen him without one. But I was more concerned with what he was doing. "River, take one end of this. Wrap it around your hand and hold it out to me."
I felt like I should know what this was, but I wasn't sure. "What am I doing?"
"As you're told," he answered as he did the same. "Now, we're in the middle of a combat zone, so we'll have to do the quick version. Cpt. Williams, say 'I consent and gladly give.'"
"To what?" Rory asked.
"Just say it. Please." Rory did as he was told. Then the Doctor looked at Amy, "Need you to say it, too, mother of the bride."
I'm pretty sure I went into shock in that moment. Of course, it was a wedding ceremony. The Doctor was keeping his word, and marrying me. I wanted to laugh; he was going to actually be my husband. I expected it to take longer.
Amy said it without any hesitation. The Doctor was now looking at me, "Now River, I'm about to whisper something in your ear, and you have to remember it very, very carefully. And tell no one what I said." He leaned in and whispered, "Look into my eye."
I did as he said and saw the man holding a cowboy hat and take a bow. If I thought the marriage was shocking, the fact that the Doctor was in that damned machine that tried to kill me in Berlin was mind-blowing. He was okay with dying, because he wasn't going to. The man had outsmarted a fixed point in time without destroying the universe. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss him or strangle him.
"I just told you my name," he declared, though it was an utter lie. Rule #1. "Now, there you go, River Song, Melody Pond. You're the woman who married me. And, wife, I have a request. The world is dying and it's my fault, and I can't bare it another day. Please, help me. There isn't another way."
Two minutes ago, I would have argued until time collapsed. Now, I knew that I wouldn't actually be killing him; I could handle this. And I knew just how to restart time. "Then you may kiss the bride."
"I'll make it a good one."
"You'd better."
And he did try, but I had a feeling that the miniaturized people were not used to having their machine kiss people. It was still better than some breathing people, but it wasn't as good as the Doctor when he was dying.
Suddenly, I was back on the beach of Lake Silencio, looking at the Doctor. He just gave me that same wink, which I know realize was his way of reassuring me that everything was okay. I didn't fight as my arm rose in order to fire at the Doctor. I couldn't stop the green laser from firing multiple times, and I watched as the Doctor seemed to crumble at my feet. Despite knowing he was not dead, I could not bear to look at my parents and future self. I turned and walked back into the water, not even stopping when I was shot with the same gun I had tried to kill the Doctor with the first time. This time, it was loaded but still did no damage.
I stayed underwater for a long time, though I couldn't be certain of how long. I just knew that I couldn't come out while Amy and Rory were still by the lake. I tried to watch the sky for a clue, but it was near impossible to make anything out at the depth I was at. So, I waited until I was fairly confident that it was the next morning.
When I emerged from the water again, I was not surprised to find people waiting for me. The man who was clearly in charge stepped forward and stated, "Melody Pond, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of the Doctor."
I sighed. I didn't have much of a choice if I was going to the Doctor's secret. "Take me away, boys."
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