CHAPTER 37

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

This chapter is being continued from Adventures in Time Chapter 18. You won't have to have read that story to understand what's going on here though.

ROSE VS. RIVER PART 2

A long bitter fight to the finish was almost over with now as I stood by helplessly and watched Rose dying right in front of my eyes. I had killed her and there was nothing that I could do now to save her. There was nothing anyone could do.

I just stood there watching her face contort in agony even as I relived the events that had all led up to this. Once Rose had teleported the two of us to the dimension of the White Guardian, I had shot her with a spray of the same materials that make up Vortex Shielding and covered her with them from head to toe. They would stick to her like glue and wouldn't come off no matter what she did. This cut her off completely from the Vortex, and she started dying immediately because of it since she needed that energy to live in her Time Lord body.

Don't look at me like that. I came up with this idea to use against Rose in case an enemy ever turned her against us. She told me to do it because she didn't want to hurt her family. She also told me her greatest weakness too, and I eventually used that against her as well.

It took me a while to actually do it though because the Doctor, the idiot, used the TARDIS to come to the White Guardian's dimension without Rose's knowledge. He came there to save Rose from me, and he brought Clara and Mikaela along with him. The three of them did their best to stop me, but in the end I beat all of them. I didn't kill them though. I was able to resist the Symmetry's programming just enough that I just knocked them all out cold instead.

It was too bad that I wasn't able to give Rose that same courtesy.

Once the Doctor and the others were finished, there was nothing and no one left to stop me from doing what the Symmetry wanted. Despite her best attempts to stop me, I soon fired a dart containing a concentrated dose of Treswines Radiation in it straight into Rose's shoulder.

This was Rose's fatal weakness that she had told me about in case I ever needed to stop her. She had known that she had a deadly allergic reaction to being exposed to it since she was a child, and now I had just used it to kill her.

Rose told me as she lay there dying that she had one last ace in the hole left to save herself: Donald. She had used her powers to determine the exact time and place where the Symmetry had kidnapped the younger version of me and had sent him back there to try to stop them somehow.

So far it didn't seem to be working, and I really wished that it would.

I could hear her breathing getting slower and slower, and she was fighting to keep from drifting off into unconsciousness even as I watched her. I was actually crying now because I didn't want to kill her. I knew that Donald would hate me forever if she died.

I would hate myself too.

"River, it's alright. It's not your fault," Rose said in a voice so low I could barely hear it.

Even now she was wasn't worried about herself. She was only trying to make me feel better.

"I wish that I could do something to help you. Anything. Even if I could though, my programming would automatically kick in and stop me. I can't even try," I said in a defeated voice.

"It's okay," Rose said in a failing voice as she continued to smile at me.

"NO, IT'S NOT OKAY! IT'LL NEVER BE OKAY!" I screamed.

"Did that help any?" Rose asked.

"Not really. No," I said as my shoulders slumped.

"Melody, could you hold my hand? I'm having trouble seeing you now," Rose said in a voice that even I could barely understand now.

"I'm here. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. So sorry. I don't want you to die," I said as I held her hand.

Rose just smiled at me in response. She was so weak that she couldn't even speak now.

She was almost gone now and there was nothing whatsoever that I could do about it.

Then even as her eyes started to close, new memories started shooting through my head. Time was being rewritten even as I stood there holding Rose's hand.

Come on, Donald! You can do it.

Now I finally started to remember the new first meeting that I ever had with Donald.

I was still just a little girl and I was on the run from the Silence after having escaped them. I was slowly making my way across the country trying to put as much distance between them and me as possible when I was suddenly found by a strange man in a long coat.

"Hello, Melody," Donald said as he first spotted me.

I was terrified as I had been hiding in an alley during the daytime, and he was blocking my only way out of it. He just stood there with a warm smile on his face and didn't make any sudden movements forward at all so as not to scare me.

"I'm a friend, Melody. I'm not here to hurt you I promise. I'm here to help you actually," Donald said as he continued to speak in a gentle voice to me.

"Go away. Leave me alone. I just want to be left alone," I said in a frightened voice.

Even then I could recognize the kindness and the sympathy in Donald's eyes as he said, "I know and I wish that I didn't have to bother you. I really do. I also wish that I could just take you out of this horrible place and take care of you. I don't want you to have to continue to live like this. I hate it, Melody. I hate seeing you like this."

I realized that he really meant it as I asked, "Why can't you? Why can't you give me a home somewhere? I want that so badly. I just want a place to live and be loved and cared for."

Donald started to cry as he said, "I want that for you too, but I can't do that for you now. I will in the future though, Melody. I promise. In the future, you'll always be safe with me. I'll never let anything like this happen to you again. I swear it. For now though, I can't help you. I'm so sorry. I wish that I could. I can't rewrite your past though, and all of this has already happened to you where I come from. Maybe I can still rewrite something else though. It would be a rewrite of a rewrite."

"What are you talking about?" I asked completely confused.

"Someone else besides the Silence is going to kidnap you soon and program you to kill someone else that I love very much in the future. I need to do something now to stop them before they get here. Will you let me in your mind so that I can do that? I won't hurt you I promise. I just want to place something in there to undo what they're about to do to you. Please, Melody. Will you let me do that?" Donald pleaded.

I didn't know why but I trusted this strange but endearing man. I nodded and allowed him to come forward and touch both sides of my face.

I could feel him enter my mind instantly, and I was surprised to find him installing some programming of his own there. I didn't know what it was then, but I didn't make a move to fight him off while he was doing it because I trusted him. I trusted him completely even though I had only just met him, and I knew that whatever he was doing that it was only to help me and not to cause me any harm.

As soon as he was finished with what he was doing, he said, "They're going to be coming for you soon. They won't hurt you. They'll just put in some programming of their own that hopefully mine will be able to undo later on. Once they're finished, then they'll leave you alone again."

"What then? What happens to me after that?" I asked.

He was silent and he turned around to leave without answering me. Then he suddenly turned around again with tears in his eyes.

"It's going to be a long, hard road for you. I'm sorry. It eventually gets better though. One day you'll find yourself with a brand new life, and you'll have everything that you've always deserved to have. I promise," Donald said.

We looked at each other for a long moment as we stared into each other's eyes and then he leaned forward and kissed my forehead as he hugged me tightly. I knew then that he loved me. I didn't know why but he did.

Then I could feel him burying my memories of meeting him, and they didn't resurface again until just now. I could finally remember all of that as I stood there holding a barely alive Rose's hand.

I also remembered the programming that he put in my mind and once I did it finally activated at last!

The Symmetry's programming was deactivated by Donald's earlier counterprogramming, and I suddenly remembered that I had brought the antidote to Rose's allergic reaction along with me. I had had it with me all of this time thanks to Donald's programming, but I hadn't remembered it until I could break free of the Symmetry's hold on me.

I quickly pulled the antidote out of a secret compartment in my gun where I had put it when I was cleaning it earlier without even realizing it and injected Rose with it instantly. I could only hope that it was in enough time to save her.

Luckily for both of us, it was. She began to have the color return to her cheeks almost instantly, and I could feel her breathing return back to normal.

She was still dying though from the lack of Vortex energy. Luckily I had a way around that too. I pulled a water bottle out of one of my bigger on the inside jacket pockets and doused Rose all over in its contents.

This was the solvent to my spray of Vortex Shielding spray. It started washing it all off of her wherever it touched her. It wasn't enough to remove every bit of it, but it removed enough to allow her to reach the Vortex again. She could now start to receive its power once more.

She started to give off a low glow of Vortex energy as she smiled at me. She gave me a thumbs up as she was still too weak to speak to me.

I let out a huge sigh of relief now that it was all over with. I had finally saved her at last thanks to Donald. I would have to give him an extra special thanks for that later on.

Then something horrible happened. The Symmetry's programming began to start reasserting itself! It was still there and it was fighting Donald's counterprogramming.

I began to scream in agony as this went on, and Rose's eyes widened in horror because she realized what that meant. She knew that if I fell under the Symmetry's control again that there was no way that she could stop me from finishing her off because she was barely able to move.

The pain in my head suddenly stopped, and I realized that it was because the Symmetry's programming had succeeded. This time it had so completely invaded my mind that I had no control of myself whatsoever anymore. This time I was only an observer in my own body as I pulled my gun on Rose once more and started to fire at her head.

That was when Clara said from behind me, "I don't think so, Zombie Girl. No one's killing one of my Time Lords. Not on my watch!"

I turned around just in time to see that her eyes and hands were glowing with silver energy, and if I could have I would have cheered. Even as I started to shoot her, Clara grabbed ahold of my head and poured pure Vortex energy straight into it.

For this of you not in the know, Clara gained a weak connection to the Vortex when she jumped into the Doctor's timestream. It was so weak that she didn't even know that it was there until recently when she temporarily died because she was cut off from it. Since then she's been slowly become more and more powerful as she's been learning to control her abilities.

Being stuck on Trenzalore for nine hundred years with the Doctor and forced to fight virtually every enemy that he ever made probably helped with that too.

I immediately fell to the ground unconscious but otherwise unharmed because Clara had learned to control her power enough by this point to only stun me. Even now she was still trying to save me.

What is it about the Doctor and Rose's crew that even when you're pointing a gun at them that they still play nice? I don't get it myself.

As soon as I passed out, Clara almost did as well because her body wasn't able to handle using so much energy at once. She immediately began seeing spots before her eyes as she struggled to stay awake.

"Clara!" Donald said in alarm as he finally arrived (he always was a bit slow!) just in time to catch her and keep her from hitting the ground.

Too bad he wasn't here five seconds ago to do that for his own wife. Of course I was just trying to kill both Rose and Clara so I guess I can't complain too much.

"It's finally over. I saved her," Clara said with a grin as Donald lowered her gently to the ground.

"Not quite yet," Donald said.

"What are you talking about, Pretty Boy? Please don't tell me that River's about to wake up and start this all over again because I won't be able to stop her this time," Clara said in alarm.

Donald frowned as he said, "Okay, I won't tell you."

"Well, that's just wonderful. We're all so dead," Clara said in despair.

"Hopefully not. Maybe that little zap to the head that you gave her helped finally drive the Symmetry's hold on her out," the Doctor said hopefully as he and Mikaela joined the others.

That was when I woke up and immediately started to point my gun at all of them. This time I wasn't able to help myself. I was about to kill them all no matter how much I was trying not to.

I silently screamed in my head even as I started to pull the trigger. It was taking all of my willpower not to start firing on them immediately. That wouldn't last forever though. This time the programming was just too strong.

"Well, there goes that idea out the window, Chinny," Mikaela said rolling her eyes at the Doctor.

"I always try to look on the bright side, Ella. Unfortunately this time I was wrong," the Doctor said defensively.

"This time? You're wrong quite a bit, Mr. Chin," Mikaela said in irritation.

"Stop making cheap shots and run, Ella!" the Doctor shouted as I finally began firing on them.

Donald couldn't run though. He had both Rose and Clara to protect since they were almost helpless at this point. He could only hope that my attention was too busy being focused on the Doctor and Mikaela to bother with him for the moment.

Unfortunately he was soon to be proven wrong.

"Donald, run! My programming won't make me hurt you as long as you're not trying to protect Rose," I said as I suddenly turned away from the others and towards him once more.

"I'm afraid that I can't do that, Melody. I'm sorry but I can't. I can't just stand by and let you kill her even if it means that I have to die too," Donald said stupidly.

"Please don't do this to me. I won't be able to take it," I said in a rare moment of weakness as I begged him to move before I shot him.

"I can't just leave her. I'm sorry, Melody," Donald said as he began using his sonic screwdriver on my gun in an attempt to short it out before I could use it again.

The Doctor quickly joined him with his own sonic, and my gun started to smoke in my hand. It immediately became red hot, and I had to drop it as it caught on fire.

"This won't stop me," I said as I quickly pulled a taser out of one of my pockets and shot both Donald and the Doctor with it knocking them both out at once.

"Clara, we don't have much time now. She's about to kill me. I have one last trick up my sleeve to save myself though that just might work. It's something that Koschei did once on Traken, and he taught me how to do it. I never thought that I would actually use it though. I have to warn you that what I'm about to do is very dangerous. If we do this one or both of us might die. I won't do it if you don't agree to it. You can still save yourself by just not helping me. I'll understand," Rose said to Clara.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that. Do it, Rose," Clara said without hesitation.

I had no idea what Rose was going on about, and I didn't have time to find out as Mikaela suddenly attacked me before I could move any closer to her. Mikaela was pointing both Doctors' sonics at each other at once and nearly deafening me with the backlash.

"I'm sorry, Melody. I know that this isn't really you doing this," Mikaela said in an upset voice.

"It isn't me doing this either," I said apologetically as I immediately knocked her out with a punch to the jaw.

Suddenly I felt myself being thrown to the ground by the Doctor as he used his Venusian Aikido on me to throw me over his shoulder. He quickly jumped on top of me and tried to hold me down so that I couldn't move.

"We can't do this sort of thing anymore, Doctor. People would talk. I'm married now," I said as I tried as hard as I could not to kill him right then and there.

I wasn't successful as I immediately grabbed him by the throat and pulled him off of me with one hand. I held him up in the air with that hand while I pulled yet another gun out of one of my pockets.

I always keep a spare.

As I began to point my gun at his head, I heard Clara's voice say from somewhere behind me, "Let him go, Melody."

I turned my head around just in time to see Clara standing there glowing with golden energy surrounding her entire body this time and a triumphant smile on her face. She immediately let me have it with a massive blast of Vortex energy from her hands that sent me flying several feet away from the Doctor even as it caused me to drop him on the ground.

"Clara, what have you done?" the Doctor asked as he stared at her in shock.

"It's not Clara, Doctor. You can just call me Bad Wolf," 'Clara' said with a huge smile covering her entire face.

A smile that looked a lot like Rose Tyler's.

That clever girl!

"Oh, no! I can't believe you!" the Doctor said as his eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's only temporary. My body was still too weak so I had to merge with Clara in order to be able to fight back. I'll let her go as soon as we're finished here," Rose said in Clara's voice.

"Awfully sure of yourself, aren't you?" I said as I quickly came rushing at her once again.

"Not really but I have to keep the Doctor's spirits up. He worries way too much about me otherwise," Rose said as she gestured towards me and sent me flying away once more.

"You're not going to stop me like that. As long as you keep holding back, you'll never win. Don't get me wrong. I don't want you to hurt the baby, but I also don't want to hurt you. You're going to have to come up with something else," I warned her.

"Don't worry. I already have," Rose said as she suddenly teleported right next to me in the next instant and placed her hand on my head.

I screamed for all that I was worth as Rose used her power to completely rewrite my mind and return it back to normal once more. It wasn't a pleasant experience at all I can assure you.

I stood there with my eyes rolling back in my head just about to pass out as Rose said, "I'm so sorry, Melody. I had to do it quickly because I'm still too weak even like this to fight you for long."

"It's alright. A little pain will do me good. I was starting to get too soft anyway," I said just before I passed out.

"Is she going to be alright?" Donald asked with worry as he actually caught me this time.

"She's fine. I managed to finally fix her brain this time. The baby's alright too," Rose reassured him.

"What about you?" Donald asked.

"That's my question as well. How soon can you two split up again? I don't fancy being married to Clara for the rest of my lives. Don't get me wrong. I love her but I'm not in love with her," the Doctor said with a smile.

"You could do much worse, Chin Boy," Clara said as herself for a moment with a wicked smile on her face.

"Are you both alright in there?" Donald asked.

"We're fine. I'm still very weak though. In fact . . ." Rose said as she resumed control and then she hesitated before continuing.

The Doctor sighed as he said, "Let me guess. You're too weak to separate from Clara right now."

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. I don't have enough strength left to separate us from one another. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go into a healing coma for a while to regain my strength. I'll still be here to talk to you if you really need me or if you just miss me. Until I'm back up to full strength though, I'll just turn things over to Clara. It's probably better this way for her anyway," Rose said.

"What?! Well, that's just great!" Clara said as she regained control once again.

That was when I rejoined the conversation as I regained consciousness and said with a mischievous grin, "It looks like you've got two wives now whether you like it or not, Doctor."

"Oh, shut up," Clara said in irritation.

"Don't worry, Clara. Rose will just have to take a little time to regain her strength. Once she does that she should be able to separate the two of you apart from one another again in no time. It shouldn't take any longer than a couple of days. A couple of weeks tops," the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Weeks? Weeks?!" Clara said in a furious voice.

It seemed that in a way that the Symmetry had finally gotten what they wanted after all. Rose was definitely going to be gone for a while just not in the way that they had expected.

"It's not that big a deal. Rose is a very sweet girl. She won't be any trouble at all to share your mind and body with. It could have been worse you know. You could have merged with River," the Doctor said.

That was when I pulled my gun back out and pointed at him once again.

"Watch out! She's turning back into Psycho Woman again!" Mikaela shouted.

"Relax. This time she's just angry at old Chinny over there. He just doesn't have the same people skills that I do," Donald said grinning evilly.

I put my gun away and smiled reassuringly at the Doctor who was already starting to look upset. I knew that he was just joking to cover up the loneliness that he was feeling over not having Rose at his side, but I could only let him get away with so much.

Clara was already putting her arm around him in an attempt to cheer him up, but I could tell that it wasn't doing much good. As close as he was to Clara, she wasn't Rose. I had to admit that even now I was still just a bit jealous at how devoted both the Doctor and Donald were to her.

I rolled my eyes at Donald as I said, "Are you talking about those same wonderful skills that almost got us all executed back on Tarsus VII when you insulted their leader by making fun of his hair?"

"Can I help it if he's too sensitive? His head looked like a porcupine sat on it," Donald said with a grin.

"Rude," I said with a large smile.

"You know you like it," Donald said as he kissed me passionately.

I did indeed.

Next: Ace and Joan Redfern both drop by to see the new mother to be. Ace gets some welcome and surprising news when she finds out what the baby's name will be while Joan has some surprises of her own for River when she brings an unexpected guest to meet Donald and Matt. Regular readers of Bad Wolves already know who that will be. Plus Christina, Lydia, and Casanova return. Oh, and did I mention that River goes after the Symmetry with a vengeance to get back at them for what they did to her? If the Symmetry thought that River was bad before wait till they face off against her now!

Oh, and those of you interested in what happens to Rose/Clara next will find out in upcoming chapters of It's Better With Two and Adventures in Time.