A/N: Hello all! Long time no see. I got a new job (as an essential worker!) so I've been busy working since the beginning of July. As such, I have not had time to write. Also, I'm diverting from Donna's canon story a little bit. We won't be seeing The Sontaran Strategem, The Poison Sky, or the Doctor's Daughter for sure *this* story. I'm still on the fence about the Unicorn and the Wasp. That might be an adventure that happens off screen because I honestly can't see Anna making changes (other than saving people but even then the way that she would save them would have little to no effect on the story itself). That being said, I'm thinking about replacing them with either original adventures or other episodes in the vein of Blink and Family of Blood (though I'm not taking ALL of Martha's adventures away from her).

Also, just a heads up, the next story will divert from canon, and I mean in a big way. I know that's why y'all are here, but I'm forewarning you that I'm making a HUGE change that a lot of you might not like. Just a warning.

ALSO, just ANOTHER heads up, quality on these next two chapters aren't great. Sorry in advance.

Anyway, thanks to Sayianprincess1511 and Son of Whitebeard (who I have a habit of forgetting to thank, so sorry!) for your reviews.

I still don't own Doctor Who.

Chapter Twenty Six: Silence in the Library

They'd picked up Donna (because it had been more than three minutes. Apparently, it had been a whole half hour since she'd run to her room crying, and she'd just been so wrapped up in herself that she hadn't even noticed). They were headed off for their next adventure when she noticed that the Doctor was looking at something on the psychic.

"What's it?" she asked him, dancing over to his side.

"What?" he asked, quickly concealing it before he smiled down at her. "Nothing, it's nothing, I was actually thinking, you know what? We haven't ever- and what a shame that is! The beach is canceled!"

"Where are we heading instead?"

"It's a surprise," the Doctor said.

When they got there, it wasn't a pleasant surprise like she was sure that the Doctor wanted it to be. It wasn't hard to guess, was it? Standing where she was, looking at the stacks and stacks of-

"Books!" the Doctor shouted.

They were in The Library.

#####

For a moment, it felt like Anna couldn't breathe. She couldn't think, she couldn't speak, she couldn't move.

Something in her connected that she wouldn't be able to help River as soon as she saw The Library. For a strange moment, she had a flash of Clara on the phone with Danny, Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Is this how we talk to each other now…

I love you. And I'll never say those words to anybody ever again… That's sort of the headline… Sorry, I was just-

She pictured Clara, her hand on her head, the other with the phone in her hand.

-talking to Danny, can you put Danny-

She tried to suck in a useless breath.

-on the phone-

"Anna?"

-I'm sorry dear, I'm so sorry. The car, it just came out of-

"Anna, what is it, what's wrong?"

-nowhere-"

She could picture Clara running down the street, stopping in the middle of it.

Looking at the last place that Danny Pink had ever existed.

"Oh my god," she whispered, or she thought she did, but she didn't hear herself say any words.

A calm snapped over her and she looked up at the Doctor, smiling, though she knew it sat wrong on her face. She imagined how mechanical it must look, then, how mechanical and wrong she must look, but she didn't care.

"We should- we should come back later," she said, nodding. "Yeah, we should-" she swallowed with some difficulty past the lump that had lodged itself in her throat. "-later, we should come back- we should-"

She felt the Doctor place gentle hands on her shoulders and it felt somehow strangely like a splinter. She didn't know how to describe it, just that they felt like something niggling uncomfortably beneath her skin.

"Whatever it is that's got you so frightened, we're already part of events," he told her.

She shook her head, her breath starting to be strange and wrong. "But we don't-"

"Yes, Anna, yes we do," he told her.

"Doctor, what-"

She felt a wild frenzied terror building up inside of her.

"But that's okay," he said. "That's okay, because you know what's about to happen, and you can tell me, and I can fix it."

She felt everything pause inside of her.

"You can fix it," she said, from numb lips.

Save him. Bring him back. I don't care how many rules you have to break-

"No," she whispered, quietly, looking down at the ground.

That wasn't how it went.

I don't care about the rules. Save him. Bring him back-

Terrible thing. Just a terrible, terrible thing.

It wasn't terrible.

Sorry?

"It was ordinary," she said, quietly. "Like stepping off a bus." Clara got her spoon from the dishwasher before she continued. "One second he was alive and then he wasn't, like stepping off a bus. People just went on with their lives and their ipods. He deserved better. And so did you."

I don't deserve anything. Nobody deserves anything. But I am owed better.

"I am owed. Who owes you? Clara!"

"Clara?" the Doctor asked and she looked up at him, a smile on her face.

"Yes, Clara," she agreed. "Clara Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager aboard the ship Alaska." She looked down at her hands, whispering. "Are you coming to get me?"

"Doctor, what's wrong with her?"

She heard someone shushing someone else and she shook her head. Sh, she thought.

They come at night.

Who do?

"Who did?" she asked herself quietly, looking down at her hands. "Who come at night?" she frowned. "I don't think that's the right show…" she whispered.

She heard a tiny whispered curse word before she looked up at the Doctor to see that he was nodding.

"Okay, yeah, we can- we'll get out of here, how does that sound?"

She felt relief fill her chest like a tidal wave and she nodded.

"Yep," she said. "Come on."

She turned back, about to step towards the Tardis-

"Anna?"

She'd flung her hand out and back before she realized what she was doing.

"The shadows," she said, looking down at the floor.

"Anna, it's all right, we'll get back in the Tardis. I can help you, it's all right."

She raised her eyebrows, feeling a shot of anger rushing through her, before she looked back at the Doctor.

"You're gonna get me back in the Tardis past the Vashta Nerada?" she questioned him, anger in her tone and her posture.

He, in the meantime, looked at her patiently. "Anna, it's all right. I know that you're confused, that you're getting a lot of information right now. I just need us to get back in the Tardis, and we can talk-"

His eyes widened before he looked down at the floor fully. In the next moment, and in a move that was too quick for her to see, he reached out and yanked her behind him.

"Doctor, what is it?" Donna asked. "What?"

"Something very not good," he said. "Run!"

The next two minutes were a blur of them running through The Library. She kept having flashes of the Doctor and Clara.

Have I got your attention?

Yes.

Good.

No, Clara, he said, looking around himself. Not good.

They kept running, even as the Doctor shouted for them to move faster, as Donna shouted that she was moving as fast as she could-

Am I gonna see Danny like that? I don't want to see him like that.

You're right, that's rubbish. Who wants to watch their loved ones decay?

"Jammed-"

"Oh, for the love of-" she started, before she reached out, kicking at the weakest part of the wood and allowing them entrance to the little shop.

The security camera was floating in the middle of the room, but she immediately dismissed it, moving around the room to try to find… something. A computer, maybe?

"Oh. Hello. Sorry to burst in on you like this," she ignored the Doctor speaking, still looking for a computer for reasons she couldn't name. "Okay if we stop here for a bit- Anna, hold on, where are you-"

"Computer, I'm looking for a computer."

"What for?"

"I don't know, I'm thinking of finding it and working my way backwards," she told him.

What are you doing?

I'm saving your life.

No!

"Anna, slow down-"

"There isn't time!"

I couldn't let you die without knowing that you are loved by so many… but by no one more than me.

River, you embarrass me.

She flinched at the remembrance before she finally found the terminal that she was looking for.

"Are either of you about to explain what's happening?"

"Anna, just listen to me," he said, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to look at him. She quickly fought him off, looking back at the terminal. "I know that you're confused, that there's a lot of information flying around in your head right now, but I can help you, Anna? Anna, what're you doing?"

She looked helplessly at the terminal. "I don't know how to turn it on," she told him, looking at him with an expression to match her tone.

"Okay," he said. "Okay, I can do that. I can do that, why don't you tell me what you need it for?"

"I've already said, I don't know," she told him, even as he took out his sonic screwdriver and started to sonic it.

"Okay, well, what were you saying before, next to the Tardis. Do you remember that? You said that we had to leave. Do you remember why?" he asked, barely glancing at her, still sonicking the terminal.

River.

Oh, you embarrass me!

River!

Next time, stick to the science stuff.

She shook her head, looking up at the Doctor. "We have to save her," she said, quietly. "And we can, we can, we've got time and I know what to do-"

She felt everything dropping out of her.

"Oh my god, I know what to do." She felt her whole face light up. "I know what to do! We need to get-get to the mainframe and the- storage, we just need enough storage, download, something- I don't know, but this could work!"

"Seriously, is someone going to tell me what's going on? Why did we run just then?"

"The Vashta Nerada," she said, looking over at Donna. "These are their forests. The-the pages, the books, they were harvested from the trees where the Vashta Nerada resided. If we can talk to them, communicate to them," she didn't notice the strange look that passed between Donna and the Doctor. "Then we can tell them that we'll all leave their forests if they give us time to get the survivors out of here, and we can do that! 4022 saved, well, and now, it's more like, what 4026 saved? Anita, Proper Dave, and one-"

She didn't get to finish saying her name. The door blew inward and she felt herself once again being pulled behind the Doctor, shielded from the blast. A moment later, Donna joined them, and Donna peaked out from behind the Doctor while the Doctor held Anna back from the new visitors, looking quite tall and regal and unafraid as he did so. One of them walked up to him before she took the darkness off of her visor. "Hello, sweetie."

"Get out."

"Doctor," Donna said, sounding surprised.

"All of you. Turn around, get back in your rocket, and fly away." The Doctor stepped away, towards the rest of the group, and River looked down at her and winked. She didn't even pause to think, wrapping her arms around River. River stilled for a moment before she hugged her back.

Oh, Jim the Fish!

And how is he?

Still building his dam.

Easter Island! They worshipped you there.

River pulled back from her, examining her.

"What's gotten into-" she started, before she furrowed her brows. She put her hands on Anna's face, gently caressing her temples. "You're young," she said, and Anna raised her eyebrows before she shook her head.

"So?" she asked.

"Oi!" the Doctor said, the vowel long and drawn out, before he stepped between her and River, River's hands sliding off of her face. "I just said, turn around and get back in your rocket."

"I heard you the first time," River said, almost amused. To the rest of the group, she said, "Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers."

"How do you know they're not androids?"

"Because we aren't!" she said, dancing around to the center of the group. "Mr. Lux, need you to-"

"Who are you? Who are these people?" Lux asked. He turned to look at River, next. "You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives!"

"She lied," Anna cut in. "Doesn't matter, the point is, I can save her, but I need your absolute cooperation."

"Save who?" he asked, as if he'd never heard anything more ridiculous in his entire life.

"Charlotte Abigail Lux."

At that, he blanched, his face completely losing all color. "How do you- but- you can't- you can't- who are you people?" he asked.

"I'm the woman who will save everyone here, but I need your total and complete trust and cooperation, and if you can't give me that, then…" she pointed around the room, counting them off. "At least three people will die here today, and that'll be- well, it won't be on you, but you certainly won't have helped matters."

Mr. Lux surprised her. "I demand all of you leave at once!" he insisted. "The Library was built by my family and I have the right to-"

"You have a mouth that won't stop," River cut in, before she was speaking to Anna next. "You think there's danger here?"

She let out a growl, looking around. "This is taking too long," she said. "Anita, Proper Dave, I need you to set up a circle of lights, big as you can, wide as you can. Do you think you can do that?"

Proper Dave started to move but Anita froze. "But how do you know our names?" she asked.

"Oh, American! I forgot you're American, that's lovely, we're moving on, now, lights, be quick about it, River, Doctor, with me," she told them. "Donna, help with the lights, and Miss Evangelista, get the contracts for all us. Might as well, right?"

"I demand to know what's happening!" Mr. Lux very much did demand. Not that she could blame him. Knowing what she knew about what this was to him and his family, she couldn't imagine she wouldn't be doing the same.

That didn't stop her from rounding on him. "One of two things can happen. Either I can fill you in on the fact that the Vashta Nerada overran this Library hundreds of years ago and that's why everyone disappeared and now they're here and in the dark we're finished, or, I can have a little powwow with my good friend River Song and my husband the Doctor and we can figure out a way to save all of your lives plus the 4022 people that were stored away on that fateful day when CAL put the Library under quarantine. Which would you prefer?"

"What are you talking about? What is she talking about?"

"Whatever it is, she seems to know a lot about it. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Anita, unpack the lights. Proper Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Other Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access The Library database," she almost interrupted River but didn't, though she did grumble a little because it wasn't necessary and they were wasting time. "See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty boy, Anna, you're with me. Step into my office."

"Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?"

"I don't fancy you," she said, before she started to step off to the side. Anna started to turn back to look at the Doctor, to tell him that he was pretty boy, but she was surprised to see that he was already following her. Despite herself, she smiled.

"Think so highly of yourself?" she asked him.

"What?" he asked.

There was an obvious lack of amusement on his face, and it hit her then that he'd no idea who River was. He'd no idea why Professor River Song wasn't listening to his commands, and apparently, Anna's intricate trust of her wasn't doing much to help.

"How'd you know you're pretty boy?"

"Sorry, I'm- Oh, I'm pretty boy?" he asked.

She frowned, turning to look at him. "Who'd you think she was on about?"

"Pretty boy, Anna, with me, I said."

The Doctor grabbed Anna's upper arm, gently guiding her over. Ever the one to cover his bases, he turned back to the rest of the group. "The Vashta Nerada are an alien life form. They look like shadows and they hide in the dark, waiting for prey to stumble into the shadows so they can consume them, flesh and all, so don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected."

"How can a shadow be infected?"

But, the Doctor and Anna were too busy walking over to River's 'office' to answer him.

The Doctor and River sat down, the Doctor looking at her skeptically while Anna stood, dancing from foot to foot, hugging herself as she bit her bottom lip. When River pulled out The Diary, she closed her eyes, letting out a breath through her nose, before she rubbed at one of her eyes.

"River, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but we don't have time for this," she told her, looking down at River as she opened her eyes.

"To what, keep the timelines in-"

She shook her head. "He doesn't know who you are," she said, and River stopped at that, looking down at the book in her hands. "He's never met you before, and if I could've said that more delicately, I promise you, I would have, but we don't-"

"Have time?" she guessed, looking between her and the Doctor. River was upset. It was obvious. In her face, in her posture.

So where does that leave us then? Jim the Fish?

Who's Jim the Fish?

"So you haven't done any of it, then. Crash of the Byzantium? Picnic at Asgard? Ringing any bells?"

The Doctor looked between River and Anna. "So… she's someone from our future, then?"

"Our future?" River asked, looking at Anna.

She let out a breath. "I've met you, once," she told her. "The Byzantium."

In the dark, we're finished.

Like what, for instance?

LIKE. ME. FOR. INSTANCE.

She remembered the look on River's face, so sad and so young and so hurt. Even through the television screen, she'd been able to feel that.

Luckily, that hadn't happened this time around.

Not so luckily, the look that was resting on River's face now was making up for that in spades.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry-" she started.

"Why?" she asked, putting her diary away. "Life of a time traveler. Knew it would be hard work, especially with you involved. All that extra knowledge makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint our timelines, considering how much you know versus how much you've actually lived. Or, how much you think you know, anyway."

She let out a huff of frustration. "River, that's still spoilers," she said.

The Doctor, in the meantime, focused on something else that River had said.

"How'd you mean, all that extra knowledge?" the Doctor asked.

Anna's eyebrows raised. "Oh," she said, quietly, the word leaving her lips. She shook her head, looking down at River. "What exactly have I told you?" she asked.

She zipped up her bag angrily. "Spoilers," she said.

The conversation was interrupted when they all heard the sound of the phone ringing.

"Sorry, that was me," Other Dave said. "Trying to get through the security protocols. I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?"

"Doctor?" Donna asked. "Doctor, that sounds like…"

"It is," he said, getting up and abandoning the strange conversation. "It's a phone."

#####

There she was. Charlotte Abigail Lux.

Anna quickly pushed everyone out of the way before she made it to stand in front of the screen.

"Hello," she said. "Sorry about the confusion. I'm Anna, that's the Doctor. We're in your Library, do you remember seeing us, before?"

Her eyes widened in understanding. "You are! You're in my library! The library's never been on television before. What have you done?"

She quickly held her hands up. "Nothing to be concerned about, really, just- Okay, here we go."

"What happened? Who was that?"

"Charlotte Abigail Lux," she said, grabbing the Doctor and River's arms. "And we still need to make a plan."

"Oh, what, can't you just automatically clean up any mess? Considering that you're Anna Monroe, and everything?"

"I'm more curious about who you are, and how you seem to know so much," the Doctor said.

"Like she said, I'm from the future. Your future," she said. "Know a lot of things about the both of you. Like, for example-"

"This doesn't. Matter," Anna said, starting to get impatient. "We need to make a plan to save the day."

"Great, then do," River said. "We'll be here, at your beck and call, as always."

She felt shock roll through her and she glanced between River and the Doctor, who had moved to partially stand in front of her.

"I don't care who you are, nobody speaks to my wife like that."

Pain, honest to goodness pain, crossed River's face. A moment later, she straightened up before she turned to look at Anna.

"He's right. I'm sorry," she said, and Anna felt baffled. "What do you need us to do?"

She raised her eyebrows before she shook her head. "I don't know yet," she said, looking between the two of them. "Like I said, the Vashta Nerada lay dormant for however long. These were their forests. Somehow, they-they activated, became conscious, whatever, and they started to attack the people. So, CAL did the only thing that it could do, which was save all 4022 people in the Library in her data core- that's why I wanted a computer!" she said, looking at the Doctor. "I wanted a computer because I wanted to increase her-her memory, to do the download, to get all the people out, I don't…" she let out a frustrated breath. "I don't remember, I don't know, I can't remember how you did the thing that you did or why, I just know she didn't have the processing power to cleanly download everybody back to physical beings."

"But I don't understand, you keep saying Charlotte Abigail Lux and CAL, how do they relate?" the Doctor asked.

"Because she is CAL. His grandfather, Mr. Lux's grandfather, he wanted to preserve his youngest daughter because she was dying. He made her the mainframe, the-the data core, whatever," she made a frustrated noise. "I can't… remember, all of it, but it's something like that."

"Plug in a living mind into-" They were all startled when books began to fly off the shelves. "What's that? Did you do that?" he asked Other Dave. Other Dave shook his head, and the Doctor quickly started for the terminal.

"No, Doctor-"

River put her hand on her arm, stopping her from calling out to the Doctor. She looked at River, raising her eyebrows.

"I know how this works," she said. "And I know what you're trying to prevent. Are you completely mental, or have you just lost any semblance of sanity that you used to have?"

Anna raised her eyebrows.

"You obviously don't know what I'm trying to prevent, or you wouldn't be doing a thing to stop me. This is your life, River-"

"You don't think I don't know that?" River hissed at her. "From the way you're talking, and the fact that you weren't here when whatever this was originally took place, things ended up in total and complete chaos and the Doctor did what he always does: tries to sacrifice himself. I stepped in at the last minute and sacrificed myself instead." She searched her eyes, shaking her head as she looked at her in almost disgust. "You walk around playing god like you've any right-"

For the first time in a long time, she felt a rush of actual anger. "Don't you dare," she said, ripping her arm from River's grasp. "Don't you dare act like I don't walk a meticulous line when I do the things that I do. Don't you dare think that I only save those I want to save and act like people are pawns on a chessboard that I'm somehow winning. I'm not," she spat at her. "If you think that this is what winning looks like then you know even less than you pretend to think you do, don't for one second come at me like you know a thing about what it's like to be Anna fucking Monroe." She searched her eyes, actually shaking with anger. "Am I making myself very clear- and why are you fighting this, anyway?" she asked her, confusion clouding some of the anger. "This is your life, I'm saving your life-"

"You're right," she hissed at her, and she was surprised by the anger blooming in River's eyes. "It is my life. You have no right to mess about in it like you own it, because you don't. My life belongs to me, and no one else, so before you get it into your head that you saving me is what I want, then think again." She searched her eyes. "Not everybody wants to be part of the Anna Monroe Show."

She could count the number of times that she'd actually gotten physical with someone, and hitting the Doctor in the other timeline had been one of them. The only thing she knew was that, in the next moment, she was seeing red.

The moment after that, she came back to the feeling of River's hand clasping her throat, Anna's arm pressed between them two of them, trapped. Both of them were breathing hard, electricity crackling in the air between them.

In the next moment, River had been forced to release her because the Doctor was standing in front of her, suddenly.

"You lay hands on my wife again and I promise it will be the last thing that you do," the Doctor threatened, his voice low.

"Tell your wife not to lay hands on me and we won't have a problem," she spat back at him, even if Anna could hear the barely there shake that was present in her words.

"Walk. Away."

"Fine by me," River replied, in the same hostile tone, before she did, stalking off.

She saw River's form walking away, and the Doctor immediately turned to look at her, examining her throat with a critical eye, as if looking for bruises.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she brushed him off. "We need to get down to the data core, see if we can-"

There was a scream.

#####

For a long moment, Anna was numb, staring at Miss Evangelista's corpse.

She could've saved her. She hadn't.

For the first time since she'd been here, she hadn't saved a person that she could've. At least, as far back as she could remember.

No, but there were days…

There were many days, when these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods.

What does this say?

Hello Sweetie.

… back before she'd created the alternate dimension, when she was still traveling with Nine. She'd lost people.

But not people that she knew could be saved.

I don't care about the rules. Save him. Bring him back. Or I swear-

"You'll never step foot inside your Tardis again," she whispered.

"It's Miss Evangelista."

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?"

"It took a lot less than a few seconds."

"It's my fault."

The words came tumbling out her dry mouth, and everyone turned back to look at her. She raised her eyebrows, starting to feel sick.

"Sorry, but it is."

"But how is this-"

"Hello?"

River pursed her lips, looking away. "Er, I'm sorry, everyone. Er, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting."

"She's what?"

"Ghosting," Anna repeated. "And it's my fault."

She started to walk away from the group, but the Doctor grabbed her hand, holding her steadfast. She didn't even look at Miss Evangelista, her eyes closing as she wished that the Doctor would release her so that she could walk away, far far away from here.

"Hello? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Hello? Excuse me."

"That's-that's her. That's Miss Evangelista."

"I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just… you know?"

"This is her last moment. No, we can't. A little respect, thank you."

She grit her teeth, knowing that River's comment was directed at her. Like a petulant child, she turned to face the corpse she hadn't saved, sitting on the chair like some kind of mock throne, crownless as the day she was born.

"We just need to get to the data core," she whispered to the Doctor, urgently, anxiously. The Doctor looked down at her, his eyebrows raised, though concern was splashed across his face. "Then this can be over."

It would end, one way or another. The problem was, there was no one in that room who knew how it would end.

Not even Anna.

A/N: Dun Dun Dunnnn. As always, thanks for reading!