Ch 18

The voltage increased gradually with each shock as the torture went on. The minutes ticked by but River's answer remained the same: "I don't have any living children." She repeated it over and over.

There were burns starting to form beneath the electrodes and streaking up her limbs in a lighting pattern. It had been over thirty minutes now, and while River could withstand more than what a human naturally could, it was getting too much. She was only half conscious, the smell of burning flesh filling the room.

She no longer had the energy to keep fighting. All she could do now was keep the location of her children a secret and hope the Doctor was alright.

Suddenly the lights flickered out, the electricity shutting down. The Surgeon frowned, getting up and searching for a causation, but there was no visible cause.

The intercoms turned on on their own accord. "Surgeon General?" The voice was rough and Scottish.

"Who are you? What is going on?" The man spun around as if the source of the voice would appear.

"What's going on is that I'm going to count to ten and you're all going to leave that room." Said the voice.

"Why? I don't take orders from you."

"If you want to go home in the same body you arrived in, you do."

The Surgeon hesitated, then quickly exited the room. He was more interested in saving himself than fulfilling Rassilon's orders. The rest of the medics followed him out.

A minute later, the body of the Scottish voice was hurrying in. River was hardly conscious at that point, sizzling burns covering her skin. The Doctor was immediately pulling all the wires of her. "Oh, River... Oh, what did they do to you?"

She whispered his name, tilting her head just slightly in his direction.

"I'm here, River. It's going to be alright." He gathered her into his arms.

"The baby..." She breathed, her whole body still shaking with aftershocks and immediately melted in his arms.

"What baby, my love?" He was already bringing her from the room, taking advantage of the blackout to sneak around in the open.

"Our baby." She whimpered, clinging to him. She was still a bit confused from the vivid memories and the shocks to her brain.

"Our children are safe, River. They're alright."

She wasn't entirely silent with that remark, still muttering about a baby with the little consciousness she had.

She was struggling to keep alert. Every so often her words stopped and her body would spasm in his arms. Her brain was quite damaged from the electrocution. They needed to get out of here, out to the Drylands and away from the people who wanted to hurt them.

Around them, guards' shouts could be heard, and footsteps thundered. "If I can just remember the way..." The Doctor muttered, turning corners sharply.

"Doctor..." River groaned quietly.

"We're almost there." He whispered. Her eyes closed and she fell very quiet. "Keep talking to me, River." He urged. She didn't answer, her body seemed to be growing limper. "No, not now, come on River. Please just hang in there."

He ran into the next doorway, an eerie place overgrown with vines, and set her down. Her body seized again, the only good thing being that it seemed to wake her up some. Her eyes half opened again.

"I've got to fix this." His hands ghosted over her cheeks, stomach knotting at the sight of the burns.

"Our baby." She repeated again, leaning towards his touch.

"Our baby will be just fine." He said, going with whatever she was saying. "I'm going to heal you and you'll be just fine."

She closed her eyes again, "They...gave me...something." She got the words out after a few deep breaths and pauses.

"Do you know what it was?"

"Mapping." She breathed.

"Mapping? Mapping, mapping..." He scrapped his brain for a meaning. "Mapping. Mapping you. They gave you the- don't they know that conducts electricity?"

"You escaped. Rassilon wouldn't wait." She murmured, her body seizing again.

"Bollocks." He hissed out. "I need to fix this." He looked at his hands, starting to rub them together. "Come on... just need to get it flowing."

"No!" She reached out weakly to grab his wrists to keep his hands away from her.

"River, this is my fault. You're hurt, your nerves are burnt, you're having a seizure every minute, and it'd be a bloody miracle if your brain wasn't damaged. Let me heal you. I have regeneration energy now."

"No." She repeated, not having even a quarter of the strength she normally had. "Yours, not mine."

"I don't want twelve more lives, not if even one of them is without you."

"You can't save me every time." She closed her eyes.

"Well, I bloody well can this time. We promised the kids, River."

Her body seized again, but for longer than the previous times. She let go of his arm, muscles spasming from the ordeal.

"No, no! I'm sorry River, I have to do this!" He willed his hands to start glowing. It took him a moment, but the golden energy finally started to flow and he wasted no time putting his hands on her cheeks. "Come on, River."

The burns across her body slowly began to fade but her eyes remained closed. "Wake up, River." His eyes were welling over. but he didn't notice. "Open your eyes."

Her face twitched, her eyes finally opening slowly.

"River." He whispered.

She brought a shaking hand to rest over his, closing her eyes again. He pressed two fingers to her neck, feeling her pulse. It was still there, weak, but there. She would need time to recover. The drugs in her system couldn't completely be eliminated by the regeneration energy and it was still carrying effects through her body.

He took a breath, trying to calm himself from the panic over her injuries. He scooped her up again and ventured further into the room. The Time Lords wouldn't follow them in here; the Cloisters scared them too much.

"Doctor." River murmured quietly, eyes open enough to look around the room.

"It's alright, River. I'm going to figure this out."

"What happened?" She breathed, "Where are we?"

"We're in the Cloisters. Do you know what that is?"

She nodded, "They took you away." She remembered, trying to piece together the fragments of memory she had.

"Tried to." He corrected. "They should know by now that that never works for long." It had actually been a few of the guards to let him go, ones who'd fought with him in the War.

He brought them passed a Dalek overgrown with the strange vines in the place.

River saw the Dalek, closing her eyes for a moment, "Our baby..." She repeated again.

He glanced at the Dalek, shaking his head. "It can't hurt us. It's trapped."

The Dalek powered on at that moment, forcing out a strained "Exterminate."

"Just ignore it." He told River. She nodded, tearing her eyes away from the Dalek.

All around them, strange noises and echoes rang out, shadows of movement could be caught out of the corner of their eyes. "The Cloisters take most who try to break in here." The Doctor explained. "Most of the Daleks, Angels, and Cybermen are leftovers from the Cloister Wars."

"What about us?" She whispered.

"Em, I've been here before, so I think I know the way… We're safe anyways."

"How?"

"We're not, I just said that to make you feel better."

There was some movement behind them, then next to them, "Doctor..."

suddenly there was an Angel in front of them. The Doctor leaped back, nearly losing his footing. He hardened his expression, moving in a different direction.

In an instant, another one appeared in front of them, reaching out to grab them. He jumped back again in the nick of time. "Deep breaths." He whispered, more to himself than to River. He started backtracking slowly back in the direction of the Dalek.

One of River's hands was tightly clutching the lapels of his jacket, her eyes wide and unblinking in the angel's direction. He was walking backward now, as to keep eyes on the Angels.

"It's alright... its powers are neutralized... it can't hurt us." He wasn't so sure if that was true anymore or if that was just what he was hoping. "The Cloisters just use them as a defense for the Matrix. They're nothing more than puppe-woah!" He tripped on a vine, falling on his rear in front of the Dalek.

"Exterminate!" It shrieked, jerking and pulling against the vines that held it back, "Exterminate!"

"It has to be close if they're acting up like this." He muttered, scrambling back to his feet with River secure in his arms.

"What? Where are we going?" She breathing, forehead pressed to his neck, fighting to keep her eyes open now.

"This place is a database. I'm looking for the circuit board." He informed, starting to run now.

"You can put me down." She whispered, "You can't carry me the whole way."

"Sure I can. We're almost here."

She suddenly cried out, gripping onto his shoulder in pain. "River?" He felt his panic rising. "River what is it?"

She didn't answer the question, not even really hearing it. "No!" She cried out, limbs flailing in panic. She was having another one of the flashbacks caused by the drug, the intensity enough to make her think she was in pain.

He found a relatively empty patch of stone floor to set her down on with only a few vines and no prisoners of the Cloisters in sight. He put his hands on either side of her face. "Look at me, River. Talk to me."

Her eyes flew around the room, looking in every direction before settling on him. It was only a moment before she was attempting to tackle him to the ground.

"River! River!" He choked out, now pinned beneath her body. "It's me! It's the Doctor!" He was holding her wrists to keep her from truly cutting off his air.

Her eyes were blazing, and she was coming at him with as much strength as her body had at the moment. Then, just as quickly as it came, the state vanished. Her eyes seemed to glass over for a moment and she blinked, then fell away from him.

"It's memories, my love." He had started to figure out what was going on by this point. "It's not real."

She wrapped her arms around herself, eyes darting around the hall again.

"I'm here, River." He said as calmly as he could for the moment. "It-It's me." Her eyes fell on him, watching him. "The Doctor. Your husband." He whispered. "You're having flashbacks. They're not real, River. It's okay. You'll be okay, you just have to focus on what's going on, where you really are."

She finally nodded, shaking in the spot she sat. He slowly came nearer to her, reaching his hand out. She carefully placed her hand in his. "I'm real. I'm here."

Her grip on his hand tightened and she nodded again.

"The way out is just below us." He gestured to the floor they sat on, which was etched with Gallifreyan patterns. "We can make it through this." She squeezed his hands tightly, looking down and then around them. His thumb brushed over her wedding ring. "We can make it through this." He repeated.

"Okay." She whispered, "We can make it through."

He smiled weakly and looked back town at the symbols on the floor. He swept his hand over one near him and it lit up with a white glow. "Circuit board."

"What do we have to do?" She asked.

"Work out the key. It should lead the primary service hatch. Escape route." He brushed over another symbol which lit up as well.

She watched him work, trying to figure out what to do so she could help. He seemed to be entering numbers, one of the override codes for the cloister bells in their own TARDIS. Once she figured it out, she jumped in, helping in making the process go by faster.

There was a whirring sound from the other side of the room. The Doctor tensed. When the next code didn't work, River switched to another one.

"They'll be here soon." The Doctor fretted.

"I know." River whispered harshly. He shut up and focused on the codes.

She hesitated, one of the flashbacks starting to draw forward in her mind again. He looked up at her when he saw her hands stopped moving. "Riv?"

"I-" She squeezed her eyes shut, hand clenching into a fist.

"Nono, focus. You can focus." He tried, still typing in codes. Her jaw clenched and her breathing became shallower, but it was clear that she was fighting it. He didn't know what to do besides talk to her. "Deep breaths. It's not real. You're okay, it's not real."

She took a deep breath, eyes opening again. Suddenly the glowing from the symbols stopped and a rumbling from beneath them indicated that the floor was opening up.

River jumped up, staring at the ground beneath them. He took her hand. "Come on. We've got to go." She clutched his hand, letting him lead.

They jumped into the opening beneath them. The floor above them closed, leaving them in darkness. The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver, providing a dim light. "This way."

She clutched his hand, stumbling a bit, still shaky on her feet. "Hold on to me. The ground's a bit bumpy." He murmured.

The ground was becoming dirt instead of stone. They seemed to be in a tunnel that was on a downwards slope. She held on tightly, "Do you have any idea where this leads?"

"Depends on which exit one finds." He replied. "I once ended up in the forest. One way leads to an underground river, I think."

"Okay." She breathed, her muscles were tense. She had to admit, she hated the dark.

"We'll probably need to go towards the river." He continued. "It goes out to the Drylands."

"Can we stop for a minute." She breathed, her face paling. He nodded, pausing their walking.

She turned and threw up. He moved to hold her hair back. She coughed, sinking to the ground to steady herself for a minute. "Sorry..."

"No, it's alright." He soothed.

She took a few deep breaths, standing once she felt stable again. He wrapped an arm around her. "Lean on me, yeah?" She nodded, draping an arm over his shoulders for extra support.

They started walking again once he was sure she was ready, moving at a bit of a slower pace.

"I'm sorry." She repeated again as they walked, she was working hard on not tripping.

"It's alright. You've been through a lot today."

"Are we almost there?" She asked, wanting another rest.

"I'm afraid not." He said apologetically.

She didn't speak much after that, walking alongside him in silence, saving her energy and concentrating on the walking. The Doctor knew the walk would be long, but was aware of River's exhaustion. He knew they had to keep moving, so he made sure to pause and rest every ten minutes for her.

She threw up a couple more times, growing wearier though she tried to hide it. The breaks they were taking lasted longer each time.

After an hour, they could finally start to hear running water. River was more than relieved to hear the sound, leaning more heavily on her husband.

"We're almost at the river... that was the easy part I'm afraid." He murmured.

"It always has to be hard, doesn't it." She murmured through labored breath. He simply nodded in agreement. In fairness, they were trying to break out of one of the most technologically advanced cities in the universe without being followed, so 'easy' was relative.

River was silent again.