I own nothing. Least of all this.
1:25
The conquerors of Demons Run turned to look at the light that had suddenly appeared around the TARDIS.
Amy was the first to react. "What's that?"
Anxiety crept into Vastra's voice. "A force field."
A sigh from Lorna. "And those are the doors locking."
"Apparently we're not leaving."
Rory raised his sword. "Is that the Monks?"
Horror crossed Dorium's face as he realized what the voices that were all around them were saying. " Oh, dear God. That's the attack prayer."
Rory began to move. "Quick, come with me."
"Commander Strax!"
"I'm trying to seal off this area of the lighting grid!"
"This is where we'll make our stand. Clear lines of sight on all approaches."
"Rory, no offense to the others, but you let them all die first, okay?"
"You're so Scottish."
"Centurion, you're needed!"
Lorna began to look around. "There should be some plasma pistols somewhere. They left everything."
"Then find them, boy!"
"She's definitely a girl."
Exasperated sounds from Jenny. "Oh, stop it!"
"We don't have to fight them. I'm friends with the Monks. They know me."
"Yeah, and they know you just sold them out to the Doctor."
"Oh, they'll understand it's only me. Only silly old me. You understand, don't you?"
"Mister Maldovar, get back here!"
"Arm yourself, fool!"
"Dorium!"
FWUMP.
"Mister Maldovar?"
"Dorium?"
And Dorium's now headless body returned, followed by two Monks.
"The child. At all costs, protect the child!"
BANG! BANG!
The two Monks slump lifelessly to the ground.
The group turns towards the sound of the gunshots.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we're about to fight a bunch of fanatics with swords who think it's a good idea to go round kidnapping children. What's that make us, Zoe?"
"Big damn heroes, sir."
"Ain't we just."
I watched as the exchange played out on my TARDIS' screen.
The Doctor was doing a very good impersonation of a tiger, what with all the growling. "A child is not a weapon!"
Madame Kovarian grinned. "Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be."
"Except you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again."
Time for me to step in.
"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice the same way? It's a privilege."
I punched the button.
Instantly the screen now displayed a split view, my face right next to Kovarian.
"Ah, but that's the thing isn't it? You put all this work and effort into fooling the Doctor, well done on that by the way, but I'm afraid that in doing so you forgot one minor detail that is about to become a great big pain in your neck."
And for one brief moment, the leader of the Silence was thrown off her rhythm.
"You didn't put any effort into fooling anyone else."
Kovarian's voice returned. "And here I was thinking the Doctor had finally run out of friends. Tell me, why should I care whether another pathetic hanger-on should have noticed what the Doctor did not."
"Oh, you probably shouldn't. That is, if I was a hanger-on. But what I actually am, who I am...is someone who is already making your life extremely difficult."
An explosion shook the background of the Doctor's signal.
"Oh dear. Looks like Colonel Run-Away didn't run fast enough. Pity. At least you can save on his funeral."
Another explosion.
"It was so thoughtful of you to take that calculated risk with buying Dorium's security. You thought the Doctor would be the only person to go digging around, and so you left the door wide open for me to slip into your back doors and kill all your transports dead in the water. And I'm paying a very good friend of mine a thousand a head for each one he gets."
Yet another boom.
"No. No. Stop! Whoever you are, stop! You're a friend of the Doctor! You don't kill people who've already surrendered!"
"Oh yes I do. Especially if they never surrendered to me."
"What have you done."
"Finally, the man of the hour speaks!"
"What. Have. You. Done."
"Oh, you know. Cleaned up as much of your mess as I could. You're welcome. You did say to burn them, after all. But I'm afraid there's still some things coming I can't change. For the both of you. For you, Doctor, the knowledge that this is what happens when you try to do my job for me. And calling me in to fix it will always end with a great deal more blood than you care for. For you, Kovarian, the knowledge that the only reason you aren't already dead is because I've seen the future. And you have no place in it. You shouldn't have made the Doctor desperate enough to call another Time Lord for help."
"A..another..Time Lord?"
"What, you thought we were all on Gallifrey when it went schwoop? Sorry to disappoint."
"The...the Master?"
"Nope. Guess again."
"The Rani?"
"Seriously? With this hairdo?"
"...Rassilon?'
"Oh, come on. I look nothing like Timothy Dalton!"
"The Witcher. His name's...the Witcher."
"You just suck the fun right out of everything, don't you Doc?"
"No. No, no, no…"
"Oh. So, you've heard of me then. Honestly, wasn't expecting that. I was just playing it up for laughs."
"You're with HIM? YOU HATE HIM!"
"Okay, hate's kinda a strong word, I feel we got this whole 'mutual respect' thing going…"
"YOU PROMISED! YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO ALL IN YOUR POWER TO STOP…"
Her mouth clicked shut.
"Almost made a slip up there, didn't you? Still, I can guess what you were gonna say. I do work in the future, after all. And let me assure you, Madame Kovarian, I whatever promises I may have made in that future, still hold here. I just see more of the big picture than either of you. Now, off you both pop. Doctor, you have a party to get to. And Madame, you have a lot of running to get started on. Catch you both on the Flip Side."
I cut the connection.
There was still work to be done, after all.
"Demons run when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war. Demons run, but count the cost. The battle's won, but the child is lost."
"Amy, she's not real! Melody, she's a Flesh avatar. Amy!"
"...Yeah, we know."
Carnage. All the monks lie dead, some by sword, and some by bullet.
"It's strange. I have often dreamed of dying in combat. I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped."
"Come on, Strax. Don't give up."
"It's all right. I've had a good life. I'm nearly twelve."
"Listen to me. You'll be back on your feet in no time. Especially if Doctor Tam has anything to say about it. You're a warrior."
"Rory, I'm a nurse."
Jenny and Zoe were doing their best to comfort Amy. So far, they weren't succeeding.
"So they took her anyway. All this was for nothing."
"Don't say that. Don't ever say that. Ain't nothing in the Verse ever for nothing. We just...ain't seen the something yet."
"...I am so sorry."
Jenny tried to hold Amy back. "Amy, it's not his fault."
"I know. I know."
"Doctor, there's someone who wants to speak to you. Her name is Lorna. She came to warn us."
Captain Reynolds sat beside a wounded Lorna Bucket. "You must be the Doctor."
"Yes."
"I've done what I can for her. But I ain't seen too many wounds like this. Any, in fact. Best say whatever you want to say quick."
Slowly, he knelt by her side. "Hey. Hello."
"Doctor."
"You helped my friends. Thank you."
"I met you once, in the Gamma Forests. You don't remember me."
"Hey, of course I remember. I remember everyone. Hey, we ran, you and me. Didn't we run, Lorna?"
She slumped back.
Mal ran his fingers over her wrist. "She's just unconscious. Should be fine 'til we get her back to the med bay."
The Doctor rose, and backed away. "Who was she?"
"I don't know, but she was very brave."
"They're always brave. They're always...brave."
"So, what now? They'd almost certainly have taken her to Earth. Raise her in the correct environment."
"Yes, they did. And it's already too late."
"You're giving up? You never do that."
"Yeah, and don't you sometimes wish I did?"
"I see a bad moon rising!
I see trouble on the way!
I see earthquakes and lightning!
I see bad times today!
Don't go round tonight! It's bound to take your life!
There's a bad moon on the rise!"
I stopped dancing. "Oops. Sorry. Too soon?"
"You. You. What the…"
"Ah, ah, ah, Doctor. There's someone else who wants to say hello first."
*ZZZZZZAP*
"Well then, soldier. How goes the day?"
Trust River Song to be theatrical.
"Where the hell have you been? Every time you've asked, I have been there. Where the hell were you today?"
"I couldn't have prevented this."
"And neither could I."
"You, either one of you, could have tried!
"And so, my love, could you. I know you're not alright. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be."
"You think I wanted this? I didn't do this. This, this wasn't me!"
"This was exactly you. All this. All of it. You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name. Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child, the child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you."
"You got too big, Doctor. Big is my thing. Fear as well. But they've feared you for a long time now. Ever since the Sycorax, I should think. And now, it's caught up with you. Because they look at you now, and see a man willing to do anything to save those he has lost."
"THEN THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THEM FROM ME!"
"And there...is the truth of you, Doctor. Other people shouldn't. But never you. Never you. You yourself said good men don't need rules. Did you really think you could get away with pretending to be one, knowing you've done what you've done? No. No more."
"...No more. You. I know who you are, now. You've told me, in your story, and all the little spoilers you keep dropping. And it terrifies me. But you…" he turned back to River, "Who are you?"
"...Oh look, your cot. Haven't seen that in a very long while."
"No, no, you tell me. Tell me who you are."
"I am telling you. Can't you read?"
"...Oh. Hello."
"Hello."
"But, but that means…"
"I'm afraid it does."
"Ooo. But you and I, we, we, we, er.."
"Yes."
"...How do I look?"
"Amazing."
"I'd better be."
"Yes, you'd better be."
"Vastra and Jenny, till the next time. Rory and Amy, I know where to find your daughter, and on my life, she will be safe. River, Witcher, get them all home.
"Doctor!"
"No! Where are you going?"
Down came the force-field, and into the TARDIS went the Doctor.
"No!"
VWHOOOOOSH. VWHOOOOOSH. VWHOOOOOSH.
"Where's he going and what did you tell him?"
River held up her hands. "Amy, you have to stay calm."
A gun appeared in Amy's hand. "Tell me what you told the Doctor."
"Amy, no. Stop it!"
"It's okay, Rory. She's fine. She's good. It's the TARDIS translation matrix. It takes a while to kick in with the written word. You have to concentrate."
A pause. Then up comes the gun barrel again. "I still can't read it."
"It's because it's Gallifreyan and doesn't translate. But this will."
The prayer leaf.
"It's your daughter's name in the language of the Forest."
"I know my daughter's name."
"Except they don't have a word for Pond, because the only water in the forest is the River. The Doctor will find your daughter, and he will care for her whatever it takes. And I know that. It's me. I'm Melody. I'm your daughter."
"And him?" Rory pointed in my direction. "Who's he?"
"...I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
"No, now it's my turn to do the demanding. Who is the Witcher? Who. Is. He."
"...I can only tell you who the Doctor thinks he is."
Oh this was gonna be good.
"Once, there was a version of the Doctor. One who saw something...truly terrible. Lost someone everyone he ever cared about. And when the Doctor travels alone for too long...bad things happen. He made the laws of Time his own, to do with as he wanted. Save who he wanted. Lost the name of the Doctor. And the only thing that stopped him was a single moment where one of the people he saved took her own life when she learned what he had done."
The Time Lord Victorious, then.
"But the Doctor still wonders. What would have happened if he had gone all the way? What kind of universe might we live in? What new name might he have chosen? And you…" she pointed to me, "have answered that question for him, Witcher."
"I do what I must. For all other's good but my own."
"Yes. Because you are not a good man; you are a Righteous One."
"So I've been told."
"A Wolf is only Righteous because it has no soul. The same could be said of you."
"Don't I know it."
"A Wolf. She said there were wolves..."
"...Pardon?"
"Idris. The...TARDIS. She said the only water in the forest was the river...and the wolves of the forest were howling."
Wolves again. White, Bad, Gray, Red.
"And so they did. The White Wolf, and his pack. And next time, there will be more."
"Next time?"
"Spoilers."
"Fair point. Alright. Let's run up topsails and clear up this mess. We've got a ride to catch and a substantially richer skeet-shooter to retrieve."
