Chapter 1: A Moment to Begin

The pain was the first thing she felt before her eyes opened. Her head pulsed angrily as she tried to remember why she was sleeping. She had no earthly idea where she was or what was going on. All she knew was there was a bed beneath her and a universe above her. No, the ceiling was just painted to look like that, she realized. A very realistic version of the night sky. Constellations and stars and moons, as she looked at it she could almost swear it was moving. Rising from the bed she took a closer look at the room with a gentle palm to her forehead as if it would hold back the pain. She took in the room through pain squinted eyes. There were blank walls and a desk that had nothing, not even a single speck of dust on it. The walls were white and had a door on each of them except the wall the bed was against. The bed itself was pristine as if she had not even been laying on it. Nothing about the room felt lived in. As if it just existed or it belonged to no one just waiting to be filled. No answers to how she got here or even who she was would be found in this room. At least not on the surface.

As the woman moved forward she noticed that she had boots on and was wearing...she wasn't sure what she was wearing. It was holey leggings and a long...well what she could have assumed to be a skirt at one point but was ripped and tied and tattered. Her shirt and vest were much the same. Nothing fit her quite right and even the shoes on her feet were odd as if they didn't even belong to her.

She stumbled to the mirror she had spotted on the back wall. The woman in the mirror had bright red hair that was messy and tangled, beads and scraps of metal twisted into it. Her green eyes were looking over the woman in front of her with frantic desperation. Was that her? She touched her face and the woman in the mirror did the same with hands that were covered in dirt and came up to leave dirty smears on an equally dirty face. It must have been her but who was she? She couldn't recall her name nor how she came to lay in the bed in a room that seemed to be waiting for someone. Or a room that had been meticulously cleared of any evidence that there had been a previous tenant.

It was empty, the room, kinda like herself. Just the bare bones of what could be or had been.

A door slammed from somewhere outside the room, startling her. "Hello." She called out without getting a reply. Surely whoever was around had to know something about how she ended up here. The first step the girl took was met with the boot that was too large for her scraping against the ground and causing her to stumble into the desk. She was not going to be able to wear these, for whatever reason she was wearing these misshapen clothes, she wouldn't be able to function in them. So for now she would have to go barefooted until she could find some shoes.

"Hello." The redhead softly opened the door to see a well-lit corridor. "Hello, I heard you from the room, I just need some help." No one replied and no sound aside from a faint thrum. It was amazing, to begin with, that out of the three doors in the first room she had chosen the one that led to this hallway. She padded gently down, or up, the hall. Not sure where it was taking her. If she was going further into the building or towards the exit. "Hello." She called for a third time before a machine-like beeping sounded behind her.

It startled the dirty woman and had her looking to where it had come from. She was surprised to see that behind her was an entrance to a wide, open room that had lights and columns and a console full of buttons and levers and all sorts of things. She knew that there was no way that it had been there before. She had looked both ways before exiting the room. A room that no longer existed, nor did the rest of the hallway for that matter.

Her heart skipped a few beats but she couldn't tell if it was from fear or excitement. Perhaps it was a little of both. She stepped lightly into the room being very careful to look at every detail, both amazed by the sheer brilliance and fearful of something being there that would harm her. The ceiling was tall; she was sure that it had to be thirty maybe even forty feet. Her breath wooshed out of her as she felt the thrumming that was ever-present seep into her bones as if she could physically feel the sound. Her hands glided over the railing and traced the doors when she came to them, which looked like some old-time phone booth. A small knob handle was all that kept the two doors together. A simple twist and push was all it took.

The doors opened up revealing a different room as if it was a waiting room. So maybe she was in a hospital. Yeah, that would explain why she didn't remember anything. She must have been hurt or something. That would make sense. But what didn't make sense was there was no one around. Her heart was beating harder in her chest as she left the button room. Only to step out of a Police box?

No, it was definitely a police box. It said so right on the front. She poked her head back into the box. Yes, it was bigger inside the box than it was outside of it. She grabbed each side of the box feeling that they were there and this wasn't some elaborate painting or obstacle illusion. Nope, she swallowed before slowly walking around the box, hand slowly tracing the outside. By the time she had made it all the way around to the front again, she had almost convinced herself that this was some crazy hallucination she had conjured from stress and/or fear.

She poked her head in the box one last time to see that the box was just as big inside as it was small outside. "Okay so think." The woman said to herself. "Noone is here and there is a box that is too small for itself. What could that mean?" She looked at the box one last time before looking around the room that had doors on each wall and a front desk. Well she wasn't gonna get answers standing there. "Hello." The words were soft as she spoke them while approaching the front desk, wringing her hands worriedly.

"Welcome." An overly loud voice startled her, making a screech leave her as she fell backward away from the strange stone statue that had been located next to the front desk. It began to whirl to life and the woman heard footsteps running towards the lobby area. Her eyes landed on the pair that burst through the doors.

A tall, really skinny man and a voluptuous redhead came through. Both looked shocked at her but it was quickly replaced by elation. "Aura." The man said happily. He quickly hauled her up by the arm and pulled her into a hug as if this were something that happened all the time.

Confused, she wrapped her arms around him awkwardly and cast a perplexed look at the other woman who wasn't paying attention to her but rather the statue that had come to life. "That's a face."

"Yeah." The man spoke over her head. "Yeah don't worry about it."

The woman looked over her shoulder moving away from the man to stare at the statue. It had a woman's face in the center. She had been sure the statue hadn't had a face when she had first seen it.

"For god's sake run. Nowhere is safe." The lips of the face moved, but its expression stayed lifeless. Chills began running down the younger red-head's neck. Something was wrong. "The Library has sealed itself. We can't...Oh, they're here." The emotionless voice started to make lifeless sound effects that made the smaller redhead step back away from the newly arrived man and woman. It continued with a "turn off your cell" warning before going quiet.

"Aura," The man called looking down at his shorter companion only for her to not respond. "Hey," he tapped her shoulder causing her to jump and look at him with wide eyes. "You okay, Aura?" He put his hand on her head before grabbing it to turn it this way and that.

"Oi, Spaceman. Don't jiggle her about like that." The older woman swatted at the man, who looked affronted.

He looked at the two women before calling over his shoulder. "Play all the messages from the same timestamp."

He didn't look as the statue once again spoke up, instead, he took a tube thing with a tiny blue bulb at the end out and pointed it at her. She was startled and it buzzed in a sort of unnerving way like he was scanning her as he motioned it up and down her body. He stared at the device for a moment before the machine seemed to finish prattling off the numbers. "Message follows. 'Count the shadows. For God's sake remember, if you want to live, count the shadows.' Message ends."

Whether it was from the little device he was looking at or the message, which had freaked out the woman more, the skinny man looked a bit frightened. "Donna," He said, looking around the room before grabbing the short woman's hand. "Stay out of the shadows."

The man gently pulled her past the box and out a door located behind the blue box. Once there she was amazed as she saw shelves and shelves of books. They were stacked atop one another, walkways and railings and hovering bridges that were suspended between levels. Oh, she could smell the paper and dust. It made her want to curl up in a lounger with a nice cup of something warm and a blanket and have nothing else to do but read.

Well, she blinked, at least now she knows she likes books. She must have made a noise of happiness because the man beside her chuckled. "Always were one to crack open a book."

She looked up at him for a brief moment. It was like there was something there like she should know him but the memories weren't coming. She couldn't tell what she thought but with the thoughts came the feel of him. Dangerous, but kind. Destructive, yet calm. She wasn't sure she really wanted to get to re-know this man. If she knew him in the first place.

"So, we weren't really just in the neighborhood." 'Donna', the redhead woman had been called before, whispered at him.

"Nah, I kind of, sort of, lied a bit." He said, using the hand he wasn't currently using to hold her hand hostage to fish out a wallet. Aura, the man had called her that so she supposed that was her name, lifted it to show Donna. While the other two just stared at it, Aura wasn't sure why; the piece of paper was blank. "I got a message on the psychic paper. What do you think? Cry for help?"

"A cry for help with a little kiss? Signed Aura?" As soon as the other woman said something, Aura saw a flash of the 'writing' before it disappeared and brought along with it a particularly painful throb in her temple.

The Library.

Come as soon as you can Aura x

She flinched and the man seemed to see it, rubbing his thumb gently across the back of her palm. The sensation calmed her, if only slightly. He pulled her hand closer to him looking at it intently before he looked at Donna.

The man and Aura spoke almost at the same time. "That's not her handwriting." Aura looked up at the man shocked. Moreover, as far as Aura knew it might be her handwriting, yet something inside told her that wasn't it.

"Then who's it from?"

"Well, I have a feeling, I know." He said almost as if he were sulking. The sound of bulbs blowing had the three of them turning round to see lights going out at steady intervals. "Run!" He tightened his grip on her hand before darting to a door not far away.

He pulled and jiggled the handle but the door wouldn't budge. Aura looked behind her, the lights blowing coming closer and closer as the two people beside her argued. Fear was tightening in her chest. She prayed that this was all a dream and she would just wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP.

Two pairs of arms grabbed her hauling her into the newly opened door before it was slammed shut and locked...with a book.

The Doctor looked at Aura. She was shaking and stalk still as if in shock. He quickly soniced her again trying to get a reading on anything really, but once again his screwdriver was glitching out and not giving him any feedback as if she wasn't there.

"Donna hold her." He said as his eyes landed on a security camera. "Oh hello! Sorry to burst in on you like this." the ball closed up and dropped where it had been floating mid-air. He waited for a few seconds but with no remark coming from the smaller redhead now currently shaking in the arms of her taller counterpart he continued on subtly scanning the girl again.

"Spaceman, if you don't stop bleeping her," Donna warned the man. He held up his hands and moved to the security camera. "What is that thing?"

"A security camera. For some reason, it turned itself off." He picked it up before moving over to the redhead. "Any ideas?" Her green eyes looked at him, but she didn't give him any sarcastic comments, no information that might be relevant, and didn't even swat at him telling him he ought not to touch things that were not his. "Donna hold this." He pushed the ball into the woman's hands before taking the redhead. "Aura, if there is something wrong I need you to tell me." He said softly looking into her eyes as if he could read the problem in them.

The woman just looked at him. "I'm Okay." She spoke, knowing full well it was a lie. She wasn't sure why she chose to lie but something told her telling him she didn't know him would not end well. Like a heavy sense of foreboding.

"Promise me, you're okay." He said, his eyes boring into her.

"I'm okay." She repeated and the Doctor noticed that she didn't actually promise him. But he trusted her to know when she was in above her head.

"Alright then," He spoke loudly, making the woman jump before he grabbed the security ball and moved over to the floor to scan it. However, before he was even able to sonic the camera it pops open and a little banner of words begins to cycle over and over. 'The Library has been breached, others are coming.'

"What's that mean?" Donna asked when the man spoke the words out loud. "Doctor What's that mean?" She was stepping back when The Doctor suddenly grabbed her around the waist pulling her towards him.

She slapped the hands-on her waist away screaming "Oi, hands. You want something to grab Aura's right there."

"Why would he hug me?" The question left Aura's lips before she had the chance to stop it. The Doctor looked at her hurt before schooling his face quickly and moving on. "That shadow. What's casting it?"

Aura looked and found that there it was pointing in the wrong direction. All the other shadows were reaching away from the light but this one wasn't. It was acting like it was actively reaching out against the light. As if a hand stretching towards them.

"Oh, I'm Thick!" The man yelled, causing her to jump. She wasn't fond of his cries and she looked to him in reproach. "Look at me, I'm old and thick. Head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head."

A light down the hallway went out and she took a step back. "What's causing that?" Aura was scared. She didn't know who she was, who they were and worse still she didn't know what in the horror movie hell was going on. The Doctor grabbed her hand, moving her closer to him.

"We are going back to the TARDIS."

Aura put her hands up and backed away from the two strangers. "That's alright. I don't know what's going on and you both seem great but I would like to go back to wherever it is that is not here."

The Doctor stopped looking at the hallway as it lost more lights. Her way of speaking and her fear didn't fit her. Not his brave Aura. Not his golden girl. He knew something was desperately wrong. "Aura."

The face statue near them burst to life repeating "Reminder: The Library has been breached, others are coming."

Helplessly the Doctor watched as Aura grabbed her ears and folded in on herself tears starting to sting at her eyes. "I don't wanna be here." She whimpered out, breaking the timelord's hearts.

He moved towards her and had just about put his hand on her shoulder when an explosion sounded through the room. The man swiftly pressed the smaller girl to the ground hovering over her to shield her from any debris that may unintentionally hit her. Through the newly acquired entrance stepped several spacesuits.

Aura sniffled and looked up at the Doctor tearily. She just wanted to go back to that bedroom and go back to sleep away from shadows that darkened hallways and explosions and the whole everything that had happened since she left the humming box. It had been a mistake to leave that place, a horrible, horrible mistake

"Hello, Sweetie." A feminine voice called as the Doctor got up, helping a shaking Aura to her feet, and stalked angrily to the woman, who ignored him instead of turning her head to the group and saying. "Pop your helmets, we've got breathers."

"How do you know they aren't androids?" One of the spacesuits called but again the first woman ignored that person to pull off her helmet.

"River." The Doctor almost growled. "Take these people and leave."

"Ah, Doctor, good to see you." Her eyes glanced behind him to the woman who still had tears in her eyes. "Aurealis?"

The name had the young redhead snapping up to look the spacewoman in her eyes. The name felt right but wrong at the same time. The woman had blond curly hair that was contained tightly in a bun or ponytail, she had a sweet smile that fell slightly at the tears streaming down Aura's cheeks. For some reason just the sight of the woman's face had the young red-head's forehead pounding. She could almost grasp something, and yet not quite able to retrieve the information.

River moved around the Doctor who protested and grabbed the girl's face. Her eyes were warm and concerned, not that the Doctor hadn't been but this was different. There wasn't that underlying feeling she got that the Doctor man was expecting something from her. This look was purely and truly concerned without looking for something that Aura wasn't even sure she could give. So Aura threw her arms around the woman who swiftly squeezed her as tightly as she could without making Aura part of her spacesuit. A sob escaped the overloaded woman as she began to look younger now that one truly looked at her. Over the ginger's head River gave the alien a cold look. "We are talking later." River could see the hurt look on the Doctor's face but turned away from it in favor of dealing with the situation at hand.

She began whispering into the girl's ear little affirmations. Saying it will be okay. While that happened the Doctor tried desperately to get all the explorers back onto whatever ship they had come on. Aura wasn't listening nor did she really care to know. She was focused on the woman's breath in her ear and matching her own to it in an attempt to calm down. "There we are, sweetie." River gently stroked the back of her head, the rough texture of the glove soothing in an odd way. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared." She whispered, having not actually intended to tell the woman her plight. But she found once her mouth had opened the words flooded out. "I woke up in this room and in a box that can't possibly exist. I mean, I don't think it can. I can't remember who I am and these people started calling me and hugging me and I don't know who they are." The redhead blubbered and River had to use all her might to hide the hurt and shocked expression.

"You don't know who that man is?" River pointed to the tall lanky man and Aura shook her head. "What about her?" She pointed to her fellow redhead. Again the redhead just shook her head. "What about me?"

"I'm sorry." She whimpered.

"Sorry? It's fine. My name is River Song. It's nice to meet you…"

"I think I'm Aura, or at least that is what they've been calling me." She was pulled back into a tight hug, River petting her hair and unseen by Aura looking sadly at the wall.

"Alright up you get." She said, after a moment of composure. "A few rules, okay? Number one, and above all else if it feels wrong don't do it. If it gives you that feeling deep inside that screams that something bad is going to happen if you do this, don't. Two…"

"River!" Both women snapped their heads to the Doctor as he kept being called. "We all need to leave now." He began to move towards them when another man crossed his path. "You need to take these people and leave."

She looked pointedly at the Doctor. "Aura, would you step aside with Miss Evangalista? I need to speak with the Doctor." The tone was harsh but not directed at the girl. A long-haired woman came over and offered Aura her hand, which she took.

The woman led her over, ignoring how several people began arguing with one another. The Doctor and River started a hushed argument while the chubbier one tried to muscle his way into the conversation, even calling the woman who had sat beside her away. Aura's head started throbbing more and she closed her eyes, mind becoming mercifully blank for a moment.