"Where do you go?" The Creature asked flippantly. The Doctor and Clara where in a heated discussion. Clara was trying desperately to get him to erase the ominous words from the wall, but the Doctor refused to let her touch them. He insisted on their importance, as it was a warning, but the bold print unsettled Clara, as well as the Creature. The Doctor seemed to have a hard time explaining how he new the words held an important message, which ultimately frustrated his companion at his lack of explanation. The Creature reclined back, watching the exchange, her eyes never left the pair, even when River unexpectedly joined her. River turned and stared at her profile, tilting her head a curious angle.

"And what makes you think I'll answer your questions?" Her tone was humorous, but her stare belayed her unwillingness to comply.

"If you are allowed to come and go as you please, you are not bound by this worlds rules," the Creature continued, "where do you go back to?"

River shook her head, "why should I answer your questions? You refuse to answer mine."

The Creature didn't hear her, her prime focus on a rambling thought. "If you can be here even after your death, some part of you has been kept alive. Where is this place?"

River's face contorted into annoyance, "you've told me repeatedly how you've seen it all. You should already know."

The Creature blinked, her eyes finally focusing on River's face.

"I was not here then." She answered like it the most obvious thing.

"Convenient," River murmured.

"I haven't been here forever, only a few centuries."

"Why so interested now?"

"What is that place, and where is it?" The Creature pressed.

River grinned, again shaking her head, "why do you think you are the only one who gets to ask questions and receive an answer?"

"Humor me?" The Creature turned, leaning a forearm on the rail, lips twisting into what could have resemble a smile.

"I don't like your kind of humor," River returned the grin. A shadow passed over the Creature's face, her jaw hardened, brows pulled close together, and a confusing emotion close to helplessness flitted across her gaze. River scrutinized her face, confounded by what the Creature had openly displayed. Then after a thought, River cleared her throat.

"How about a game?"

The Creature's eyebrows rose, betraying her surprise, "a game?"

Her eyes narrowed, "what sort of game?"

River's eyes gleamed, "one that would give us both answers."

Mouth pressed thin, the Creature inclined her head, "what are the rules?"

River turned back to watching the Doctor, her demeanor more at ease. "I ask a question and if you refuse to answer you owe me a favor, the same goes for you."

The Creature huffed, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

"We both get what we want," River prompted. The Creature slit her eyes toward the women, unease obvious in her stiff stance. Owing a favor, to River, was one of the last things in the world the Creature would ever want to have held above her head. But was her pride worth the life of more innocents? Maybe the answer she sought was standing before her. She gritted her teeth, willing her hammering heart to slow its pace.

After a moment the Creature added, "we each get ten questions, no more, no less."

River grinned, "deal."

The Creature grew in a breath, regret already seeping into her mind. "I ask the first question," she stated decidedly, and River dared not argue.

"I know you died, but here you are, how is that?"

River sighed. "It's rather a long story. Summed up, the Doctor saved my conscious to a system. A library. It is a good place, very earth like, but it has a sense of home. He said it was safe, and so it is."

The Creature said nothing for a long moment, then murmured, "it is safe. Can anyone be saved to this...system?"

River quirked an eyebrow, "is this another question?"

The Creature scrunched her nose, "yes."

River shrugged, "yes I suppose so."

The Creature inclined her head down to her chest, her mind settling in another dimension.

"Well, now I suppose its my turn," River continued, jostling the Creature from her thoughts. River held a finger to her lips, deliberately dragging the moment longer than the Creature thought necessary. She didn't like it, River held an advantage over her and River knew it. Her pride began to simmer.

"What is the first memory you have of coming here?"

The Creature's head jerked at at the question, her eyes again narrowed. It was a goading question.

"Do you pass?" River asked.

With a foreboding glare, the Creature let out a troubled sigh.

"No," she relented, "not sure why my past is so intriguing to you," she paused, "it was so long ago...I remember being confused. I did not understand what this world was, why the Doctor could not see me. It was 1954, Elvis Presley was performing, and there were demons crawling everywhere. That is my first memory." She shrugged after a quiet pause, "nothing extraordinary."

River eyed her, then shrugged, "no big bang then, just a 'poof' and you appeared?"

The Creature scoffed, "that a question?"

River laughed, "no, but your story needs a bit of flare."

The Creature rolled her eyes. "Bigger the flare the less likely people will believe it."

"Always so condescending. What is your question now? You have eight left."

"Yes I know," the Creature rebuffed, "I want to know how you are here. If you were saved into that system, how can you be here?"

River pursed her lips, "my conscious was saved into the system, it is like living in the after life in a way. I suppose, I'm not exactly sure how I came to be here...jumping between two worlds it is. One day I heard a call, then I found you lying in the dirt with demons crawling around you."

"I see. And in this world of yours, is it impenetrable? Does one have to die to be saved?"

River quirked an eyebrow. "That is two questions."

"Yes I know," she snapped, "so answer them."

"Very well, you now have six questions left. The first, I believe it is, and secondly, no. Just because I died doesn't mean others have to die to be...saved."

River cleared her throat. "My turn then." She slanted her gaze toward the Creature, a smirk danced at the edge of her lips.

"What is your name?"

The Creature grimaced, and glanced up at the women narrowly. "Back to that again. I already told you I don't remember."

River met her eyes, and with slow certainty said, "yes you do."

The statement was so profound the Creature glanced away from River. She gazed at the counsel, words no longer forming her lips.

"The name no longer fits me. It was meant for the girl I was then; I am not her any more."

"So do you pass?" Was River's only response.

The Creature's face became solemn, a twisting sensation clustered in the pit of her stomach.

To owe River a favor...

"Rose," her voice ground in her throat, "my name was Rose."

River grinned. "Your right. It doesn't fit you."

The Creature ground her teeth, "well since we are on the topic, what is the Doctors name?" A satisfying smile stretched the Creature's lips. River shook her head, a knowing expression on her face.

"He never told you?" she quipped instead.

The Creature quirked a brow. River sighed, "its Bob," the smirk at the corner of her mouth betrayed her jest.

The Creature's face remained impassive; the attempt of humor quickly deflated form River's eyes.

"You pass then." The Creature stated.

"Most indefinitely."

"Then you owe me a favor."

River shrugged, "make it a good one."

The Creature's eyes fell to the ground, mouth pressed into a fine line, yes, she knew exactly what she wanted River to do.

"Your turn," the Creature said gruffly.

"You were a passed companion then?" River asked.

The Creature looked annoyed, "waste of a question."

"Did you love him?"

The Creature frowned. "Which question do you want me to answer?"

"Both."

"Fine. Yes, I was a past companion. I joined him after his regeneration from the Time War."

"I never saw that face," River acknowledged.

"He had big ears," the Creature said rather fondly, "and bright blue eyes. I always did miss that face."

She spoke freely, without any reserve, something that was a rare occurrence; a memory River would not forget.

"And the second?" River persisted.

The Creature struggled inwardly, admitting to such a sacred feeling further twisted her pride.

"I did once," her voice came in short breaths, "I wished to live forever so I could travel with him. To be with him. "

"And now?"

She ground her jaw, "no."

Liar, the beast hissed.

"What changed?"

The Creature pushed herself away from the railing, she glanced once at the black letters stained on the wall, heard the Doctor's mindless chatter, then turned back to face River.

"My turn to ask a question now," she said fervently, "and I want to...cash in my favor."

A little annoyed, River folded her arms against her chest.

"Fine. What is it then?"

"I want you to find a way to kill me."