CHAPTER 18

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This story picks up where The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 36 left off. You won't have to have read it to understand what's going on here though.

ROSE VS. RIVER PART 1

As she stood there staring down the barrel of River Song's gun, Rose still couldn't believe that all of this was happening despite having known that it was coming for some time now. It was one thing to know the future and another to actually experience it herself though.

As she watched River pull the trigger on her gun, her mind flashed back to everything that had led her here to this moment. She first learned of what was coming not through her own powers but from a psychic the Doctor and Christina de Souza had met once on a red double decker bus called Carmen.

Carmen had also happened to work for her once in her role as the White Guardian. Everyone who had ever warned the Doctor about the future had worked for Rose in one way or another. It was her way of giving him a heads up about coming events in those times when she couldn't be with him to tell him about them herself.

She had come across Carmen shortly after her fight with Krail while visiting Mickey, Martha, and their new baby Rose on Earth. Rose loved seeing her new little goddaughter and felt so filled with joy for Mickey that he finally had the life that he had had always wanted.

This was the life that he had always talked about with her when they were growing up together. She knew now that he had been talking to her about it because he had expected her to be his wife someday. She hadn't realized that at the time however.

She had never once thought of Mickey being the one that she would spend the rest of her life with even though she loved him dearly. Whenever she thought of the man that she would marry, he was always changing. It seemed like every time she imagined him he would always have a different face but yet underneath all of those faces he was always the same man somehow.

She had never understood those daydreams of hers until the day that she saw the Doctor changing his face right before her eyes. Then it all clicked and made perfect sense to her somehow. She had been dreaming of the Doctor even before she remembered who he was again. Even with her memory erased, her soul had still remembered him somehow.

Rose was holding the baby while talking with Martha and Mickey when Carmen suddenly appeared at the nearest open window of the Smiths' house. She stood there unspeaking for a moment with a friendly smile on her face so as to not alarm anyone.

"Who are you?" Martha asked as she stared at this strange woman warily.

"Don't worry. I haven't come here to cause trouble. I only came to speak to the Wolf. You remember me, don't you, Rose Tyler?" Carmen asked.

"Yes. I met you once and asked you to pass on a message to the Doctor for me. Why are you here now though? Do you need something? Do you want my help?" Rose asked curiously.

"No. I've come here to help you. Even the Bad Wolf can't see her own future after all even when she can so easily see everyone else's," Carmen said.

"You've seen my future?" Rose asked intrigued.

"I've seen part of it, yes. I've seen a frightened little girl on the run from people who cannot be remembered. I've seen a race of clockwork men capture that girl and program her to kill someone in the far future who they think of as their greatest enemy. I've also seen the results of that programming. That's what I've come here to warn you about. You gave the grown-up version of that girl the ability to harm you because you wanted to keep the people that you love safe. Now your enemies will make her use that knowledge against you. I've seen her use it against you while she hunts you down. I've also seen her kill you," Carmen said.

"River. River's going to try to kill me because the Symmetry think that I'm this Evil One that they're all so afraid of," Rose said understanding now.

"Rose, that's not what she said. She just said that River is going to kill you," Mickey said looking horrified.

"Maybe it just looks that way in the vision. There's always ways around that kind of thing anyway especially when you know that it's coming. Just ask the Doctor," Rose said confidently as she touched Mickey's shoulder reassuringly.

Carmen shook her head as she said, "Your song is ending soon. I'm sorry, Rose. I just wanted you to know so that you would have time to say your final goodbyes."

Rose began to become upset now as she said, "No, I'd know if that were true. I'd see some hint of it in the timelines of everyone around me even if I can't read my own timeline."

"Wait a minute! You said that you know my Rose in the future. That means you can't die, right?" Martha said to Rose hopefully.

"Right," Rose said with a confidence that she didn't feel.

"The future is always changing. You know that better than most," Carmen said sadly.

"Yes, and I also know that it isn't set in stone until it becomes a fixed point. Besides that even a fixed point isn't unchangeable to me. I'll find some way around this," Rose said sounding unconvinced.

"I really hope you do. Believe me on that. You and the Doctor are both good people. That's why I came to warn you so that you might still have a chance to change things somehow," Carmen said.

"You don't sound too hopeful of that though," Rose noted.

Carmen frowned as she nodded. Then she said, "I sincerely hope that we meet again, Rose Tyler. Goodbye."

She left just as quickly as she had appeared, and Rose stood there shuddering afterwards. For once even she wasn't so sure that she'd come out on top this time.

Then even as she stood there holding the baby her eyes began to glow as she started remotely searching River Song's timeline and pinpointed the exact moment where she had been kidnapped as a child and brainwashed to kill her by the Symmetry. The brainwashing was set not to activate until Rose herself admitted that she knew about it in the far future. She made a mental note to send River's husband Donald the exact time and place of River's kidnapping in a time delayed message to his TARDIS that wouldn't go out until the time had come for him to try to stop her from killing her.

Mickey began to smile with renewed hope while he watched her as he said, "You're planning a way around all of this, aren't you?"

Rose smiled at him as she said, "Yeah, I'm trying to. I don't know whether it will work or not, but I certainly hope so."

River's programming had finally asserted itself while Rose was visiting her on River and Donald's TARDIS. Somehow River had managed to hold onto her own free will long enough to give Rose time to take the two of them to the dimension of the White Guardian where no one would be hurt but the two of them when they started to fight.

Now as she stood there directly in the path of River's gun as it went off she really hoped that that plan paid off. If it didn't then she was going to be dead, and River would be trapped here in this dimension all alone for the rest of her lives. Rose hated to do that to her, but she couldn't take a chance on a brainwashed River being set free to kill anyone else. If she survived though, then it wouldn't come to that.

If she survived.

Rose tried to teleport away, but she wasn't quite quick enough. The blast hit her right in the chest, and she was instantly coated with a powder made of the same materials that Vortex shielding was made out of. The powder covered her from head to toe now and wouldn't come off no matter what she did as it stuck to her like glue. She was now completely shut off from the Vortex, and she could already feel herself beginning to die because of it since she needed that energy to live now.

As bad as this was, this was only Step One of River's plan. She hadn't even used the secret weakness that she had told her about against her yet. That was still to come.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I really am. I want you to know that I'm not doing any of this of my own free will," River said as she started trying to shoot Rose yet again with a normal energy blast this time.

Rose dodged her attack this time as she said, "I know. I'm not blaming you for anything. I'm not about to go easy on you though just because you're currently not yourself. I'm going to fight you all the way with everything that I've got."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," River said with a small smile on her face.

River came after her with no holds barred now as she continued to fire a constant stream of blaster fire her way which Rose managed just barely to stay ahead of at all times. Luckily for her she had planned for this fight way ahead of time and had brought in some surprises of her own.

"River, stop this! You don't want to do this!" the Doctor shouted as he, Clara, and Mikaela suddenly appeared a couple of feet away from River.

"You brought them here? Why? Why would you do that? Now they'll be in danger too," River said in a furious voice to the Doctor.

"I couldn't leave Rose here to face you all by herself," the Doctor said stubbornly.

"Leave them alone, River! Your programming only covers me," Rose said over her shoulder as she continued to run.

"You're not getting any closer to her, River. This is it. Run, Rose!" the Doctor said as he, Clara, and Mikaela blocked her way.

"I'm programmed to do whatever it takes to kill Rose. Do you understand what that means? I won't hold back not even against you if you try to stop me," River warned.

"That's a risk that we're willing to take because we're not about to let you kill her," Clara said as she bombarding River with a massive sonic blast from her Sonic Necklace that brought River's hands to her ears in agony as she tried to block out the noise.

Suddenly River pulled a small ball out of her belt that she threw at Clara. It sent a massive electric charge throughout Clara's entire body as soon as it touched her that not only shorted out her Sonic Necklace but also made her scream in pain before she passed out.

"Sorry, dear, but I don't like loud noises. They upset my delicate constitution," River said with a smirk.

"Clara!" the Doctor screamed.

"Oh, don't worry so much, Doctor. I held back. It wasn't a lethal charge. It was only enough to knock her out for a while. I have to say that I like her better this way. She's much too sweet for me. Here I thought you preferred bad girls, eh?" River said as she started to hunt for Rose once again who she couldn't see at the moment.

"River, why do you sound like you're enjoying this?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Even after marrying me you still don't really understand me, do you? I'm a psychopath, dear," River said with a sly smile.

"No, you're wrong. I do understand. This is tearing you apart inside so you're making jokes to cover up your true feelings. I'm sorry that this happened to you, River. We're going to beat it though. Donald's working on trying to find a way to help you right now even as we speak. Until he does, you have to fight it. Fight it with everything that you've got. Please!" the Doctor said in a pleading voice.

River's eyes softened as she said, "I'm trying. If I wasn't fighting it, Clara would be dead right now. As annoying as she is, I don't want to kill her because I know how close the two of you are. I don't want to kill the woman that you love either. I have no choice in that though. I'm sorry. I just don't."

"We always have a choice, River," the Doctor said.

River shook her head as she said, "No, not always. Not when someone else is pulling the strings."

The Doctor stood in front of her and blocked her path as he said, "I know you, River. You're a strong, intelligent woman with a will of iron. If anyone can overcome this, you can. I believe in you. I know you won't kill Rose. I know that with both of my hearts."

River smiled at him sadly as she said, "Oh, my poor, poor Doctor. Your hearts are your greatest strength, but they can also be your greatest weakness. You're letting your feelings for me put you in a dangerous position right now. It's a position that I'd quickly get out of if I were you."

The Doctor realized that she was trying to warn him and looked down to see her aiming her gun right at his chest. He quickly backed away from her as she gave him an apologetic look.

"Still think I have a choice, Doctor?" River asked.

"Yes, you could have shot me without warning me," the Doctor said.

"Been there, done that. It's lost its thrill," River said smirking.

"Aunt River, don't do this. This isn't you. This is not who you become in the future," Mikaela pleaded as she checked Clara to make sure that she really was alright.

"If I taught you anything, it's that the future can be changed especially by sharing too much information about it," River said.

"Do you think I caused this?" Mikaela asked in a small terrified voice.

"No. This is in no way your fault," River said firmly.

"I keep worrying all of the time that I'm changing everything somehow just by being here when I'm not supposed to be," Mikaela said.

"Whoever said that you weren't supposed to be here, Mikaela. You were always meant to come here. Trust me on that," River said.

Mikaela smiled widely at that as River continued to talk by saying, "You can also trust me on this. Don't continue to try to stop me. I might hurt even you if you do."

"That's what I'm counting on," Mikaela said as she pulled out a blaster and tried to shoot River with it.

"Mikaela, what are you doing?!" the Doctor shouted.

Mikaela ignored him as she kept firing at River who easily avoided all of her attacks. Then she was immediately pushed to the ground as River pounced on her and knocked the gun out of her hand all in one fluid motion. River raised her own gun to Mikaela's head in a shaking hand as she fought her programming with every ounce of willpower that she possessed.

"Symmetry, if you can hear me disable your programming! I'm under attack!" Mikaela shouted.

The Doctor almost smiled at her as he finally realized exactly what she was up to. She was hoping that the Symmetry would deactivate River if she was in danger from her. He only hoped that it worked.

River had guessed her plan as well as she laughed and said, "You're lucky that I've grown used to you or I'd have already melted your head off by now. It's not going to work, Mikaela. They made my programming irreversible. Nothing and no one can undo it now not even the Promised One."

Then she shot Mikaela point blank in the head. Mikaela fell to the ground instantly as the Doctor caught her. He sighed in relief as he could feel that she was still breathing.

"Like I said, I can keep myself from hurting the rest of you when I want to. She was really pushing the limits of my self-control though," River admitted.

Then to his surprise, she suddenly looked at the Doctor sadly and said, "Sorry for this."

"For what?" the Doctor asked warily as he started to slowly back away from her.

"This," River said as she suddenly fired a tranquilizer dart at his chest from a small dart gun concealed in her sleeve.

"River, don't . . . hurt . . . her!" the Doctor said weakly as he quickly succumbed to the dart's effects and fell next to Clara and Mikaela on the ground.

"Sorry, Doctor. I can't make that promise," River said as she walked away from him and started to search for Rose once more.

She found Rose several feet away leaning against a wall and barely able to stand. She was already far too weakened by having lost all contact with the Vortex to be able to put up much of a fight.

"Ready for Step 2, Rose?" River asked.

"You didn't kill them?" Rose asked as she gasped for air. Her body was beginning to shut down quicker than even she thought that it would.

"No, of course not. This is between you and me and no one else. It always was," River said.

River then shot Rose with a special dart that she knew contained her greatest weakness. Her face became filled with sorrow as she knew that in a matter of moments she would be responsible for killing Rose irrevocably forever and that both the Doctor and her own husband would probably hate her for that forever.

She almost laughed with joy as the dart went through 'Rose' and hit the wall behind her. She had been tricked. Oh, she was good!

Rose suddenly appeared behind her and punched River right in the jaw as she said, "I'm hardly defenseless. I'm still the White Guardian you know."

As River fell, Rose rained down one blow after another on her as she used every scrap of martial arts knowledge that she had ever learned from the Ice Warriors, Master K'anpo, and Torchwood all at once to keep River on the defensive. She didn't let up even for a moment as she continued to hit her with everything that she had but purposely avoided her stomach so as not to hurt the baby that she was carrying.

"You're holding back. You could end this much more quickly, but you're not hitting me at all of my vulnerable spots because of the baby. You're something else, Rose. I'm here to kill you and you're still more worried about saving others than you are yourself. Thank you. Thank you so much for that," River said that last part in a heartfelt voice.

Rose only smiled at her briefly as she continued to pummel her without stopping. She didn't feel good about herself in the slightest right now despite knowing that she wasn't hurting the baby. This level of violence just wasn't her way. It never had been.

Then just as it seemed as if River was close to passing out, Rose's own body betrayed her. She screamed in agony as her hearts began to seize up. She was dying even faster now.

"I'm sorry," River whispered as she used this moment of weakness to shoot another dart at Rose.

This time Rose was too distracted to avoid her attack, and the dart hit her right in the shoulder. Rose screamed with gut wrenching intensity and instantly fell to the ground.

"No!" River shouted in agony.

"Melody, that dart was the one with a concentrated dose of Treswines Radiation in it wasn't it?" Rose asked in a weakening voice.

"Yes, it was," River said sadly.

Rose was allergic to high doses of Treswines Radiation. She had known that since she was almost killed by it as a Time Tot. Even though it had no effect whatsoever on regular Time Lords, it would kill her in a matter of moments given a high enough dosage of it. Adding this attack on top of her already weakened condition as a result of the lack of Vortex energy was too much even for her to bear. She knew that she only had minutes to live now.

Carmen had been right.

"Melody, tell the Doctor I love him and tell Clara to take care of him. He needs someone to keep him out of trouble. Tell my mums that I love them and give my children a hug from me. Tell them that I was thinking about how much I loved them at the end," Rose said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"I will," River said as she began to feel something wet going down her face.

She was shocked to find tears falling from her eyes. Rose only smiled at her.

"I guess even you can cry, River Song," Rose whispered.

Rose knew that this was it. She had hoped that Donald might have found some way to save her by now with all of the extra time that she and the others had bought him, but it seemed like that wasn't working out for her either.

This really did seem to be the end of the line for her.

Next: The end of this story will be continued in The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 37 as Donald goes on a mission to the past that will either save both Rose and River or doom them both forever! It's all going to be very timey wimey if it succeeds.

Even if you don't read that story, don't worry. I'll give you a quick recap of what happens back here in the next chapter of this story. Next time, the Doctor (and Rose?) and his crew will face off against the Viyrans when they come back looking for Charley. It seems that they are not too happy that she left with them, and they want her back whether she wants to go with them or not! They also aren't too thrilled that Victoria copied knowledge about their viruses from their computers without their consent either. It seems that our crew is in quite a lot of trouble this time. Maybe our favorite female version of the Great Intelligence (Victoria of course!) can lend them a helping hand.