Hello dear people!

Thank you all for your reviews! A special thanks to Turtle who always support me: thank you dear, you're a sweetheart! And also a special thanks to FREYA ASTRID NOVA who proof read this chapter and with whom I'll be starting a project, maybe!

I'm so glad you liked last chapter, I hope you'll like what comes next!

Enjoy!

Melody - x.

Chapter 26

Melody fell. She fell just as silence fell in the Doctor's ears. A deafening silence, the silence of death.

The world was still running around him, but for him, at this moment, everything slowed down, everything stopped, just like his hearts, just like her heart.

He shouted, yelled and fought Rory and River who were holding him and dragging him, tears streaming down his face, but it was as though nothing was coming out of his lips.

She hit the ground, her body lifeless.

He wanted to run to her, to take her away from the chaos around her, he wanted to bring her back, by all and any means.

She was like River, wasn't she? River had regeneration energy, Melody even healed herself when the Cyberman hit her, maybe she could… just if they would wait a few minutes, seconds… Maybe… Maybe she had not enough power for that.

Reality destroyed his illusions. If she could regenerate, she would already have done it.

As he was finally dragged behind the door, sound came back to his ears. Rory blocked the door and they climbed to the Receptor room that was at the top of the pyramid, opened to the night sky and Sahara.

"What's this?" he asked with a faint voice.

"A distress beacon. I built it, I'm the Child of the Tardis, I understand the physics."

"But that's all you've got. A distress beacon."

"I've been sending out a message." explained River. "A distress call. Outside the bubble of our time, the universe is still running, and I've sent a message everywhere. To the future and the past, the beginning and the end of everything: the Doctor is dying, please, please help."

The Doctor shook his head, not even to wipe the tears away from his face as he was still handcuffed. Melody just died, she died because he was not dead!

"River! River this is ridiculous! That would mean nothing to anyone. It's insane! Worse! It's stupid! You embarrass me."

"Just tell him." spoke up Amy. "Tell him River!"

"Those reports of the sunspots and the solar flares. They're wrong." started River. "There aren't any. It's not the sun, it's you. The sky is full of a million, million voices saying yes, of course we'll help. You've touched so many lives, saved so many people. Did you think when your time came, you'd really have to do more than just ask? You've decided that the universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree."

Tears started to stream down River's cheeks, echoing the Doctor's.

"River, no one can help me. A fixed point has been altered. Time is disintegrating."

"I can't let you die!" exclaimed River, desperate.

"But I have to die!" he said back, his voice breaking. Melody already died because of him, she will not come back, never. No one else will die for him.

"Shut up!" she cried out. "I can't let you die without knowing you are loved by so many, and so much… and by no-one more than me…"

This softened his look, though his face was still painted with pain.

"River, you and I, we know what this means." he said. "We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all of reality. Billions and billions will suffer and die."

"I'll suffer." she said faintly, crying. "If I have to kill you."

"More than every living thing in the universe?"

"Yes." she whispered.

Again the Doctor shook his head, trying to find a way out.

"River, River, River! Why do you have to be this?" he asked, anger starting to flow. "Melody Pond, your daughter! I hope you're both proud!" he said to Amy and Rory.

Hesitantly, Rory asked:

"I'm not sure I completely understand…"

"We got married and had a kid and that's her." explained Amy to him.

"Okay." he nodded, taking the information in, as he had always done before.

Turning his back, the Doctor walked away, facing the night. His head bowed, he thought for a moment. He could not find another way than this one. He did not want to do this, but he had to.

"Amy, uncuff me now."

The red-haired girl did as she was told.

The Doctor sighed and then turned around, wiping away his tears.

"Okay. I need a strip of cloth about a foot long. Anything will do." he said. As the others were looking at each other, annoyed the Doctor said "Nevermind." before taking off his bow tie. "River, take one end of this. Wrap it around your hand and hold it out to me."

"What am I doing?" asked the Child of the Tardis.

"As you're told." he answered. "Now. We're in the middle of a combat zone, so we'll have to do the quick version. Captain Williams, say 'I consent and gladly give.'."

"To what?"

"Just say it! Please."

"I-I consent and gladly give." Rory said, quite lost.

"Need you to say it too." said the Doctor in a low voice quite uneasy, looking at Amy. "Mother of the bride."

"I consent and gladly give."

Turning back to River, he said:

"Now River, I'm about to whisper something in your ear, and you have to remember it very, very carefully, and tell no one what I've said." After she nodded, he leaned in and whispered something very short into her ear. As her eyes were widening, he said: "I just told you my name. Now, there you go, River Song, Melody Pond. You're the woman who married me. And wife, I have a request. This world is dying and it's my fault, and I can't bear it another day." he said. Looking deep into her eyes, he let his face show the pain he was feeling. "Please, help me. There isn't another way…"

"Then you may kiss the bride." River said, starting to step forward as the Doctor was doing the same, leaning in.

"I'll make it a good one."

"You better."

As their lips touched, they started to glow and the world around them faded to send them back by Lake Silencio, just before River kills him, letting the clock continue.

By Lake Silencio, 22nd April 2011, 5:02pm:

"It's okay, I know it's you. And you are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven."

The astronaut showed his face, revealing River Song, in tears.

"I can't stop it, the suit's in control. I try to fight it but it's too strong." she said to the Doctor, her voice trembling. "Run."

"Did run, running brought me here." he answered. "It's alright, this is a fixed point, this is where I die. It has to happen."

After a sob, River looked to her left, where Amy, Rory, Melody and Canton in the distance were standing.

"Why are you making me watch?" she asked.

The Doctor frowned: what did that mean? River was not there, except in the suit…

At this moment, the suit fired, shooting him dead, deleting the paradox and letting the clock tick.

Tick tock, goes the clock, he gave her all he could give her,
Tick tock, goes the clock, now where can he find her?

As always, let me know what you think and thanks again Freya ;) see you next chapter!