For some mild language, action, and violence, I'm going to rate this chapter T... just to be safe. You've been warned.

Suddenly, the room went dark except for one spotlight shining down on the chair where River was bound. She could see the creature coming toward her, but it stopped just within the edge of the reach of the spotlight, still a few feet away from her. It just sat down and stared at her. That made her more nervous than if it had sprung to attack her.

As River tried to struggle against the restraints binding her, the creature spoke. "You may as well stop. You can't move, and you'll just exhaust yourself."

She stared right at the Trancitluzion. She tried to speak, be there was a leather strap gagging her and a metal one holding her chin in place. Upon seeing this, the creature walked over and ripped the leather and cut the metal with its claw-like hands. "I suppose I can let you speak..."

River was about to ask what the it thought it was doing and what it wanted, but she stopped when she heard a scream come from Amy. River turned her eyes to glare at the creature. "What the hell are you doing to them?"

The Trancitluzion sneered. "They are being prepared. Each one of them is seeing their worst fears, starting from childhood and continuing up to now. Once their weaknesses have been increased to a suitable amount, I will be able to kill and consume them. Since you are still too strong... well, perhaps if you hear and see them suffer first it will weaken you enough for me to consume you too. Of course.. it couldn't hurt to show you some of your weakness too..."

Suddenly a group of Silence appeared in front of River, reaching towards her with electricity sparking from their fingers. Suddenly, River's mind was flooded with memories from her childhood, from before she was Mels, when the Silence ruled her life. She cringed a bit, but kept up a brave face. Suddenly, the Silence parted and Madame Kovarian stood in the middle of them before River. "Well, little Melody... you have been resisting your training. You know what you're supposed to do..."

A tiny voice inside River's mind replied, "Kill the Doctor."

Kovarian nodded. "Yes. But you were resisting earlier... you know what happens when you resist..."

The group of Silence stepped forward again and began to scream. Electricity began to course through their hands. River closed her eyes and tried to shrink away from them. The memories she was being forced to watch were bringing the realization to her mind that yes, she had been a child once, but she had known only fear in that time. So really, it wasn't much of a childhood at all... but it was enough to break down the barriers in her mind and strengthen the Trancitluzion.

Suddenly the Silence disappeared, and in their place stood little Amelia and Rory. River felt small. She looked at her hand and saw it was chocolate brown colored. She was Mels again. She tried to speak to the younger versions of her parents, but the turned coldly away from her. She felt miserable and looked away from them for a moment. When she looked back, there was a Silence standing behind them, reaching out with its electric hand. When River tried to scream to warn them, they dissipated into air and the Doctor stood before her and the chair restraining her had become the Spacesuit. She struggled against the suit as the arm raised to fire. She looked up at the Doctor's face, but it was cold and unforgiving. The suit fired, and as the Doctor fell, River screamed, wanting to sob, but able to do nothing but scream.

But that scream was enough to get through the mirages surrounding the Doctor, Amy, and Rory.

Amy and Rory yelled through the blackness to the Trancitluzion, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO OUR DAUGHTER?!" as she and Rory began to struggle against her restraints.

The Doctor was angry. The Trancitluzion had dared to hurt River and Amy and Rory. You DO NOT hurt the Doctor's friends. River's scream had pulled him out of a mirage of her dying in the Library, and now that he was aware again of where they actually were and the fact that River was alive left him relieved and more on edge than before at the same time. Having managed to move his sonic in his jacket so that the button could be pushed when he leaned against the leather and metal straps holding him, he managed to unclasp the one around his mouth.

"RIVER!" was the first thing he yelled.

This pulled River out of her torment. She was now sobbing; all of the barriers around her emotions, against her memories, guarding her mind had been demolished. She was afraid, and angry, and so, so upset... more upset than she could ever remember being. Through her sobs though, she managed to call back, "Doctor..."

The Doctor's mind was racing, trying to figure out how to free themselves. He leaned against the sonic a few more times so his head and arms were free. He undid the rest of the straps by hand to make as little noise and as little light as possible. When he was free, he rushed over into the darkness on his one side and found Amy. He freed her and whispered to her to go release Rory then sit back in the chair so the creature wouldn't know they were free.

He quickly moved back to his chair and sat down. He called out to the Trancitluzion, "Let. River. Go."

The creature spun from where it stood next to River to glare in the Doctor's direction, which was still in darkness. It hissed and spat, "Not a chance. It turns out she wasn't so strong after all, and she is really, the weakest of all of you. Of course, it's not like there is anything that you can do now to help her..."

"Now when you say "weak"... what do you mean? You can't mean physical strength because while River is strong, she isn't the strongest of the four of us... that's Rory. You mean emotionally? Yes. You mean emotionally... but you don't mean "emotionally weak"... you mean emotions are a weakness. You know, I was told once a while ago that I am the greatest example that emotions destroy you, and that is true. They definitely can. But you know what else? They are also what make her and everyone I've ever traveled with... even myself to an extent, human. And they make them magnificent, and brilliant, and brave, and STRONG. Stronger than me, stronger than you, stronger than any other force. No, emotions are not a weakness. And you've underestimated one other thing here today..."

"And what is that?"

"...Her parents."

With that Rory and Amy rushed forward. Amy ran and slammed into the creature with her shoulder as hard as she could, knocking it to the ground. Rory grabbed a pipe from the wall, wrentching out from its place and leaving a hole which steam poured out of. The edge of the pipe was jagged and sharp where it had been broken off, sharp enough to be used as a weapon. The Trancitluzion was getting up when Rory ran straight at it, using the pipe as he would have used his Centurion sword, leaving a tear the entire way through the creature's wing.

While Rory and Amy fought the creature, the Doctor rushed over to release River. He sonic-ed all of the straps open and handed River he gun, which had fallen on the floor. He looked in River's eyes quickly. She was shocked, and her eyes were still tearing, but her urge to protect and help her parents was overriding anything else she may have been feeling at the moment. She was about to run over and help when the Doctor stopped her by grabbing her gun again. He sonic-ed it and handed it back to her, saying, "That should boost it enough for a shot to actually do some damage to it. I'm not sure how much... but it will do more than it did last time."

River rushed over to where her parents were still fighting the Trancitluzion, and the Doctor ran after her. Amy had managed to taunt the creature into following her so Rory could strike clearly, and there were many gashes running over its body. However, upon closer inspection, many of them were half healed already, and each new stab and swipe with the pipe was doing less and less damage. Soon, it would be entirely ineffective as a weapon. River and the Doctor looked around quickly, trying to think of something to use or do against the creature when River spotted a huge bundle of wires next to a pipe in the ceiling. The pipe was labeled: DANGER, and the wires looked dangerous enough in their own right. She had an idea.

River ran over so she was next to Amy, standing directly in front of the creature. She motioned for her mother to follow her, and River began to move them so they were close to the wires and the pipe. The Doctor noticed River looking up and saw the infastructure above them too. He instantly knew what River was trying to do. He ran to the opposite side of the creature, set the sonic on a setting that would nearly shatter the eardrums of the Trancitluzion, but not harm the rest of them at all. He waited until they were very close to the spot River was leading to to activate the sound wave. The creature shrieked out and fell to the ground right where River needed it to be. The Doctor grabbed Amy and Rory by their arms and pulled them away as he sonic-ed the door to the room open. River followed behind until the door was open. Then, she stopped, turned around and aimed at the ceiling.

She fired and ran.

The pipe burst open, spilling something bitter smelling onto the Trancitluzion and the floor. Acid. The wires fell at the same time in a shower of sparks, also landing just on top of the creature. The liquid and the electricity combined fatally, shocking and frying the creature, but then it caught fire, which quickly started to spread through the room.

As soon as River had fled out the door, the Doctor sonic-ed it shut, then bolted the outer steel door with the tiny window. Through that window, they could see the creature be entirely engulfed by flames. It burned until it was nothing but ash.

Presently, the Doctor became aware of some voices and banging. He ran down the hall to the door and saw a group of workers trying to open it. Apparently, it was stuck. The Doctor sonic-ed it, and it slid open. The man who had escorted them to the room was the first on through, and he ran down the hall to look through the window. The pipe through which the acid had been falling had been sealed off at another point, and having lost its fuel, the fire was already dying down in the air-tight, sealed room. The man looked over at Amy, who was bruised and battered looking, Rory, who had cuts all over his hands from the pipe, and River, who was staring emotionlessly into space. Then he looked back at the Doctor, who was standing right next to him still.

The Doctor smiled sadly. "You had no idea what you were dealing with."

This isn't the end. Obviously, we need to wrap up some loose ends, but I also wanted to let everyone know that after the next chapter, the story will continue for a while with quite a few fluffy chapters. Originally, this story was supposed to be a 4-8 chapter fluff fic. As you can see, it's gone far awry from that! However, I do fully plan to write that fluff!

In the meantime, I hope this chapter was a suitable one. It was incredibly difficult to write, and I hope it was up to par.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for reading.