River Song is returning from a Frost Fair with Arthur. The alarms are blaring as they keep walking back to River's cell. She picks up the guard's phone. "Oh, turn it off. I'm breaking in, not out. This is River Song, back in her cell. Oh, and I'll take breakfast at the usual time—"
"With taco!" Arthur suggested happily.
"Add it with taco as well. Thank you."
As both of them walk, they see a figure standing in the corridor. "Oh, are you boys dressing up as Romans now? I thought nobody read my memos."
"Rory?" Arthur frowns as the man steps from the dark corridor.
"Doctor Song, Arthur," he greeted. "Sorry, have we met yet? Time streams. I'm not quite sure where we are."
"Yes. Yes, we've met," River assured him, her expression turning solemn. "Hello, Rory."
"What's wrong?"
River seems conflicted for a moment before finally answers. "It's my birthday. The Doctor took me and Sunny ice skating on the River Thames in 1814, the last of the great Frost Fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing with Sunny for me under London Bridge."
"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"
"It was difficult, but we managed to handle it," Arthur told him, fondly remembering how River kicked a duke for insulting Stevie by kicking his arse. "But, eh, spoiler. Don't tell him."
"Oh. Eh, I've come from the Doctor too."
"Yes, but at a different point in time," River guessed.
Rory nods. "Unless there's two of them."
"Now, that's a whole different birthday," River remarked, heads for her cell and pulls a diary from her muff and reads while Arthur and Rory remain in the corridor.
"He needs you both!"
"Demon's Run," River realised and Arthur went pale.
"Did… did you say… Demons Run?" The brunette boy asked nervously.
"How… How did you know?" Rory wondered.
"I'm from his future. I always know," she glances at Rory. "Why on Earth are you wearing that?"
"The Doctor's idea."
"Of course. His rules of engagement. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
"Look ridiculous."
"Not as ridiculous as having Sunny wearing a bowtie," River grimaces. "What a nightmare."
"They've taken Amy. And our baby," Rory told her, trying to convince her how serious their situation is. "The Doctor's getting some people together. We're going after her, but he needs you and Arthur, too."
"I can't," River sadly said before turning back. "Not yet, anyway."
"What?" Arthur frowns. "Why?! River, you know how important Demons Run is!"
"Yes, Sunny. I'm painfully aware of that. But this is the Battle of Demon's Run. The Doctor's darkest hour. He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with him till the very end."
"Why not?" Rory asked.
"Because this is it," River looks at them, as if she has to deal with a painful memory. "This is the day he finds out who I am. This is the day you all know who Arthur Jonas is."
That statement makes Rory have a hard time to process. Arthur Jonas was one mysterious companion that nobody knows exactly who he is. Even the Doctor having a hard time to dig up his past, with the way he keeps his secret to himself.
The young Arthur simply stares at River, unable to comprehend this information as well. "I'm… what…?"
"You two need to go hurriedly," River insisted. She looks more worried than ever. "Time is catching up. Demons Run is a fixed point in time. Even a small delay can cause a huge wave of Time."
Rory nods. He might be unable to convince River, but that won't stop him from getting his wife and child back. "Come on, Arthur!" He said as they both ran back to the Tardis.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"On this day, in this place, the Doctor will fall!" Colonel Manton declared and all soldiers cheered.
Arthur watches the man with pure hatred. These people… they think that the Doctor is a dangerous man who shouldn't exist. That he caused nothing but misery. He feels sick that this cult would go to the extreme to take down the Doctor by taking Amy and her baby away.
"The man who talks, the man who reasons, the man who lies, will meet the perfect answer."
He wants to go out there, helping others to save Amy and her baby, not stuck in the Tardis' console room, observing the situation by the screen. But he admits… he's afraid to step out now, with all those soldiers, ready to kill the Doctor and his associates.
"Some of you have wondered why have we have allied ourselves with the Headless Monks. Perhaps you should have wondered why we call them Headless. It's time you knew what these guys have sacrificed for faith. As you all know, it is a Level One Heresy, punishable by death, to lower the hood of a Headless Monk. But by the divine grant of the Papal Mainframe herself, on this one and only occasion, I can show you the truth. Because these guys never can be," he lowered the hood of the first monk to show a knotted stump where the head and neck should have been, "persuaded! They never can be," he lowers the hood of the second monk, "afraid." He approaches the third monk. "And they can never, ever be…"
The monk throws back its own hood to reveal the Doctor. "Surprised!" He said.
Arthur smirks as all soldiers are stunned by his sudden appearance.
"Hello everyone! Guess who!" The Doctor walks to the front of the stage. "Please point a gun at me if it helps you relax."
All the soldiers aim their guns at him. The two monks draw energised swords.
"As if," Arthur scoffed and started signalling the others to start the operation.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Vastra and Jenny enter communication and put swords to the two soldiers' necks.
"Go on, resist. I'm ever so hungry," Vastra taunted.
"Now, dear, which button controls the lights?" Jenny asked.
"We will never tell you!"
"Oh, biggest mistake ever, mate," a sudden female voice stated before a bluenette woman entered the communication room, holding a dagger and a stun gun. Before the door closes, the guards can see several soldiers lying on the ground, unconscious. "Now, I ask this time. Which button controls the lights? And if you lie, I'll kick you crouch so bad, you'll never reproduce again."
The guards went pale. "I-It's that one," one of them pointed at a yellow button.
Claudia smiles. "Thank you!" She said and watched the view curiously as Colonel Manton aimed his gun at the Doctor while Jenny and Vastra started tying the guards to the floor.
"Doctor, you will come with me, right now!" He demanded.
The Doctor turns and smiles at him. "3 minutes, 40 seconds. Amelia Pond! Get your coat!" He puts his hood back on as Claudia quickly presses the light button, causing a blackout so the Doctor can escape. After counting to 10, she turns on, enjoying the confusion of having the Doctor just disappear.
"I'm not a phantom," the Doctor declared from a speaker.
"Doctor?" Colonel Manton shouted.
"I'm not a trickster."
"Doctor?"
"I'm a monk."
"Doctor, show yourself!"
"It's him! He's here!" One of the soldiers exclaimed and aimed his gun at the monks. Other soldiers follow his steps as well. The monks take out their swords.
"It's him!" Another soldier stated before shooting one of the monks, causing a tension between the two factions.
"Weapon down! Do not fire!" Colonel Manton insisted. But it was too late. One of the monks raises his hand and energy shoots from it, killing a soldier. The colonel can only scream as the fight between soldiers and monks begin.
"Suckers," Claudia mumbled before her eyes, noticing an eye-patched woman walking away from the scene. "Rory, Mum, Kovarian just go south. Follow her," she informed via an earphone.
"Clever, isn't he?" Jenny amused beside Claudia.
"And rather attractive," Vastra added, finding the location of the hidden bomb and sending it to the Tardis' console so Arthur can transmit it to the pilots.
"You do realise he's a man, don't you, ma'am?"
"Mammals. They all look alike."
"Oh, thank you!" Both Jenny and Claudia said, huffing at the same time.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Stop! Wait! Listen to me!" Colonel Manton yelled, stopping the fight. "I am disarming my weapon pack." He put down his gun, holding his hands up. "Monks, I do this in good faith. I am now unarmed. All of you, discharge your weapon packs. The Doctor is trying to make fools of us. We are soldiers of God. We are not fools. We are not fools. We are not fools. We are not fools."
All the soldiers repeat it. "We are not fools!"
"We are not fools."
"We are not fools."
"We are not fools."
"We are not fools."
"We see about that," Arthur remarked and talked via the earphone. "Team A and B. That's your cue. Show them they are a fool."
On cue all members the Doctor manages to recruit appear, pointing their gun at all soldiers and monks.
"This base is now under our command!" Strax declared, pointing his gun at Colonel Manton.
"I have a fleet out there! If Demons Run goes down, there's an automatic distress call," he remarked.
"Not if we knock out your communications array!" The Doctor replied from a raised platform. "And you've got incoming!"
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Danny Boy to the Doctor."
"Give 'em hell, Danny Boy!" He said and mimicked himself as a plane.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The soldiers carried a bassinet between them, following Kovarian on a hanger.
"Get back in there with the rest of them. Remember, the Doctor must think he's winning, right until the trap closes!" Kovarian ordered. "I'll take my ship from here."
She keys in a code at the door as the two soldiers set down the bassinet and leave.
A computer voice said. "Airlock engaged. Shuttle ready for boarding."
"Stop."
Kovarian turns around and finds a brunette woman wearing a white lace dress standing, pointing a stun gun at her. From behind, Rory holds his sword to her neck.
"You won't get away," Rory stated coldly.
"I have a crew of 20, Centurion." Kovarian scoffed before looking at the woman in front of her. "How do you expect to gain control of my ship, Dame Redwood?"
"Do you think we came here unprepared?" Delaney retorted as airlock doors open and one of Kovarian's men is pushed out, trussed up so Kovarian can see him.
When Kovarian turns back, she finds a man and a boy.
"This ship is ours, m'lady!" The man, Captain Avery, declared.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Strax is escorting Colonel Manton by gun to the communication room, where everyone—including Arthur—gathered.
"All airlocks sealed and the Shadow Proclamation already sent their ships to come here," Claudia denoted.
The Doctor's sitting at the main control panel. "Sorry, Colonel Manton, I lied. 3 minutes, 42 seconds."
"Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw," Strax ordered.
"No. Colonel Manton... I want you to tell your men to run away."
Colonel Manton glares at him. "You what?"
"Those words. Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run-Away. I want children laughing outside your door, cos they've found the house of Colonel Run-Away." He quickly stands and points his finger at his chest. "And, when people come to you, and ask if they are trying to get to me through the people I love and care... is in any way a good idea... I want you to tell them your name. Oh, look! I'm angry. That's new. I'm really not sure what's going to happen now."
Kovarian arrives, escorted by two Silurians. Arthur let out a gasp and quickly hid behind Vastra, trying his best to remain calm. The woman herself doesn't care about him and simply addresses the Doctor. "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
The Doctor slowly turns his head to look at her. "Good men don't need rules," he replied. "Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."
"Give the order," she said instead, surprising everyone. "Give the order, Colonel Run-Away."
As the Silurians take her away, the Doctor notices Kovarian keeping her eyes fixed on the young boy, which makes him uneasy. "Vastra, Dorium, check every piece of data in this room," he told them. "Delaney, Claudia, tell everyone to check the perimeters on this place. Arthur, come with me."
"Where?"
He smiles. "To see Amy, of course."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The moment he sees Amy and Rory kissing and crying, the Doctor sort of regrets letting Arthur come with him. "Ugh, kissing and crying, we'll be back in a bit."
"Oi! You two! Get in here. Now," Rory ordered. They hurry over and join them. The Doctor points at the baby and smiles, while Arthur looks at the baby curiously. "My daughter. What do you think?"
"Hi!" Arthur smiles. "Eh…"
"Melody," Amy introduced.
"Melody! Hello, Melody Pond!" The Doctor greeted.
"Melody Williams," Rory clarified.
"...is a geography teacher. Melody Pond is a superhero!" Amy insisted.
The Doctor leans over and listens as Melody gurgles. Her hands keep moving toward Arthur. "Well, yes, I suppose she does smell nice," the Doctor acknowledged and grabbed her towards Arthur since the baby insisted on staying close to the boy. "Never really sniffed her, maybe I should give it a go. Amelia Pond, c'mere!"
"Doctor!" She smiles and hugs her.
"I'm sorry we were so long."
"It's okay, I knew you were coming. Three of you. My boys!" She looks around. "Where's Claudia and Delaney?"
"Checking the perimeter. They're excited to meet your daughter."
Melody squeals and starts playing with Arthur's hair.
"That's called hair, Melody," the Doctor told her. "And really you should call him Arthur, not Sunshine."
Amy frowns. "Okay, what are you doing?"
"I speak Baby."
"No, you don't!"
"I speak everything...Don't I, Melody Pond?" The Doctor asks and Melody gurgles, making him straighten his tie. "No, it's not...it's cool!"
They laugh with his response before Vastra enters and leans on the rail. "Doctor! Take a look. They're leaving," she told the Doctor and Arthur walked to the window and looked out as the soldiers marched away. Melody starts to gurgle again as Vastra continues. "Demons Run is ours without a drop of blood spilled. My friend, you have never risen higher!"
He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with him till the very end.
Arthur and Rory look at each other, worried about what will happen next.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Found it!" Delaney said before she and Claudia carried an old cot back to the console.
"Why do you need one?" Claudia asks as Arthur opens the Tardis' door.
"It's for Melody," he replied as they carried it out of the Tardis. "She's not hungry, she's tired. Sorry, Melody, they're just not listening."
"What's this?!" Amy looks at the cot.
"Very pretty, according to your daughter."
"It's a...it's a cot," Rory noticed.
"Here, let me," Delaney offered and took Melody in the cot.
Claudia looks at the baby with a sad face. Unlike any normal creatures, she wasn't born as a baby. It makes her situation with her parents much, much weirder.
"But where would you get a cot?" Rory asked.
"It's old. Really old," Amy frowns. "Doctor...do you have children?"
Delaney glances at Arthur as the Doctor replies. "No."
"Have you ever had children?"
"No, it's real, it's my hair," he told Melody. "Well, mine are different from Arthur. You can't assume everyone's hair is the same."
"Who slept in here?"
"Amy," Delaney kindly holds her hand. "Don't ask further. Please."
"Doctor! Delaney! We need you in the main control room," Vastra informed from the communication room.
"Be right there! Things to do... I've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave till we know."
"But this is where I was?" Amy probed him. "The whole time I thought I was on the Tardis, I was really here."
"Just physically," Claudia assured her.
"And when I saw that face looking through the hatch... that woman looking at me…"
"Reality bleeds through," Delaney guessed, knowing the detail from what the Doctor and Rory told her. "They must have taken you when you and Canton were investigating the orphanage."
"So her flesh avatar was with us all that time. But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the Tardis. Wherever we were in time and space," Rory concluded.
"Yeah, they're very clever," the Doctor admitted with a distasteful tone.
"Who are?"
"The silence," Arthur replied darkly. After all, who else would go into such things like that? "They… They got me for… for stuff… I'm not so sure about it. I think they might… might do the same for Melody."
"Is there anything you're not telling us? You knew Amy wasn't real, you never said," Rory pointed out.
"Well, I couldn't be sure they weren't listening," the Doctor said.
"But you always hold out on us. Please, not this time. Doctor, it's our baby. Tell us something. One little thing," Amy pleaded.
He glances at the cot. "It's mine."
"The cot?" Claudia guessed.
"It's my cot. I slept in there."
Rory looks at the hanging mobile over the cot as Amy looks at the cot. "Oh, my God. It's the Doctor's first stars," she realised and reaches into her pocket and pulled out the prayer leaf to wipe around her daughter's mouth.
As the Doctor and Delaney head to the communication room, all of sudden, Strax shouts, "Drop your weapon. State your rank and intent!" All of them find a woman holding her hand as Strax explains, "I found it listening at the door!"
"Lorna?" Claudia whispered, shock to find her here.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"You've hacked into their software then?" The Doctor asked as he and Delaney enter the room
Dorium, who's sitting on the chair, nods. "I believe I sold it to them."
"So what have we learned?"
"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake," Vastra recited.
"I'm sorry?"
"The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers."
"Well...You were very cross at the time," Delaney recalled of that particular adventure she had with 10th Doctor and Rose after the whole parallel universe.
"As you were today, old friend. Point taken, I hope," Vastra said and the Doctor nods in acceptance of her words. "Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"
"Of course she is. Her parents are humans, and so does she."
"They've been scanning her since she was born and I think they found what they were looking for," Dorium remarked and pulled it up on a screen.
Both the Doctor and Delaney look at the screen. "Human DNA," Delany noticed.
"Look closer. Human plus. Specifically...human plus Time Lord."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"You know her?" Arthur asked Claudia.
"I met her when she was young. There was a Racnoss, eating several children and adults for years in Gamma Forest. The Doctor and I recruited some people in Messaline for a rescue mission," Claudia explained.
"I heard that woman talking...this is a trap," Lorna warned. "Why would I lie to you?"
Rory steps forward. "Well, you might want to take a look at your uniform."
"The only reason I joined the Clerics was to meet the Doctor and Claudia again."
"You wanted to meet them, so you joined an army to fight them?" Arthur frowns.
"Well, how else do you meet a great warrior and fighter?" Lorna pointed out.
"He's not a warrior," Amy disagreed.
"Then why's he called the Doctor?"
"Because he's a healer," Claudia remarked as the lights went out.
"It's starting. Please listen to me," Lorna begged, knowing that she will listen to her.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"But she's human. She's Amy and Rory's daughter!" The Doctor insisted, confused beyond anything.
"You told me about your people," Vastra recalled. "They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The untempered schism…"
"Over billions of years, Vastra," Delaney pointed out, starts to get a feeling where this is going, and she doesn't like it one bit.
"So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?"
"Maybe?"
The Doctor quickly shook his head. "No, no! I don't think so."
Vastra raises her eyebrow. "You don't sound so sure."
"Because I don't understand how this happened!"
"Which leads me to ask... when did it happen?"
"Oh my words, really?" Delaney asked, starting to get flustered. "Please, I do not want to hear how babies were made, okay? My mother told me once, and I will not explain it again!"
"But could the child have begun on the Tardis, in flight, in the vortex."
"No, no, impossible!" The Doctor disagreed. "It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then I had to reboot the whole universe...long story. So technically the first time they were on the TARDIS together, in this version of reality, was on their…"
"Wedding night," Delaney finished with a horror face, looking at the Doctor with wide eyes.
"Doesn't make sense! You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord."
"Of course not, but you gave them one hell of a start and they've been working very hard ever since," Vastra stated.
"And yet they gave in so easily on her and Arthur. Does this not bother anyone else?" Dorium asked.
"Arthur?" The Doctor is now even more confused. "What's Arthur have to do with this?"
Dorium sighs sadly and shows the Doctor several files and pictures on the screen. All of it related to Arthur Jonas. Medical health records, his bio from the orphanage, his mental states, pictures that were taken from afar. Delaney finds herself sick to see the charts and notes that Kovarian had left behind regarding all schematics and plans she had on Arthur that were beyond humane.
"They had an eye on him before taking Amy," Dorium explained, showing them a video of Arthur wandering around Amy's house before being ambushed by the Silence. The Doctor had to hold his anger when the Silence zapped Arthur with electricity to knock him out. "For 2 months, Kovarian and the Silence are testing his limit after finding out that he's a Time Lord. Then, for some reason, they put him in a coma for a month and start to take an interest in Amy and Melody."
"Why?" The Doctor asked.
"We don't know. The files didn't mention anything other than to test what Arthur's body can do and can't do. But here's the confusing part," Vastra shared a result test of Arthur's DNA matching with someone.
"Can't be," Delaney muttered as she looked at the composition blood that showed Arthur had the closest DNA...with Amy.
"But this will make everything make sense. Why is he a Time Lord? Why can he time jump? Why can he see the future? If Arthur and Amy shares the same DNA—"
"Arthur Jonas isn't Melody Pond! He can't be!"
"You told me that Time Lords can change their gender when they regenerate. It is possible that Melody might regenerate to Arthur."
"If he is, then the Reapers will show up and eat everyone when he holds her!" The Doctor remarked harshly. "This is a mistake! Arthur can't be related to Amy and Rory!"
"Not if he's related to Melody," Delaney stated, trying to remain calm. If she takes account of Arthur's confession, then that means… Melody is…
"Why even do it?" The Doctor asked, didn't notice the sudden change on Delaney's face. "Even if you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?"
"A weapon?" Vastra guessed.
"Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?"
"Well...they've seen you."
"Me?" He asks as he sits down, stunned, while Delaney looks at the screen with conflicted feelings.
"Vastra, Dorium, get back with others. We'll sort this out," Delaney offered.
They nod and leave these two alone.
"Doctor—"
"I see you two accessed our files," Kovarian shows up on the screen, cutting Delany from talking. "Do you understand yet? Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away. But I like to keep tabs on you. The child then... What do you think?"
"What is she? What did you do to Arthur?"
"Him? Oh, he's just a mistake. But the other one… she's a hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war."
"What war? Against who?" The Doctor demanded.
"Against you, Doctor."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
In the main area, a glowing light appears around the Tardis. Arthur approaches and reaches a hand out to touch it. He pulls it back at the energy. "Force field," he realised. This isn't good.
Both Rory and Claudia are on alert as they hear a chanting and a slamming noise.
"And those are the doors... locking," Lorna noticed.
"Apparently we're not leaving," Vastra noted as the chanting getting closer.
"Is that the Monks?" Rory asked.
"Oh, dear God... that's the attack prayer," Dorium fretted.
"Quick, come with me," he leads Amy and Arthur away.
"Is the seal on?" Claudia askes.
"I'm trying to seal off this area of the lighting grid," he said.
"This is where we'll make our stand," Vastra denoted. "Clear lines of sight on all approaches. Centurion, you're needed!"
Rory quickly comes back as Claudia and Lorna search through large crates. "There should be some plasma pistol somewhere. They left everything," Lorna said.
"Then find them, boy!" Strax insisted.
"We're trying, Strax!" Claudia huffed.
Dorium walks towards the monks. "We don't have to fight. I'm friends to the Monks, they know me!"
"Yeah, and they know you just sold them out to the Doctor," Rory reminded him.
"Oh, they'll understand. It's only me, only silly old me." He holds his arms out wide. "You understand, don't you?"
"Mr. Maldovar, get back here!" Vastra warned.
"Arm yourself, fool!" Strax shouted.
"Dorium!" Both Rory and Claudia called.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Amy clings to her daughter and Arthur. Both her and the boy hear the sound of a sword and then something hitting the floor. Melody cries and Arthur had to close his mouth from yelping.
"Mr. Maldovar?" Vastra called from behind them.
"Dorium?" Rory asked.
"Too late," Claudia muttered sadly before speaking in a brave voice. "Everyone, guard yourself! And protect the child!"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor slams his hands down in anger as he shouts at the woman on the screen. "A child is not a weapon!" He snapped.
"Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be," Kovarian sneered.
"How dare you," Delaney fumed. "Using a child for your stupid declaration of war? You're sick, Kovarian! You're just a crazy, psychopathic woman!"
"And you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again," the Doctor vowed.
"Oh, Doctor, Dame Redwood. Fooling you once was a joy... but fooling you twice, the same way? It's a privilege."
The Doctor and Delaney look at each as they realise another horrible truth. "Amy," Delaney mumbled.
"Amy!"
They run from the room, trying to warn the others of their biggest mistake.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Demons run when a good man goes to war."
Arthur finds himself remembering an old poem that Kovarian had said to him. Every time before he got tortured.
"Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war."
"It's okay, Melody," he whispered to the baby as Amy held them.
"Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war."
They hear a sharp gasp from Lorna and Strax.
"Demons run but count the cost. The battle's won, but the child is lost."
Suddenly, Melody turn into a goo of a Flesh.
"Melody?" Arthur whispered in horror.
"Rory?" Amy called as a dreadful realisation hit her too and she screams. "Rory! Rory!"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor uses the sonic on the door. "Amy, she's not real! Melody, she's a flesh avatar!" He yelled and pounds on the door before it opens. He and Delaney run in, where the fighting is over. They can see Lorna and Strax lying on the floor, bleeding.
"Yeah, we know," Rory solemnly said before walking over to a dying Strax.
"So they took her anyway," Amy remarked bitterly, hugging the poor Arthur who's still crying on her chest while Jenny calms her down. "All this was for nothing.
Delaney looks down. "Amy, I—"
"Sorry? You can easily say that, since your daughter is still here."
"Amy... it's not her fault," Jenny reminded her. "None of this is their fault."
"I know, I know," she repeated as Rory put his arms around her and Arthur comforted them.
"Doctor, there's someone who wants to speak to you. Her name is Lorna, she came to warn us," Vastra informed him to follow her, where Claudia's holding Lorna's hand.
He uses the sonic to scan her, only to find her condition already gone critical. He squats down beside her and rubs his face with one hand in frustration. Lorna looked at him with a small smile. "You're here," she muttered weakly.
"You helped my friends, thank you," he said with a sad smile.
"I met you and Claudia once. In the Gamma Forests. You don't remember me."
"Hey, of course I remember." He holds her face between his hands. "I remember everyone. Hey, we ran, you, me, and Claudia! Didn't we run, Lorna?"
Lorna smiles one last time before she dies. "Who was she?" He asked Claudia.
"Someone we saved once," she simply said as she stood up. "So, what's the plan now? You mentioned that they might already be on Earth."
"Yes, they did," he recalled on their base near Florida, where they held First Arthur and a mysterious girl, who he's certain to be Melody herself. "And it's already too late."
"You're giving up? Just like that?"
"Don't you sometimes wish I did?" He asked back.
"Sometimes, yes. But now, I don't want you to."
There is a bright flash of light and a clap of displaced air. They all find River Song standing not far from the cot, wearing the same dress she wore when fighting the Silence on the Moon. "Well, then, soldier, kiddos, how goes the day?"
The Doctor strides over. "Where the hell have you been?!" He yelled, angry that she just shows up. "Every time you've asked, I have been there. Where the hell were you today?!"
"I couldn't have prevented this," River simply told him.
"You could've tried!"
"And so, my love, could you? Look at you now. Angry with me for things that I can't change beyond my reach. Isn't that precisely what you always did to Sunny? Accusing him for the deaths and horrible things that happened, no matter how many times he said he can't? Channelling all those rage and anger to someone else because you're too selfish to acknowledge that you can't control everything?" She glances at Amy and Rory. "I know you're not alright. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be."
"You think I wanted this? I didn't do this. This... this wasn't me!"
"This was exactly you. All this, all of it. You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor? The word for 'healer' and 'wise man', throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means 'mighty warrior'. How far you've come. They took an innocent child for experiments, kidnapped your best friend, and took her child to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you down. And all this, my love...in fear of you."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, look, your cot!" River walks behind hurriedly. "Haven't seen that in a very long while.
"No, no, you tell me. Tell me... who you are and who Arthur is to you," the Doctor insisted, gripping her wrist.
"I am telling you," she kindly said, taking his hand from her wrist and holding his hand on the cot. "Can't you read?"
The Doctor looks at the Gallifreyan writing on the cot and then up at River. He suddenly realises who she is and slowly smiles. "Hello."
"Hello."
"But then, Arthur—"
"I didn't choose that name randomly," River remarked. "Arthur is the middle name of my father, while Jonas is… well, you know better."
He looks between River and Arthur simultaneously. Jonas is the name of someone important to him back in Gallifrey. He initially thinks it's just a pure coincidence. But if what River implies is exactly as he thinks it is… "But... but that means…"
"I'm afraid it does."
He looks at Amy, Rory, and Claudia. Then, he looks at Delaney, who looks happy and sad at him. "You know this entire time."
"I promised to keep this a secret from Arthur and River," she revealed. "I can't break it, no matter how much I want."
"Can somebody please explain to me what's going on?" Arthur asked.
The Doctor glances at River. "Would you?"
"Just go," River nudges him.
"Vastra and Jenny, till the next time. Rory and Amy, I'll find your daughter and on my life, she will be safe. River and Delaney, get them all home and explain the situation!"
"Doctor?" Rory called as the man heading for the Tardis
"No! Where are you going?" Amy demands as the Doctor uses the sonic to lift the force field and enters the Tardis and soon the Tardis dematerialize.
"River. Explanation," Claudia insisted.
"The name of your daughter," she began, looking at Amy and Rory. "In the language of Gamma Forest, they don't have a word for 'pond'."
"'The only water in the forest is the river,'" Arthur recided, remembering Idris' cryptic messages. This is what she meant. "So it needs a substitute. The word 'pond'... becomes 'river'. And if the name turns around… 'melody' turns into 'song'."
Both Amy and Rory look down at the stitch that Lorna gave to Amy. Indeed, the name 'melody' became 'song' and the name 'pond' became 'river'.
"It's me. I'm Melody. I'm your daughter," River revealed. "And Arthur," she takes a moment to calm down from crying. "He's my son."
"You're my mother," he repeated. River Song… is his mother.
"Wait, if you're his mother," Rory glances at Claudia. "Then that means Claudia is your—"
"You KNOW?!" Arthur suddenly yelled, shocking everyone who heard it as the young brunette boy cast his glare at Delaney. "This entire time, you lied to me about who my parents are?!"
"We can't reveal it to you," Delaney answered honestly. She can't even muster herself to yell back.
"Why not?! Because I'm a child? Because you can pretend that you don't know that River is the mother, who abandoned me and let me get kidnapped in the first place?!"
"I didn't know they would get you. I swear, I really didn't know!"
"HOW could you not know?! If you know my parents, then you know what the Silence did to me! Or is that just another excuse you made since you can fool me?!"
"You told her not to!" River shouted, stopping the fight between Arthur and Delaney.
Arthur snarls at her. "You're lying."
"I do lie, a lot. But about you?" River shook her head. He can sense an honesty beneath her gaze that shows a tear's going to come out. "Never. Because I care about you, Sunny. It pains me that I could never be a part of your childhood."
He takes a deep breath as tears almost come out of his eyes. "So why do you and the Doctor left me on my own?" He demanded. "Why wait until now?!"
"Because Time is cruel and Time curses us, the Time Traveller." River replied, start to look away. "If I didn't send you to that orphanage… you would never travel with the Doctor. Kovarian won't know you and your blood to track Amy and take me. I won't become the woman I am now, which will jeopardise your existence. As much as it hurt me to let you be taken away, I can't risk losing you. I would rather die than live with the knowledge that I killed my son."
"And you made me promise to keep this a secret until now," Delaney added sadly. Knowing the truth doesn't make anything better for her. It just getting worse. "I want to stop this, truly I do. But I can't... I can't risk losing you or everyone else."
"Time can be rewritten!" He insisted. "You know that! You don't have to worry about me. I might-"
"No. Don't you dare to think about changing it without caring yourself. I don't want my timeline to be change. I don't want to forget you and mother. As much as it pains me to..." Claudia takes a break as her breath starts shaking a bit. But she continue talking. "We all love you. Even... even if I didn't get to spend my time with my own father, I won't change it." She smiles in pain. "So don't change it, okay? Please... Dad."
Oh my God. Claudia is... "I didn't want this," Arthur's hands clenched into fists. "I didn't want to live out of order. I want a happy, normal life. I didn't ask to be abandoned, to be left alone, to be hidden by secrets I deserve to know."
"I know. And I'm sorry for causing so much pain," his mother apologised. "I love you, Sunny. Your father loves you. Claudia and Delaney love you. I don't mind if you hate me. It won't stop me from loving you."
Arthur stays silent, saying nothing else as he looks at the woman who gave birth to him until he jumps into another timeline.
Note: Bet you didn't see the twist with Claudia. Or are you?
