The Doctor:
"Sera, please, you need to eat something." I begged her, seeing her still sat in the console room, watching out of the door in silence. She hadn't eaten in days, barely moving from there, only coming when I dragged her to bed, or into the shower. I'd had to wash her because she just didn't care, she knew our daughter was safe, but she also couldn't feel anything but loss. It had been this way for three months.
Sera stared out of the door in silence, hugging her knees to her chest. "Please, my Princess. You know she is safe, you know that River is our Melody, and that she is safe and sound now."
"But we also know how she dies. I, I knew she was our daughter, I did since the Library, but... I wanted to bring her up, Asa, that's all I wanted, to raise our baby girl, our Melody, and then Arcadia, and River, River was on my list of names. I wanted our baby to be with us..."
She knew. She knew who River was this whole time. Her mind made connections so much faster than mine did, she saw that it had to be who she was, I just wished that she could have told me. Stupid rules.
I sat down beside her, pulling her onto my lap and rocked her gently as she started to cry again, hiding her face in my neck. "I know, my Sera, I know. I wanted that too. But we also know that she has a good life, she marries Jack, has good friends. Please, I can't see you like this again, it nearly killed me last time."
"I, I can't, I can't I can't, it hurts, it hurts so bad... Please, I just want the pain to stop..."
"Sera, Sera, stop, look at me, look at me, Seraphina." She stopped, looking up at me, and my hearts broke even more to see her like this. It was worse than she was just numb, then, then she didn't feel anything, but this? This was pure, 100% pain. "I can feel this too, my Princess, my hearts, my hearts were so, so happy when I knew that you were pregnant, when I knew that we were having Melody, River. And to have her suddenly ripped away from us..."
Tears started to fall down my own cheeks then, and she wiped them away for me for once, trying to sniff back hers. "I, I'm sorry my Angel, my sweet, sweet Angel. I, I didn't think about you, how could I do that... I'm sorry, I, I'm sorry."
"Oh, it's not your fault, Dear." I laughed slightly, kissing her forehead. "But you carried her, you gave her life, my Sera. Please, just... Come eat something, get some sleep, just try and keep going. For your sister and Rory."
"I'll try, I, I promise. I'll try. I need, I need time." She whispered back, resting her forehead on mine. "I'll try."
Amy:
Road rally through a corn maze, had nothing else to try to get their attention. "Okay, left. Sharp turn! Okay, right. No, no, no, I mean left. No, sorry, right, right. I definitely meant right. Now loop the loop." I was hating this, I was just getting jostled about but if it got Sera and the Doctor here, then hopefully we could find out if they tracked down their daughter. "Stop! Stop!"
And there, in the middle of the crop circle we just made, was the TARDIS. The Doctor came out, holding a copy of the Leadworth Chronicle with the headline Leadworth's Crop Circle. Incredibly old, but still readable. "Seriously?" He asked us, while we got out of Rory's tiny little Mini.
"Well, you never answer your phone. Not even, not even Sera did." Rory said, following me out.
"Okay, you've had all summer. Did you found her? Did you found Melody?"
I watched him falter, and then I knew he didn't. Sera... "Permission?" He asked Rory. Why did they do that? I was married to Rory, and he was married to Sera.
"Granted." He passed him the newspaper and hugged me.
"You know who she grows up to be, so you know we will find her. Our Melody, River."
"But you haven't yet." I sighed. "How's Sera? I, is she alright?"
The Doctor pulled away, looking at me hard for a moment, before glancing back at the TARDIS. "She's... coping. I think that's the best word for it. She's different. Really, really different. She's so, so broken." No. Please then, then it can't be far off... He walked over to the door and opened it a little, and then my sister came out.
She was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and a dark blue suit jacket over the top. Trousers, not a dress. No, just no. It was so soon for her... "Uh, hi." She smiled, her eyes heavily rimmed, like, Alice standard Goth, and her hair covering her face.
I just hugged her, and she hugged me back, her eyes closing tight. "I've missed you, Sera. I'm so, so sorry."
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault and my daughter is alive and well. My Melody is safe."
"Hang on. What's this bit?" Rory asked, and then we looked, seeing that there was line through the middle of the crop design.
I frowned, confused. "That wasn't us."
And then the sound of an engine could be heard. "Argh!" We all dove for cover, apart from Seraphina who just threw up her hands, some how casting a big veil of golden energy that stopped the car. She'd been practising.
"You said he was funny and she was weird. You never said he was strange and she was a Witch." Oh, Mels...
"Mels!" Rory shouted, getting to his feet while Sera just glared at her.
"What are you doing here?"
She shrugged, still looking at Sera. "Following you. What do you think? So, this is the new Alice, is it? Have to say, loving the magick, it's rather amazing."
She had a flashy red Chevvy Corvette. "Er, where did you get the car?" Rory asked her.
"It's mine." And then there were sirens in the distance. "Ish."
"You promised me, Mels. You promised me that you'd stopped this once you stole that bus, after my birthday party!" Sera shouted, her eyes flashing gold. Not that it seemed to faze her.
"Sorry. Hello. Doctor not following this. Doctor very lost. You never said I was strange? Hello, Mels, long time to see!"
"Is that the phone box?" She asked, obviously not realising that she had met him before as Dave. "The bigger on the inside phone box? Oh, time travel. That's just brilliant. Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm their best mate. Alice's too, and they told me she changed form."
"I danced with everyone at their wedding and later mine. You weren't at either, even though you were invited." The Doctor told her, his arms around Sera, her nails a mid ground red. I knew why she was angry for once at least.
"I don't do weddings, and everyone thinks Alice is dead. Which I supposed she is, Sera." The sirens were getting closer. "And that's me out of time." Mels pulled a gun out on them, and I knew that there was no way Sera would be able to stop the bullets hitting home.
"Mels!" I cried, frustrated, angry and just a little bit scared this time.
"For God's sake! What are you doing?" Rory shouted, half putting his hands up. Guns, unfortunately we had so much practice with dealing with them.
"I need out of here, now." There was now a helicopter after her, great. She by far had sunk to a whole new low after the bus incident.
The Doctor cleared his throat, stepping in front of Seraphina who was just staring at the gun, as though she could atomise it. "Anywhere in particular?"
"Well, let's see. You've got a time machine, I've got a gun. What the hell. Let's kill Hitler."
Sera:
Flashbacks:
Amelia had so so many of these Doctor and Writer toys now, and she still kept making more! Mels and Rory were over, though they were being mean to him again, and I was trying to put the washing away. "Is he strange? Is she like a Witch, with her eyes?" I heard her ask him, and I sighed. I could barely remember the evening, I was hit by the weird light.
"No, he's funny and she's weird." Amelia replied, "right, Alice?"
"Amelia, I told you, I can't really remember, but he was definitely funny. Remember when he slapped himself in the forehead?" He was, and they seemed like a couple who could have taken care of us. Not that I couldn't, but sometimes I missed just being able to sit and read. I loved books.
"But how can they travel in time?"
I laughed, throwing a cardigan of her at her. "Because they've got a time machine, stupid."
And then Rory came in, looking hurt at the way they treated him. I did feel sorry for him, but he was always nice, helping me when he was over. "I thought we were playing hide and seek. I've been hiding for hours."
"Well, we just haven't found you yet." Amelia told him, while Mels just sighed, looking at a Writer doll, with long black hair, longer than her body. I told her it wasn't that long but she didn't listen to me.
"Okay. Hi, Mels, hi, Alycea." He sighed, heading back out of the room.
"Hi, Rory."
"Hey, my lovely, and it's Alice." I smiled, and then the door closed behind him. "You could be nicer to him, you two."
DW
She was in the headmasters study, again. For the 4th time this week. Amelia and I were waiting outside for her, and we followed her out into the playground, my long red curls frizzing in the heat.
"Why are you always in trouble?" I asked her, arms folded. "You're the most in trouble in the whole school, except for boys."
She glanced back at me. "And Amelia."
Who just rolled her eyes. "I count as a boy. You're as smart as Alice, you could be pretty amazing, Mels."
"Who wants to be good, there's no fun in that." She laughed as we passed Rory, blindfolded in a game they'd been playing earlier and gotten bored of.
"Am I getting warm?" He asked, and they kept walking, not even looking at him.
"Yes, Rory."
I stopped and went over to him, taking off the blindfold and giving him a hug. He was already taller than me, not that it was hard. I was the smallest girl in year 6. "Be patient Rory, that's all you can be. She's all grumpy and can't see what's right in front of her right now. Even if you have to wait 2000 years for her to see you, it'll be worth it."
DW
This was getting ridiculous. "You've shot it! You shot our TARDIS!" I shouted, clutching hold of the console as we were thrown about, Amy and Rory grabbing hold of the rails. "You shot the console!"
"It's his fault!" She shouted back, pointing at the Doctor who'd given up and just let himself get thrown about while I tried to right us.
"Argh! How's it my fault?"
"You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace."
"That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie." I screamed, managing to lock on to a location in real space-time, just before we were about to be thrown out of the vortex into nothingness. For the second time that week. Never let the Doctor fly.
We landed and I ushered everyone, grabbing my new coat as I did. I found a black velvet dress coat, and I fell in love with it. "Out, out, out! Everybody out. Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!"
"Where are we?" Amy asked, looking around.
"A room." The Doctor replied, not really looking, more checking to make sure I was alright. I was fine, I was dealing, and that was as good as it was ever going to get.
Rory looked at him, his 'I ain't taking any shit' face on point today. "What room?"
"I don't know what room. I haven't memorised every room in the universe yet. I had yesterday off."
I dashed forwards, pulling Mels back away from the doors to the TARDIS. "Mels, don't go in there." I grabbed the gun, hefting the weight in my hand. Guns weren't my style, I liked blades. Riv, Melody liked guns...
"Oi."
"Bad smoke. Don't breathe the bad, bad, smoke. Bad, deadly smoke because somebody shot our TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted at her, still incredibly angry at this. Couldn't blame him.
"Sera, Doctor. This guy, I think he's hurt." Rory called, checking over a guy we must have hit while coming in through the window. Well, the wall. He quickly checked hit vitals. "No, hang on. No, he's fine."
I put the gun in a fruit bowl on the desk, and then turned to a guy still righting himself. "Ooo, hello. Sorry, is this your office? Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about-" He turned around. Adolf Hitler...
"It." The Doctor finished for me, still staring in shock.
"Who?" Rory asked, looking alarmed. Yeah you should be.
Amy leaned forward, whispering in mine and the Doctor's ears. "Is that? No, it can't be, Sera, Doctor?"
"Thank you, whoever you are." He said, looking incredibly startled. Well, we did nearly run him over with a time machine. "I think you have just saved my life."
"Believe me," I muttered, "it was an accident."
Then he saw the TARDIS, going to look at it. "What is this thing?"
"What did he mean, we saved his life?" Amy asked, looking furiously at us all. "We could not have just saved Hitler."
"You see? You see? Time travel, it never goes to plan." The Doctor growled, looking at Mels who seemed completely unfazed by all this. She wasn't fazed by me changing, by my time stop with the car, or when me eyes changed colour, why?
"This box. What is it?" Hilter asked, getting us all to look back at him.
"It's a police telephone box from London, England." He looked at me in alarm while I gave him a sly smile. "That's right, Adolf. The British are coming."
The man we knocked over stood up then, and Hitler pointed his gun at him. "No, stop him!" We ducked as he shot him.
And then Rory punched him.
Rory, the adorable little nurse from Leadworth, punched Hitler. Remind me to hug him for that later. He got hold of his gun and pointed it at his head. Remind me to hug him twice. "Sit still, shut up."
Amy walked over to Zimmerman, I'm guessing that's who he was, seeing if he was alright. "Are you okay?
"Yes, yes. Yes, I'm fine. I think he missed."
"He was going to kill me." Hitler tried, but our amazing Mr Pond was having none of it.
"Shut up, Hitler!"
"Rory, take Hitler and put him in that cupboard over there. Now do it." I told him, moving towards the man. There was something not right here.
"Right. Putting Hitler in the cupboard. Cupboard, Hitler. Hitler, cupboard. Come on." He dragged him, still holding his gun, to the cupboard.
Adolfy looked at him in shock. "But I am the Fuhrer!"
"Right, in you go!"
"Who are you?" He asked, just as Rory shut the door on him. Good on you, now if only we could keep him in there for the next 7 years....
The Doctor and I looked at the man, who seemed to be taking this all rather well, no shaking, not rambling, nothing. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I" And then he just toppled over. Yup, android.
Rory was at his side in moments, but then shrugged. "I think he just fainted."
"Yes, that was a faint." I agreed. "A perfect faint." I looked over at Mels, who was stood at the far wall, a hand over her stomach. "Mels?"
"Hitler"
"What about him?" The Doctor asked, looking confused.
"Lousy shot." And then she collapsed, clutching her side. Please... Please, no...
"Mels! Mels!"
"Rory!"
"No, no, no, no! I've got to stop the bleeding" He said, already at her side, doing his nurse things, trying to keep her alive.
"How bad is it? Rory, what can we do?" Amy asked him, while I just brushed her hair out of her face, trying to keep her away.
"Just keep her conscious. Stay with us, Mels."
"Hey, look at me, my Lovely. Just hold on." I begged her, desperate to keep the third and only other tie to my Leadworth life.
"I used to dream about you two. All those stories Amy used to tell me." She smiled, looking between the Doctor and I.
"What stories? Tell me what stories. Vampires in Venice. That's a belter."
"When I was little, I was going to travel with you."
"Good idea, let's go travelling, my Lovely. You stay alive and we'll take you with us, deal? Deal?"
"Shouldn't you ask my parents permission?" What? S, she didn't have parents, she was in a Foster Home, then she stayed with us when she was kicked out. But the Doctor didn't know that.
"As soon as you're well, I'll get on the phone."
"Might as well do it now, since they're both right here. Penny in the air." We paused, then leaned back. No... "Penny drops." And then she started to regenerate.
"What the hell's going on?" Rory asked, not understanding.
"Back! Back! Back! Get back!" I shouted, knowing what was coming next. I'd been through it myself.
She got to her feet, looking at the glowing hands and feet in interest. "Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York."
"Okay, Sera, Doctor, explain what is happening, please."
"Mels. Short for?" I asked, knowing what it must be.
"Melody."
The Doctor glanced at me. "Did you name our daughter after her?"
I nodded, feeling pretty stupid now. "Yeah, and apparently I name our daughter after our daughter. That is some Back to The Future shit, right there."
"It took me years to find you mum. I'm so glad I did, especially when dad showed up as that skinny boy in a suit. And you see? It all worked out in the end, didn't it. You got to raise me after all."
"You're Melody?" Amy asked, finally having it hit her properly.
"But if she's Melody, that means that she's also-"
Melody shut him up, close to full regeneration. "Shut up, Uncle Rory. I'm focusing on a dress size." And then she lit up the room, her regeneration energy a mixture of the usual gold, but with red through it as well. And then, then she was in the form I knew and loved. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Whoa! Right, let's see, then. Ooo, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair! Oh, the hair. It just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that. Everything changes. Oh, but I love it. I love it! I'm all sort of mature." She grinned, striking a pose. "Hello, Benjamin."
"Who's Benjamin?" I asked, slightly confused at that. I, I raised my daughter. She was my Melody...
"The teeth. The teeth, the teeth! Oh, look at them." She laughed, biting her finger and running over to hug me. That was nice. Apart from the obvious ulterior motive. "Excuse me, you lot. I need to weigh myself." And then she ran off into a side room, leaving us in shell shock.
"That's Melody." I muttered, resting my head on the Doctor's shoulder, while he was just staring where she'd just been stood.
Rory sucked in a breath. "That's River Song. I was teased by my niece." Oops...
And then she stuck her head back through the door. "Who's River Song?"
"Spoilers." The Doctor said quickly. Nice save.
"Spoilers?" She asked, frowning in confusion. "What's spoilers? Hang on, just something I have to check." Oh, I knew what she was doing, I remembered the feeling of suddenly having a decent sized chest.
"Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult? I'm getting a sort of banging in my head." Rory sighed, rubbing his temples.
Amy patted his shoulder lightly. "Yeah, I think that's Hitler in the cupboard."
"That's not helping." Nope, but it was still rather amazing that he punched Hitler in the face.
This isn't the River Song we know yet." I told them, squeezing the Doctor's hand really tight. "This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her own name. Or, the name she chose, anyway. She's still my Melody."
"Oh, that's magnificent!" We heard her yell, and then she appeared back in the doorway. "I'm going to wear lots of jodhpurs." She walked forwards, somehow now holding Hitlers gun. "Well, now, enough of all that. Down to business."
"Oh, hello. I thought we were going to travel the Universe together, my Lovely." I told her, smiling slyly.
"Sera, what's she doing?" Rory asked while I positioned myself in front of my husband, protecting her from our daughter.
"What she's programmed to." I told him, letting my eyes burn gold, seeing hers do the same. "Hereditary, right? That's why they took them away from me, to make sure that you had them too."
"Where'd she get the gun?" Amy asked, while I just shrugged.
"Hello, Benjamin."
"You noticed." She tried to fire, but the chambers were empty.
I emptied the pocket of my velvet coat, the bullets falling to the ground. "Of course I noticed. "I know you did."
"I know you know." I laughed as she pointed a banana at me instead. "Battle of the Priestess's, huh, my Song."
"Goodness, is killing your husband going to take all day?"
I folded my arms at her, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Are you busy?"
"Oh, I'm not complaining." She grabbed a letter opener, and I zapped her hand with Time Energy.
"If you were in a hurry, you could've killed him in the cornfield."
"We'd only just met officially. I'm a psychopath. I'm not rude." She grabbed Zimmerman's automatic, but I had the clip.
"You are not a psychopath. I thought I was, but then I realised I had a choice. I chose to be me."
"Oh, Mummy, Mummy, pay attention." She sighed, letting her perfect silver eyes turn gold again. "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill the Doctor."
No. She was born to be our daughter and they turned her into this... "Demons Run, remember?" The Doctor said lightly, seeing that I faltered. "This is what they were building. My bespoke psychopath daughter."
She smiled, walking over to him. "I'm all yours, sweeties." She lightly kissed his cheek.
"Only River Song gets to call us that." I told her, trying to get her to realise that we weren't going to let her go. She was our daughter and we loved her.
"And who's River Song?"
"An old friend of mine. She was one of my bridesmaids."
"Stupid name." She told me, and I knew how wrong she was. Melody moved to the gap in the wall, looking out at the city. "Oh, look at that. Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town. Mum, Uncle Rory, Aunt Amy, don't follow me. And, yes, that is a warning."
"No warning for me then?" The Doctor asked her, while I realised. No...
"No need, daddy dearest. The deed is done and so are you."
And then he staggered, making me instinctively grab a hold of him and hold him up. "Doctor, what's wrong?" Amy asked him, while I just glared at my daughter.
"What have you done? River!"
"Oh, River, River, River. Really, I thought I was your daughter, not her." Well...
"What have you done?" The Doctor demanded, leaning hard on me to keep himself up right.
"It was never going to be a gun for you, Dad. The man of peace who understands every kind of warfare, except, perhaps, the cruellest." When she kissed him on the cheek... She played on his love for her... "Be home by midnight mum." And then she jumped down out of the window.
"What's wrong with you? What's she done to you?" Rory asked, while I carefully lowered him to the ground, wiping his quiff out of his face, already starting to get paler, and his skin was clammy.
"Poisoned me. But I'm fine. Well, no, I'm dying, but I've got a plan."
I shook my head, not understanding. "What plan? She can block me, she's able to restrict my visions, I didn't see this coming, I'm sorry! She's twice as strong as I am."
"Not dying. See? Fine." Oh, like that was really fine.
"Okay, what do we do? How do we help you?" Rory asked him, checking his hearts and his temperature.
"Take this. The TARDIS can home in on it. Now, go. Get after her." He handed me his screwdriver, and I sighed. He was going back into the TARDIS, where there was toxic smoke currently billowing around.
"You said the smoke was deadly." Amy pointed out.
He shook his head, getting me to help him back to his feet and over to the doors. "No, no, the smoke's fine. The poison will kill me first. Now, get after River, Seraphina!"
"I don't understand, okay? One minute she's going to travel with you, her mum and dad and then she's going to kill you, Doctor, but not Sera."
"Ah, well, she's been brainwashed. It all makes sense to her. Plus, she is a girl, like a teenager. What teenager want to be seen with their parents?" We all raised our eyebrows at him. "Oh, shut up. I'm dying."
The Doctor:
"Extractor fans on!" They started sucking out the smoke, much to my amazement. "Oh, that works." I crawled up to the main deck, sitting on my knees as I felt my hearts working like stink to keep me alive. "I'm shutting down. I need an interface. Voice interface. Come on, emergency."
"Voice interface enabled." And that was me.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no. Give me someone I like." Rose. "Oh, thanks. Give me guilt and pain over the fact she was a bitch to my wife." Martha. "Also guilt." Donna. " More guilt." Sera, ginger Sera. "So, so much guilt! Argh. Come on, there must be someone left in the universe I haven't screwed up yet."
"Voice interface enabled." Two voices, two, very, very special voices.
"Oh. Oh, Alycea and Amelia Pond, before I got it all wrong. My sweet little Ginge's."
"We are not Alycea and Amelia Pond. We are the voice interfaces."
"Hey, let's run away and have adventures. Come along, Ponds." I laughed, weakening more and lying flat on my stomach.
"We are not Alycea and Amelia Pond. We are the voice interfaces."
Yes, you've said that already. "You are so Scottish, girls. How am I doing?"
"Your system has been contaminated by the poison of the Judas tree." Alycea told me, holding her sisters hand.
Amelia finished for her. "You will be dead in thirty two minutes."
"Okay. So, basically better regenerate, that's what you're saying." Not that I could any longer. I'd used them all up, and I hadn't told my Sera yet...
"Regeneration disabled."
"You will be dead in thirty two minutes."
I sighed. "Unless I'm cured, yeah?"
"There is no cure."
"You will be dead in thirty two minutes."
Groaning, I looked up at them, stood there like the first day I met them. "Why do you keep saying that?"
"Because you will be dead in thirty two minutes." They said together, completely void of emotion.
"You see? There you go again. Basically skipping thirty one whole minutes when I'm absolutely fine." This was silly, I wanted them, not some hologram. "Scottish, that's all I'm saying." Well, Scottish-Gallifreyan.
"You will be fine for thirty one minutes." Alycea told me.
And Amelia concluded it. "You will be dead in thirty two minutes."
"Scotland's never conquered anywhere, you know. Not even a Shetland. Riv, Melody needs me. She's only just beginning, she needs her parents. I can't die now."
"You will not die now."
"You will die in thirty two minutes."
"I'm going out in the first round. Ringing any bells? Argh! Okay, need something for the pain now. Come on, Alycea, Amelia. It's me. Please."
"We are not Alycea and Amelia Pond. We are the voice interfaces."
"Alycea, Amelia, listen to me. I can be brave for you, but you have got to tell me how." I begged, desperate to just hear them say something, something they would normally say.
"We are not Alycea and Amelia Pond. We are the voice interfaces." Stop saying that!
"Alycea. Amelia, please." I hid my face, getting cold and clammy, and just feeling like I did when I had flu. Except Sera wouldn't call this being a baby.
"Fish fingers and custard."
"Skittles and Mountain Dew."
I looked up, feeling adrenaline start to surge through my body. "What did you say? Fish fingers and custard? Skittles and Mountain Dew? Oh, Alycea and Amelia Pond. Fish fingers and custard. Skittles and Mountain Dew!"
Sera
What on Earth was my daughter doing? She was walking through a Nazi camp, surrounded by Nazi soldiers, and she didn't care!
"What are you doing here?" The leader asked her, and I got ready to help her, knowing that they were probably going to try and shoot her.
"Well, I was on my way to this gay Gypsy Bar-Mitzvah for the disabled, when I thought gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish. I think I'll kill the Fuhrer. Who's with me?" Yup, she was going to get shot.
"Shoot her." I cried out as they all fired, watching her just start to laugh.
"Tip for you all. Never shoot a girl while she's regenerating." What? Her body started to heal, and Melody knocked them all out with her regeneration energy, then taking their guns. "Ah. Now, that hit the spot. Thanks, boys. Call me."
She grabbed a motorbike, straddling it with ease. "Melody! What are you doing?" I asked her, already to run after her. I was a Time Lord copying a Calderrian, I could keep up with a crappy old motorbike.
"New body, new town. I'm going shopping." She drove away, just as another soldier came out on a bike.
"Amy, Rory, you need to get that bike, I'm running it." I told them, sprinting after her, easily getting up speed to dodge everything around me, seeing her in the distance.
She stopped outside of a restaurant, and I ground to a halt myself, my feet skidding in the grit and the gravel and I followed her inside, waiting cautiously in the doorway, watching her shoot at the ceiling. She said she was shopping... "Ladies and gentleman, I don't have a thing to wear." The guns were now pointed at the people. "Take off your clothes."
And then Amy ran in. "Ame's? Amy, where's Rory?" She stopped, and I saw that it wasn't Amy. She was changing, her skin getting darker, her eyes changing to my colour, and then she was me. "Hello, Teselecta 6018."
DW
"Amelia, Roranicus!" I shouted, getting stuck inside a giant replica of myself. "Oi! All I want right now is to help my daughter, and you're hindering that!"
"Welcome. You are unauthorised. Your death will now be implemented."
I sighed. "And you would be an anti-body. Thank you so much for your concern, but really? I'm authorised to be anywhere."
"Please remain calm while your life is terminated."
"Shut up, I'm in enough pain right now." I told it, shutting it down and then finding the lift, waiting for it to turn up. "Hello? If you don't want your security system shut down from one antibody, I recommend you come and get me, tiny people inside replica me!"
And then a person came out of the lift, trying to grab my hand and put something on it. I pulled away, eyebrow raised. "High Pirestess, please." I relented and he put a wrist band on me, turning it green. "Privileges activated. See? Activated." He told the next antibody coming over to us.
"You are authorised. Your existence will continue." Yeah, like they could kill me.
The man bowed his head a little. "High Priestess Seraphina. This is Justice Department Vehicle six zero one eight, not that you didn't already know that. You're not guilty of anything, well, anything that was your fault." Thank you for that. "Welcome aboard the Teselecta."
Melody
Oh, I did like this new body. With daddy dearest on his way out, it meant my job was done just as it got started. "I might take the age down a little, just gradually, to freak people out." I muttered to myself, looking in the mirror as I played with the clothes the people 'gave' me.
And then my mother ran in, her long black coat still catching on her ankles. Well, someone had practised their Calderrian speed. "You killed the Doctor."
"Oh yes, I know, dear. I hope you're not going to keep on about it. Oh, regeneration. It's a whole new colouring to work with." It really was, and luckily the Luftwaffe uniform seemed to be pretty good with my new curls. Now they were going to take some practice styling.
"You killed the Doctor on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?" She asked me, and I didn't even look at her. It was my job to kill to kill my father, and I knew that it would be hurting my mother. She did mean so much to me, she raised me when she was only a few years older. Sort of.
"Quite honestly, I don't really remember." I said softly, not looking at her. "It was all a bit of jumble." Then I was engulfed in light, and it was excruciating. "No! No! Get off me!"
"Sorry, did you say she killed the Doctor? The Doctor? Doctor who?" I looked up the steps, seeing my father stood leaning against his TARDIS, wearing evening dress, a top hat and carrying a cane.
"You're dying and you stopped to change?" I asked incredulously, wondering if it was him I'd inherited a love of clothes from. Lets be honest, what my mother wore, dresses and Gothic make up? Not really me.
"Oh, you should always waste time when you don't have any. Time is not the boss of you. Rule four hundred and eight." Rules? It was so much more fun to be bad. "Mrs Seraphina Pond, judgement death machine. Why am I not surprised? Sonic cane." He grinned at me, showing me the top of it.
"Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious." He told me, and then a voice came out of his cane. Mum.
"Rule twenty seven. You might want to write these down, my Song. Oh, it's a robot, by the way, my Angel." What the hell?
"With four hundred and twenty three life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people. Love it. But how do you all get in there, though. Bigger on the inside?"
Mums voice came back through the cane, and I guessed that she was speaking through her own sonic screwdriver. "No, basic miniaturisation sustained by a compression field."
"Ooo. Watch what you eat, it'll get you every time." He laughed, shaking his head at his own joke. He really was not funny. "Amy, if you and Rory are okay, signal me." The top of the cane lit up. "Thanking you." And then he toppled over, trying to regain his balance. "Argh! I'm so sorry. Leg went to sleep. Just had a quick left leg power nap. I forgot I had one scheduled." And then he let let himself sit down fully. "Actually, better sit down. I think I heard the right one yawning."
I tried to run, knowing that I needed to get out of this, that I needed to get back to the future. But the robot of my mother grabbed me again with the beam. "Don't you touch her! Do not harm my daughter in any way!" He shouted, and the pain stopped, but I was still trapped in the energy field.
"Why would you care?" The robot asked him. "She's the women who kills you."
Dad gave the robot a wry grin, then looked over at me, as though to check I was alright. Why did he care? I wasn't his first kid, not like Sera. "She's my daughter and I love her with both my hearts. I'm not dead."
"You're dying."
"Well, at least I'm not a time travelling shape shifting robot operated by miniaturised cross people, which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming. What do you want with her? Why do you want my daughter?"
"She's Melody Pond. According to records, the woman who kills the Doctor." Records? I'd only just done it!
"And I'm the Doctor. So what's it to you? I can discipline my own daughter, thank you." Discipline? Really? You only really met me once, and that was to break me out of prison, remember?
"Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes. Time travel has responsibilities." Please, I came to this time to shoot Hitler, that wasn't a responsibility, that was a whim.
"What? You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?" That summarised what robo-mum said pretty well.
"We don't kill them." She replied cooly, not looking at me. I bet the real mum in there was threatening them left right and centre. "We extract them near the end of their established timelines."
Dad, amazingly still alive, glanced at me, and gave me a brave smile. Why did he care? He's had children before, Michael, Lillian and Danny, I'm just the latest. "And then what?"
"Give them hell." Good luck with that, I grew up for the first 8 years of my life in an American orphanage with no one to look after me. That was hell.
Sera:
Oh, oh my Doctor... He was dying, and I was stuck in here where I couldn't get to him. "I'd ask you who you think you are but I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am, huh? The woman who killed the Doctor, yet you don't care she's my daughter. It sounds like you've got my biography in there. I'd love a peek."
You knew that you couldn't know that, rule 4, Spoilers. "Our records office is sealed to the public. Foreknowledge is dangerous."
"Yeah, well, I'll be dead in three minutes." My breathing hitched, not that no one actually noticed. He was my husband, I couldn't lose him. "There isn't much foreknowledge left."
"Sorry, can't do that."
I growled out right, turning the captain around in his chair and looking at him. "That man is my husband and best friend. That woman is my daughter. You give him anything he wants, or so help me..." I left the threat open. I was on file, they knew what I was capable of.
"If she's family, she has privileges. Besides, she ranks higher than all of us." Don't remind me, I hated being one of the highest ranking anythings.
Carter tapped a few things into my wrist band. "Say access personal records, the Doctor."
"Access personal records, the Doctor."
"Records available."
"Question." The Doctor said, looking so weak now, and all I wanted was to hold him. "I'm dying. Who wants me dead?"
"The Silence." My voice replied to him, and I resisted the urge to growl again. My voice was something that comforted him, I didn't want him to hear it this cold when he was, when he was so close to dying.
"What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?"
"The Silence is not a species. It is a religious order, or movement. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked." A question. Why did I know that? It was something important, something that nearly no one knew. But I didn't know if I knew the answer, because I didn't know the question.
"What question?"
"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight." Because that helped. Not.
"Yes, but what is the question?"
"Unknown."
"Oh. Well, fat lot of use that is, you big sexy robot you. Call yourself a Records" he cut out abruptly, crying out in pain and making me suck in a shaky breath, trying not to cry. "Argh! Argh! Kidneys are always the first to quit. I've had better, you know."
"Okay, he's finished." Anita said, and I glared at her.
"Let me out, please, let me go to him. Please, please, please..." I pleaded, everything going out of me as we watched him collapse fully, his last moments starting.
"We can't. You're to stay here until the mission is completed. Let's do what we do. Give her hell." The forcefield around my daughter turned red, hurting her.
"Stop it! Stop it, don't you dare hurt her, this isn't her fault!" I screamed, horror filling me. "You forgave me for what I did, after I slaughtered millions of my own people, you can forgive her! This isn't her fault!" I collapsed into tears, and Amy was by my side, holding me.
"Sera? My precious Sera, please. Can you hear me?"
I looked up again. "Yeah?"
"You can talk to him" Carter told me, passing me the microphone.
"What do we do, my Angel? This is me. This is me actually talking. Please, tell me. What do we do?" I begged him, and I watched his face contort into more pain as he heard I was crying.
"Just stop them. She's our daughter. Just stop them." Easier said than done.
"How? How?"
"Just do it!"
I looked at my wrist band, then smiled. I could do this, I could save my Melody. I zapped my wrist band with the sonic turning it red and alarms sounded. And then antibodies came out. "You are unauthorised. Your death will now be implemented."
"Okay, Captain. Release my Melody now, or I take down the whole Teselecta and you know that I can." I let my eyes burn gold to prove my point.
"Sera." Amy and Rory cried.
The Captain shook his head at me. "You can't."
"Oh, I could, but I'm not going to. They can and are going to." I turned the rest of their bands red too, including the Mini-Ponds, so I grabbed their hands and pulled them along. "Amy, Rory, go!" We made it up through the lift, and I threw them out in front of me. "Run! Keep running."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Just run!" I shouted back, frying two of the antibodies that were following me. I was exhausted, I'd done too much of this today, stopping Melody's car, forcing myself to see what she was going to do, stopping the antibodies and running at the same speed as the motorbike. I couldn't keep going.
And then everyone disappeared. "Where'd everyone go?"
"How can they just disappear?"
I stopped, my head pounding and vision blurring, trying to get the Doctor, or even my Melody to help us. "Doctor, can you help us? Doctor? Doctor, help us! Doctor, help us! Doctor, please! Melody? Please, you don't have to be like this. Remember? I was once, and I changed who I was." I paused, clutching at my scalp. "Please. My precious, precious Song, my Melody..." And then everything went dark.
Melody:
"Look at you. You still care." I breathed, looking at dad who was still trying to get to them.
"Doctor, help! Doctor, help us! Please help us. This is Amy, Sera, she's collapsed, her nose is bleeding, please." Ignore it, Melody, she's not worth it. Besides, she won't die. Just make sure the Doctor ends up dead, and then go on and pretend that this never happened.
"It's impressive, I'll give you that."
"River, please."
"Again?" I asked, confused as to why he was calling me that. "Who is this River? She's got to be important to mummy, she was a bridesmaid."
"Help me. Save your mum, Amy and Rory. Help me."
No, I wanted to know her, who she was. "Tell me about her. Go on."
"Just help me." Ugh, fine. I didn't even know how to fly the TARDIS, but lets go and attempt to save my family who probably hated me for killing the Doctor.
DW
I could fly the TARDIS... How could I fly the TARDIS? "Doctor? Doctor, you did it. He did it!" Amy cheered, and went to look for him, while Rory picked up my mother, unconscious in his arms. Oh, mummy, you should know better than to burn yourself out that quickly.
I stepped out behind the console, and the paused. "I seem to be able to fly her. She showed me how. She taught me. Dad says I'm the child of the TARDIS as much as I am of her and him. What does he mean?" I asked, unsure now.
"Where is he? Can you help Sera?" I didn't answer the question, just landed us back in the restaurant where dad was still lying on the ground, close to death this time. Amy was right by his side, and Rory lay Sera down next to him. "You can't die now. I know you don't die now. Either of you, and Sera is burning right now."
He laughed weakly, and I just watched from afar. "Oh, Pond, you've got a schedule for everything. She's going to be fine, she's just burnt herself out. Give her 10 more minutes." Or less, I could see the energy flowing through her veins, linking us. I always had been able to, ever since I first met her.
"But it doesn't make any sense."
"Doctor, what do we do? Come on. How do we help you? Sera needs you."
"No. Sorry, Rory, you can't. Nobody can. Mini-Ponds, listen to me. I need to talk to my daughter." I moved closer to him, sitting next to him. "Find her. Find River Song and tell her something from me."
"Tell her what?" I asked him, while mum stirred, the energy around her pulsing again.
He pulled me closer to him, whispering in my ear. "Tell her that I love her as much as I love Sera, she's everything to us."
I could never be that... I pulled back nodding a little. "Well, I'm sure she knows." And then he was gone. Standing up, I looked back at my Uncle Rory and Aunt Amy. "Who's River Song?"
They didn't answer, but mum stood up, her eyes burning and then fading into their usual tigers eye. "Are you still working?" She asked the double of her, not looking at me. "Because I'm still a relative. Access files on River Song."
"Records available."
"Show me her. Show me River Song." It transformed, turning from my mothers slender and willowy form, into me. Curly blonde hair, silver eyes, mature and sexy body. That was me. "What did he say? The Doctor gave you a message for River Song. What was it?" She asked me, while I just stared at my fathers dead form.
I never really knew him, not like I did with Sera. Sera raised me, bringing me up as Alice, and when the Doctor came into her life again, I felt like he took her away. But he did care about me, he never knew that I was his daughter and he loved me...
Focusing my regeneration energy, I started moving towards dad, knowing that I could save him, I could make it right again. I could bring my dad back.
"What's happening? My Song, River, what are you doing?"
"Just tell me. Dad, is he worth it?" I needed to know, I needed to be sure. Because this would take away all of my regenerations.
"Yes! Yes, he is! My Melody yes, he is." She sobbed, putting her hands over her mouth.
Kneeling down next to him, I poured my energy into him, letting it heal him. And then he woke up. "My River. No. What are you doing?" He asked, staring at me, trying to pull away.
"Hello, sweetie." I smiled, hugging him for the first time. He was my dad...
The Doctor:
She was in the hospital now, having fallen unconscious after saving me. Now we were just waiting for her to wake up. Which she did, and her mother took her hand gently. "Hey, my Song."
"Hey." She said back, her eyes barely open, but still with their shining silver. "Where am I?"
"You're safe now." I told her, sitting on the other side of the bed, taking her other hand. "You used all your remaining regenerations in one go. You shouldn't have done that, my girl."
She rolled her eyes at that, and we laughed a little. "Father, Mother, I had to try."
"I know." Sera smiled, kissing her hand.
"You said no-one could save you, but you must have known I could." She told me, meeting my gaze hard. She was so much like her mother, she had to know everything, everything she couldn't see for herself, anyway.
"Rule one. Your parents lie." Ser told her, letting her eyes flash gold, and Melody's, Rivers, copied. My golden girls, eh?
Then a nurse came in, starting to usher us out. "She just needs to rest. She'll be absolutely fine."
"No, she won't." I said as my daughter drifted back to sleep. "She will be amazing. Our amazing Song." I placed a brand new diary on her bedside cabinet, tied with a ruby red ribbon, as well as Sera's necklace, tuned in to her brain waves and a note saying that we loved her. Because we did, more than anything.
We headed back to the TARDIS, Sera suddenly a lot better now that she knew her daughter was safe, that she got to see her grow up, even if it was at the same time as her. I just wished that I got the same thing. "So that's it, we leave her there?"
"Sisters of the Infinite Schism. Greatest hospital in the universe." Sera told her sister, already starting us off somewhere new. I was by the scanner, waiting for a moment when she wasn't paying attention.
"Yeah, but she's your daughter. Seraphina Doctor, she's River and she's your daughter."
"Amy, we know." I said, not looking at her, but looking at my own details. "But we have to let her make her own way now. We have too much foreknowledge. Dangerous thing, foreknowledge. Even for a Prophetess such as Seraphina or our Melody."
Sera glanced over, seeing that I was looking at something. "What's that, Angel?"
"Nothing." I shook my head, not wanting to worry her and turning it off. "Just some data I downloaded from the Teselecta. Very boring." I smiled, kissing her cheek and wrapping my arms around her.
"Doctor, River was brainwashed to kill you, right?" Amy asked, looking at us.
"Well, she did kill me, and then she used her remaining lives to bring me back. As first meetings with my daughter, I'd say that was mixed signals as to whether or not she really likes me."
"But that stuff that they put in her head, is that gone now? The River that we know in the future, she is in prison for murder. Two murders." Rory pointed out, looking between us. Sera wasn't on their hit list, they were above her, and I was the person who made her everything she was, as she kept telling me.
"Whose murders? Will we see her again?"
"Oh, she'll come looking for us." Sera smiled, and I spun her around the console, making her giggle. She was still broken, but a tiny little bit of light had returned to her eyes.
Amy stared at us for a moment. "Yeah, but how? How do people even look for you?"
"Oh, Mini-Pond. Haven't you figured that one out yet?" I asked her, and I smiled. But all I could think about. 22nd of April, 2011. They day I died.