fan fiction: the only water in the forest is the river chapter nineteen part 1
If you missed Chapter Eighteen, here it is.
Chapter Nineteen
She’d been in old New York for days, studying the statues. The results were terrifying. It seemed not a single one was simply a statue. Every last one had been taken over by a Weeping Angel.
What the hell was she supposed to do with that?
She needed the Doctor, but she already knew he’d never get here with the TARDIS. She’d barely made it through with the vortex manipulator.
Could she find him and convince him to tag along with her mode of travel? Just this once?
She pondered this for a moment but never had the chance to finish forming a plan. She caught a glimpse of a skinny guy meandering down the street. From the back it looked like...no, it couldn’t possibly be…
She followed him. Within a short distance, she knew it definitely was him, no matter how impossible that seemed. But it took two blocks of trailing after him before he turned around and saw her.
“‘I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy,” he said. “Hello, River.”
“Hello, Dad.”
“Where am I? How the hell did I get here?”
Darn, she’d hoped he would know the answer to that one. “I haven't the faintest idea. But you'll probably want to put your hands up.”
Rory spun around and dropped the coffees to do as she said when he saw the man with the gun.
Another man appeared. “Melody Malone?”
“You’re Melody?” Really, Rory sounded far too shocked. He knew she was Melody! Not Melody Malone, obviously, but did he expect her to use her real name in these situations?
They got in the car that pulled up. River figured the first order of business was to figure out just how her dad had shown up here. “You didn't come here in the TARDIS, obviously.”
“Why?”
“You couldn't have. This city's full of time distortions. Be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it.”
“Well, how did you get here?”
“Vortex manipulator.” She showed him her wrist. “Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic.” No point in mentioning how bloody difficult it had been even with that. “You?” She suspected the answer, but she hoped like hell she was wrong.
Still, there weren’t too many other possibilities.
Rory repeated that he wasn’t sure. River’s feeling of unease increased a tenfold.
The car kept moving, and Rory glanced at her. “By the way, if this ends up being when we see the Statue of Liberty together, I will take that vortex manipulator and ground you for at least a month.”
She stared him in mute surprise for a moment then huffed. “Dad, really. Do I look six to you?”
He chuckled. “Just checking, baby girl.”
The car entered a gated courtyard. River noted the Angels lining the rooftop of the house.
This looked worse all the time. Dammit, the Angel at the Byzantium had almost cost River her mother. She would not let one have her father.
River and Rory were escorted into the house. River noticed an early Qin Dynasty vase and commented.
“Correct.” The voice came from the stairs. They looked over. “Are you an archaeologist as well as a detective?” the man continued.
She refrained from snorting. He didn’t know the half of it.
“Early Qin, just as you say. You’re very well-informed.”
“And you’re very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door.”
Rory was studying the vase. “River, I’m translating.”
“It's a gift of the TARDIS. It hangs around.” She was surprised he hadn’t experienced it long before now, but she supposed he’d always been in range of the TARDIS previous times.
Grayle spoke to his men. “This one. Put him somewhere uncomfortable.”
Rory shrugged, looking resigned. River remained outwardly impassive, but she seethed inside. This horrid man wouldn’t have her father any more than the Angels.
Well, she’d figure it out later. Right now she needed to get down to business. She removed the trenchcoat.
It might be just as well that Rory didn’t catch a glimpse of this dress, actually.
She saw the word “yowzah” on a vase. “Hello, sweetie.” She turned to Grayle. “Let's see--crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't want anyone else to see has got to be your favorite. Or possibly your girlfriend.” She pulled open the curtain and saw an Angel. And oh, it was hideous--poised to attack, but chained and manacled with a deformed face. “So. Girlfriend then.” She began typing into her vortex manipulator.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, you know. Texting a boy.”
Grayle didn’t care enough to question further. “These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking.”
“Oh, I know how they work.”
“So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels”
She moved closer to the statue. “Badly damaged.”
Grayle spoke indifferently. “I wanted to know if it could feel pain.”
Could he be any more callous--or stupid? “You realize it's screaming? The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?”
Apparently Grayle didn’t like her taunting him. He killed the lights. When he turned them back on, the Angel had River’s wrist firmly in its grip. “You’re going to tell me about these creatures. And you’re going to do it fast.”
And he turned out the lights again.
###
Wrist caught in the vise-grip of stone, River said, “The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?”
“I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human,” Grayle answered.
He really was a fool. She wished she felt sorry for him, but she didn’t. Not even a little. “That's exactly what they're thinking.”
The lights began to flicker, and the house shook. River heard the familiar wheeze.
“What's that? What's happening? Is it an earthquake?” Grayle sounded panicked.
River smiled. “Oh, you bad boy. You could burn New York.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, Mr. Grayle, just you wait 'til my husband gets home.”
The TARDIS finally managed to land, and the force sent Grayle flying. Seeing his motionless body was rather satisfying.
River heard her mother running up the stairs, yelling for Rory. The Doctor entered the study. “Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell.” He knelt to check on Grayle. “Shock. He’ll be fine.”
“Not if I can get loose,” River said. No jury on earth would convict for killing that lout.
The Doctor came up behind her. “So where are we now, Dr. Song? How's prison?”
Right, just rub in how long it had been since she’d seen him. She forced herself into banter mode. “Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Professor Song to you.”
“Pardoned?” Now why did he sound so shocked? He had to have known she’d be pardoned some day. He’d spoiled her about becoming a professor, after all.
“Mm. Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around, deleting himself from every database in the universe.”
The Doctor tapped her nose. “Mm, you said I'd got too big.”
“And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?” Oops, maybe she should dial down the bitterness.
The Doctor didn’t seem to notice. “Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?” He used his sonic to scan the Angel.
“Doctor who?”
“Ha,” the Doctor said. He looked at the sonic. “She’s holding you very tight.”
River wanted to get on with the business of rescuing Rory. “At least she didn't send me back in time.”
“I doubt she's strong enough.”
“Well, I need a hand back. So which is it going to be, are you going to break my wrist or hers?”
The Doctor just looked at her, and Amy came to stand in the doorway. “Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?”
“Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice.” The Doctor sounded disgusted. He turned to Amy. “You see?”
What was he on about? “Well, what book?”
The Doctor pulled a book from his pocket to show her. “Your book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read!” He sat down, very much in a sulk.
“I see.” She really didn’t. “I don’t like the cover much.”
Amy interrupted. “But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?”
Amy had always had so much faith in her. “Well, I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous.”
“I know, but there must be something we can look at,” Amy insisted.
“What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler-free?” The Doctor’s tone dripped sarcasm.
“Chapter titles,” Amy shot back.
The Doctor snapped his fingers and opened to the table of contents. “He’s in the cellar.”
Amy grabbed the sonic screwdriver and ran off. The Doctor gave River a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off to follow the ginger. He stopped abruptly at the door.
“Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me.”
He didn’t answer--just kept staring at the page of chapter titles. What on earth had he seen there? “Okay, I know that face. Calm down! Calm down!”
“No!” the Doctor almost snarled as he threw the book on a chair. He stalked toward the door.
Okay, so it was bad. “Talk to me! Doctor!”
“No!” He came back over to her. “You get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it.”
Was he insane? “How?”
“I don't know. Just do it! Change the future!” He stormed out.
River stared at her wrist. Then she looked at the Angel.
Okay, so the Doctor wanted her to change time somehow. Clearly something he wanted to prevent something he’d seen written in that book, and he wanted her to do it.
If only she knew how.
She went over it from every angle, but there was no way to get away from the statue’s grasp without breaking a wrist. And without the Doctor’s help, she couldn’t break the Angel’s--she had no weapons or tools. Stupid, yes, but reality.
But if she broke her own wrist, she wasn’t really changing anything, was she? That probably wouldn’t suit the Doctor’s purposes.
But what if…
The Doctor’s death at Lake Silencio had been a fixed point. But he’d tricked everyone, making them all believe he’d died when he really hadn’t. And that changed everything.
So maybe she could do something similar here. If she pretended like she hadn’t broken her wrist, would that be enough to rewrite whatever it was that the Doctor had read?
It was worth a shot. And it was all she had.
Continue to Part 2.
Chapter Nineteen
She’d been in old New York for days, studying the statues. The results were terrifying. It seemed not a single one was simply a statue. Every last one had been taken over by a Weeping Angel.
What the hell was she supposed to do with that?
She needed the Doctor, but she already knew he’d never get here with the TARDIS. She’d barely made it through with the vortex manipulator.
Could she find him and convince him to tag along with her mode of travel? Just this once?
She pondered this for a moment but never had the chance to finish forming a plan. She caught a glimpse of a skinny guy meandering down the street. From the back it looked like...no, it couldn’t possibly be…
She followed him. Within a short distance, she knew it definitely was him, no matter how impossible that seemed. But it took two blocks of trailing after him before he turned around and saw her.
“‘I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy,” he said. “Hello, River.”
“Hello, Dad.”
“Where am I? How the hell did I get here?”
Darn, she’d hoped he would know the answer to that one. “I haven't the faintest idea. But you'll probably want to put your hands up.”
Rory spun around and dropped the coffees to do as she said when he saw the man with the gun.
Another man appeared. “Melody Malone?”
“You’re Melody?” Really, Rory sounded far too shocked. He knew she was Melody! Not Melody Malone, obviously, but did he expect her to use her real name in these situations?
They got in the car that pulled up. River figured the first order of business was to figure out just how her dad had shown up here. “You didn't come here in the TARDIS, obviously.”
“Why?”
“You couldn't have. This city's full of time distortions. Be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it.”
“Well, how did you get here?”
“Vortex manipulator.” She showed him her wrist. “Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic.” No point in mentioning how bloody difficult it had been even with that. “You?” She suspected the answer, but she hoped like hell she was wrong.
Still, there weren’t too many other possibilities.
Rory repeated that he wasn’t sure. River’s feeling of unease increased a tenfold.
The car kept moving, and Rory glanced at her. “By the way, if this ends up being when we see the Statue of Liberty together, I will take that vortex manipulator and ground you for at least a month.”
She stared him in mute surprise for a moment then huffed. “Dad, really. Do I look six to you?”
He chuckled. “Just checking, baby girl.”
The car entered a gated courtyard. River noted the Angels lining the rooftop of the house.
This looked worse all the time. Dammit, the Angel at the Byzantium had almost cost River her mother. She would not let one have her father.
River and Rory were escorted into the house. River noticed an early Qin Dynasty vase and commented.
“Correct.” The voice came from the stairs. They looked over. “Are you an archaeologist as well as a detective?” the man continued.
She refrained from snorting. He didn’t know the half of it.
“Early Qin, just as you say. You’re very well-informed.”
“And you’re very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door.”
Rory was studying the vase. “River, I’m translating.”
“It's a gift of the TARDIS. It hangs around.” She was surprised he hadn’t experienced it long before now, but she supposed he’d always been in range of the TARDIS previous times.
Grayle spoke to his men. “This one. Put him somewhere uncomfortable.”
Rory shrugged, looking resigned. River remained outwardly impassive, but she seethed inside. This horrid man wouldn’t have her father any more than the Angels.
Well, she’d figure it out later. Right now she needed to get down to business. She removed the trenchcoat.
It might be just as well that Rory didn’t catch a glimpse of this dress, actually.
She saw the word “yowzah” on a vase. “Hello, sweetie.” She turned to Grayle. “Let's see--crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't want anyone else to see has got to be your favorite. Or possibly your girlfriend.” She pulled open the curtain and saw an Angel. And oh, it was hideous--poised to attack, but chained and manacled with a deformed face. “So. Girlfriend then.” She began typing into her vortex manipulator.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, you know. Texting a boy.”
Grayle didn’t care enough to question further. “These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking.”
“Oh, I know how they work.”
“So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels”
She moved closer to the statue. “Badly damaged.”
Grayle spoke indifferently. “I wanted to know if it could feel pain.”
Could he be any more callous--or stupid? “You realize it's screaming? The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?”
Apparently Grayle didn’t like her taunting him. He killed the lights. When he turned them back on, the Angel had River’s wrist firmly in its grip. “You’re going to tell me about these creatures. And you’re going to do it fast.”
And he turned out the lights again.
###
Wrist caught in the vise-grip of stone, River said, “The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?”
“I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human,” Grayle answered.
He really was a fool. She wished she felt sorry for him, but she didn’t. Not even a little. “That's exactly what they're thinking.”
The lights began to flicker, and the house shook. River heard the familiar wheeze.
“What's that? What's happening? Is it an earthquake?” Grayle sounded panicked.
River smiled. “Oh, you bad boy. You could burn New York.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, Mr. Grayle, just you wait 'til my husband gets home.”
The TARDIS finally managed to land, and the force sent Grayle flying. Seeing his motionless body was rather satisfying.
River heard her mother running up the stairs, yelling for Rory. The Doctor entered the study. “Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell.” He knelt to check on Grayle. “Shock. He’ll be fine.”
“Not if I can get loose,” River said. No jury on earth would convict for killing that lout.
The Doctor came up behind her. “So where are we now, Dr. Song? How's prison?”
Right, just rub in how long it had been since she’d seen him. She forced herself into banter mode. “Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Professor Song to you.”
“Pardoned?” Now why did he sound so shocked? He had to have known she’d be pardoned some day. He’d spoiled her about becoming a professor, after all.
“Mm. Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around, deleting himself from every database in the universe.”
The Doctor tapped her nose. “Mm, you said I'd got too big.”
“And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?” Oops, maybe she should dial down the bitterness.
The Doctor didn’t seem to notice. “Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?” He used his sonic to scan the Angel.
“Doctor who?”
“Ha,” the Doctor said. He looked at the sonic. “She’s holding you very tight.”
River wanted to get on with the business of rescuing Rory. “At least she didn't send me back in time.”
“I doubt she's strong enough.”
“Well, I need a hand back. So which is it going to be, are you going to break my wrist or hers?”
The Doctor just looked at her, and Amy came to stand in the doorway. “Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?”
“Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice.” The Doctor sounded disgusted. He turned to Amy. “You see?”
What was he on about? “Well, what book?”
The Doctor pulled a book from his pocket to show her. “Your book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read!” He sat down, very much in a sulk.
“I see.” She really didn’t. “I don’t like the cover much.”
Amy interrupted. “But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?”
Amy had always had so much faith in her. “Well, I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous.”
“I know, but there must be something we can look at,” Amy insisted.
“What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler-free?” The Doctor’s tone dripped sarcasm.
“Chapter titles,” Amy shot back.
The Doctor snapped his fingers and opened to the table of contents. “He’s in the cellar.”
Amy grabbed the sonic screwdriver and ran off. The Doctor gave River a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off to follow the ginger. He stopped abruptly at the door.
“Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me.”
He didn’t answer--just kept staring at the page of chapter titles. What on earth had he seen there? “Okay, I know that face. Calm down! Calm down!”
“No!” the Doctor almost snarled as he threw the book on a chair. He stalked toward the door.
Okay, so it was bad. “Talk to me! Doctor!”
“No!” He came back over to her. “You get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it.”
Was he insane? “How?”
“I don't know. Just do it! Change the future!” He stormed out.
River stared at her wrist. Then she looked at the Angel.
Okay, so the Doctor wanted her to change time somehow. Clearly something he wanted to prevent something he’d seen written in that book, and he wanted her to do it.
If only she knew how.
She went over it from every angle, but there was no way to get away from the statue’s grasp without breaking a wrist. And without the Doctor’s help, she couldn’t break the Angel’s--she had no weapons or tools. Stupid, yes, but reality.
But if she broke her own wrist, she wasn’t really changing anything, was she? That probably wouldn’t suit the Doctor’s purposes.
But what if…
The Doctor’s death at Lake Silencio had been a fixed point. But he’d tricked everyone, making them all believe he’d died when he really hadn’t. And that changed everything.
So maybe she could do something similar here. If she pretended like she hadn’t broken her wrist, would that be enough to rewrite whatever it was that the Doctor had read?
It was worth a shot. And it was all she had.
Continue to Part 2.