'What's that?!' River run into the control room for the loud noise she heard from her room. The Doctor stood by the panels and hold on to them.
'Sweetie, are you alright?' she hurried to him, and reached for his arm. To her touch the Doctor jumped and turned to face her.
'You're alright?' he grabbed her wrist.
'Yes. What's this noise?' she had to shout to reacch her voice to him.
'Warning? Distress call?' he made guesses, and turned back to the scanner while hanging ot to the consol against falling from the TARDIS's shaking. River rapidly pushed some buttons and pulled some arms, but nothing changed in her behaviour.
'What did you do? Why's she doing this?' she shouted to him from the other side of the consol.
'Don't know, maybe just the turbulance.'
'It doesn't makes noises!' they switched things on and off all at once.
'I know, but it does!' he shouted back.
'So we can reject the idea of turbulance! Could we be attacked?'
'Attacked?!' the Doctor cried. 'Who would attack us?!'
'I don't know, maybe the hundreds of enemies of yours!' she shauted back sarcastically. The Doctor wanted to answer something, but then decided not, and just grimaced at her. She rolled her eyes and continued to trying to stop the shaking.
'If no attack, then what? Why's she doing that?' she shouted annoyed, and pulled the scanner to her.
'Oi! Let me see!' the Doctor snatched at it but did not reached, and the woman was already searching it.
'No alien intrusion, there's nothing out there, only darkness.' she frowned.
'Darkness?' he stepped next to her and frowned at the scanner. As his eyes went trough the data, his face paled and he mouthed 'Darkness' frightened.
'What?' she turned to him. 'Is it the Darkness which makes her shake?'
She did not get an answer; the Doctor was staring inside of him for some seconds.
'Doctor?' she asked again, and he shook.
'Yeah, yeah, the Darkness, it is the Darkness. Evil sign, the darkness, ever. Learn it.' he jabbered and sprang to the yellow arm and pulled it with great force to make her land. With a nasty rattle she materialized and the whistling noise ceased too. The Doctor looked at her, and she saw the angst on his face.
'What's the matter, Sweetie?' she took a step closer to him frowning. He made her frightened too.
'What's your most drastic memory with me?' he asked in a dim voice. She took an other step closer, and frowned harder in angst.
'Drastic?' her lips shook.
'Yes, what is it?' he asked again, frightened too. She shook her head, her alarmed eyes fixed on him, not knowing what to say.
'We are in the middle of the Darkness, there's nothing to hide now, it knows everything, it knows your memories, it knows mine too, and God help us if it chooses me. So tell me, what's your strongest, hardest and greenest memory of me?'
'No... no... I can't...' she shook her head stummering, but he sprang on her and grabbed her wrists. She blenched and jumped back, but he was holding her by her hand and did not let her back.
'River, it's important, think of it, think as hard as you can. I'm old, I now moer of you then you of me, it would be catastrophic if the Darkness choosed my memory of you, believe me. Yours cannot be so terrible as mine, so please, please, think of it now!' he commanded rather than asked, but she couldn't concentrate enough from fright. But it began already: darkness snook along in the room, and it filled it with silence and horror. The Doctor fixed on her eyes, but when he noticed the darkness going deeper, he pulled her at his chest and hugged her as tight as he could – and tried to focus on the situation rather his worst memory of her: her death.
Darkness covered them fully, and when they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a desert: huge red rockies and tan sand everywhere, but not a soul anywhere. The Doctor unbent his grab around his young wife and looked around. His face calmed a bit as he saw the desert: at least there weren't any books on the horizon. It ment they weren't in his memory. River opened her eyes too, and frowned at the sight.
'Where are we?' she asked in a weak voice. The Doctor frowned at her.
'You don't recognise the place?' he asked and searched her face alarmed again. She shook her head, and looked around confused.
'It means we're in your memory?' she asked, still squeezing his hand. The Doctor frowned harder.
'No, we aren't.' he looked around. Yes, he knew the place – and he'd never forget what happened there, but it wasn't his memory, he didn't saw the desert from this angle. He took a step further.
'I think...' he began, but jumped as a blue lightning filled the air. River, beside him jumped too, and found herself grabbing her husband's arm with full force. It seemed he didn't notice it at all – he was staring at the appearance.
'River...' he whispered, and reached for the shape, but he did not get at it.
'It's...' the woman next to her stummered with opened mouth.
'It's you.' the Doctor nodded, and let himself drifting after the other woman, his wife in his arms.
'Where are we?' she asked again, confused and still frightened. The Doctor just stared at the other woman, and did not answered.
'Doctor?' she asked again, and he stirred.
'I'm not sure...' he began unfirm, but then swallowed and continued 'But I think we're in a futur memory of yours – one which you lived through, but from an other point of view. It must be a mixture of a memory of mine and yours.' he explained as they flowed after the curly blond's back.
'So where are we?' she asked again, now more firm. The Doctor turned his gaze to her, and said
'Lake Silencio, Utah, April the 5th, 2011.' calmly. River caught up her head, and her breath speeded up rapidly.
'No no no, Doctor, I don't want to be here, please, get out of it, I don't want to!' she cried in a sweat.
'Hush, it is not so bad as you think.' he squeezed her hand. 'At least, non of us died here, did we?' he forced an encouraging smile on his face.
'Shut up, I killed you!' she cried tears in her eyes.
'Oh, dear, you rememeber what I told you on our wedding?' he asked now with a real affectionate smile. She halted for a moment, but then nodded shakingly, and fought with her tears.
'Then you know you didn't kill me, and how could you?' he pulled her in a tight hug, and shushed in her eyes – still flowing after her older self. But suddenly they stopped, and heard other voices from ahead.
«And Rory the Roman!» they heard the Doctor's younger self shouting. «Oh come here!»
«Hey, nice hat.» Amy pointed at his head. «I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool.»
They saw their guide shaking her head and giggling while pulling out her gun – and shooting the hat off of his head.
'I always hated when you did that...' the Doctor told River with a grimace, and saw she was smiling slyly now.
'I always hated hats.' she told and turned her face to lock at his – and the scene changed as she looked away from her older self's memory print.
'Woo, don't do that!' the Doctor told as they linked at his memory print now. They were having a picnic on the shore.
«Salut!» their other selves and their friends cheered, and the two of them looked at the company. As the Doctor's print slat out the wine, he mopped.
'I don't know why I tasted that, wine is disgusting. How can you humans drink it?!' he turned to River, who was looking in the direction of the lake worried.
'If I didn't know I'd kill you in the next minuit, I'll laugh at this, but now I can't.' she told, and pinched his arm.
'You didn't...'
'Shut up, I did.' she turned to face him. 'You don't know what I felt. You died for me, I felt I did kill you, however I knew it wasn't you, but it was an other reality – how could I know it didn't change? Time can be rewritten, you know it exactly.' she expounded. The Doctor frowned at her, but before he could say anything, the scene changed again. They found themselves deep underwater, staring at a space-suit, and feeling the drift again as the suit raised.
'Oh my God, it is me.' River clutched his arms again.
'Hush, there's nothing wrong, it happened, and it won't change now. You won't kill me this time, as you didn't kill me then. It's only a print, not reality.'
'Is it ever gonna stop?!' she buried her face in his shoulder as they rose over the water and got a blink of the company from an other angle.
'Yes, it will. If the deed is done.' he told, and fondled her hair. As he saw himself coming towards River in the space-suit, he closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened it again, he saw everything from an other point of view: through the elder River's eyes. He drifted speechless, just examining the scene from an other angle. He saw his comanions' scared and confused faces, and sighed painfully. He never knew what they thought about the view of the astronaut speaking to him, but now he knew. And he saw the knowing on the elder River's face.
'You knew...' he whispered growing pale. The younger self of the woman openes her eyes and looked at him, and then followed his eyes on her elder self.
'You told me I probably did not remember why I was in prison, but how could I forget your murdering?' she told in a weak voice, and stepped a step towards her elder self.
'I bet I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.' she reached for her face, when the first shot hit the Doctor's print.
'Ouch.' he grimaced, and she jumped back to him.
'I'm so sorry, Doctor.' she looked at him with desperate eyes, searching his face if the pain was real.
'Never mind, I'm okay.' he made a mouth and continued to watch the scene. But it did not change. He frowned.
'Where's the second shot?' he asked, confused and cautiously. River let his hand go, stepped for and stared at the stopped scene in front of them. Then she checked her watch.
'Time is ticking on.' she told almost whispering. The Doctor frowned harder behind her back, and she spinned around.
'Time is ticking on, but you won't get a second shot.' she told slowly.
'It doesn't make any sense, it's only a memory print!' he grimaced and rapped his watch.
'Yes.' she stepped back to him, now smiling. 'And you asked me to think on my strongest memory of you.' she wreathed her arms round him.
'Yes, when you almost killed me, it is the strongest.' he told still grimacing.
'No, the most drastic, but not the strongest.' she smiled affectionately.
'Then what's the strongest?' the Doctor asked frowning, confused about the sharp change in her behaviour.
'Shall I show you?' she pulled him closer, and with a kiss she sent them to the top of a piramid, to the same time. when he opened his eyes, he saw what he saw so long ago, and he looked around surprised.
'It's...'
'Yes, it is an alternate reality. It doesn't really happened, but it is my strongest memory of you, because it is my only memory which keeps me alive, whatever happens to me. It's only for you, Sweetie, and nothing else.' she told, watching his younger self undoing his bowtie and giving one end to her younger self. She heard his voice telling
«...you have to remember it very, very carefully and tell no-one what I said.»
She leaned her head on his shoulder and watched as he whispered in her print's ear.
«I just told you my name.»
'You didn't.'
'No, I didn't.'
'Not since then.'
'Would you like to know it?' he asked, very seriously. She turned to him, frowning, feeling he ment it.
'You would tell me your name?' she asked worried about the answer, worried he did not mean it, that he'd say no. Her hearts would've broken on that.
'You're the woman who married me.' he told smiling together with his younger self, but now full of love. He brushed a lock out of her eyes, and looked deep into her eyes. 'If you ask me, I'd tell you anything.'
Tears sprang in her eyes as so long years ago, when he told those words. She slowly nodded, and smiled with shaking lips.
'There you go, Melody Pond, my name.' he told, but the scene changed, and for a moment darkness filled everything. 'It's time to better get out quick!' he caught his head, and grabbed her hand. They began to run in the void, as one little light appeared in front of them.
'There! Quickly!' he puller her after him, and the bright spot began to grow.
'What's that?!' she shouted forth.
'The fire exit, if you know what I mean.' he shouted back as they ran into the bright cloud.
They found themselves in the TARDIS again, only now she was humming and whooping calmly, as usually. River sprang on her feet and ran to the scanner.
'Stars, there are stars around us.'
'Where are we?' the Doctor asked, standing up from the floor their found themselves laying after their mental journey.
'76 alpha 18 zero 9.' she told 'In the Phoenix constellation.'
'Good, the Phoenix is good. Calm. The gravity on its plantes is far stronger than on Earth, its people's life are slow.'
'Slow?'
'It can be quite disturbing if you're ina rush. They don't care enough, only for their feasts. If you get in one, they'd never let you go - I was their guest twice, both times I had to skip off.' he rubbed his arm. 'Though it was only a dream, you can clunch very strong, dear.' he told, and she giggled.
'Oh, I'm quite as the phoenicians, you know. If I got a good man, I'm not letting him go easily.' she stepped closer and wreathed her arms round him.
'And why would I?' she told and pulled him down for a long, long desired kiss.