Never Fade From Me (The Life & Times of River Song & The Doctor)

Among Angels

River stopped dancing, a chill of dark foreboding spread across her body, she had wandered too far away from the edge of the cliff as she returned obediently to her place, knowing she was putting off the inevitable but when her life with the Doctor was flashing before her how could she leave? Even though everything was jumbled up in her head now. But there was one, nagging persistent memory which kept returning to her, their last outing before the Doctor took her to Darillium. Looking back it was almost as if deep down she knew her time was coming to an end and this was something she had needed to do. In the land of the Weeping Angels what River had done that day hadn't been brave or good and knowingly she had placed the Doctor's life at risk but she had believed that it had been the right thing to do and now as she strived to find closure, that day had taught River that the assassin inside her had never left her. The Doctor's love had made her a better person but it could never change her true nature, throughout her life, River had sometimes been cruel, there was a darkness which ran through her core and this was one of the reasons why the Doctor had kept returning to her, the pair of them were damaged goods drawn to each other because the Doctor saw some of the same darkness in himself that was in her.

"A den of Weeping Angels River! I might as well have let you lead us into a nest of hyperspace vipers... Are you insane? No don't answer that."

Every encounter they'd had with the Weeping Angels had been incredibly dangerous. In the maze of the dead where the wreckage of the Byzantium lay they had walked right into a trap, a waking nightmare, they thought they had been safe among statures but in reality they were dormant Weeping Angels who were coming back to life but this was something else, as the Doctor and River ran for their lives, climbing over boulders and scaling clifftops in a land of stone, in an unnamed world which might as well have been named planet of the Weeping Angels. The TARDIS was out of reach but thankfully safe in orbit. They had arrived on the planet via vortex manipulator on the pretext that Professor Song the archaeologist wanted to explore...

"River why did you bring us here?" The Doctor's voice shook with incredulity, the sweat trickling down and plastering his floppy hair to his face as he helped River up a steep incline but as soon as she was safely up he released her hand abruptly, his eyes shining angrily at River as the stark, dreadful realization hit him. "You knew what was here."

"I have my reasons Doctor..." River returned with calm coolness, her face deadened of all emotion, a stone mask which could rival the angels as she surveyed the area.

The Doctor stared at River and was utterly stunned, the deceit to bring him here and the mystery which she now shrouded herself in, but the Doctor knew he couldn't say much, after all he had hardly behaved any better throughout his lives. But today it felt as if he had never really known the woman standing before him at all but of course that wasn't true for he knew River Song better than anyone in the Universe and understood her like no one else but as he looked into her eyes now it was like he was looking into a mirror and staring back at himself and maybe he didn't like what he saw. The Doctor began to feel his anger subside, after all they had lost the pursuing pack, history repeating itself with a depleted, decaying army of angels whose powers were ravaged, which was no surprise for such an ancient race. Somehow by a small miracle River and the Doctor had escaped their clutches, well almost as the Doctor peered over River's shoulder and saw the most fully restored Weeping Angel who was still haunting them like prey, waiting for them to slip up and drop their guard...The same old story except something felt different this time.

River's heart thudded heavily in her chest as she spun round to face her stone nemesis, but she wasn't just doing this for herself she was also doing this for the Doctor, she was bringing him the Angel which had torn both their worlds apart. River turned with lightening speed, grabbing hold of the Doctor's hand as they continued their exhausted run across the craggy plain, every now and then she would stare up at the violet sky almost as if she was getting her bearings, almost the Doctor observed as if River had been here before, knew exactly where she was going and what she would do when she got there... They Doctor glanced over his shoulder and there was the angel, quantum locked while observed, it's true ferocious nature captured all wild eyed with it fangs and claws out, ready to attack and the moment he turned his back it would be gaining on them with each passing second.