A River of Tears

Prologue

Prologue

The Eleventh Doctor's POV

I was there when she died. I had no idea who she was, but she did. Flirty seemed to be her personality type, and I wondered about her identity. She never revealed too much; 'spoilers', she said. She gave her life for me, something I was used to in my long life. But there was something about the way she did it that struck me. She went on and on about how she knew she was going to die. It was almost as if she wanted to die for me, like it was an honor. The woman sacrificed herself, and I cried. She doesn't know that this is how she will end, and I won't tell her. She'll find out one day.

Then there was the time when she killed me. Well, hold on. Let me explain a bit. She's a time traveler as well, but not exactly the same as me. Our timelines are back to front; her future is my past. I've witnessed her future, her death. I know how it all ends, while she has no clue. She does, however, hold the key to my future, something I will never know until I reach it.

At the time of my sudden death, she was in a point in her time stream where her past had been quite terrible. Stolen away from her parents, the girl grew up with a woman by the name of Madam Kovarian. She trained the girl I knew as an independent woman until she was able to perform the task she was conditioned for. Kovarian turned her into a psychopath and stopped at nothing to use her for my death.

We met in Berlin. She had only just regenerated five minutes before. I couldn't believe who stood before me. The woman I recently came to learn was my best friend's daughter was also my killer. She revealed her purpose to me and made many attempts on my life. In the end, it was a poisonous kiss. The cruelest type of warfare for the man of peace.

I fought to stay alive. The poison of the Judas tree was very fatal, as I was just now learning. She had been trained well, and I was sure I was going to die within the next thirty-two minutes. I was able to save myself, however, when I whispered my last words in her ear. It wasn't guaranteed that she would save me, but only a hunch.

Actually, I didn't really want her to save me. I'm not saying that I wanted to die, but I simply couldn't imagine her giving up her remaining regenerations for me. It seemed highly unlikely. Within a matter of under an hour, the woman had tried to kill me. Saving me would be a miracle. I must've gotten something through to her, or struck an emotional chord because she saved me. And I can never repay her.

Because of our time streams, I have no idea how long she's been in my life, but I can say this: River Song saved my life, twice. I don't think she realizes how much she means to me. One day I will be filled with the knowledge to know River, every part of her. I've decided that I'm not going to wait for that day to love her. Why not do it now? Besides, I'm confident that her killing days are over, so there's no need to worry about that. And even if she were thinking of doing such a thing, I know she wouldn't. River would never betray anyone. She's strong and independent, rather fight instead of give in.

River doesn't like to admit it, but sometimes she needs help. She views herself as an 'I-can-do-it-myself' kind of woman, and most of the time she is. River never fails to impress me with her spectacular surprises and spoilers. But I feel like it's my job to take care of her when she needs help, when she can't do it on her own. I know she won't like what I have in store for her, but it'll all work out in the end. At least I hope so. This is the part where I decide to take River Song to a psychologist.