Fic: The Elegy of Melody Pond
Title: The Elegy of Melody Pond
Author:
artemis_ephesus
Characters: Melody Pond, River Song
Rating: PG (for gratuitous formatting)
Word Count: 547
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings and ideas are not my own. I merely play.
Notes: I thought it would be nice to explore how Melody Pond became River Song. And because I was so profoundly moved by the last scene of Closing Time (and watched it thirty times in a row, before not being able to sleep all night), I thought it would be nice to see what was going through River's head at that time. I don't quite know why it's written the way it is though. It just seemed right to play around a bit.
lonewytch has written a bit of a response/companion piece to this fic, which describes River's time at the Luna University and finished right where this fic begins. It's a wonderful piece, very evocative and haunting and sweet, so check it out here: They say there is a doorway from heart to heart
The Elegy of Melody Pond
by artemisofephesus
Kovarian is here, hiding in the shadows;
pale skin lit by moonlight, red lips taunting her and baiting her;
and she thinks there is something just out of sight behind and turns to look but as soon as she turns her head back
there is nothing there.
River doesn't know how she came to be here, how she managed to hunt her down. She couldn't have found her, everything is wrong. Kovarian is looking for Melody Pond, but Melody Pond does not exist here anymore. Melody Pond died a long time ago,
(along with the other selves that could have been).
I am River Song.
The voice of her nightmares is speaking to her, and her mind is trying to rationalise, to divide reality from fairy tale.
It's a story.
The time lord cannot die, she will not let it happen. He would, but she cannot. Melody Pond was made to kill the Doctor, and River Song will do anything, everything to make sure that it will never, ever happen. She has killed enough, but if it must be so, she will kill time to stop it. No matter what they whisper in her ear when she is asleep in her room at Greystark, no matter what triggers they have planted in her mind, no matter how many people
(eyes bound to prevent them from running)
she has liberated on their command.
I am River Song.
Hands grab her from both sides; the clerics she grew up with, except that now they are not even imagined friends anymore. She can feel
their cold fingers on the smooth inside of her wrists where the sleeves of her graduation gown
fall short; stubby fingernails forming half-moons on pale skin,
the small, cold, excited eyes of Kovarian following her, lips stretching into a wide, cruel smile,
the press of metal against her arm, her own hiss and the sharp pain that follows, and the
wall off bricks that hits her senses as the tranquiliser hits her blood stream.
She tries to fight, to fight like the always does, to fight (like the Doctor wouldn't), but her legs are across the other side of the room and her hands
have dropped to the floor like dead weights.
I am River Song
Her eyes are slipping shut but her mind is still clear, trying to anticipate Kovarian's next move, trying to keep one step ahead in her mind at least. But then she sees
a flash of white
and her body kicks into overdrive. No, no... no. Not again. She can't wear the suit again, she can't bear what it almost did last time. She can't (can't can't). She is
River Song now,
not Melody Pond.
Melody Pond wore the space suit, Melody Pond was conditioned to kill the Doctor, the suit was meant for her, Melody Pond,
(not for River Song).
Please, she pleads with Kovarian in her mind, like she had so many times before. Please don't do this. I'm not Melody Pond anymore. You can't make me be Melody Pond.
Her vision blurs. The light fades from the room. Somewhere, on the shores of a lake, Melody Pond stands opposite her, and turns and walks away. Never looking back.
I am River Song.
Author:
artemis_ephesus
Characters: Melody Pond, River Song
Rating: PG (for gratuitous formatting)
Word Count: 547
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings and ideas are not my own. I merely play.
Notes: I thought it would be nice to explore how Melody Pond became River Song. And because I was so profoundly moved by the last scene of Closing Time (and watched it thirty times in a row, before not being able to sleep all night), I thought it would be nice to see what was going through River's head at that time. I don't quite know why it's written the way it is though. It just seemed right to play around a bit.
lonewytch has written a bit of a response/companion piece to this fic, which describes River's time at the Luna University and finished right where this fic begins. It's a wonderful piece, very evocative and haunting and sweet, so check it out here: They say there is a doorway from heart to heart
The Elegy of Melody Pond
by artemisofephesus
Kovarian is here, hiding in the shadows;
pale skin lit by moonlight, red lips taunting her and baiting her;
and she thinks there is something just out of sight behind and turns to look but as soon as she turns her head back
there is nothing there.
River doesn't know how she came to be here, how she managed to hunt her down. She couldn't have found her, everything is wrong. Kovarian is looking for Melody Pond, but Melody Pond does not exist here anymore. Melody Pond died a long time ago,
(along with the other selves that could have been).
I am River Song.
The voice of her nightmares is speaking to her, and her mind is trying to rationalise, to divide reality from fairy tale.
It's a story.
The time lord cannot die, she will not let it happen. He would, but she cannot. Melody Pond was made to kill the Doctor, and River Song will do anything, everything to make sure that it will never, ever happen. She has killed enough, but if it must be so, she will kill time to stop it. No matter what they whisper in her ear when she is asleep in her room at Greystark, no matter what triggers they have planted in her mind, no matter how many people
(eyes bound to prevent them from running)
she has liberated on their command.
I am River Song.
Hands grab her from both sides; the clerics she grew up with, except that now they are not even imagined friends anymore. She can feel
their cold fingers on the smooth inside of her wrists where the sleeves of her graduation gown
fall short; stubby fingernails forming half-moons on pale skin,
the small, cold, excited eyes of Kovarian following her, lips stretching into a wide, cruel smile,
the press of metal against her arm, her own hiss and the sharp pain that follows, and the
wall off bricks that hits her senses as the tranquiliser hits her blood stream.
She tries to fight, to fight like the always does, to fight (like the Doctor wouldn't), but her legs are across the other side of the room and her hands
have dropped to the floor like dead weights.
I am River Song
Her eyes are slipping shut but her mind is still clear, trying to anticipate Kovarian's next move, trying to keep one step ahead in her mind at least. But then she sees
a flash of white
and her body kicks into overdrive. No, no... no. Not again. She can't wear the suit again, she can't bear what it almost did last time. She can't (can't can't). She is
River Song now,
not Melody Pond.
Melody Pond wore the space suit, Melody Pond was conditioned to kill the Doctor, the suit was meant for her, Melody Pond,
(not for River Song).
Please, she pleads with Kovarian in her mind, like she had so many times before. Please don't do this. I'm not Melody Pond anymore. You can't make me be Melody Pond.
Her vision blurs. The light fades from the room. Somewhere, on the shores of a lake, Melody Pond stands opposite her, and turns and walks away. Never looking back.
I am River Song.