The Adventures of Mercy Song

The Folding of Timelines

WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF LIVE HUMAN SACRIFICE AND GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. MENTIONS OF RAPE AND IMPLIED FORCED PREGNANCY. This will be a very trigger-heavy chapter as the shit finally hits the fan for Mercy and her (Mum) Professor. I suggest you read it in the sections that the breaker bars create, as this is very plot-heavy chapter as well.

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    Mercy's last year of college was totally different from what she expected or planned. It's amazing how much one grows within those few short years, which was a subject River tended to dwell upon each time the end of the school year rolled around. Mercy could only look back and smile upon every moment that had taken her by surprise, every day that brought a new experience, and every time she found her way back to her circular path in this Universe. But since this chapter is about the whole year, not just the end, we shall start at the beginning...

School has an odd pattern of repeating itself, every year mirroring the last, until finally you find yourself having learned more than you ever expected. Years fluctuate. Your friends fluctuate. Everything can be so new, yet so constantly repetitive and mundane. Life is crazy. It changes and it stays monotone, it goes on and it stops in unforgettable moments. You never do truly know what each day will bring -unless you're a time traveller.

Mercy knew who she was, what she was supposed to become. She knew her Mother's fate, and she knew there were ways around it. There are always more than just two paths, two sides of a story, two choices to disregard or accept. These were her thoughts once her senior year had begun.

There's always a way out, as her mother once said.

Keeping that in her mind, Mercy dove head first into her senior year of College.

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She really should have seen it coming. Of course this is how time would line up. The Song/Pond family seemed to have an unnatural habit of other versions of a family member being present while their own Mothers are expecting said family member. That's what went through Mercy's mind when it happened.

She had been at work, hardly the second week of school, straightening a book on the shelf when a little thump broke Mercy's thoughts. She'd turned around to see her Professor slumped over the desk, the book fallen from her hands, hair covering her face as she began to slip sideways from her seat.

"Professor!" Mercy dropped the papers onto the shelf and ran over, pushing the woman back into a sitting position. "Oh my Go-" Her words were cut off as she choked on the syllables, jumping back quicker than a spooked cat. Her Professor laid back, unconscious, her middle absolutely blazing with regeneration energy.

A million possibilities ran through her head, poison, sickness, or maybe some problem was causing this regeneration, but all this was negated by the fact that it was impossible.River had no more regenerations. Then, the last reasonable likelihood of this whole event presented itself at the forefront of Mercy's confused mind...

Her.

Mercy.

The girl counted on her fingers, her mouth falling open then closing shut with a painful bite and she pulled out her sonic, scanning the professor. Visual or medical tells wouldn't be perceivable for the next few weeks, but if she was right, then...

As of this moment, there were now two Mercy's in the room. The elder muttered some very colorful obscenities in Gallifreyan.

"Holy Shit. I've just been right and properly conceived," She whispered to herself, her face grimacing and all her knowledge of reproduction leading to the realization of the timing... if Professor Song had spent the night with the Doctor after that date Professor Song mentioned earlier in the last couple days, then it should all add up perfectly. This of course, all meant that Mercy hadn't completely ruined the timeline. She hadn't erased herself from existence, and she certainly hadn't done the math right when she'd enrolled almost four years ago.