To The Moon and Back [A Doctor Who fanfiction]

Storybook Monsters

"Doctor, what are the Vashta Nerada?" I asked worriedly. He pursed his lips and looked back at me. "They are microscopic, swarming, carnivorous beings, capable in large groups to strip a person down to their bone in milliseconds." "Like, eating them?" I asked, gulping. "Exactly like eating them." The Doctor responded.

He turned back to the professor. "How are they here? I got rid of them a long time ago." He asked, his face wrinkling with concern. "There must have been another swarm hiding in the books or something." The professor replied. The Doctor straightened his mouth into a line. "How many have they eaten already?" He asked solemnly. "Seventeen." The professor answered, looking at his feet.

"Bella, go wait in the TARDIS." I nodded, turning and beginning to walk away, before the professor said something that caught my ear. "Doctor, she's got two shadows." He said, fear dripping from his voice.

"Bella," The Doctor stammered, and I looked back at him, concerned. I was shocked to see a look of pure horror on his face, his eyes watering up with tears. "Doctor, what's wrong?" I asked, walking back towards him. "Don't touch her!" The professor shouted, backing away from me, making me stop short. I started breathing heavy, unable to banish the fear steadily growing in my mind.

"Doctor," I whispered, feeling tears well up in my eyes. He took a step towards me and wrapped his arms around me, his shoulders shaking with emotion. I hugged him back; closing my eyes and feeling the tears drip down my face, wetting his shirt.

"It's your second shadow," He whispered. "It's not a shadow. It's the Vashta Nerada." I had a sharp intake of breath and my eyes opened in fear. "Are they going to eat me?" I asked, horrified. He looked me in the eyes, holding my face in his hands. "No, they will not eat you." He said, but I could see the uncertainty in his face. 

"Stand back." The professor demanded, but the Doctor only held onto me tighter. "I said, stand back." The professor demanded again. The Doctor looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry." He said, taking a couple steps away from me. "Doctor, what're you doing?"  I asked frantically, my eyes widening. He looked at his feet.

"He needs to help these people, Bella. He can't be letting silly emotions getting in the way." The professor said matter-of-factly. "What do you mean? I thought you said they weren't going to eat me." I said, my eyes darting back and forth between the Doctor and the professor. "Rule number one," The Doctor muttered, still looking at his feet. "The Doctor lies."

The tears were coming down my face in streams now, and I looked at my second shadow and began to hyperventilate. "Doctor, please help me. Please don't let them eat me." I begged him. He grimaced but didn't look at me.

"Bella, please come with me," The worker said, grabbing my arm cautiously, leading me away. "Doctor, please." I said frantically, straining against the worker's tightening grasp. "Doctor, please help me." I called out at him, but he looked away. The worker yanked on my arm, causing me to stumble ahead. "Doctor!" I yelled, but he turned and walked away from me. "He can't help you, Bella." The worker said, looking sadly at me. "He has bigger problems to deal with now."

The worker led me deeper into the library, stopping outside of a room and letting go of my arm. He sighed and shook his head, reaching out and holding the door handle but not opening it yet. "Inside this room is a large swarm of Vashta Nerada," The worker explained. "I'm going to have walk into the room and the Vashta Nerada will eat you, okay?" I started backing away from the worker but he grabbed my arm again, preventing me from getting away.

"Bella, please don't make this difficult." He said, closing his eyes tightly as if fighting off a headache. He opened them again and his grip tightened on my arm. "I'm sorry," He said, opening the door and throwing me inside.

I fell to the ground and heard the door slam behind me and in an instant I felt excruciating pain all over my body as if I was being eaten alive. I screamed and yelled out of pain as the Vashta Nerada ate me piece by piece, chomping on my muscles and sucking my veins out like spaghetti. Soon, they got to my brain and I lost all thought and blacked out.

I was surprised when I woke up a couple minutes later in a grassy field in front of a hospital-type looking building. I sat up and examined my hands and legs, which were perfectly unscathed. I stood up, looking around, and saw a woman with unbelievably curly, blonde hair walking towards me in a white dress.

"Hello dear," She said as she approached me, gently stroking my arm with her hand, giving me a motherly smile. "I'd like to apologize for the painful arrival, but there really is no other way CAL can upload you now."

"What? Who's CAL? Where's the library? What's going on? Who are you?" I asked frantically, looking around me. The woman laughed slightly. "Oh my, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet." She took her hand off my arm and fluffed her hair. "I'm Professor River Song."

...

I took another sip of my tea and took a deep breath, warming my hands on the mug. "So, you died in the library too, but CAL uploaded you to her mainframe, so everyone here is actually still alive?" I asked, trying to make sense of what was going on. "Yes, and since CAL's systems have been improved and repaired, we can all be reloaded back into the library any time we want." River answered.

"So, why haven't any of you left?" I asked. "Well, for our newest arrivals, it's not safe for them to leave yet. And for me and my crew," She looked over at the doorway as a little girl with long, brown hair skipped by, waving at River. River waved back and looked back at her cup of tea, sighing. "Well, somebody has to keep the system running." She said sadly.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I timidly asked, "Does that mean the Doctor could still save us?" River looked up suddenly, her eyes wide. "The Doctor? Is the Doctor here?" She asked, surprised. "Yeah he is. He's the reason I'm here in the first place." I responded, my mood dropping.

She gave me a perplexed look and I explained everything starting from the wooden Cybermen to arriving at the library. Her face darkened with each new story I told but when I told her about our trip to the moon all of the darkness washed away to reveal a layer of undeniable sadness below it.

"Yeah, he does that, doesn't he?" She said when I told her about him leaving me for dead. "Meets people, gains their trust, then leaves them alone in their most desperate time of need." She looked into her now half empty cup of tea. "Well, I guess I can't blame him for what happened to me, it was my decision. He didn't even know me then anyway."

I looked at her, confused. "You know the Doctor?" I asked. She surprised me by chuckling. "Well, I used too." She said quietly. River looked up at me, her eyes looking much older then the rest of her looked. "I was his wife."