Chapter One -Whole New World

The Black Guardian ought to have been glowering at the board, but he wasn't, which was something that made the White Guardian rather uneasy.

"It's your move," he prompted and the agate eyes crinkled in amusement.

"So it is," he replied and began to hum softly, as he studied the arrangement of the pieces. The White Guardian was now seriously concerned. This sort of behaviour rarely boded well.

"Are you going to move?" he asked again a bit later, as the ebon-garbed figure had still done nothing.

"Oh yes," came the softy reply and the smile that creased his opponent's face was not at all a pleasant one. He reached out and shifted a piece. The White Guardian bit back a cry of dismay. It was all according to the rules, it wasn't his opponent's problem if he had simply neglected to notice the stealthy movements in the shadows.

"I see," he replied, realizing that he had been neatly manoeuvred into a trap. He looked at the board and tried to think as quickly as he could. The two of them knew each other so well and he knew what he would normally do in this situation, so his opponent must as well.

So, he chose not to.

Instead of moving his King into play, he reached for a cluster of pawns and shifted them into position, playing out a line of probabilities that could break either way. It was a risky and dangerous move, but he strongly suspected that the Black Guardian had designed this trap for the King specifically, so the best he could do was to keep him out of it, until the specifics of the trap could be analysed.

"Interesting," the Black Guardian commented and now there was the shadow of a frown on his face.

Still, the White Guardian didn't relax. He'd blundered and badly. Now, he had to figure out a way to recover.

Gaige stood by the TARDIS door, watching his unit heading back towards the city, and his emotions were deeply mixed.

He was going home, with his beloved wife, the other half of his soul, and he was filled with joy for that, but he was also leaving his long-time home, his friends, the entire life that he had built for himself, and he suddenly realized how much he'd come to love the harsh world, with its brave, fierce, kind people.

"You can always come visit me," Rammall told him softly. "Sneak in the back way, I won't tell."

Gaige laughed at that and shook his head.

"I shouldn't," he murmured.

"But, he probably will anyway," the Doctor told Rammall, sticking his nose into the conversation with a large grin on his face.

"My wife is a very fine cook, you are always welcome, all of you," Rammall replied, his face grave and his eyes a bit sad, now that parting was so near.

I'm worried that without me there to pull your arse out of the fire, you could be in trouble," Gaige told him and Rammall chuckled.

"I'm worried that without me there to keep you in line, you'll be in trouble!" he retorted. Gaige hugged his best friend tightly and then released him, eyes filling up with mist as he turned and stomped away into the interior of the TARDIS.

"Not to worry, Captain Rammall, Adyra will see to it that he comes by and visits regularly," the Doctor promised with a smile and the Captain nodded and watched Gaige's retreat with a sad look.

"Take care of him, please, he's a good man."

"I will," the Doctor replied and Captain Rammall turned and strode off into the desert, headed for home. A small, sprightly figure that was quickly swallowed up in the shimmering heat.

"Right, now to check on our patients."

"Koschei and Guinn are checking out Tomoko's brain, seeing if Rassilon left her any presents," Rose told him with a frown, as she too watched Rammall walk away. "I wish their tech base was high enough for us to open up relations."

"It will be, in about two or three hundred years," the Doctor assured her.

"Which will be long after Captain Rammall has passed away," she pointed out and the Doctor nodded.

"Not much we can do about that, I'm afraid." Hand in hand they went back into the TARDIS.

Adie watched Gaige come to her and opened her arms to him. He pulled her close, crushing her to him, face resting on her head and she could feel the grief and pain of loss in him.

"We'll come back. We'll sneak in, like he said," she told him softly and she felt him smile against her hair.

"It won't be the same, I'll be a visitor, not his Scout." His words stopped and she could feel him faltering, unsure of what the future held for him. "I'm so very glad that I found you, Adyra, don't ever doubt that. I love you." He wrapped her up in his love, letting her creep ever the more deeply into his hearts and she could feel it, the surge of warmth, the way that their energy seemed to melt into each other's, blurring the lines between them and she practically purred as she snuggled into the heat of it.

"I love you too and we'll find a way," she promised.

The Doctor stood beside the medi-bay bed, frowning as Guinn and Koschei worked their way through Tomoko's mind. She was ensconced among the soothing blue floral sheets and purple comforter, looking small, fragile, and very young. It was an illusion he knew, for she was strong, tough, and older than she looked, but just then, the Doctor's intense feelings of protectiveness and concern were not assuaged by the truth.

Guinn was standing next to Koschei, with Freeya leaning against him, his arm around her, even as his thoughts were with Koschei's in Tomoko's mind. The child was leaning against him, watching warily.

"Will she still think Rassilon is a good person?" Freeya asked, turning her face up to look at Guinn.

"I'm not sure. That's what we're looking into. Mind you, we will have to have Susan go through her mind again, once we're back," Guinn pointed out.

"I know, but I just need to see how much damage he did to her," Koschei murmured, his fingers resting on Tomoko's temples. "That will give us a starting point, anyway."

"Which is something I'd like to know as well," Dar grumbled, from where he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Rose, Jake, and Diana all nodded their own agreement.

The Doctor left them to it and wandered over to where Justin lay in a healing coma, his face peaceful as he slept, and then he slipped out of the Medi-Bay and wandered down the corridor to the Zero Room. He touched the monitoring pad and read off the screen with a worried frown.

"Regeneration errors, please consult a Rebalancing Specialist immediately," he grumbled. "Great, I'll have to call Terry and have him ready for them."

Aislynn and Taydin had gone through quite the trauma, so he supposed that he ought not to be surprised by the caution, yet he was. They had seemed all right, well, for two people who'd just died and regenerated, when they had stumbled off to go collapse in the Zero Room.

"They'll be fine," Rose told him, coming up behind him, and he started and then turned and sighed.

"I'm sure that they will be, but the TARDIS is a bit jumpy about them, that's all," he replied.

"She's a nervous wreck! Rassilon came in and stomped all over the poor darling girl," Rose growled, patting the TARDIS walls gently.

"I can only imagine," the Doctor agreed, feeling sorry for the ship. First the Master, then Rassilon, she'd had a rough time of it.

"So, what now?" Rose asked him and he gave her a shrug.

"I think we ought to go on holiday," he decided.

"An idea that has been notably bad in years past," she teased. "Every holiday we have ever gone on has ended up with us running, screaming, and generally getting in trouble."

"This is a bad thing?" he asked.

"Naw, actually, it's brilliant," she replied, eyes alight with excitement, and he chuckled.

"We really were made for each other," he told her.

"Yeah, we really were," she agreed.

"So," Dar asked. "What's the verdict?"

"What's that Earth expression?" Koschei mused. "She's had some cowboys in here?" He shook his head. "She's been entirely unseated and rearranged, but it was the usual brutal hack and slash that Rassilon is famed for. Not a touch of elegance or finesse to be found." he sounded disgusted, which did not make Dar feel very good.

"So, what does that mean?" Diana asked. "Is she Tomoko or not?"

"She's Tomoko," Koschei assured her. "She's just had her brain dragged through several war zones and she might be a bit shaky when she comes out of the healing trance."

"A bit shaky?" Dar demanded.

"He rearranged her entire world view to make him the rose-coloured centre of her existence," Guinn explained, looking sick at hearts and rather weary. "She may or may not wake up feeling the same way."

"Great. My bond mated wife could still be Rassilon's sock monkey. That's just perfect," Dar groaned.

"That's my sister you're talking about!" Diana snapped and Dar gave her a small smile.

"So, Benahara Diana, shall we draw straws for who gets to sit by her first?" he asked, using the Gallifreyan term for a cloned sister by marriage.

"No, you look like crap, go sleep. I'll sit first," Diana told him. "Straws are too easy to fix."

"You are a cynical and suspicious person, Diana. I respect that," Dar replied and, with one last glance at Tomoko, he left to go get some sleep.

"Was that him being nice to me?" Diana's voice could be heard asking, as he departed, and her puzzlement made him smile a bit.

Tomoko slept like a dead thing for hours. It was hardly possible even to see her breathing, she was so still.

When she did awaken, she did so suddenly, pushing herself away from her dreams with a cry and slamming herself against the wall; then giving another cry, grabbing at her eyes with a sort of wailing gasp. She didn't know where she was. Her sight was filled with colours and shapes she didn't recognize.

"My eyes… something's wrong with my eyes…" She was still trying to push herself away from what she was seeing, her feet scrabbling uncertainly, struggling with the blankets that were trying to wrap themselves around her ankles. She didn't know where she was and her head was filled with confused and contradictory images; Rassilon and Songs and Manifold.

"Hey kid," Dar voice cut through the confusion, but it sounded strange. He sounded more worried than she normally heard from him.

"Dar… Dar, look out.." but she didn't even know from what.

"It's okay, kid, it's all over," he assured her. His hands were supporting her as she sat up.

"But there… crash… and colours and… and the shadowy things…"

"All over with, we're back in Adie's TARDIS now, Tomoko," he soothed, which was really odd, because Dar was usually all sarcasm and scorn.

"Aislynn… we haven't taken blood samples… did we? The shadowy things… everything was crumbling…"

"Tomoko, it's all over. Rassilon is gone," he told her. "The Doctor took care of him."

She pulled her hands away from her eyes and stared at him, frozen with her mouth hanging open. Inside her head two conflicting thoughts crashed up against each other. One was devastated, while the other was jubilant, and she couldn't figure out which she was supposed to feel.

"What… how? What happened?" she asked, trying to stop the dizzy whirling of her emotions.

"Taydin and Aislynn nearly ripped this universe apart, but Koschei got the antidote to the Nanites into her, just in time. After that, it was lots of things blowing up and it got a bit confused. Final score, Justin has most of his brain back, minus a few bits, we're all alive, and Rassilon is gone," he explained and peered into her face. "How are you feeling?"

She didn't speak immediately.

"What are we going to do?" She finally whispered. She'd no idea how to function without the Purpose that had been driving her, but at the same time there was something fierce and powerful raising it's head in the back of her mind.

"We're going to have lunch, I think, for starters. Your blood sugar has crashed," he told her and put his hand under her elbow. "What do you want to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled, but her stomach growled, contradicting her.

"You haven't eaten in days," he pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," she said rather listlessly. "I…can't create the glorious vision without Rassilon…." she heard herself saying, even as her second thoughts, stronger than they used to be, blew a raspberry at her. "I don't know what to do," she told him, hoping for some sort of a sense of direction.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her. "What did you want to do before all of this?"

She tried to think back. Whatever she had been doing before seemed so small.

"I… wanted to save the people… in the Bubble dimensions… did that work, by the way?"

"Yes, it did, rather brilliantly, actually," he told her. "You saved Gaige and the entire world he was on, as well as six others."

"Good. I wanted them to live." It was a bright point; a small one, but a bright point nonetheless. She felt like she was stuck in something heavy and sticky; she hardly wanted to move, she was so miserable, but even through that, she was pleased at the idea that people had lived.

"Why? How did it serve Rassilon for a few miserable, short-lived animals to survive?" he asked in a caustic tone that was more familiar to her than the gentle one had been.

That thought was a blow.

"I… I didn't know him then…" but there was a terrible truth to his words. If it didn't serve Rassilon, what was the point?

"Is that really what you think? Do you think that the Mashas, the humans, the Typdygs, they're all just things that either serve him or they don't?" he sounded angry, but it was hard to tell whether he was angry at her for thinking something that wasn't to Rassilon's benefit, or the opposite.

"Aren't we? Especially myself and the Mashas. Isn't that what we were made for, to serve him?" she asked, surprised at his tone.

"That's what you were made for, yes, but is that all you are? His tools? What do you want, Tomoko? When you took a name in the desert with Diana, why did you do that? What were you thinking back then?" His voice was back under control, his tone merely questioning again, but his eyes were flat and unreadable.

That thought also caught her by surprise. She blinked, her eyes following the odd streamers of light with which her vision was filled, trying to remember.

"I wanted to choose my own destiny. I wanted to be something more than what I was." The memory of that tugged at her strangely.

"So, what happened?" he enquired, still in that easy tone, as he put a plate of food in front of her and handed her a fork.

"We took names. We broke out of the Loops. We… we were going to build something… we were going to build it without him! Why did we do that?" She felt suddenly bewildered, lost, confused. Her eyes searched his face. "Do you know why?"

"Because you were having a revolution?" he suggested.

It all came back to her suddenly; the Revolution and the Loops; the Manifold and the return to Gallifrey.

There was something wrong in her head. She felt like she was crumbling strangely; collapsing; as if things were falling in of their own weight. She closed her eyes tightly.

"It hurts," she said in a half-sob, feeling like she was splitting right in two. "It hurts. My head hurts. My throat hurts. My eyes hurt."

"You've been run over kid, by the 900 kilo Mumphasti," he told her.

"What happened to me?" She felt as if she was coming apart at the seams.

"Rassilon happened to you, just like he happened to your father, to me, and to the entire planet of Gallifrey," he answered.

"I don't… I don't know what's real," she gasped and she felt like she was near to tears.

"Everything, up until you nearly died saving everyone in the Bubbles, is real. After that, it gets a little fuzzy," he explained.

Tomoko's breath and hearts were speeding up. She kept her eyes closed. She had killed Justin, handed him over to die. How could she have forgotten that? She remembered the bombs suddenly and for the first time was angry at Rassilon, and angry at herself. Why did he have to blow up the house? The weight of those memories was unbearable.

"I killed people," she said and something inside of her broke open. There was a tightness in her throat, a pain in her chest, and then she was sobbing, gasping for breath, feeling like she was being shaken to pieces by the heaving of her body, the convulsions of grief and despair. Dar pulled her into his lap, holding her like she was a child, her food clattering onto the floor as she shook and shuddered under the onslaught of emotions too strong for her body to contain.

"Rassilon killed them, my hearts, not you," he murmured softly, stroking her hair as his voice rumbled in his chest under her ear.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed. It was all she could seem to find to say, her thoughts and emotions so tangled she couldn't begin to unravel them. "I'm so sorry."

"I know you are," he told her and held onto her as the huge wracking sobs shook her body and her mind struggled to grasp all that she had been and done under Rassilon's controls.