Thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me! I am back to posting more frequently, and this chapter was a very long one to write. I do have to warn for the usual horror aspect, please take care of yourselves first, darlings. 3 Please use caution and check the trigger warnings in the tags.

Thank you so much to Gingergallifreyan for being the most wonderful beta ever, thank you to KTRose for all of her support, and of course to Pipertennant, without whom this mightn't be possible.

A scraping sound came from the kitchen below the little girl's bedroom.

She was always such a light sleeper, her foster mother often commented on that. She hadn't yet divulged any of the horrors that her body had undergone, but her foster mother, Anne, knew that she would eventually, once she felt comfortable in her home. Her husband Clifford had said more than once that the little girl and their other daughter, Zoe, got along just swimmingly, and it felt like a real family.

But they also often mentioned that she heard things in the middle of the night, waking up from terror-filled dreams, and she just…. Wouldn't talk to them. It must have been frustrating for them.

Zoe was nice, she really was… but she missed her sister.

She missed her mommy.

The scraping became a bit louder, followed by the sound of the window opening downstairs. A pair of thumps on the floor, and she knew that something was not right.

Could her foster parents still be cleaning up from dinner?

A wave of her hand at the clock on her nightstand turned it to show the time on the ceiling.

4 a.m. No way were they still down there.

Maybe it was Zoe getting water?

No, she always did that in the upstairs bathroom.

Another, softer noise made her tense. This wasn't the natural pop and creak of floorboards when someone was awake and walking in their own home. This was the sound of someone purposefully being quiet. This was someone sneaking about, and her foster father always said that people didn't need to sneak in his house - for she was very good at trying not to be heard.

The sound of clicking noises on the kitchen floor told her everything that she needed to know.

They were here!

Thump! It was so soft a noise that she needed to be listening for it in order to hear it.

The noise repeated and she sat up with a start, feeling her hearts hammering in her chest. They were walking up the stairs! Throwing back her covers, she crept slowly to her slightly open door, thankful for the fact that she always insisted on leaving it open, so she could fall asleep with the hall light on. She didn't like the dark.

Peering into the hallway, she felt her hearts lurch. The shadowy figure of a man and two giant dogs was making his way up the stairs. She weighed her options - she could scream, and alert her foster parents, but caution told her to stay still, not make noise, not breathe too loudly.

She snuck back into her bedroom deeper, opening her bedroom window quietly, and then ducked out onto a thick branch of their tree out back. She often snuck out here when the sound of their family became too much; Zoe was prone to temper tantrums, and sometimes it could feel very compressing. She liked to sit there and think, and color on her coloring book application.

She'd never climbed as far as to go to her foster parents' bedroom, but from a quick gauging, it looked like it could be done provided she was extremely careful. Adjusting her pajama shirt from the twists of sleep, she struggled to climb up and along the branch, hoping it wouldn't snap and send her to the ground. It didn't look like a pleasant trip no matter how you sliced it.

Making it to her foster parents' window, she moved to pull the screen from their window and open it when she caught sight of something in their room. The soft glow from a street light on the other side of their room highlighted everything inside. Why were they sleeping, sprawled on the floor…? Nevermind, she knew. Biting her tongue to keep the scream in, she wiped angrily at the tears forming in her eyes. She could have had a family, but the Queen had taken that away, again. She needed her strength to save her foster sister, Zoe.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled the screen from her foster parents' window and let it fall with a soft noise onto the bush below. Mounting the windowsill, she struggled to pull herself inside of the room quietly. Her feet touched the carpet, wincing at the wet warmth beneath her feet and squishing between her toes. Best not to think about that until later. She crept to their door and peeped into the hallway, seeing the Huntsman was entering her room now. As soon as he did, she dashed on tiptoe across the hallway to Zoe's room.

Entering the room in a haphazard panic, she nearly tripped over Zoe's body, which was curled into a ball on the floor, blood all over her chest, with a gaping hole showing that her heart had been harvested. Her mouth trembled, and she held a hand to it to keep a very painful and useless scream in. Her entire foster family was dead - and she'd caused it by being there. They would have lived happy, long lives without her there.

She pressed her back against the wall, breathing heavily, and then her knees gave out right from under her, making her slide to the ground with a soft whisper of fabric against painted surface. Her knees were up, hands splayed a bit across them as she just stared at the horrific scene in front of her, feeling shock begin to set in. Zoe was dead. It was one more sister that she had failed to protect. The empty cavity in Zoe's chest brought back memories that she'd long since learned to repress, memories of the girls being taken to the Place…. Her Place. Before she'd known it, her sister Rose Red had been up on an altar, having her heart cut out.

The right heart first, and then, once she healed, her left. She knew that she herself would go through the same thing, and Rose Red would be forced to watch just as she had.

The difference between them had never been clearer on that day, when even in excruciating pain with one heart and with her power unable to flow the way it could have with two… she still fought hard to try to save Snow White and took quite a beating for all it was worth. Snow White had only watched in shock when the situation had been in reverse…. Weak, weak girl. The Queen was right. Her sister had all the spirit.

Her sister had been the one to wake the Huntsman, even for one moment.

She needed to be strong, and try to save her sister.

She rose and started to hide in the closet, but she knew that the dogs would find her in there, easy as pie. Quietly, she raced down the hallway and down the stairs, stooping low next to the bannister to try to make sure she couldn't be seen from the second landing. As soon as she touched tile, she heard a dog thundering down the hallway. Her little feet tried to run, but she was caught by her own reflection in the mirror on the back of the front door. Her reflection suddenly wore a wicked smile, and held up a hand with sharp talons for fingernails. She raked these nails across herself and Snow White choked as she felt the warmth of her own blood and the laser heat of skin splitting.

...What would her sister do?

Run.

She ran to the left and slammed the double doors to the kitchen shut behind her, sobbing the whole way, but crying while still doing… that was good. She shoved a wooden cooking spoon between the handles, so that when the Huntsman shoved against them, they didn't budge far. The dogs slammed against the doors, and the spoon began to crack. Time to leave. She slipped on her own blood a bit across the linoleum, but climbed onto the kitchen table and out the window, hearing the Huntsman scream her name in a fury.

She ran off into the night, a sobbing and bloodied mess, into the quiet streets of the cul-de-sac. She wasn't foolish, she knew that he still had an advantage - so she ran as fast as her bare feet would take her, past houses, blocks, certain that he was going to find her. She didn't know if the clicking noise was them chasing her or in her head, but she didn't stop to look, finally turning a corner and seeing lights from a convenience store and water refill for hydro-run vehicles, although electric was becoming popular.

A Peacekeeper was exiting the store with a doughnut in his mouth, and she ran straight over to him, sobbing the whole way.

The clicking behind her stopped, for what it was worth, and for the rest of the night, all she heard were the slight hums of the watchcharms placed around her, and the clicking of boots as Peacekeepers were taking statements in the hallway and guarding her room. They were waiting for permission from Lord Delta to release the child into Child Services, and match her with a parental unit, and swipe her memories.

Her nurse, Perpugilliam Brown, who told her 'Just call me Peri', had found her life changed forever by looking down into those soft brown eyes. She signed paperwork to adopt that she would forget, and upon leaving work, only knew that she had always had a child.

She named her Clara.

Theta was finding himself becoming more and more frustrated, the more he looked at these videos. It was pure silence, no one was helping him along with it, no verbal guidance. Just.. he clicked a word, and the person signed it. The signs weren't quite clicking with him yet, but then again, he was still getting the hang of his ABCs. This wasn't intuitive! He was Gallifreyan, of course they spoke using their hands, but this was a new level - and he secretly held admiration to everyone else who used it.

Sometimes, the person who was signing's mouth would move. Sometimes, it wouldn't. Did the mouth movement come with the sign, or was it different?! What about the eyebrows?! They seemed so important, but maybe they weren't? Maybe…. Oh, now the eyebrows were going down… was she blowing out of her mouth? Did he have to do that too? …. Finger wiggle… Did it depend on the person signing, was it adding flavor to things… did it add emphasis?! Arkytior clicked her tongue as she signed, in higher or lower pitches or length with different signs. Most, she didn't click with, but perhaps… certain words she was emphasizing? Or ending her sentences with exclamation point tongue clicks?

It fascinated him, as he went over the memory. Six clicks, when she'd spoken with his father. Three toward Braxiatel. They didn't seem to notice, or maybe it was normal, common… maybe it was emphasis. She was an emphatic woman, really. She'd clicked at him when she'd signed in his direction. Clicked at Koschei. She put her all into signing, sometimes dramatically so - but he supposed if one couldn't speak, perhaps that was just… her way of showing what an extrovert she was. He wondered what she'd sound like if she could speak, regularly. Would her voice always have a tinge of laughter to it? Would she giggle? Did she actually speak at all? It seemed hard for her to talk to him when she… marked him...

His entire family seemed to know the answer to all of these questions, they signed as easily as they breathed. He was the one struggling to catch up, and it really gave him a bit of a defeatist attitude.

He should have been trying all along. It wasn't like there wasn't plenty of opportunity to learn - his Father had seen to that. He had just chosen not to do it. He had chosen to ignore it, thinking it would have nothing to do with his life.

Now, he needed to apologize, to convince his soulmate of his intentions, convince her for the rest of their lives together (and how short a life would that be? As a human, she could collapse at any moment, their bodies were so fragile… he could lose her at any moment and become a broken shell of a man!) but how was he to do that if he couldn't even speak on her level?

A knock on his door startled him. He'd cordoned himself off in his room for three days now - finally, someone wanted to speak to him?

He opened the door to his sister in law. Great.

"I've brought you sustenance."

"Okay. I'll take it." Theta worked his mouth a bit around the words. It was difficult to talk to someone who had mailed your ass back to you in a Pringles can recently.

"Mmmn, no, I'll come in, just to make sure you eat it."

"I… am a grown man, and capable of eating."

"Oh, are you?"

"Oh, it's one of my best skills."

"Theta, just let me in so we can talk."

He made a sour face. "Didn't we already talk enough?!"

"Oh, for the Founders' sake, you've an ego on you as well as a gob!"

"I don't need to speak to anyone."

"That's why you're sulking up here in your room, innit then? Waiting, melodramatically for one of us to come get you?"

"I am not!" He thundered.

"Sure. Maybe I'm not the right person to come and get you, is that it? Perhaps someone… blonder, perhaps younger than me, a certain human we all know and love…"

"This isn't some ploy to get Arkytior to come to me! ...On that subject, do you think she would have? Ahem, but it was distinctly not a ploy, and you should feel reticence for such wicked thoughts."

"Ahuh. If the bollocks you were talking got any steeper you could sack it and sell it. Let me in, you dumbo!"

"You just called me a Dumbo, and you think I'd let you i- You're not going away until I let you in, are you?"

"Nope. I'm pregnant."

"... Yes, you are that…"

"Do we really need a repeat of our first meeting?!"

He winced at that memory.

-
"Are you just going to sit there? I was under the impression exercise was vital for one in your condition." Theta snapped, his control overriding his mouth.

"You calling me fat?" Donna deadpanned, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

Apparently, there was enough 'Danger, Will Robinson!' left in Theta Sigma Lungbarrow to make him sputter a bit. "Wh-what? No! I would never!"

"Yep. You're callin' me fat. Gonna have to die now, nothin ta do 'bout it." Donna was still deadpanning, not even glancing up from the magazine she was looking at.

"Indeed not!" Theta snapped. "I have always found fecund women to be of a particularly attractive rotundedness…"

Brax blinked, before rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Theta…. just stop talking…"

-

"I…. uh…. No…."

"Thought not. Because I will still perform a living autopsy on you. With a rusty scalpel and I will use your kidneys for cufflinks."

He honestly believed her. "Come on in, Donna."

She waddled in, and sat on his bed with a loud sigh. "I can't believe you left a pregnant woman standing at your door so long. Have you absolutely zero couth?! Do you know what carrying a child does to your ankles?!"

"Actually, I do, or did you not recall that I've gotten my fucking specializations in Epidemiology, and surgica-"

"Wow."

"...Wow what." His eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest while she was preparing blood tea for them both. Type O, his favorite. The rotter.

"It was almost a civilized conversation out of you. So close."

"Eugh," he grumbled, accepting the blood tea and taking a longer swig than he should have. He didn't care that he'd just burnt his tongue, he'd needed the sustenance, she was right.

"So, I see Matches was in your room last night."

He half snorted his tea. "I do beg pardon?"

She pulled out her phone, clicking on Matches' Snapchat story. He could see himself asleep, and Matches pushing his butt right against Theta's jaw, and then thumbs up-ing the camera on his phone.

"That little shit!" he snapped, furious.

"Relax," Donna murmured, rubbing his arm a bit awkwardly. "If you go after him, you will never get her to consider you ever again. That is her best friend on the planet, him and some little boy she used to dream about a long time ago. Let it slide. He just loves picking on you because you react."

Theta's arms crossed over his chest as he grumbled a bit under his breath, before chuffing a bit when she'd made the little boy comment.

"What are you going to do about Arkytior?"

"What do you mean? Win back her affections, clearly." He looked at her as though she'd just dribbled down her shirt.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, dumbo, but what I mean is… how? Hello! You've goofed a big one! You need to figure it out, and stop whinging about here in your room like some great big dunce! Figure it out!"

"I…. I had supposed that… perhaps a gift would be in order?"

"Good, yes, yes good. What sort?"

"Ah…."

"You don't know, do you? What she actually wants. What sorts of gifts she would like. Because you spent all that dream time seducing, and none of it actually communicating, did you?"

To his credit, his ears turned a bit red. "I spoke with her!" He denied, hotly.

"Mhm. To her face, or to her, y'know," she made a whistle noise to finish the sentence.

His jaw was dropped in a face of pure indignation. "She and I were very close when we were yo- we were close."

That got her attention, and her Time Lord brain worked, quickly. "Wait a tick… no…. You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't what?" His eyebrows raised high, as he attempted to feign innocence.

"...Did you use your mother's vortex manipulator to go back in time to your younger self, to visit Arkytior in her dreams when you were little?!"

"...I don't remember saying that."

She slugged his arm. "Did you?!"

He was about to lie, it was clear from his face, until he finally relented. Instead, he got defensive. "What do you expect?! She was a child, Donna. You of all people know that you cannot help but to fall into your soulmate's dreams. It is our kind, it's our way! Our minds simply bond! But there was no way to bond with a Time Tot! Creating a relationship with her back then would have been inappropriate, unseemly, and impossible!"

Donna worked her mouth a bit, trying to figure out which part to yell at him for first. "You-"

"I'd heard the stories, you know. About Time Lords who run into their Soulmates too soon. Ones who are closer to the blood, whose instincts overpower them, and they…. They finally snap out of a blood fueled haze and see that they have killed their reason for living, because they got blood drunk, or worse. I didn't want that, not for us. I wanted… I wanted her to feel safe. I wanted to speak to her on a level she could understand - so my younger self visited her in her dreams, played with her, gave her a friendship without any soulmate business clouding his judgement. Without anything that complicates the post-pubescent soul. He gave her something as innocent as she was. I stayed outside, protecting them both. Until…. Until I felt that she was aging to a point where she no longer could speak to a child."

Donna just sat back on the bed, no longer angry or offended. He had taken care of her in a way that was much better than she'd expected. "Go on, then, dumbo. On with it."

"Until she hit an age of maturity, I stayed outside, and when my younger self left because she had aged out, I hid the memories from myself until the appropriate time."

She nodded. "That seems fair enough. When did you finally…."

"Meet, with me in my proper self? Not too long after her seventeenth birthday. I introduced myself…. She knew who I was, of a sort, not… my name, or my identity, but she knew I was the protector. She knew I was the boy. We spent hours talking… well. She wasn't speaking directly, but I could hear in my mind everything she wanted to say." He sat down next to Donna, taking a bite of the Pugliese bread she'd brought. "We spend weeks, months, well over a year actually…. Just talking about things we liked… the relationship didn't start as seduction, Donna. It was just a natural next step - and no, I don't remember who kissed who first." A lie.

It was a tense moment, as he'd realized it had been all too easy to talk to his sister in law. He felt… strange. Light, after sharing with her. But he wouldn't give in too much, because he still had apprehensions, and a lot of his trust was burnt from his family not chasing him down harder. Better to rebuff her a bit.

Donna inhaled deeply, trying to think of what to say. "Do you love her?"

"Donna."

"Eugh, would you answer the question?"

"I feel that right now, that is enough sharing on this subject."

"Fine, fine. But I got you talking, Pretty Boy, so I'm plenty pleased about that. We had an actual decent conversation. I won't tell Dad anything, don't worry. Now," Donna continued, seeing what his tablet was playing. "You're learning NLSL! Perfect. She'll appreciate the effort."

"Would you stop snooping, woman! These are still my chambers!"

"All right, looks like the next oral report comes from… Amelia."

Amelia stood up, calmly, and rolled her shoulders. She had better fetch an Excellent on this.

The economic problems created by the French kings contributed to the fall of Planet Earth. Strong start. She felt pleased, and smiled a bit at her best friend who was paying rapt attention. Ace gave her a thumbs up too, out of the corner of her eye. During the 18th century, the French government spent more money than it collected in taxes. This was due to an excess of Human Greed, and opportunity, which everyone knows leads to despair. The nods and noises of agreement filled the classroom. By 1788, the country was bankrupt, which is a logical consequence of permittance of humans to rule. More nods.

The Professor was nodding along as well, already well versed in this subject, writing a few notes on his tablet.

The public fell further and further into dire straits. The amount of tax each person had to pay was unfair. Landholders found in the nobility weren't taxed much. The landholders found in the commoners were taxed heavily. Everyone knows that having money from economic growth flow to poor people rather than the rich feeds into a lift in the rate of economic growth and lower unemployment. Conversely, as income inequality increases, the potential for economic growth is constrained. But the Aristocracy wanted to hold onto their funds, at the expense of all others.

The Professor interrupted her. "And why, pray tell, did they want to do that, even with such a high expense?" he signed as he spoke, very fluidly.

Human nature. When left to one's own devices, human beings harm others for their own benefit.

The Professor nodded, and waved a hand for her to continue, taking more notes.

The price of bread was a lot higher then one's ability to pay which caused great misery for the people of France. Most of the government spending was on wars. This is because when human beings acquire too many material goods and do not have anything to stop them, they will physically combat others in order to take from them as well. The human being is never fully satisfied with anything they have. Proof of this is further shown in Ancient France, as it had been at war for nearly 50 years out of the previous one hundred years.

"Was there any other problematic spending, other than the ruin of the human species due to war?"

A large sum of money was also spent on palaces, entertainment and gifts by the kings of France. The Church owned one-tenth of the land in France and did not pay any taxes on it.

"Did not one leader think to ease the heavy taxes on the general public?"

Louis XVI tried to reform the taxation system but the nobility and the clergy refused to accept the new reforms. Therefore, the king was unable to make any financial reforms.

"Why did the nobility and the clergy refuse this logical reformation?"

Human greed.

"Excellent… now, to ensure you did your reading, what happened directly after the establishment of the Republic?"

….. Ah. Curveball. Least favorite instructor alert. After the establishment of the Republic, the level of violence grew as the Republican regime sought to repress counter-revolutionary movements in France…

"Such as?"

Was this guy serious? ...What was the name of those… Federalist revolts and the Vendée uprising….? She winced a bit while finishing signing the last word, and the Professor caught it, because of course he did.

"Are you asking me, Miss Pond, or are you telling me?"

Telling. Jerrrrrrrrkkkkk…..

"Good. How about we sign with the same confidence as though we were doing such, hmm?"

Amelia pursed her lips and nodded.

"Please continue, Miss Pond."

They also struggled against defeat, they were at war with the combined forces of Austria, Prussia, and Britain. The Reign of Terror was instituted to quash both internal and foreign forces of counter revolution. Even after there was no longer a need for this concern, the Reign of Terror continued because of the Committee of Public Safety, the most famous member of which was Robespierre. This last period of Terror was aimed at eliminating political rivals of Robespierre and the Committee, but it was overthrown.

"Well done. And what happened to Ancient France after that?"

Total ruin. It never saw the 19th century.

"Precisely. Well done, you've earned an Excellent." At her grin, he nodded a bit and allowed her to return to her seat. "Do not ever forget that we are all here, living so rich a life at the grace and majesty of the Time Lords. The Founders have gifted us everything, we want for nothing. Every New Earth Citizen has all of their needs provided for, and their wants are more easily obtained. Greed is curbed as equality is rampant. The Human Being needs this sort of curbing, as they are like children - rife with violence, greed, and cruelty if left to their own devices!"

Snickering from the other side of the class, the Professor could see that Mickey Smith was chatting up a girl.

"Mickey!"

Immediately, Mickey rose from his seat like a deer in headlights.

"Do you think that Pre Reeve Studies is funny? Do you mock all that the Time Lords give us?"

"N-n-no, no sir!"

"Name the Rules, and explain! Starting with Mickey, rule one!"

"Number one: All humans and non-Time Lord races are to be respectful and obedient of Time Lords at all times, especially leaders of the Seven Clans. This is because they are kind enough to deign us worthy of such guidance. They have saved us from the destruction of the Original Planet at our own hands."

"Excellent! Ace, number two!"

Ace stood as Mickey sat down, breathing heavily. He didn't want to be put on punishment. "All humans and non-Time Lord races are to complete their appropriate schooling and contribute to society; thus they shall always be amply fed, clothed, and sheltered. This means that we are required to be educated in order to contribute to society, and thus will never have the means to survive taken away from us."

"Brilliant! Arkytior!"

She stood up nervously as Ace sat, still rattled after getting a ping sent to her Papa. The assigned religion is to be respected and believed in as required. The Original Planet was too divisive. With different belief systems, humans separated from each other, and even used these differences in Faiths to cause social discord. That is why they have given us all the Founders, and we are eternally grateful.

"Perfect work. A mighty improvement from a few days ago."

She flushed with pleasure, and smiled as she sat down. Ace looked at her and shook her head with a snort, arms crossed. Amelia signed 'Teacher's pet!' at her, which made her grin. She was feeling more comfortable, now. She was back in the school environment, it was like the last few days didn't happen at all. Although, the Peacekeepers had made her sign a document prohibiting her from discussing the incident with any non-Time Lord. All memories had been adjusted.

"Jimmy!"

"All Holidays assigned by the Time Lords are to be respected and celebrated as required. This is in order to create a foundation, so that we are creating bonds of togetherness. We worship and praise with each other, we celebrate each season, we are closer with the Earth as well as with each other. We feel that bond in our blood."

The Professor raised an eyebrow, and shook his head a bit. "A very rounded way of stating the obvious, but well done Mr. Stone. Owen!"

"All humans and non-Time Lord races must obey the curfew set by their age brackets and Holiday appropriateness. This is to ensure that the Peacekeepers are able to prevent discord. Human beings during their adolescence suffer an impairment of judgment due to their frontal lobe not being completely formed until in their twenties. This can lead to human beings sowing the seeds of discord in order to create an atmosphere of 'fun'. The Peacekeepers require a curfew in order to save us from ourselves and permit time to cool off for better judgment."

"Another perfect! Toshiko!"

Tosh stood up with a smile, brushing off her skirt. "All humans and non-Time Lord races must maintain the Faith, for the Founders had a plan of omnipotence. We are not to understand their final plan, for we do not have the ability to understand such things. We must follow it, for the Time Lords know better than we."

"Mmmmmn, a bit too brief of an explanation. I want a report on that, pinged to my email by tonight, midnight. At least ten document pages, font size ten, font type Caveat."

Tosh flushed and sat down, mumbling a 'yes sir'.

"Who can expand on her answer? Melanie?"

"The Time Lords are omnipotent, and omnicompetent. They can handle anything and everything, regardless of the problem, situation or conflict, and have the needed skill, knowledge, experience….. They have all of the answers for any purpose, and will know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. They are the Lords of Time, and they keep us in the proper Timeline, thus we are never to question this. That is why they learn at Academy, to become Knowers."

"That is the answer I was looking for. Thank you. Keisha?"

"There shall be no harming of other beings in any way, shape, or form that is not in self-defense. This is in order to prevent discord, and is exceptionally important. A society of fear cannot run. We are like well-oiled machines, sir. Only the Time Lords may hold our fates in their hands."

"Brilliant. Shareen?"

"All rules and requirements to be followed by individual beings or alien races shall be given in a booklet, and are to be followed at all times. Every one of us owns our booklets of rules, and as soon as we graduate, fully educated, we will receive new rules that we must adhere to and share with no one, excepting other members of the same path, as they are already aware. This is important to continue society running well. Keep moving forward."

"Amazing. Gwen!"

"Identification is to be worn at all times. This is as a safety measure so that the Peacekeepers can ensure that discord is not sown, and that in case of any issues, every New Earth Citizen is accounted for. Because of this, there have been no untimely deaths of New Earth Citizens in the entire history of New Earth!"

The Professor smiled. "All right, that's how we earn our scores. Who is going to finish this off? Miss Peth?"

Astrid stood with a huge smile, and finished it off with one last sentence. "Everything shall occur in the Lords' time, as they are Time's masters. They keep us safe, they keep us in the proper Timeline, and we must trust their Knowledge."

The bell chimed Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, and all of the students stood, waiting to be dismissed.

The Professor stood, and gave a slight nod of his head to the students. "It has been an honor teaching you."

All of the students did a half bow in return, returning with the statement all classes were dismissed with. "The honor and privilege were ours for having been taught."

Everyone exited, and Arkytior smiled a bit as she signed a goodbye to Bill, who was in trouble again for ignoring the class rules and chatting non-stop with her girlfriend Heather, and as such, both were nose and toes against the wall, levitated about 5 feet up.

Her eyes slowly opened, and the light coming in from the window was near blinding.

Her ears rang, and she winced a bit at the sound. It was like nails on glass. Upon standing, she could see that she was in a flat, but the flat itself appeared to be empty. She had no memory of this place, nor why she would be sleeping on the kitchen floor, next to the island. A shine near where she'd been laying showed that she had been sleeping with a knife. That was odd…. She really couldn't remember anything. Maybe she'd fallen.

She slowly took in her appearance. She was covered in a bit of dust, and her hair felt tangled. Her boots looked like hell, and she felt like she'd taken a fall. It looked like she had worn them for way too long, and she could feel the sole pull away from the shoe as she moved.

Where was her family? She had a family, she must have…. Hmm. Maybe they were just moving in, and that was why everything was so empty, and hectic.

She opened her mouth and called out for her mother, but what came out was a choked noise followed by severe pain. She held onto her throat and coughed, heavily. She waved her hand above the tap and cold water came out. Tilting her head sideways, she drank as much as she could in one go, and then waved her hand again to shut off the faucet. She tried shouting for her parents again, but the noise sounded more like a creaking of stairs, followed by her gurgling and coughing again, spitting blood into the sink.

Why couldn't she speak?! The hairs on her arms raised in her panic, and she looked around, wondering if her voice had been stolen.

She walked out of the kitchen, noticing she had a bit of a limp, and began to check the rooms down the hall. All empty, no signs of anyone having lived there since it had clearly been professionally cleaned. She could see that her muddy shoes and dusty clothing were sullying that cleanliness, but couldn't bring herself to care. How had she gotten here if she didn't live here?!

She limped into the bathroom, closing the door and pressing the lock, which removed the doorknob on the other side. The bathroom looked stocked, but it was clearly not because anyone had left their items. This was a show flat, for when prospective tenants wanted a walk-through. Checking the soap and shampoo and conditioner, she could see that they were actually full, which was a boon for her, and bully for anyone else. She removed her clothing, tossing it into the washer-dryer combo in the room connected to the bathroom by a shuttered closet door, and began to fill the tub with hot water, pouring some soap in for good measure.

Even though she couldn't really tell, she stank, she knew she did. Sliding inside of the hot water felt amazing, but also stung like nobody's business as she managed to find every cut on her skin all at once. She let out another choked noise, and her arms semi crossed over her body as her knees came up, fingers spread wide. Cripes, that hurt!

She began scrubbing her body with a combination of the loofah put there for show, and the peach scented body wash, but was horrified at what she was seeing - bruises on top of bruises, some bruised into knots. Her knees were knobby, that was the first thing she noticed, along with the fact that they had white lightning strikes of scars across them. Something must've happened. She began washing her lower calves, covered in fine hairs, and frowned as she could see a few yellowing bruises. A flash of falling onto large rock gravel surfaced in her mind's eye, and she shook her head a bit. Was that what's happened?!

She washed her hair, surprised at how much dust was in her scalp. As she sank under the water, she could see herself again, sliding underwater in a lake, hiding from something… something.

Sliding back up, she finished washing, and drained the tub, wincing at the ring around it. She'd have to clean it up before she left, or she'd feel terrible for whoever had to.

Taking a towel, she carefully dried herself off and walked in front of the mirror.

She was blown back by her appearance, having the ability to look at herself without any past experience was strange.

Big forehead. Cripes, look at the size of that thing! You could ski off it, for sure. She placed her fingers on it and relaxed a bit. Three finger forehead. Not too bad, actually, she was just overreacting. Thick eyebrows, a bit bushy… but they fit her face, and she really liked their shape. Big eyes… deep shade of dark brown. She liked them instantly, and felt like they almost made her look like a doll. Narrow nose, bit of a button to it… she turned her face to the side and her eyes widened a bit. Like a sodding elbow off her face! But from the front it was a bit all right…. Oh well, everyone hates their noses anyhow.

Ooh, her lips had the dolly v on the top lip! Oh, she liked that. She smiled and checked her teeth. Perfectly straight, white teeth. Good, good. Could do with a bit of brushing, eesh. She breathed into her cupped hand and sniffed a bit, trying to do a quick fresh check. She couldn't get a good read on it, but she grabbed the show flat's toothpaste anyhow. She would feel strange about using their toothbrushes, so she put a line of toothpaste on her finger and gave it a half-arsed go, swishing really hard with the water from the tap. It was better than nothing, and the mint tasted better than morning breath at any rate. Her face shape was a bit square, and her cheeks puffed when she smiled.

All in all, she was fairly pleased with her appearance, and turned a bit to the side, checking for anymore bruises. Hmm, she was a bit on the rail thin side, wasn't she? Was better for getting in and out of places in a hurry, escaping…. Where had that thought come from? Be that as it may that she could more easily sneak in places, she felt a bit miffed over a lack of tush. But yeah, she wasn't wrong, those bruises and knots dotted her skin. She frowned a bit at that, worrying her thumbnail between her teeth. Something happened to her. Perhaps she was just really into extreme sports, was all. Perhaps her mother would come soon, and find their new flat a mess, and be quite cross with her.

She got changed into her fresh clean clothes, and smiled a bit at the comfort. Leggings, socks, dress with peter pan collar. After cleaning up her boots, she cleaned up the mess in the bathtub so no one else would have to. She searched the closet, finding a vacuum cleaner and dealing with the dusty floor, hoping that her family would come back soon and see that she hadn't sullied it.

She ignored the part of her mind that said that people who wake up on kitchen floors in empty flats, covered in dirt and near a knife… likely weren't just happily waiting for their family to come home. No, she stubbornly clung to the thoughts, imagining her life as a good student, imagining that she had two parents, and maybe an older brother or sister, and she loved sports. Maybe she played hockey! Perhaps she rode bikes off the sides of mountains! Maybe she was an ice skater, who just fell a lot. Yes… she did have the body type, come to think of it. Maybe gymnastics? Ballet?

As she moved to slide her boots on, her left one slid on fine, but her right made her wince at something in the boot. Patting it a few times, she blinked in surprise when a folded up paper fell out, dirty and brown from being in there through the elements. An actual piece of paper! Oh, but they were so expensive! Only Family were allowed to purchase them, and even then, they were so expensive that many didn't! This was because apparently humans on Original Earth had farmed trees to death.

She picked it up with careful fingers, not wanting to injure such an expensive item, and feeling dreadful that she clearly had made it so filthy. As she unfolded it, she felt a sense of foreboding overcome her, and for a moment was tempted to simply pretend she hadn't seen it.

Too late, she'd begun reading it. She had to know.

To Whom It May Concern-

If you are reading this, it means that I am dead.

I am not mad. No matter how many times Peacekeepers erase my memories, it will never save me. My mother will never be safe as long as I'm around. The dogs will always find me. The Evil Queen is real, and she wants my hearts, and the heart of my sister. Please find and protect my sister, Rose Red. The Huntsman will come for her next, and once he has her last heart, the Queen will be so strong. None of your children will be safe from her. Maybe you'll believe me now that they've finally murdered me.

Clara Oswald

She stared at the note in shock, and walked over to her bag on the kitchen floor, looking for something - anything. She found her tablet, with its stylus. She opened up a notepad application, and began writing 'Clara Oswald'. It was a perfect match.

Plus side, she knew her name. And apparently had a family!

Downside… someone wanted her dead. Or, she was so mad she thought they did. She tried to shout a curse, but all that came out were painful peeps.

….Shitfuck.

Arkytior was pleased to have made it outside at the end of her day and see that Chauncey was waiting for her. Her ride home was uneventful, and it was a breath of fresh air. She was checking a few news stories, considering what she would write a thesis paper on, and scrolling through YChat, on a channel where her classmates were posting about homework issues. She rolled her eyes and typed a response to Mickey, who had ever so clearly not been paying attention, and blinked a bit as she realized they had made it home in what felt like no time at all.

She was back to her old life, and it ran like a well oiled machine. It was familiar, dependable, and comfortable.

Why was Sarah Jane standing on the porch, wiping flour from her hands with her apron, her wings all aflutter? Something must be wrong, she never came out to greet her like this. Arkytior mentally cursed, and stepped out of the car as soon as Chauncey opened the door for her and took her hand to help her (just like he always did, things were starting to come back to order….) and walked down the pathway toward the porch.

"Hey love, how was school?" At her look, Sarah Jane decided to change tactics. "Not gonna work huh? Well, why don't you go to the garage, then? Theta Sigma said he had a surprise for you."

Her disdain must have shown on her face - she was always the worst sort at trying to hide her feelings - and Sarah's fists went to her hips.

"Young Lady, you may not be up to it, but that boy is trying to make up for being a horse's arse, and you're gonna let him try."

But what if…. Arkytior tried to find the right word.

"...He's still a horse's arse?"

What if he's a horse with two rear ends?

Chauncey hid his laughter with a cough into his gloved fist as he headed into the house to change and do some landscaping for the Lord.

"Just go on out, hear what he has to say, hmm? Plus, if he gets all shirty with you, you can tell me, and I'll let Matches into his bedroom to surprise him tonight."

Arkytior wasn't too thrilled with the concept, but Sarah took her bag from her with a promise to leave it in the dining room, and to put a kettle on. Every step she took felt like her shoes weighed at least 50kg each. She purposefully took as small steps as she could, hoping that if she went slower, maybe she could steel herself up, think of the right thing to sa- he wouldn't understand her anyhow. Drat.

"Young Lady, shift!" came Sarah's voice from the side window. Double drat.

She made it to the garage in due time, opening the door to sounds of cursing and the clanging of something metal bouncing across the floor after falling from high.

"Son of a fucking bi-" He was cut off when he heard the gasp, and whipped around, having been attempting to grab a box and clearly missed. His face of anger instantly morphed to a deer in headlights, followed by a bit of a nervous smile. He rocked back and forth on his feet, holding both hands behind his back. "Arkytior! Hello! How er….. How was school?"

….Really. Okay then.

She didn't know what to do for a moment, then pulled out her tablet, opening a wordpad on it, and writing one word for him.

'Fine.'

"Oh, eh, good, good. Good to hear. Ehm…"

What was he doing?! He was never nervous. She bit her lip, not wanting to be alone with him right now, and his awkwardness was just drawing it out. She wrote, trying to fight her shaking hands to ensure that her penmanship could be read from a few feet away.

'You wanted to see me?'

He took a second and squinted to read it - something she knew for a fact was entirely unnecessary. Family could see from quite a few meters away. They were hunters. "Oh yes! I wanted to give you something! I was going through my part of the shed, and came across one of my- one of Mother's belongings, and I thought you might be interested in it."

She shot him a look of confusion and he took her hand, pulling her back farther into the shed. It wasn't as well lit back here, and she was at war between the zing of her nerves at his touch versus the proven fact that he was unable to be trusted. The shed was so vast, easily the size of a 4 bedroom flat, and the sounds of his leather pants and top swishing as he moved were much louder due to the echo.

She had thought she'd steeled herself up a bit over the past few days, but as she walked past the boxes with him, she was proven wrong. It'd taken her three days to forget how her stomach grew butterflies in his presence and thirty seconds to remember.

He came to a stop and she nearly ran her nose into his shoulder. Away from the labyrinth of boxes, she could stand beside him now in the small clearing, and what she saw befuddled her.

It was blue. Not just any blue, but a blue that was deeper than any sapphire. The paint laid on it a bit strangely, it didn't have the same thick protective layer that all paints on New Earth had to some degree. It was different, an odd shape that looked more like a broom closet. She tilted her head and signed the words she read, temporarily forgetting that he couldn't understand her.

Police Public Call Box?

Theta's heart did flip flops as he felt her pressing signs into his palm. His lips twitched a bit, fighting a smile. She was touching him, willingly touching him…. Maybe she liked what he'd chosen?

"It's a present. For you," his words were a bit rushed, and he squeaked a bit at the end.

She brought her tablet up, and wrote in sweeping lettering. 'A present?'

Of course she'd figured that 'surprise' had likely meant present, but she honestly didn't know what to do with a broom closet. Maybe it was for decoration? It honestly stumped her, but when she took a step closer, she could feel a bit of a vibration under her feet. Her body swayed a bit forward, almost like there was a powerful magnet that was pulling her toward the box. But that was ridiculous, right?

"I just wanted you to have it because.." Because I was wrong, because you deserved better than the way I've treated you, because you're my soulmate, because I want to spend time with you, because I can do better, because I'm sorry… "I heard you like electronics…" Theta finished, lamely. "Do you wanna see inside?"

Not particularly. It was a small box, and the thought of going inside such a cramped space with Theta both made her blush and made her extremely nervous. She was no longer ready to be so intimate with him. She didn't want to give him any ideas that they were at that point yet, if that even was his plan. Then again, for all she knew, maybe he'd designed the inside to be a study nook, or a little private getaway for her, and if he'd worked really hard on it then she would feel bad about turning her nose at it. Besides, Sarah had said to give him a chance to make up with her, and Papa would like it…

She pursed her lips and moved them from side to side for a moment before nodding at him. He gave her a small, relieved smile and moved to try to take her hand again, but she wasn't ready for that, either.

"It's a Tardis. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's how most members of Family travelled for a long time, but they became defunct a long time ago. Most of them were destroyed or put into museums, so it was quite a find for Mother…."

She slowly walked up to the call box - er, Tardis, idly listening to Theta's explanation. The magnetic energy got a stronger pull with every step closer she took. The air seemed to positively crackle with power, and she felt like she could hear the beginnings of music… almost like someone's iPear was on, and it was able to be heard across the room from their earbuds.

"Go ahead," Theta encouraged. "Open the door." He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she saw.

As soon as Arkytior touched the machine, she gasped as her vision was flooded with beautiful gold explosions of glitter, and then her entire body seemed to fall into a world of inky blackness. She was floating in space, and oh… it was pure pitch for miles and miles and miles without end. She tried to propel herself forward but due to the look of things about her couldn't even tell if she was moving one way or another.

As she closed her eyes and reached out a hand to touch something, anything… a flash of glitter caught her attention. She reached for it, and as soon as it touched her hand, she saw a flash of Theta's terrified eyes and his hand reaching for her, shouting her name as she fell backward toward an abyss swirling with pepper pots.

She shut her eyes against the powerful image, then opened them again to no more glitter, simply darkness, and she felt so uncomfortable by the fact that there was no difference if they were open or shut. Had she been struck blind? Was she hallucinating from a fall? She made furious signs, asking for help, asking for Papa, but could neither feel nor hear any response.

She whimpered, despite it being painful to do so, and then words seemed to swim in front of her vision like an old film.

23 of November, 1963, on the Planet Jericho…

Queen Idris walked out of her home…

A flash in front of her eyes that happened just as fast as the one of Theta, and she could see a magnificent palace that looked like it was made of a large cluster of crystals. It appeared to have multiple doors, windows, and balconies, the spires reaching impossibly high into the skies. Before she could see any deeper detailing, the image was gone, and replaced by more words making her squint with their brightness.

And into her gardens…

For the last time…

She could hear a drop of water as her vision suddenly returned to the warm mixtures of reds and oranges from when one's eyes were closed against a light source. Her face twisted into a confused moue as another drop, and another seemed to splash near. She opened her eyes, slowly, the brightness around her burning a green into her corneas as she sat up. As she turned away and slowly stood, she realized that she wasn't alone. There was a woman, a woman who was asleep in the middle of the most beautiful garden she had ever seen before. The woman was in what appeared to be a soft white linen nightgown that came down to her ankles, her hair a curly mess of brown that was barely contained by what looked to be an impressive amount of pins.

'She must be Idris….' the thought only barely glanced her head before her vision swam again. She felt like she was floating in nothingness, nothing to support her, but also nothing to drop into, either. The swirling words came back.

She dreams of a love lost long ago…

Sending her messages out to those who can hear…

She expresses her feelings through sweet song…

Is my precious little Bad Wolf near…?

She could hear a soft hum, followed by one drop of water, then another, the echo was so strong that she could almost feel it inside of her body. She could see Idris, but it looked like she was looking into a pool to see her. Her vision blurred and cleared with the soft current as she noticed Idris slept right next to an open hole in the ground, which looked almost out of place in such a lush garden of exotic flowers. Inside of that hole was a pool as well. A droplet of water fell from apparently nowhere, landing in the pool with an exaggerated splash upward almost as tall as Arkytior, causing eyes to open. Idris' eyes were brilliant, they were a fiery brown, reminding Arkytior of a tiger.

The words appeared again, seeming to write themselves on reality itself, if that was what she could call this.

Every moment of life for every creature…

Each timeline, protected by the Heart…

Until the Queen was betrayed…

And the Heart was poisoned...

The images around her solidified, looking exactly like real life. She walked through the garden, reaching out to touch a golden rose when her fingers went through it like a hologram, showing the bare bones of the coding that created them in a series of ones and zeros that slowly rebuilt the rose. She looked back at Idris, seeing her slowly sitting up. The woman would not see her, for she was a computer program, Arkytior realized.

Arkytior watched Idris stand up as the gentle breeze picked up and blew flower petals daintily across her vision, some sticking in Idris' hair, others touching Arkytior's skin and becoming a series of ones and zeros before sliding off of her, restabilizing as they made their ascent to the ground that wasn't. The soft drops fell from the sky, looking almost like jelly as they half floated, half fell. This must have been the way the rain was on Jericho, wherever that was. The rain on New Earth was simply that. Precipitation, evaporation, transportation, condensation. It was a constant cycle, and the rain always pelted the ground. But this rain almost bounced.

Arkytior looked up, seeing the floating rain bubbles as they simply seemed to remain above, only seldomly falling to the earth to splash upon a plant. It was as though the rain chose where to fall, so that it only hit ground that needed sustenance, as though they were communicating. This made sense as she appeared to be in a computer programme. She could hear a song lowly becoming louder, one she'd heard in the back of her mind a million times before, come to think of it… was that what she'd heard while stepping up to the phone box? it sounded so calming, so familiar. Both women's hair blew gently in the breeze, and in this place they were both safe. Arkytior could almost taste the honey-sweet scent of the flowers, but that was ridiculous. They weren't there, and she couldn't have memory of anything she'd never seen.

Idris smiled as she walked along her garden, the petals continuously floating in the air, and then falling to the ground, doing little front flips along the way. They didn't stop on the ground, instead dancing across it. As she glanced up she could see there were random swirls of them in wind that was impossibly in only one spot or another, kicking up mini tornadoes of petals. Each bloom she came across had the most vibrant color, and Arkytior herself couldn't keep her smile away. If she must die today, she wanted this to be her final resting place - for she had never felt so at peace, so warm from the inside out. Walking along the soft grass, neither she nor Idris took notice of each step creating a chaotic pool of coding.

As Idris looked up, Arkytior noticed the sky finally forming into the most incredible shade of dark blue that she had ever seen, one exactly like the shade of blue of that phone box, with mixed in patches of gold that looked as though it might be the sun coming through a cut in a tent. The entire sky reminded her of lapis lazuli, the one from her Papa's favorite cufflinks. She smiled, almost skipping along the way as she followed wherever Idris was going in this garden. She felt as though every breath was more full than the last, and almost wanted to shut her own eyes to enjoy it.

Idris stopped at another pool of water as a white petal fell in, and Arkytior, standing next to her, peeped in as well.

The reflection was simply of Idris, but suddenly it changed to a woman walking away from the viewer, a woman with blonde curls, wearing a veil that seemed to have ornate crystals and metals sewn into it decoratively. Her dress was the most jewel laden, elegant ball gown, and the image in the pool seemed to zoom in on her every step down a hallway before she stopped. Her head slowly turned to the side, the cricking of a neck turning in an unnatural way combined with the heavy movement of the crystal encrusted veil, and a dark smile came across her lips, before showing her teeth that had been filed into fangs. Arkytior would know that look anywhere. It was the monster from her nightmares!

She began hyperventilating, seeing the flower petal turning black as the pool, while Her laughter was so loud it pierced her ears. She covered them, even though it didn't help at all.

A nightmare, this was a nightmare, right?! That's all this was, she was going to wake up any moment now. 'Wake up, wake up!' she screamed at herself mentally, trying to jar herself awake with the knowledge that this was just a dream, that nothing here was real. Her eyes screwed shut, she kept chanting in her mind that when she opened her eyes, she would be in her bed, and she could spend her day with Papa. Papa was safety.

But when she opened her eyes, the scene was still playing out. She pinched herself twice to no avail. She felt physical pain from it! She could see Idris panicking, hugging herself and looking about in terror as she watched her heavenly world slowly unravel. The flower petals in the air were slowly crumbled into nothing, the dirt becoming blackness, and the plants all shrivelling up and dying, becoming a disgusting goop of rot as they were walking past. Idris began to run and Arkytior was quick to follow, seeing that the raindrops were collecting into larger balls and dropping like projectiles.

One was the size of a bowling ball, and it hit near them, kicking up black dust and coding, making both women cough. The force of it was palpable, and another hit directly in front of their path, spraying a warm, gel-like substance across Arkytior's cheek that disappeared as quickly as it came. But the destruction it left did not disappear. It looked like a giant black hole that might swallow both of them up. She breathed heavily, getting her nerve before chasing after Idris, seeing another drop the size of a wrecking ball was coming down right for them.

It barely missed them, but the absolute force of it sent both girls pitching painfully forward, and Arkytior gasped as she felt her lip split. She wiped off real blood, her eyes widening. So, she could actually be hurt here… that was something new. Her hands trembled as she got to her knees, shakily, seeing that Idris was still on her side on the ground, tears coming down her dirt covered face. She could feel that her knees were skinned, and looking at her palms, they definitely matched. Hearing a buzzing noise, Arkytior looked up to see what appeared to be soft lavender jellyfish gliding along the sky.

The words floated across them, making them fizzle into ones and zeroes as they flew by them.

Balance was shifted, a war of time itself began…

All timelines in danger, multiple placed off path, already…

Unnecessary death, destruction, and sorrow…

Surely everything will come to ruin...

Her head tilted to the side as she kept watching them, the words finally gone. She could see that a few of the jellyfish were gliding down their way. They were moving in a back and forth motion, almost like rowing a boat, and the bouncing made her think of a cartoon she'd seen as a child. She could hear Idris sitting up next to her, panting heavily, but paid her no mind for the moment. Something about them looked all too familiar…

Oh…. no…

Those weren't jellyfish… that was coding coming out of the back of them, not tentacles, even though they looked the part. Even though they looked far fancier than anything she'd seen of their ilk to date, she could never mistake their kind. Those were computer viruses - and a lot of them. More than she had ever seen in one device in her entire life.

She wanted to tell Idris to run away, but the woman was unable to. Each time she found a place to run away to, more viruses popped up to block her path. As they came closer, every instance of beautiful landscape was becoming blackened and rotten behind them. A large set of them hovered above Idris, buzzing madly as they spun around, coming down like two glittering black tornadoes on either side of her. The others near her repeated these actions, and she hugged herself tightly, sobbing quietly as she didn't know what to do.

Arkytior expected a scream, a shout, a call for help, but it was just silence as she gave way to the eye of the storm.

They finally covered Idris' body, turning it slowly, from fingertips and toes on up, into blackness. The last thing that Arkytior saw was Idris' frightened eyes, eyes that seemed to finally see her.

Her entire vision swam, becoming black, as the final words drifted in front of her vision.

Save Idris. Save the Universe.

"-Arkytior!"

Arkytior's eyes shot open as she suddenly realized that she was on the floor, in someone's arms. A hand was gently checking her pulse, soft fingers gliding across her neck and checking for wounds. The brown hair made her think that perhaps it was Koschei, and she blushed a bit from that thought. But no…. The scent was spicier than Koschei could ever achieve, muskier too. Koschei smelled too clean, fresh from the dry cleaners, whereas Theta…. He was wild.

But right now he was panicked, and as her lips twitched, she realized that she really did have a split lip.

"How did you scrape your hands? Do you have any more wounds? I'll fetch Father, he'll know what to do!" His father was going to kill him is what he would do.

She fiercely shook her head, making him meet her eyes with concern.

"No? No you don't want me to leave?" She shook her head so hard it might rattle off. "No… you don't want me to go get him?" A nod, and her hand moved in a way that it took him a bit too long to realize she wanted to write.

'He'll worry.' was the chickenscratch she managed to scribble.

"Of course he'll worry! You just fainted, and then your lip started bleeding. Now your hands. He's going to think I did this, that I put you in fucking danger. Yet again. Did the Tardis do that to you?!" He'd never heard of a Tardis doing that, but stranger things had happened before. She shook her head and he gave a sigh of exasperation. "Then how the fuck did it happen?!"

A shrug. He gave her a look, and she scrambled to write.

'Not sure.'

"Well, what the hell happened?!"

She pointed at her tablet again.

"Not sure isn't going to work with me. It certainly won't work with Father, so you need to figure it the fuck out!"

An annoyed snort from her, followed by scribbling. 'I don't know. It was a computer programme.'

"A computer programme that actually injured you?!" He sounded angrier and angrier, and she flinched a bit away from it, sitting up on her own. He didn't notice. "Is this because you're a technopath? Do you often get injured by tech?"

She shook her head, being honest.

"Hmm… maybe it's because she's sentient."

Her eyebrows lifted to her hairline. 'Sentient?!' She scribbled fiercely, holding up her tablet.

"Oh yes. All Tardises are sentient technology. Telepathic, too. Very strong little shits. Have to be, to weave in and out of Family minds like that. Not even a Peacekeeper could change a Tardis' mind."

She just… stared. All of her life she had been told that she shouldn't get too attached to tech, not use her ability to communicate with devices outside of function, because none of them would ever be able to speak back to her. None of them could ever be her friend, none of them could understand her. They were merely objects with a function… but this one could, was what Theta was telling her. This one could, and…. And that meant that she really had been hurt! The Tardis was in trouble! Idris needed help!

She jerked for the Tardis again, and Theta grabbed her, shaking his head. "Whoa, easy there Princess. Not after the last time."

She gave him an irritated look, then wrote something down. 'She's riddled with viruses!'

"Is she? Huh. Must be why she's back here. Probably can't fly, which is about what I expected. It's why I gave her to you."

She wrinkled her nose. 'You gave me something broken?'

He rocked back on his heels again, putting his hands in his leather jacket. "Weeeeeell… I figured we could fix it. She's rare, it's not like we could just go purchase another."

'You want me to fix your broken transport?'

"No!" He shouted, defensive, but at her shocked look at his outburst, he cleared his throat and repeated it, softly. "No, no…. Its just, I was thinking that I rather enjoy tinkering with bits and bobs, and well… I figure no one can fix her interface as well as you. So I'll take care of the outer casing, and you take care of what's inside. ...If you wanted to, of course."

She thought about it. She really was interested, if she were honest. Plus, this way, he wouldn't tell Papa...

"I can sweeten the pot for you…" he said in a singsong voice, chuckling at her raised eyebrow. She tilted her head a bit, and he pushed the door open, stepping inside, pulling her along inside.

She gasped, turning around multiple times. It was huge inside! She ran back out, circling the Tardis, and then ran back in, spinning around. He could practically see the complex maths equations hovering about her head as she was trying to figure out how the size difference even worked. She wrote on her tablet. 'Bigger on the inside!' and he grinned maniacally, enjoying her stupefied look. The perfect project to shock her, delight her… and maybe, if he was lucky, get closer to her.

"What do you say? Shall we get started?"

She grinned and nodded, walking up to the console. It was so dark in there, only the backup lights were still on, casting everything in a dim, greenish glow. Looking around, it honestly looked like an older, more vintage home. There had been wood paneling on the walls once, but now the damage to it looked like a bomb had gone off. The burnt remains of what must have been expensive rugs were now exceptionally patchy, she could see grating underneath. All of the furniture was blown to bits, there was only a ripped to shreds jump seat. The ceiling tiles must have once looked beautiful, but now it was shattered porcelain with wires and bobs hanging out of grating. She didn't know how he was going to manage. This project was going to take forever.

But she was so excited to speak to a sentient piece of tech that she sat down and set her hands on the busted console, ignoring the wires hanging out of it, and a spring above her head from a button that had flown somewhere in the room at some point. It was sad enough to see tech like this, so thoroughly abused - but knowing that this machine could think and feel, that made it worse. Arkytior felt like she was the only one who could be the Tardis' voice. She was tech that was sentient, and while Theta said that she was telepathic, right now she didn't have the ability.

She was as trapped as Arkytior had been when she was younger, struggling to speak to her Papa, reaching, endlessly for any sort of communication. This poor tech had no one, and she was going to be her voice.

She was going to protect her.

She gasped aloud as she fell deep into the pitch blackness again, searching for any wiring or routes that could take her to the matrix. She felt like she had been falling forever when she noticed sparkling, fluttering underneath her feet. Looking down, she could see millions of pixels rolling around in random circles, some of them flipping, twirling, and even whirlwinding with each other, much like the flower petals had in Idris' Garden.

It looked like the pixels were forming a picture, and as Arkytior's consciousness fell further down into the blackness, she could see that it was forming a hand…. She could see part of Idris' face! She was reaching out for help!

A flash in Arkytior's mind, and she could remember the limo ride from the first time that she had ever met her Papa. The way he had kindly asked her a question, but she had reached out, as though to deflect a blow. She reached to be saved, and the first time he'd held her hand, and brushed her hair out of her face, she had realized that she had been starving for someone to love her, even though she hadn't understood that was what it was.

She fell through the pixels, reaching for Idris, and into a tunnel. She needed to head for the Matrix, to get the Tardis functional.

The tunnel was nothing new. All tech had it when she was working to get into their main controls. But this tunnel was large and vast, and the emptiness as she fell was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The silence was such that you could have heard a pin drop and it might have blown an eardrum. So when she was no longer alone, she could feel it. There was an almost auditory vibration, that made her look to the side, seeing small viruses that looked like robotic tadpoles swimming by her.

Oh no you don't.

She held her hand out, and channeled energy that she had always had deep inside of her, energy that she had always used to control technology, and to destroy viruses. They glowed a soft gold, and then disappeared into dust. A few more swam by her, and she reached out with her light and took care of them, too, before noticing that the tunnel was coming to an end. She gasped as she fell into a giant cavern, floating in the air as she was surrounded by more viruses than she had ever seen in her life. The entire cavern was positively riddled with them, schools of the tadpole viruses swimming beneath her and weaving between her legs. Before she could handle them, she looked up and saw a large snake, made of robotic tentacles. She had never seen a virus more terrifying.

She reached out with her light, but was only able to wound it at first. She panted audibly, which, unbeknownst to her, made Theta stop what he was doing and look at her. She struggled to find the energy, hitting the virus again with the pale golden light that came within her. She finally nailed it, and it swam by her slowly skeletonizing, and disappearing into dust. She shot at the tadpoles, not able to get all of them by a long shot, but keeping them way from her feet at least. Seeing another of the snakes, she reached out for it, but felt extreme pain in her ankle that stole her attention instantly. It was a robotic tentacle from a beast that she couldn't see, and it was squeezing so hard that she felt like her foot might amputate!

She struggled against it, but it dragged her down speedily, making her head spin. It finally released her right above a large set of boxes- no, these were files. Terrabytes upon terrabytes of files! They were all flashing bright red, they were infected! The virus that had grabbed her must be the virus infecting all of these files… she tried not to think of how powerful it must have been to be able to take on such a high amount. She didn't know that tech could manage this much memory! The amount she could see here was enough to run half of New Earth by itself, but she knew that it wasn't even the half of what this machine could do.

Closing her eyes, she reached into herself and pulled out enough energy to bring light to the files, one box at a time. She was tiring out, not used to using this much of her energy at once. This was far more than just a tablet, an iPear or a phone… this was more work than she'd ever dreamed. Honestly, fixing all of those files would take her months, years even, without help - and there was no one in the world who could help her.

Crunch.

Her head jerked up, and she saw a terrifying tentacle get a grip on one part of the files, followed by another and another. She stumbled back, tripping over a box and searching for one tall enough to hide behind. The virus was massive, hundreds of tentacles with barbs on them, looking like the Kraken of anyone's nightmares. Before she could properly hide, a high pitched frequency emitted from it that screamed in her ears and made her rush to cover them with a wince. She fell to her knees, eyes screwed shut, and looked down, noticing that the tentacles were reaching for her. She must have made it angry by even being there, and even angrier by healing files.

One tentacle brushed her leg and she knew she had to act fast, not even able to look due to the screeching. She threw her energy in the virus' general direction, and heard it shriek in pain, but it pulled back. She was able to stand, unsteady on her feet, and terrified out of her mind. She had never had to actually fight before - not even in her dreams, with Theta protecting her since he was small. All of her nightmares had been her running away, and living with Papa and Braxiatel in the lap of luxury with a bunch of people willing to fight for her had not lead her to fights, really. At least nothing physical.

She could run away, right now. She could disengage with this machine and run away, and go back into Papa's arms and be safe.

But she wouldn't. Idris had nobody but her to fight for her, and she remembered how it was to have nobody to fight for her, either. She would be for Idris what Papa had been for her. She squared her stance and clenched her jaw, squeezing her hands into fists and putting on her best war face. She wasn't going to let this thing hurt Idris. Not anymore. She threw energy at it, and saw a few tentacles falling off into dust. She did it again, and again, but only seemed to be making a small amount of progress.

It finally attacked back, hitting her with a tentacle and throwing her with extreme force back into the air, flying backwards but with nothing to stop her momentum. It was terrifying, but so too was the fact that the virus was chasing her, throwing bits of metal at her that hit like gravel. She covered her face for a moment, then threw energy at it a few times, trying to charge herself enough to get it. She kept knocking off tentacles, but there were so many hundreds of them that it just wasn't effective enough.

She was going to die, here, in this place, if she didn't do something.

It brought a flash of Her, from her nightmares.

"You are nobody. You are nothing. Filthy, you are filth. You don't even have a name, you piece of refuse."

Her eyes snapped open, and she felt energy and anger taking over her body to the point that she was physically glowing with it. She held up her hand, and every piece of metal that had been hurled at her by the tentacles was frozen in mid-air before hitting her. Her head tilted to the side, and she launched every piece back at the virus, each hitting its mark and making the creature emit frequencies of pain as hundreds of tentacles fell off it and disintegrated, leaving it near barren. Her hands moved with determination that she had never before felt.

My name is Arkytior.

She saw it throw a large set of metal at her, the spikes and spines would have been so painful had they actually hit her, but she moved to the side.

I am not filth, you are.

Multiple pieces of metal missed her, the remaining tentacles unable to properly aim as her energy was strong enough to deflect them.

You will leave this machine and never come back, my promise to the Founders.

She sent all of the energy she felt in her body at the creature, leading to an explosion of rainbowed pixels and glittering dust, and Arkytior fainted from the drain, plummeting down, down, down below. Before hitting the grating, her descent was slowed by wind coming from between the grates, and she landed gently, resting for a few minutes in order to recharge.

When her eyes finally opened, she could see the greenish blue lights, and her eyes squinted to adjust to it. It looked exactly like the room inside of the Tardis, except for where the console usually was a large one of the snakes, spinning around it, attacking it, preventing it from doing whatever it could. She sat up, realizing that this was the Matrix of the Tardis.

She tried to call some energy, but her reserves were low, so unaccustomed to this sort of use. She should have been practicing more.

She pulled her aching body over to the jump seat, taking notice that many of the parts of the ship were looking better. It must have been reflective of Theta's hard work. It was nowhere near done, but the floor looked like some of the clutter had at least been allocated away from the console, and the console looked almost completely fixed… although with interesting instruments, such as… was that a pinball machine pulley? She smiled a bit, then bit her lip.

She could rest after this, for now, she needed to call on power she didn't know if she had. She was so close to making a real difference. Not done at all by far, but still, she could feel an end to this dive into the Tardis. Walking up to the console, she called up any power she had left.

"Is my precious little Bad Wolf near…?"

She heard it in her mind, and for some reason, it gave her the drive to jump forward and slam her hands into the meat of the virus, feeling them being sucked into the gelatinous substance of its body. It sent pitch black gelatin up her arms, trying to take her over and kill her. To say that it hurt would be an understatement. It was like it had found every nerve in her arms and was attacking it. But instead of attacking it with anger, instead she treated it the way that she had been told by her Papa to treat every nightmare. With love. She thought of every person in her life that she had to love.

Papa. Brax. Donna. Sarah Jane. The Brigadier. McCrimmon. Amelia. Ace. Mickey.

The power was low coming from her, spent as she was, but because her hands were inside of the virus, it didn't take much to turn it into dust. It took to its death slowly, like a creature that had been long awaiting this moment, and was just tired. The dust scattered around her like the settling of a snowglobe.

As soon as it did, she could see Idris standing there, and she smiled at Arkytior, still in the same outfit from her garden. She was slowly encased by the rest of the console, and Arkytior's eyes snapped open and back into the real world.

"Holy fucking shit, you did it!" Theta exclaimed, and it took her a few moments to realize that he meant that all of the lights were on. "Basic functionality restored!"

It still looked like a bomb went off, but perhaps a much smaller bomb. She smiled at all of his work, nodding at him over it and giving him a thumbs up. He straightened up a bit over the silent praise, looking arrogant as ever.

She smiled at the console, and playfully tapped the pinball machine pulley, giving him a raised eyebrow.

"Hey hey, I used what I had on hand. I don't make fun of your weird glowy shit you do, I'll thank you not to get all snooty over my work!"

She rolled her eyes, then caught a buzz from her cell.

It was Sarah Jane. Dinner time. They must have been in there for three hours!

Her eyes were wide, and she started shuffling out, making the sign at him for dinner and forgetting he couldn't understand. From the buzz of his cell, he would momentarily anyhow. She walked out of the Tardis, feeling more charged than she should for all of the energy she'd spent. Must be the adrenaline.

"Wait-!"

She flipped around to look at him quizzically. He sounded so strangely desperate, even though he was leaning against the open door of the Tardis so casually.

"I was just thinking…. Maybe… well, since it's repaired enough for basic functionality… maybe we might want to…."

She began rolling a pointed finger, raising an eyebrow as she tried to get him to get on with it.

"Maybe you'd like to take her for a spin?"

She pointed at the Tardis, and tilted her head.

"Yeah, yeah…. Yes… I… well. She's a magnificent piece of machinery! This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge!"

She made a bit of a face, wanting to give it a try but anxious; hearing Sarah Jane calling out that Tea Time was ready.

"You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere… beans on toast happens every day at the same time in this Manor, believe me, I lived here for a century."

She bit her bottom lip, and closed her eyes. It was so tempting, but Papa would have kittens if they left without even saying anything. She shook her head remorsefully, and started to turn away when he spoke again.

"By the way, did I mention it also travels in time? They'd never know we were gone."

She turned back to him and allowed a slow grin to creep across her face before she nodded and ran into the Tardis doors with him, not missing the light in his eyes as he allowed his excitement to show.

The door closed behind them, and they looked at each other from across the console as he whispered, "Forwards, or backwards?"