A/N: So I know it's very short, but life has been busy and depression is not fun. But the series 9 trailer reinvigorated my love for the show, so I'm back with a new passion. Enjoy!

I woke to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the calls of strange birds overhead. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears and the back of my head ached terribly. With a low groan, I rolled over not my side and pushed myself up into a sitting position.

I was lying in the shade of a tree whose silver leafed branches hung low over my head. There was something familiar about the shining silver leaves, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I leaned back against the trunk of the tree and gazed up at the burnt orange sky through the branches. There was a bright, pure white moon in the sky that illuminated everything like it was the sun and another smaller, dimmer moon just below it. The rest of the sky was dotted with stars that sparkled in unrecognizable patterns.

As I gazed up at the two moons and stars, something clicked in the fog of my mind. Gallifrey. That one word echoed continuously in my head. I'm on Gallifrey.

The birds calling loudly in the tree above me only made my head hurt more. I clamped my hands over my ears as the noise grated on my ears. The birds combined with the incredible brightness of the moons made my forehead ache in addition to the already throbbing back end of my skull.

I ran my hands through my hair as the birds quieted down, but stopped when my fingers touched something wet and sticky. Confused, I pulled my hand away and looked down to see my fingers red and bloody. I stared at the in confusion for a few moments, unsure of what to do or even how to react.

How…? Why am I bleeding? I wondered as I wiped my fingers on my thighs. I tried to think back to what had happened before I woke up, what had caused me to bleed in the first place, but I couldn't remember anything. I remember the angels taking me, but… nothing after that.

Worried that perhaps I was bleeding too much, I gently prodded at the back of my head. There was a small bump a few inches above the base of my skull and although there was blood around it, it felt like the bleeding had stopped. I wiped my hand on my thigh a second time with a heavy sigh before resting my head against the tree again.

None of this is good. I should be worried, shouldn't I? I feel like I should be worried.

I started to look around at my surroundings then, pushing away from the tree and finally standing up. I pushed aside a branch and looked past the silver leaves to see endless stretches of red grass and, far off in the distant horizon, there was the hazy outline of mountains. The mountains were a reddish brown color capped with shining white snow and just above the peaks of those mountains were a few wispy, faintly orange clouds.

When I turned around to inspect my surroundings further, I stumbled back in shock as I gazed at the enormous mountain before me. I had somehow managed to not notice it when I first awoke, but it was impossible to miss now. The mountain was a rusty, red-brown color and more red grass stretched up the side of the mountain a quarter of the way. Then the red grass gave way to countless tiny, white daisies that spanned the rest of the surface of the mountain until they reached a barrier of snow. The very top of the mountain, glistening with white snow tinted orange from the sky, stretched so far above me that I could barely see it from my spot at its base.

A thought came to me then that I hadn't considered earlier. Wait. Gallifrey should be impossible to reach, shouldn't it? I looked up at the two moons through the leaves and squinted a little. Isn't it in a… pocket universe and time locked? So how am I even here?

"The Doctor," I breathed. "He'll know."

I started to fumble for my phone when the sound of laughter reached my ears. I froze in place and looked around for the source of the noise. Running down the mountain towards me were two boys in red robes. Gasping, I raced back under the cover of the tree and pressed myself against its trunk to avoid being spotted. The giggling was faint and the people making the noise sounded young, childish even.

"Ushas is going to be so mad!" one of them snickered.

"Shh!" another one snapped. "It's the middle of the night! We have to be quiet!"

Middle of the night? I repeated to myself in confusion. But it… it looks like the middle of the day.
I waited until they passed before I peeked around the trunk of the tree. In the light of the dark orange sky and the two moons, I was able to spot a pair of boys wearing scarlet robes as they ran down a dirt path. The path cut through a large patch of tall, dark red grass that stretched from the base of the mountain to the valley behind me.

Wait, Ushas… No! No, that's… It can't be. I looked closely at the boys as they continued down the path. One had dirty blonde hair and the other had incredibly dark black hair. Is it possible? Theta and Koschei?

I settled back against the tree and closed my eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. My brain was still stuck in a slight fog, which I could only guess was because of the bump and the blood at the back of my head. But despite my confused state, I was confident that the two boys were indeed Theta Sigma and Koschei. After all, it made sense. I was always being dragged across the Doctor's timeline, so why not stumble across him during his childhood years?

I reached for my phone again and called the Doctor with shaking hands. After five long rings, the receiver clicked and the Doctor answered the phone. I immediately recognized his voice as the gruff, war torn Doctor who would spend his regeneration living with the aftermath of destroying Gallifrey; the irony wasn't lost on me.

"Theta?" I whispered into the phone.

The Time Lord sounded confused when he replied. "Diana? Is that you?"

I peered around the tree agains and breathed a sigh of relief when I could barely pinpoint the the boys through the grass. "Uh, Theta, I think we have a problem," I said.

"A problem? Has something happened?"

I grimaced and chewed worriedly on my lower lip. "Well, um, i-it's very possible that I am on Gallifrey," I said as I looked up at the silver leaves rustling above me. "And I'm pretty sure that I have a concussion because I was bleeding when I woke up and I don't remember why."

"Gallifrey?" the Doctor repeated. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Orange sky, two moons, and trees with silver leaves? Pretty sure it's Gallifrey."

"And there's no sign of the War? No Daleks?"

"No." I glanced around only to see more red grass and a few other silver leafed trees. "I don't think I'm here during the War. I think I'm way earlier than that."

"How much earlier?" the Doctor wondered.

I glanced down the path the two boys had taken and sighed. The fogginess in my head was already stating to clear and I was of a sound enough mind to know that the Doctor probably shouldn't know what I had seen. "Oh, a few hundred years maybe? I'm not sure," I admitted. "But there's definitely no sign of any sort of War here."

The Doctor was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "Now, you said you thought you had a concussion?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Um, I-I can't really remember some of what happened before I woke up or why I'm bleeding-"

"Has it stopped?"

"I don't know." I reached through my hair and gently brushed my fingers against the bump there. "Maybe? The blood's still wet, but it doesn't feel like it's still bleeding."

"Anything else? Are you feeling overly sensitive to light or sound? Do you have a headache?"

"Y-Yes to everything," I stammered. The Doctor fell silent again, which only made me worry even more. "Theta? Is it… is it bad?"

"I can't tell for sure without seeing for myself. But it seems you do have a mild concussion. Just… be careful. Stay in the shade during the day because the heat can be very intense for most humans. If you're near a river, you should clean the wound and relax there until you start to feel better."

I pursed my lips as I looked around at my surroundings. "Yeah, I'm nowhere near a river, Theta."

"Very well. Tell me where you are and maybe I can help you."

"Okay. Well, um, there's a mountain. It's really tall and there's red grass towards the bottom, but then it sort of fades into all these white daisies. And there's snow at the very top. Th-The dirt is this reddish brown color and I can see some of it through the daises."

"And behind you? What kind of landscape is across from the mountain?" the Doctor asked.

"More red grass," I said simply. "Everything's flat and the grass stretches on for miles. As far as I can see. But at the horizon, it looks like there are mountains and they seem to go on forever too."

The Doctor hummed thoughtfully before responding. "Well I can't be sure, but I think you might be at the foot of Mount Cadon."

"Mount Cadon?" I repeated.

"Yes. The Prydonian Academy is halfway up the mountain, probably buried in snow."

"Didn't you go to the Prydonian Academy?" I asked.

"Yes, I… I did. Now," he continued after clearing his throat, "there should be a path at the foot of the mountain. If you follow it, it will lead you directly to the Cadonflood River. You can stay there for a few days while you recover."

I looked back at the base of the mountain and spotted the path the two boys had run down earlier. "I think I'm looking right at it," I said softly. "But Theta, can't you just come and get me?"

"Gallifrey is destroyed from my perspective, Diana. And its past is time locked. No one can get through a time lock."

"Except me," I sighed.

The Doctor made a noise that could have been a laugh. "Except you," he repeated.

"But…" I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head. "Can't you try?"

"Believe me, Diana, I've tried at least a dozen times already. I traced your call. I know where you are, but the TARDIS won't respond to anything. She refuses to take me back."

"But there has to be something-"

"There's nothing I can do if the TARDIS won't take me anywhere. Diana, I'm sorry, but I can't get you."

"So I'm stuck here?"

The Doctor fell silent for a second before answering. "Yes."

A/N: Don't forget to review!