A boy is standing on a red hillside. He's young, about eight, wearing a blue smock-like top, the collar uncomfortably high. There's another boy beside him, wearing the purple robes of the initiated. They act as if they are brothers, but they're not. The purple-clad boy grins mischievously before emptying a bucket of water on the other boy's head.
"Koschei!" He whines, looking down at his sopping clothes.
"Theta!" Koschei says back, imitating the boy's tone.
"Not today, Kos!" Theta moans.
"Right, the Ceremony." Koschei says. "It's not that bad, really."
"But ever since then, you've been... different." Theta says, concerned.
"'Course! I can see Time now, Thete. Your Timelines are all weird." He says, puffing out his chest proudly. "They're all criss-crossy and jumpy. I bet you're gonna go do heaps of Time travelling!" Theta sighs.
"It's rude to look at other people's Timelines." He says, exasperated.
"Yah, well." Koschei says dismissively. "Then, we'll go see the stars, yeah? Like you're always going on about."

It's later now, and the eight year old called Theta looks a world older somehow.
"Koschei," he says, and that that's all he needs to.
"Theta." Replies the boy standing in front of him, and they suddenly fall into a hug, but let go before they're noticed. "Did it hurt you too?" He whispers.
"Yeah, Kos. It hurt. But it's just so..."
"Huge. I know."
"Doesn't it make you want to... go see it?" Theta asks, eyes wide. "Not just look at the Timelines from here, but go and experience it all? Just... run?"
"Not... I don't know. I don't think I like it," Koschei whispers, "it's... There's too much. Too much that's out of control... That's why we're here, the Timelords. To control the chaos."
"Kos, you've seen it all. We've all seen it all. There's too much to control." Theta says.
"Too much to experience, too." Koschei counters, and Theta frowns. The silence between them is borderline uncomfortable, something it had never been before. They were loomed within weeks of each other, had lived as neighbours and behaved as brothers, a term they'd come across in their studies and had taken a liking to. It seemed much more personal than 'cousins', which was what the members of the House were officially called.
"The Naming Ceremony." Koschei says suddenly, breaking the silence.
"What about it?" Theta replies.
"Well, whatcha gonna choose?" He said, some of the experience slipping from their conversation. "I mean, you can't be Theta Sigma forever, and you can't use your real name."
"It's a long time away." Theta says, sounding relieved. "Centuries, even."
"It's not really," Koschei says.
"Is too." Theta retorts. "You won't be able see it, not that we're meant to look anyway."
"Yeah?" Koschei challenges. His eyes become unfocused as he stares off into the distance.
"Kos," Theta says, "Kos, come on. We're not supposed to- Kos!" He shakes Koschei's arm, with no reaction. "Koschei!"
"What?" Koschei asks, grinning, snapping out of it.
"Did you just-"
"Yup. Didn't make it all the way, you were right." Theta forgets his worries and smiles smugly. "What?"
"I was what?" Koschei narrows his eyes, realising what he's admitted. After a few minutes, he speaks.
"You were right." He sighs, defeated.
"Ha, yes!" Theta cries, jumping up with a grin.
"Don't let it get to your head. That was a one off." Koschei says, sounding annoyed.

It's much later that they return to the hill of their childhood. They stare out to the stars, as always.
"Ninety years, hm?" Koschei says.
"I know, right? Think about it, for some species we'd be old and dying by now." Theta says. He smiles up at the stars.
"Good thing we're not other species then, right?"
"I suppose."
"Thete, don't tell me you're think about those humans again, are you?" Koschei teases, fake disapproval colouring his tone.
"I can't help it. How were they meant to know what they'd find in the Medusa Cascade? Couldn't we have warned them, or something?" The memory of the human ship's distress signal, and the flash of light as they collided with the brand-new rift plays before his eyes.
"They were just humans. Glorified apes." Koschei says, and Theta frowns. "Besides, who knows what it would've done to the Timelines?"
"We do." Theta points out, and Koschei chuckles.
"What are we going to do with our lives, Kos?" Theta asks after a few minutes of comfortable silence, sitting up as he does so. "However many centuries of politics and watching the universe go by?"
"What, you want to go mess with the Timelines?"
"No, but shouldn't there be someone making sure things go right?" Koschei sits up and looks at Theta.
"'Course there should be, and there is. That's what we Timelords do." Koschei reminds him, and Theta flops back down onto the grass.

Koschei and Theta return to the hill, this time with friends from the Academy.
"And you two used to spend time here?" A young woman asks. Theta grins at her.
"All the time. We'd just lie and look at the stars, right Kos?"
"Sounds romantic." Comments a a man, grinning.
"Shut it, Magnus." Koschei says. "We were eight. Not even."
"Started early then." Koschei glares daggers at Magnus, but the woman puts her hand on his shoulder.
"He's just teasing, Kos." She says, but it's not until Theta speaks that he backs down.
"Ushas is right. C'mon." He says, taking Ushas's hand of Koschei's shoulder. The four sit down, with Magnus on the end, Ushas to his left. Theta sits down next to Ushas, and Koschei sits to Theta's left.
"Shouldn't you be studying, Thete?" Ushas says, pushing her hair from her eyes.
"Nah, I'll be right." He says. Koschei chuckles.
"You've said that for the past five decades, and you're still barely even passing." Koschei reminds him.
"I know." He says, almost a whine.
"If you'd just focus, you'd be top of the class, easy." Ushas tells him.
"I do focus." Theta protests.
"Yeah, on what? Memorising the names of all the stars!" Magnus exclaims. "You've got the coordinates of all the galaxies and planets and stars in your head, just like everyone else, so why bother with names?" He sighs. "TT Capsules operate on coordinates, not names." Theta doesn't reply, just stares up at the stars again.

"Names make them feel more important." Theta tells Koschei one day, after receiving another barely pass mark and a disappointed sigh from his teacher.
"Huh?" Koschei says, looking up from his book. Theta is staring absently out of the window. Outside, the silver leaves of the trees flutter gently.
"I mean, if someone asks you where home is, and you say '10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre', it's just numbers, yeah? But if I say Gallifrey... it's the name that lives on, that makes people sit up and listen. Not some coordinate." Theta explains.
"You think too much about the wrong things." Koschei says, turning back to his book.

Koschei and Theta are back on that red hill.
"Did you chose?" Theta asks, looking at his friend.
"I'm not sure." He replies, staring out over the silver forest. "Ushas chose 'The Rani'." Theta raises a questioning eyebrow, and Koschei laughs like old times. "Don't ask me." He says.
"Rani means queen." Theta says, and they both scoff.
"Typical." Koschei says. "I think... 'The Master'." He murmurs.
"The Master?" Theta says, trying not to laugh.
"Okay, I know, it's terrible. But, the Master of... of..."
"Everything?" Theta jokes. "My idea's no better." He assures him.
"Oh?" Koschei says, elbowing him slightly.
"Yeah. The... Doctor." Theta says hesitantly.
"Doctor? A Doctor of what?"
"Everything?" Theta says, and they laugh.
"Doctor who, though? Doctor Theta?"
"No... Just 'the Doctor', I think." Theta says thoughtfully.
"That's a lowly title." Koschei says. "You could be much better than a doctor - well, maybe not, going by your grades."
"And yours are so much better?"
"They are, yeah." Koschei reminds him. Theta sighs.
"I know." There's several seconds of silence before Theta speaks again. "We won't be Theta and Koschei anymore." He says.
"Nothing's changing, Thete. Just getting a new nickname."
"A nickname that's going to be woven throughout our Timelines, irreversibly." Koschei laughs, but Theta continues. "Kos, that's our past, too. Our whole Timeline. That... you can't just throw a name like that into someone's Timeline without having changes." He says, frowning.
"They can't change the past. No crossing into established events." Koschei says, reciting part of one of the Laws of Time.
"It's not, though, it's just... altering. Nothing will change, but..."
"Out with it, Theta."
"It'll change us." Theta says. "I don't know if it'll be for the better."
"A name can't change anyone, Thete! You've been looking at too many star names." Koschei says, shaking his head.

Within the year, the Naming Ceremony is completed, and the Doctor and the Master greet each other with a cool handshake. Already, the Doctor seems older, wiser, lonelier. The Master seems crueller, more detached, and the drums pound in his head. From that moment they are headed on separate paths, no matter what they choose, and when their Timelines cross Time is littered with bright sparks of confrontation.

Theta Sigma and Koschei are long gone.

This started off as a memory that the Doctor might've shown Rose, or something, but it didn't feel like a memory. Point is, it's drabble-ish stuff that was in my head. I love the idea of Theta and Koschei being best friends then just... growing apart. And becoming deadly enemies. Particularly because of Last of the Time Lords and The End of Time and all that.

"Regenerate, please! Regenerate!" Makes me cry, every time.

Review, pleasse! :D