Doctor Who does not belong to me.

I got the basis of this from another fanfic. I don't remember the name or the author, but if you recognise this, no plagiarism was intended.

oO*Oo

When I was eight, I looked into the untempered schism.

It's something that all Time Lord children do as a test of sorts. Some are inspired, some run away and some go mad.

I understood. For one sparkling moment of clarity, I saw and knew all of time. I saw to the heart of the schism and took it within me. That much I remember, though I no longer know what I saw. All I can recall is a golden light and a singing fit to break the hearts.

oO*Oo

"There's gotta be some way to connect to it." Rose stalked impatiently around the console of the TARDIS. "When we were with Margaret the Slitheen, this panel here opened up and the Doctor said it was the..." Her brow furrowed in thought. "the heart of the TARDIS. We need to open this!"

Looking Rose over, Mickey saw her determination. He sighed. "I'll go get my car. Don't go anywhere."

Left alone in the TARDIS, Rose ran her eyes over the familiar yet always strange equipment that occupied just about every corner of the room. Her eyes lit on something she couldn't remember ever seeing before: a sort of helmet. Maybe that was how to connect to the ship! Made sense, sort of: head gear to make a mental connection. The Doctor was special, after all, so maybe he didn't need it, but if she could just...

Rose grabbed a pole that was leaning against the wall and stood on tiptoe to reach the odd helmet. Hooking the pole around the headgear, she drew it down into her arms. She examined it, noting what looked like a pocket watch attached to the front, and then fit it carefully over her head and pushed the obvious button, hoping that her guess was correct. Immediately, she was wracked with incredible pain. Screaming, she writhed all the while telling herself, It's for the Doctor. For the Doctor.

oO*Oo

The High Council of Gallifrey did not like my reaction to the schism. It was unprecedented and therefore suspicious.

I've seen records from that day and I understand their curiosity; for a few minutes, I was bathed in a golden light and I smiled as tears ran down my face. Then the light dispersed into the air and I collapsed.

I woke up in the sterile white rooms of a Gallifreyan live study laboratory.

oO*Oo

The Doctor whirled as the room filled with the familiar sound of the TARDIS. It was impossible that Rose could have returned, and yet, somehow...

The doors flew open, revealing Rose, but not Rose. The woman in the doorway was identical in every way to his lovely human companion, but aside from the fact that Rose couldn't be here, this strange Rose held herself with more confidence, more dignity and he almost thought he could sense the faintest whisper of her mind...

"Doctor! You get yourself in here now! Forget the Daleks; I'm going to kill you myself!" Rose, her voice oddly lacking the distinct South London accent, sounded utterly furious.

Weighing his options, he decided that whatever had happened to Rose was probably less dangerous than staying with the Daleks and he ran towards his blue spaceship and the angry blonde it contained. He could contemplate impossibilities later.

"EXTERMINATE!"

He didn't turn fast enough to avoid the shot completely and he felt the energy bolt hit him in the leg. He fell, body shuddering with the aftershocks, with Rose's voice in his ears.

"Doctor! No!"

oO*Oo

The Time Lord scientists studied me extensively and discovered very little, at first.

I was dissected, mentally examined and evaluated. The only anomaly they found was a trace of Huon particles. Supposedly deadly, the particles lived in me with no discernable ill-effect and that piqued the curiosity of the scientists.

Then they found the true anomaly. If they made me suffer enough, they could summon that strange golden light into being around me. I always woke up alone.

I learned that when I was filled with gold and music, my body acted as a vessel for some foreign consciousness: a consciousness that could see and affect timelines as even the most powerful Time Lords could not.

Deciding to provoke these episodes, my keepers subjected me to trials and tests that amounted to torture, both physical and mental. As the episodes grew more frequent, I began to remember some of what I saw: present, past, future, could-have-been and may-come-to-be. All ran together.

I don't know how long I spent trapped in those white rooms, how many centuries I spent wandering through the time-locked hallways, but those years took their toll. Those lonely years stole my sanity piece by piece and left me clinging to a single grain of reason.

And then I met the most extraordinary man.