Credit for this idea goes entirely to my sister IncomingAlbatross, who asked if maybe the Master had a bad regeneration experience which caused the Doctor's ongoing fear of regeneration. So, blame her for this. Kossei is her fault! (Thank you, sister!)
This story features the Doctor and the Master as teenagers: Theta Sigma (thanks Drax!) and Kossei, respectively. It should be pretty obvious pretty quickly which is which, but just in case. ;)
My sister and I came up with the name Kossei as a more Gallifreyan-looking adaptation of Koschei. And it kind of stuck.
Enjoy! :)
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A Tale of Two Time Lords
France, Earth. May 1792. Somewhere near Paris.
It had all started out so well...
"An adventure," Kossei had said. He'd made an entire speech, in fact, mostly consisting of buzzwords: "Invaluable experience, cultural immersion, opportunity of a lifetime..."
He'd had Theta at adventure, but it could be very difficult to stop Kossei once he got going, so Theta had just waited patiently for his friend to wind down before agreeing to the proposed trip.
Now, kneeling in the dust of an alien planet, his eyes stinging with tears and his hands sticky with his best friend's blood, Theta would have given anything to take back that decision.
They had snuck offworld many times together in the years since they'd met. They had explored, they'd run, gotten into terrible trouble and gotten out of it again. They'd been hopelessly lost and somehow found their way back home...
Theta had always known that these unauthorized trips were dangerous, of course. The danger was part of the fun.
But there was nothing fun about this.
Earth was a primitive planet, still dragging itself inch by painful inch from the Dark Ages. No higher technology, nothing that should have posed a threat to two Time Lord students from the exclusive Prydon Academy of Gallifrey.
So how had this happened?
As much as he loved his friend, Theta was well aware that Kossei had a tendency to rub people the wrong way... He could be arrogant, condescending, abrasive at times. He was usually the smartest person in the room - and he knew it. He loved the sound of his own voice and didn't always think before he spoke.
Which is precisely what had happened today... Kossei had pushed too far, said the wrong thing to the wrong person.
And today that person just happened to have a gun.
The weapon was almost laughably primitive: a small amount of explosive propelled a lead projectile through a pipe at high speeds. Theta had examined these weapons. He knew their accuracy was poor-to-terrible. They misfired often and could be as dangerous to the person firing as to the intended target.
Given a few basic materials and about half an hour, Theta knew he could come up with something far more effective.
But that lack of sophistication did nothing to dull the weapon's viciousness. And all of Theta's knowledge couldn't put Kossei's blood back into his veins or patch the gaping hole his chest.
It had happened so quickly, before either of the two teenagers had had any chance to react. Kossei had been going on and on about... Something. Theta honestly hadn't been listening. Kossei tended to give a lot of speeches. Listening to them all was a full-time job.
Then the shot had come, without warning. It rang out startlingly loud in the dilapidated hut, cutting off Kossei's monologue mid-sentence. Theta had frozen in place, eyes locked on the growing crimson stain on his friend's shirt as the human shooter fled the scene. And Kossei had just looked so surprised before collapsing into the dirt.
Now Theta looked to his dying friend for guidance and tried to shove his jacket further into the gushing wound. "What should I do? I don't know what to do." It came out as a broken sob.
Theta saw Kossei open his mouth, thought he was trying to answer. Instead Kossei coughed, choking on his own blood. There was gore and dirt caked in Kossei's dark hair but Theta couldn't tell if it was from a head injury or just the chest wound, which was forming an ever-spreading pool on the ground beneath them.
Theta met his best friend's eyes, still so sharply aware, knew that Kossei was comprehending every moment of this. Kossei's gaze was desperate, pleading. Theta had never seen him look so terrified, could never even have imagined his brilliant, confident, infuriating friend could look so frightened or so small.
Theta knew that same expression was reflected on his own face.
Too late, Theta understood that he'd been naive to think that the danger had been fun, that primitive meant the same as safe. That mere intelligence could somehow stop a bullet. None of that hindsight and regret could help either of them now, but Theta couldn't help running the scenario through in his brain, over and over, retroactively trying to solve the problem of how he could have prevented this...
That compulsive search for answers didn't even slow as Theta watched the life drain from his friend's eyes.
Theta's vision grayed out with tears. It took a few moments before he noticed the golden light lapping at the edges of his friend's motionless form. He blinked the tears away, looked closer, hardly daring to hope...
Kossei's eyes snapped open as if he'd been stabbed. Theta called his name, but Kossei seemed not to hear. A sixth sense warned Theta and he stumbled hurriedly back towards the farthest corner of the little hut. He shielded his face with his arms just in time as the golden light exploded out from his friend's body. Theta cowered away from the sudden, searing heat. He tried to look up but the light was blinding. All he could hear was Kossei screaming... Screaming like he was burning alive.
Then it was over. Everything was quiet. The dim light of evening returned as if it had never left.
Theta rose, unsteadily. His sleeves now had singes on top of the blood and dirt. Scorch marks radiated out to the wooden walls of the hut. And in the center of that circle of destruction lay a brand new person.
Theta approached slowly, silently, his hearts beating faster with adrenaline.
The face he saw was totally unfamiliar. Theta knew what had happened, of course: everyone on Gallifrey knew about regeneration, the privilege of the Time Lords. But Theta was no expert. He knew his teachers had talked about it at the Academy, though not in depth.
Or maybe he just hadn't been paying attention? He wasn't always exactly the best student...
That had always been Kossei.
Theta knelt next to this new person he knew was Kossei and leaned in closer, brow furrowed as he searched for any familiarity in the new set of features. Still young, still apparently Theta's age. But nothing else had remained of Kossei's old self. As if it had all burned away without a trace. Dark hair had turned a couple shades lighter, to a chestnut brown. The face Theta had grown up with was gone.
He'd never see that face again.
Theta felt an ache in his throat.
Suddenly, the person's eyes opened and he bolted upright. Theta yelped in surprise and jumped away so quickly that he fell backwards into the dirt.
The stranger staggered to his feet urgently, turning in a circle as if searching for something he'd lost.
"K-Kossei...?" Theta stammered. His voice sounded unsure. He felt unsure.
The new person turned towards Theta, trying to focus on him as if from a great distance. Then his face cleared and he smiled. A new smile. And Kossei looked at Theta out of the stranger's emerald green eyes.
Despite himself, Theta shivered.
"Theta! Hello." Even his voice was different. Theta couldn't imagine how it would feel to hear a new voice come out of your own mouth when you spoke, but New Kossei seemed unperturbed by all of this. He reached out a hand to help Theta up. After a moment's pause, Theta took it.
When he stood, he realized Kossei had gained a couple of inches. He frowned in consternation. They'd been essentially the same height up until now.
That didn't seem quite fair...
New Kossei looked down at him fondly, exactly the way Old Kossei had: like he'd discovered some secret and was just waiting for Theta to figure it out too. That superiority had always annoyed Theta but now he found it simultaneously comforting and disquieting.
"Theta, it's me," Kossei said with that new smile.
Theta avoided his friend's unfamiliar gaze, bristling a bit at the condescending tone. "I know!" Theta looked up again, unsure of how to phrase his next question. "Are - are you... Alright?"
"Alright?" Kossei echoed in disbelief, "I'm great!" He pointed behind him at the floor. "That was amazing, did you see?"
Theta looked down at his hands, coated with still-drying blood. "Yeah... Yeah, I saw." Something tugged at the back of his consciousness, something important... Something from school?
Kossei appeared to pick up on none of this. "Regeneration is amazing. We're amazing! I can't believe all those boring old coots at the Academy never told us how fantastic this is. Keeping the secret for themselves, the blinkered fools. We could do anything..."
He turned to Theta, grabbing his shoulders emphatically. "Don't you understand, Theta? We could do anything."
Theta saw the mania in his friend's eyes and the tugging in the back of his brain became more pronounced. "I think maybe you should sit down..."
Kossei waved away the suggestion as if he'd hardly heard it. "No, there's no time for that now." He caught sight of Theta's ruined shirt, backed away and pointed disapprovingly. "What happened to you?"
"Me?!" Theta returned incredulously. "Look at you!"
Kossei seemed confused, then looked down at his own blood-soaked clothing. Examining the large, ragged hole where the bullet had torn into his previous body, he laughed. "Well, then, first thing's first - looks like we need some new clothes!"
Theta blinked. "New clothes?"
"Yes, new clothes," Kossei repeated with obnoxiously deliberate patience. "We can hardly take over the planet looking like this, can we?"
Theta shook his head. "Take over... What? This planet? Why?"
Kossei seemed to not understand the question. He stared at Theta, deadpan, and shrugged slightly. "Why not?" He perked up again, heading for the door. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
Theta didn't follow. The nagging had turned into a vague recollection at last. "No, wait."
Kossei threw an exaggerated sigh to the heavens and turned back to Theta impatiently. "What?"
Theta groped for the right words. "Do you remember in school? When they talked about the things that could go wrong with regeneration?"
Kossei looked both amused and annoyed. "Yes... Cause I'm the one who actually pays attention in class, remember? Don't worry, Theta, if any of that starts happening, I'll let you know. Ok? Can we go now?"
Theta was not reassured. He thought about what he could recall. Just random snatches, but enough to be very frightening... Mania. Memory loss. Paranoia. Insanity, temporary and... less temporary...
Total regeneration failure.
Theta stood his ground. "No, we should go home."
Kossei narrowed his eyes. "Why would we go home?"
"What if something does go wrong? No one knows we're here. I certainly wouldn't know what to do..." It was difficult to read his friend's new face but Theta had the distinct impression that his reasoning was falling on deaf ears. "Just to be safe," he added.
Kossei looked down, nodded slowly, and for a moment Theta thought perhaps, just perhaps he'd gotten through. Kossei stepped forward, put a hand on Theta's shoulder and said kindly and sincerely, "Don't take this the wrong way, Theta, but... That is one of your stupidest ideas ever."
Theta sighed, exasperated. Sometimes it was so hard to be friends with Kossei.
"You think I'm what..." Kossei challenged him, "Sick? Crazy?"
Theta foolishly attempted to squeeze a word in edgewise, "Not necessarily, but -"
Kossei immediately - and predictably - cut him off. "But look at me. I'm fine." Theta did look at him, thoroughly unconvinced. "I'm fine! Actually," Kossei paused for effect, spread his arms and smiled, "I've never felt better."
Theta tried again, not willing to risk his friend's safety to save his ego. "I really think you should maybe lie down... Just for a minute."
A sly smile tugged at the corner of Kossei's mouth as an idea seemed to strike him. "Or, Theta... Maybe you should lie down."
Kossei's mind struck viper-fast, catching Theta completely off guard. He didn't have enough time for even basic defenses. Kossei's eyes pulled him in and he plummeted into a bottomless void...
...
Theta woke, blinking at dawn light streaming in between the uneven slats of the shed.
"Morning," came Kossei's new voice. He was leaning against the doorpost, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. He'd cleaned up and found new clothes somewhere. They looked expensive, particularly the rather splendid red coat he was wearing. "Sleep well?"
"What did you do to me?" Theta asked suspiciously. He had no recollection of the past several hours, not since Kossei had knocked him out. That was often a bad sign where his hypnotism-obsessed friend was concerned.
Kossei shrugged, nonchalant. "You seemed stressed out, I thought you needed a break."
Theta sat up, noticed the blood-soaked jacket he'd used earlier on Kossei's wound was spread over him like a blanket. He shoved it off with a cry of disgust and jumped away. Kossei seemed somewhat bemused by this reaction but said nothing. Theta started to brush off his clothes before realizing what a ridiculously futile gesture that was. Instead, he pointed at his friend accusingly. "I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that anymore."
Kossei rolled his eyes. "Oh don't be so dramatic. You took a nap." He beckoned to Theta. "Now come on, come get cleaned up. Unless you want to stay in those rags forever."
Theta looked down at the state he was in. Mud, dirt, blood... He was covered from head to toe. He grimaced. "Ugh, fine... Where are we going?" he asked resignedly.
"I made some new friends while you were sleeping. Come on, come and meet them." Kossei tossed a plain, dark cloak he'd brought with him in Theta's direction. "Here, put this on. We wouldn't want to attract attention. And cheer up, Theta! Honestly, you look like someone died." He chuckled at his own little joke and was out the door before Theta could even throw the cloak over his shoulders.
Theta shook his head at his friend's back, hoping Kossei could sense his glare of disapproval as he followed him out into the rapidly-filling streets.
Kossei navigated through the thickening morning crowds with ease, never once looking behind to see if his friend was keeping up. Theta felt uncomfortable and exposed. He pulled the hood further up over his head and wrapped the edges of the cloak around his bloodied hands.
They went on for a ways until the crowds thinned out and the houses got bigger and further apart. The nicer part of town, obviously. Typical Kossei, thought Theta. His friend did have a weakness for the finer things.
Kossei walked right up to the front door of one of the nicest manors on the street and rapped on the door authoritatively. He stepped back and presented the house with a flourish. "Here it is! Home sweet home! For now, at least."
Theta nodded appreciatively, though his mind was swimming with far heavier concerns than architecture or social strata. "Nice," he said.
Kossei bowed half-sarcastically. "Only the best for my friend Theta Sigma," he replied as the door opened. A maidservant stood inside, curtseyed when she saw Kossei.
"Oh, young master Kossei, I've prepared a room and a bath for your friend, as you requested," she said as she ushered the two boys inside.
"Good, good," said Kossei. He pointed to Theta. "You, get cleaned up. Meet me in the drawing room, I'll introduce you to our gracious hosts." He turned back to the maid. "After you've shown my friend to his room, would you be so kind as to speak to the cook about getting us some breakfast? I'm famished."
"Of course, sir," she said and curtseyed again. "This way, sir," she motioned for Theta to follow her upstairs.
As Theta made his way to the upper floor of the house he turned back around to see Kossei disappearing through a door towards what Theta assumed was the drawing room.
The maid ushered Theta into a very nice room with an adjoining bath. A clean set of clothes was laid out on the bed complete with a blue coat similar to Kossei's red one.
Theta observed the maid as she moved about the room, looking for signs that his mind-controlling friend had been at work here. He'd gotten pretty good at recognizing the signals over the years.
Hypnotism was Kossei's special hobby, one that he had a natural affinity for, and there had been an uncomfortable phase a few years back where he had practiced... A lot. Mostly on humans, but anyone who happened to be nearby was fair game. He'd even tried to hypnotize a teacher once to get Theta a better grade: an unsolicited favor, as Kossei's favors often were. That attempt had failed and Kossei was told in no uncertain terms that if he was caught trying anything like that again it would mean his immediate expulsion.
So that was the end of that for the moment, much to Theta's unspoken relief.
Offworld, however, there were no teachers. And humans, as Kossei was continually reminding Theta, were no match for a Time Lord mind. But despite Kossei's endless practice, hypnotism was not a perfect science. It had its limits. Specifically, maintaining a normal pattern of behavior in the subject was virtually impossible. The change in body language, the altered focus, the slightly unnatural reactions... They could be subtle, but once Theta had learned what to look for, they screamed out.
Theta was fairly sure the servant's mind was uncompromised. And her stifled gasp of surprise when she removed Theta's cloak and saw the state of his clothing and hands underneath read as entirely genuine. Theta grimaced an apologetic smile in her direction. She muttered something about washing the cloak and practically ran from the room.
So definitely not hypnotized then: running away from the unexpected was a thoroughly human response.
As Theta got cleaned up, he remained preoccupied with what to do next. His instincts told him his friend was up to something... The trouble was, he had no way of knowing what that might be. Kossei could be difficult to keep up with on a normal day. Now... Who could tell? He seemed to be moving at hyperspeed since his regeneration. Furthermore, how different was this new Kossei? How much had he changed? Kossei was his oldest friend in the Universe but maybe Theta didn't know him at all anymore...
With all this in mind, Theta braced himself for the worst as he stepped through the doors to the drawing room...
What he found appeared to be about as far from an emergency as he could have imagined. Kossei sat alone in the drawing room, boot-clad feet up on an ottoman, a newspaper spread out in his lap and a pot of Turkish coffee at his elbow.
It smelled amazing.
Kossei was tinkering with some small piece of machinery as Theta walked in. He looked up, delighted. "Theta!" Then his tone immediately switched to annoyance. "Finally! You took your time." He tossed the paper and device to the side and jumped up, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Now we can get started."
"Get started on what exactly?" Theta asked cautiously. He was still convinced they'd have to return to Gallifrey as soon as possible, face the inevitable consequences, but he'd have to take it slow... Kossei seemed even less open to input than usual. Theta needed time and information to come up with a plan.
Regeneration didn't seem to have changed Kossei's predilection for talking about himself so... Theta's current plan was just to keep Kossei talking.
Shouldn't be too difficult, he thought.
"Taking over Earth, of course" Kossei was saying. "Were you even paying attention?" He looked slightly hurt. "I told you this already."
"Sorry, I just was wondering..." Ask another question. "How?"
"Well..." Kossei paused, then admitted, almost embarrassed, "I'm still working out the details..."
That was a bit unlike Kossei.
He usually didn't even start a project without having fine-tuned his plans meticulously.
"I have a lot of ideas, though," Kossei hastened to reassure him. "They're really good ideas!"
"I'm sure they are." Theta said placatingly. Whoops, that might have been a bit too much. Change the subject? "Hey, is there breakfast?"
Kossei slapped himself on the forehead, "Oh, of course! You must be starving. Come on, we'll talk about my plans while you eat. This way, I had them set it all up in the dining room."
Theta stopped dead as they entered the formal dining room. All around the table were the unnaturally still, seated figures of what appeared to be the house's owners.
"Kossei..." Theta's voice came out as a hoarse whisper. "Are all these people...?"
"Hypnotized, yep! All seven of them!" Kossei was grinning, evidently very proud of his handiwork. "Say hello, everyone!"
"Hello," all seven of them said in flat unison.
"Kossei..." Theta didn't know what to say. He had never been able to explain to Kossei how uncomfortable he felt about the whole mind control thing. Or, more accurately, Kossei had always chosen to ignore or willfully misunderstand Theta whenever he brought it up. Kossei made a very convincing argument for its usefulness as a tool to blend into the culture of lower-level planets. It certainly did make things easier... Theta wasn't debating that. But this seemed... Different, somehow. Not a means to an end, more of an end in itself?
Kossei hadn't picked up on Theta's tone at all. He was absolutely thrilled with himself. "I know! I've never done so many at once. This new body is very powerful. It's a bit of an experiment, of course," he added, hopping up to perch on the edge of the table. "A few of them started, sort of, wandering around when I went to get you, but it's ok, they didn't get very far." He leaned in towards one of the young men. "Did you?" He shook his head, answering his own question. "No." He jumped down again, pacing as if he couldn't keep still. "So I just rounded them all up again, just now. All present and accounted for! I think?" Kossei seemed unsure for a moment.
Theta watched with concern as Kossei appeared to lose his train of thought, rubbing his temple as if in pain.
But Kossei quickly recovered, picking up right where he had left off. "Yeah, no, that's definitely all of them."
"But what do you need them all for?" Theta asked.
Kossei shrugged. "I'm not really sure yet. I'll think of something."
"So is there a reason you can't just... Let them all go about their business?" The way they all simply sat there was unnerving. Theta couldn't help but be concerned: Were they ok? Did they need to eat? How long was Kossei going to keep them here? Was there someone out there waiting, worried about them?
In the past some of Kossei's hypnotic experiments hadn't gone terribly well. The problem with taking away a person's free will is that then you have to assume all of those operations for them. Kossei hadn't always been diligent about that, with some disturbing but fortunately impermanent consequences. At present, he certainly didn't seem to be in an ideal frame of mind to keep track of all those details for seven fragile human beings...
These days, Kossei usually kept it pretty simple, thankfully. A little memory wipe here, a distraction there, a few short instructions. Theta still felt he was a bit cavalier with the mind control in general but Kossei always had so many reasons why this was "absolutely necessary" and "the best plan."
Never mind the fact that Kossei clearly enjoyed his hobby very much. That was beside the point... According to Kossei, he was just thinking about the big picture.
Kossei liked to approach everything as if it carried some important strategic significance. Theta had noticed that on days when Kossei got bored he'd even start "strategizing" about totally commonplace decisions. Sometimes he used is as a sort of self-aware joke, like the day he had expounded for forty minutes on the most strategically sound place to have lunch.
Theta had been ready to tear his own hair out by the end of that, much to Kossei's obvious satisfaction.
But that day when Kossei had been especially bored and had explained to Theta his strategic reasons for choosing to walk on the northern side of the street instead of the southern? Theta still wasn't sure if he had been serious about that one...
In short, Kossei always had a reason. To see him do something this big with no end goal was highly uncharacteristic. Maybe not so much for New Kossei? No, Theta decided. He'd assume that was a constant of Kossei's personality. So he'd try an appeal to logic. Well, the Kossei version of logic, anyway.
"But they aren't a threat are they?" Theta asked carefully.
"Them?" Kossei was highly amused by this notion. "No. But this is new territory so... Well, I'm not really sure what will happen? So I figure keeping them all in one place is the best idea. Slightly tricky keeping track of this many at the same time. Easier to watch them all if they just... sit here, you know?"
Theta tried another angle. "Are you sure you should be doing all of this right now, though?"
"What do you mean? Oh!" He seemed to catch up. "No, don't worry, they won't remember any of this, I took care of that." He waved a hand in front of one of his nonresponsive subjects, showing they were fully under. "See?"
"That's not..." Theta stopped himself just in time. It was so easy to get off track when talking to Kossei. Theta was pretty sure Kossei did that on purpose... Focus, Theta. "Look, I know you feel... great." Kossei nodded about ten times. "But you just regenerated. That's a big adjustment. Maybe not the best time for large-scale mind control experiments? There could be... consequences."
"Oh, right. Your imaginary 'side effects.'" Kossei made sarcastic air quotes. "Honestly, Theta, you have to get over this little obsession." He put an arm around Theta's shoulders. "Look to the future! That whole regeneration thing, that's in the past. It was ages ago!"
"It was yesterday!" Theta reminded him a bit snappishly.
Kossei backed away, considering his friend, sizing him up. "You know, I definitely remember you being more fun than this... Have you always been such a killjoy? I can't believe I never noticed that about you before..." He shrugged. "Live and learn I guess."
Alright then, let's try the direct approach. "Kossei, seriously. I'm worried about you."
"Oh, really?" Kossei looked like he was about to burst out laughing at that. "You're worried about me. That's priceless."
Not a very promising start...
"Look, Kossei, it's not like I want to go home, but emergency regenerations can be really dangerous. I know it's a little earlier than we'd planned, but we'd have to go back to Gallifrey either way eventually..."
"Why?" One word, but spoken with such weight.
Theta blinked, surprised not so much at being cut off, but at the change in Kossei's tone. "... What?"
"Why should we go back?" All the mania had evaporated in an instant. Kossei's green eyes were clear. He'd thought about this and he was entirely serious.
Theta frowned, struggling a bit despite himself to find an adequate response. "It's... Home."
Kossei raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"
"I mean, we have to go back..." He looked to Kossei. "... Right?"
"Do we?" Kossei answered Theta's question with a few questions of his own. "What do we have there, really, to go back to? What's left there for you and me after this? Gallifrey is so small. But out here... Out here we have our freedom, endless possibilities, anything we could imagine. We were born into a prison, but our jailors never bargained on us escaping, learning the truth: Gallifrey is just one tiny, insignificant speck in the cosmos. It's too small for you and me, Theta. We've outgrown it. But everything else, the entire Universe... That's all out here. All we have to do is take it."
Theta had to admit: Kossei had a point, as he usually did. There wasn't a whole lot on Gallifrey that Theta would miss.
And Kossei had one more thing to add. "You know, they'll never let us leave again," he pointed out.
Theta gulped. He hadn't thought of that... But he knew immediately that Kossei was absolutely right. Their unauthorized outings were only possible because they'd never been caught.
But there was no way to hide a regeneration.
This would be their last trip.
Kossei continued talking, but seemingly to himself now, "So we should go back... Why? To be punished? To do as we're told? Crawl back into our tiny, cramped cages like the good little trained monkeys they've taught us to be... Shut our eyes. Live and die in the dark, thanking our masters for the scraps they send us..."
"So what's the alternative then?" Theta knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from his friend, wanted to bring him back to the present.
Kossei moved in close, sincere, enthusiastic. In that moment he was almost the Kossei Theta had met that first day at the Academy. So full of ideas. So alone. So eager for someone to talk to. "Let's not go back, Theta. Ever. Let's just... Stay here. They'd never find us, they'd never even think to look on such a primitive world. I mean, we'd hardly be the first renegades in the history of Gallifrey."
Renegades.
Kossei's use of the term made Theta pause. Such a dirty word on their homeworld. So many negative connotations of abusing the power of the Time Lords for personal gain...
As if following the same train of thought, but to a different end, Kossei went on, "This planet could be ours, we could shape it into whatever we want. We'll rule it together."
Theta thought about that, spending a moment honestly trying to picture what ruling a planet would be like. Once they'd taken over... What then? What next? "But... What would we do with it?" he asked slowly.
The question confused Kossei. "What do you mean?"
Ruling a planet sounded like a lot of work to Theta. And surely that would make it more likely that Gallifrey would find them again? "Couldn't we just... Stay on Earth without ruling it?"
Kossei frowned, baffled. "What would be the point of that?"
Theta looked around the room. House, clothing, food... In the months they'd been on this particular trip, they'd had no trouble getting whatever they needed. Kossei was always more than happy to smooth the path with forgery, hypnotism or outright lies whenever necessary. They could take everything they needed - or even wanted - while leaving almost no footprint on the timestream whatsoever. "But isn't it sort of the same thing in the end?" Theta queried uncertainly.
Kossei stared at Theta as if he was speaking gibberish. "No..."
"Well... Maybe I don't want to rule a planet," Theta postulated.
Kossei nodded, considering this new piece of information. "Ok, well... I do. So, I'll rule the planet, and you can live here! How does that sound?" Theta still didn't quite understand why ruling Earth was such an integral part of this plan. "Oh come on, Theta," Kossei pushed, impatient for his victory. "Gallifrey is so boring! You really want to go back there after all of this?"
Theta really didn't, actually... Especially knowing returning to Gallifrey would mean no more offworld trips.
Because Theta loved going offworld, more than he had ever thought he could love anything. Exploring Time and Space with no guides, no rulebooks, no telling what might be around the next corner... There was nothing else that compared with the thrill of being dropped into a situation with no answers except the ones you could discover for yourself. So much to learn... And not the way they learned in the classroom at home: no, that knowledge was stale, recycled, remote. Specimens under glass. Out here, amidst it all, submerged in the wondrous, the new, the unknown... This knowledge was alive, dancing and swimming and flying all around them, too vast and varied for anyone to ever comprehend in the span of one lifetime.
But Theta longed to try, to try with every fiber of his soul, every second of his lifespan. The joy of discovery had awoken in him and now he yearned to follow wherever that fickle butterfly might lead. He wanted to see it, to touch it, hold it in his hand.
The secrets of the Universe sang to him, coaxing and taunting... Come find us... Sometimes that voice came from far beyond the horizon. Sometimes it was so close he could feel the whisper at his ear, could almost brush it with the tips of his fingers if he just reached out quickly enough...
But there was far more at stake here than merely what Theta might want. Kossei was sick, possibly very sick, and Theta had to think about his friend.
One of them had to be the responsible one. And today, apparently, that role fell squarely on Theta's shoulders.
"But what if your regeneration is failing?" Theta asked. Kossei tried to interrupt again but Theta cut him off this time. "No, you got to talk, and you're right. I don't want to go back." Kossei was placated by this, at least temporarily. "But just listen for a second... What if you are sick? What if how you're feeling right now, all your plans, all this new power... What if that's just temporary? What happens when it all fades away? What if it's all gone tomorrow?"
Kossei's face changed, like a thunderstorm rolling in. His eyes were hard as he enunciated every syllable of his response. "Then I'll get it back."
Not the response Theta was expecting. "How would you do that?" Theta asked, regretting the question instantly.
It seemed to make Kossei even angrier. "I'd figure something out," he asserted. He turned away. All Theta could see now was his back. "You know, Theta..." he said, his tone lighter now, conversational. "If you won't just trust me, then maybe I should find another way to make you understand."
Kossei snapped his fingers and two of the hypnotized humans jumped up and grabbed Theta's arms. He struggled against them as Kossei glanced over his shoulder and smiled a dark smile. Then something smashed against the back of Theta's head and everything went black.
...
Theta groaned as the ache in his head roused him back to consciousness. As he tried to move, he realized something was holding him back. The light stabbed into his eyes as he squinted down to see his hands and feet were tied underneath the dining room table on which he was now lying. "Kossei, what are you doing?"
Kossei was nearby. He leaned in as he saw Theta waking up. He looked tired. There were lines of pain around his new eyes, but he didn't seem to be feeling any of that.
"I'm going to help you understand." He said it so calmly. "Sorry about your head but... You know what humans say about making omelets." Kossei held up a gun and began methodically loading it.
"Kossei..." Both of Theta's hearts jumped into his throat. "Kossei, what are you going to do with that...?"
"You know," Kossei mused, "everything is so much clearer since I regenerated. I've tried to explain it to you but really it's something you just have to experience for yourself. So now... You're going to regenerate, too."
Theta felt a wave of terror unlike anything he'd ever known. "No. No, Kossei, please don't..." he begged.
"Shh, I know. You're scared." Kossei brushed Theta's hair off his forehead with what appeared to be genuine care, even regret. "But it's better this way. It'll be ok, trust me." He lowered the gun to aim at Theta's chest... Then pulled it back, pointing it up at the ceiling. "Unless you want to reconsider helping me take over Earth...?" He looked so hopeful. "Really, Theta, just imagine it. Together we could make this little dump of a planet into something really incredible."
Theta shook his head helplessly, still feeling like he was missing something here. "Kossei... Just... why? I just don't see the point."
Kossei closed his eyes wearily. "Oh, Theta. Poor stupid, stupid Theta..." He started pacing again. "Don't you see? This is what we should be doing! We're Time Lords, you and I! What's the point of having all this knowledge and power at our disposal if we don't do something with it?"
"But you know we're not supposed to interfere." That was literally the primary rule of Time Lord society. Punishments for contravening this law were severe, the stuff of cautionary tales and horror stories back on Gallifrey.
"Says who?" Kossei demanded. "Who's going to stop us? Them?" He jerked one thumb at the entranced humans. "Or is the High Council going to show up here personally on Sol 3 to to reprimand us?"
Theta persisted. "But the rules are there for a reason."
Kossei jumped on that. "Yes, to keep people like you and me from threatening those in power! But they're weak, Theta. Old and weak and blind. They're clinging desperately to the past because their time is already over. How often have I told you Theta? Rules are made to be broken."
Theta agreed, in part: he was the first to advocate breaking the useless rules, the bad rules, but... "Not all the rules," he said.
The Laws of Time were in place for a reason. There was no telling how much damage could be caused if you started disregarding those. Rewriting millennia of order with no idea what you were doing? Theta wasn't eager to take on a responsibility of that magnitude anytime soon.
But Kossei wasn't giving up either. "Theta, think about it. Yesterday, I died. Today, I did all of this." He made a sweeping gesture at the room full of powerless humans. "Tomorrow..." He shrugged. "Who knows? We're Time Lords, Theta. We're the future of the Time Lords. Rules are for other people."
"Please, Kossei, just untie me." Theta pleaded. He was out of arguments. He was tired, he was hungry and his head hurt. He just wanted to shake this broken stranger, threaten him until he brought his best friend back. Because Kossei would never have let something like this happen...
Right...?
The hint of doubt disturbed Theta. He filed it away in a little box. Set aside for another time, along with the other conceptual odds and ends that just didn't quite work. "Please... Please, let's just go home."
Kossei shut down like a switch had been flipped. "Fine then, have it your way. Hopefully you're a little more fun the next time around..." He lowered the revolver again, pointing it at one of Theta's hearts. "Bye, Theta One! Hello, Theta Two..."
Theta closed his eyes tightly and turned his head away, bracing for his own death... The death of everything familiar, everything he'd ever been.
What will the Universe look like, he wondered, through new eyes?
A moment passed and... Nothing.
Theta cautiously opened one eye. Kossei was doubled over in pain, still holding the gun, both hands to his head.
He saw Theta watching him. "Did you do this?" he gasped. Something crept into his eyes, oddly out of place in the moment. It looked remarkably like... Admiration? "Theta, did you... Poison me?" Kossei asked, almost delighted.
Theta hadn't, of course, hadn't even had an opportunity to do so. But he had to admit that it was a good idea. He kind of wished he'd thought of that...
Kossei smiled at him through the pain, almost proudly. "Oh, Theta, I always knew you had it in you..." And Kossei dropped to the floor, stone cold unconscious.
It took Theta nearly two hours to get his hands free. Kossei didn't wake up. Theta had to keep checking periodically to make sure Kossei was still breathing but... There wouldn't have been anything he could have done if he hadn't been.
Once he got free, he used the ropes to tie up Kossei. Just in case.
He couldn't figure out what to do with the gun, so he unloaded it, put the bullets in his pocket and and left the empty weapon on the table.
By now the humans were starting to stir so he gently guided them one by one into the adjoining room. They'd probably be very confused once they woke up but they'd soon forget all about that and go on with their short lives.
That done, he needed to find the time capsule he and Kossei had arrived in.
He desperately hoped Kossei had had the foresight to move it to the manor last night.
It only took Theta a few minutes to find it, disguised as a grandfather clock in one of the nearby rooms. Theta breathed a sigh of relief.
Good old Kossei, always planning ahead.
That made things just a bit easier.
He dragged Kossei to the capsule, trying not to bump into too much stuff on the way.
The next part was... Tricky.
Theta knew the coordinates for Gallifrey, of course, but Kossei was usually the one who took the lead on actually piloting the ship. Theta just hoped he'd learned enough to get them back in one piece.
Slowly, deliberately, he checked all the instruments that he understood. He knew Kossei was probably dying, that time was of the essence, but if he missed a single warning or ignored a reading it could mean all kinds of disaster. He had to get it right. Well, as right as possible.
When everything seemed ready, Theta took a deep breath. "Please work, please, please work..." he whispered. He knew the ship couldn't hear him but saying it out loud made him feel just a bit more at ease. He screwed his eyes shut and slowly pulled the dematerialization lever...
A few seconds passed.
Nothing exploded.
Theta opened his eyes and realized he'd been holding his breath. With a sigh of relief, he grinned triumphantly at his friend's unconscious form, wishing Kossei could see what he'd done all by himself.
It wasn't until they were nearly home that he remembered the worst was probably still ahead of them.
...
"Theta, I've come to expect this kind of nonsense from you by now. But you, Kossei? You should have known better."
The lectures had been ongoing since Theta and Kossei had arrived back home to Gallifrey. Kossei had been rushed to the regeneration wing of the Capitol's best hospital where he had quickly recovered. He seemed unshaken by his experience, as if he'd never doubted everything would work out well for him. Theta, however, couldn't stop thinking about how easily everything could have gone horribly wrong.
Apparently, first regenerations were statistically the most likely to fail. Add in the emergency situation and Kossei had beaten some truly staggering odds.
In terms of probability alone, he should be dead.
Kossei seemed to have claimed sole credit for this feat of survival, as if he had beaten death personally, all on his own. Theta found this to be a slightly infuriating attitude. Not that he wanted a parade or anything, but he had sort of saved Kossei's life...
Also, it turned out that Theta's instincts had been right about Kossei's post-regeneration power boost: it had been temporary after all. An excess of artron energy, the doctors said. Apparently he could have caused himself some real and permanent damage had his brain not shut down as a defense mechanism.
Theta had been nervous about how Kossei would take this news. He couldn't shake the memory of Kossei's face when he had vowed to never lose that power... To "get it back," no matter the cost. But Kossei had accepted this information with apparent equanimity, so Theta figured he could just chalk that one up to post-regeneration insanity.
Still, of all the strange things Kossei had said, that moment stuck with him most of all.
A few days had passed, and the two teenagers now stood side by side in front of Lord Borusa. Most of the teachers had taken a turn berating them for their poor choices, but Borusa was really leaning into it. He'd been going for at least twenty minutes now and showed no signs of nearing an end. So far they were "reckless," "irresponsible," and "an embarrassment to the Time Lord legacy," among other things.
Theta kept his eyes down but Kossei remained visibly unashamed and unrepentant. He'd continued to wear the red coat he'd picked up on Earth, clearly as an open taunt to the Gallifreyan authority.
While Borusa's back was turned, Theta nudged Kossei with his elbow, trying to get him to at least appear contrite.
Kossei responded by winking at him and made a gabbing gesture with his hand.
Theta gave him a look that said, Seriously?! and mouthed "Stop it!" silently in his friend's direction.
Kossei returned an innocent look.
Theta mouthed, "You're going to get us in more trouble!"
Kossei put a hand to his ear, motioning for Theta to speak up.
Foolishly, Theta took the bait, launching into a series of emphatic gestures. He stopped abruptly as he saw Borusa had turned back around and was glaring at him, shaking his head in severe disapproval.
"You two... Are impossible. Honestly, I might as well be talking to Rassilon's Tomb for all the effect this has had. You boys are hopeless. Hopeless! Such potential, I just don't know where I went wrong with you two. " He sighed, heavily. "You will both be confined to your quarters for the remainder of the term. Since you clearly have had so much extra time on your hands, your classloads will be doubled. And be aware that I will be watching your resulting grades very closely." He looked specifically at Theta as he said this.
There was a pause. Kossei broke the silence. "Are we dismissed now, sir?" he asked impertinently. Theta stared at him in sheer disbelief. Did he have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever?
Borusa threw up his hands and sat back down behind his desk. "Yes, get out of my sight, both of you. You make me embarrassed to call myself a Prydonian. I shudder to think of Gallifrey's future. Out."
They were barely out of the office when Kossei started laughing, unwilling or unable to contain himself any longer. He covered his mouth, trying to stay as quiet as possible, and leaned against the wall for support.
Theta smacked him on the arm. "It's not funny!" he hissed.
Kossei shook his head and held up one forefinger in contradiction. "Oh, it's funny. Your face!"
"You are so much more annoying since you regenerated, you know that?" Theta asked, frowning angrily.
"Oh, you'll learn to love me," Kossei guaranteed, pulling himself together and adjusting his coat.
"You know... " Theta pointed out, quietly, "You never actually thanked me."
"For what?" Kossei asked.
Theta started to answer, then rolled his eyes in aggravation when he realized Kossei was just teasing him again.
Kossei tilted his head to one side, his eyes sincere but his tone so sweet it reeked of sarcasm. "Thank you, Theta," he purred.
"I - I'm sorry," Theta feigned confusion, needing just a touch of revenge after everything his friend had put him through. "What exactly is it that you're thanking me for...?"
There was a flash of amusement in Kossei's eyes, but he continued playing along with the game. "Thank you Theta... For saving my life." He said it slowly to allow Theta the time to savor his victory.
Theta shrugged, waving it off with openly false humility. "I mean... It was nothing really. I just prevailed against all odds, dragged your helpless, unconscious body to safety... Found my way home, alone, from an alien planet... And that's after you tried to kill me, of course, so..."
Kossei clasped both hands to his chest with exaggerated gratitude. "And I thank you for that, Theta." Theta smiled smugly, satisfied with this result. But Kossei didn't stop there. "And not just me: Gallifrey thanks you. The Universe thanks you!" he declaimed. "You, Theta Sigma, are a god among men! Gallifrey shall sing your praises for millennia. Nay, until the very end of Time!"
"You two!" Theta stopped laughing as Borusa appeared in the doorway of his office. "What are you still doing here?" He spoke into the communicator on his wrist. "This is Lord Borusa, will someone please come escort these two miscreants away from my office and back to their quarters? At once?"
Kossei wasn't about to wait for an escort. He threw a mock-salute in Borusa's direction, grabbed Theta's hand unceremoniously and dragged him away down the hall. Borusa pointed threateningly after them. "If I catch sight of either of you again before the end of the term, I swear..."
As they disappeared around a corner, Borusa shook his head muttering, "There are times I fear those two will be the death of us all."
...
In the weeks that followed, Theta and Kossei remained grounded and ostracized from their classmates. This gave Theta plenty of time to get to know the latest version of his best friend.
Minus the post-regeneration mania, Kossei had regained his quiet, considered way of doing things, as if even his smallest actions were preplanned and thought out ahead of time.
However, his sense of humor had become a bit more perverse, slightly crueler than before...
Still, there was a lot that Theta easily recognized as his old friend, which just made the little differences all the more jarring: Foods Kossei had loved that he now couldn't stand. His tone of voice, his choice of phrasing. His mannerisms.
It was... Disorienting, to say the least.
Theta sometimes found himself missing his best friend even though Kossei was right there, ten feet away from him.
And sadly, Theta and Kossei's offworld excursions were decidedly over. Their borrowed time capsule had been confiscated immediately upon their return, probably destined for the scrap heap: it had been outdated when they began using it years ago. So Theta ended up with very little to show for those trips. Kossei had a new face and a new coat but all Theta had were the memories.
Such wonderful memories though... So full of color, so vibrant and complex. Theta would drift off occasionally to wander through these memories in his mind.
Sometimes it all seemed like a dream... Because how could the gray halls of Gallifrey possibly exist in the same Universe as the places he and Kossei had been?
Other days it was Gallifrey that seemed like the dream.
But inevitably, the bland routine of Gallifrey took over Theta's life once again, and everything went back to normal, or at least the new normal. That is, except for the nightmares which had continued to plague Theta since their return. Ironically enough, although Kossei was the one who had died, Theta seemed to be the one saddled with the residual trauma.
Not that there was much time to dwell on any of that. The double workload was appropriately punishing. Theta spent every waking hour just trying to keep up.
Kossei, on the other hand, breezed through his assignments with ease and then spent the rest of his time pursuing his own research.
As was usual with Kossei, this routine followed a strict pattern. Every day, Kossei would obtain a new book from the Academy library. He would spend hours reading, taking notes, and then be onto another book the next day.
Theta, curious, took note of the titles as they came and went. The books, often old, dust-covered and obscure, encompassed a wide range of subjects: hypnotism, of course. But also Gallifreyan history, weapons tech, exobiology, telepathy, time travel mechanics, even Earth history... If there was a common thread uniting all of these topics, Theta certainly couldn't discern it. But Kossei threw himself into his research so purposefully that Theta had to assume he had a specific goal in mind.
Theta didn't ask though. Kossei would share when he was ready.
Then one day, as Theta was struggling through political science, he paused to ask another question, one he'd been been avoiding since they had returned to Gallifrey.
"Hey, Kossei?"
"Hmm?" Kossei responded absently, deep in his research with a pen clutched between his teeth.
"All that stuff you said, after you regenerated... You remember all of that?" Theta asked.
Kossei glanced up, considered briefly, went back to his notes. "Most of it, yeah. Why?"
"You didn't... mean that. Did you?" Theta knew it was a strange question and he wasn't entirely sure how Kossei would respond.
Kossei set his book down, one finger keeping his place, but now giving Theta his undivided attention. One thing Theta had started to realize: very few people received Kossei's undivided attention. "Which part?" Kossei asked. No sarcasm, no judgment. A serious question.
"Taking over planets and... all that... stuff." Theta still felt weirdly awkward around this new Kossei at times. "That was just the regeneration trauma talking... Right?"
Kossei stopped to think. "Well, granted I was a little..." He paused, searching for the right euphemism, "... over-enthusiastic? But..." He looked at Theta with an oddly cryptic expression. "You must have thought about it though, right?"
"What?" Theta was totally taken aback. He frowned, shaking his head slowly. "No..." Was Kossei joking? He didn't seem to be joking.
"Come on..." Kossei gave him a sideways smile, intensely skeptical. "Once or twice maybe?"
"No," Theta said. "Never."
Was that something people thought about?
Kossei raised both hands, book and all, signalling he knew when to take a hint. His reaction made it abundantly clear that he had doubts about the veracity of Theta's response, but he dropped the subject nonetheless.
Theta stared at his new/old friend, brow furrowed, a strange sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "You think about ruling planets?" he asked finally.
Kossei raised his eyes from his book, gazing into the middle distance, lost in some vision only he could see. "Sometimes..." he said. His eyes came back to the present and he smiled brightly at Theta. "One of these days I'll tell you all about it."
The End?