It was beautiful. Used to call it the "Shining World of the Seventh System". And on the continent of Wild Endeavor, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight, to enter the Academy. Some say that's where it all began... when he was a child. That's when the Master saw Eternity. As a novice he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality, through which can be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad.

XXX

I awoke at 6:00 A.M. precisely, morning sunlight filtering through the shuttered windows in our dorm. Another day at the Academy somehow didn't seem all that exciting, and I fell back in my bed with a grunt. I looked to my left at the single bed parallel to my own. Soft black hair was peeking out above his comforter, and I stared over at my dorm mate, wishing pitifully that I was still sound asleep as he was.

"Koschei," I whined, throwing my pillow at him. "Wake up!" My dorm mate grumbled something incomprehensible, turning over and pulling the bed sheets more tightly around himself. "We have to go," I said, sighing heavily. "Come on." When he still wouldn't move, I stood up wobbily, then jumped onto his bed, trying to jostle him awake. "Wake up," I said again.

"Go away," he muttered, trying to push me off the bed.

"But we have to go to school," I protested, trying to convince myself as much as him.

"We went yesterday," he mumbled, looking up at me through sleepy blue eyes. "And the day before that, and all last week." He smiled sleepily, but I could still sense the mischief in his voice. "I say we stay home today."

As much as I wanted to agree with him, I knew that we only had a few more days to miss before someone would start getting suspicious. Although, the offer was tempting, I thought, as I looked out the window. The foggy morning air was glowing with the golden sunlight that shone down from the sky. I smiled, marveling at the sheer beauty of our planet. Suddenly, Koschei's offer seemed more than reasonable, and I laid down beside him with a contented sigh. He pulled up the covers for me, and I happily slipped inside, snuggling up beside him in the warm cocoon of blankets and pillows.

"See?" he said, chuckling sleepily. "I always have the best ideas." I smiled, silently agreeing with him before falling asleep in his arms.

XXX

"Come on," I shouted. "We have to go back before someone notices." Koschei looked back at me, shrugging.

"Let them wonder," he said, scratching the back of his head uncaringly. "It's not like we're gonna miss anything. All we're doing today is listening to the stupid professor give a lecture about who-knows-what." He spun around, falling down into the tall, red grass. "Boring!" I laughed.

"Alright," I said, chasing after him and landing in the soft grass beside him. "I guess you're right."

"Exactly," he said, putting his arms behind his head and smiling up at the orange sky. "Besides, we read enough to know better than any stupid teacher." I leaned into him, laying my head on his chest to use as a pillow. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up to lay down next to him. We were flush against each other, and we were both as happy as could be.

XXX

"Theta?"

I heard his voice echoing down the corridor. Putting a hand over my mouth to mute my breathing, I tried to resist the urge to giggle. He called for me again; he was getting closer. By the way his voice bounced off the walls I could tell he was only a few feet away from my hiding place. This time though I did laugh, and a small noise escaped my lips. I covered my mouth tightly, hoping he hadn't heard me.

"Theta," he warned. "Come out now, we have to go to lunch. All the good food will be taken if we don't hurry!" I detected a hint of a whine in his voice, and held back a snicker. Koschei always hated missing mealtimes. I heard him mutter something under his breath. It was time.

"Wraahhh!" I screamed, jumping out from behind the tapestry and smashing into him, eliciting a surprised squeal and then a grunt as he hit the marble floor, trapped under my weight.

"Dammit Theta!" he yelled, pushing me off of him with a grunt. I rolled onto the floor, holding my belly and laughing. He glared at me, and I saw him open his mouth to say something when we heard the sound of heavy footsteps echoing around the corridor. We both sat bolt upright, scrambling to our feet and looking for a place to hide. "Over here," he whispered urgently, opening the door of a storage closet and grabbing my school robes, shoving me into the dark space. He squeezed in beside me, closing the door as quietly as he could and locking it from the inside. We huddled close together, breathing quickly and trying to cover up the noise with their robes.

The footsteps came closer, and we heard them slow to a stop somewhere just outside the door. It seemed like an eternity of silence until the footsteps started again, clicking slowly down the hall until we could hear them no longer. I let out a long breath, sighing in relief, and I heard Koschei's head thump against the wall as he slumped back.

"You are so dead," he whispered, punching my shoulder. I fell over, laughing quietly.

"It could've been worse," I whispered back, prodding him with my foot before he slapped it away. Now determined, I sat up, scooting closer to him and poking him in the ribs. Much to my amusement, he began to giggle, trying desperately to push me away. Mustering up his strength, he managed to overpower me, pushing me to the ground once more and holding my wrists down so that I couldn't move. Rendering my arms useless, I started kicking at him, trying to get him off me. With a playful growl, he sat on top of me, effectively holding my legs and torso down along with my arms. I struggled for another minute before giving up.

"Ha!" he crowed triumphantly, looking down at me with glee. By this time, our eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the closet, and I could see the reflection of his teeth as he grinned.

"Get off!" I muttered, disappointed that I had lost to him. He had always been stronger than me. Again, I tried to push him off, but he wouldn't budge. "Kos," I whined. "C'mon!"

"Aw, you're no fun," he said, still making no move to get off.

"I'm loads of fun," I defended hotly. "You're the one who always stops our games to go and eat." My mention of food must have triggered his memory, for he suddenly threw himself off me and stood up, unlocking the door.

"Come on!" he said, pulling me up by my sleeve and dragging me down the corridor. "It's gonna be gone before we get there!"

XXX

"I win!" I shouted, laughing as Koschei ran along the hill, splashing into the water mere seconds after me. Running was the one thing I was better at than him, and I loved proving it.

"Shut up," he said, splashing me with the lukewarm lake water. "You only won because you started before I was ready!"

"Nu-uh," I shot back, sticking my tongue out. "I won fair and square. You're just jealous beca—" I was cut off suddenly when he dunked my head under the water, holding me down for what felt like forever before letting me up, coughing and spluttering.

"There," he said. "I win."

"That's not fair!" I whined, wiping the water from my eyes roughly.

"Oh, grow up," he said, smirking at me. "You know the Toclafane will come after you if you whine too much."

"That's just a myth," I retorted, running a hand through my sopping wet hair.

"That's what you think." He grinned darkly at me, and I splashed him, giving him a mouthful of lake water. Shouting playfully, he swam after me, and I screamed, trying to get to the edge of the lake before he caught up with me. Unfortunately, Koschei was a much better swimmer than I, and easily caught up to me. He pushed my head under water again, but let me up quicker than the last time. Before I had time to turn around and face him, I felt him wrap his arms around my neck and his legs around my torso.

"Get off!" I said, trying to dislodge him from my back. He just laughed, holding on even tighter. I felt like a bull from one of those old Earth shows I'd seen once, bucking up and down in the water and trying to knock him off. Not having much success, I took a deep breath and dove underwater, hoping that Koschei would run out of air and swim back to the surface.

We sank down to the bottom of the lake, Koschei still holding onto me but his grip loosening slightly. I took the opportunity to spin around in his arms, facing him under the water. But as soon as he felt me move, his grip tightened once more, and I was stuck again. I saw him grin, blue eyes twinkling mischievously. Before I knew what was happening, he hugged me close to him, squeezing all the air out of my lungs so that I had no choice but to swim back to the surface.

Kicking my feet off the bottom of the lake, I struggled to swim upward with Koschei's weight dragging me down. Finally though, our heads broke the surface, and I gasped, gulping in mouthfuls of air while he laughed gleefully. He still had his arms wrapped around my neck, but his legs were free as he treaded water, keeping himself, and therefore me, afloat.

"What the hell, Kos," I said after I'd gotten my breath back, weakly trying to get him off me. He wouldn't answer, just kept looking at me with that crooked grin that I loved so much. Rolling my eyes, I tried to swim back to the edge of the lake, Koschei still holding onto me. I only swam a few feet before my legs started getting tired, but I had made it far enough so that I was just able to touch the bottom and keep myself up.

Koschei was still looking at me, his arms around my neck and just – looking at me. My eyes searched his face, and then met his mesmerizing blue gaze. Something in my belly started fluttering, and an odd feeling washed over me as I looked into his eyes. I noticed that his face was awfully close to mine, and I wondered when that had happened. He seemed to notice it too, and looked down at my lips briefly before his eyes flicked back up to my own. I did the same, and that same odd feeling washed over me again, stronger this time.

I noticed that Koschei was inching toward me slowly, and without thinking, I closed the space between us, pressing my lips to his. I had no idea what I was doing; it just felt right. I could feel his lips moving against mine, and a tingling feeling ran though my body, setting my veins on fire. When we finally broke apart, I stared at him, and he stared back at me. His pupils were blown wide, and his lips were pink and swollen. Suddenly, he grinned, laughing and climbing back onto the lakeshore, laying on his back in the grass and looking up at the sky. I smiled too, swimming after Koschei and plopping down beside him.

I turned onto my side, and he did the same, the corners of his eyes crinkled with laughter. I couldn't help but smile, and he grabbed me by the back of the neck, pulling me toward him and kissing me again. I kissed him back, joy erupting through my body and I was happier than I'd ever been before.