They were so innocent. They lit up the world with their enjoyment of life. They smiled so often, and they laughed together thousands of times more than anyone else did.
They had a special bond, Koschei and Theta. And everyone was jealous of that bond that made them happier than anyone else on Gallifrey.
Everyone wanted to burn that bond, to make it fall apart. They wanted to cut and hurt those two people who lived too much. They tried.
They really tried to burn the bond. But they only succeeded in cementing it further in place.
Theta cried out in fear as his bright orange robes stained as red as his robes' hems. He wasn't feeling the pain. He didn't know why. Maybe he was too scared, too disbelieving for it to register. That was Ushas, right there, with that blade that could be deadly sharp and would be, if they had wanted to kill him or make him regenerate. But they had already stated their intentions and Theta had no fear of dying, seeing as it was a matter of stopping him from liking Koschei.
It was pretty silly, really. But no less was it terrifying. He hadn't known that his friendship with Koschei was such a big deal with everyone else. It was a big deal for him, because Koschei was his best friend and they did everything together. Theta wasn't sure what he'd do without Koschei, really. And Koschei was just...he was getting worse, and only he could help. Even if it hurt to help Koschei, it was worth it, because Koschei's were a lot worse than his.
Though, normally, when he was in a bad situation that he couldn't run from, the drums would stop, at the moment they were pounding his head to mush, and it increased his fear horribly.
"Hush." Ushas said softly, removing the blade from another thin cut. "We can't have dear Koschei come and interrupt, can we? Or one of the professors? They'd be so ashamed, Theta. So ashamed that you and Koschei are still friends when your brother expressed such dislike of Koschei and concern for your health around him."
Theta nodded mutely and swallowed, accepting the rest of the torture and pain in silence. Bleeding all over his robes, they returned him to his room, where he laid in his bed, hoping that Koschei would come up soon.
Koschei didn't come all night, and Theta drifted into an uneasy sleep, full of fears that something had happened to his friend.
When Theta woke up in the morning to the first sun shining through his window, all the blood had dried and the cuts were only faint scars. His robes were ruined and he needed to change out of them and have a shower.
He still had hours until breakfast, but providing that nothing had happened to Koschei, he'd be up in about half an hour, so Theta needed to hurry.
Washing the blood from his body was a nauseating experience which Theta did not want to repeat. Watching the blood wash away into the water and seeing the red swirl down the drain...he was glad to be rid of it all.
He threw his stained robes down the washing chute and pulled on another pair before balling the cap into his pocket. He hated the cap, but he had to wear it when he was actually in a class.
He was still drying his hair when Koschei came in, a worried expression on his face. "Are you okay?" He asked.
Theta blinked. "Did they get you, too?"
Koschei nodded. "I was worried about you. I could hear the drums on your end last night, even through my own and the ugly thoughts of Romana and the dusty thoughts of collective Gallifreyans."
"It didn't make any sense, Kosch." Theta said quietly. "Why do they hate us for being friends?"
Koschei shrugged. "I don't know, Thete. But this isn't going to change anything, promise? I can't do this without you."
"I promise. Cross my hearts."
Koschei smiled. "Coursework, then? I need help on the English essay about homophones."
Theta laughed. "Real English speakers from Earth have trouble with those. Our professor won't expect much if he actually has been to Earth like he always says he has."
They did the essay together, comparing it to Theta's essay, one that he had done not long after the work had been set, but making sure that it wasn't too good, or Koschei might get in trouble for copying Theta's essay.
After they had finished the essay, the bell rang for breakfast, and they headed down into the dining hall and sat on opposite ends of the table to prevent people seeing that they were still friends, as Braxiatel had taken to watching the table their year sat at for breakfast to check that his poor little brother wasn't being influenced by anyone he didn't like. Mainly Koschei. But that didn't stop the pair from making funny faces at each other across the table and talking mentally, though they didn't do the latter often as it was difficult to hide.
After breakfast, they went to their first lecture, Mechanics. Koschei was top of the class here (Theta was close behind but his habit of making things that looked like they came out of a junk yard lowered his mark), and they couldn't change their work pairs, so they were free to talk as they worked on their project. Theta caught a few ugly thoughts from various classmates which told both him and Koschei that the fact that they were still friends had not gone unnoticed. They couldn't really expect them to just stop being friends, could they?
Days of these overnight tortures turned into months, and nothing changed. Months turned into years and the torture, plus the drums, were starting to wear Theta and Koschei down. But they were still friends. They were closer than ever before.
Now they were older, they were less watched. Braxiatel had left the Academy and they were safe to be friends once more. Sort of. They still had their jealous classmates to worry about, and said classmates seemed to have said something to the rest of the people in the Academy, and the pair were almost completely excluded from everything that went on. There was one time when the whole Academy managed to keep from them that there was a dance going on. Over five hundred people went and Koschei and Theta knew nothing about it until it was over.
It was wearing. But now, with more freedom, they had gotten so much closer. Smiling and laughing gave through to long embraces and mind links that occasionally got so close to entrelacement that the link lasted a month without reinforcement.
There was one night that Theta accidentally stumbled back to Koschei's room rather than his own and it sort of stayed like that, robes and other things gradually making their way over to Koschei's room.
If they were envied for their bond before, they were loathed for it now. They were so close that they didn't talk to anyone else. They hardly had to talk to each other to understand each other. They did a lot of speaking mentally, especially when they were apart.
Of course, this didn't go completely unnoticed by the professors. Over one summer holiday, Theta was sent home rather than being kept at the Academy like usual. He linked his mind with Koschei before he left.
The moment he got to the mansion he lived in for the first eight years of his life, he was taken into Braxiatel's study.
"I thought you were out fixing problems in the galaxy in a TARDIS." Theta said immediately.
"I came back when I heard about your abysmal choice of company at the Academy, Theta. I'm disappointed. I told you not to spend any of your time with that Oakdown boy."
"That was twenty years ago, Brax. And Koschei is my only friend. No one else even looks at me."
"Theta, you need to understand that you need to have good friends in your life. And if not friends, acquaintances. There is no way that you will get a highstanding position in the Council if you are friends with an Oakdown and speak to no one else."
"I don't think you understand, Brax. No one else talks to me. If I were to stop talking to Koschei...I would be alone. It's bad enough being left out of everything. It would be much, much worse if I never had anyone to speak to."
"Maybe people would speak to you if you weren't friends with him, Theta."
He was right. People would speak to him if he stopped being friends with Koschei. But he couldn't do it. Him and Koschei were more than friends. "I can't just stop being friends with Koschei. He-"
"You know, Theta, this wasn't a problem until you looked into the Vortex. You were fine until then. A perfectly normal boy. Did it do something to you?"
Theta knew what Brax was expecting. He wanted Theta to smile, say that no, the Vortex had done nothing to him, except maybe shake him a little, which had made him more vulnerable to people like Koschei, and he saw that now, and he would stop being friends with him and have a life. He was tempted to say that and go back to him and Koschei's friendship being a secret.
"Yes." He said. "Yes, the Vortex did do something to me. It struck sense into me at how dull almost everyone on this planet is."
Theta was confined to his room for the rest of the holiday, and his only comfort was Koschei, who said that he had told the truth and that he didn't have to hide his disgust at the drab Time Lord society now.
Koschei's comfort didn't stop all the nightmares caused by the torture. The nightmares, accompanied by the drums, pounding him every night.
But he had Koschei. And Koschei was all he needed. Koschei and the stars.