"Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords.""Fear me. I've killed all of them."
"I think we are alike, Doctor," said Loki.
"What?" the Tenth Doctor looked up from the panel filled with blinking lights and switches. "What do you mean?" But he knew what he meant all too well.
Loki stepped nearer him. "Your eyes are dark. There's a raging storm inside you, and you've repressed it."
The Doctor flipped a few switches angrily, but didn't allow the rage to reach his face or words.
"The man without a name. Or is the real reason for your secrecy the fact that your name carries too much?
"It must have been a act so cruel, so famous, that you put your real identity away forever. Where even your precious friends don't see it. Even my name does not carry that much weight.
"What did you do? Who did you kill? Or, more to the point, how many?"
The Doctor slapped his palm into the dashboard and shuddered. "You know nothing."
"Locked away, behind the fun-loving young man who ran away to see the stars, there is a killer."
"Oh, and you can talk," said the Doctor, shaking.
"I know what it feels like."
"What?"
"That boiling black cauldron of anger, and hate, and fear, and regret. All mixed into one."
The Doctor couldn't stand it.
"In the end, Doctor, we are the monsters. And we always will be."
The time-traveler shook his head. "I think you're wrong."
Loki laughed.
"There's always room for redemption, Loki."
Loki shook his head ruefully.
"Not for me. But you're trying. You've put your past behind you and you're willing to try again, even though every step you make in that direction hurts. I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because my past is still my present."
"Am I the monster parents tell their children about at night?"
