Canon/spoilers: Not fully canon compliant.

AN: This is the prelude to a story I have planned called Recovery. This particular fic is best understood if you've already read my collective backstory, especially Killing the Cat.

Blood by Alexannah

"Is it true?"

Theta Sigma sat up on his bed and frowned over at Koschei. "Is what true?"

"I heard a rumour you've been in Ascalon Hole."

Theta tensed. Ten years on, his memory of the event wasn't all too clear. He wasn't too certain whether some of it was his vivid childhood imagination or not. On the other hand, he wished he could say the same for his father's involvement.

"So what if I have?" Theta tried brushing it off in the hope Koschei wouldn't press further, but he knew his friend too well to hope too hard.

"Seriously?" Koschei scrambled over the room and sat down uninvited on Theta's bed. "I heard nobody ever gets out alive. How'd you manage it?"

"Luck, I guess," Theta mumbled. "Luck and a stone."

"Is it true there's a monster down there?"

Theta shuddered. Since his encounter with said monster, it had slowly dawned on him what a close shave he'd had. "I think so. I mean, I thought I saw one. It could have been my imagination, though; I was only five."

"Yeah I suppose … but it's no fun saying that." Theta gave a weak smile. "So come on," Koschei continued. "What was it like?"

Theta sighed. Koschei wasn't the best person at decoding subtle hints. "Koschei, I don't really want to discuss it, okay?"

"Oh." Koschei deflated. "I'm sorry. Really? I mean, I'd have thought … you're the most curious person I've ever met. Dead Cat would've told me."

Theta couldn't help it; his mouth twitched. Dead Cat was the nickname Koschei had given him when they first met; long before the Academy. As in, curiosity killed the cat. "Yeah, well, that's what got me in trouble in the first place." And the rest.

Koschei sniggered. "You just decided to find out what was inside a big cavern that no-one's come out of alive?"

"I said I was five."

"Five …" Koschei looked thoughtful. "Hang on a minute. Isn't that when your parents told mine you'd died?"

Theta squirmed. "Yeah. Why?"

"Wasn't that right before your dad disappeared?"

Theta was feigning a deep interest in the patterns carved in his bedpost, but Koschei, smart as he was, wasn't fooled.

"Don't tell me he had anything to do with it."

"Don't be silly." Theta forced a laugh. "Why would you think that?"

"Just seems like a weird coincidence, that's all. Especially since he's been a forbidden topic ever since."

Theta sighed. Koschei was too clever for his own good. "All right, all right. He tried to kill me. Happy now?"

There was a long silence. "No," Koschei said. "'Course I'm not happy someone tried to do my best friend in. 'Specially his own …" Koschei trailed off. "Hmm."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

Theta didn't like the sound of that 'nothing'. "What?"

"I was just wondering," Koschei said carefully, "if he was trying to … take the law into his own hands."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on." Koschei dropped his voice. "It's not the first time we've had this conversation. You think like a human."

"I do not," Theta snapped, "have human blood. For goodness' sake, let's not go through this again."

"Open your eyes, Theta! You're not like the rest of us. We learn, you explore. We observe, you experiment. You willingly walk right into unknown dangers just to find out what's there! Where do you think those traits come from?"

"Just because I don't fit the mould doesn't mean I'm not full Time Lord," Theta hissed. "Anyway, I told you, after the last time you suggested it I asked Mum and she said your little theory wasn't true."

"Of course she would," Koschei agreed. "It's against the law."

"Exactly, and if anyone believed you we'd both get killed so shut up about it. It's not true anyway."

"Suit yourself." Koschei sat back, watching Theta silently fume.

All around him, war was raging. The Doctor had his job to do. He was trying to fight his way across the battlefield to the TARDIS. He had the weapon. He had been trying to find his family, but with no luck. He was out of time. He had no choice but to leave them.

"Sweetheart!"

The Doctor whirled round as a hand grabbed his. "Mother!" Immediately, he tried to pull her along with him. "We need to get out of—"

"No," Pennine said, pulling back. "Sweetheart, listen, I don't have—"

They ducked a Dalek blast and the Doctor pulled his mother behind a ruined building. "Mum, you have to come with me—I have to—everything's going to—" He couldn't finish the sentence.

"I know," she said softly. "I know, love; I've always known."

For a moment he couldn't breathe. "You … you knew?"

"I can't come with you."

"Mum—"

"No, I can't. But I need you to listen for one last minute." She withdrew a small box from her pocket and pressed it into his hands. "Take this. Put it in your TARDIS medbay. It will come in useful one day."

The Doctor looked down at the box. It was nothing special, just a black wooden box with a complicated-looking circular lock on the lid. "How—"

"Don't worry about opening it," Pennine said, talking faster now. "I need to tell you something—something about your father."

"I know you—I mean, did you—did you kill him?" the Doctor asked.

Pennine shook her head. "Not Epsilon, sweetheart. Your father."

"What?" The meaning of her words impacted. "You mean …"

"I met someone when I was on Earth," Pennine said softly, her voice almost drowned by the battle noises around them. "The most wonderful man."

"But—I—" The Doctor swallowed. "The Master was right."

"Yes, he—"

The explosion left his ears ringing, his whole body throbbing. The Doctor crawled out of the wreckage, spotting Pennine lying very still a couple of feet away. "Mother!"

She gave a soft moan as he knelt down beside her. A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.

"It's okay, Mum, we can make it—"

"No," she said hoarsely as he tried to lift her. "Sweetheart, no." She grasped his sleeve. "There's no time. You need to do it. Go, now."

His hearts broke as he took in her steely resolve, gazing at him with love and forgiveness in her eyes. "Go," she repeated, firmer. "Save them."

The Doctor couldn't speak. He pressed a kiss to his mother's forehead, stood shakily, and then he turned and ran.

The End

TBC in Recovery