Chapter 1
Emerging Memories
"Go," my father said as he ushered me through the doorway to the single-trip TARDIS. I may have been only 12, but that doesn't mean that I didn't know what was going on. He was sending me away. Yes, it was for my own safety, but I wasn't raised to run away from my problems. I was always taught to face them like those of true noble blood should.
I saw the room my father was pushing me towards. I didn't want to go there though. It was the room that was to take my away from my home and never bring me back. I struggled against the strength of his hands pushing me into the control room and tried to escape out the door as he set the coordinates to some planet far away. I knew it wouldn't be like home. Nothing could ever be like this wonderful old plane with its silver forests, twin suns, and red grass fields. Nothing would bring my friends to visit this other—probably desolate—planet so far from home. But my struggles came to no avail as I saw my only father cover his face in a mask as a sleeping gas filled the room.
I passed out soon after I realized what was happening.
When I awoke, I was strapped to a seat too far away from the control panel for my child's arms to reach. But the monitor was in full view. I was already nearly to the planet that would soon become my new home. I noticed that there was a holo-message saved on the drive. I pressed the 'view' button on the armrest of my chair and saw a life-sized image of my father appear. He looked very worried.
"Papa?" I asked in a small voice even though I knew he couldn't possibly hear me.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Terenzi. I wanted to at least say good bye in person, but this is the next best thing," his deep voice sounded slightly rushed along with the usual worry that had recently crept into it in the past few years since the Time War started. I felt a pang of guilt hit me like a hammer to the gut as I realized one of the consequences of my struggling. "I hope you know that I did not want to send you away; quite the opposite, really. You were one of the few things keeping me strong in this endless, bitter war. The afternoons will never be the same without you there to chatter about your exploits at the academy. That's one thing I will surely miss the most." Those cheerful memories tore through my heart like daggers as I realized the implications of the finality in his voice.
Then a male voice in the background spoke up as if it were talking from the intercom, "Sir, the daleks are about to attack again. We need you in the counsel room as soon as possible." Then it was gone. Father turned ever so slightly towards the door, as if he was just going to go like that. But then he turned back to me. "I'm sorry, Terenzi. For everything. Just know that I did what I though was in your best interests. I still think that this is what's best."
I could help myself any longer. "But papa! I would be fine!" I yelled through my tears.
The, as if he could actually hear me, he said, "No. Terenzi. You could not stay. There is something I never told you about this war. It's not just another Time War. In the prophecies it was always called "The Last Time War" and now I'm starting to believe it was called that for good reason. Now go. You should be nearly to Earth. Start a new life. For me. For your mother. You are very young so will adapt easily. You will have a very long life ahead of you. And stay out of trouble! Now, I have to go. I'm sorry Terenzi. I hope you can forgive me and not dwell on the war for too long. Good bye. I love—" His message was cut short by the shaking of the building and static. That must have been the attack the soldier had been talking about.
"Good bye, Papa," I whispered as his image disappeared, my eyes beginning to tear up.
I just sat there for a while, crying at the loss of my entire family. First my mother had to go when I was eight. I may not have known her long by the standards of our species, but it was enough to leave me heartbroken. I moved on enough to at least seem happy even through the constant attacks, but then my brother had died when the daleks invaded the smaller city he had moved to. Now my father had sent me away. And with an attack that could shake the capitol building like that, not many were to survive. I was the only one in my family left. And if Father was dead, that meant that I had inherited his title of Lord-President.
As this realization settled on me, the monitor changed to what appeared to be live footage of Gallifrey. A blue box I would assume to be a TARDIS flew just out of sight as the entire planet disappeared. With the red and orange that the land had been it looked like it had just exploded in my young mind. Then there was a slight bump and the belts holding me to the chair went lax and I could finally get up. I didn't want to; every fiber of me wanted to just stay there and weep, but then I remembered Father's last message to me. "Start a new life. For me. For your mother." I knew that I owed this to him. I had to move along with my life. How bad could this planet really be, anyway? As I walked over to the doors of the TARDIS, I took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach. My hearts beat much faster than normal. I wasn't ready to leave all that I knew to be home, but I knew that I had to. I took another slow breath and opened the doors with no more hesitation. And saw—
But that's when I woke up.