Chapter 04

Sara didn't respond. She stared at the piece of material. Somehow it seemed familiar. At least he stopped poking her with instruments. He was looking at her a bit wearily before putting one end of the piece of cloth in her hand. This is strange. She thought. Still, when he started to speak in Native Gallifreyan, the words seemed familiar. "I just need you to repeat after me, Sara." His tone was even. "Then we'll be all done here."

Really? He would let her go? Just like that?

"I consent and gladly give." A close variation with the marriage bonding but the words in repetition were still the same for family as they were for spouse.

"I…" Her voice trailed. Just say them and I can find Jessica. She told herself. What harm can a piece of cloth do any- Suddenly, she gasped, dropping the ribbon. "The Wedding of River Song."

"Who?" The Doctor was bewildered as Sara was finally able to scramble off the table.

"Oh no way in hell!" Sara proclaimed loudly. "I am not bonding with you!" She looked at Nova in dismay. Was that what he did to her? "You sick freak!" Anger resonated through her. Energy came to the surface to the Doctor's alarm. "Is that what you did to her?" Immediately, she ran to Nova's side, trying to shake her.

"Nova!" She protested. The girl wouldn't wake and Sara shook harder. The Doctor stepped forward in Sara's direction as his biometric scanner caught fire and started to spark. "Nova, wake up! He's crazy! He's-"

She was pulled away from the girl and she struggled as he placed two fingers to her temple. Direct and fierce contact. Sleep.

Sara collapsed in his arms. He lifted her back on the table, staring at the ribbon with a sigh. This way would be far more difficult but it was necessary. Just breaking through her defenses…he cringed before placing two fingers gently to each temple as he began the work of entering her mind directly. He marveled how comforting it was. How much it felt like home, even at the exterior, it was pleasant. Like being back at Gallifrey again. He could taste the time energy coming off of her…he could—

"What are you doing to her!?" Donna had returned. Now two girls were unconscious. She was furious. "What the bleedin' hell are you doing?! Get away from them!" She was a bit of a spitfire. If he had more time, he would appreciate it more. He shook his head. Donna had grabbed him to pull him off of Sara, but a touch was all he needed. A mental suggestion to sleep and down she went, caught carefully. One more for a medical bed. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and blew out his breath explosively. This was getting out of hand.

"Okay, let's try this again." He slipped his hands over Sara's temples and focused on entering her mind as gently and carefully as possible. It took almost twenty minutes to find the access points he needed in her mind to allow the adoption to take place. There was a reason the ceremony had been invented. It took much less time.

Once the adoption link had been established, he began to build up her mental barriers. Again, using his Head of House status to stabilize and gentle. The poor girl was traumatized and almost hysterical. He couldn't blame her, but he also couldn't let her continue to be so volatile. He gentled her emotions, pushing them into a box where they would slowly come back to her bit by bit. It was a therapeutic technique he had learned on Gallifrey, used for the extremely distressed and disturbed. Considering what her emotions could do, she would need to learn to control them, and quickly. For the moment, he would do it.

When the Doctor finally pulled back, he was again amazed at the mental connection he felt. Another daughter. More family to protect, care for, and teach. That telepathic touch he hadn't even had with Rose, was so precious. It had been so long with only his TARDIS…to feel others, even if only children, was so profound that he felt a tear roll down his cheek in his happiness. With great care, he spread a blanket over Sara just as he had done Nova. His precious family. A single touch across her forehead, making sure the connection was solid and the walls around her mind held.

There was one good thing about the mental adoption versus the ceremonial he had done with Nova. The mental connection was instantly permanent and unbreakable. There would be no settling-in period that Nova would go through. Though, Sara would still have the long process of integrating the Time Lord TNA. His girls could go through the process together. It was good to have someone who understands.

With great reluctance, the Doctor turned away from his new daughters and faced the woman still in her wedding dress. "Alright. Let's see what's going on with you. Sara said huon particles…" he murmured to himself as he pulled various equipment over and the data began to roll across the screen. Well, Sara was right. Donna was swimming in huon particles! No wonder the red-head had been sucked into the TARDIS, the only remnants to be found anymore were in the Heart of the TARDIS herself. Enough emotions, to be found extremely plentiful on a woman's wedding day, and you had yourself a basic huon-polarization reaction. "But why would anyone catalyze huon particles anymore? What's the point?" He shook his head. Huon particles haven't existed since the Dark Times. The Ancients. The last remainder of them should have been in the heart of his TARDIS but…he looked at Sara, raising his eye brows briefly. That's what it was. She reminded him of his own TARDIS. Could it…

One thing at a time. Sara wouldn't be happy with him when she woke. In that case, Nova might not be either. He hadn't told her what he was doing. Never gave her full informed consent. He acted and fortunately, Nova at the time didn't resist. But adapting to feeling his mind, having their emotions regulated would take time. He would have to explain it. But neither one would pose the danger they might have to others or to themselves.

Donna opened her eyes suddenly. It wasn't just a nightmare. The Doctor or the madmen was here simply staring at a piece of equipment in his hand looking perplexed before glancing back at Donna. "Oh good, you're awake." Maybe she would be in a better frame of mine to give him answers. Someone had routinely dosed her with huon particles and only Donna could give him the information so he could draw a firmer conclusion. He remembered Sara mentioning the Racnoss. How are they involved?

Donna felt panic build up inside of her. Both girls were still unconscious. She remembered catching the Doctor in a suspect position over one of them. She was worried. They were young. Whatever he was doing, was she next?

No, she wouldn't think about that. Still the words came to her mouth. "What did you do?" She pushed herself off the bed, going first to Sara. Somehow she was drawn to her. It didn't make sense. She tried to shake the girl awake. "Sara." She said urgently. "Come on. Just wake up for me and-"

"She's fine." The Doctor told Donna calmly. "They both are and-"

"Right!" She fired back. "I'm going to believe you after you turned them into zombies! You're downright mental. That's what it is. Are they-"

"Oi!" He interrupted her. This was getting a little out of hand. "They aren't zombies." Humans. "I saved their lives."

"That doesn't look like savin' to me." Donna instantly refuted.

Maybe if he just explained it. "They're generating a very dangerous form of energy inside of them. It would have hurt them or others. I performed a telepathic adoption to help protect them and-"

"You're downright mad." Donna cut him off, shaking her head. Telepathic adoption?

"I had no other choice." He said with a note of finality. "The bonding was necessary. Now, I need to know, Donna, you have huon particles in your system and that's a problem so…."

"Oh, I'd say so…" Donna nodded in agreement.

The Doctor started to relax. Maybe he was getting through to her.

"A major problem because I'm leaving and I'm taking them with me." She gestured to Nova and Sara. "This telepathic adoption…" She was furious and that anchored her allowing her not to give way to fear.

"Telepathic adoption?" Sara had woken up. She heard what Donna said and she didn't feel right. There was something in her mind continually acting seeming to repress her. The calming sensations, they weren't coming from her. No, nothing felt right. She remembered the argument with the Doctor. The piece of ribbon. The words that were so familiar. Oh no. Even her emotions, her dread felt distant. Like a steady trickle.

"What happened?" It was Nova's voice right beside her but Sara could…what was it? Feel her too? None of this seemed right.

Donna instantly reacted, heading towards them. She knew something was wrong but maybe getting them to hospital would fix it. Doctors…well, real doctors were very good these days. But first…

"I need you two to come with me." She said urgently, hoping they would accede. "He's downright mental." Donna heard the Doctor's objection but dismissed it as she took both of their hands. "It'll be alright." She tried for assurance. "Doctors will get you fixed up in no time." Somehow she managed to pull them to their feet but the Doctor stepped directly in front of her, blocking her path.

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Nova was confused again, or still depending on how you looked at it. She had gone to sleep, but hadn't dreamed, and when she awoke she was still on the TARDIS. This didn't make sense! She should be in her bed now! She could also feel the Doctor in her mind, along with a new female presence…she turned to look at Sara, realizing she was the new mental connection. She blinked at her Doctor, her analytical mind beginning to suspect things that she really didn't want to think about. "What did you do?" She asked quietly. Donna held her arm, Sara on the other side of the red-head, but it was beside the point at the moment.

The Doctor gave a comforting smile to his daughter. "It's alright. You'll be fine now, with time." He made sure that both girls felt his sincerity and honesty on their side of the link.

Nova shook her head solemnly. "That's not an answer. What did you do, Doctor?" She could feel Sara, felt something preventing the girl from doing something. Nova suddenly had a bad feeling.

He stared at her for a couple of seconds. "Your trip through the Void activated dormant TNA genes. You would have slowly gone insane. I used your heritage to fix the problem in the only way possible."

Her blue eyes turned colder and in a smooth move she shoved her determination and will down her new mental connection at him, making his eyes widen in surprise. "What. Did. You. Do?" She demanded.

The Doctor blinked several times in both shock and admiration. She learned quickly, almost as if she had been doing it for years. In respect for her accomplishment, he acquiesced. "I adopted you and Sara into the House of Lungbarrow, my House. It gave me the ability to shore up your mental shields, cordon off your mind so that you can now handle the information your new genetics will give you, and I gentled Sara's emotions so that her abilities won't accidently kill anyone."

In that one moment, Nova had an epiphany: this was no dream. Her Doctor was hurting, she knew this. He had genuinely loved Rose and then lost her. If she and Sara had not been here, or rather if he had not been able to interact with them, she had no doubt that he would have started to do extremely stupid things in an unconscious desire to die; his will to live having temporarily deserted him. But this was too far…he had grabbed hold of a reason to keep going, namely Sara and herself. He had made a decision that was irreversible and most likely permanent.

Nova had dreamed so much of his life, including some of his Academy years. She vaguely remembered the adoption ceremony in one of their History and Law classes. It hadn't been used in so long in part because it wasn't needed. But the greatest reason: it had started wars. Adoption could be unwillingly committed, children used as political pawns and strategies. One House going against another in the worst possible way; Time Lord children were few and precious, taking them without consent, especially when they already had living family, was one of the worst insults possible. Just the fact that she had a Great House crest on her necklace should have stopped him!

In one smooth move, Nova went from being completely frozen, to slapping her new father for all she was worth. Twice. She pushed her rage down their link at him like an avalanche and watched as he staggered. Her voice shook with the force of her emotions. "I Already Have A Family!" She slapped him again. His face was a mass of shock, along with the already blooming red handprints.

Nova had held a mental connection with the TARDIS for as long as she could remember. With the ease of long practice, she went down the link to her now-sister and ripped the Doctor's emotional controlling mechanisms away, opening the 'box' he had stuffed Sara's emotions in with righteous vengeance. "She should feel what you've done to her, don't you think?" She asked with snake-like viciousness. Down she went to her link with the ship and gathered the knowledge she held and showed the TARDIS what her Pilot had done, and she felt the ship's surprise and slow anger. Now they had the ship on their side. Nova grinned toothily.

If the Doctor wanted a war, she would give him one.

Sara felt the sensation of freedom as the rest of her emotions came surging back to the surface. The Doctor was in her mind. She could feel him trying to squelch her feelings back down but now she knew why he was doing it. The energy inside of her. Well, she always knew how to put up a fight. Her friend…her sister had just given her the freedom.

"You freak!" She uttered in shock and fury. "What you did was no better than rape!" She seized Nova's hand, feeling the link between the two of them even stronger. She could feel her new sister's anger. It was well deserved, matching her own. Immediately, she strove to assist her using the very energy she knew was present in her own body to create mental shields for them both. The TARDIS, this TARDIS…she felt her presence. Recognition. A sense of familiarity and then anger at her Thief for what the Doctor had just committed. He had lost his way. He had overstepped the boundaries of a Time Lord and she was helping Sara with the task at hand so that their emotions were protected from the Doctor.

"You…." Sara shook her head, her lips peeling back. She immediately thought of Mars that lay in the Doctor's future. To her this was fundamentally worse. He nearly broke a fixed point in time but he had stepped back, but here… "Time Lord Victorious!" She said with disgust. "Valeyard!"

The Doctor was astounded. Everything was going terribly wrong. He couldn't regain control over their emotions as the Head of House. He could still feel their minds. The connection was stable but there were barriers protecting Sara and Nova now from exerting his rightful influence. Maybe if he…once again, he tried to issue the command through the mental link with them to sleep. It wasn't working. Oh, they heard the command given the expression on their faces but it was being blocked at the moment into taking physical effect.

"Oh, that's your sure-fire way for everything, isn't it?" Sara was beyond disgusted. "Commanding us to sleep." She pressed her lips together. "What about our families? My parents? Nova's? We want to go back home."

"You can't." The Doctor's voice was firm. He knew what happened to Sara's universe and he wouldn't let Nova go. To lose a bonded family member was worse than death on both sides. The pain would be excruciating. He wouldn't allow that to happen. "We're bonded now and-"

Nova's slap was now followed by Sara's and she glared at him spitefully. "Fix it." She demanded. "Take it off. Release us both."

He shook his head, his face becoming stern. These were his daughters. He needed to show authority. "No." He told her. "I can't. I wouldn't even if I could."

"And what would Rose think about what you did?" Nova was just staring at him. "Do you think she would approve? She tried to make you better and you…you did this." She was horrified. She trusted him. How had things gone so terribly astray? "You're not the Doctor anymore."

"No, he isn't." Sara agreed, stepping away from him towards Donna. The woman had tried to help them, despite the circumstances. How horrible that must have been for her. She looked at Donna feeling a genuine sensation of trust. "Let's go." She looked over at Nova. "I know we can trust her."

Donna was relieved. Maybe whatever that madman did was reversible despite what he said to the contrary. Now it was three against one. "Let's get you two out of her." Even if her wedding day was ruined, she would be able to help these girls. Gramps will know what to do.

The Doctor once against stepped in front of their path. He wasn't about to let them go. "I need you two to stay here." At this stage, he would likely need physical contact to exert forcible commands. He felt their emotions, their anger rage to the surface.

Sara simply reacted. She didn't know how she knew to do what she did. Somehow a prodding in her mind gave her the information she needed. Energy. A singular golden charge jolted him across the room, away from them. He collapsed, momentarily unconscious. Stunned. They could both feel his mind, knowing he was still alive as Sara looked down at her hands with shock. Was that really her? How…? It didn't matter. She grasped hold of Nova's hand, following Donna out the door. "Be careful what you bond with." It was a vocal and mental command sent to him. Nova only paused briefly to relieve him of his sonic screwdriver. All those years dreaming of him, she knew how to operate many of its functions.

The console room lay open to them. Nova was silent as she changed the settings to open the door. At least with the sonic, they had a chance to survive. A plan. But in those moments, when she had gone down the mental link for her new 'father' to unlock Sara's emotions, she discovered with certainty the horrifying truth of what happened to her friend's universe. Nova swallowed. She had to be the one to tell her. Better that than the Doctor and how he planned to divulge the information. Sara had the right to feel the pain and grief of what happened to her family. This was now her sister after all.

Just before they left the TARDIS, Nova remembered another little piece of that long-ago History and Law class on Gallifrey. Her eyes widened. "I have an idea. If nothing else gets through to him, this should." She swallowed, her eyes fearful. "I saw your memories of the Time Lord Victorious. We can't let him become that. As much as I hate him for it right now…he's family." She spit out the word in distaste, her face a mask of disgust. "We have to protect everyone else…even from him. We can't let him become the Valeyard, or the Time Lord Victorious." Her eyes went up to gaze into Sara's as she sent the information down their new mental link. "Do you think it will work?"

Sara's eyes widened at the sudden flood of information, startled. Then she grew thoughtful, considering Nova's words carefully along with the plan she had proposed. "It might…you're right. We can't let him become those men, it would destroy so many lives. It might be drastic enough to give him a clue." She nodded in agreement.

Both girls turned around abruptly and went back toward the Infirmary. They caught the Doctor as he was just starting to wake up again. Their eyes pinned him down with their severity. In unison, with Nova guiding Sara's mind to make the necessary moves, they spoke. "Because of your actions, you have threatened the lives of countless others. By the unanimous decision of your House, you are no longer Head of House Lungbarrow." All three gasped in pain as the words and telepathic link did as they were meant to. The Doctor was abruptly no longer the lead in their mental connection, but rather now an equal part. The girls were slightly protected via the TARDIS, so they were able to keep going. The Doctor's eyes were wide with the force of his pain as his mental links shifted. "Until you prove that the name you took is again true, you are merely a member of the Great House Lungbarrow." The stipulation was one of the harshest available for the ceremony. The only worse was completely removing him from the House, but he hadn't done something that harsh yet. The ceremony required him to try to commit treason against Gallifrey itself for that terrible punishment.

There was nothing either girl could do to reverse the adoption, but they could mutiny. The Doctor, now temporarily without his chosen name, was no longer Head of House. He no longer controlled their mental shields or their emotions. The three still had their telepathic link, and he was still their adopted father, but that was all.

The girls watched pitilessly as the Doctor writhed in agony for over a minute as his mental pathways realigned. When he finally caught his breath again, tears streaming down his cheeks, both girls finished the ceremony. "Until your chosen name has been proven, you will be known as…Zeta, junior member of the House of Lungbarrow." They had picked the name because it was close enough to his nickname that he could pick it up quickly, but different enough to remind him of what he had done to earn such a name.

Sara finished the words and was already halfway out of the room. Nova stayed momentarily, giving the new Zeta advice. His eyes…she steeled her heart against those eyes. "What you have done is unforgivable. If Gallifrey was still in the sky, you would have started a war with your actions. Millions would have died. Doc—" she sighed at the habit, he winced at the pain it caused, "Zeta… you will be confined to this time-stream and location, with your TARDIS's consent and approval." She gazed down at him for several minutes as he simply breathed, too shocked to react yet. "This is to help you, Zeta. You have lost your way. If you stay on the path you have chosen, the universe itself will die." She shook her head as she turned away.

"The Doctor was my friend…I hope he comes back."

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