Year Four- Chapter 9- Aberration
"I'm sorry, Lord Guardian," the tall man in stiff orange robes said. The Guardian looked at his son who was busy reading a large tome in the corner. "But your son… He's…" The man gave a small nod of his head and a consoling smile.
"What is it?" the Protector asked, looking at her son.
"It seems that the sound he is hearing is entirely mental, the seed of insanity." The Guardian opened his mouth and shook his head vehemently.
"No! My son is not insane! Look at him, he's brilliant, he's the most well-behaved child I've ever met!" he argued furiously, but quietly enough that Koschei couldn't hear. The medic shrugged.
"There is no other explanation," he reassured. "Now, there are several steps we must take. The first part has already been taken care of. We entered him into the system, so now the knowledge is on record." The Guardian let out a low hiss of a breath.
"And what else?"
"Well, he has to be monitored closely from now on. If the… drumming… gets louder, you have to take note and bring him to us. We have to make sure that he is not a danger to himself or anyone around him." The Guardian got to his feet, his expression deceivingly calm.
"And if he is? What will you do?"
"We'll deal with that as it happens, Lord Guardian." The Protector got to her feet and nodded to the medic icily. She walked over to her son and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her with bright blue eyes and tilted his head to the side slightly.
"There's something wrong with me, isn't there?" he asked. The question was too intuitive for such a small child. He was just eight and he already knew that he was unnatural, that he was different from others. The Protector shook her head, tears springing to her eyes.
"No, dear, we're just worried about you and the… noise…" Koschei closed his book and got to his feet. He began tapping a finger from his free hand to a beat. A new beat, an ancient beat.
"Then why is Father yelling at the medic?" The Protector looked at the tapping and shook her head.
"Because the medic is wrong, Koschei," she explained as she pulled him out of the building, tears sliding down her face.
Drax walked into Borusa's room, holding a large pitcher. He kicked the door closed behind him and walked over to the circle of desks that were set up so the ten could talk to each other easily. He did a quick headcount. There were eight people present. He knew that Magnus was gone, as he often was, spending time with his family, and Mortimus had locked himself in his room and wasn't talking to anyone, even Rallon.
"God, Ushas, quit being such a pig. I want some of the fruit, too," Millennia teased, grabbing a bowl from the other girl. Ushas stuck her tongue out and smiled laughingly. Koschei, who wasn't all that hungry to begin with, was slowly drinking some water from a cup and watching the others. Drax sat down and put the pitcher near the front of his desk, out of his way.
"Theta, you have dogs, right?" Rallon asked. Theta gave a small nod. "Well, Millennia seems to think that they're great pets. Do you agree, or are you on my side of the argument?" Millennia raised her eyebrows and folded her hand together primly.
"They're great companions; I've done tons of research." Theta shook his head.
"My father's dogs kill things for fun. They're not exactly great companions." Rallon smiled victoriously and slammed a hand down onto his desk.
"I told you!" he taunted to Millennia.
"Well, they're the only dogs I know… Maybe there are some nice ones," Theta backtracked, not wanting to get into an argument.
"It's a joke…" Koschei muttered softly to Theta, noticing how he was shrinking back against the chair behind him, trying to appear smaller. Theta nodded and looked at the ground by his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something. Koschei was tapping his finger against his leg. Theta moved his gaze to Koschei, about to ask him about it, but he was instead surprised to note that, no matter what was happening around him, Koschei kept the beat against his thigh steady. He was talking, motioning with his other hand, laughing, but regardless; it was still a metronomic movement.
"Koschei?" Theta started after watching for a while. The older boy turned to him with a smile on his face.
"Yeah?"
"You're tapping…" The younger boy trailed off, his eyes darting down to Koschei's leg.
"Oh, is it annoying you?" Koschei asked removing the hand from the side of his leg where it had been resting and putting it on top of the desk. Theta couldn't help but notice that as soon as he did that, his left foot began to twitch to the same beat.
"Yeah, ignore it," Ushas said, leaning in and smirking. "Koschei's just insane." At the word, Koschei tilted his head dangerously.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm just amazed you can't hear them since they're so damn loud," he hissed with an angry smile. Ushas knew he was teasing her, but Theta did not.
"What?" Theta asked meekly. Drax began to tap a finger against his desk in a beat of four.
"Koschei looked into the Untempered Schism and BOOM! He hears drums!" Drax narrated animatedly. Theta looked to Koschei, wide-eyed. Koschei had an infuriated look on his face.
"Drax," he said, oddly calm, "you're off-beat." Drax stopped his imitation of the drums' tapping and nodded apologetically. Koschei then turned his gaze to Theta.
"The funny thing is that no one else hears them… Strange, isn't it?" The cold tone was chilling. Theta nodded, cowering back. Koschei smirked and began tapping, quietly at first, slowly getting louder. Ushas shoved Koschei roughly.
"God, you're scaring the fourth-year," she said with a roll of her eyes. Koschei blinked and nodded.
"Right, yeah. Sorry, Theta." Theta gave him a smile to reassure him that he wasn't that off put. "So yeah, legally insane. Do you want a new roommate? I'm sure that it's not too late to request one…" Theta shrugged, looking at his desk.
"I kind of already knew," he admitted to no one in particular. "One of my father's allies, the Origin, she told me." At the name, Koschei nearly jumped out of his seat. Everyone stared at him, surprised at the sudden movement. Koschei settled back into his chair and gave a small cough.
"Sorry, the Origin and my family have never gotten along." he said, taking another sip of water from his glass. "And what else did she say to you?" Theta blinked.
"She… said that your father was trying to ruin Gallifrey. That they couldn't…" Theta trailed off guiltily. He didn't believe her, but for some reason, every moment of their quick conversation was seared into his mind. "Couldn't trust you." Koschei gave a humourless laugh and stood up.
"I'll be right back," he said and left the room. Theta looked after the older boy, feeling incredibly guilty.
"What did I do?" he asked, timidly, knowing the entirety of the Deca was staring at him. Ushas moved into Koschei's seat and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay. He just gets like that sometimes," she comforted. "And I know he's sick of getting dragged into some of the stuff his parents have to deal with…" She stopped as a loud bang came from the other side of the door. She stood up. "I'll talk to him," she offered. The rest of the Deca looked at her as though she were a lamb being offered for slaughter.
"No," Theta said, standing up as well. "I'll do it. I'm the one who made him angry." Ushas took a moment to size Theta up and then nodded. She sat back down as he left the room, impressed. Most people wouldn't even dare looking at Koschei when he was pissed off.
Theta closed the door to have a book thrown at his head. He ducked quickly and glanced around for Koschei. The older boy was snarling something incoherent and picking up another large tome to heave. Theta rushed over and grabbed it from him. Koschei froze.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you mad! I was just… You asked…" Koschei blinked and looked at the book in his hand. He slowly relaxed his hand and let the book drop. Theta frowned. He could have sworn that, for a split second, Koschei's blue eyes were rimmed with gold.
"Sorry," Koschei immediately apologised. He cleared his throat and picked up the book. "Why didn't Ushas come out?" Theta picked up another book that had been thrown down.
"She was going to, but… I was the one that upset you." Koschei shook his head and put a hand on Theta's shoulder.
"Trust me, when I get like that, it's better to send out Ushas. And it wasn't your fault." Theta set the book on a table nearby and watched Koschei carefully. The older boy looked tired, as though all of his energy had left him. His blue eyes were suddenly a very dull colour.
"What happened?" Theta asked, his voice almost a whisper as he spotted another loose book halfway across the library. Koschei produced a mirthless laugh and walked over to pick it up. When he walked back he put it on the pile with the others.
"Product of the insanity, my father says. Funny thing is I feel fine. Everything's so much clearer when I'm... in one of my lucid states." The younger boy looked at Koschei, watching him closely.
"And the noise in your head… What is it?"
"Drums," Koschei said ominously. "They're always there… Tapping away. Sometimes they're louder, sometimes they're quieter."
"And when you get mad, they're louder," Theta guessed softly. Koschei looked at the younger boy with surprise before nodding.
"Yeah. And Ushas just says that I'm making it up, or that they really aren't there. It's funny, really. The only people that believe me are my parents and the few scientists who want to pull my head apart and study it."
"I believe you," Theta said honestly, eyes wide. Koschei looked at the floor and gave a quiet laugh.
"That's nice," he admitted. "When the Deca found out, they kind of just sat there… and then changed the subject." Theta shrugged.
"I don't see why you'd lie about it. And… I mean… the Untempered Schism is… weird."
"What happened to you?"
In a faint voice, Theta admitted, "I ran. I'm scared of what I saw, but I don't really remember it." Koschei gave a shrug similar to the one Theta had just used.
"I don't see why you're embarrassed by that." Koschei was going to say something more, but the door from Borusa's room opened. Ushas walked out, a glass of water in hand. She looked at Theta and then to Koschei.
"You managed to calm him down without getting any other bruises?" she demanded, looking between the two. "Rassilon, I feel so useless!" Jokingly, she threw her free hand into the air. Theta smiled at her bashfully. Koschei just leaned back against the table behind him.
"Thanks for making sure I didn't kill him, though. He didn't know what could have happened," Koschei said, his expression darkening ever so slightly. Ushas rolled her eyes at his change in demeanour.
"Quit bitching," she said, handing Theta the glass of water and then walking back into the room and closing the door loudly, not quite slamming the door, but enough to rattle the walls slightly. Theta handed the glass of water to Koschei.
"You might need this," he offered. Koschei took it with a thankful smile.
"You know, you really are the coolest fourth-year I've ever met." Theta blushed slightly and started making sure the spines of all the books were aligned.
"And you're just about the nicest person I've ever met." At that, Koschei coughed on his water. After gasping for a moment, he smiled.
"You really need to get out more, then, Theta," he teased. He looked back to the door. "Well, we'd better get back there and make sure they're not talking about us." Theta nodded and followed Koschei back into the room, wondering why the Origin thought Koschei's family was so bad. He was nicer to Theta than his own father was.
Next chapter:Such a Sickness
AN: This chapter was edited by the lovely author and artist Unapologeticallybombastic!
