Year Four- Chapter 12- My Soul, My Hate
The silver leaves had already dropped to the ground and had begun to grow back before Gallifrey noticed the tensions rising on their borders. It was as though the peace was thawing with the snow and even the most ignorant felt a stirring in the collective consciousness of the Time Lords. It was an itch. An itch for change.
Theta walked down the plaza, sketchbook in hand. The rest of the Deca looked similarly- heads bent down, pens to paper, sketching madly, all of them learning that they were not particularly cut out for artistry. Koschei looked up at a nearby building, trying to copy it down as best as he could. After another failed attempt, he muttered something incoherent and turned to Ushas.
"This is ridiculous."
"Damn right," she agreed wholeheartedly and then looked to the small house she had been trying to replicate. "I don't understand why we have to take engineering and design anyway. It should be a specialised course, if anything." Theta looked at Drax's paper and raised an eyebrow.
"Fire?" he asked, amused. Drax nodded and pointed to the government building he was using as a reference.
"It would be more interesting if it were on fire," he said before going back to his picture and adding more flames and sparks to the drawing. Theta shook his head with a small smile and looked at his. He was trying to draw his house from memory, since it represented old Gallifrey. He was planning on using Koschei's house to represent new Gallifrey. He also had to find something that reminded him of change. After a while of deliberation, he determined that the change was going to come from the new generation, from the Academy.
"Where are you doing for change?" Rallon asked Theta, trying to hide his unrecognisable drawing under his arm with a wide smile.
"I want to do the Academy. I mean, we're going to be the new change, right? I think I'll do our dorm block…" Rallon smiled and motioned down the road ahead of them.
"I want to do the Southern Embassy. The building's older than anything around it, and it was been built in the style of the old south. I've heard that they even had Southerners build it. But with all of the changing stuff around it… I think it can count as change." Theta was surprised at the thought of the Southerners only allowing their own kin to work in the large building he had only ever heard of. It was dangerous enough to be a lone Southerner in the north. Being a large group simply made them an easy target for attacks. "My mum took me there to see it while it was being renovated a while ago…" Koschei walked over and grabbed Theta's paper.
"Damn," he said, handing it back. "Mine looks like shit next to yours." When Theta glanced at the older boy's, he realised that it wasn't just a joke, he was serious. The sketch was lopsided, and all of the lines were crooked and unsteady. At least Theta's actually looked like a building. Theta smiled encouragingly and shrugged.
"I've spent a lot of time alone in my room. I got used to stuff like this." He was aware that his art was still mediocre to most, but it still made him smile to think that Koschei would actually admit defeat to someone.
"Millennia!" Rallon called as he walked down the street. The blonde turned to him with a smile set her book down on the bench she had been sitting on. He walked over and helped her to her feet. She took his hand into her own.
"Yes?" she asked.
"We need to keep moving. I'm sorry to tell you, lass, but it's not improving." Millennia looked down at her paper with a small frown. She had tried to erase lines, fix them, move them, but nothing seemed to make it so that the front door looked proportionate to the rest of the structure. She looked ahead and frowned further.
"It seems really busy at the embassy today. Maybe we should just come again sometime soon…" Rallon would have agreed, but his curiosity was already peaked, and he wasn't about it simply turn back now. Koschei saw the mass of bodies huddled around the gates into the embassy with raised eyebrows.
"My father said nothing about new information. Whatever they're here for, it's just happened," he deduced, looking to Magnus for a correction. When the boy said nothing, Koschei began to lead the group closer to the silent mob.
The first thing Theta noticed was their skin colour. Many of them had an olive tone to their skin, or were a little lighter. Also, dark hair was the dominant feature that was easily visible from the distance away the Deca was. Also, there was an eerie silence that enveloped the entire street. There were at least one hundred men and women simply standing there silently.
"We should head back to the Academy. Something's wrong here," Magnus noted in his usual quiet manner. Theta nodded carefully, noting that a few of the group were looking over at them. Koschei frowned.
"My father needs to know what's happening and why," he said, determinedly. "You all should go. I'll just talk to someone and get some information." Ushas raised her eyebrows sceptically.
"What are you, stupid?" she demanded. "If they're not happy about the Northerners, they're not going to care that Mekail's trying to help them, you'll just make things worse." She grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "We're leaving. Right now. Before anything bad happens." The rest of the Deca nodded and began to walk away quickly.
Before they got far, however, they ran into a small group of Northerners standing tensely and looked down the street. Ushas frowned as she looked at them more closely. They were not wearing robes, but what looked like casual renditions of the military uniforms of the North.
"Theta, do they look like civilians to you?" she asked quietly. Theta glanced at them and, after a moment of consideration, shook his head. "Yeah, that was what I thought." Koschei shook his head.
"I want to know what's going on. It's like they're waiting for something…" Koschei said with a frown. Magnus nodded to himself, running over war tactics in his head.
"A signal," he said to himself. The rest of the Deca turned to him. He nodded to reaffirm his statement. Millennia stiffed and looked over her shoulder quickly.
"Guys, I left my work over there," she whispered. Magnus frowned and looked back. Rallon glanced at the rest of the Deca.
"You all head back to the Academy. I'll grab it and meet you there." If there was a fight, he was the most likely to have the least trouble. He was taller, larger, and stronger than the rest of the Deca, and they all knew it.
"You're not going alone," Koschei demanded. Magnus looked to Koschei with a solemn expression.
"You just want to know what's going on," he accused, but then looked to Millennia. "We would be safer if we went as a group and hurried out." Ushas nodded, turning around and picking up her pace. Theta noticed the obvious anticipation that hung in the air. Something bad going to happen and everyone knew it. Millennia saw her book on the bench and grabbed it quickly. Suddenly, a shot rang in the air.
The Southerners who had been standing silently were suddenly converged upon by suspicious and nervous Northerners. Shouts filled the air instantly and, as the Southerners began to spread out, Rallon grabbed Millennia and pulled her to him. More Northerners came out of the nearby buildings and clashed with the others, creating a sudden tornado of chaos.
Theta was instantly lost in the fighting, the only other member of the Deca he could even spot was Koschei, but he was busy trying to keep Ushas and Drax together. As Theta tried to manoeuvre his way through the mass of bodies and fists being thrown about, he managed to be sucked into the worst of it. A tall Southerner was on the ground, straddling a Northern, and was punching the man below him. His hands were dripping with blood. Theta stumbled back, eyes wide in horror as the Northerner stopped moving. Another man saw the death and tackled the taller man, knocking Theta over in the process. He struggled to his feet and spotted a small girl clinging to the gate, an older Northerner had his hands at her throat. Without thinking, Theta grabbed the considerably taller man and spun him around as best as he could. The girl ducked down and away from her assailant. Theta used a method his father often used on him- he grabbed the man's head as best as he could and wrenched it downward before grabbing his arm. Theta wrapped it behind the man's back and kicked the back of his knees, glad for once that his father was in the military and had a temper. He helped the girl to her feet. She had long, light brown hair and darker skin, like the rest of her people. She gave him a thankful nod, but her grateful smile quickly turned into a frown. She pulled Theta to her as, out of nowhere, a rock whizzed by where he had been standing.
"Thanks," Theta said. The girl signed something to him with her hands. It took Theta a moment to register that it wasn't that she didn't want to talk, it was that she couldn't. He grabbed her by the shoulder tightly as soon as he spotted Rallon beating another man who was trying to get to Millennia. He led her over to Rallon, trying to keep her away from any other Northerners who would want to attack her. Theta assumed that she was approximately his age, but she was so much smaller than him that she almost could have passed for a first- year. Rallon punched the man across from him in the nose and then shoved him back into the crowd.
"Theta!" he roared over the crowd. Millennia was behind him, holding a length of wood determinedly. She nodded grimly to Theta. "We need to get the hell out of here!" Theta nodded and looked to the small girl behind him. Her blue eyes were shifting around nervously and she was shaking. Theta assumed that she was starting to go into shock after being strangled. He put a hand on her shoulder and noticed Rallon's somewhat-curious glance.
"A man was trying to kill her."
"They're trying to kill us," Rallon muttered, watching among the crowd carefully for any other members of the Deca who might need help. Suddenly, someone put a hand on the small girl's shoulder. She was a tall Southerner with jet black hair and light olive skin. She looked at the Northern boys in front of her and nodded to them. She pulled a gun out of her pocket and nodded to the small girl.
"I was ordered to get you out of here, Ennaila," The girl signed something quickly and the older woman looked to Theta.
"Thank you, Northerner," she said with a small nod, leading the girl to the side of the street. Within seconds, Theta lost sight of them. A woman launched herself and Rallon's back and Millennia swung her wooden 2x4 at her head. There was a sickening crack as the woman fell to the ground, unmoving. Millennia stiffened and bent down. She put her fingers to the woman's neck and quickly felt for a pulse. After several seconds, she sighed with relief and stood up. Rallon grabbed her hand with his own blood-covered one and began to pull her towards the Academy. Theta followed closely behind them, still looking for other members of the Deca.
When he felt a hand on the back of his neck, he stiffened. He wheeled around, his hand fisted. The boy behind him ducked.
"Fuck!" he yelled, grabbing Theta's arm and holding it. Theta looked back at Koschei and frowned.
"Sorry!" he apologised quickly. Behind Koschei, Magnus was fighting a Northerner, oddly enough. The older man tried to punch the boy, but Magnus ducked to the side, grabbed his neck, wrenched it to the side and forced the man on his knees. He kicked the man in the back and then slammed his head into the ground before catching back up to the others.
Noticing Millennia's look of horror, Magnus supplied, "He attacked me first." Koschei turned to Theta and grabbed him by his shoulder.
"Okay, let's head out," he said. "Ushas and Drax are already out and Jelpax and Vansell are back at the Academy. Apparently, they're on lockdown," he informed. Theta looked to Magnus and then back to his roommate.
"And Mortimus?" Koschei shrugged and was about to suggest they leave him when Rallon stopped.
"Sodding hell!" he swore, pivoting back to the majority of the fight. "Mortimus!" the boy roared, trying to find him, looking frantically through the crowd. "Feckin' kid," he hissed, pushing through the small fights around them to find the boy. Millennia dove in after him, her wooden 2x4 ready and swinging. Magnus looked to Koschei.
"If you find him, go back to the Academy. If you hear a whistle, I've found him and head back. We'll meet there." Koschei gave a tense nod and the other boy shot off into the tumult around them. Theta looked around, his thoughts cold and quick.
"We should get to a roof and find him."
"But by the time we got after him, he'd be gone," Koschei argued. Theta let out a hiss of a breath, trying to think of another viable plan. "Let's go to the right. The others will probably circle around and we'll meet up with them to see if they've found him." He said, heading off. Theta followed, his hands balled into fist. Koschei looked at the blood slicking the streets, listening to the chaos of guns going off and rocks being thrown, bones being broken, and knew that the war had only just begun.
Next Chapter: Voices of the Unheard
AN: I spent hours researching the Egyptian and Syrian riots to try to get a grasp on the emotions and actions in riots. I think I got it pretty down, but if you have any suggestions, let me know! Also, the rating has changed to T because the violence in this chapter and the violence to come.(The next chapter title is taken from a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, "Riots are the voices of the unheard.")