Iota fell to the ground where the old man once lay. She wanted to cry so badly, but nothing she did made tears flow. She pressed her hands to her eyes instead. "How can we be stuck here?"
The only way she knew that Koschei rested his hand on her shoulder was the soft clink as their china flesh touched each other. "We'll find a way out, don't worry."
"You just said we'll be stuck here." Iota glared at Koschei. "So why are you now saying we'll find a way out?" Even though she wasn't crying, her voice wavered and jumped like she was.
Koschei drew his hand back, biting his lip. "I'm sorry. Theta says he's sorry too."
"Tell him he had better find a way to get us out of here or I am going to kill him." She held up a hand to silence him. "And don't ask how I'm going to kill him if I'm still in here because I will find a way, trust me."
"I didn't doubt you." Koschei took a step back, holding his hands up in defense. "Why don't we look around here? Theta said it might help if we know more what's around us." Iota nodded and held out her hand for Koschei to help her stand. He did so with a thankful smile.
Iota pointed in the direction the dolls dressed in black had went with the body of the old man. "That way. I want to see where they took the man we looked at."
"Why?"
"Because you told me to look around. So I am. I want to see what they do with the dolls the professors purposefully destroy." Iota took a step before collapsing, clutching at the space above her left heart. As she watched, a small amount of golden light drifted through the surface of her dress and into the air. "What's happening?"
Koschei caught the light in his hands. "Our hearts must still be cracked. We'll be losing regeneration energy the longer we stay here."
"What happens when all the energy is gone from us?" Iota looked at Koschei hopefully. She wanted him to say it would go back to their body and they only had to wait a bit for it to be fixed.
Koschei shrugged. "By what happened when the old man lost his energy, I'm going to guess it just goes into the air and dissolves." He held out the hands that held the energy. "Do you want to take this back in for the time being? It may be what we'll have to do until we get out."
They carefully exchanged the energy. It felt hot against her palm, the first thing she had felt for a while. Iota lifted it to her mouth and breathed in. The energy burned as it went down her neck but she felt a burst of energy from her chest. "Wow. That works good to give you energy. I should do that more often."
"Don't. It's not safe." Koschei turned away and started down the street. "Where did they go with the man?"
Iota crossed her arms, but she followed him. As she always did, she tripped on the skirt and fell onto one of the dolls. "I'm so sorry." She looked the doll over. It was a little boy.
The boy only pushed Iota away and brushed himself off. With a salut, he walked away. Iota watched him go with a frown. She hurried up to Koschei and poked him in the shoulder. It was only when she physically spun him around that he realized she had been touching him.
"What?"
"I just bumped into a boy and he didn't say anything." Iota glanced around them. Never had she heard one of the dolls speak. They all moved in silence and clicking of china. "I don't even think they can talk. That old man didn't."
Koschei waved his hand in front of one of the dolls beside him. The doll only turned his head and waved back before continuing on his way. Koschei shivered. "OK, this is creepy. I want to get out of here as soon as we can."
"Same." Iota pushed past him. "I didn't see exactly where they went, but we might be able to find them just by looking around."
Koschei walked up to the first door they walked past and pulled on it. Nothing happened. Iota walked over and looked closer at the crack around the door. "It's just painted on. I don't think any of these doors are real." She looked around them. "Maybe we just have to look for a door that we can actually open."
They tried every door they passed as they walked down the street, but none of them opened. Iota took to slamming her fist against each door as she walked away. Every few minutes small amounts of golden energy would flow from their hearts and the other would catch it and hand it to the person the energy came from.
Finally, Koschei glanced at Iota in annoyance as she cursed her injured hand as it cracked in Italian. She liked that language and country of Earth more than the other's they learned about. "Never use force. You just embarrass yourself."
"Unless you're cross, in which case-always use force." Iota cradled her hand. There was a large crack from when she had hit the recent door running down her hand. It didn't hurt, but she knew it should. So Iota treated it like it hurt.
Koschei sighed, but he didn't respond. It was Koschei who, a few minutes later, cheered as the door he pulled fell open. "Come on!" He rushed inside.
The only empty space in the building was a small walkway around the glass boxes that not only lined the room but also stretched towards the roof. Iota pressed her hands on the glass as she looked in. There was a doll lying there that looked as empty as the old man looked like when all his regeneration energy left. It was a small child.
"I have a feeling these are going to be studied in the lab next morning." She knocked against the glass. "They're completely empty. No reaction."
"And that's what we might become," Koschei whispered it, but Iota was able to hear. She glanced at him before looking back to the doll.
"We got into these dolls when we touched them, right?"
Koschei nodded. "What are you getting at?"
"What if we were to touch our bodies? Would it go the opposite way?"
Koschei appeared to consider it. "That might work." He focused. "Let me ask Theta."
Iota let her fingers dance against the glass while she waited. The world the lab created was interesting and amazing that it worked, but Iota couldn't help but feel like the small child before her was actually a child that they killed for scientific purposes.
She knew that the dolls were unable to talk and had no way to think on their own, but that didn't mean they were any less alive. It didn't feel right to treat them as the lab was.
"Theta said it might work. He couldn't find anything on his own because he didn't dare move that far away from us, but he likes your idea. We have to go to a space where he can easily help us touch our bodies." Koschei walked past Iota with a smile, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him. Iota didn't want to leave the child alone, but she wanted to get back into her body more.
"Where can we go?"
Koschei pointed at the top of the building. There were small china hand holds along the surface that only a doll could hold onto. "Ready to climb?"
Iota had no aversion to climbing; she just hadn't done it before. Theta and Koschei hadn't let her near any of the trees around their estate because they knew all four of their parents would kill the boys for doing so. Still, Koschei looked more nervous than she did. "Ready?" She rubbed her hands together and didn't wait for Koschei to respond. She ripped a bit of her dress away so that it ended at her knees and jumped onto the wall. Her fingers slipped but she was able to hold on. "Come on!"
Koschei went to the other side of the building. "Theta is working on helping us."
"Why didn't you just come beneath me? It would have made more sense; you could just follow where I held and gotten rid of your clear worry." She glanced at him. "Eyes front soldier." Koschei laughed, but he didn't say anything.
They climbed in silence. The building was taller than Iota expected it to be and soon it became difficult for her to keep a hold on the wall. Koschei, though he had difficulties at the beginning, seemed to get more natural as climbed. He was soon the one glancing at Iota to make sure she was good rather than her looking at him.
When they reached the top, Iota had to lie there for a few minutes to catch her breath. Koschei rubbed her back and she only knew it because he told her he was doing it. It made Iota want to cry. She only wanted to feel something again.
"The good news is we're already at the edge; so it's easy for Theta." When Iota was finally able to sit up she saw Theta and Koschei waving at each other. Both had wide smiles on their faces, though Theta was multiple times larger. "He's already moved our bodies so now all he has to do is let us touch them."
Iota looked down. Both Koschei and Iota's bodies sat in lumps on the ground beside the table. Their eyes were still open but both looked empty. She could see them breathing, but it looked faint. "What if he were to lift us and let us touch the bodies instead of them touching us? That would get rid of some of the risk of the lab's work being destroyed." Despite what the lab was doing, she knew Nella would have been devastated if she discovered such technology had been destroyed.
Koschei hurried to tell Theta her theory. She watched as Theta nodded and hurried to find something to lift them up safely. He was able to guess what Iota was going to tell him next. Not only would Theta likely crush them because of how delicate they were, but it might risk the plan. They didn't know what happened if he touched them.
Theta returned wielding thick gloves that Iota had no idea where he found it in a lab. He held out his hand for one of them to climb onto.
Koschei turned and gestured to Iota. "You first. I want you safe first."
Iota gave him a hug before climbing onto Theta's hand. He cupped her carefully as he lowered her to her body. "You ready?" His voice pounded and made Iota shake, but she was able to nod. He took a deep breath before letting her touch herself.
-I-
Her entire vision swarmed gold and black and she felt herself being pulled from the small body into her normal one. She was pressed tightly before spreading out. Something popped in her ear.
The first thing Iota noticed was the feeling of clothing and Koschei against her skin. It felt wonderful to feel something again. She took a shaking breath.
"Iota?" Theta's voice sounded normal once again. "Are you alright?"
Iota smiled as she sat up, pushing Koschei's arms off her back. "I'm fine. I'm amazing. This is amazing."
Theta pulled her tightly in a hug. He burrowed his face into her hair. Iota breathed in deeply Theta's ginger and honey scent, something she realized she had missed dearly. "I was so worried I was going to lose you forever." Iota didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. She squeezed her brother before separating.
"We can't forget about Koschei."
Theta jumped like he had just remembered. He hurried over to the small doll that stood on a roof of a building with his arms on his hips and frowning and he cupped the doll in his hands. Iota watched as he carried Koschei over to the boy's body. There was a flash of light as he touched the body and Iota recoiled back, holding her hands over her eyes.
A second later she blinked to see Koschei smiling up at her from the ground. He looked like he had just woken up from a deep sleep with a large smile on his face and drooping eyes. He didn't say anything, only reached forward and wrapped his arms around her legs in a hug. Iota giggled and patted his head.
"Are you alright Koschei?"
Koschei fell back, smiling. "I'm amazing. You're amazing. You saved us." And then he gave her another hug.
As Koschei hugged Iota, Theta leaned down with the gloves on and picked up the two dolls Iota and Koschei had inhabited. He placed them delicately back in the world. As he watched, dolls dressed in black arrived to escort the dolls away.
A/N: And the adventure has ended with both Koschei and Iota back in their bodies. I hope you liked the last scene there; it was rather cute how happy the three children were to be back together :).
There were two references to future Who episodes in this chapter; did you catch them?
It's possible I won't be able to post chapters next week because I will be in New Jersey visiting relatives. There's no way of knowing for certain if I'll be in a house with access to the internet. If I can, I most certainly will but I apologize ahead of time if there are none!
Notes on reviews:
LilAngel927 (Guest): I'm glad you're excited for the new chapter! I hope you liked how the adventure turned out!
Sonic Key: Glad you're excited :). I know, it is rather funny. She can't avoid getting dragged along on some of the boys' plans. Theta probably would have run to get Nella if he had been thinking clearly but, since his sister and friend were in danger, he wasn't. I hope you liked the chapter! Almost five days left until the 50th!