-0-

A thousand times we die in one life.

We crumble, break, and tear apart until the layers of illusion are burned away, and all that is left, is the truth of who and what we really are.

–

Teal Scott

-0-

It was dark by the time the Doctor managed to slip out of the back door of Rose's flat, unable to stay inside a moment longer.

How he had managed to stay as long as he had was a wonder to the Time Lord, his mind continuously circling around the things that he thought were far more important that dodgy top-up cards.

Like Rylli, the Doctor thought with a frown.

The girl had been a mystery ever since he had stumbled across her and the brunet in that alley, the blonde he had been chasing having disapparated the moment he had appeared. And as much as the Doctor wanted to ask his companion about her friend before the blackette awoke from whatever was effecting her, the fact that the platinum blonde – that still hadn't returned his sonic, mind you! - had disapparated stopped him, knowing that even mentioning magic to Rose could put her friend into far more trouble than what she appeared to be in.

"And where do you think you're going?" his companion's voice sliced through his thoughts, and the Doctor was quick to turn and face her; trying to not look as though she had just caught him sneaking away.

"Nowhere!" he exclaimed a little too suddenly, though was quick to try and cover up his blunder. "It's... just a bit human in there for me," he continued, "History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all."

"Right..." Rose didn't look like she had believed a word he had said. "There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'," she stated, looking at the man sceptically.

"Nothing to do with me!" the Time Lord proclaimed, "It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of decent, colour of the smoke, everything! It's perfect!"

"So..."

"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own," the Doctor explained, "That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!"

A delighted laugh escaped the Doctor, and the sound brought a smile to Rose's lips.

"You don't need me," he continued, causing Rose's smile to fall ever so slightly, "Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum."

The Doctor turned and begun to walk away, though the blonde's voice stopped him.

"Promise you won't disappear?"

Turning so he was facing her once again, the Time Lord begun to feel his jacket pockets. "Tell you what," he said as he pulled out a silver key. "TARDIS key," he added as he handed it to Rose, "About time you had one," he grinned, "See ya later. Just going to check on Rylli!"

Rose looked down to the key laying in her palm as the Doctor left before she closed her fist around it. The blonde gave the direction the Doctor had gone one last glance before heading back inside, looking noticeably chuffed.

Seven-year-old Amaryllis Prince moved off her bed quietly, trying to not look in the direction of the obscure crack that lined one of the walls of her room. She knelt down by her bed, propping her elbows onto the mattress and closed her eyes as she clasped her hands together in prayer.

"Dear Santa," she begun, "Thank you for the dolls and pencils-"

"Don't forget the fish!" a voice called from the doorway of her room, and it caused Amaryllis to jump; her eyes snapping open as her head turned in the newcomer's direction.

"Barty!" the blackette shouted at her friend, and the brown-haired boy darted from the room; laughing all the way back to his own. Amaryllis glared in her friends' direction before letting out a huff. Why her aunt had allowed the boy to stay for the holidays, the blackette had no idea. All he did was cause trouble for her and hide all her things.

She was still trying to find where he hid her lunchbox on Wednesday...

Shaking her head and reclosing her eyes, Amaryllis got back to her prayer. Though she did peek towards her door to make sure that her friend hadn't returned to scare her once more. "And I want to thank you for the fish," she said in almost a whisper as she continued her prayer, "I know it's Easter now, Santa, so I hope I didn't wake you, but honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall."

Unable to stop herself, the seven-year-old opened her eyes to peek at the odd, w-shaped crack of white light that was on the wall behind her desk. The blackette was quick to close her eyes, however, almost as if she was afraid of it. "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not, because at night there's voice-"

"Prisoner Zero has escaped..."

Amaryllis screamed and Barty took a step back, laughing as his friend jumped to her feet.

"Barty!" the blackette rounded on the boy, "Get out!" she shouted, jabbing her finger in the direction of her door, "I'm telling Aunt Sharon!"

The ten-year-old had other ideas though, and ducked under Amaryllis' arm before he plonked himself onto her bed. "Why are you praying to Santa about the crack?" he asked, eyeing at his friend as he crossed his arms against his chest, "It doesn't do anything but whisper at night."

"Cracks aren't supposed to whisper, Barty," the girl said knowingly, crossing her own arms against her chest as she glared at the brunet.

Her words only had Barty frowning however.

"And so what if this one does?" he shot back, causing the blackette to blink at how defensive he seemed to be getting over something that was beginning to scare her.

"It's not right! Things like that aren't supposed to speak. I wanted Santa to send someone to fix it. Or maybe even a policeman to-"

The girl broke her tirade off when she heard a rather strange whirring sound coming from the back garden. Barty, who had been glaring right back at his friend, frowned as he slowly got off her bed.

"What's tha-"

There was a loud crash that seemed to echo through the silence that followed, and Barty and Amaryllis exchanged glances; their argument all but forgotten.

The seven-year-old rushed to her bedside table and grabbed her torch, while her friend was already heading towards her window; throwing open the curtain the moment he got there. The pair gaped when they spotted a strange blue box laying on its side in the ruined remains of what used to be the blackette's garden shed.

"Wicked," the boy grinned at Amaryllis, though the blackette was smiling when she noticed the word 'POLICE' written on the side of the box.

Looking up to the starry night sky, Amaryllis whispered, "Thank you, Santa."

-0-

Running through the door that led to his friends' back garden, Barty barely glanced back to Amaryllis as she quickly put on a pair of red wellies before throwing on a matching red coat and hat. He rolled his eyes good-heartedly as he felt the cold, leafy ground between his toes, not caring to get his own shoes as he raced the blackette to where they had seen the blue box; the ends of an oversized male's coat fluttering in the wind around his ankles.

As they got to where the box had crashed, they came to a sudden stop as the doors were unexpectedly flung open and the pair clasped each other's hand tightly as a grappling hook flew from the box. Then – much to the surprise and astonishment of the two friends – a soaking wet man with floppy brown hair popped up from inside the box.

"Could I have an apple?" the man asked, and Barty glanced at his friend; a little stunned by the man's question. "All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving?"

Amaryllis watched the brunet curiously as he paused, finding the floppy-haired man looked a little surprised by his own words; his eyes widening a little.

"That's new. Never had cravings before," the brunet remarked, continuing to ramble as he partially climbed out of the oddly smoking blue box; straddling the edge as he peered back down the way he had come. "Whoa!" he suddenly gaped at what he saw, "Look at that."

"I have been, Doctor."

A voice, low and male, came from within the box and had Barty and Amaryllis jumping before another set of hands appeared over the boxes edge.

"No thanks to you," a man with snow white hair sniped as he pulled himself up; piercing amber eyes narrowing on the man beside him.

The floppy-haired brunet looked rather sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze lowering from the blond's as his cheeks darkened. "Sorry," he muttered apologetically, "I got a little distracted."

"So I heard," the blond sighed as he rolled his eyes. His expression softened as he reached out to place his hand over the brunet's, only to stiffen when he remembered they had an audience; his lip curling slightly as he eyed the two children out of the corner of his eye.

"Are you okay?" Amaryllis asked, a little concerned about the strange pair. They both were soaking wet, and although the blond's clothes had a few rips here and there, the brunet's clothes were utterly ruined. She went to take a step towards the pair, but Barty tugged her back; his eyes locked onto the blond beside the Doctor.

"Just had a fall," the brunet replied, shifting his own hand to cover the blond's and causing the man to turn his attention back to him. He quirked his lip as he nodded down into the box, "All the way down there, right into the library."

The blond couldn't help but mirror his expression, his words coming out with a barely suppressed chuckle as he shook his head, "Hell of a climb back up." A blond eyebrow raised as he added with a sly smirk, "But the view wasn't half bad."

"You're soaking wet," Amaryllis stated as she frowned at the pair, unsure as to how they could have come from a library.

"We..." the Doctor cleared his throat, his cheeks once more darkening as he shot the blond a half-hearted glare before he turned his attention to the two friends, "We were in the swimming pool."

"You said you were in the library," Barty piped up from beside the blackette, even as his eyes narrowed on the blond beside the Doctor. His hand tightened around Amaryllis' as he tugged her backwards once more, wanting to put as much distance between her and the blond.

"So was the swimming pool," the man replied rather flatly, his eyes darting between the duo before falling onto their joint hands.

Rylli's gun clattered to the ground as the witch stumbled backwards and away from the sight that laid before her.

"No, no," she bit out through the pain that had exploded inside her head as visions flashed across her mind, "They-they're just dreams," she muttered, her breaths starting to come out short and quick as her eyes darted around the corridor she backed herself into, "He promised! They were just dreams!"

When her eyes landed back onto the doors of the library, Rylli quickly shook her head in denial.

"No, no, no, no, no!"

Her voice grew louder until she almost screamed the word, clutching her head as whispers begun to fill her mind.

Without warning, the blackette took off down the corridor, not caring which direction she headed off in.

"How'd you go?" a brunet asked as Amaryllis stepped out of Bagnold's office.

The hybrid grinned, holding up a rolled up scroll, and the man let out a laugh before suddenly pulling the blackette into a hug.

"I knew you could do it!" he exclaimed as he pulled away, not noticing the way that Amaryllis had tensed at his unexpected action, "Don't know why you always doubt yourself, Rylli."

"I don't doubt myself," the raven-haired witch retorted as she handed the brunet the scroll, ignoring the way it felt as though her heart was tearing in two inside her chest at the way the man was acting around her, "I'm just a realistic."

"You're the most unrealistic person I have ever met," the Eleventh Doctor said with a snort as he unrolled the scroll, his green eyes skimming over the words. "They want you to be an Unspeakable?" A snicker left him as he looked back to the blackette and raised an eyebrow, "I wonder how long it will take Bagnold to realise you're already an Unspeakable?"

Rolling her eyes, Amaryllis snatched the scroll back off the Time Lord and rolled it back up. "Never, hopefully. And I did have another face back then," she said, her lips pursing, "It's bad enough that Dumbledore has been showing up where he's not wanted. The last thing I need is someone to go and tell him that he had an Unspeakable at his school without his knowledge."

"Touché," the Time Lord tapped the side of his nose before he frowned. "What do you mean that Dumbledore had been showing up? I thought that he started to leave you alone after the last encounter he had with your father."

"I wish," Amaryllis muttered with a scowl, "The idiot seems to be trying to work out where I go when I 'travel'. Mother told me that he appeared in Russia after Barty and the others left that false trail with Tortahl."

The Doctor sputtered, his green eyes going wide as a grin turned his lips upwards, and once again the blackette ignored the way her hearts skipped at how it made his whole face light up. He had made his choice, and so had she.

"Wait! You're telling me that you sent them on that forsaken 'camping trip' just to see if Dumbledore would show up?"

Amaryllis shrugged as she turned her gaze away from the Doctor, "It was the only way to see if Dumbledore was indeed following me. I had thought I had seen him a few times in odd locations, though I hadn't been sure until I spotted him in muggle London a few days before I left," her nose wrinkled in distaste, "And his rather...flamboyant style really does stand out in a crowd. I have no idea how he thought that his bright purple and blue clothes were going to blend into a crowd of investors."

"His style does need a lot of improvement," the Time Lord murmured, and the witch raised an eyebrow as she looked back to him; eyeing his tweed jacket and bowtie. Before she could comment on the Time Lord's own choice of attire, a voice neither wanted to hear cut into their conversation.

"Oh, Rylli... John?"

"Hello Lily," the blackette greeted with a silent sigh as she and the Doctor turned to the witch. "Is Harry with his father?" she asked, not seeing the infant with his mother.

The red head scowled unattractively at the blackette's question. "Who my son is with is none of your concern," she snapped, and Amaryllis and the Doctor exchanged looks.

"What do you want, Mrs Potter?" the Time Lord enquired casually, even though he moved to stand partially in front of Amaryllis, knowing the pairs history, "Come to complain to the Minister about Amaryllis here being a dark witch again?"

Surprised appeared on Lily's face as her eyes darted to the witch in question, not believing that Amaryllis would have told the muggle. Though when her gaze met the blue-black of Amaryllis', she quickly shook her head. "No." The witch produced something from the bag slung at her side, "In fact, I came to try and apologise."

"Apologise?" Amaryllis spoke up as she stepped up beside the Doctor, "Sure you are..." Her expression told Lily that she wasn't believing a word that came out of the red-headed witch's mouth. "Why are you really here, Lily?" Amaryllis continued, "I highly doubt that Dumbledore would want his image tarnished because someone saw you talking with a supposedly dark witch." Her blue, almost black eyes glanced around idly, noticing multiple people already looking in their direction and whispering amongst themselves. She turned her gaze back to Lily, raising a raven eyebrow, "In the Ministry no less. What would the papers say?"

"Look, I don't care what the others think," Lily huffed as she held the item out to Amaryllis, ignoring the other woman's sceptical expression, "And I know that it probably means nothing to you, but I really am sorry for the way we treated you at school."

Both Amaryllis and the Doctor just stared at Lily and the item she was holding out for a moment before Amaryllis stepped forwards. "You're right," the blackette said as she met the green eyes of the witch that had made her Hogwarts years more difficult than they needed to be, "You're words do mean nothing to me." Her gaze dropped to the origami flower that had given Amaryllis her name, "But an effort is still an effort," she reached out to the flower.

"Rylli, No!" the Doctor shouted as he tried to pull the blackette away from Lily the moment he saw the red head smirk. Though he found his attempt was for naught as the moment Amaryllis touched the flower, there was a distinct tug in his stomach and the trio disappeared, leaving the onlookers gawking as they found their entertainment suddenly whipped away by an unregistered portkey.

Corridor after corridor, Rylli ran.

The witch didn't know where she was going, nor did she care.

All she wanted was to get out of wherever it was she was currently located.

Whatever Barty – or whoever they were – had done to her, they were going to seriously pay when she got her hands on them.

The blackette skidded to a halt when she came to a split in the corridor, not sure as to which way she should go.

"This isn't happening," she told herself as she took a moment to catch her breath, her eyes darting between the two corridors that branched off from the one she was in. "They're just dreams. Nothing more, nothing less," she continued to muttered as she shook her head, trying to get rid of the whispers that were growing louder inside her head before taking off down the left corridor.

Her eyes widened when she noticed a large room ahead through an open doorway, and Rylli pushed herself to go faster. The blackette burst into the console room, only to come to a second halt at the sight she came across.

"Whoa! Easy there!" the Doctor exclaimed as he quickly moved around the console and towards Rylli; startled by the blackette's unexpected presence.

"Where am I?!" the witch demanded, though her gaze wandered around the room – transfixed. It was unlike anything she had seen... while awake, anyhow.

"You're in my TARDIS," the Time Lord explained slowly, raising his hands in the universal sign of 'I'm not going to hurt you'.

"TARDIS," Rylli repeated, her dark gaze snapping back to the Doctor in confusion.

"Now today... you're going to learn how to fly her," a clear, feminine voice cut through the whispers in Rylli's mind, and the witch winced; a hand flying up to her temple as she unknowingly took a step away from the Doctor with a frown.

What in Salazar's name is happening to me?

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked in concern, seeing her face flash with pain.

"F-fine," Rylli stuttered, shaking her head again in an attempt to clear it.

"No! Come on, you're a TARDIS for crying out loud. You can leave them in the dust!" another voice cut across the witch's mind, and she stumbled as pain was quick to follow.

"These are Daleks from the planet Skaro," the first voice spoke, and an image of a large pepper-pot looking creature appeared in Rylli's mind, "They're beings that know nothing but murder and hatred, created by a scientist known as Davros near the end of a thousand-year war that raged between his people the Kaleds, and their enemy, the Thals."

"Yes, I know that they're Daleks! That's why we're trying to get to Skaro unnoticed, you daft box!" the second voice echoed again, this time followed by an explosion that had Rylli dropping to her knees in agony, her eyes clenching shut as the pain in her head threatened to cause her to pass out.

"Rylli?!"

"Davros used some of his own people to experiment on. They had been badly injured and mutated by the nuclear war, and he genetically modified them with the tank-like robotic shells they still wear today – removing every emotion apart from their hatred. But in doing so, Davros created a race that believed themselves to be the supreme race in the entire universe. The Daleks came to believe it so much, that as they were superior to everything else, it was their mission to purge the universe of all non-Dalek life."

Rylli let out a whimper as she clutched her head. "No, just make it stop," she whispered when she felt someone grab her shoulder, their other hand trying to move her head so she would look at them.

"But what do you mean that the Time Lords don't know that we're back?" a new voice appeared in the blackette's mind, and a trickle of blood appeared from her nose, "I mean, wouldn't they be able... everyone knows that..." the voice changed to a males', one that Rylli felt she should recognise, "Come back, Amaryllis. Come on, fight it..." before it changed back to the first voice, "Impossible to negotiate or reason with... dangerous and not to be underestimated... Come on, Rylli... to the point where they attacked unprovoked and killed h... come back to me, Amaryllis."

When Rylli's eyes snapped back open, the Doctor was quick to move back to give her some space, even though a frown tugged at his lips as he watched golden, sand-like particles flickering across her unnaturally – unfamiliar – dark-blue, almost black eyes.

"It's okay. You're safe," he was quick to soothe as those same eyes turned panicked; the witch trying to back away from him as her gaze darted around the console room. "A friend of yours left you in my care," he twisted the truth a bit as he slowly raised his hands. The Doctor wasn't about to admit that he didn't have a clue as to who she had appeared with, or that she had been hurt and the man with her had disappeared the moment the Time Lord had tried to help.

Though as his gaze met that of Amaryllis', the Doctor found that his heart's skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat. She had the same face, the same features, but the wrong eyes. Same memories – from what he had glimpsed while drawing her back from within her own head – but with others that she shouldn't have. Memories that should be impossible for the twenty-five-year-old witch to have.

He knew that they shouldn't have existed in Rylli's mind in the first place, as even as he continued to stare at the raven-haired witch that looked like an exact copy of his soulmate – less the eyes – he knew that Amaryllis was gone. And it confused and intrigued the Time Lord simultaneously.

They stayed like that for a minute or two, and although the Doctor could see that the young blackette was starting to calm, she still watched him like a hawk while one of her hands disappeared behind her back.

Curious...

"Wh-what happened?" Rylli asked as she watched the Doctor, wincing slightly as her own voice caused her head to throb.

"I don't know," he admitted slowly, lowering his hands as he begun to take a step towards the blackette, "But I can help you figure thi-"

Ah, okay then.

The Doctor went as still as a statue, his hands raised once more the moment Rylli's hand reappeared from behind her back with a stun gun, the weapon aimed at the Doctor's chest.

"Don't!" she growled, and the Doctor nodded slowly in accent before taking a step away. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I want you and your friends to end this now!" Rylli demanded, her voice echoing around the console room.

Her words had a frown appearing on the Time Lord's lips, a little uncertain as to what the blackette was talking about.

"I haven't done anything to you," he told her carefully before motioning to the stun gun that the raven-haired witch was holding, "And can you put that down?"

"I don't think I wi-" Rylli shook her head, cutting off with a wince when she realised that it had been the wrong thing to do as another sharp pain shot through her mind. She closed her eyes as her eyes watered, trying to block out the pain – only to snap them back open when she heard the Doctor say a name and took a concerned step towards her.

"Don't!" she shouted, "I sai... Th-that's not..."

Rylli couldn't stop herself; her stun gun clattering to the floor as she pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes, wishing that the pain and voices would just go away. The Doctor watched her with concern, even though he had no idea as to what was going on. He took a cautious step towards Rylli when she let out a whimper, an idea quickly forming in his mind as to why she could have been brought to him – even if it had been in some roundabout way. But seeing that mind magic was illegal in the wizarding world, the Time Lord was curious to know how the platinum blonde and her friend knew to leave the young woman – who-looked-exactly-like-his-soulmate-but-wasn't – in his hands.

"Rylli..."

He spoke softly as to not startle her, unsure as to what other tricks she might be hiding despite her predicament.

"I just want to help you. Whatever is happening to you," he continued when he noticed her still at his voice, "It's happening inside your head. I don't know if that's why you were left in my care, but at the moment there are memories in you head that shouldn't be there and they're burning up your mind. If we can't get them to stop, it will overwhelm you and you will die."

He explained quietly but seriously as he took another cautious step towards the blackette. Something was telling him to be frank with her. That just like Amaryllis, Rylli would react far better than twisted truths and half lies. And considering that he had no idea as to who Rylli was, having only been told by Rose that she was a relative she barely saw, the Doctor was rather keen to trust his instincts right now.

"No, no," he barely heard the blackette mutter as her hands shifted so she was now clutching the sides of her own head; trying to get her words out despite her growing pain. "You... He said that... the crack, the voices... Always voices... th-they never le-leave... not whe-"

Rylli broke off with a cry as she suddenly stumbled backwards, coming to a stop when her back hit the console.

"They hurt..." Tears were freely streaming down her face as she whimpered, "They always... never stop, Doctor."

The Doctor once again begun to close the distance between himself and Rylli, his concern for the blackette growing by the second. He wasn't sure as to how much longer she was going to be able to stay conscious, and he was really worried about how pale she was looking. He stopped when Rylli lifted her head to look at him, though other than trying to keep him in her focus before letting out another whimper, the blackette's vision started to swim and she slumped against the console as her eyes closed once more; using it to hold her upright.

"I only want to help you, Rylli," the Doctor stated softly, drawing her gaze back to him when her eyes re-flickered open.

"No..." the witch shook her head weakly, "He... They told me... Barty... h-he's ali-Argh!"

Rylli gasped, grasping her head as it exploded with pain as her eyes snapped closed once more, missing the Time Lord freeze at her words.

Impossible, he thought, not believing the name that passed her lips, But... it couldn't be possible...

"Rylli," he said as he approached the witch and knelt by her side – possibly a little quicker than he had intended to, but the Doctor realised that he was out of time. "Rylli, look at me," he continued as he carefully lifted her head.

"It h-hurts, so much," she whimpered as tears trickled down her cheeks, and the Doctor couldn't stop himself from wiping them away, his expression crossed somewhere between needing to know if the same Barty she had just mentioned was the same he once knew, and heartbreak at seeing her in so much pain.

"I know, Rylli," he muttered as he wiped another tear away, "But I need you to tell me who?" he asked as his blue eyes met Amaryllis' pain-filled blue-black.

Something flickered across her face as she gazed into his eyes. Something that had the Doctor's breath hitching as she raised a hand, her eyebrows furrowing in almost concentration before her palm finally rested against his cheek.

"... I'm sorry, Theta."

The Doctor froze at the name that passed her lips before Rylli's eyes rolled backwards and she collapsed – the Time Lord managing to break out of his shock long enough to catch her before she toppled sideways. He stared down at her for a long moment, unmoving before a name he hadn't used in centuries passed his own lips.

"Azalea?"