The small keleperian wept over the still body of his mother. Her eyes stared into eternity, her robes splayed around her in a way that made her look so beautiful; surrounded by debris and the smoking remains of broken crawlers. As a heavy silence started to fill the air the child raised his head, blinked. Dust and smoke clouded the air, intensifying the iridescent shine of millions of red glowing particles that appeared all around them. He could feel the despair of his kind shivering through the aether, the knowing that they wouldn't survive a second attack.
River felt tears of anger in her eyes. She had no idea what was happening, but why did it have to be now? Now when they didn't even had the time to reinforce their home, to bury their dead. It was beyond unfair.
Next to her the broken door swung open, let orange light bleed outside as the Master rushed past her, Roka in tow. The girl looked a little puzzled and also a bit tired.
"You okay?" River asked her, remembering how she had reacted to the red lights previously.
Roka nodded and shook her head at the same time. "It's not as bad as before. Barely hurts." Her eyes wandered to the crater. "I don't think the same thing is happening as before. It feels... different."
"This time he won't escape," the Master growled and reached for his wrist where the Vortex Manipulator was still attached.
"Who?" the girl asked, making the Master turn to her with a deep scowl on his face.
He pointed towards the crater. "That guy down there we saw before? Don't you remember?"
"What guy?" River asked, and her question seemed to hit the Time Lord completely off guard. His face dropped and his gaze wandered between the two women.
"Are you kidding me?" He pointed a finger at River. "You saw them when we went to the crystal!"
"I saw... oh..." As if through a fog River suddenly remembered what he was talking about. "Right... we also saw them shortly before Roka collapsed."
Roka rubbed her eyelids, trying to focus on the situation. Everything still felt so utterly wrong. And maybe she also knew why, now. But if her theory was true, then why...
"I don't think we have to fear another attack, though," she mumbled, "Whatever they were doing at the crystal seemed to harm the robots. Actually... let's have a look at them."
"You feel up to it?" the Master asked, raising an eyebrow and eyed the pit once more, as if he wanted nothing more badly than to jump down and murder the intruder.
"Oh, shut it. I'm not as frail as I might look."
"You just said you're in pain." River followed them as Roka strode to one of the broken robots.
"Mhm..." She knelt down and got out one of her knifes to open the metal case. Sparks were sizzling out of holes and smoke rose up in thin streaks. "Nothing too bad. My migraines usually are worse."
"Just tell if anything changes, alright?" The curly woman sighed and cast a look at the Master. His look indicated he thought as less of Roka's conviction as herself.
"Mhm... help me here, will ya?" She tore at a metal hatch that sat in the middle of the machine, surrounded by cables and sparkling electric parts. "Guess in here could be their energy source."
"Quite the tinkerer, aren't you?" River remarked with a smirk when she saw how precisely the girl had dismantled the machine in that short time.
"Just lots of practice." Roka smiled up at her and pointed at the core, then glanced up at the Master. "Your laser screwdriver might open it. Don't want to go there with my knife. It's not precise enough."
He dropped to his heels next to her and lasered open the small hatch. "What are you hoping to find?"
"A way to stop them. All at once, preferably."
"Want to play the hero?" he remarked with a sly grin. "Not enough anymore to leave your crow symbols everywhere?"
She chuckled and shook her head. "No. Some people simply enjoy helping."
"Not that you would ever understand," River remarked sarcastically.
"Ah, and you're not causing enough trouble on your own? Prisoner?" the Master quipped back, precisely lasering open the metal.
"Stop fighting, you two," Roka groaned and carefully opened the now broken hatch. "If you're lucky the stuff in here might be useful for your TARD... whoa!" Her hand twitched back from the machine.
Both, the Master and River glanced inside to take a look on their own, their eyes widening fascinated as they saw the blue glowing orb inside.
"Is that..." The curly one started and stretched a hand out, but didn't quite dare to touch anything.
Roka nodded and reached inside, instead. "Yeah, I think it's part of the crystal."
Carefully she poked the glowing core with her knife, but nothing happened, so she used a finger to do the same. A weird tingling shot through her immediately and she winced back. "Didn't hurt," she assured hastily and reached with her whole hand inside to enclose the small sphere in it and rip it out.
The tingling got stronger the longer she held the sphere, her head started to get a little dizzy, but nothing more happened. Roka held it nearer to her eyes, saw delicate veins spread all over the surface. In the back the robot collapsed and simply fell apart as is someone had cut the threats of a marionette.
"Now that's interesting," River mused.
"It is, indeed," the Master seconded, glaring hungrily at the orb in Roka's hand. "That's a mighty power source! Let's collect a few more and then vanish from here." He chuckled and glanced around to make out where the next machine was lying around. "Not in any helping mood anyway."
"Tell me when you ever are," River grumbled, "I'd love to mark that moment in my journal."
"Sure, I'll phone you when that happens." The Master poked out his tongue at the woman and marched away, laser screwdriver ready.
The women followed, watching as he quickly dismantled a few crawlers and collected their cores in his infinite pockets. After a while she started to do the same, eager to get a sample for herself.
"That's no crystal, though," he eventually told, eyeing one of the spheres closely. "Guess it could be made of those roots, or maybe... Roka..."
"Huh, what?" She had peeked down into the crater and now glanced back at the Master.
He nodded to her hand that still held the sphere she had gathered. Her eyes followed his movement and she inhaled surprised when she saw what he meant. The veins in her skin had started to glow in a blue light, faint and barely visible, but definitely there.
"Oh, whoops. Shouldn't have carried it around..." Roka pocketed the sphere and glared at her hand. "Still doesn't hurt or anything. Don't worry."
"That's strange," River tossed in and took Roka's hand to inspect it closer. "We were all carrying them, but you're the only one showing a reaction. And if those core's are only from the roots, then..." She let go of Roka and took out something from her jacket. "Take this." The woman held a small, blue glowing crystal towards her. "I took a sample from below."
The Master snatched it out of River's hands before Roka could even react. "Oh no, you don't!" he hissed. "You want to see how strong she'd react to the source, don't you?"
"Well, I don't react. And neither do you, obviously."
"Come on, hand it over," Roka sighed and stretched out her hand. "If anything happens, you're here. Just take it away, then." When the Master didn't budged she nudged him with her elbow and wriggled her fingers towards the small crystal. "Don't make a fuss. I'm tough. I can't even d..."
She stopped herself, blinked perplex, puzzled, confused. Why would she say that? It wasn't even true. If it were, the Master couldn't have...
"Always putting your life in danger. It's horribly annoying, you know that?" he grumbled, but handed her the thing.
"Don't get me started with what's annoying about you, Master," Roka retorted with a sweet smile and grabbed the crystal.
She let it lie in her open hand, watching the blue light pulsate slow and steady, like a heartbeat. No... like her heartbeat. Gradually it adapted to her pulse, then the light seeped into her skin, her veins, crept into her hand and a tiny little bit up her arm. Roka pulled up her sleeve so she and the others could see it.
"It... doesn't hurt," she explained at their worried expressions. "Only tingles a little." Her hand closed around the crystal and it seemed to increased the effect, although only a little. The light in her veins moved up to her shoulder and vanished into her sleeve again.
The Master grabbed the zipper of her jacket and opened it slightly, earning himself a scowl from its owner. "Oh, come on. I know what you look like topless." He grinned from ear to ear and tugged at her hoodie and shirt to take a look at her shoulder.
"I won't even ask," River mumbled from behind.
"I can assure you, she very much enjoyed it," the Master remarked and grinned impishly at Roka.
She tried to roll her eyes at him, she really did. Instead, though, she let out a breathy laugh and looked down at herself. The light had spread to her chest, not much further, the pattern seeping into the round, Gallifreyan symbol that had been cut into her so long ago. Almost all of it was glowing in the same bluish light now and the sight stirred something in her. A quick glance at the Master's face showed that he, too, was amazed by it, his fingers slowly tracing over the old scar. His name.
"I wanted you to be mine," he uttered, only audible to Roka, his eyes burning with a possessive fire.
She moved up her free hand, lay it over the Master's and locked eyes with him. If it was due to the crystal's energy of if he initiated it she would never learn, but suddenly Roka felt his mind slipping into her own. For a short moment the world stopped existing and they were alone in this tiny space only they could occupy, back on the remaining patch of asteroid, all of reality around them gone, erased the moment he had killed her, the paradox that was her existence ripping everything apart, spreading golden cracks into the darkness, swallowing everything. For the first time she saw it from his perspective, saw how everything went black, felt the pain of being torn apart because of the proximity to her dead body, the centre of the dissolving paradox. And she heard... suddenly she heard... drums. As loud as never before, strong and furious, roaring inside his head.
And then they were gone again. Like everything else. Nothing existed anymore, nothing ever had.
'Tell me... If you never existed, how could you have ever died?'
A paradox resolving itself, the Master the only living thing that would ever remember the moment. And she had somehow still been alive, and through their connection she felt the disbelieve, the faint hope, the desperation he had felt in that very second, when he had drawn her closer to dance with her in the silence of oblivion, until everything had gone back to normal. Everything but herself, now free from the glitch, without initially knowing it.
The memory faded, Roka found herself back in reality again, sensing that only a second had gone by, unnoticed by River. His hand was still on her chest, hers above it. He smiled possessively, moved his fingers to shake her off and traced the scar on her chest, his mouth forming a silent 'mine'.
It was not the situation to react to him in any way. Still, his touch sent a shiver through her, making her breath hitch. Maybe it was because of the foreign energy, too. Roka closed her eyes and tried to forget about the Master for a second and instead concentrated on the light in her veins.
"There are... images," she mumbled. "I think it... it's the city above."
No, this weren't images the light revealed. It had only reawakened them from deep within her, brought back into her memory from so long ago.
Roka winced and opened her hand, letting the crystal drop to the ground.
That wasn't possible!
"We need to go up!" she demanded and pointed at the Master's wrist. "Give my Vortex Manipulator back. I know where to go."
"What?" River tossed in puzzled. "We can't go anywhere. If those crawlers attack again-"
"Then we won't make a difference anyway," the Master grunted. "It was fun, but I'm not one for pointless activities."
"Pointless?!" River snapped. "We would save lives!"
"Yeah..." He bent down a little and glared into her eyes with a menacing grin. "Pointless."
Roka sighed. "Stop fighting. They can't come in."
"How do you know?" River asked. "Did the crystal show you?"
Roka slowly shook her head and her eyes wandered down to her chest and her arm where the rest of the light was still pulsating through her. The crystal lay on the ground, tempting her to pick it up and reawaken the rest of the memories in her head. But she didn't want them. There had to be a reason to forget them. A good one.
"The... person down there. They are... connecting to the crystal." Could it be? It made no sense. "And the crystal... it seems to generate some kind of field around this place. The crawlers get confused, so they won't come here." What had been the point? Again she eyed the small crystal, afraid of what it might reveal, scared of whatever she had decided to forget. She looked up at her companions, seeing the unspoken questions in their eyes. "There is a generator above. It creates a field, and... and..." And it had to be active? Inactive?
Again she shook her head.
"What's this about?" the Master wanted to know, his voice almost commanding, but still soft, as if he could sense her distress.
"I... I'm not sure," Roka admitted and then whispered, "I'm not sure I want to know."
He grunted, but finally handed her the Vortex Manipulator. With a thankful nod she put in on her wrist and concentrated on the image she had seen previously. And really, a second later the device spit out coordinates. Roka wasn't sure whether to be scared or to be relieved about this.
A hand slid into hers, making her look up at the Master. He clearly wasn't happy with her reticence, but by no means would he let her go alone. From the corners of her eyes she could see River raising an eyebrow. It must be strange seeing a man like him, who had committed the unspeakable, caring so much for another person.
"Three people, one Vortex Manipulator. Not a good idea," River mumbled, stemmed her fists into her hips and eyed the two.
"No one wants you around anyway," the Master said sweetly.
"I'm more torn between hoping you won't harm Roka and being afraid what leaving you alone here would cause."
"Stop fighting," Roka grumbled again, feeling like having to deal with children here. "River, I can trust him a lot more than you. At least I know who he is and that he won't harm me. We'll be back soon."
With that, and especially without waiting for a response, she hit the button on her Vortex Manipulator and teleported them away to the surface.
The sudden change in temperature hit her a little unprepared, making her shiver. Snow was falling down lightly, covering the ground and the crumbling buildings around them. Compared to the ruins below this place seemed so tranquil, with all the gigantic carcasses of buildings rising into the air around them. A silent grave, last witness of a lost civilisation.
Contrasting the atmosphere a flash of amusement went through her like a small electric shock. Roka blinked perplex before she realized it hadn't come from herself. And when she turned, the Master wore a toothless wide smile on his face.
"I like that you trust me so much," he stated and let his teeth show.
"Don't get yourself high on it," Roka grumbled back and released his hand. "It's only because I know where I stand with you. Doesn't mean there is more trust than necessary." She shot him a quick squinting look. "Especially not since you won't tell me why the heck I sometimes sense what you're feeling."
"Do you?" The smile didn't drop.
"Oh, don't pretend!" She turned and wandered towards one building which should have the generator inside.
There was no response, not that she would have awaited one, not really. And right now it didn't matter anyway. Inside the building was darkness, produced by tons of snow covering all cracks in the concrete, but Roka found her way almost instantly, leading them deep into a labyrinth of what once were rooms and corridors, now broken down and sometimes hard to manoeuvre. Finally they reached a pile of rubble that they had to tidy up a little before they could enter the black room behind. Roka shone her flashlight around, satisfied to find a huge machine in here, with hundreds of buttons and levers and dials.
"Okay... that might take a few minutes." She handed the flashlight to the Master and took a closer look at the machine. Her hands moved almost on their own, finding the right buttons to power on the huge device and letting it fill the air with a gentle hum.
"You shouldn't scold me for having secrets," the Master mumbled, shining the light in different directions.
"I didn't." Another few buttons, a lever. The displays changed numbers, needles went this and that direction. "Doesn't mean I don't want to know."
"How about you tell me first?"
"'bout what?"
She suddenly got grabbed at her shoulder and spun around, the flashlight blinded her and she had to cover her eyes with one hand for a second. Then the light moved and she followed it until a small piece of wall got illuminated, showing the etched-in figure of... a crow.