A/N: I am 99% positive that I have missed a few spelling mistakes, sorry about that. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Kari and Theta were still sitting under the tree, the twin suns high in the sky, and the shade they were in was a nice relief from the heat. "So, 112 years old, finally stopped with all the pranks and started working harder at the Academy?" Kari asked him, feeling slightly awkward. It had felt strange when he was holding her at first, but then when she remembered who he was, it didn't matter. But it did matter, because he didn't know that yet.
"A bit. I'm trying harder, but sometimes I find it difficult to concentrate on what I should." Theta replied, a hint of pink still visible on his cheeks. The moment he had seen here there, under the tree, he had rushed towards her, and then he had heard her shouting, wishing that she had been taken to someone, to him. "What about you, what have you been up to?"
"Nothing since the last time I saw you." She was actually glad that he was there alone, and that Koschei wasn't there with him. It wasn't that she didn't like him, he seemed to be rather stable, but she knew what he would become. When she saw him, she remembered what he would do, what he did do to her, what he put the Doctor through. She knew she shouldn't hold it against him, it hadn't happened for him yet, but it was still there in the back of her mind.
He nodded at her, not really knowing what else to say. "So…" He ended up rubbing the back of his neck nervously, which only served to make Kari feel a little more nervous. "Are you… hungry or anything?"
She shook her head at him. "Not really, what about you?"
This time Theta shook her head. "No, I ate earlier. My, uh, my father kept asking questions about you, wondering who you were and how I knew you." He told Kari, making her shift uncomfortably. She had never been so nervous around the Doctor before, but then she had to keep reminding herself that he wasn't the Doctor just yet. "I, uh, I told him that you were just a friend, and he kept asking who your family were and what house you belonged to."
"And, uh, what did you tell him?" She had probably landed him in so much trouble when she never meant to.
"I told him that I couldn't say, that I had promised not to. He didn't seem to like that too much. I wasn't allowed to leave the house for eight months, apart from going to the Academy." Now Kari was feeling even worse, he had basically been grounded, because he refused to tell his father who she was.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get into trouble because of me." Kari told him, hanging her head a little. "It seems like I bring nothing but trouble where ever I go."
Theta frowned at her. "You didn't bring me trouble, it wasn't your fault. My father is just a very strict man, and I couldn't give him the answers that he wanted. I wouldn't worry about it, it wasn't as bad as you think." There was a smile forming on his face as he tried to reassure her that he didn't blame her and that he wasn't going to hold it against her either.
Kari couldn't help but smile back at him. "Well, as long as you're sure." The awkwardness was still there, but not as much. "So, do you come here often, then?" She ended up asking, giving him a nudge with her shoulder, trying to break the ice a little more. She couldn't understand why it all felt so awkward, it wasn't as if they were strangers.
"Every day for the past forty five years. Sometimes even twice a day." Theta admitted, which resulted in Kari frowning at him. "Well, neither of us knew when you would be back, if you came back. So we used to come here every day. We still do."
"So where is Koschei? If you both come here every day, where is he?" Kari was actually curious about that, because every other time they had been there together.
Now the young man looked at her slightly nervously. "He's… been busy with his studies lately. To tell you the truth, he's started to change, since the last time we saw you. He's become obsessed with the Time Vortex, he feels like he needs to know absolutely everything about it." That didn't sound good to Kari, it sounded like he was starting to follow the wrong path already. "But he will come, he'll be here soon."
Kari nodded at him. "And I take it you haven't found something to obsess over just yet then?"
The look on his face was hard to read. "Not really, not like he has. Ever since we saw what happened to you, and the pain you were in, he's been trying to find out as much about it as he can. I've taken an interest in Earth, you seemed to have loads of stories about that planet."
"Of course I do, Earth is brilliant. Okay, so there are some things that aren't all that nice, and some terrible things happen in Earth's history, but it's kind of my second home." The TARDIS was her first home, and it always would be now.
"What's your favourite place on Earth?" Theta asked her, ready to just jump straight in and find out as much as he could. "I know there are loads of different areas. You have continents and countries, and then the countries are broken down into counties or states."
Kari was actually rather impressed. "Well, you really have been doing your homework. I don't know if I really have a favourite place, it's a toss up between two places I suppose, and that's only because of the amount of times that I visit them." Theta just looked at her, waiting for her to tell him. "Cardiff in Wales, and London in England. Both of them are…"
"In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." He finished, a large smile on his face. "So, those are the places that you visit the most then?"
"Yeah, I suppose. There are loads more places to go, not just Earth, but just out there. It's a big universe, a great place to go and explore." Kari told him, knowing that he would eventually leave Gallifrey by 'borrowing' a TARDIS and end up travelling the stars, just like he wanted.
They both just sat there, smiling as they watched the world go by and Theta finally started to tell Kari all about Gallifrey. He told her all about Mount Cadon, the place where they actually were, where his home was close by and the Academy he went to was part way up the mountain. He also told her about the Cadonflood River, which he promised that he would take her to see.
He told her all about his family, about his father and older brother, and all of his cousins. She was actually learning quite a bit about him, about his family life and the things that interested him. "Okay, favourite colour?" Theta asked her, as they sat back and continued to enjoy the sunshine.
"Blue." She replied without a moment of hesitation. "It has to be blue. Although purple will come in a close second, possibly."
"Favourite planet?"
"Oh, that's a difficult one. The thing is, I haven't seen every single planet out there, so it's really not fair for me to answer that." Kari told him, knowing that she most likely would have said Earth if it was anyone else who had asked. "Ask me again when I've explored a bit more of the universe."
Theta chuckled at her slightly, finding it amusing that she was avoiding answering and liking the excuse that she had given. He was about to ask her another question when he saw a figure in the distance. "Looks like Koschei is on his way." He said, nodding in the direction of the figure.
Kari followed Theta's gaze and saw a young man heading towards them. She was actually nervous, because he was older now as well, he was a young man, not a child anymore. Like Theta, his hair was now darker, and he was taller as well. She noticed the figure stop for a moment, before he began to run towards them.
Theta pushed himself up, and held out a hand to Kari, before helping her up from the red grass as well, ready to greet their friend. "He's going to be pretty happy to see you, it might actually do him some good." He whispered to her as the young man came closer.
She turned and looked at him with a frown on her face. "Why? What makes you say that?" She whispered back, wondering why seeing her would do Koschei some good. It made her think, it made her wonder what else could have happened. She knew that he was now spending a lot of time studying the Time Vortex, Theta had told her that.
All he could do was shake his head at her, a sad look on his face, as Koschei finally made it to where they were standing under the tree. "Kari!" The young man shouted, before reaching out and hugging her tightly. "You're here! You've been gone for so long." He told her, still with his arms around her.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I really don't get a choice in the matter, I just have to go where I'm taken." She told him, before pushing him away a little. She really was starting to feel uncomfortable now, and when she looked at his face that feeling grew. "Well, look at you! You seemed to have grown up since I've been gone. Both of you have."
"And I've been doing loads of research on the Time Vortex." Koschei really was excited to see her, it was written all over his face.
Kari simply smiled at him. "Well then, I look forward to hearing all about it. Why don't we go for a walk? Theta was going to show me the Cadonflood River, we can take a wander over in that direction and sit there and talk. I'm a little fed up with seeing this tree." She couldn't help but notice the way that he flinched a little when she mentioned Theta's name.
Koschei looked between the two and noticed the way that Theta was blushing slightly. "Uh, yeah, okay. That sounds like fun." The look on his face told Kari otherwise, but she wasn't going to say anything, she was desperate to see something other than that stupid tree.
Without really thinking about it, Kari linked one of her arms through Theta's and the other through Koschei's. There was a smile on her face as she looked from one to the other. "Come on then, lead the way."
They both smiled back at her brightly, both of them actually having the same thought running through their heads as well. There were so many questions that they had for her, and they were both trying to find the courage to ask them. Neither of them knew that the other was thinking the same, that they both had similar questions.
She was still smiling away as they walked around the fields of red grass, away from that tree. "So, what have you found out about the Time Vortex then, Koschei?"
He cleared his throat a little before speaking. "The Time Vortex is a transdimentional spiral that connects all points in time and space. It was the prolonged exposure to the Time Vortex that was partially responsible for the development of Gallifreyans into Time Lords." To sounded to Kari like he had been practicing what he was going to say for years. "The paths within the Time Vortex are all twisted and unstable, making it hard to follow without directional controls. If you're not able to calculate the pathways, then there is no way of telling where you will end up. And the fact that travelling without a capsule is very dangerous and harmful, it destroys the cellular structure, like radiation."
Kari knew that everything he had said was true, and she was rather impressed with how much he had found out about it. "Wow, I'm impressed. You really have been doing a lot of research on it, haven't you?" Koschei beamed at her, glad that she was impressed. "I wonder how I manage to survive in the Time Vortex sometimes. It hurts, I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't, because it really, really hurts. There have been times when I've wanted it to stop, but I've accepted the fact that it will never happen. I'm always going to be jumping from one place to the other, with no control over when it happens or where I end up." There was a hint of sadness in her voice, if she had a choice right now, she could get back to her Doctor. Or she could have gone to one Doctor and stayed with him the whole time. Her life would have been so much simpler if that was possible.
"How did you get that connection anyway?" Koschei asked her, still very curious about it all. "I mean, were you born with it, did something happen to you?"
Even Kari wasn't too sure on the answer to that one. "It's… difficult to explain. Something happened to me, a long time ago, and it changed me forever. But the thing is, even though I complain about it, and I sometimes wish I didn't have it, I wouldn't want to go back to what I had before." And she really did mean that, there was no way she wanted to go back to the life she had before, even if it did mean she would never see her father again. She missed him, of course she did, but there was no way to see him again.
"But it hurts you, don't you at least wish that it didn't hurt?" There was a slightly worried look on his face, because they both knew how much the Time Vortex hurt her, they had both seen it with their own eyes.
She simple shrugged at him. "Yeah, it hurts, but you get used to it. Yes, it would be great if it didn't hurt at all, but that is never going to happen, just like I am never going to be able to control when and where I jump to." The Doctor had been trying to centuries to change it, to find some way to get some sort of control over the Time Vortex, to tame it a little, but it just wasn't possible, and Kari had accepted that now.
Theta could see a hint of sadness on Kari's face. "If you were able to control it, you would never have come here, and we would never have met you." He reminded her, trying to get her to see that it wasn't all bad.
Kari looked over at him with a smile on her face. "You're right, if I had control of where and when I went then I never would have imagined of ever coming here. I would never had met either of you and everything would change." She had never imagined meeting them both so young in the first place, and she was still in conflict as to whether it was a good thing or not.
The smile on her face seemed to be contagious, as Theta and Koschei both beamed back at her and silence fell between them. They didn't need to say anything, because the smiles just said it all, all three of them were happy, and that was all that matter. The suns were shining and there was a slight breeze, and Kari didn't think anything could put a damper on their day. But she was wrong.
Koschei was the first to sit down by the river, Kari and Theta quickly sitting down as well. "This… this is amazing." Kari managed to breath, looking at the view before her. The river looked like it was on fire, thanks to twin suns that were burning high in the sky. "Even now, I'm seeing the most amazing things."
Once again, they sat there for hours, talking. Kari told them some more stories about the places that she had been, both of the boys asking her plenty of questions and getting more excited about going out and seeing the universe. She didn't realise it, but she was fuelling the fire that turned them into the men she knew in the future.
"It's getting late, shouldn't you both be heading back now?" Kari asked them, noticing how dark it had gotten. She had already gotten them into trouble before, she didn't want them to get into any more because of her. It wasn't that she wanted them to go, far from it, she really didn't want to be left there on her own again, she was just thinking of them.
Theta quickly shook his head at her. "No, I can stay for longer. What about you, Koschei?" He looked over towards his friend, and waited for his response.
It looked like there was a battle going on inside of his head, behind those eyes of his, and it took him a few moments to find his answer. "Uh, I can stay for a while." There was a hopeful look on his face now, as he looked towards Kari.
All she could do was smile at both of them. "Great. So come on then, what other amazing things can the pair of you show me? And remember, I am used to seeing some pretty extraordinary things." Kari was actually glad that they were staying, she wasn't going to be left on her own in a place that she still didn't really know.
"Actually, there's… there's something I want to give you." Koschei told her, before reaching into his pocket. He had been walking around with something in his pocket for years, waiting for Kari to come back so that he could give it to her. Now that she was there, he wasn't going to miss his chance, and he was going to give it to her.
Kari could feel her hearts pounding, wondering what it was he wanted to give her. It was a tense moment for her, because she knew that this was a moment that could change everything if she wasn't careful. "You know, you really don't have to give me anything." Kari ended up muttering while he continued to rummage through his pocket.
Finally he pulled out a small, red velvet box. "I… uh, I got this for you." Koschei said, playing with the small box in his hands. "I thought that it might… cheer you up. You seemed rather upset the last time we saw you, and I thought this might make you smile." He stopped turning it over, and held it out towards Kari.
All Kari could do was stare at the small box, before her hand shakily reached out to take it. "There really was no need to get me anything, Koschei." Her hearts were definitely pounding in her chest now, and there was no doubt about how scared she was.
"I know, but I wanted to. I just hope that you like it." Koschei was blushing slightly, while Theta was sitting there with a frown on his face. He had no idea that his friend had decided to get something for Kari, and he wished that he had know, because then he would have gotten her something even better.
Her hand was still shaking as she picked the box up and held it in her own. Kari really didn't know whether it was a good idea to open it or not. A part of her was screaming at her, telling her not to do it, to just give it back and apologise to him, to let him know that she couldn't take it. But the other part knew that she had to take it, that if she didn't, that if she refused his gift, it could make things worse in the future. Instead, she bit the bullet and slowly lifted the lid, revealing what lay inside.
Kari was stunned into silence. "Wow, it's… it's beautiful." She whispered, her eyes transfixed on the golden heart shaped locket that gently rested on the red silk cushion inside the box. It really was beautiful, and although Kari wanted to refuse to accept it, she knew that she couldn't.
"I'm… I'm glad you like it, I wasn't sure if you would." It was clear to see that Koschei was happy, he was pleased to see that Kari liked it. "Here, let me help you." He added, gently picking it up by its long chain. It only took him a few moments to fix the locked around Kari's neck. "There, perfect."
"I… I really don't know what to say. Thank you, Koschei." She managed to say, reaching up and running the tips of her fingers across the locket. "It really is beautiful."
He was blushing now, and Theta was sitting there looking very unhappy with the whole situation. "Kari, I was thinking… would you like to go to dinner with me?" He asked her, trying to hold his head up high.
Now it was Koschei's turn to frown at his friend, while Kari just looked a little bemused. "Uh… I'd… I'd love to." She couldn't say no to him, she just couldn't. Even if she didn't know who he really was and who he would grow up to be, she didn't want to say no to him. It was still strange for her, because he still had no idea who she would become to him.
Theta's face lit up, like Kari had seen the Doctor's do so many times before. "Great. That's great."
Now Kari was feeling even more awkward with the two young men that were sitting on either side of her. She had a terrible feeling growing in the pit of her stomach that this was the start of something bad. "But first, I want you both to promise me something." She said, suddenly. "I want both of you to promise me that you will not let anyone or anything get in the way of your friendship. Always make time for each other, and just remember that there are something things that just aren't worth losing your best friend over." There was a reason behind her saying that, not that she would admit that to them.
"Of course we won't." Koschei said straight away. "The three of us will always be friends." He seemed to confident, and Kari felt a pang of sadness to know what would become of him in the future.
"You are both going to be my friends. But you have to remember that you were friends with each other before you ever even met me." Kari reminded them, hoping that they would catch on to what she was saying. "I know we are going to be friends for a long time, but just make sure that nothing come between the pair of you as well."
It seemed that Theta had caught on to what she was saying, she could tell by the look on his face. "I promise. I promise, that no matter what, we will always be friends." He said, looking towards Koschei, waiting for him to make the same promise.
He looked at Kari and then Theta. "Yeah, I promise we will always be friends." The way Koschei said it didn't feel right, not to Kari or to Theta. They could both tell that he was only saying it for the sake of saying it, it was something about his voice, the way he had said it.
"I hope you both mean that, because if I find out that something has happened, that something has come between the pair of you, I will not be happy." Kari warned them, preying that they would listen to her, and that maybe she could change the future slightly.
In her head, she kept remembering what had happened with the Master, how he had treated the Doctor, and how he had treated her. He had seriously scared her back then, but he was not that person yet, and there was a small chance that maybe, just maybe, she could make him a little better. He hadn't always been so bad, he wasn't mad or crazy, and Kari knew that she couldn't hold the future against him.
"Why does it matter, anyway?" Koschei asked her, now leaning back, propping himself up with his elbows on the grass. "Why does it matter that we stay friends?"
"Because friends are important, and I don't want to see the pair of you falling out over something silly." Kari told him seriously. "When I was a kid, I didn't really have many friends. I spent most of my time on my own, sitting in the corner and reading. I had no one to talk to, no one to help me, I was on my own. But now, now I have more friends than I ever imagined."
Koschei really didn't seem that interested in what Kari had to say, but she knew that Theta was listening. When she looked at him, she could feel the worry and concern just radiating from him, and it was clear to see that Theta was feeling a little uneasy with the way that his best friend was acting.
Instead, he quickly cleared his throat. "So, Kari, I've been meaning to ask you something." He told her, changing the subject. "Are you… married? It's just, I noticed the ring that you're wearing, and from what I've found out, it's a human tradition to exchange rings."
Kari really hadn't thought about that, she had not expected that question to come up. "Well, not yet, no. Come on, you know how complicated my life is, right now, he barely even knows how I am." This was not a conversation she was ready to have with him, with either of them. "In a few hundred years from now, or maybe a few hundred more, he'll give me this ring as a promise." She couldn't help but twist it around her finger a little with her thumb as she spoke. "But I don't know when we're going to get married, or if we ever manage to find time to do that."
"But do you wish you were already married to him?" Of course Theta was going to be the one to ask all of those types of questions, Kari really should have seen it coming. "You must have known him for a long time.
"Yeah, I have known him for a long time, we've both known each other for what seems like forever. And the thing is, I know that one day I will be married to him, but I just have to wait for that day to come." She explained, wondering why Koschei was sitting there so quietly, with a smirk on his face. She had no idea what was going on inside that head of his, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. "But anyway, enough about that and enough about me. You two are meant to be amazing me, so get to it." She didn't want to keep talking about it, to keep talking about the Doctor to them.
"You should come see my father's estate if you want to see amazing." Koschei ended up saying, proving that he had at least partially been listening to what was going on around him. "We used to play there all the time. The red fields of Mount Perdition, you'd like it."
Kari just turned to him a smiled. "That would be nice. Next time I'm here, you can take me to, okay?" She told him, wincing a little as she rubbed her head.
Theta had noticed her rubbing her head, and he knew something wasn't right. "Kari, are you all right?" She nodded at him, humming a little response as she did. That was when he realised what was really going on. "You're going to leave again, aren't you?"
Kari nodded at him, and clutched a hold of her head tightly. "Yeah, and I got a feeling that this is going to be a much longer trip." She had to close her eyes, because her head was spinning madly and making her feel sick. "I really wish these headaches weren't part of this jumping thing." She moaned, her head now feeling like it was fire. The pain never got any easier, and it was never just a dull throbbing, a pain that was bearable.
"Are you going to be okay?" Theta asked her, one of his arms gently resting around her shoulders.
She nodded at him once more. "Yeah, course I will, I'm always okay, and I always will be. Pain won't be so bad when I finally get where I'm going." She was trying to be brave, but the pain was just getting worse. Kari wanted to scream, to cry out from the pain, but she couldn't let them both see just how bad it was for her. "It's only temporary, it will go away once I'm gone."
"And you promise you'll come back?" Koschei now asked her, having moved so that he was now sitting in front of her while Theta was beside her. "Please promise that you'll come back. You have to come and see my father's estate."
Kari knew she couldn't let him down, she couldn't let either of them down. "I promise, I will be back. I don't know when, and I'm sorry about that, but I'll be back. And hey, I know you'll see me sooner or later. Let's hope it's sooner rather than later, yeah?" She was trying her best to keep it together, but she felt like she was going to pass out from the pain.
"Stay safe, Kari." Theta whispered to her, before kissing her on the cheek lightly. The place where his lips touched felt warm to Kari, warm and reassuring.
Then another voice whispered into her other ear. "Come back soon." Koschei said, also kissing her cheek. But his kiss felt different, it made Kari feel like her skin was on fire. Maybe she was just imagining it, maybe it was because of her fear of what he would become, but it helped in triggering the Time Vortex, and she was quickly engulfed in that familiar golden glow. The two lads still sat there, and she was gone in the blink of an eye. "Do you think she will be back?"
Theta's eyes were fixed on the spot where Kari had just been. He had felt something when his lips touched her skin, something that he couldn't explain. "Yes, she will."
"Why did you invite her to dinner? I was going to invite her to dinner." There was a slightly angry look forming on Koschei's face now.
"Why did you give her that trinket?" Theta responded, with a raised eyebrow. "You like her, just as much as I do, but she already has someone else. I was only inviting her to dinner to be nice, but you, you want to be more than just her friend." He had noticed it, he had noticed it a long time ago how obsessed his friend had become with Kari, and it worried him.
A grin spread across Koschei's face at his friends comment. "Yes, and I'm going to be that someone. She knows us in the future, who is to say this man that she loves, that she travels the universe with isn't one of us? Where else is she going to get a time travel capsule?" He was so confident with himself, so sure about what he was sating. "It's going to be me." He spat at his friend, before getting up from where he was sitting.
"This isn't a game, Koschei. Kari has only ever been our friend, and that is all she will be, and you need to understand that." There was no way that Theta was going to just sit there and let his friend try to force his way into Kari's life.
"There's something there, I know it. I can feel it, every time we touch, there is something there." There was a slightly crazed look on his face now. "And if you even think of getting in the way, then you will be sorry." He spat at Theta, before storming off.
He was left standing there on his own. Watching the young man who had been his best friend for years storm away from him because of a girl. But he had to admit, Kari wasn't just any girl. He understood what Koschei meant, because he had felt something as well, but it wasn't just that, it was the way that Kari looked at him as well. However, unlike his friend, he was not going to do anything about it, he wasn't going to mess with the things that he didn't know anything about.
A/N: Well, I do hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter. You have now had a glimpse of the Doctor and the Master as children, and it is going to have a big impact on things in the future, trust me.
Now, all of you wonderful, fantastic, lovely people who take the time to leave a review, thank you all so much! I really do enjoy reading the reviews, they really make my day. I would also like to say welcome to all who have favourited/followed this story recently.
I'm currently working on trying to update ALL of my stories, and that does include my other Doctor Who fit which has been on hold since March. But I will always make sure that this story is updated on time (more or less, give or take a few hours). So if you follow any of the others, keep your eyes peeled!
Scream if you're excited for the Christmas special!
Pippa.