Definite consent warnings for just... this whole chapter, because the mental fuckery means that consent for everything else is out of the window. You should know the drill by now.

But on the bright side, we finally get the standing up for oneself bit!


"Koschei, let go of me!"

Aliya did her best to run, to get back to her room and think, but he was faster than her, his hand caught her wrist with a painful force and yanked her backwards.

"Let go," she screamed, pulling insistently in an attempt to free herself, "Let me go, Koschei!"

"Luna, just shut up, and listen!" he growled. He was winning in their game of tug-of-war, and they were getting closer to his room with every moment, and she didn't want him, he was horrible, and manipulative and –

Oh.

He had flung open his bedroom door before using her to close it once they were inside, pressing her against it as he forced a kiss on her, lips coaxing, and she felt some part of her relax immediately, while the other struggled against his grip.

Koschei could feel her mental divide and her physical struggle, and cursed internally. But it wasn't hard to fix, her mind was not especially strong and he was powerful in a way that no one else was. He remedied the problem by bring his hand up to her head, tangling in her hair and touching her temple as he brought their foreheads together at the same time.

She realised what he was trying to do, and she tried to pull away from him, her fists pounding against his chest, frenzied in her attempt to get away from him. Tears began to fall from her eyes with her desperate sobs and screams as she fought his grip. But he gripped her head in his hands, and brought her head back to his.

The link was made, he once again had the small amount of control that he needed, but he intensified it more, and it took only a few seconds before she was kissing him back feverishly, pulling him as close as she possibly could.

"Now, what were you saying, Luna?" he purred smugly, and she knotted her fingers through his hair as he began to pull her away from the door, hitching her legs around him as he led her towards the bed.

"It's all a blur," she said vaguely as she undid his jacket buttons, her mind suddenly calm, her thoughts solely focused on him. "Nothing important, I don't don't think…"

"No," he said smoothly, undoing her corset bindings, "It wasn't."

And that was the end of that conversation.


"We agreed that I was able to spend as much time with Theta as I wanted!" Aliya spat angrily, and he shot her a glare.

"That the first time. This is what, the seventh? Eighth? Ninth? How many times have you crawled back to me, because every time you realise that it's me that you want, not him?" he snarled, and his words made her heart deflate, causing feelings of worthlessness and weakness run through her, and the best part was that she knew that they were accurate.

It felt good, to make her feel so small. Soon he would have her so pathetic that Theta wouldn't look twice at her, and he and Theta could be the duo they had once been, unhindered by annoying girls.

"At least Theta cares about me!" she shouted, getting in his face. "He cares, whenever I actually have the brains to leave you, he's always there, and even when I'm still stupid enough to be calling myself yours, he's always there to try and convince what you really are, how sick and manipulative and perverted you've become compared to the young man I met. Maybe I'll start listening to what he says!"

Koschei's handsome face twisted, his infuriation and infatuation with her combining with his growing hatred for Theta - mixing in with the consuming, obsessive love for him that continued burn inside him, creating a powerful, chaotic rage in his heart.

"You're so weak-minded, you succumb to me every time, you'll never listen, it will never be him, it will never be you, it will always be me!" he roared as he flung her backwards with the force of his adrenaline fuelled fury.

She flew back against the wall, and he met her betrayed glance with a cold stare.

"You're mine," he said darkly, and she nodded. "Look at me," he commanded, and she turned to meet his eyes, the swirling pools of hypnotising green. They calmed her, and her troubles faded from her mind until they were gone completely.

Her hand came up to touch his cheek tenderly. "I'm yours, I promise."


"Ushas," Theta said somewhat nervously as he stood in the doorway of the student lab where she was working unceasingly.

"I'm busy, Sigma, go whine to your precious Ali and leave me to work in peace," she said boredly, holding up a vial to the light to inspect the contents.

"She – she won't talk to me. Koschei's control over her is getting ridiculously dangerous, more than it ever has been before," Theta said quietly. Ushas recorded the last lot of numbers onto the computer next to her before taking her protective eye-wear off and regarding him condescendingly.

"Your tragic little love triangle is hardly any interest or problem of mine," she commented dryly. "I have far better things to do with my time than became an advocate for you, or whatever it is that you want me to do."

"I just want you to talk to her," Theta requested, moving further into the room. "If anyone can knock some sense into her, it would be you, Ushas."

"Why should I bother? It's her own fault for being weak-minded, impressionable and susceptible to manipulation." Ushas raised an eyebrow when he frowned.

"But you admit that Koschei has some kind of power over minds, some kind of persuasion or manipulation?" Theta inquired, and she frowned.

"I admit that the evidence indicates that he may have an ability of such. It's hardly impossible, with our species being so telepathically inclined…" Ushas shrugged, going back to sorting her phials and organising them to where she needed them as he inched closer.

"But will you try and help her?" Theta pressed, "Because I can't?" She turned sharply to glare at him.

"You are making it sound as though I owe you something, which I most definitely do not, quite the opposite!" she snapped, and he recoiled slightly, stepping back.

"Hold on…is this about…us? That I decided that we... weren't suited for each other as a couple?" Theta watched her with innocent confusion, feeling a little guilty.

Ushas rolled her eyes. "Don't be so self-opinionated. We are not suited for each other as a couple, a blind person could see it, it's so blatantly obvious. We're not even suited to each other as friends!"

"No…no, I suppose we're not," he said quietly, noting that she had paused in her work and was staring into the distance thoughtfully. "Ushas?" She snapped back to look at him. "Why are you mad at me, then?"

She paused, glancing at him before redirecting her gaze to her working bench. "You made me look like a fool in front of everyone, in public," she answered slowly, not looking at him, "I am not a fool, yet you made me feel like one, made me look like one. It's not something that someone such as myself forgets easily."

"This is about your pride?" he asked sceptically, surprised.

"It is about being made to look like something that I am not!" Ushas barked as she shot a glare over her shoulder at him. "Your juvenile and immature actions were to blame."

"I'm…I'm sorry, Ushas," Theta said unsurely, wanting to reach out and touch her shoulder, but feeling too intimidated by her presence to dare do so.

"Leave me alone, Sigma," she muttered, and seeing that he was about to say something and anticipating his words, she cut him off. "I'll talk to Aliya, if you wish. It may be an inconvenience, but it will be worth it to see Koschei be beaten at his own game."

Theta felt success flood through him; she was going to do it, however grudgingly. Ushas never did anything halfway. He nodded, though she was turned away from him and he realised that she had not seen it.

"Thank you, Ushas," he said gratefully, and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't get sentimental on me, just hope that I'm able to do what you hope I will. Now leave me alone, I need to finish this, because I'm not going to her until this is complete," Ushas said sharply, and he made haste to leave.

Ushas smiled at the challenge she had been issued. Oh, what fun it would be to mess with Koschei's little game…and he had no idea that someone else was taking a turn, that it would be her making the next move…


Ushas lingered in the corridor, watching Aliya's bedroom door as Koschei slipped out silently and walked away. She strode towards the door and knocked raptly on the door three times. The door opened to reveal a surprised and confused Aliya.

"Ushas. Hello."

"May I come in?" Ushas asked, and Aliya nodded and gestured for her to do so.

"Of course," she said as she and Ushas sat down on the side of her bed. "What is it?"

"It's about Koschei," Ushas began, and Aliya frowned, shuffling back a little.

"Oh, not you too, Ushas, can't you all just accept that he makes me happy?" she said sadly, looking at the other woman with an unhappy kind of anticipation.

"Happy in your heavily delusional mind, perhaps!" Ushas snapped. "But does his need to control what you do, who you talk to, make you happy? Does not being able to talk to Theta make you happy? Does getting covered in bruises like the one on your collarbone make you happy?"

Aliya looked at the purple bruise Ushas was referring to, and pulled her dress over it, biting her lip.

"None of you understand," she said quietly. "You all think he's controlling me, but he's not, I swear, I'm not stupid, I would know if he was using my mind, please give me a little credit."

"Of course you don't know, that's the entire point!"

"He's never-"

Ushas was out of patience. "Look. I'm not him. I'm not going to invade your mind without permission. But I'm asking, right now, that you allow me entry, just for a microspan, please."

"If I do, and you see that he's not done anything like what you think, will you leave me alone and tell Theta to calm down?" Aliya asked, if only because the 'please' from Ushas of all people had thrown her quite a bit. "Koschei loves me, he would never invade my mind, just like no one with any conscience wouldn't."

"Sure. Now, I have your permission?"

"Yes."

Without any warning, Ushas drove their heads together with the force of a battering ram.

For both, the world suddenly went black.


Aliya found herself standing in a strange place, one with no ground, but something solid and white that wasn't really there. She realised that Ushas was standing next to her, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Where are we?"

"We're inside your mind," Ushas said vaguely, "how incredibly interesting."

"What are we doing here?" Aliya looked around, trying to absorb the fact that she was inside her own mind. It looked like a garden of some kind, only with different threads of light of different sizes and colours instead of plants.

"You need to see it," Ushas said simply, and pointed to the 'garden'. "Look, can you see all the brightly coloured strands? That's your mind. There's intelligence and resilience, common sense seems to be in there too…that might even be bravery wedged in there somewhere. Can you see that?"

"Yes…they have an…an aura, or something like that, you just sort of…know." Aliya agreed with a nod, and then bit her lip. "What are all the black strands? There's so many…they're horrible, they're masking so many of the others."

"You know what they are…your mind is telling you, you could sense it from the moment you looked at them, you're just stubbornly refusing to accept what those strands are and who caused them to be there," Ushas said knowingly, and one glance at the blonde woman told her that she was, of course, right.

Aliya didn't say anything for several moments, she merely stared at the black strands. There were a lot of the brighter strands, but the black ones had snaked in, twisted around almost everything, and she could see some strands being choked by them, others becoming poisoned by the darkness, their light beginning to fade. Eventually, she spoke the word that she had been refusing to think.

"Koschei." The whisper was almost lost in the distance between the two females, but Ushas nodded.

"And that's why it's wrong. He's poisoning your mind, something that he has no right to do. Now come, it's time to fix it," Ushas said, and Aliya frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Ushas bent by the strands, touching one of the brighter ones, and Aliya jumped, feeling the contact inside her own head. Now there was a recursive spatial paradox if there ever was one.

"If we break the black ones, you'll remember all the things he made you forget, all the times he forced you to see things his way, and your mind will be fresh from his influence." Ushas explained, and Aliya's eyes widened. But after a few seconds, she nodded.

"I love him, though, Ushas, what will I do?"

"Perhaps you do love him." Ushas shrugged. "Perhaps you only think you do…we'll see." Ushas wrapped her hands around one of the black threads, and let out a grunt.

"What's wrong?"

"It's not exactly pleasant, it's dark and powerful," Ushas said, "and you have to do this too, not just me." Aliya was unsure but added her hands to the strand, and when Ushas snapped it, she jumped and clutched her head as the strand turned to dust that began to show a picture, a memory.

A time he had calmed her down after an argument, making her agree with him.

The picture vanished. And suddenly, even if she felt a bit sick, Aliya was determined to continue. Ushas smiled in triumph.

They did the same for all the other black strands, and the memories came flooding in. Aliya sank to her knees with a sob, overwhelmed as she remembered every time she had tried to leave him only for him to force her to stay, every time he had wanted her and she had fought only to make her give in. Every time he had made her want him so much that she had begged him to touch her and he had smirked with satisfaction.

It was too much. Too humiliating. And Ushas could see.

But with each black thread that they snapped, Aliya could feel a weight lifting off her head. Eventually, they were all gone, and everything was still but for the sound of Aliya's sobs.

"I know it's a lot, but we have to put up some kind of barrier to prevent him getting in again," Ushas said. "Give me your hand." Aliya looked up, did her best to steel herself, and let herself be pulled to her feet.

By focusing their minds, they were able to create a thin, translucent gold coating around all the shining strands of Aliya's consciousness.

"That should keep him at bay, for a while," Ushas said when they were done, looking fairly satisfied and nodding. "Enough for him to think that it's permanent, anyway."

Aliya looked at Ushas, lost for words. "I - thank you."

Ushas said nothing, and before Aliya could say anything more, the world again faded to black.


Aliya opened her eyes to find herself staring into Ushas's brown eyes. They both slowly lowered their hands, and Ushas gave her a funny little almost-smile, and Aliya started to return it only to be once again bombarded by all the memories.

She started shaking, tears falling silently down her cheeks. It was unbearable, knowing what had happened to her, being forced to realised just how weak and pathetic she had been, how far removed from reality he had taken her.

"So…he won't be able to...control me?" she managed to ask, finally.

"Not easily…and I think now you've got enough resilience to fight him a little. And if you need to break his concentration, just knee him between the legs, that usually does it," Ushas said, as she got up and smoothed her hands on her robes. "I'd go and see Theta, if I were you, he'll probably want to see you."

"After everything I've done to Theta, he has the right to never want to talk to me again…" Aliya said worriedly, and Ushas smirked as she shook her head knowingly, one foot out of the door.

"He'll forgive you in ten seconds, he could never be mad at you," she said with a roll of her eyes. "If you tell him that you're finally letting Koschei go, it will be like a birthday present for him."

"But why? I don't deserve his forgiveness that easily…" Aliya bit her lip, and Ushas chuckled.

"You really are oblivious, aren't you?" she said, amused as Aliya shot her a blank, confused look. "He's in love with you."

"What?"

But Ushas was already gone.

Theta? In love with her? That was ridiculous. Could she be in love with him? No, she only knew how it felt to love Koschei, Koschei who she now knew had hurt her and used her over and over again.

Aliya lay down on her bed, and let herself cry for the humiliation and abuse she had unknowingly endured, all because she had been to weak to defend herself against the mental invasions.

She wasn't sure she would ever feel like herself again. She wasn't sure there was a part of herself left that he hadn't ruined.


Aliya found Theta in the Earth info-archive, staring at the three-dimensional hologram of the planet. He looked around, and when he saw her, turned back to the hologram.

"Theta?"

"Shouldn't you be with your precious Koschei?" he said bitterly, looking at the information displayed on the edges of the picture.

"Ushas talked to me," Aliya told him unsurely, and he turned to look at her, suddenly more accepting and with a hint of hope in his eyes.

"And?" He asked, waiting.

"We did a sort of…mental collaboration…we think that we broke his power over me," she explained, and his face split into a huge grin, and he bounded towards her and gave her a hug so enthusiastic that she was lifted off the ground as he held her close, his relieved laugh echoing in her ear. His happiness was infectious, her own mouth opened in a large smile as he partially spun her around.

"So you're not going to go back to him?"

"I won't, I'd rather die," she said, adamant, doing all she could to not lose her composure at the thought of Koschei coming anywhere near her, of him getting a chance to do anything like that ever again.

She failed. The tears came, hot and fast, tears of shame that had Theta hugging her to him tightly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he whispered. "We won't let him near you. We won't let anything happen again."

They stayed like that for a long time, and she finally started to feel like things might be okay, that she might be safe. Theta made her feel safe, his arms around her and his voice in her ear, murmuring soft reassurances.

"Well, isn't this sweet." They both turned to see Koschei standing in the doorway with a sour expression. "Now, Luna, I believe you forgotten one of the most important rules."

"Enough of your rules, Koschei," she snapped with strength that surprised everyone in the room. She let her hand find Theta's, and she gripped it hard, and he squeezed it back, keeping his body partly in front of hers.

"That's what you always say," he said with a smirk as he took a step towards her, "it never makes any difference in the end."

"This time is different."

"This time is different," he mocked, "check. Been there too. I've heard it all before, Luna, you never mean it."

"You're sick," Theta said with revulsion. "I can't believe I never saw this side of you."

"Oh, as if it matters," Koschei said to him, "she's nothing! She's a toy I took away from you because I didn't want you to find her more interesting than me! It doesn't matter what I do to her!"

"She's my friend," Theta replied, horrified. "Like I thought you were. Now I have to wonder how you ever were. How you ever had me fooled."

"Oh, no, this is a newer development, but the seeds have always been there," Koschei said, shrugging. "The drums spur me on, every time, they keep me going, remind me that I have to keep fighting, keep taking what's mine-"

His eyes moved between them. Aliya felt Theta shudder, as both of them realised just how he had perhaps viewed both of them this whole time.

"Nothing is yours," Theta said. "No person is ever anyone's but their own."

"She's mine," Koschei insisted. "Luna, come here."

Aliya thought about what Ushas had said, how he had to believe that he had lost, how he needed proof. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she knew she had to do what she was about to do, if he were to ever leave her alone.

Aliya moved around Theta and began to head towards Koschei.

"You can't touch me anymore," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.

"We'll see about that," he snapped, and grabbed her wrist to pull her towards him. She flinched, but allowed it, and when his hands went to her head, she felt him try to penetrate her mind, only to find himself blocked.

He recoiled.

"What have you done?" He demanded.

Aliya yanked her wrist out of his grasp and stepped backwards until she was back at Theta's side. "Thanks to a little help from Ushas, you can't touch me. I am not yours, and I never will be, ever," she told Koschei, meeting his eyes and lifting her chin. "And if you ever come near me again, I'll have Ushas poison your food the next time I get a hold of myself."

"Leave," Theta said, voice cold. "Consider our friendship over, Koschei. I know why you did it, but what you did, I can never forgive. And as much as we both might regret it, it's your own fault."

Aliya didn't quite understand, not for the first time feeling like she had missed something obvious, but it was far from her greatest concern.

"Fine," Koschei snarled. "I have better things to do than bothering with the two of you, anyway." He stormed from the room, leaving Aliya and Theta stunned, staring at the door, still trying to comprehend it.

"It worked…I'm free. I'm not…his," she whispered. A odd, giddy laugh escaped her, and Theta was quick to hug her again and whoop for joy.


"Ushas!"

A bellowing voice rang out in the distance of the corridor, and Ushas rolled her eyes, knowing who it would be. She had been expecting the visit, and was not scared, but merely irritated that her work was being interrupted because of this fucking love triangle. Who the hell went about trying to earn their best friend's affections by seducing said friend's crush to prevent any liaisons between them, anyway? When was that ever going to work?

As Koschei entered, before he could say anything, she began with, "So, I take it that my meddling was successful?"

"You had no right to interfere!" he shouted, livid.

"And you did?" she snapped, turning to glare at him pointedly. He advanced on her like a predator.

"She was mine, and you've as good as taken her from me," He seethed, backing her up against a workbench.

"She was yours only through manipulation and deceit, an ownership that she broke of her own free will, with help from myself," she told him, not liking how close his face was to hers. "She wasn't even the one you wanted, anyway."

"Yes, but now he hates me!"

"And whose fault is that?" she sneered. "Go back to your room, Koschei, and sulk far away from me."

"One day, one day, I'll make them both so miserable they wish they were dead," he told her, determined, "I'll destroy everything they love and break them down to nothing-"

"Can you plan all this back in your room? Far away from me?"

He scowled at her, only to a moment later regard her with a strange new expression, one that she recognised a second too late. He crushed his lips to hers, and she found herself momentarily enjoying it, before coming to her senses and punching him squarely in the jaw.

Koschei scowled as he backed away, hand on his face where she had hit him. "You taste foul anyway. There's a bitter, sour aftertaste, I'm not even surprised, I was just curious."

"Get out of here you immature fool," she said irritably, dragging her hand across her mouth with revulsion, trying to get the taste of him off her lips. He was a manipulative, psychotic idiot, and she was not going to let herself think about those few seconds were kissing him had been incredibly pleasant.

Definitely not.


"I wanted him and loved him long before he touched my mind, you know."

Theta and Aliya were leaving the Earth info-room, and although it was horrible for Aliya to vocalise, to say anything about something so private, it felt important, it felt like something Theta needed to know.

He visibly flinched, but didn't look at her with any kind of accusation.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?"

He opened his mouth, like he wanted to tell her something desperately, only to shut it again. "I just... trust me, when it comes to him, I understand. You don't have to try and explain. Take as long as you need, Ali. You're allowed to be conflicted in how you feel. Just... tell me that you're okay."

"He-" Aliya swallowed her words. "Rassilon, Theta, he did so many awful things to me," she whispered, arms around herself, trying not to cry again. "I didn't even remember, because he made me forget, but now I can remember them all. It's so humiliating."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Theta told her gently, squeezing her hand again.

"I was so weak-"

"No, you weren't, he's just very strong, there's a difference," he said, "and anyway, being weak isn't an invitation. He still did that. Not you. Him. This isn't your fault, none of this is your fault. Don't ever, ever think that, okay?"

He was holding her by her shoulders, staring her in the eye, imploring her, and she felt even more tears run down her cheeks as she thought about how lucky she was to have a friend like him.

"Okay," she breathed. "Thank you."

"I don't feel like I'm ever going to be clean again," she murmured, "no matter how many times I wash, it hasn't helped yet, I don't think it will, I just-"

"I know I can't imagine how it feels," he said, pulling her into another tight hug, "but you're going to be okay. It might take weeks, it might take years or decades or centuries, but I promise you that you're going to be okay. You've survived this long. You're so strong, Ali, you just don't know it yet. And I'm here. I'll be here with you the whole way. And I promise that one day you'll feel clean, I promise."

Aliya held him tight and cried.


Koschei didn't make any more moves, which they were both grateful for. Six months passed, and still nothing.

Aliya sat on the red grass, her heart beating just a little faster knowing that she was technically breaking the Academy rules by leaving the Citadel. But Theta had insisted that there would be a meteor shower that night, and had wanted to show her what it could be like first hand. The only problem was that he wasn't here yet.

She watched the twins suns finishing their journey across the sky, almost gone behind the horizon. She sighed happily and lent her head on her knees, which were pulled to her chest as she sat underneath the shady tree with its drooping silver branches.

Rustling behind her alerted her to Theta's presence, and she turned to grin at her friend as he pushed the branches out of the way and came to sit down next to her.

"Hey." She grinned, and he mirrored her smile with his own.

"Hey. Look who's turned into a real rebel, then," he teased, and she hit him lightly on the arm.

"Watching a meteor shower isn't extremely rebellious," she defended despite not being bothered by his teasing. "And who turned me into a rule-breaker, who was it?" Her light sarcasm caused him to pretend to think carefully, rubbing his chin with mock thoughtfulness.

"I don't know, but it must have been someone very kind, impossibly funny and devastatingly good-looking," he said seriously, still rubbing his chin.

"No, he was just very immature," she said simply, and he pretended to look offended. "Cute, though." He grinned.

"Ah, you can't get enough of me, really," he said with waggling eyebrows as he put an arm around her shoulders. She smiled and leaned into his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a few moments, and Aliya found herself all too aware of how things had been changing for her over these past months. The attraction that had always been specific to Koschei had shifted. Or rather, much to her initial alarm, attraction to Theta Sigma had bloomed powerfully in her chest, to the point where now it ached to look at him.

He was so beautiful. She felt like somehow she had always known, but it was like she had never truly seen it before. He was so, wonderfully, painfully beautiful. She could stare at him for hours.

She had romantic feelings for Theta Sigma. And it was time to find out if he returned those feelings.

"Theta?"

"Yeah?"

"Ushas told me something, a while ago, just after she helped me with Koschei. She told me…that you're in love with me," she whispered, heart pounding with fear and anticipation. His body stiffened and he looked at her with an unusual expression.

"Did she?" he asked, his voice strangely forced.

Aliya nodded slowly. "I was just…wondering…if it was true."

His eyes met hers, captivating her. "And if it were?" His voice was questioning, but then he quickly added, "Hypothetically?"

She swallowed in a very deliberate manner before taking a deep breath and saying the words in her mouth before she lost the courage to say them. Come on, Aliya, take a risk for once!

"Then…hypothetically…I would tell you that I think I feel the same way," she replied shakily, and some kind of triumph passed through his beautiful green eyes. She raised her hand to touch his cheek, and he covered her hand with his, trapping it there and closing his eyes briefly at her touch.

He eventually pulled her hand down, just holding it while staring into the blue and green eyes that had trapped him from almost the moment when they had first lit up for him.

Slowly, aware of her hitched breath and her tightened grip on his hand as she realised what he was about to do, Theta leaned in, slowly, hesitantly, closing the already small gap between them. His soft lips brushed hers, and she brought her free hand up to lightly touch his face, leaning into the kiss, feeling how unsure he was and trying to show him that he didn't have to be.

He pulled away after what seemed like forever – and she wished that it had been – and she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"Hypothetically, huh?" he whispered, and Aliya let out a shaky laugh, and soon they were both laughing at their own shyness. He gave her another brief kiss for fun, then forced her to sit back and watch the meteors fall, which, admittedly, she did love.

He didn't let go of her hand.