Imprisoned
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Zeta looked at the plain white walls in disgust. She had painted them only days ago and already it had been taken down. The only room where they didn't take her paintings down was her bedroom. That didn't stop her from trying to ruin this place. She had been held captive here as a child, and now as an adult. Only now there was no escape.
It had been years since she had looked into the Schism. Years since she had last seen her friends. It had been exactly 134 years, three months, twelve days, seven hours, twenty minutes, and 4 seconds since she had last seen her dear Theta (or Theta Sigma as they were calling him at the Academy). And all that time she had been stuck here alone.
When she was younger more people would come in and visit her more often. Her carers, the Matron, her tutors and professors, even the Lord President. She was given a proper Academy education, only she wasn't placed in a Chapter. But now only a few visitors would come. She was mostly taught by just the Matron and Lord President. And she despised them both.
She had thought that insanity had been looking into the Vortex. That was nothing; that was a beautiful song and a lack of memory. These white walls - this prison… That was insanity.
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They say that when she had looked into the Schism, something happened that had never happened before. Energy from the Time Vortex had flown out and taken a hold of her. It had infused herself with its very essence. And she had become a Goddess.
The Vortex was still within her, but it didn't show very often. It only arose in her times of great need. These moments she could never remember. It was like they had been burned from her brain, forbidden. But she would always feel it. There in the back of her mind. The presence of it burnt like the suns. In more ways than one. In one way it was a bright shining reminder of hope as the beautiful Song of Time would dance through her head. But others, it was the raging inferno that set her head a fire and caused her to writhe on the ground, screaming in agony.
Once every year Lord President Drall, the Matron and a few of Gallifrey's highest ranking scientists would come and perform tests on her. They would provoke the Goddess out and see what she could do. They had learnt long ago how to counteract her powers of a Goddess so she was trapped in here. But that didn't stop her from trying to escape.
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Flopping down on her bed she looked around her walls. She had entirely covered everything with paintings, even the roof. They had to give her something to do to stave off true insanity. And so she painted.
So here were her memories, splashed across the walls. The fields of Mount Cadon, the tree that she and Theta would climb. The small brook that ran through the forest where she and Theta would dip their feet and eat the wild berries. She had paintings of herself and Theta and Koschei. One or two of Ushas, their other friend. Paintings of just Theta. Even just one of his bright, mischievous blue eyes… She missed him.
She and Theta had always been closer than she and Koschei. She may go so far as to say he was her crush. Why not, they already thought she was nuts. Already, they believed her to be a dreamer unlike any other Time Lord. She loved him. He was one of the few good things she ever remembered in life. And he had loved how optimistic she was, despite how harsh her childhood had been. It was this that kept her fighting. She had to keep fighting and being the happy optimistic person that Theta had loved.
And that was it. She knew she had to get out of here once and for all. She had to get back to her Theta.
And so began her mission to escape. It was nigh impossible and she was caught every time. And one time she got so far that she had made it outside. They had guards stationed there. They tried to get her back but she just kept running. And they shot her. It was only meant to stop her from escaping. But the man, who had shot her, missed his target. And she was shot in the back, right in between her hearts.
That was the first time she ever regenerated.
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Over the next hundred years she tried all kinds of means of escape. None had succeeded so far. If only she was able to call forth the Goddess at will! Because she was going to get out of here one way or another. Even if it took all her regenerations. And if she died it would be on her terms. She wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of keeping her to rot as their lab rat. Being held safely until they needed her.
And they wouldneed her. She had seen it in her dreams. The timelines all lead to it, there was no other course. A fixed point in time. There would come a time in the future when the galaxies would be ravaged with war as the mighty races fought against the Daleks. Gallifrey would burn and become a wasteland. At the end, there were only two paths.
One, a man named the Doctor, so strangely familiar, would end it. But at such a cost. Gallifrey and the Time Lords and the Daleks alike would all be gone. All of it destroyed by his choice. It would end the suffering of billions… but increase the suffering of one, by all that he had saved. It would cost him his spirit and his will and happiness. It would cause a grief so strong no one would be able to save him.
Except one. There, just when he would be about to give up hope, would come a shining star. The light for his darkness. Chasing away the pain and making his life bearable. The small human girl who would save the life of the Last of the Time Lords.
The other choice was just as pleasant, if not even less. She would be brought into the middle of the battlefield. And there she would open up to the Time Vortex, become the Goddess. Time would reverse. Gallifrey and many other fallen civilisations would be restored. The Daleks and any other enemies would ceases to exist. But in the end it would all be for nothing. The Time Lords, corrupt, seeing themselves as Gods to all would use her against the universe, and many other places would fall. In the end, even Gallifrey would come to ruin. She would be the destroyer of reality.
And she couldn't allow that.
?...DW…?
The door slid open and Zeta made the first attack. But they had come to expect this and they had her pinned on the ground before the Lord President had even stepped into the room. They stood her up and faced her to him, a guard holding each arm.
"Really, Zeta. We do not have time for this now," he told her sternly.
"What, getting out of here? That's all I have time for."
"Where are your manners child? Is that any way to treat your father's hospitality?"
"You are not my father," she spat at him. He sighed in annoyance.
"As I have said, we don't have time for this. Zeta, we need-"
"No!" she cried fiercely. "I will have nothing to do with your Great Time War!"
"Hmm, Great Time War?" he mused. With horror she realised that he mustn't know about that yet. "We must get the Patrex Chapter to look into that," he said to someone at his side. "But that isn't what I was going to say. Zeta, you have been discovered. If these people got their hands on you things could be very bad. We have to keep you safe and protect you."
"If safety is like this I would rather throw myself right into their arms!"
"You would be better off dead than in their arms."
"Then I take death!" she shouted.
Lord President Drall's face softened. He reached up and grabbed her face gently, but firmly. She tried to flinch away from him, but was unable to move from his grasp. "We cannot afford to take either risk," he said softly.
She felt a jolt run through her body and she realised with horror that his hands were on her temples. Forcefully he broke down the barriers of her mind and triggered something within. She felt a familiar burning sensation and she could feel her ninth body beginning to die. The burning had increased and she could feel Drall trying to shape her.
She was regenerating. He had forced her to regenerate! And he was shaping her into… what?
…'Aninfant'…
An infant? He wanted her to be a baby again! Rassilon, no! She couldn't do that. She'd have to wait for all of her abilities to come back again. It would be a full year before she would be able to walk or talk again. She would still have the mind of a 242 year old, but the body of an infant.
Even worse, she'd have to go through puberty a second time! Just what she needed!
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But she barely had time to worry about that as her body regressed into that of a baby's. She shrunk, getting smaller and smaller. The people around her stretching upwards. The two guards who had been holding her steady were reduced to one as she became small enough to hold in their arms. The two guards and Drall held on till she was done, withstanding the burn of her regeneration energy.
When it was over, she was a tiny bundle, her old - now far too big - clothes wrapped around her like a blanket. She didn't even have enough strength in her muscles to keep her own head up, let alone try and sit. Lord President Drall took her in his arms and carried her outside.
"We need to hide you," he told her. "This was the safest way we could think of."
He walked inside a TARDIS and the guards pulled some sort of helmet down from the ceiling. She started to shake when Drall took a fob watch from his robe's pocket. He clicked the watch into the helmet and adjusted it onto her tiny head. She began to cry out in fear. She wanted to scream at them not to do this, that it was inhumane! But all that came from her was a shrill frantic cry. It was the kind of cry that would make a parent genuinely worried and come running.
Then they flicked the switch… and all she felt was pain.
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Yeah, so Zeta had a pretty horrible life.
I read somewhere that Drall was the Lord President when the Doctor was at the Time Lord Academy. And they stay there for a few hundred years. If you don't understand anything here, I suggest looking it up in the Wiki TARDIS files. Great website.
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Anyway, please review. I do so love reviews!