Rose was standing next to the river on New Earth again, only this time she knew it was in her mind. All of her memories came flooding back in a wave. How she saved the Doctor from the Daleks. That she was part TARDIS and her conversation with her TARDIS self.

"I thought I told you to pretend to trust him," Marion said.

Rose turned to look at her TARDIS self, who reminded her of a teacher admonishing a student.

"How could I trust him with you nagging me not to in the back of my mind?" Rose replied.

"You could have pretended."

"Maybe if I remembered our conversation, yeah?"

Marion sighed.

"Well, it's too late anyway and now things are going to get a whole lot worse."

Rose's stomach dropped at the look on Marion's face, which was a mixture of concern and fear.

"What do you mean?"

"You heard that bit about brainwashing, yeah?"

Rose stared at her. He couldn't really do that, could he? She had been frightened when he joked about her finding out his surprise, but he was just trying to scare her, wasn't he?

"But…you can keep him out of my head, can't you?"

"If it were only that easy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I told you I saw inside his mind when he was looking in ours. I couldn't tell you before because you weren't protected, but I've built a safe place for us to talk. A place you can come to when you're asleep."

Rose looked around.

"But it looks exactly the same as the last time we talked. What makes it safer now?"

"TARDIS' have their own protection and I've wrapped that protection around this place. No one can even find it unless we both want them to. Think of it this way. This place," she swept her arm around, "is like the Doctor's TARDIS, but instead of having one key there are two. You and me. No one can get in here unless we both want them here."

"Then I should be fine, yeah?"

"Yes and no. He won't be able to access the memories I've stored in here, but he's not planning on looking at your memories anymore. That was his initial plan. He thought he could get you to trust him and then you'd open up to him and possibly let him see your memories. He really didn't like that shock I gave him." She smiled. "Made him a bit cautious about rooting around inside your head without permission."

"That's good, yeah?"

"He won't look inside your head, but he's got others who can do things for him. That's what I saw inside his mind. That's why I wanted you to pretend to trust him."

"What others?"

"He was telling you the truth when he said he made friends during his travels in the TARDIS in this universe. Only, I'd call them allies, not friends. The Master doesn't have friends. He uses people, manipulates them for his own purposes then disposes of them when they're no longer useful."

"So…these allies of his…they can get inside my mind?"

"Not the same way the Master did. These creatures can influence you without you even knowing it happened."

How was that even possible? Creatures that could brainwash someone. A shiver went up her spine.

"Influence me how?"

"Wipe your memories. Give you commands, which you won't remember getting, but you will follow."

"You mean they can make me do whatever they want?"

That thought struck fear in her heart. The Master said she'd change her mind about him. Was he going to use the creatures to make her trust him?

"Yes and he will use them to make you trust him. At least, that's his plan."

"But I've never heard of them."

"You wouldn't have because when you see one the moment you look away you forget it was even there."

Wait. What? If she saw one she'd forget it was even there when she looked away? Then how could the Master remember them?

"But the Master remembers them?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Was it because he was a Time Lord? Maybe. If that was true then their abilities didn't work on everyone and maybe with the time energy inside of her they wouldn't be able to influence her. She wasn't sure if it was true, but she clung to it. The only hope she had in a sea of fear.

"I don't know. That wasn't surface information and, like I said, I didn't want to go digging around in his mind."

"Do you know what they look like?"

"I did, at least I'm pretty sure I did, but by the time I built this place the information I gathered about them was starting to delete. If I hadn't put what was left in here we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

And there went her only hope. Sinking like the Titanic. If the information was deleting from her TARDIS self then she didn't stand a chance.

"So, there isn't anything we can do?"

"I didn't say that. I can hide your true memories in here. The ones they delete and the ones they try to change."

"But I'll only be able to access them when I'm asleep. How is that going to help?"

"You'll have them back when we merge."

There was that merge thing again. She still wasn't sure about it, but if it was the only way to protect herself from those creatures and keep the Master from turning her into a weapon to destroy the man she loved then she'd do it. Without hesitation.

"What about the commands they give me? What if they make me trust the Master?"

"I'll save your memories of them and once we merge you'll remember them telling you, which should take away their influence."

Should? So, everything was riding on a possibility. She sighed. Well, that's all she was going to get so it would have to be good enough.

Standard Disclaimer

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