A mean cliffhanger in the last chapter (don't I know that ;) ; hence there's the requested update

My feet rested on his shoulders.

Koschei grew closer with every movement, with every motion, with every move.

In and out.

Always in and out.

His eyes were closed and he breathed irregularly.

I could feel his hearts racing. Their rhythms had changed – they picked up the pace.

I felt every beat of his hearts.

Inside of me.

Somewhere inside of me...

And all I did was lying there and watching him with widened and unbelieving eyes.

I couldn't do anything.

I couldn't feel anything.

I watched.

I just watched.

How he moved in and out of my body restlessly.

How he breathed down my neck and increased his speed.

How his muscles twitched uncontrollably.

How he moaned and pressed his chest against mine.

How he stopped all of a sudden;

staring down at me; doing nothing apart from panting.

In and out.

Breathing in and out.

In and out...

The numb feeling in my body seemed to fade. My hands were cold.

My skin was covered in cold sweat.

But not only mine.

I lifted my arms and placed my hands on Koschei's shoulders; I tried to push him off me.

Whysoever.

I didn't know anything anymore; and yet Koschei conceded.

Silently he lowered my legs onto the bed and crawled back beside me.

He snuggled up close to me.

And I just lay there.

Stiff. Shocked. Immobile.

Koschei didn't say a word. I assumed he was fast asleep.

He was tired. He was exhausted...

Koschei had embraced me. Before he had gone to sleep he had wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

His head rested on my chest.

There he lay. Peaceful. Calm. Quiet. As if he couldn't harm anyone.

And that was probably what he thought about right now; if he could think of something while he was asleep.

No harm done.

No harm at all.

I closed my eyes. I couldn't think of sleeping.

I simply had to.

I couldn't think of anything.

My body hurt all over from lying there, stiff and strained and stressed.

My eyes shut.

In and out.
I could still feel it.

The same movement repeating over and over again.

In and out...

No.

I breathed in deeply and tried to concentrate.

Breathe in and out.

Breathe in and out...

I awoke due to the pain in my back.

I had slept with my legs untied.

I couldn't sleep with untied legs.

I blinked and tried to sit up.

I couldn't move.

Koschei was still lying beside me. He was still embracing me. His grip was cold and firm.

He wouldn't allow me to move. He wouldn't let go off me. Not even in his sleep.

I shifted unnerved. I had to tie my legs together! I couldn't sleep, I couldn't rest, I...

I ached all over.

I took a deep breath.

I had to move. I had to tie my ankles together. I couldn't...

My eyes widened.

The voice.

It was gone.

The voice in my head was gone. The words were gone.

It was just gone.

They weren't there.

They weren't there, not anymore.

No words sloshing around in my mind.

Nothing.

I held my breath and looked around panic-stricken.

Koschei opened his eyes beside me. He was wide awake.

Just like me.

But he wouldn't be the first one to talk.

And neither would I be.

I sighed and tried to turn around; I tried to turn away from him.
I had leg cramps and my back was killing me.

Koschei wouldn't move. I shifted uneasy in his arms.

"Just let me sleep, will you?" I mumbled hoarsely. Koschei released his grip. I rolled to my stomach and placed my arms above my head. If Koschei would dare to touch me I would push his hands aside.

And he remained stubborn. And he tried to wrap his arms around me again and again until he grasped my hands, hold them tight and pressed my face into my pillow until I would stop offering resistance and struggling against him...

The Doctor had a rude awakening. He had sat up in his bed in his sleep.

His knees hurt under tension. He looked around irritated. He was alone.

There was no one.

Who had been in his Tardis in the first place?

Hadn't there been someone who kept bugging him? Who had kept waking him up?

"Doctor?"

The distant voice grew closer and thereby louder.

The Doctor fell back into his bed and pretended to be asleep.

But the voice came nearer nonetheless.

"Doctor? Are you awake?"

"Wake up."

A clenched fist hit me on the upper arm. I groaned and tried to slump back under the cover of my blanket.

I got punched once or twice again before the covers from above my head were pulled away.

The first thing I was forced to see after a poor night's rest was Koschei's big grin.

"You're late."

"I don't care" I replied hoarsely and stayed still. Koschei dragged me out of the bed and let me drop to the floor. I'd huddle up but wouldn't get to my feet; I wasn't going to comply.

Koschei looked down on me as I buried my face in my arms and sighed.

"I don't want you to be late" explained Koschei and squatted down beside me.

"I don't care about what you want or not" I replied in a muffled voice; I hadn't raised my head and mumbled into my forearms.

"I didn't quite get that" Koschei went on.

I let out a long drawn-out sigh and sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"In case you haven't noticed" I pointed out angrily "I'm tired and I want to go back to sleep. And I am going back to sleep whether you like it or not. I just don't care! Do you hear me Koschei? I don't care! And I don't care if anyone comes into my room and drags me out by my hair or if Ms. Reprics comes in here and beats me up with her walking stick. Each to its own; and I'm going back to bed."

Koschei watched me with interest how I crawled back into my bed, swearing and groaning.

He just stood there and watched.

Before I could get comfortable he'd say: "But she doesn't deserve it."

Then he'd seize me and force me into my clothes, grab my handbooks and training material and took me by the hand. He guided my steps carefully and I left, unwillingly but accompanied by him the room.

"She just doesn't deserve it" repeated Koschei.

I rubbed my eyes again and snatched my documents out of his hands. "Who and what?"

"Ms. Reprics. Or anybody else. Like you said it. She just doesn't deserve it."

"I thought you meant that I didn't deserve getting beaten up" I countered and yawned.

"Close your mouth or cover it while you're yawning" mumbled Koschei absent-mindedly.

He was thinking.

Slowly I trotted beside him.

Koschei stopped in front of a door. Not that he intended to go through it. He just stopped. A thought must have struck him. Or set fire to his mind.

I didn't know. Thoughts didn't seem to strike him but to destroy him as well.

"What did she achieve to deserve to penalize you?" he asked all of a sudden "Why should she be allowed to punish you?"

"She's in charge of us" I replied and yawned again "And Koschei, I thought we were going to be late."

"Ms. Reprics is never in charge" replied Koschei and rushed down the corridor, pulling me along.

That was what I was to him.

A toy.

A pull and push-along toy, but being specially privileged to be able to speak.

And Koschei thought that I wasn't given the privilege only to contradict him.

"She doesn't deserve it" he concluded.

"She simply doesn't deserve it."

I never knew how his mind worked. And I wouldn't have wanted to find out.

Koschei had given me a headache.

Apart from the rude awakening and the talking nonsense in the morning.

I recollected that he had tried to choke me in the night. He had pressed my head against my cushion in order to suffocate me with it.

The night...

I breathed in deeply whenever I tried to think about it.

Or not to think about it.

I was confused.

I simply didn't know what happened.

And I didn't want to remember.

Koschei was mad. He'd always been mad.
And I felt like I was going mad, too.

The memories of the past night came back one by one; each of them bit by bit.

But I didn't understand it.

What had he done to me?

I just didn't understand it...