BOOK 2

Shadow of the Shaydes

Plot:

Searching for the Doctor Raven is soon roped into one of his many mundane adventures. But Raven is about to find out she is not nearly as invulnerable as she likes to think, and that the Doctor is not totally tolerant of her behaviour and attitude.

Raven is about to find out that this funny, flippant man can be more scary than any monster.

Chapter 7

Out of your Comfort Zone

Raven had started leaving her room more often and began exploring the TARDIS finding swimming pools, a cricket field, a very large chamber with a stone eye set into a platform, this room had bats in it. A home movie theatre, a squash court, a laboratory, a workshop, a boot cupboard that was more the size of a living room. A second console room, it was a smaller, white one with roundels around the walls, and a broader console with a shorter Time Rotor It was so white, Raven hated it. There was also a dark room with a tree like object made of tangled wires which had some kind of glowing, blue globes dangling from its branches like apples. She also found a large garage but all that was in it was a disassembled, purple, bubble like jalopy car. The last thing she'd found was what looked like a Zeppelin hanger, but it had no Zeppelin in it, just an umbrella stand with a single umbrella.

Despite all the weird and odd rooms contained within this small Police Box Raven had found herself being gravitated more towards the console room. She spent more time here, mostly because this is where the library was, and she was getting tired of having to walk the two or three miles just to get back to her room every time she wanted to change books. She tried to teleport, but she guessed the warped dimensions of the TARDIS made that impossible. Though oddly, Raven wasn't sure, but she could swear that recently her room had been getting closer and closer to the console room, somehow without compromising the distance to everything else.

Being in the console room unfortunately meant she had to 'hang' with the Doctor without actually trying to hang him. She was training herself to get used to the Doctor and his antics, and his irritating optimism about everything. He seemed to want to do nothing but talk if not to her, then to the console or even himself as if he had some captive audience listening to him. Thankfully he was so soft spoken she had no problems drowning it out and focusing on her books.

The moody teen picked up a book by H.P. Lovecraft, and the Doctor started yapping on about the demon in it and how he defeated it. Raven rolled her eyes, the Doctor was talking rubbish, the demon was just a fiction... Wasn't it?

When the Doctor wasn't talking he was humming slow, gentle tunes, which Raven didn't mind. In fact, she preferred him to hum than talk. There was something rhythmic and soothing about it to her mind. It wasn't award winning music, but it helped her concentrate on her books, more so than dead silence did. Raven was getting the sense the only reason he hummed these gentle tunes so much is because Raven would not let him put his record player on. Every time the needle made contact with the record the arm would lift back up seemingly on its own, and Raven made it obvious that it was her doing it because it was shrouded in darkness, it's white outline showing through the blackness. The only time Raven became irritated with the Doctor's humming was when he tried to hum something fast paced and noisy. Raven wanted to express her displeasure, but refrained from grabbing the Doctor by the neck with her powers. Instead she found in a nearby chest of draws wads of cotton that she rammed into her ears to muffle the noise. Wads of cotton Raven was going to keep on her person for similar situations.

Raven relaxed in the Doctors reading chair, the tea pot on the table near her also provided her with an endless supply of teas of her choosing. From ordinary Earl Gray to, herbal teas. Whatever she wanted the pot provided, and it never ran out.

For once, the Doctor had become silent. He was still here, but he was concentrating so much on what he was doing he'd fallen silent. Raven didn't like this, the silence didn't feel natural. So as she read she started humming herself, but the tune she hummed wasn't one the Doctor usually hummed. It was that Zagreus tune again.

Zagreus sits inside your head,

Zagreus lives among the dead.

Zagreus sees you in your bed,

and eats you when you're sleeping.

Raven had finally decided to find out what that meant, and the only person she could ask was the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise when she told him to shut up about the germination habits of black roses and asked about Zagreus. "Oh, that's just an old Gallifreyan Nursery Rhyme." the Doctor said.

"A nursery Rhyme?" Raven echoed slowly as if she'd misheard. She was standing on the console platform on the opposite side of the console to the Doctor, fully hooded and cloaked. "'Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the Dead'" she recited "'Zagreus sees you in your bed, and eats you when you're sleeping'? That is a nursery rhyme you tell kids?"

"Yes." the Doctor said simply "we all learn it like Bah, Bah Black-sheep. Though I prefer the one about the Pan-Dimensional Liquid beast from the Mogadon cluster."

Raven raised an eyebrow "Your people are so weird." she said flatly "What does it mean?"

"Well, the liquid beast came into our galaxy from deep space to..."

"Not the liquid beast." Raven bluntly cut across him "Zagreus!"

"Oh" the Doctor sighed and scratched at one of his sideburns "Well, it's over ten million years old from the dawn of Time Lord society so its original meaning is lost, but there are theories depending on which civilisation you go to." he said "But the interpretation I was taught at the Time Lord academy was that Zagreus is like the Mischief Maker, a puppet master. Someone who lies in the shadows of your mind playing with you, trying to figure out what strings he has to pull to get you to do his bidding. 'Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead' because he is inside your head and he's not alive 'Zagreus sees you in your bed, and eats you when you're sleeping' tells about how he eats away at your mind slowly driving you insane, or gently pushing you to do actions in an act of passion you'd later regret. The only way to defeat him was to learn how to tune him out of your mind. Essentially, he'd be the ultimate internet troll."

This made sense to Raven, and the more she thought about the other three verses the more it seemed to make sense. Some of the verses were a stretch though to connect them to lack of self control, but she didn't dwell on them.

"Of course, the alternative explanation is that Zagreus did exist and is another embodiment of 'the World Ender' trope. He is supposed to bring about the end of Time by unravelling it at the seams." The Doctor skipped on before Raven could dwell on that. "I'm surprised you remembered it, you were only a toddler when I sang it to you."

"You sang that to me?" Raven asked quizzically.

"Yes" the Doctor said "Back when I was all teeth and curls. I thought it might help. Since you might have trouble maintaining control." Raven didn't respond to that, it didn't need responding to, he was right. "Try reciting it the next time you feel you're about to lose control. It might calm you to think your mood is being manipulated by that bogeyman."

"But it's not real" Raven insisted "is it?"

"Most Time Lords know its not real but it helps focus the mind and shunt it away from emotional responses. It's like how you say your Azarath chimes to focus your mind and powers. Zagreus focuses your mind in another way, away from emotional responses. Plus you've got to admit it's a lot more catchy than, 'Azarath, metrion, zinthos'." The Doctor said her chimes mimicking her raspy voice. She ignored the mockery.

"Why do Time Lords need to control their emotions?" Raven asked, did they have some power too? She thought.

"Everyone needs to learn to control their emotions at some point." the Doctor said "They have their uses. But sometimes the worst crimes are committed in the name of emotional passions. Whether for a religion, a commitment, a belief, a delusion, and we can't all make things better after mistakes are made."

There were weight to his words as if he'd learnt that lesson from making a big mistake, and she momentarily felt sorry for him, though the source of his regret was a mystery to her. She decided not to pry further, she wouldn't like it if someone did it to her. Anyway, what was she even thinking? I don't really care about him, she told herself. She felt a muscle in her stomach twitch as she told herself that. It's not as if she cared about his affections. She didn't care about anyone's affections, they were pointless and useless to her, and no one should care about her. But some part in the back of her mind whispered to her, that isn't true. She told that part of her mind to shut up.

Raven had been digesting a trilogy of books by some authors who were not from Earth. Weirdly she could understand them. The Doctor had explained that the TARDIS translated alien languages so anyone could understand them. Thankfully not all alien civilisations had grammar as complicated as the Time Lords'.

The Doctor always seemed to spend a lot of time in the console room, and if he wasn't at the console he was outside adventuring. He never seemed to sleep either because Raven could be reading into the small hours of the night and the Doctor would still be at it. Working on the console, fixing it, talking. She guessed he was an alien so she didn't dwell on it.

One time she'd woken up, having fallen asleep in the Doctors chair and found the Doctors coat draped over her to keep her warm. When she saw it she instantly threw it off herself and onto the floor, and when the Doctor retrieved it there wasn't even a crease on it.

Then one day she was having trouble focusing on her books. There was a nagging sensation at the back of her head that something wasn't right. She closed the book she was reading and looked around.

The TARDIS was silent, the engines were still, the machines still clicked and the clocks still ticked. It was peaceful, and 'that' was what was disturbing her. Where was the Doctor? Where was his usual antics, his voice?

Where was his gentle humming?

She guessed he must be out adventuring again. But as she thought about it, the Doctor had been gone longer than usual. She recalled the last time she'd spoken with him was seven days ago, when the TARDIS had landed on a planet called Cerliea. The Doctor had stepped out, but never came back.

Raven got up and walked to the console. Perhaps she just kept missing him because he was out whenever she came into the console room. The TARDIS had simply landed in a new place and he was out having his 'fun'. But as she approached the dials they still said 'Cerliea' and the time display had advanced by seven days. The TARDIS had not moved, and the Doctor had not returned.

She looked up at the scanner and activated it. It was night wherever they were and the place was lit by the light of a very large moon.

Surely the Doctor was fine. He could handle himself. He'd gotten out of enough trouble over 950 years. But the Doctor had mentioned he travelled with friends who often helped him out of dire situations he couldn't get out of himself. What if the Doctor was in trouble?

So what? She thought as calmly as she could. I'm not responsible for the Doctor. If he gets into danger then its his own fault. The lights went out as her powers blew out all the candles in the console room again, she didn't even mean to do it. Why should I inconvenience myself for a person I don't care about? It's pointless to be upset or emotional about it. I'm safe, the universe is safe, my father is powerless... as long as I stay in here!

Raven flipped a switch on the console that opened the TARDIS interior doors and now she stood facing the black void between the TARDIS' dimension and the real world. She began to walk into it.

I don't care about the Doctor, her mind told her, I don't, I don't! He's irritating, he's obnoxious, and arrogant. I'm... content... no, I'm happy he's finally gone from my life.

Yet something drove her to take the Police Box doors, pull them open and step outside, into the unknown.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: I seem to be doing that thing again where a simple short story keeps getting longer and longer the more ideas I have for it. lol

I went back to re-watch some of the Teen Titans TV show and I noticed that Raven says a lot of things, a lot of cold, heartless things, that she later contradicts by her own actions. Which I decided to use in this chapter.

The Zagreus rhyme having a separate interpretation to the world-ender is my own idea. It still means what it really means in the context of the 8th Doctor audios, it now just has an additional interpretation within the context of this story. Plus, the rhyme is creepy and I just really like it a lot.

I wanted to get Raven out of the TARDIS at least once during the story. I had a number of possible scenarios for that to happen, but this one seemed the most likely given Ravens personality.