Authors notes: [EDIT 11/April/2019]Tagged an extra bit onto the ending to help building something up which didn't have sufficient build up. ;)

BOOK 7

CENSORED!

Rachel Roth continues her life all the while being pestered by Dolores. What is she up to and is it wise that Raven is just trying to ignore her and deal with it?

Meanwhile, Raven and the Doctor must find a way to escape the Censored Zone before the Mistress finds out where they are. But while the Doctor is focused on that problem, Raven has one of her own. Suffice to say, Raven does not like to share her toys.

Chapter 42

Detention.

The bell rang, snapping Rachel out of her daze. That was the end of school bell and everyone was packing their things away.

Rachel tried to pack her own things away but then Mister Vale spoke out.

"Miss Rachel, please stay. Remember you have detention with me." He said with too much enthusiasm.

Rachel sat back down in a huff. Marya gave her a smug look as she walked out.

"We shall see you tomorrow, friend Rachel." Stella said, hugging Rachel around her neck, which Rachel tolerated.

"Yeah, I hope Mister Vale isn't too brutal." Garfield said resting his arm on her shoulders, across the back of her neck.

"Take it off, or I will break it off!" Rachel warned sharply and Garfield snapped his hand away. She wasn't sure if he did this deliberately to annoy her, or if he really didn't understand peoples boundaries. She didn't make a big deal out of it because he never became inappropriate. To her it was more like a puppy dog barking at a grown cat. She could easily crush him, and he knew it.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Rae." Victor said, "We still playing chess this weekend?" the larger man said.

"It's a duel." Rachel answered back. She never expected a jock like Victor to be into chess but surprisingly he was, at least she had someone to play that game with. Garfield did offer but out of fifty games she beat him in all within twelve moves, he was no challenge at all.

"Don't let Mister Vale goat you into something." Richard warned before he left too. "Don't give him an excuse to make things worse for you."

"I won't." Rachel said eyeing Mister Vale at his corner desk.

Once everyone had left Mister Vale just sat there writing something out in silence. Rachel did not move, she didn't take out her laptop, her phone, anything. She just sat quietly and just tried to focus on something to show him she was not intimidated.

The classroom door opened and in came Dolores, her face now cleaned up and her nose properly set again, though there was some scarring where the cricket ball had smashed into her. Oh yeah, Dolores was supposed to be punished too.

"Take your seat, child." Mister Vale said pointing next to Rachel. Oh god, she has to sit next to this manipulative blob of drama?

She sat down and looked rather smugly about this whole thing.

Mister Vale had said he wasn't going to punish Dolores, so what was she doing here?

Eventually Mister Vale stopped writing and stood up from the desk.

"Now, I..."

But before he could utter another word the classroom door was opened yet again and two men came in. One was short, with a dark hair cut that made him look like one of the Beatles, he had a craggy face and a rather enchanting smile. It was Doctor Troughton, their music teacher. Next to him was a taller man of a wider girth, an oval face with a mop of curly blonde hair. He was wearing a brown coat that was a patchwork of different patterns, though thankfully the colours didn't clash or it would've been an eyesore. Doctor C Baker, the drama teacher.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Mister Vale asked a little impatiently.

"Hello to you too, mister scrap man." Doctor C Baker said, mocking.

"If you have come here to antagonise me, I warn you it won't work. I'm not as easily wound up as the other staff are." Mister Vale warned.

"Oh, nonsense Mister Vale. We just happen to bring a message from the headmistress, that's all." Doctor Troughton said and he stuck a recorder in his mouth and began to play a tune that sounded dire, like a man going to his death.

"She wants to have words with you." Doctor C Baker said, not caring to be diplomatic. "So we are taking over this detention, if you don't mind."

"I do mind!" Mister Vale said indignant, "This girl has been physically violent and..."

"It was Doctor Hartnel who instigated the punishment I believe." The curly haired man said smugly as he scratched behind his ear. "That you took over."

"Yes indeed, if you can take over from Doctor Hartnel, we can take over from you." the small man said, playing a tune which rang of defeat.

"The headmistress is waiting." Doctor C Baker said gesturing to the door.

"Oh, very well. I shall go see what she wants." He stormed past the two Teachers giving the taller one a dirty look. Baker just stuck his tongue out at Mister Vale when he turned his back.

"Now then." Doctor Troughton said, clapping his hands. "Punishment." He lowered his head and peered at the two girls. "Oh dear, I'm afraid assault is rather serious."

"As is attempted theft." Doctor C Baker chimed in looking at Dolores.

"I wasn't trying to steal anything." She lied, "I was just pushing something back in to her bag."

Doctor C Baker clearly wasn't having this.

"My dear, do I look like I have the words 'Gullible Idiot' stamped across my forehead?" and Doctor C Baker gave her a condescending look.

"Now, what punishment shall be suitable?" Doctor Troughton said almost like a playful imp who wasn't going to punish at all, but turn it into a fun game.

"Well... Listening to your recorder might be enough." The taller one joked and the shorter one gave him a grumpy look.

"I do hear that you have both been falling behind on your mathematics, so perhaps we should work on calculus." Doctor C Baker suggested.

"Capital idea!" Doctor Troughton said as if this was a fun thing to do. "Recreational mathematics! Lets learn our happy primes!"

"Sir!" It was Dolores who piped up. "Sir, with respect," there clearly wasn't, "you're a drama teacher, I don't think you're qualified to teach us maths."

"Oh really?" Doctor C Baker asked smugly, "A prime number is a whole number greater than one whose only dividing factors are 1 and itself."

"A happy number is one which starts with any positive integer." Doctor Troughton then said, "By replacing the number by the sum of the squares of its digits in base-ten. Then repeat the process until the number equals one, those are happy numbers."

Doctor C Baker then spoke, not wanting to be outdone. "Unhappy numbers are numbers which loop around in cycles which never include one." They were both saying this very fast that Rachel could barely keep up. "A number which follows both rules is both happy and prime."

Doctor Troughton then spoke. "Whole prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31 and so on."

Then Doctor C Baker "Happy Numbers are in a sequence of 1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, and so on."

And Doctor Troughton again, "Therefore the first five happy prime numbers in the sequence given are 7, 13, 19, 23, and 31."

"Easy." Doctor C Baker said looking pleased with himself.

Rachel was just lost in the sea of words and numbers, and by the look of it Dolores was lost for words too.

"Will there be any other questions, Miss Dolores?" Doctor C Baker asked.

"Don't call me that!" Dolores spat, suddenly she was getting angry and outraged.

"Why? It's your name." Doctor C Baker said.

"Stop calling me Miss!" Dolores cried.

"Oh, alright. How do you prefer to be addressed?" Doctor C Baker asked.

"Just Dolores will do nicely." She said smugly as if she had any power here.

"Anything else, your Majesty?" Doctor C Baker mocked looking up and down at her girth, "A cup of tea? Coffee? A parade in your honour? A wrack of lamb?"

"Now, now!" Doctor Troughton said pushing past him wiggling his recorder at the curly haired teacher, "No need to get tetchy with the young girl."

"Don't call me young girl!" Dolores stood in outrage again. "I want to be treated with respect!" Doctor Troughton at first did not turn to acknowledge the girl.

"Well, maybe you should afford other people the same respect before demanding it yourself." Doctor Troughton said now turning to face her.

"I don't respect people who disrespect me!" Dolores cried.

"And we disrespected you how?" Doctor Troughton asked.

"By not calling me by the name I want to be called!" Dolores said as if this was the greatest injustice which could befall anyone.

Doctor Troughton held up his hands. "Alright. Let's just start over shall we, wipe the slate clean and start again."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you." Dolores said, "So you two don't have to deal with this injustice." The two men looked at each other and shrugged, they had clearly never encountered such a girl before and didn't know how to deal with her.

They looked at Rachel and she just shrugged. "Don't look at me. I think she's from another planet too."

Dolores suddenly rose up from her chair and looked like she was about to strike at Rachel. The goth teen raised her arms to defend herself and the two Doctors moved forward to restrain Dolores, but she turned at them and screeched at them both. "Don't touch me!"

"Provided you calm down and make no attempt to strike your fellow student." Doctor Troughton said, his playful eyes suddenly betraying a fire deep within the little man.

Dolores looked like she was processing this, her eyes burnt with rage. "I won't take this bullying from teachers!" She screamed, and she picked up her bag and pushed past the two men, roughly shoving them and kicked the classroom door open before storming out.

"Another person who thinks they're the Centre of the Universe." The taller Doctor said.

Doctor Troughton just tapped his recorder against his jacket as he looked on in deep, deep thought. Without another word he walked towards the door and disappeared through it himself.

"Well then." Doctor C Baker said, scratching at a side burn again and turning to Rachel. "At least I have one unruly student to punish." He sounded more like an uncle with a niece than a teacher. "Now, I can't let you leave since your father won't pick you up for an hour. So you can stay here and do what you like. Maybe..." he said trying to sound nonchalant "...do some creative writing, perhaps."

"What?" Rachel asked. Did Doctor C Baker read her stuff too?

"I would dearly like to know how the Doctor and Raven get out of the censored zone." He smiled, "So please, don't let me stop you." He moved towards Mister Vales desk, "I shall just sit here, as quiet as a mouse, and catch up on my crochet patterns." and he dropped into the chair, put his feet up on the desk and pulled out a small, paper back book called 'the art of crochet'.

A little surprised by this, Rachel dug her laptop out and activated it. Maybe detention wasn't going to be so bad. She flexed her fingers and only as she began to write what she had been day dreaming she suddenly felt like she didn't have the energy to recount it. So many ideas were buzzing in her head and she felt like she needed to write them down. So she wrote out a short outline of what she had dreamt up to expand later and picked back up where her day-dreaming had left off.

As she wrote the outline though, a thought occurred to her.

How did Doctor C Baker know where the Doctor and Raven were going to end up? She'd only day dreamt it, she hadn't actually written nor published anything about it. So how did he know?

Ravens heart was pumping faster than she had ever known as she cast shield after shield to protect herself from the blue rod of light that kept swinging at her.

Each time it jabbed forwards or swung down she'd cast a shield and the blade of light would stop, caught on the dark shroud of energy.

The green girl called Barriss Offee was very fast and efficient with her weapon. A type of laser sword similar to the type Kasey's sixth incarnation Sechi had. Only this one was blue and the hilt looked more elegant and streamlined. It was also a fictional weapon.

The assualt stopped and Ravens dark purple eyes stared into the deep blue of Barriss's eyes. They had been at this for the past hour, it was good exercise and trained Raven not only to have better stamina, but to control and focus her powers in a moment of panic.

Without warning the space warrior girl came at her again, swinging her blade left, right, jabbed it forwards. Raven had to side step that one and it past close to her stomach.

Instinctively she grabbed Barriss's arms, and her mind froze. What was she supposed to do now?

Her hesitation cost her as Barriss twisted herself and brought her laser sword clean across Ravens midsection.

Her pain centers lit up like a Christmas tree, like an electric cattle prod had been sharply raked across her stomach.

She collapsed to the floor holding her mid section. It wasn't fatal and no scar would be left but it still hurt badly. She swallowed and tried to stop the frustration escaping through her powers, another thing this was good training for.

"You hesitated." Barriss said.

"I know I did." Raven said in frustration rubbing her stomach.

The sword was on a setting which made it harmless to touch, but it could easily have been set to cut and cauterise. Raven knew if the blade was on a full setting she'd be dead.

The blue blade of Barriss's laser sword retracted back into the hilt. The object did have a different name but Raven refused to use it.

Barriss looked at her on the floor, her eyes and face were difficult to read, as if she was consciously hiding something. Her body language was open, yet her face was unreadable.

"If I had this on full power I'd have bisected you." Barriss reminded her.

"Really? You could've reminded me." The pale girl said deadpan. Barriss had been telling her this constantly.

"Let us by pass this exercise for now and move on to meditations." Barriss said hooking the laser sword to her belt and kneeling down on the floor.

Raven adopted her meditation stance, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her knees and looping her mid finger and thumb.

Barriss on the other hand adopted a kneeling position rather than crossing her legs and rested her hands in her lap instead.

The stance didn't matter all that much. It was the ability to focus the mind that mattered.

The demon girl began to speak her mantra while Barriss just sat in silence.

As Raven disconnected from the real world she was still swirling in a mass of motion and nonsense. The world had so many things which caught your eye and mind that it still made intense focus difficult. They had been sailing in this fog for a good few days and still Raven had yet to master it and she feared her powers might start to break loose if she couldn't cage them properly.

Ravens left eye opened a fraction to see Barriss sitting peacefully, hood over her head in complete peace.

Barriss was a fictional character, so of course she could focus in this world. But the Doctor was real and he could focus in this world. There must be something she's just not getting.

"Can't focus?" Barriss asked without opening her eyes.

"I can't disconnect. I keep seeing things that ground me." Raven said. "The Doctor said I shouldn't try to focus, but work on disconnecting."

Barriss breathed in and out slowly, then back in and said. "No disrespect to the Doctor, but he doesn't know what he's talking about."

Raven mentally chuckled at how that came out. It was so fast and unexpected she couldn't help but mentally laugh.

"The Doctor has no powers to control. He meditates only to think clearly, rationally and logically." Barriss added.

The green girl seemed to have some power of her own, similar to her own but very different. Though it was different from Ravens. Raven's was like a sea held back by a dam, and she was the dam, ready to control the water but strong enough to hold it all back. If the dam broke or sprung a leak then her powers would be unleashed whether she wanted them to or not.

The way Barriss's powers worked was more like a sink tap. The powers didn't need to be held back, they were dormant and needed to be drawn up and out through focus and concentration.

Raven had to hold her powers at bay, Barriss needed great effort just to manifest them.

"Try focusing on something other than your mantra." Barriss suggested and thought. "Here, try this."

She reached forwards and took Ravens hands from her knees and positioned them by her sides and up in the air, her hands level with her shoulders.

"Try meditating like that." Barriss said.

This was different and it was taking effort to hold her arms in that position. As Raven now tried to meditate she wasn't aware her arms were slowly lowering to her sides and Barriss had to remind her to get her arms back up and into position.

Saying her chimes and balancing out her stance was making it a great deal easier to focus than before, it was actually working, somewhat. Every now and then something prodded her psychic powers and her concentration broke.

She had actually learnt something useful from this fictional character. She was learning a lot of useful things from the fictional characters in this world she was finding.

Barriss taught her about meditations. Watching Captain Hook and the Doctor talk strategy was teaching her about that. Alice taught her about this game called Chess, and the weird cabin boy Ed taught her gravy ferments and grows a skin. Yeah, not useful, and so on.

During their meditations Raven had learnt quite a lot about Barriss and it kind of made her empathise with her a little.

"I'm from an order of monks with special powers and combat training. You could view us as like the Shaolin Monks of your world, only with flashy swords and strange powers." She had explained a few days ago.

She had gone into great detail about her order, she was very forthcoming when Raven prompted her to speak. She was just as interested in Barriss, though when Barriss asked about her, Raven was deliberately evasive on the subject.

"What's it like, being a fictional character?" Raven had asked her.

"I don't know." Barriss answered, "Ask yourself what it's like to exist. You have nothing to compare it to."

"Touché." She answered.

"What I can tell you is that I'm a full embodiment of everything about the character." the alien girl had said. "I have her intellect, her dry wit, her skills and knowledge. Though I am shackled to whatever is written."

"You mean you can't evolve on your own? You can only be the way you've been written for." Raven stated.

"Exactly. I also know my own history. Backwards and forwards, even stuff that was ret-conned. That means retroactively altered."

"So what's your story?" Raven asked her.

Barriss froze at this, and she had a look of sadness on her face which passed very quickly and her face became passively neutral again. "I'm actually a very, very minor character. I was never the lead and for most of the story I was never central to the plot." She answered. "I still have my fans though, hence why I'm here."

There was something more to her that she wasn't letting on. Raven thought it best not to pry for the same reasons she didn't want anyone prying into her business.

Since that day Barriss had become some what of a tutor to Raven, taking over from the Doctor as he, Captain Hook and Alice tried to find their way out of this fog.

Raven wasn't worried. It would be a pointless waste of energy to worry. Raven couldn't find a way out of here. But she was confident the Doctor would, he usually did.

What if this Mistress or Impostor found them first though?

The Impostor! The arrogant woman who tried to take the Doctors place, take the Doctor away from her, and dared to try to manipulate her!

She felt the sea she was holding back start to shift at this moment of weakness.

Stop, stop, stop! She told herself. She could feel her powers stirring within her.

"Arms up!" Barriss reminded her, and Raven re-positioned her arms because they had sagged down to her knees.. She'll get used to this meditation stance. For everyone's sake she has to.

Feel the sway of the boat, focus and keep your arms up. She thought as Raven now sat on the forward deck of the ship near the main mast and tried to meditate, and reach out to see what was ahead of them since the fog made it impossible. She felt like the Doctor was counting on her, so she felt frustrated that she was turning up nothing.

Finally deciding to give up for today she went back down to the main deck and entered the forward scout deck. Maybe she could find some peace in here instead of up on the deck. Suddenly her mind focused enough to detect two people inside, she froze as the voices came out through the crack in the door.

It was the Doctor and Barriss. They were both looking through books that were stacked on the table next to the Doctor. He was reading them at lightening speed as Barriss poured him a cup of tea and appeared to be doing it in a ritualistic way.

"Interesting way to prepare tea." The Doctor said.

"It is a ritual of my order to prepare tea in such a way." Barriss said offering a steaming cup to the Doctor.

"Must be in some obscure text, because I don't remember it." The Doctor commented.

They hadn't seen Raven yet and for some reason she held back from actually going in, instead she listened.

"Raven is struggling to focus. Is this place really so noisy to her?" Barriss asked.

"She's been brought up in a rather quiet environment. She's not used to such noises that this place throws out."

"But you seem to focus perfectly here." Barriss said, sitting down next to him, trying to look at what he was reading.

"I've had the training, all Time Lords have. Raven needs to learn." He looked away from his book and back at Barriss. "I assume coming from the Jedi Order, you've learnt how to focus your powers rather well."

"To use the Force in battle requires intense focus." Barriss said and Raven watched through a crack in the door as she levitated one of the books off the pile and brought it down to her.

Something about this Raven didn't like. She couldn't describe it, but she wanted to go in there and break up this conversation with her dad, -she meant the Doctor.

"What are you studying?" Barriss asked as the Doctor returned to his reading.

"I've evolved a hypothesis. The last few times I was here the population were just two dimensional characters. Yet, it seems some characters like Captain Hook, Alice and yourself have gained a form of sentience, a third dimension to your character. As if you're not bound to your source material."

"You flatter me, Doctor." Barriss said smiling.

The Doctor held up something he pulled from his pocket. A kaleidoscope. He'd shown it to Raven a few days ago when he'd won it at some fair in the United States. "Look through this." and Barriss did as instructed. The Doctor spun the end of it so Barriss could see the patterns swirling inside it. "What do you think of it?"

"I think it's a bunch of swirling lights and patterns." Barriss said. That was the response Raven gave to him when he'd shown it to her. She had fainted dis-interest because that's what was 'her', but she did find the patterns hypnotic and beautiful in a way.

"That's what you see." The Doctor said, "What do you think of it?"

"I think it looks..." Barriss paused and spun the kaleidoscope again, "...I think it looks beautiful."

"And it's that ability to describe things with emotion. Forming your own thoughts and ideas about things not bound to your source material. That interests me. I showed it to the Ed boy and his brain just froze."

"Have you met him?" Barriss joked.

"I showed it to the lost boys and some of the pirates. They could only describe it. There was no inspiration, no awe." The Doctor said.

"You mean like Droids before they develop personalities." Barriss concluded.

"In a way, yes. Going from your frame of reference."

"Did you show this to Raven? What did she think of it?" Barriss asked. The Doctor just shrugged away the question.

Hey, I found it beautiful too. Raven thought sadly. I... I just didn't want to tell you.

"So you think we're becoming more three dimensional as a result of...?" Barriss questioned.

"I don't know. Perhaps psychic pressure. The Land of Fiction has been active for a long time this time. Who knows what was created." He paused. "Or even evolved."

"An interesting concept." Barriss mused.

"But pointless?" the Doctor asked.

"No. I wasn't going to say that." Barriss corrected. For some reason Raven felt like a shot was just taken at her. "Does it mean that..." she paused, "I'm alive?"

"In the sense that any fictional being can be alive. I guess yes, like a robot that's gain sentience." The Doctor said. "Though still, you can't die. So what is life without the prospect of death."

"You make that sound like a bad thing." Barriss said.

"Something for philosophers to discuss. If I can ever publish my paper on the evolution of fictional characters to full sentience." The Doctor laughed. "I'll probably get laughed out of the Royal Society for it." He drummed his fingers on the book in his hand.

"Thank you, Miss Offee, you've been a great help." and he took his tea cup and sipped it. "Oh, this tea is excellent."

Raven couldn't describe what she was feeling. Listening to the Doctor and Barriss Offee's conversation just seemed to spark something in her stomach.

She's behaving the part of the companion. Her mind said.

So what? Raven thought back. She didn't mind the Doctor having other friends. He's had multiple people on the TARDIS before.

But it would mean less attention for you.

We can't take Barriss, she's fictional. She rationalised.

But if she's alive, does that mean she could leave this world? Her mind said. Could she come with us as a fellow crew member?

Raven swallowed.

Or your replacement.

Shut up! Raven cut that thought down in an instant and pushed it aside. Barriss was no threat, she was an ally. Maybe even a friend. She had taught her so much. This was just paranoia. What Raven and the Doctor were, it was special.

How many of his female companions thought that way?

Shut up!

How many has he abandoned?

Shut up!

How many did he get bored with and dump at the first opportunity?

SHUT UP!

She felt her hair ruffle and spike, but she kept the energy down. Closing her eyes she walked away from the door rubbing her temples and pushed those thoughts out of her head.

Zagreus sits inside your head.

Zagreus lives among the dead.

Zagreus... She recited.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Been a while since the last update. I've been trying to fathom where the story should go. I have a notion of where to go but not a full concrete plan of how to get to it. So bare with me on this.

I've brought Barriss Offee from the Star Wars Clone Wars into this story because the two characters are similar, yet opposite. That's not the only reason I've brought her in as she does have a purpose in the plot of the story. [EDIT 11/04/19]: Even more so now with what I've just tacked onto the end.