Hello all! It seems I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands…
I actually hate this chapter, it's a bit of a filler… but hopefully I can get the next one out very soon.
Stay healthy!
97 days since Koschei was taken...
Hally shifted in the dark leather chair at The Master's desk, leaning further over the large hardback book she'd taken from his bookshelf. She sighed to herself irritably, flicking through the pages and taking a few quick notes. As predicted she'd failed the Temporal Mechanics examination a week prior and had almost had to resit the last five terms of the subject. However, it'd seemed that Vek had taken some pity on Hally, and so instead had set her a 15,000-word essay on the consequences of change in the infinite interrelationships between objects in the temporal continuum.
She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. While The Master's book on the subject was very comprehensive and fairly digestible, Hally just didn't have the patience to piece together a decent essay. Gently tapping her pen to her lips she looked up at the dark empty bed on the other side of the room. She hadn't made the bed in exactly 96 days now, the black silk sheets crumpled up in a pile.
What's the point in making beds, we only get back into them?
After The Master had been taken, Hally hadn't left his room for three days. Initially, she'd rationalised that she was hiding from Rassilon and The Council but after the third day of lying entangled in The Master's sheets, staring up at the ceiling, she'd realised that she was instead just wallowing in her own misery. She forced herself to get dressed on the fourth day and finally had dragged herself back to her classes. Initially it had felt like some great feat, a great victory, but after a day or two she'd just ended up slipping into her old routine. Just without The Master. She had plodded her way through each day. Every day felt strange, like a dream. Something was missing, he felt so very far away that she could barely feel him through their bond. It was hell. It hurt and it made her angry.
Persca wasn't helping either. She'd avoided Hally ever since their argument. To her surprise, the only student who was talking to her at all was Lenden. He seemed to think that Persca had overreacted a little and must have felt sorry for Hally, now that she was alone and a target for Rassilon and the High Chancellors.
Yes. Rassilon.
He'd been making almost weekly attempts at making Hally's life as difficult as possible. He'd had her arrested and questioned approximately six times now, for 'conspiracy to commit treason'. Of course each time she'd eventually be released, after hours of pointless questioning, when they found no actual evidence. But the process was exhausting and painful never-the-less.
Hally bit into her lower lip, she hated feeling so powerless against them all. She wanted to fight so badly but she knew that in doing so she'd only make things 100 times worse.
The Time War had gotten much worse too. There had been two attacks just outside of the Capitol in the last three months and with more expected the Gallifreyan military had grown exponentially in order to protect the Capitol. Many of the graduated students of the Academy had already joined the fight and almost every day it felt like more and more students disappeared to join them.
She winced, finally noticing that she'd managed to bite into her lip. Huffing softly she licked away the blood, sucking on her lower lip while she put away The Master's book. She gathered up her notes and shoved them into her bag, flinging the strap over her shoulder as she walked toward the door.
Walking across the south bridge towards the new observatory, she felt someone run up from behind her. Before she could swing around to possibly attack whoever it was, Lenden's irritatingly familiar voice popped up to her right.
"Hey, outlaw!" He chirped. Hally rolled her eyes at his vaguely hopeful tone. Passing him a look that said 'you found me…'.
"How's she doing?" Hally muttered back to him after it became clear that Lenden had nothing of importance to say.
"Not too bad, she's worried about her brother." Hally nodded, frowning. Lenden continued, "He hasn't sent a message home for a few days and you know there was that attack on…" He trailed off, sending her an awkward glance.
Hally nodded slowly, unaware that she'd been holding her breath. She'd been worried about The Master too, two days ago there had been an announcement that one of the Time Lord defended forts in the northern region had almost been obliterated after a legion of Dalek warships had attacked without warning. She'd tried to reach out to him through their bond, for a long while there had just been silence. She'd managed to convince herself that he couldn't be dead. If he had died she would have felt something… surely? Eventually, after what had probably been hours, she'd felt a soft nudge in the back of her mind. He was still out there somewhere. Alive.
Lenden broke her out of her own thoughts. "How's your assignment going? I can always give it a read if you need a spare pair of eyes." He smiled sympathetically at her.
She squashed the urge to berate him for his pity, instead putting on a small smile. "Thank you, I'd actually really appreciate that." She wasn't lying, while it wasn't her main priority, she really needed to not fail this assignment.
They got to class and Lenden sent her a smile as he went to take his seat next to Persca. Hally took a place at the back of the room. He was right, Persca looked tired. Her skin had a sickly pale tinge and her usually perfect hair seemed to have lost its life and shine. Hally looked away, suddenly feeling very guilty.
After class, Hally slinked off back to her/The Master's room. It had become a bit of a routine, skipping meals. After a few more hours of hopelessly pouring over Temporal Mechanics books, she wrapped herself in The Master's robe and took herself to bed, as she had done for many nights. His smell lingering less and less every time she fell asleep.
114 days since Koschei left…
Hally jolted awake to the noise of loud banging coming from her door. She groaned outwardly, instantly assuming it was Rassilon sending his guards to arrest her again. In the early hours of the morning. Did this man have no boundaries?!
Making sure her robe was wrapped tightly around her, she threw off her covers and padded over to the door. The knocking was only getting more and more frantic.
"I'm coming!" She grumbled, pulling the door open quickly, expecting to see a small legion of guards. Instead a small blonde blur bundled its way in, the door closing sharply behind. Hally took a step back, taking in the tears streaming down her friends face.
"Persca… what is it? What's wrong?" Hally was eyeing her cautiously, Persca looked like she might attack her? Her eyes were red from crying and tears were still streaking down her face. Her hair was a mess and she looked out of breath, like she'd ran all the way here.
"They've… taken him-" Persca sobbed. Hally took her lightly by the arms, Persca looked like she was about to collapse. Leading her over to The Master's chair, Hally gently sat her friend down. Persca tried to take a deep breath, "Lenden… this morning. They're forcing him to fight!"
Hally's blood ran cold. The pair fell silent, the only noise that could be heard was Persca's ragged breathing.
Could this be Rassilon's doing? Had he moved on from simply wasting her time, to actively trying to hurt the people she cared about?
Hally frowned deeply, turning away from her friend. "It's ok… he'll be ok. I'll make sure of it."
Persca whimpered quietly, Hally sighed, turning back to her and holding out her hand. "There's nothing we can do at the moment. You might as well get some sleep and we can fix this when the sun's up." Persca nodded bashfully, taking Hally's hand and letting her guide her over to the bed.
Just as she was about to lie down, Persca paused, narrowing her eyes at Hally. "Wait… have you…?" She looked suspiciously down at the sheets. Hally let out a sharp laugh.
"No! Woman! We have not. Now lie down and sleep before I throw you out for waking me up so early." She playfully pushed Persca down and pulled the covers over her. Persca chuckled softly to herself, settling down.
It didn't take long before Hally could see the slow steady rise and fall of her friends chest indicating she was fast asleep. Hally flopped herself into the leather chair at the desk, resting her head back against the smooth surface. Fatigue was still making her mind a little foggy but she couldn't sleep now, she needed to try and come up with some sort of plan to try and fix this mess.
What would The Master do? She thought to herself, gently tapping her fingernails on the dark wood of the desk. She smiled wryly to herself.
The Master doesn't have friends so he wouldn't be in this predicament at all.
Perhaps he'd result to murder…again.
Or maybe just stroll in like he owned the place? That seems to work rather a lot.
She sighed, chuckling quietly to herself, shaking her head.
No. This must have been Rassilon's doing. It feels personal.
Finally, the sun began to rise and the warm, yellow light began to fall in through the curtains. Hally looked over towards Persca, still sound asleep. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Hally rose from her seat pulled on some clothes, she then tip-toed towards the door. Prying it open, the wood groaning under her fingertips as she slipped through and out into the empty corridor.
The early Council meeting would be starting soon, and perhaps Hally could make enough of a scene to conjure up the exasperating President himself. She had to admit, certainly not one of her finest plans but it'd have to do.
By the time she made it up to the Council Chamber, the corridors had begun to fill with many officials milling about. Hally also saw a lot of military green among the Councillor Red/Orange. That was odd, they weren't often seen in large numbers about the Capitol.
Hally stopped herself just outside the Council Chamber.
Right… time to march on in and do some…demanding.
Hally paused, she felt ridiculous. Could she really do this? This was the Gallifreyan Council. They were just going to laugh.
No!
No. This is important.
They've taken enough from me already.
I am a fucking Queen.
She shrugged.
Kind of.
With that Hally took a deep breath in and pushed the doors to the chamber open.
She was met with a table of grey-haired, stern-faced men, turning to face her. One even made a disgruntled noise of outrage as she entered.
"Wha-what do you think you're doing? This is a Council meeting. You cannot just barge in here!" The man sat at the top end of the table stood, on shaky old legs to confront her.
"Yes. Yes. I get it. Now before Grandad here has a heart attack. I need you to go and get our gracious Lord President for me." Hally smiled sweetly.
One of the Councillors audibly gasped. "You cannot demand an audience with the President!"
She shrugged, "I think you'll find I can. Now I suggest that you…" She pointed to one of the closest Councillors, he looked fairly young. Hopefully a quick walker. "…and you." She nodded to another Councillor. "Go and tell our President that the future Queen of the Garden wants to negotiate."
Nobody moved.
"Trust me he's NOT going to be happy to find out you kept this from him for longer than required!" A few of the men around the table jumped slightly. One of the Councillors she'd singled out looked up to the elder at the top of the table. He gave him a tiny nod and the two Councillors suddenly stood and scuttled out of the room.
An awkward silence descended.
"You know, I didn't really expect that to work." Hally smiled simply, the elder grumbled unhappily. He rose from his seat and the rest of the Councillors followed suit, they silently filed out of the room until Hally was left on her own. She let out the breath she'd apparently been holding.
The room suddenly felt even more unwelcoming now that everyone had left. Hally felt nervous butterflies descend into her stomach. What the hell was she thinking, she had absolutely nothing to offer Rassilon.
Soft footsteps coming from behind her caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. The room seemed to darken and Hally heard the large golden doors hiss shut.
"I hear you have demanded my presence. To what do I owe this honour?" His voice was laced with danger, it made Hally's stomach jolt. Any façade of confidence instantly dribbled away.
This was a bad idea.
The footsteps slowly began to circle round be behind her "Hmm?" He added.
Hally cleared her throat and awkwardly tried to stand up straighter, trying to regain some of her composure.
"I was under the impression that enlisting was voluntary?" Finally, Hally turned to face him, shooting him a brave glare.
Rassilon slowly raised an eyebrow, feigning innocence. "We're in need of further reinforcements. It's sometimes necessary in war to do things not everybody agrees with. You wouldn't understand." He added softly as if trying to teach a child.
She gritted her teeth. "Why take him?" She narrowed her eyes. "There are plenty of willing fighters still left at the academy…" Rassilon chuckled softly, amused by her obvious irritation.
"I'm afraid the decision is final. Now Your Highness if you've quite finished wasting my time." He smirked. She was not winning this one.
Rassilon turned away, going to leave the room, flashing her a sly smirk.
Hally had to stop him leaving.
"What is it that you want from me?" She blurted out, hating the desperation that was creeping into her voice.
His cruel laugh echoed around the room.
"What makes you think I want anything from you?" He didn't even turn to face her.
His voice quietened to a whisper. "I am quite content to watch you sit helplessly by and watch everyone you care about die." Hally felt her mouth drop open slightly.
Taking her silence as a submission, Rassilon let out a soft hum of approval and he strode out of the room.
Hally stepped back and felt her back hit the hard table. She had to steady herself against it, her hearts were beating painfully in her chest.
This was all her fault.
No… No!
Hally shook her head angrily feeling a hot tear fall down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly and swallowed down the bile that had risen in the back of her throat. She was not going to stand by and watch anyone die.
If all this was because of her then she'd have to protect Lenden herself.
Time to join this stupid war.