A Broken Timeline (Closed to Nine and me)

"Oh...well this is.... new.." Koschei mumbled to himself as he glanced around what was known to humans as London. This was the first time Koschei had ever been to Earth. Of course there had been copies and all that, but never the real thing until now. It wasn't Koschei's fault exactly. He had usually been a good boy... If usually meant only around his best friend Theta. Theta Sigma was the friend most wouldn't put up with in Koschei's eyes. He was... too good.... too sweet.... too.... everything! Except bad! The one thing Koschei was!

Koschei sighs gently as he walked down the empty streets. He had been sent here merely by accident... or complete stupidity. There wasn't a way to tell. One moment he was talking to Theta, next he was on Earth after a bright flash. "At least it beats boring school work...." Koschei admitted quietly. "However...I would rather be in a more familiar place than this... I don't even know where I am exactly.... Is this New... York?" He pondered the idea then shook his head. He would have known it was London if he had actually paid attention in class, like Theta did. "Too bad I didn't care enough to listen." Koschei chuckled and walked on down the streets, passing the unusual looking humans.

The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS and immediately recognized early 2000s London.

'I suppose I payed attention to my Earth classes at the Academy. As if I would need them to recognize London, anyway. I've been here unusually often.' he thought. Memories came in waves after that quick thought about the Academy. His younger self would have never predicted the Time War... "I suppose that a TARDIS meant to be driven by six can't always get to where one Time Lord wants her to go," he said to no one in particular. As if any human would understand what he said anyway. "This is it. I'm the last one."

He walked through the streets, trying to blend in with the human crowd. What was that one supermarket that sold those bananas? One of the people he passed by interested him. They looked like... Koschei... well, the Master, back when they were friends at the Academy. And to think that was after he'd remembered his days there. He overheard what he thought was a human ask himself if this was New York. Well, the Doctor could correct them.

"It's London. England, because I guess that you didn't know that."

Why didn't this eerily familiar person know this was London?

A man in leather caught Koschei's eyes just briefly. It was different than what the crowd was wearing. 'Interesting.... I wonder why they chose leather.' He thought softly and moved on past the man. Hearing him say something, he faces him. "London? England...? Really?" Koschei's expression was clearly surprised. Time lords had only heard about London.... they had never actually been there. "Wow..." Koschei mumbled and looks around at all the humans. This was by far the best place he could have landed. "Um.... what year...?" Koschei questioned the man in front of him. People pushed past him as they ran to get to work or home. This place was too busy for Koschei's taste...

Koschei glanced up at the dark clouds that had formed out of nowhere. Rain, obviously. The darkness of the clouds caused Koschei to shudder. Theta knew as well as him that he didn't like thunderstorms too much. Koschei would act strong, but Theta knew he was scared deep down. Knowing the fear was in him, Koschei pulled up his hood rather quickly. He had strong hopes that this would make it easier to be strong in front of this man... or at least until he walked off....

A loud clap of thunder cause Koschei to jump and squeak adorably. Koschei's blue eyes went up to the clouds. Something felt off about... this London. A Time Lord would know.... being in charge of timelines and such. "Oh no...." He mumbled softly as rain began to pour down on them. Koschei closed his eyes and hugged himself. He. Hated. THIS!

The more he saw and listened to this person, the more they reminded him of his former friend. It surprised the Doctor that they were surprised, it wouldn't be odd to a human to be in London. They must not be human, then. "The year..."

Narrows it down, then. Narrows it down quite a lot. Could they possibly be a Time Lord? Was he not the last one? No, no other Time Lords survived the War... "...Early 2000s A.D., from what I've gathered." The Doctor followed their gaze to the dark clouds. There would be a storm soon. An Oncoming Storm... The prospect of a storm seemed to unnerve this person (if that's what they were) that he was with. Was that fear that he saw in their eyes? Well, London  certainly wasn't normal that day, and not just because of this strange encounter. The TARDIS had taken him here for a reason... what he needed to find out was why.

Thunder. It caused this other person - Koschei; the Master, the Doctor knew it now - to snap. The Doctor grabbed Koschei's arm. Seeing the latter's fear made the Doctor feel sorry for him, he had to get Koschei out of the rain. He ran (he'd been doing that a lot lately) to the nearest building, dragging Koschei along with him.

It took a moment for Koschei to understand what the man had said to him. 2000 A.D. London. All of this was different to Koschei and none of it made the least bit of sense to him! After it began to pour rain, things only got worse. Koschei hid in his hood like always, but the man before him didn't just walk off like most would. The man in leather, who Koschei had never seen before, dragged him along the streets while rain drenched them. A downfall to how Koschei was built, this meaning how he was before his first regeneration, was how tiny he was in size. Koschei was small and short, making it extremely easy to simply pull him along. He did only weigh about a hundred pounds at most.

Koschei tried to stop the man from pulling him into a building. Regardless of his fear, Koschei  did not know this man! The man in leather was just someone who happened to talk to him... or overhear Koschei speaking to himself. It didn't matter if he was helping Koschei or not! This man could be a murder! 'Theta did always tell me to avoid the crazy people...' Koschei thought quietly right before he pulled his wrist free. Thanks to the rain, it was easier to get free from the weird stranger. 'What does he want....?' Koschei thought to himself as he stared at the man with a terrified, curious look. 'Why is he even talking to me?!'

There was a pause in Koschei's mind while fear raced inside him. "Who are you?" Koschei demanded, though fear made it sound like a question you'd ask before you died. "What do you want with me?" He continued to ask the man who stood before him. Sadly, Koschei had to look up at him because he was a lot taller. Another loud clap of thunder caused Koschei to move away from the door and right into the strange man. Koschei didn't know how to react to it all, so he just screamed and moved away. His luck was shown when he fell to the ground with a loud thud! "I just want to go home!" Koschei said out loud when he never meant to. Things just kept getting worse.....

(My area decided to let in a thunderstorm. Doesn't help my wi-fi or my newly developed fear of lightning... Houses in my neighborhood constantly get hit by it and get set on fire. Can't blame me for being cautious. Well, the storm also deleted my entire reply. Twice!)

The Doctor didn't remember Koschei being so light. Humans that size were usually children (Annoying children, who kept making jokes about his ears; “My, what big ears you have!” gets old after a while). Well, that helped the Doctor pull Koschei along, which was a good thing. What was not a good thing was that Koschei struggled. The Doctor didn’t know why… had he done something wrong? Soon, Koschei managed to get his arm free and started questioning the confused Doctor. Koschei looked terrified; this strengthened the Doctor’s theory that he’d messed up this encounter somehow… but how? Maybe this was the same reason that Rose had rejected him, he would figure this out… Koschei also looked curious, probably that kept him from running away.

The Doctor began answering the questions thrown at him.

"I'm the Doctor. By the way, don't ask questions you haven't answered... even though I think I know your name, you still haven't told me."

"I was trying to help you, despite what you might think. Not just with the rain… If you are who I think you are, then you’re either from the past in my personal timeline or from some alternate universe. Both of which aren’t very good.”

This didn’t help Koschei’s fear of the Doctor at all, apparently. Nor of the thunder. After seeing Koschei fall over, the Doctor immediately helped him up so as to earn at least a bit of trust. When Koschei mentioned home, the Doctor immediately felt a pang of guilt as he told Koschei…

"Gallifrey burned. And I was the only survivor."

Koschei stared at "The Doctor." Why did that name sound so familiar to him? He went to say something, anything to the talking man. If he was The Doctor, then he was Theta? Koschei shook his head fiercely as if to get rid of the thought when he heard Doctor mention Gallifrey burning. Gallifrey was still around, Gallifrey didn't burn and this man was insane. That was Koschei's final theroy to all of what he said. He probably wasn't even The Doctor... So why should Koschei believe anything he said?

Koschei gave a bit of a surprised look when this man helped him up, not even mentioning the fact he fell into him. He simply shook his head, trying to understand it all. "You're insane... And... Not who you think you are." Koschei growled softly and turned away from the man. He had to admit.... He missed Theta terribly. What if the man was telling the truth? Was Gallifrey gone? Did Koschei miss something important? What was this war? All the question lead Koschei to hold his head tightly. "N-No...." He stampered. "That can't be true..." Koschei walked to the door, thinking. Then he stopped. Theta! What happened to Theta?! Fear, regret, and broken feeling hit Koschei all at once. Koschei didn't even know how to react to this. Gallifrey.... Gone? Impossible? 'Or is it impossible?' Koschei bit his lip in thought.

He quickly faced Doctor. "Where's your proof?! What proof could you have of this?!" Koschei nearly screamed when he felt all his emotions again. "Theta...." Koschei looks at the ground. "No...." A loud clap of thunder went off once more, but Koschei was too worried about his Theta to care.... What if he just lost the closest thing to love he'd ever have....?



(Oh.... That's terrible. o-o *pars your shoulder* Hopefully it will pass along. Sorry for any mistakes. I typed this on my phone. )

The Doctor wasn't surprised with Koschei's reaction. Doubting the destruction even happened was the first thing he had done after the war, after all. And as for being called insane, the Doctor couldn’t exactly argue against that… but when Koschei denied his identity… well, the Doctor had to speak up.

"I didn’t claim to be anyone I’m not. Would there be any reason for me to lie about my identity?"

Emotion ran through him, and the anger and guilt was made even more apparent when he spoke. He wasn't a Spock, he couldn't hide his emotions forever.

”I could take you there right now! To where Gallifrey used to be! Nothing’s there!” he yelled.

The Time War... terrible memories of death and suffering which he'd tried to forget made their way to the front of his mind. He tried to bury them again, but failed... He realized that, after the war, he'd been saving the Earth constantly. Perhaps he only did this to keep this relatively young planet from a similar fate to Gallifrey's, so he didn't have to watch another war.

The Doctor tried to keep himself from yelling again, but the bursts of anger wouldn't stop.

”I’m Theta Sigma! Maybe I might be an alternate one compared to the one you know, but that’s still me! And even if we are in the same universe or timeline - which might not even be the case! - then this event is in your far future. ...And here we… aren’t friends anymore… Really, we hate each other now. At least you do.”

(Sorry this isn't terribly long. I was afraid to write much in the storm, considering what happened last time... But either way, there was more of the deleting my replies!)

Koschei watched Doctor as he basically screamed at him. This was different coming from a man he had just met. 'Did he just say he had poof of Gallifrey burning?' He pondered quietly as he watched Doctor scream some more. It wasn't until he finished that Koschei spoke up once more. "Wh-What?" Koschei inquired with disbelief. None of this mad sense to Koschei. This man had claimed his name was The Doctor and he was Theta Sigma and he did this and that and this and that! It was all too much! Koschei couldn't handle this if it was true or flat out lies! "SHUT UP!" He screamed loudly and ran out of the building. Koschei didn't know where they were, but he didn't care anymore... all he wanted to do was get away from this man. The Doctor was a liar! He was dangerous and Koschei couldn't trust him... or his lies!

Coming to a stop outside, Koschei inhaled unevenly as emotions flooded his mind wildly. Hot tears fell down his face as he forced his legs to walk on down the street. What was he going to do? Believe this man or say he was a liar? Doctor had said Theta Sigma was his name.... so he must be him... Koschei wanted to believe it was him... that he was still alive after this war. But wait, the Doctor said he was alive too and they were enemies. 'That doesn't make anymore sense than him actually being Theta Sigma...' Koschei thought to himself quietly as he stopped at a street corner. Koschei would never hurt Theta or hate him for that matter. That was impossible! If anything, he loved Theta like his own brother. Maybe even more than that, if that was possible. A choked sob made Koschei cover his mouth. It was still pouring wet rain onto him, but he couldn't have cared any less. Rain wasn't important to him... Theta was...

'Wait a second....' Koschei stopped and glanced up at the sky when he saw a small rip. The rip began to slowly grow across the sky. Inside the the cut was pure blackness. Koschei stared at the opening in the sky... It was almost hypnotic how it stared back at him. Almost like it was calling to him.... Hearing a scream, Koschei saw someone dissolve in front of him. Quickly, he moved back with a gasp. Now this, wasn't something he'd seen before!



(It's fine. My replies are small too. I liked yours. Sorry it took so long to reply. I had stuff to do with my family. Back now. )