Chapter Text

KOSCHEI

Koschei had lost track of how long they'd been travelling or where they were. The trip from the larger estates on the outskirts of the Citadel to the center Academy was long and boring. The head of House Oakdown, Koschei's father, had sent The Nightingale, Koschei's oldest sister, to bring them in an old carriage. He didn't seem to care Koschei was leaving for The Academy, he couldn't even be bothered to spare a TARDIS. Koschei had been told their entire life, as soon as they turned eight, they'd be sent away to The Academy. The Academy every TimeTot is sent to. The Academy no one returns from the same as they were when they had first arrived. The Academy some Tots don't return at all. To say Koschei was scared was an understatement, not that they would ever admit it. To be scared is to be weak. And besides, children should be seen not heard.
"You alright back there Kos?" The Nightingale asked. She had already graduated from The Academy and chosen her Title. She had been the only one out of their older siblings who seemed to care about them. The rest mostly forgot they existed, "We're almost there! It's ok to be nervous. I've told you the story of my first day right?" They nodded, "Father had dropped me off a block away in his TARDIS on his way to meet The Rassilon. Told me to 'figure it out for myself' apparently if I couldn't make it to The Academy on my own I 'shouldn't even be considered to become a TimeLady'. I was the only one there without a guardian. I won't let that happen to you Kos. I'll stay with you until the orientation dinner." She paused to look at them, "Smile, this is a happy day! You'll finally be able to make your own friends, I promise." 
Koschei was silent for a long time "They won't like me" It was barely above a whisper, "No one ever does. Not Father, not our siblings, Mother barely tolerated me." 
"That's not true, Kos. They'll love you, I promise."
"Yeah, whatever." They said, completely unconvinced.
"Koschei, you promised me you'd stop talking about yourself that way"
"Yeah, whatever."
Finally and far too soon, they pulled in front of The Academy. It was a group of thirty-seven massive buildings with a mixture of residences for the students and lecture halls and classrooms. They would definitely be getting lost here, how was anyone supposed to be able to get around? Each building was made of red bricks and had many towers and pointed and twisted spires packed together with red gardens and beaten down paths between them. There was a group of three fountains at the front of the main building, where the dining hall and all the teachers' offices were.
As they all gathered in the main hall to be given their building and room keys, a blond boy a little bit shorter than Koschei came up beside him.
"I'm Theta Sigma, but most people just call me Theta! What's your name?" The boy, Theta, asked with a wide smile on his face. He was very disheveled and he was sitting on a large suitcase, it barely looked bigger on the inside.
"Koschei of House Oakdown," They replied. It was a well practiced and almost robotic response.
"House Oakdown? Cool! You must have a TARDIS then? Do you have more than one? Have you ever been off Gallifrey? Do your parents ever let you fly it? What's it like? Is it true they're alive? And they're almost infinite on the inside? I've never even seen a TARDIS in person. I hope they'll teach how to fly here. If you're from House Oakdown you must come here all the time. I've never really been this far into the Citadel. I mean once when I was a baby but that doesn't count since I don't remember it..." It was a steady stream of words. He'd start talking about one thing, only to leave it abandoned in favour of the next. Once theta started talking, he didn't seem to need someone else to talk back. Koschei looked at their sister to see an encouraging smile on her face. 
Koschei slowly started adding in their own thoughts to what Theta was saying, gradually starting to feel more at ease with him next to them. There was something strangely comforting about the way he spoke. The way he seemed to hang onto every word or expression he managed to get from Koschei, like they were the only thing on Gallifrey that mattered at that moment.
Somewhere in their conversation they were given their uniforms and the cards to open their rooms and told to go find them. 
"I mean, would it kill them to actually tell us how to get there? Instead of just telling is the name of the building and the room number?" Theta complained half-heartedly as they made their way out of the main building.
"I guess. At least our room numbers are next to each other though. So we'll be finding our way together, we might even be canmates if we're lucky," Koschei replied. 

They managed to find their rooms after quite a bit of wandering around, with the help of The Nightingale remembering a few "shortcuts" that took longer for her to find than it would have had they not tried to find them. In the end, they managed to find their rooms and unpack. 
Their rooms were simple, with plain white walls a small dresser next to an even smaller desk with a bed placed in the corner. All the rooms on their floor were grouped into two, with each pair connected by a shared bathroom. Each pair were called "cans". 
"Looks like you two are going to be canmates after all! Try not to get into too much trouble while you're here," The Nightingale smiled down at her little sibling and their new friend, "I have to get going though, unfortunately. Father won't like me staying out too long, and you two need to get ready for the orientation dinner. The Headmaster does not tolerate tardiness."
After saying their goodbyes (that definitely did not have any tears shed, no matter what Theta said) and The Nightingale promising to come visit as often as she could, Theta and Koschei changed into their uniforms and joined their classmates on their way to the dining hall for their orientation dinner.

Around half way through the dinner Theta and Koschei noticed that the members of The High Council had started to come in and collect the TimeTots starting at The Academy that year.
"Have you seen any of them come back after being taken away?" Theta whispered in Koschei's ear.
"I haven't. I hope they're not getting in trouble though. How could that many people get themselves in trouble on the first day?" Koschei whispered back.
It wasn't long before someone came for Theta, completely ignoring the fact that he hadn't finished eating and basically dragging him out when he tried to point it out to the woman.

Chapter Text

THETA SIGMA

Theta was annoyed. He hadn't even finished eating when the woman had come to get him. How could they be getting him in trouble, he hadn't even done anything! This is unfair. He would try to say something again, but she didn't seem to like that when he tried in the dining hall. And this lady was kind of scary, and it hurt when she grabbed his arm. But if Theta wanted to be a good TimeLord some day, he would have to just suck it up. 
He hoped Koschei wasn't too scared without him there. They didn't seem to like new people or big crowds.
"We're almost there. Lord Rassilon will take you the rest of the way." The woman said, breaking through his thoughts.
"Which one's this?" The Rassilon asked "Tell me your name boy. Your real name, not the silly nickname your friends call you. I am not your friend, I am not your friend, I am The Lord Rassilon, your President and your Lord."
Theta hesitated. Was that allowed? He was told never to tell anyone his birth name. But this is the Rassilon and the High Council, they could probably find it if they wanted, so he told them. No one in the High Council even acknowledged his response. The Rassilon just turned and walked away into the dark motioning for Theta to follow. 
They walked for a long time before The Rassilon stopped a few meters away from what looked like a circular screen. The Rassilon again motioned Theta forward, and when he reached the front of the screen he saw swirling shapes of smoke and matter. The longer he looked the more the shapes seemed to form the vague outlines of pictures. It quickly became obvious that what he was the whole of Time and Space. This was the Untempered Schism! But this was forbidden to look into! Everyone always said it showed you your future, and that whatever you saw in the Schism was doomed to happen. You could not re-write The Future of the Schism. But why show him? Why Theta? He was just some random TimeTot at The Academy. Was this where all the other Tots had been taken from their dinner?
The pictures turned into scenes and Theta watched as they unfolded in front of him. Theta watched what the Schism showed him. He watched as a war unfolded in front of him, a horrible war. There was fire everywhere and things, big metal round things flying in the sky, they had hemi-spherical bumps on the lower half, three slightly differently shaped rods sticking out the front, and two lights blinking on the rounded tops. The things were flying around shooting any TimeLord in sight in a city that looked suspiciously like the Citadel in ruin. 
It didn't take long for the scene to change. This time there was a tall man with very short black hair in a leather jacket, he seemed very familiar, but still not quite right, like they hadn't met yet. There was another man, the same height as the first. He had longer hair, and he wore a blue long coat that looks like a military jacket. Between them is a shorter blonde girl wearing a red blue and red striped shirt. They're backed into a wall surrounded by people of all ages, wearing a sort of gas mask.
The scene shifted again, and Theta watched a young boy in a yellow shirt stood alone and scared at the main console of a spaceship as it exploded.
The next scene was much calmer. There was four people sitting together on a blanket on a beach. There was another very familiar man leaning against a woman with wild blonde hair and a gun strapped to her hip smiling up at her. Sitting across from them is another couple, a woman with bright red hair and a man with brown hair laughing at something.
Another showed the same blonde woman, in a fancier dress and without the gun, sitting at a table of a restaurant reading from a blue book. She was sitting with an older man, who looked very sad. He was the same as the previous two, only much older this time.
The Schism changed again. This time it showed another man in a brown suit, he's the same one as before but this time a different regeneration, standing surrounded by shattered glass. He's pointing a gun at a blond man in a black sweater who feels far too similar to Koschei for comfort. Behind the first man is The Rassilon, coaxing him to pull the trigger.
It felt like Theta  had been there for hours. He was watching his future unfold in front of him, and it was terrifying. It seemed like everywhere he went death and destruction followed. was this the sort of man he was going to become? Theta didn't want to stay for any longer, Rassilon be damned! He wasn't going to stay and watch this. Theta turned and ran without so much as a glance in The Rassilon's direction. He kept running until he made it back to his room. Locking the door behind him, he sat on the floor leaning against the wall, and waited for Koschei to get back from dinner.

Chapter Text

KOSCHEI

It had been around ten minutes since the woman from The High Council had gotten Theta. Three other Tots had been taken since then. None of them had come back. Koschei was only half surprised when the same Council Member came to retrieve them and lead them outside. Part of them was relieved that they had an excuse to leave the dinner early. There were too many people, it was too loud, and they had started to feel like they were backed into a corner without Theta there with them. The other part of them was scared of the woman they were following. She had hurt Theta when she had all but dragged him out of the hall.
Eventually they had reached where The Rassilon was waiting. They told him their name when asked for it, their real name, even though they didn't really want to. The Rassilon lead them further away from The Academy and into the dark. 
When they stopped walking The Rassilon motioned them forward to look at a circular screen a few scatterings away. As they walked forward they could see that this was the Untempered Schism, the thing they had had recurring nightmares about since they heard that it existed from their sisters and brothers. But this can't be right, there is no way The Rassilon would want them to look into this! Seeing your own future was forbidden! They could feel their heartrates picking up, they could hear them pounding in their ears, like a drumbeat of four.
Koschei looked into the schism as it showed them The Citadel in ruin with metal creatures flying around killing anything in their way. The whole city was on fire, they could barely see anything through the thick layer of smoke. There was rubble on the ground and flying through the air. There were dead bodies on the ground. So many bodies. So many people who will never get a proper burial. 
The drumbeat continued, never stopping.
The next scene shows themself, only a little bit older than they are now, being dragged by Theta through the streets of The Citadel and out to the Drylands. Chasing behind them, are a few police officers, calling out for then to stop. Theta's laughing like it's the funnest thing in the world. 
They can hear them louder now, the drums. The drums that never stop.
A different scene shows a man, who Koschei knows they will eventually become, shooting another man in a brown suit with some sort of rapid aging device. The other man feels too close to the way Theta does. Koschei doesn't want to think about what this could mean for their future and their friend. They watch as he puts the now old and frail thing, barely resembling a man, in a large birdcage. 
All the while the drums keep playing. The drums that never stop.
The scene shifts again. This time it showed themself and many other people they recognised from the dinner. They were all in The Academy's ceremonial robes, it was their graduation day. They'd be almost 190 years old by then. The older Koschei looked sad, almost on the verge of tears. They were looking at Theta from across the room. He was glaring at them from next to a girl Koschei didn't recognise. Theta was the only person there that wasn't wearing Gallifreyan clothes.
The Schism shifts to show a very familiar woman in a floor length dress sitting playing music on an instrument Koschei doesn't recognise. She was sitting inside a sort of glass cage. She was probably a few regenerations after the man from the last scene. Just outside the cage was a tall man with curly grey hair and angry eyebrows, an older version of the man in the brown suit, staring at her with a sad look in his eyes. Next to him was a short bald man who was saying something and looking very annoyed.
By now the drums have become too loud to ignore. The drums that never stop.
Koschei has started to get a headache from it. 
No matter how much Koschei tries to will them away, the drums only seem to get louder. The drums that never stop.
They keep drumming even when Koschei has to hold their head because it feels like it's going to explode. 
They keep drumming. 
They never stop drumming.
All they can hear are the drums.
The drums that never stop.
It's just the drums. The drums.
The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums. The drums.
the drums
the drums
the drums
the drums
the drums
always the drums
always drumming
always drumming
drumming
drumming 
drumming drumming 
drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming
drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming 
drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drumming drummingdrumming drummingdrummingdrumming drumming drummingdrummingdrumming drummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrummingdrumming

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𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌

ｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇｄｒｕｍｍｉｎｇ

DRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMINGDRUMMING

Koschei woke up disoriented and dizzy. The drums were still playing in their ears, but it was easier to ignore now. They could see Theta staring at them from a chair at the foot of their bed.
"The woman brought you back here about twenty minutes ago." Theta whispered, "What happened Kos? Did they bring you to see the Schism? That's where they brought me.  I think that's where they brought everyone we saw leaving the hall."
"Yeah, they brought me to the Schism." Koschei responded, "I don't really know what I saw. What did you see?"
"I don't know either." 
They both knew they were lying, but neither wanted to acknowledge what they had seen. Too scared that if they did, what they had seen would come true.

Chapter Text

THETA SIGMA

Months later Theta and Koschei had long since settled into their new rooms and classes. They kept growing closer to each other and soon became almost inseparable. Theta had spent more time exploring The Academy grounds for secret passages and the best ways to sneak out than he did doing his actual homework. Koschei was a much better student, always completing their assignments and homework on time.
Theta woke up early that day. He only ever woke up early if he was planning on causing trouble. Most days he barely woke up in time to make it to class, if he made it at all.
Theta had managed to convince Koschei to skip classes that day and to sneak out to the Oakdown Estate. They weren't doing anything important that day and Koschei had a hard time denying Theta of anything.
Theta had wanted to see if the rumours of House Oakdown having the largest estate in The Citadel, outside of The Rassilon, were true. They were waiting at the DriftLine Terminal for it to bring them out there. The DriftLine was the public transportation of The Citadel. It had a long, smooth, rounded body made of a dark maroon coloured metal cut into segments a around eight or nine scatterings long. The Line travels at incredible speeds throughout The Citadel floating on a track of superconducting magnets.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Koschei said as they filed onto the DriftLine with a crowd of TimeLords on their way to work. "This is a horrible idea. We're going to get in so much trouble for skipping class."
"We will if you keep blabbing about it!" Theta said back, "It's only against the rules if we get caught!" 
Inside the DriftLine there were rows of seats for the people traveling on the Line. They found the two seats closest to the exit and the door to the next car in case they got caught and needed to make a quick getaway as the Line sped off to it's next destination.

The two Tots got off the DriftLine a few minutes walk away from the Oakdown Estate. Running through the streets until they reached the fence enclosing the estate. Koschei lead Theta to a small hole in the fence The Nightingale had shown Koschei a few years prior. They ran as far as they could away from the estate house, trying to stay as quite as possible to not get caught by anyone in the building. They ran as fast as they could through fields of red grass before collapsing in a pile of giggles and grass and mud stained clothes. They stayed lying there, tangled together, quietly watching a beatitude eat the nectar from a nearby flower.
"I can't wait for the crossover break," Theta said suddenly, "We'll finally get a break from school before moving on to next year. I can't believe the year is almost over. Do you think you'll go home for the break?"
"I think I have to. Father doesn't pay much attention to me, but I think he'll take it as an insult if I don't choose to come home."
"I won't go home," Theta responded, "It's much nicer here in The Citadel than it is on the farm. I mean, I miss the other boys and all, but The Academy's beds are so much more comfortable than my bed in the barn back home." 
"That makes sense I guess."
"One day I'm going to get out of here Kos," Theta said after a pause, "I don't know how or when, but I will. I'll steal a TARDIS if I have to." He was staring up at the sky when he said it, imagining all the different planets and solar systems there were out there in space.
"Where would you go?" Koschei sounded sad when they said it.
"Anywhere and everywhere. Anytime too; I'll have a TARDIS, so I'll have all of Space-Time at my fingertips. Will you come with me Kos?" He turned to Koschei. When had they turned to face him? "Will you travel the stars with me?"
"Of course," Koschei whispered, shifting even closer to Theta.
They stayed in that field for hours. Talking about all the places they wanted to go see. They had stayed for so long, losing track of time, before they knew it the suns had started to set, they barely made it back to The Academy in time for the curfew.

Chapter Text

KOCSHEI

It had been two school cycles since Theta had promised to take them to see the stars, and Koschei hadn't let themself let go of it. They found themself thinking of that day every time Theta tried to drag them out into The Citadel to skip classes again. And every time it got harder and harder to refuse, even when the situations Theta got them into got more and more dangerous and ridiculous. Which is exactly what lead them to that moment. Theta had decided he wanted his own psychic paper, and of course, in true Theta fashion, he wanted to get one stolen directly from a harmony officer. They were running through the streets of The Citadel, being dragged along by a laughing Theta. It was the exact scene The Untempered Schism had showed them. 
They had managed to sneak onto the DriftLine; it was bringing them to the poorer side of The Citadel. The district was full of run-down buildings and warehouses. On the other side of the wall, just outside the dome was the farmland that provided all the food for everyone in The Citadel.
"The officers followed us onto the Line" Theta whispered to Koschei, "I can see them through the window in the door to the last car. We need to move; they'll see us here." He stood up and stretched, acting like it was the most natural thing in the world. He grabbed Koschei's hand and pushed through the door to the next car. As soon as the first door shut, Theta spun around, pinning himself and Koschei to the wall behind the door where they'd be hidden from view.
They were close, too close. Koschei was painfully aware that they were basically pressed into Theta's side. They could hear the drums louder again. 
They stayed close like that for a long time. Long after the harmony officers passed by, missing them completely.

They got off the DriftLine, Theta once again leading Koschei by the hand.
"I used to sneak into this area of The Citadel all the time when I was younger," Theta said, leading them both closer to the wall of the dome surrounding The Citadel, "The other boys and I would sneak into some of the warehouses and steal food. There's no official gate to the farmland for civilians; you need to be delivering stalk to one of the warehouses to get through," The wall came into view as they turned a corner behind a warehouse, "But, somewhere around here there is a small hole just big enough to fit a person. Here it is. Good, it looks like they haven't bothered to fix it," He crouched in front of a thin square metal sheet attached to the wall by only one screw at the top. Koschei watched as Theta pushed the metal to the side revealing a small tunnel through the thick wall.
"That leads to The Drylands."
"Yes, it does."
"But nothing's out there. What if we get lost? No one will know where we are! We could regenerate or die out there!"
"Kos, the farm I grew up on is right beside The Drylands. It's really not as scary as it looks. Come on," With that he started crawling through the wall, not even looking to see if Koschei was following.

Walking through The Drylands was hot. Koschei was half concerned they would melt. They had been walking for almost 45 minutes through the orange sand before Koschei saw something in the distance. It almost looked like a village. 
Of course, when they had pointed it to Theta, he only wanted to go see what it was.
Running through The Drylands was even hotter than walking. Even in their casual clothes, and not the many layers of the Academy uniform, it was almost unbearable.
"It is a village!" Koschei gasped as they ran close enough to make out proper details. It was a small village, there couldn't have been any more than fifty buildings in total. There were paths in the sand between each of them.
"There are actual people living out here! This is incredible!" They started walking down one of the paths.
"Except there aren't any people here Thete. The lamps are still lit, but there's not a single person here." Koschei pointed out. The seemingly abandoned village was creeping them out. They kept hold of Theta's hand, sticking as close to their friend as they could.
"That's because they've all gone inside," A voice said, "We saw you coming long ago. We don't like people from The Citadel," It was coming from a boy, only a few years older than them. He was sitting on the roof of what looked to be someone's home.
"How do you know we're from The Citadel?" Theta asked, stepping in front of Koschei. 
"You were surprised to see a village out here."
"Fine. But, they told us no one lived out here," 
"No," The boy sighed, "They told you no one important lives out here," He jumped down from the roof, landing perfectly on his feet and started walking toward the two, "Who are you anyway? Why did you come here? You're too young to be some of The Rassilon's lackies. So, who are you?"
"I'm Theta Sigma, this is Koschei," Theta pulled them closer behind him, "We don't work for The Rassilon, we're here skipping class. We wanted to give ourselves a longer weekend. Who are you? And why don't like us? We haven't done anything to you!" Koschei was glad, not for the first time, that Theta liked to do all the talking.
"Dillrelian. I'd say it's a pleasure, but we all know that's a lie," The boy, Dillrelian, said. He was slowly circling them now, "And as for why we don't like you? It's less what you specifically did, and more what all you TimeLords are doing. Let me tell you a little story." 
Dillrelian told them of what life in The Drylands was like. He told them how The Citadel almost ignored the existences of the villages in The Drylands unless they needed something from the villages. They would take almost all the food from the villages if the farms around The Citadel didn't produce enough that year. They did it even while knowing that The Drylands were nearly impossible to grow food on, and the villages were already starving most years. When the villages would turn to The Citadel for help after a particularly bad dust storm that left buildings buried or destroyed, they would be turned away with empty promises of "getting to that eventually" that no one really believed. They would send someone twice a year to each village to take any "excess" materials and food, regardless of the state of the farms of The Citadel. But what they deemed to be "excess" would result in a food shortage that would last until just before the next time they came. Those times were never as bad as when The Citadel's farms failed, but the consistency almost made it worse.
"This is horrible! How could The Rassilon let this happen?" Koschei asked quietly. Somewhere in the story the three had sat down on the crates outside of the house Dillrelian had been sitting on. The people had started to come out of the buildings too, going back to their daily lives.
"Allow this? The Rassilon enforces this!" Dillrelian laughed humourlessly.
"We had no idea this was happening! We didn't even know people lived out here!" Theta said, "Please believe us, we never would have agreed with this!"'
"I believe you. I can feel you're telling the truth" Dillrelian smiled
"You can...feel it?" Koschei was confused. How can he feel they're telling the truth?
"Does The Academy not teach you how to use your telepathy?" Now Dillrelian looked confused.
"No, they don't," Theta said and Koschei shook their head.
"Come inside. This will take a while and it's too hot out here with both Suns at their peak." Dillrelian walked into the house with them following close behind.

They had stayed there in the village, that they had learnt was called Narina, for the four days until Koschei made them go back The Academy; they didn't want to skip two days so close together. Dillrelian and his family had ben kind enough to let the two stay with them. The family had spent almost the whole four days explaining how Gallifreyan telepathy worked and teaching them how to control it. There were different types of telepathy they could have, and different levels of each. It could range anywhere between being able to vaguely feel the emotions of those close to them, to being able to "hear" the thoughts of everyone in the room.
They discovered that all three of them were able to feel others’ emotions and project his own onto the people around them, occasionally picking up a mumble of the other's thoughts. Theta was also able to almost perfectly see into people's minds and manipulate them from the inside, as well as plant images in their head, real or fake. The only limitation being that he had to be touching them to do it. Koschei seemed to have a talent for hypnosis. They were able to influence someone's mind little by little into thinking a certain way. Only one person at a time and it took a lot of concentration. Maybe if they kept working at it, they’d be able to use it on a group of people.
As they were leaving to make the long trek back to The Citadel, Dillrelian's mother had handed them each a small snack for the walk, telling them to come back to keep training their telepathy. Eventually, if they worked at it, no matter what kind of telepathy they had, they might be able to permanently connect their minds so that they can have whole conversations only by thinking.

Chapter Text

THETA SIGMA

Torvic.
Theta hated Torvic. 
He was almost constantly harassing both Theta and Koschei, but especially Koschei. He only really seemed to turn on Theta when he tried to stick up for Koschei.
Theta was fine with being tormented almost daily, he could stand up for himself. Hell, he was expecting it, being the only Tot at The Academy that came from outside the dome of The Citadel. What Theta couldn't excuse was Torvic targeting Koschei. That was his best friend! No one was allowed to hurt them!
This was the only day Theta was going to school with the intention of actually enjoying it. They were brought on a field trip to a local museum. They had only just gotten to the TARDIS room; the only reason Theta had gone. He just wanted to see a TARDIS, or maybe even go inside if he was lucky. Torvic however, seems to have other plans. 
"That’s enough. Just leave them alone Torvic," Theta said, putting himself between Torvic and Koschei and pushing Torvic away slightly, "They haven't done anything to you, so what your problem?"
"How do you know they've never done anything to me, huh? It's not like you're ever in class," Torvic sneered, "Besides, if they're too small and weak that they need their 'big bad Theta' to fight for them, they shouldn't even be at The Academy," Some of Torvic's friends snickered from behind him. Where were the teachers when people like Torvic started acting like this? Aren't they meant to protect the Tots they teach? "This place is meant to shape us into leaders. To turn us into people who are actually worthy of earning our TimeLord Titles, not just be dead weight. Although, I think Koschei over here is a bit too far beyond any hope of being a good TimeLord," His friends laughed again.
Theta couldn't listen to this anymore. Torvic had no right to talk about Koschei like this. Without thinking he shoved Torvic back. Hard. Hard enough Torvic stumbled back a few feet before falling to the floor. Not waiting for him to get back up, Theta grabbed Koschei's hand and pulled them away through the crowd of their class and closer to where their teacher and tour guide were standing.
Before they could get to the front of the front Theta was pushed to the side. Torvic had gotten back up and gone after them again. Theta lost his balance trying not to pull Koschei down with him as he fell over and landed painfully against one of the pillars outlining the room. He looked up to see it wasn't a pillar, it was the TARDIS the museum had out on display. He could feel her concern for him reaching out to his mind. She could feel his anger as soon as he landed against her, and his pain from the landing. She was alive, so very alive. How could a museum keep a beautiful living, breathing creature like this on display as if she were just another piece of machinery?
Theta had no idea how long he was sitting there before Koschei pulled him up. The teacher and tour guide had finally noticed what was happening and come over to intervene. Theta could see their teacher scolding Torvic and his friends, thank The Menti. Their tour guide was focusing more on him. The guide tried to explain that people weren't meant to touch the TARDIS because she was broken and dangerous, but Theta wasn't listening. How could she be dangerous? When he touched her, when she had connected with his mind, he had felt nothing but kindness. He can still feel her in the back of his mind, still feel her kindness and her concern and care for him. She didn't feel broken either. Sure, a little bit lonely from having been left in the museum by her pilots, but not at all broken. Anyone would be sad in her situation.
After their teacher and guide had delt with the situation, which basically meant Torvic got off with barely more than a “don’t do that again”, they continued with their tour. Torvic thankfully didn’t try anything for the rest of the day.

Later that night when the Tots had returned to their cans for the night, Theta stayed lying awake for hours. He could still feel the TARDIS in his mind. He could feel her loneliness and sadness at her previous pilots leaving her the museum, just because her navigation system had malfunctioned a few times. He could feel her sadness stronger now. Her pilots hadn't taken care of her properly, and through their neglect, they had ended up damaging her navigation system. Instead of trying to help her and fix their mistake they left her abandoned in a museum where she was deemed "dangerous" and forbidden from making contact with any of the hundreds of TimeLords that go through the museum daily. Both the museum and her previous pilots barely fueled her with enough rift energy to keep her alive. It was torture for a TARDIS. They needed rift energy to survive, the same way a TimeLord needs food. And despite what most TimeLords thought, TARDISes were actually very social creatures, and they needed a bond with someone to stay healthy.
That night Theta made a decision. When he finally left Gallifrey, he would take her with him. He would steal her from the museum and free her, he'd treat her right, and he'd bring her on all sorts of adventures so she could forget about how she was treated before. Koschei would be there too, obviously. It would be just the three of them, travelling the universe and seeing the stars. Forever.

Chapter Text

THETA SIGMA

The crossover break was Theta's favourite time of the year. A month and a half break with no classes and no responsibilities. The only downside was that Koschei went home every break and Torvic didn't. But, without Koschei there with him, Theta had decided it wasn't worth the trouble to fight back against Torvic and his goons, so he had left their residence at The Academy. And so, despite what it might look like, Theta was absolutely not running away from them because he was scared that he would be beaten by Torvic. He could take them all in a fight! He definitely could!
He ran through The Academy grounds to the front building, hoping the threat of the teachers' and headmaster's offices being there would get his pursuers to give up and leave him alone. Theta ran down the back stairs, two at a time, only stopping when he realised he had no idea where he was. He was somewhere in the third basement, if he had counted the number of flights of stairs he went down correctly, but he stopped paying attention after that. There was a large metal door at the end of the hall. As he walked toward it he could feel the TARDIS he met in the museum two cycles earlier in his mind, she was telling him, screaming at him, to turn back, go back the way you came! He ignored her and walked closer to the door, it was almost like whatever was behind the door was calling him to go inside. Whether it was his own curiosity or if there really was something behind the door, Theta wasn't sure. There was no door handle so he tried pushing the door open and it swung open surprisingly easily.
Inside, it was a large network of rooms. There were pillars and figures of people and things scattered standing around the rooms and black vines growing everywhere, so many vines. Theta walked inside and the door slammed behind him. He couldn't feel the TARDIS anymore, replaced by the whispers of the things around him.
As he walked further into the room, he could see everything more clearly. The vines weren't vines at all! They were cables made of validium, they were alive! The figures were old TimeLords, former members of The High Council and other Lords and Ladies that went missing hundreds of years ago. There were weeping angels and metal people and the same round metal robots from the scene from The Schism.
He walked up to one of the people wearing the collar of The High Council. Her face was flickering in and out of view, glitching in and out of reality. Her face was distorted, like she was screaming out in pain. She almost looked like the stories he had heard about what the Cloister Wraiths were. No... it wasn't almost. She was a Cloister Wraith! He had walked right into The Cloister Matrix Library! He turned to try to leave and the whispers from the wraiths got louder. The closer he got to the door the louder they got until they were screaming at him. He couldn't understand what they were saying just that they really didn't want him to leave. It hurt his ears, he could feel their anger. It was terrifying, he could barely move back to where they seemed to want him, let alone get any closer to the door.
He walked further into The Cloisters. The Wraiths seemed to like that, the whispers were much quieter. Sometimes it almost sounded like music. Walking aimlessly through The Cloisters was not a pleasant experience. He could always hear the Wraiths around him, but it could be anywhere between soft whispers or deafening screams. Walking around surrounded by living cables that he knew were waiting, itching, to tie him up, file him into the Matrix, and turn him into a Wraith made it so much worse.
It didn't take long before he started seeing things. He would turn the corner and Koschei would be there beckoning him closer, but when he walked closer all it was a bundle of validium cables reaching out and growing towards him. He would have to remind himself that Koschei was still at the Oakdown House with their family, they were safe. Other times he would be walking between two pillars or wraiths, and he would walk into a wall that was most definitely not there a second earlier.
Theta kept wandering around through each of the rooms for hours before he recognised the pattern. The Cloister Wraiths' whispers sounded song-like when he was on one specific room. And the further he was from that room the more the whispers hurt. What was more, the whispering sounded almost like Gallifreyan in one specific part of the room. They wanted him there. Was it so he could be filed into the database? Were they just messing with him?
He had searched every inch of the room before he found it. A trap door in the floor. When he sat down beside it The Wraiths went completely silent. Taking that as permission, Theta began trying to get the door open. When he finally succeeded, it revealed a maintenance tunnel underneath The Cloisters. He climbed down the ladder and followed the tunnel to the next trapdoor he could find.
This one let him out a little down the road from The Academy. This was perfect! Theta recognised the buildings from all the times he had stuck out and skipped class. He knew how to get back to The Academy!
As soon as he got back to his and Koschei's can, he barely made it to his bed before he passed out and slept for the rest of the day and the next. The Cloister Wraiths and the Matrix had drained a lot more of his energy than he had originally thought.

Chapter Text

THETA SIGMA

Why do the harmony officers have to be such self-righteous bastards? Pretty much everyone in The Citadel was, but especially the harmony officers; and come on, Theta wasn't even doing anything this time! He was just walking down the road away from The Academy! And the officers started chasing him for no reason! Sure, he was planning on stealing a part from the Lunar RailSpire, but he hadn't yet! Besides, it was a tiny piece, they probably had a million extras as backups.
"Oh well," He said to no one in particular, "Might as well make the most of it and go up to Pazithi." He ran into the pavilion with the RailSpire. There were more guards than normal, that was weird. 
He snuck around the corner into the pavilion and ran to the closest spire before any of the guards noticed him. They didn't seem very good at their jobs. They weren't meant to let tots under 65 onto Pazithi unaccompanied. Especially not if they were skipping their first day of classes after crossover. On second thought, maybe that was why the officer had started chasing him. Theta was notorious for playing hookie.
He used his stolen psychic paper to activate the spire to bring him up to the moon. As soon as Theta got off the spire he continued running, trying to put as much distance between himself and the guards as possible. He was sitting in an alley between two shops, waiting to catch his breath, when he noticed them. Sitting at a table at the opening of the alley was The Rassilon and his family. He hadn't noticed Theta yet, but his daughter did, almost immediately. Sitting perfectly still with perfect posture, they offered him a half smile. He waved and they sent him back a small wave from under the table. She didn't seem to want her father to notice Theta was there any more than he did. With The Rassilon so close Theta didn't want to risk moving, he hid there until he heard them get up and go back inside.
Just as he was about to run out of the alley, a door opened behind him. 
Shit. They had noticed him. 
Shit. 
There was no running from The Rassilon; Theta wasn't so stupid he would risk the rest of his life trying to resist The President and Lord of Gallifrey. He turned around, if he could break the rules, he could take the punishment with dignity. He definitely wasn't trying to figure out how to get away with this and all his previous crimes.
"You're not The Rassilon," He said. It was the girl. He hadn't been caught. Good.
"No. That's my father," They said, "I'm Arcadia. Who are you?"
"Theta"
"Well Theta, my father will come looking for me soon. We should probably get out of here before that happens, don't you think?" 
"What?" Theta asked.
"You're not supposed to be here, and I know you're here," She smiled innocently, "If you let me go back inside to my family, I'll have to tell my father of the boy who snuck onto Pazithi Gallifreya. You don't want to make my father angry. So instead, you'll just have to kidnap me."
"What?" Theta asked again.
"Very elegant," She deadpanned, "Is that all you know how to say? Oh, just come on." She grabbed his hand and started to run.
"Hey!" This wasn't right, "I'm the one who does the hand grabbing! Not the other way around!" 
"Tough." 
They continued to run, pulling Theta behind them.

"I haven't run like that in forever," Arcadia said as she sat down.
They had run for a few blocks before deciding to buy some ice cream and eat it on a nearby roof so the guards who would be looking for Arcadia wouldn't see them.
"You should hang around me more often then," Theta joked, "You'll be running around like that all the time."
"Really?" What? They weren't supposed to agree to that! This was The President's daughter! There was no way someone like them would want to hand around a Tot like him! But they seemed excited at the thought, and who was Theta to deny her of a little fun.
"Sure!" He said, sitting next to her at the edge of the roof, "I live at The Academy full time. I only go home when they force me to, between cycles. I'm sure we'll run into each other again soon."
"Actually, I'm homeschooled," She looked sad when she said it, "Father doesn't want me to be 'influenced by the lower class of TimeLords'. He says it'll corrupt me. I've never really had any friends. Father barely lets me interact with the other Tots at parties, even though it's the only time I get to see other people my age."
"Oh," Theta thought for a moment, "You know, I've gotten pretty good at sneaking into places. If you can get yourself out of the house and close to the edge of the yard of The Presidential Estate, I bet I can get you out without anyone noticing! Koschei, my best friend, comes from the House Oakdown, so I've had lots of practice sneaking him in and out."
"Really?" Arcadia turned to him. She was really excited now, "The Oakdown House has almost as high security as The Presidential Estate! That could actually work!"

They stayed together for a few more hours. Hopping from roof to roof and avoiding guards. They had decided that that weekend, Theta and Koschei would go to The Presidential Estate to meet Arcadia and bring them to see The Citadel.
Eventually Theta decided he had to go back to The Academy.
"Kos gets worried if I don't make it back to our can withing an hour or two after classes end," He explained, "I hate making them worry. They've got such an expressive face. Not many people get to see it, because they're always trying to hide it. They don't like new people, you see. But when it's just us two, they let every little emotion show."
"You like them, don't you," Arcadia said.
"Of course. They're my best friend" Theta said, confused. Why wouldn't he like his best friend?
"No," Arcadia laughed, "You like like them. Come on, it's obvious. You get this sort of smile when you talk about them."
"What?" Theta was saying that a lot. He hadn't even realised he was smiling, "No! They're just my friend! I can't like them!" 
"Why can't you? It's not like it's wrong or anything. Lots of people fall for their best friend."
He can't like Koschei can he? Arcadia was right, there was nothing wrong with it. No one would even notice, it's not like much would change, they already spend all their time outside of class together. He could tell Koschei, if he did, they would only grow closer to each other, which Theta definitely wouldn't complain about. What was stopping him? Unless Koschei didn't feel the same way. He couldn't say anything. What would he do if they didn't feel the same way? He couldn't do it.
"Is it that obvious?"
"It is to me. Although, I don't imagine it would be to many other people." They smiled, "Anyway, we should get going. I've been hiding from my father for long enough. And you don't want to worry your Koschei. See you later, Theta!" She climbed down the fire escape and ran back to their parents.
"They're not mine" Theta whispered to himself and jumped to the next roof to start making his way the Lunar RailSpire to bring him back to Gallifrey, to bring him back to Koschei.