Veritas in Temporis

[Shuren]

*later*

“Lord President.” The door to the Lord President’s office squeaked open with that sentence. It was one of the Castellan, a high-ranking Time Lord who oversaw the Chancellery Guard and served to the Lord President, directly. This particular one was a female with pale skin that seemed to be in her early thirties. Though she was well over five hundred years old. “Yes Greyana?” replied the Games, signing the girl to come in. She did so upon his command, also pulling a familiar face from behind her. It was Holly; Greyana was holding her left arm with her hand, though she didn’t have to because her arms were restrained. “This woman surrendered an hour ago. She apparently said she had intel and that she would share it with you only.” explained the girl. “I see. You can release her.” said the Games after several seconds of silence, surprising Greyana greatly. “…My lord! She is a war-criminal!” she objected. Not only that but she was also concerned about the Lord President’s well-being. Who knew what could happen once this woman was released? Though the Lord President thought differently on the subject. He looked at the girl in the eyes, and spoke slowly. “Was I not clear, Greyanavoresimabora?” With that said, Greyana had no other options. She had served the Games for a while now, and she knew it wasn’t a good sign when he used their full names instead of the shorter ones he came up with. “…as you wish, my lord.” she said and released Holly. Afterwards she slowly walked towards the exit and let herself out. “What are you doing here Holly?” asked the Games, not seeming to be angry or surprised, but rather curious about this visit. Not to mention the fact that she had surrendered on her own probably signified a situation of changing sides. “I left. I couldn’t stand being with them anymore!” said Holly, her voice giving hints of fear and tiredness.

“What happened?” Upon the question, Holly shifted her eyes. She didn’t want to look the Games in the eyes. The Time Lord wondered, was this guilt? If so, what had caused it? “Gray… changed, Games. He is not the same person I met. He used to blow up, but he would still care. Now he is just mindlessly angry.” spoke Holly slowly and let out a sigh before she continued. “We were at the War Council Rassilon had gathered. He asked each of his commanders to choose a planet to start his invasion. Gray naturally chose Gallifrey. But he wasn’t the only one. Then Rassilon said that only one commander could claim a planet. And Gray… he…” She took a pause and gulped. “He killed that man. His own ally, without even breaking a sweat! It was senseless killing… He was so cold!” The Games’ eyes grew wider as he heard the news. His friend that had once ripped open his chest to check if he had a heart was slowly but gradually becoming heartless. “I see. And this intel you were talking about? At this point, one could even say that we don’t even need that sort of tactical advantages.” The Time Lord spoke with something that could be called pride, since they really did have the upper hand at the moment. He also wanted to change the topic since the other one seemed to be taking a toll on Holly. “Rassilon fled.” uttered the girl. “What?” “You are right about what you said, Games. He was losing and he did what he is the best at: he ran away.” The Games was surprised to hear that. Of course, like before it was normal for Rassilon to get away once the circumstances turned out against his favor. Yet, he hadn’t expected him to give up easily like that. “Interesting. That means nobody is in charge of the main fleet anymore.” he remarked. With Rassilon gone, they would be able to take out the biggest portions of their army. If anything one thing they required was constant leadership. And with that taken away, the Gallifreyan forces could just put pressure on them until they crumbled down. “That’s not all.” interrupted Holly, gathering the Games’ attention once again.

“I think Gray found a way to bypass your sky defenses.” What Holly said was impossible. Or that’s what the Time Lord thought about the Sky Trenches he had worked so much on. Nothing could penetrate them. So how could anybody be able to get past them? “I don’t know how he does it, I really don’t. But he is planning to attack with everything he has got in twenty four hours.” The Games was further shocked by the girl’s explanation. Having no other choice, he sent a notice to the headquarters. After all, they needed to defend their planet and the civilians; they could take out the enemy fleets without leadership later on as well. Afterwards, he stood up from his desk and walked next to Holly. He was standing close to her, which made it easier for Handles to materialize his TARDIS around them. Holly seemingly cheered up a bit by this; it had been a while since she had last stepped inside the console room. And travelling after all those depressing moments at Rassilon’s side sounded exciting to her. Though that wasn’t what the Games had in mind at all. “You won’t be safe here. Since you defected, they will be looking for you everywhere. I’ll return you home.” he said. It was true that Holly had made the right decision, but that still didn’t change how she had sided with Rassilon. Of course, he could understand that from her point of view it was nearly impossible not to have done so. But that didn’t change anything for him. Several minutes later, they were in London. The weather was nice, but darker. It had been several hours since the attack of the Autons and the streets had seemingly recovered: the Games was leaving Holly back where they had first met, on the same day. “Take this with you.” he said as they both stepped outside, and gave the girl a small, round disc. “What is it?” Holly asked, examining the disk. “It’s a portable time lock. Something my predecessor developed. If you are in danger, just press this button and it will put a protective temporal barrier around you. It will also send a signal to me, so I’ll be there to help. And no, daily situations don’t count.” Holly nodded and looked at the Time Lord. Her eyes would shortly tear up. “Games, I’m-” she began, but was cut off. “Don’t. I’ll see you again, with or without that time lock’s signal. Until then, just live your life eh?” The Time Lord had understood what she was about to say. She was probably going to apologize for causing so much trouble. But to be fair, it was his inability to save Gray as a child that had caused all of this. And that was his burden and his alone. With a smile, he patted on the side of Holly’s left shoulder and returned to his TARDIS. “Later.”

[Shuren]

It was difficult to say the least, for the Games to try and find a weakness inside a defense system he had so painstakingly developed. With all the improvements in mind, it still seemed impossible for anybody to penetrate them. Later on, it occurred to the Games that it really was impossible for anything to get past through, so much so that the only way to get inside was not going through the Sky Trenches. In other words, one would have to just appear within the surface. Thus, he made the proper preparations for the incoming assault. Just like he had expected, and what Holly had told him, Gray and the Daleks appeared on the fields of Gallifrey within the expected time interval. From the fashion of their arrival, it was quite apparent that they had incorporated the Vortex Manipulator with their own Temporal Shift. The battle began and both sides clashed. The Games was also fighting: while it was uncommon for a Lord President to be participating in the front lines, the Time Lord felt like not fighting with the powers he had would lead to needless sacrifice of his soldiers. He fought for hours, yet he was unable to locate Gray. Just when he had made his way to a hill to get a better view of the battlefield, standing on a pile of broken Daleks and dead Gallifreyan soldiers, he felt the space behind him start to shift. Before he could react, two beams pierced through both of his hearts from behind. He screamed in pain before falling down on the ground, his chest bleeding uncontrollably. “Well, well, well… The immortal Games, huh? Not too shabby when you are actually dying though!” exclaimed Gray, who was gushing with joy. “How did you-” The Games began to speak, but was cut off before he could finish his question. “Rassilon told me. He told me to either poison you or go for both of your hearts. He also said the latter would be more painful.” explained Gray with pride, and kicked the Time Lord in the head. It seemed that Rassilon had told him about their physiology. While the Games was invulnerable to most attacks and wouldn’t require to go through a complete change like a regular Time Lord, there were still exceptions. Some attacks could kill a Time Lord straight away and cancel regeneration; like drowning, poisoning or having both hearts damaged at the same time. While this didn’t apply to him, experiencing one of those would force him to go through a regular regeneration and change entirely.

“This doesn’t… change anything. I know that Rassilon fled.” said the Time Lord, breathing heavily. Deep inside, he could feel the regeneration that would change him starting, but he was holding it back for as much as he could. As for what he said, Gray was left unfazed. “So? I don’t need his portion of the army; I only need mine. My troops are still doing fine, mate. As long as I am active as their commander, they will wreak havoc. And while we are here, we might as well start with the Capitol or Arcadia.” he said with a grin before punching the Time Lord in the face again. “That’s… what you want then?” asked the Games, doing all he can to be able to look at Gray in the eye. “Precisely. Utter annihilation wherever I go. My kind of universe, don’t you think?” Afterwards, the young man kicked the Time Lord in the head for the last time, before turning around and walking away. “I… see. I only wanted to see how far you would go…” uttered the Games, making Gray stop. “What?” asked the young lad, as he turned his head around. Why would his depths of belief concern a dying man? “I’m… sorry.” Grunted the Games. He mustered all the strength he had to pull out a laser sword and run towards the young lad. With all of his might, he stabbed Gray in the stomach. He looked at him in the eye, and continued to breathe heavily. Gray on the other hand sported a disgusted expression; the fact that he had though such an attack could inflict serious harm on him was despicable. Little did he know, however, that the laser sword the Games had used had special qualities that canceled out Gray’s self-replicating energy matrix. By the time he had realized that because of the bleeding, which wasn’t supposed to happen, it was already too late. Looking at the Games, shocked, he yelled in pain when the Time Lord struck his abdominal area again with the laser sword before pulling it out and throwing it away. “You… you had that all along?!” asked the young lad, angrily. He was now lying on the ground among dead bodies, holding his abdomen with both of his hands. “Yes.” uttered the Time Lord, who was in a similar position. They were facing the opposite sides, with their heads being only centimeters apart from one another. “Why didn’t you… use it before?!” To think of it, there had been several instances they had fought since this whole war had started. With this weapon the Games could have easily made him vulnerable before and put an end to the war. “I wanted to… see for myself. That you had really lost… your humanity.”

Gray was shocked to hear this. All this time, the Games could have killed him. But he had not done so only because he had felt responsible for Gray’s actions. So much that he had only attacked once he was certain that his wrong behavior went beyond his childhood trauma. “In the past… you fought Daleks for the sake of people. But now… you are leading them… on a battlefield. You… you changed.” he said, speaking with great difficulty. His rhythm of breathing was getting worse each second, but even then he was able to hold his regeneration off. “It didn’t have to be this way, Gray.” he uttered. “I… think it did.” replied the young lad. His response made the Time Lord somewhat angry. “No. It didn’t. You used to tell me… about suppressing your anger… your desire to vanquish it instead of being consumed by it… You have become what you feared the most.” Feeling angry himself, Gray exploded. “What about you then? Eh?! You used to be… an inspiration! And… and what a fucking monster you turned out to be… just to achieve your ends…” He finished his sentence before making a low inarticulate sound because of his pain. “I think we… both had our fair share of mistakes, mate.” There was a silence for a while. Or whatever the sounds of distant fighting could be called. Not much later, however, that was disturbed by a small laughter. “I only regret one thing… you know? I regret that it took me so long to realize…” said Gray, his voice sounding very forced. His breathing had sped up and he was clenching his fists above his stomach. “Realize… what?” asked the Time Lord. “That you and me… we weren’t so different after all.” replied Gray. He took one last breath and looked at the orange skies of Gallifrey for one last time before closing his eyes. A slight smile was left upon his face. As life faded away from Gray’s body, the Games’ hands and face started to glow. He was no longer able to hold his imminent regeneration back. “In the end, I guess we really were alike.” he uttered, with a tear escaping his left eye. Not much later, he started to regenerate into his seventh incarnation.

[Shuren]

After regenerating the seventh incarnation decided that it was enough that he had been travelling randomly and decided to settle down for a while. Though he succeeded at that, certain events kept him occupied and thus he couldn’t find it in himself to stay at one place any longer. As he fought various enemies throughout his incarnations, the Games eventually cleared everything that stood in his way and returned to Caitlin. However, by that time he was already in his tenth incarnation. Parking his TARDIS just outside of the hospital, the young Time Lord stepped inside and made his way towards the corridor. Even though his fifth incarnation had checked Caitlin in several hours ago, it had been years for him. As much as stepping inside the same building to continue from where he had left off made him feel nostalgia, he was also experiencing a nervous state. He wasn’t the same man Caitlin knew, after all. But as far as he could remember, she wasn’t the same person he knew either. After several minutes of walking through the corridors and searching the right place, the Games entered the room that was on the far end of the twenty-second floor. The girl was still asleep, so he decided to sit down next to her and wait. He waited for an hour and a half before she woke up. “Hey.” he greeted softly, his eyes meeting the wondrous gaze Caitlin was exerting. “Who the hell are you?!” asked the girl, prompting the Time Lord to share his identity quickly. He actually expected this kind of reaction; there was a strange man sitting very close to her after all. “Calm down.” he said, but before he could tell her who he was Caitlin had already started with her plotting.“Oh no, no. I get it. You must be the one who knocked me down!”

“What?” exclaimed the Time Lord, trying to hold his laughter at the idea. Though this reaction didn’t soften up the mood. Instead, Caitlin seemed angrier than before and somewhat more demanding. “And Games… where is he? He has some explaining to do.” “Caitlin…” The Games reached for the girl’s hand to give her an assuring pat, however she reacted at this rather quickly again. “Stay away and tell me where Games is! I need to know! And how do you know my name?!” Even though she was unaware of it, the Games could see how Caitlin was being controlled by her ability. Even a simple piece of information like his location had made her go crazy with the urge to learn. It was as if she was being poisoned. “I never realized her desire to learn more had advanced to this stage.” he thought silently. “I am the Games.” said the Time Lord reassuringly. Yet, his revelation would be taken as a material for laughter. “Ahahahahahaha!” The girl laughed before stopping momentarily to look at the man. It was then that she understood he wasn’t trying to be ridiculous. “Wait, you’re actually serious.” she acknowledged his identity, but she was still waiting for a proper explanation. “I regenerated. Well, half a dozen times since we last met.” said the Time Lord casually. “Wow. How long have you been away?” This made the Games think. He had been away for a long while, though he hadn’t stopped once to check how long it had been. After a quick calculation, he replied. “Roughly twelve hundred years. But considering that I checked you in here just a couple of hours ago, I would-” “I missed it all…” His words were cut off by Caitlin. The girl was overwhelmed with the feelings of regret and sadness, that she wasn’t able to witness anything the Games had. She wanted to see new places as well as faces, especially the ones that belonged to the Time Lord. “I was in quite some trouble myself. I didn’t really-” he tried to speak again but was cut off once more.

“Still, you should have taken me with you. I missed it all!” Caitlin’s attitude was persistent, though she had no idea what he had been going through. His sixth and eighth incarnations had spent their entire lives fighting different wars, whereas his seventh and ninth tried to somewhat recover from the aftermath. He had even committed genocide as his eighth incarnation: it was the most peaceful one among the last four, however in a situation where the entire universe was at risk, he didn’t have another choice than sacrificing one planet. He would often tell himself it was all for the greater good, but that still didn’t justify what he had done. “Yeah, but see-” started the Games, but was interrupted. Deciding that this was going to be the last time Caitlin didn’t let him speak, he did the same. “I wanted to see all of-” “CAITLIN!” yelled the Games is angrily, his eyes glowing yellow. This successfully put the girl in her place and made her shut up. “During our travels I never thought that your gift was also a curse. The more you learn, the more you want to learn. And there is no end to it.” The Time Lord stood from his seat and walked towards the window of the room, opening it. Looking outside, he continued. “It changes you, Caitlin. Do you remember why you are here?” he asked. “Not really. I only remember exiting the TARDIS and… Huh… that’s weird. Nothing else comes to my mind.” stated the girl. It seemed that unlike Gray, Caitlin’s ability actually took over her. She wasn’t in control, to the extent that she couldn’t retain her memories after losing it. “We had discovered the Septuarins. Despite my warnings about their dangerous nature, you continued to talk with them and risked your own timeline. Moreover you commanded them to attack me.” He paused and turned back to face the girl.

“I had lots of time to think about it. I came up with a solution to fix that.” Caitlin’s expression changed after hearing this. It shifted to show more annoyance. “I don’t want you to fix it. Nothing is broken.” “Don’t test my patience. My word is final.” After hearing that the girl realized there was practically nothing she could do to stop her at her current state. She liked learning and didn’t want to give up her ability. Glancing at the open window. She jumped from her hospital cot and rushed to the window. She threw one of her legs over and looked down. “Before you do that, do you wonder what happened to the man that knocked you out?” said the Games, stopping the girl’s movement. He wasn’t going to question her rationality at this point, believing that none was left. Her urge to learn was taking over her again, making it more desirable to have Caitlin fall from twenty-two floors and waste a regeneration for nothing than losing her ability. “He was a very good friend, to say the least. I was lucky to have him there. We travelled after we left you here. But similarly to how you are losing to your eagerness to learn, he lost to his own anger and did terrible things.” The Games didn’t more an inch from where he was. He didn’t want to alert her senses and make her jump down, at least not until he finished what he had to say. “In the end, I killed him. I killed my friend.” Caitlin’s eyes grew wider as she heard the words come out of the Time Lord’s mouth. Her face showed the slightest hint of hesitation as she looked down below once again. “I don’t want to go through that again.” Though the Games had intended this to be a warning, the girl took this as a poor threat that displayed a weakness. So she jumped outside. She fell and fell until she hit the ground, horribly disfigured. And eventually her regeneration restored her back to perfect health, enabling her to run away towards the city. Meanwhile the Time Lord made his way to the TARDIS to get to Caitlin as soon as possible.

[Shuren]

Caitlin was a clever girl. Cleverer than the Time Lord had guessed, in fact. He was expecting to find her eventually but several months had passed since she had made her last appearance. It was as if she had disappeared from the surface of reality. She simply wasn’t the girl he had met all those years ago; she was using her intelligence for evil and self-gain. Though there was still one trait Caitlin hadn’t lost: she liked gloating every now and then. Knowing that, the Games settled down next to the Hospital. He knew that rather than finding her, the girl would find him when she thought it was fine to do so. And she did. Six months after her escape from the hospital, the Games received a signal from Handles regarding the sighting of Time Lord DNA on the outskirts of the city nearby. He made his way there, to a hill that stood above the others around it. Caitlin stood on top of it. She seemed… different to say the least; the aura she gave was dark and disturbing. The Games could feel a disturbance when he set his gaze upon her, as if her being was going against the rules of creation. “Long time no see, Caitlin. I see you have been up to quite some mischief.” he commented. Afterwards, the girl initiated eye contact with the Time Lord, letting him see that her green eyes were no more. They were bright purple instead. “Yes. Thanks to you opening my eyes, I now hold all the knowledge in the universe!” exclaimed Caitlin and raised her hands and her head. With this motion the space around the duo started to bend and spin. Knowing that this was unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of before, the Games lost his calm and his balance. “What… did you do?” he asked, terrified. Falling to the ground as he felt dizzy, the Time Lord tried to regain his composure as her received an answer.

“Well, I cracked the Skasis Paradigm of course!” The Skasis Paradigm was a mathematical equation behind the way the universe worked and existed. Anybody who managed the unleash the equation could control the building blocks of the universe. “No! Caitlin the paradigm holds immense power, it’s never meant to be solved!” objected the Games. In his younger years, there had been times when he was tempted to solve the paradigm as well. Yet, he had respected the flow of time like his peers. “I don’t think so Games. On the contrary, I believe they call it the God Maker for a reason. Haahhahahah!” The girl broke into laughter. This brought an upset expression on the man’s face. He slowly stood up, as his mind accepted the resolution he had come up with. “You leave me no choice Caitlin.” The Games’ eyes glowed yellow and the air around him started to form a funnel. They slowly formed a sprout under him as he rose higher in the sky. He had initiated his connection to the Time Vortex, intending to reverse Caitlin’s exposure to the paradigm by modifying her past. “I’m sorry that it has come to this.” he said, his voice echoing due to him channeling the Vortex. However, things wouldn’t go as expected. The girl simply grinned and pointed her hand at the man. Afterwards the sprout he was standing on disappeared and his eyes lost their yellow glow, as the Games fell down to the ground. Hard. “What did… you do?” he asked, panting because of the fall. Before answering him, Caitlin clapped her hands together and sent out a wave of purple energy in every direction. Afterwards she spoke. “Oh I just blocked your connection to the Time Vortex. The same goes for your TARDIS. And all other TARDISes.” she explained. She had just sealed the Time Vortex, entirely. “But… but-”

“The Vortex is but a subdomain of the many areas of a goddess’ power. I won’t have anybody stand in my way or try to change my timeline. Not even you, Games.” Seeing no other choice but to attack her physically, in hopes of knocking her out and working out a way to fix all of this. But as he stood up and ran, his right leg ached in great amounts of pain, making him grunt and fall again. Something was wrong with his body, it shouldn’t have taken this long for his leg to get better. Disregarding that thought, he changed plans and decided to attack from the long range. He extended his hands and readied himself to send a blast of regeneration energy at the girl. Much to his surprise, however, nothing happened. It didn’t take him long to realize that his regenerative powers had also been nullified. With a psychotic laugh, Caitlin began to walk towards the man. At the heat of the moment, not being able to think of any other distraction, the Games closed his eyes shut and imagined. That moment a figure appeared behind the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. Surprised, Caitlin looked back to see who it was and immediately received a well-connected punch on her right cheek. She fell down and disappeared, only to reappear in front of the figure, furious yet also curious: it was none other than the Games himself. Having him lie behind her, how could it be that he was standing healthy, fighting her? The fight didn’t last long, as the girl simply warped half of his body. She turned around to finish off the injured Games as well, but he was long gone.

“Thank you Siegrain.” whispered the Time Lord, lying on the floor of his TARDIS. “And thank you, Handles. If you had left the brakes on while landing like I do, she would have noticed me leaving. I still prefer that rusty noise though.” His thought projection had successfully distracted Caitlin while he was using his sonic to make Handles materialize the TARDIS around him. Dusting his clothes off, he held one of the railings nearby and got on his feet. “Affirmative.” replied Handles. During the next few ours the Games found out that the TARDIS really could not access the Time Vortex. He also healed himself with medicine he had not used in centuries. Knowing he could not get help from his past or future selves, he decided to turn to the only person who would not even flinch at such a situation. He landed his TARDIS on Lothrim; a desolate world covered with ice and snow, located in a rarely-traveled portion of the outer rim territories, famous for being completely devoid of any life forms. After landing, he stepped outside to the cold. He was at the entrance of a cave. Making his way inside, he eventually stopped once he was near a fire and a person sitting in front of it. Parked to their right was a Battle TARDIS. Though the planet didn’t contain any life forms, there was one big exception for the time being. “I need your help… Rassilon.” The man turned around to face the Time Lord with a grin. “It was about time.”

[Shuren]

The Games stood silently, not knowing how to proceed. There stood right in front of him, his greatest enemy. And yet, he was there to plead for his help. Having fought against him almost all of his life, the young man knew that if anybody could come up with a solution without wavering it was Rassilon. Swallowing his pride, he decided to continue. “My friend cracked the Skasis Paradigm. And she might change reality for the worse.” Once he was finished, Rassilon nodded with his head as if he was agreeing. Although the words that came out of his mouth were consistent with his calm posture, the sarcasm behind them could be felt quite easily. “You are still so naïve, my Games.” he said with a poker face. “You bastard, don’t start making-” started the Games, obviously angry that Rassilon could conjure up enough selfishness to be mocking him. Though he was cut off before he could finish. “If she cracked the paradigm, she surely can find out where we are and eliminate us. Use your brain a bit, will you?” Standing up from where he sat, Rassilon walked over to his TARDIS after signing the young man to follow him. The Games did so and entered the Ship. It felt weird to be inside Rassilon’s vessel or to see him walk around the console, tinkering with buttons and settings. Suddenly the ground shook shortly, a sign of their departure. The Games wanted to tell him that it was futile to enter the Time Vortex, but he would soon find out that it wasn’t the man’s intention in the first place. On the corner of the console room, a Battle TARDIS materialized. The exact same one they were in, to be specific. Rassilon had just parked his vessel inside itself. “Now, even if she tries to see where we are she will be lost in an infinite loop.” He explained and walked away from the console.

“As I was saying…” said the Games and watched Rassilon make his way towards him. He stopped when the man was standing about a meter away from him, wondering why he was getting closer. Then out of the blue, Rassilon held the Games from his collar and threw him across the console room. Before he could get up, he pinned him down to the ground. “Desperate. That’s what you are right now. The fact that you came to me means you are helpless. Very very helpless indeed!” he yelled. Afterwards he gripped the Time Lord’s throat and started to squeeze it. “No connection to the Time Vortex, obviously. I take it not even your TARDIS can access it. Otherwise you would have changed the past. Screw the Laws of Time, you are the Lord President after all! If you can’t rewrite time, then who can?!” Rassilon’s obsession coupled with his joy could be seen easily from his face. He hadn’t been this happy in a long while, but even then that wasn’t all. He was going to get even happier soon. “But oh no. No no no no no, there is more. I can feel it. My dear Games… You have become MORTAL ONCE AGAIN!” As the Games gasped for air, Rassilon slightly loosened his grip on his throat. But that wasn’t done out of mercy; it was only to allow the young man scream loud and clear. “Aaaaaaaaaargh!” exclaimed the Games in pain as Rassilon slowly but consistently forced his hand through his ribs. He was, literally, going to tear him apart. “YES, YES! SCREAM! FEEL THE PAIN, MY LORD GAMES! FEEL THE PAIN AND SAVOR IT!” shouted Rassilon, savoring the moment as much as he was telling his subject to.

“You can’t… kill me.” murmured the Games under his breath, which urged Rassilon to stop and move his head closer to his lips. “And why is that?” he asked sarcastically. “Because I can guess why you are… here. Your mapping circuits are toasted, aren’t they? Without directions you just go around randomly. I mean, who in their right mind would come to a planet like this?” This made Rassilon stop his hand before it advanced further to damage anything crucial. Though what he said didn’t seem to have the impact he had expected on Rassilon. The man simply wasn’t interested. “So?” He raised his hand and started to let it descend upon the young man’s chest. “I have the spare parts that you need!” shouted the Games, stopping Rassilon’s motion. “All the better, my Games. I can retrieve them from your TARDIS myself!” declared Rassilon. But he was missing the fact that the Games had already thought of that. “You can’t, they’re hidden.” Rassilon looked at his nemesis angrily and slowly formed his hand into a fist. Then he started punching him in the face. He punched him countless times, until the Games’ face was filled with cuts and bruises. Once he decided that he looked miserable enough he let go. “What do you need?” he asked. He was sure that the Games had a plan in mind but had difficulties executing it. Besides, he wasn’t interested in holding his hand and helping him all the way out.

“I need a way to disable her from blocking me. I have a plan, but I can’t get close to her.” explained the Games as he stood up and straightened his back. He wanted to hurt Rassilon so badly, but unluckily for him he needed his assistance. As he glared at the older man with hatred, Rassilon took a moment to think. “Interesting. Is your friend a Time Lord?” he said after several minutes of consideration. “Why? I won’t tell you…” replied the Games. He didn’t want to reveal much about Caitlin and risk Rassilon doing something worse with her, like he had done with Gray. Though the reason Rassilon asked this was entirely different. “What I am going to show you does not work on Time Lords.” He made his way into the interior and walked through the corridors, with the Games following him. They stopped in front of a room that had a timer setting on its entrance. This was one of the rooms the Games used for training; he could set the timer’s value to something high, so one second outside would equal to the given value amount of seconds inside. It was a special room that manipulated the flow of time to squeeze long trainings into incredibly short times. After the adjustments were done, Rassilon lead the way and entered. They were in endless grass plains. But differently, although unknown to him for now, Rassilon had the ability to create anything inside the room.

[Shuren]

“In the Dark Times, long before the age of the Time Lords, our ancestors developed a way to imbue words with their combined senses. Soon with enough practice and prolonged exposure to the vortex, their language was able to make their dreams reality.” he explained as they walked away from the entrance. “Old High Gallifreyan once possessed the power to raise empires and destroy gods. That saying is not just some legend or a tale. It is the truth. We only forgot how to use it.” This amazed the Games. As a child he had listened tales and stories about their ancestors using only words to devour false gods. And now he learned that not only were they true, but he could also use the same power. “Is that why it doesn’t work on Time Lords?” he asked, momentarily snapping from his amazement. Rassilon shook his head to his sides as a no. “It is because the affinity to the language exists in every pure Gallifreyan. However, not every Time Lord can learn this language. You can, because you belong to one of the Oldblood houses. While it is common that a regular Time Lord can resist Old High Gallifreyan, it is very rare that he can utilize it.” Of course, there weren’t many left from the Oldblood houses like him. Rassilon and the Games were both among the few that had survived over the years. Of course, Rassilon had founded a great amount of the Time Lord civilization personally but that didn’t matter as long as blood rights were concerned. “What about hybrids?” asked the Games in a curious tone, without letting Rassilon take a hint. “Hybrids are not pure.” replied the man with a disgusted expression. Not only he thought that the Time Lords were superior to every other race, he found any offspring with another race simply unfathomable.

“So how does it work?” “It is easy. You combine your temporal, spatial and psychic senses and focus them all in one point. Afterwards you speak in Old High Gallifreyan. Let me demonstrate.” Rassilon snapped his fingers and made a metal plate appear several meters away from them. “ROAN!” he yelled and at the same time, the metal plate folded in two. “That wasn’t so… strong.” remarked the Games, feeling kind of disappointed. He had expected a bigger effect after all. “The form and strength of your Old High Gallifreyan depends on the balance of your senses. If you want to make your words stronger you have to increase the pressure on all of your senses. In a similar way one of them decreasing is enough to weaken it. My psychic capabilities have decreased over the years, that is why it was weak.” Hearing the man’s explanation, the Games decided to have a go himself. “ROAN!” he yelled and bent the metal plate into a spherical shape. He had failed to fold it precisely like Rassilon had, but he had displayed a greater power. “What does it mean?” He didn’t like using words he didn’t know, which disturbed him quite quickly. But the answer he was about to receive would make him question it. “Roan means bend.” The Games raised an eyebrow. Sure, it was a cool power they were displaying. But how could he stop Caitlin with the power to bend materials? “And how is that going to help?” Rassilon laughed at the Games’ insolence. He didn’t know yet but what he was teaching him was an actual language. And the words could hold more than just one meaning. “As you can see, we both bent the metal plate. However, in your case, what you are going to bend is the willpower of your friend. You will force your friend to stand down. It is obviously more complicated than what you just did.” He walked over to the metal plate and examined it. “You have to work on your balance.” he said once his inspection was over.

*later*

The Games exited the room and after him, Rassilon. Both of them had considerably longer hair now. But that was natural: while only several minutes had passed outside, the duo had been training for several months now. Swiping his ginger hair back once they were back in the console room, the Time Lord helped Rassilon fix the loop they had created before. As the Battle TARDIS dematerialized, the Games let out a sigh and glared at Rassilon, who was staring at a monitor somewhat blankly. He wanted to ask if everything was alright, though simultaneously he came into realization that from this point on they were back to being enemies. Deciding not to bother him or himself any further, he walked towards the door. “One advice before you leave. Use your head more often.” said Rassilon, urging the Games to stop. “What?” Rassilon rotated the monitor and showed it to the Time Lord. It was displaying a specific page that contained the security details. From what it seemed, the number of attempts to break the loop they had placed as zero. Nobody had attempted to bypass their precaution. “Your friend blocked the Time Vortex. It is an immense power. So much so that we had to create a loop to be safe. But apparently she did not even bother to stop you. Why?” Rassilon raised a good question. Although he didn’t receive an answer, he had made his point pretty clear. Obviously it wasn’t that Caitlin hadn’t bothered coming after the Games. It was that she couldn’t. The reason for that wasn’t that important; what mattered was the fact that her god-like powers had limits. Returning to his TARDIS briefly, the Games retrieved the items he needed before coming back. “As promised, your mapping circuits.” said the Time Lord, as he handed the circuits to Rassilon. Seeing Rassilon nod his head in approval, the Games extended his hand to the man for a handshake, but Rassilon refused. “Become less compassionate. I want to be your enemy.” As he spoke, the evil in his eyes returned once again. So the Time Lord took his leave and returned to his TARDIS. He had given Rassilon his ticket out of this wretched planet and found a way to get closer to Caitlin. Now he could finally execute his plan.

[Shuren]

Initially the Games had planned to use his connection to the Time Vortex to change Caitlin’s past ever so slightly, so she would never have found out about the Skasis Paradigm. But since that was out of option, along with anything that required him to use his powers, he had to take drastic measures. He eventually came up with an idea: he created a special regeneration that would rearrange Caitlin’s DNA in an unusual way and make her a Time Lady. Doing so would also make her forget about the Skasis Paradigm and lose her control over it. Though the latter would always remain in her subconscious, it would tackle the initial problem that brought up all of this mess: Caitlin’s hunger to learn more. Her hunger hadn’t just caused her to crack the Skasis Paradigm; it was also interfering with it, to the point that it limited her powers. The constant flow of knowledge into her brain was somehow not enough for the girl’s eagerness to learn. While she still retained great powers they were all lesser versions of what they could have been. So he made adjustments to the regeneration he had prepared to make sure when Caitlin changed, her intuitive aptitude would remain as a gift and not a poison. Since her brain was going to have a higher capacity than before, due to her Time Lady genes becoming more dominant, she would finally be able to enjoy being clever without going berserk. By the time the TARDIS materialized in its previous location, the Games had everything ready.

“Hello there.” said the Time Lord as he stepped out, his tone shifting to a more silent one as he observed his surroundings. He was on the same hill again, from before he left. And Caitlin was also standing at the same spot. But everything else was entirely different. The hill was encircled with large emitters. And the hill no longer seemed to be on the outskirts of the city; it was in the middle of it. All of the emitters were connected to Caitlin via magenta colored rays of light. As for the space around them, it continued bending without a stop. Not only that but the gravity of the planet had been lowered along with the friction that had been eliminated. That was probably how Caitlin was providing the emitters with an endless supply of energy. “Games. Where have you been? You missed so much. I made several adjustments you see.” Caitlin spoke without opening her eyes. Even without seeing him she could guess what the Time Lord was doing. So she took the liberty of clarifying. “These emitters will amplify my powers and send ripples of my greatness into every corner of the universe. And then to the next one. And the next one. It will never end until I become a constant. An absolute being!” Opening her eyes she looked at the emitters powering up. Then she set her gaze upon the Time Lord. “You look… different. How?” said Caitlin. She had noticed how the man’s attire was dirtier, or how his hair was longer. It felt like he had been gone for several months, yet only fifteen or twenty minutes had passed since his departure. With the Time Vortex out of his reach, how could he look like he had travelled in time? While these thoughts intrigued her, Caitlin eventually discarded them and made a motion of grabbing. That moment the Games froze. It felt like a big invisible hand was holding his entire body.

“You know what? I don’t care.” While the Games was unable to even lift his pinky finger, Caitlin had so conveniently focused this hold over him mainly on the Time Lord’s torso area. If he focused enough he could muster enough strength to speak, which was what he needed. “The fact that-” continued Caitlin, before being cut off by a wave of wind hitting her from the front. “ROAN!” yelled the Games. “What… are you… doing?” Caitlin was clearly under the effects of the Old High Gallifreyan she had been exposed to. Somehow she was resisting the full effects, since he and Rassilon had theorized that after using the word ‘bend’ successfully, the subject would become a slave to whatever command was given. Perhaps this was due to her being half Time Lady, which meant Rassilon had given him partially wrong information. But it didn’t matter; the Games was able to move now. “I can’t… use my powers.” remarked Caitlin. “You can. But you won’t.” replied the Games. As long as he willed her not to, Caitlin wouldn’t utilize her powers. “You have gone too far.” he said as he walked towards the girl. “Besides… it’s ever so slightly but your powers are in a gradual decline. It’s not like you didn’t bother going after me, you simply couldn’t. But no worries, I found a way to force you back on the right track.” He was standing a meter away from the girl when he was done speaking. To show he was telling the truth, he showed his fingers to the girl. A spark of orange regeneration energy flickered around them. His powers were still weak, yes, but they were returning. With his point made, he took out a syringe that glowed bright orange.

“Extend your arm.” he commanded. As much as she tried to resist, the girl couldn’t help but do as she was told. “No! NO!!! Don’t do it! Don’t you see?! I can bring peace and order to the whole of reality!!! All the conflicts would cease to exist!! Is that not what you are working for Games?!!” she protested as the needle made contact with her skin. “What… what was that?!” Caitlin demanded to know, in horror that for the first time in a long while she was unable to figure something out. But the Games didn’t even utter a word. This was part of her punishment. “You can’t do this!” The girl protested again and this time received a proper response. “Oh but I can. I am the Lord President of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions. That includes the Time Vortex, which you damaged so savagely. Once you change and lose your control over the paradigm, everything will revert back to normal. The Time Vortex, my powers, the laws of physics you altered so casually… everything.” When he was finished, a bright yellow glow spread out of Caitlin’s hands. Then from her arms and lastly from her head. Understanding what was about to happen, she started crying. The idea of changing was what she had always feared the most; it was why she had altered her own regenerations in the first place. It was only appropriate that the Games’ solution to fixing her power crazy personality also acted as the ultimate punishment for her. “I hate you Games! I hate you!!” she screamed as her body started to glow more. The glow shifted from yellow into a swirl of bright rainbow colors. “Goodbye Caitlin.” uttered the Games silently and took a step back as Caitlin started regenerating. It was a painful one; the girl didn’t stop screaming since the beginning. And how could she? Her body was gaining more Gallifreyan traits: a second heart grew next to the first, her rib cage grew two additional ribs and her brain established new senses. As the regeneration neared its end, the effects of the Skasis Paradigm also started to disappear. The gravity returned to normal and the Games felt his connection to the Time Vortex return, as well as his own powers. The city around them vanished and the emitters ran out of energy as they were once again left alone on the hill. The regeneration ended several seconds after everything returned to normal and the Games looked at Caitlin: she now had blonde hair and lighter skin. She was also unconscious, which is why the Games lifted her and carried her to the TARDIS.

[Shuren]

After placing the girl inside the Zero Room, the Games waited for her to regain her consciousness. When she did after half an hour of lying still, she was greeted by the green light and signature sound of the Time Lord’s sonic screwdriver. “How are you feeling?” he asked as he moved his sonic along the girl’s body. “…different.” replied Caitlin. She felt like she was watching herself from a third-person view but that was mainly because of the regeneration. That wasn’t why the Games scanning her body either. “My mind is so clear… so light…” Caitlin paused to straighten her posture. She also noticed the unusual room they were in. Looking around helped her noticed they were in the Zero Room. It looked different from before but that was not all. For the first time in her life, Caitlin could feel being cut off from the universe. She had been here before but this was her first time experiencing something like that. “Everything from before just feels so… foggy.” She returned her attention to the Games, who simultaneously finished scanning her body and flicked his sonic screwdriver to check the readings. “Your brain had been under intense stress for a long period. That’s probably why.” said the Time Lord with a smile. He retracted his sonic’s claws and put it back into his pocket as he came closer to the girl. “This regeneration I prepared for you not only rearranged your DNA, but also changed its composition. You are only one fourth human now. The Time Lord genes will help you stay in control.” He signed Caitlin to check put her hand on her chest and so she did. Her expression changed as she felt two heartbeats instead of one. “The presence of the Skasis Paradigm cancels out the influence of your intuitive aptitude, while still allowing you to use the latter’s power… to a lesser degree than before but you’ll have to do with it. At least you won’t have to deal with wanting to learn more all the time.” One thing he didn’t mention was the risk he had taken: the regeneration could theoretically kill Caitlin during the process. But at that point, knowing how her predecessor had gotten, it was a risk the Games was willing to take.

“Thank you.” Caitlin hugged the Games and then stood up. Once they broke the hug, the Games led the way out of the room. Caitlin noticed that the corridors looked more different from before. They looked older and more complex. “Uhm.” muttered Caitlin, drawing the Time Lord’s attention on her. “Can I change before we go anywhere?” At this point the Games noticed how ragged and dirty Caitlin’s clothes had become. “Sure. You know where the wardrobe is. I’ll be in the console room.” he replied with a nod and proceeded in a different direction then she did. When Caitlin returned to the console room, the Games noticed how different her attire was. She was wearing a white plain shirt under a navy sweater. Under those she had light green skinny pants and dark red flat shoes. She additionally wore plain black frame glasses. But before he could comment about her appearance, the girl took the initiative to make a remark on the console room.“I… see you have redecorated.” She said as she gazed upon the console. The console room now consisted of a circular area, with a red-tiled ramp leading from the doors to a hexagonal platform. On the platform was a second, circular platform. The entire room was supported by six coral pillars arranged in a hexagonal pattern that met with the top of the time rotor at the room’s ceiling. There were also several black wires connecting to the time rotor. It was dim inside, illuminated by the glow of blue light from the time rotor column in the center of the room and the lights in the hexagons on the walls. However, the glow was made less noticeable as the Games flipped a switch to activate the other lights. “I have. Do you like it?” Caitlin took a moment to glance around more. In the end she concluded that she liked this coral theme. It looked more organic than before, which, for her, kind of emphasized the TARDIS’ living soul. It didn’t look like just a machine anymore. Nodding as a yes, she made her way next to the Time Lord.

“So, where are we headed?” she asked with a glamorous smile. “Well, I was thinking of letting you decide but… I believe it’s high time I fulfilled my promise to you and took you to Gallifrey.” Upon hearing this Caitlin let out a short scream of excitement. “That sounds awesome! Oh, can we go to your house?” Her proposal was… unexpected to say the least. After all, the Games hadn’t visited his house in centuries. But a promise was a promise and he was intending to keep it. Quickly setting the new coordinates he piloted the TARDIS. Their flight was brief but shaky. Caitlin was surprised given how troublesome it had been compared to their previous flights. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they had stayed longer. Once they landed, the girl rushed outside to see the planet she had always wanted to see. Her mother’s home.

[Shuren]

“God above… so this is Gallifrey!” she exclaimed. The orange sky coupled with the breeze that cooled down the twin suns heating the planet had been everything she had imagined, and more. They were overlooking a river beneath them as they were on the mountain range. And far away from them was a city that looked just so lively. “Outskirts of Arcadia to be precise. Gallifrey’s second city. Also my hometown.” clarified the Games after closing the TARDIS’ door. “The scenery is awesome.” commented the girl as the Time Lord walked towards her. “Well, the view has always been good from the gardens.” The Games’ words made Caitlin turn around to him. She noticed they were in the gardens of a big manor. The architectural design seemed like a mix of a ranch and oriental house but it was way bigger. It had four floors after all. This was natural though; she was the one who asked to be brought to the Games’ house. And this was it. But oddly enough, the house seemed old and untouched. It had an eerie feeling as if nobody had been here for a long time. While she was thinking about these she noticed five mid-sized monuments near the entrance to the house. She ignored the scenery for now and made her way towards them, only to notice a different name written on each monument. “Almund, Rynde, Celesia, Luton, Owis.” she read them aloud. “Who are these people?” Though she received a reply, it was late. “Almund and Luton were my brothers and Celesia, Rynde and Owis were my sisters.” This surprised Caitlin. “You had siblings?” As the Games walked towards her from the other end of the gardens with a serious expression she had never seen before on this face of his, Caitlin realized: for some reason she had never considered the Games to have a family. It sounded absurd to her. How could such a traveller like him ever settle down? Maybe she was wrong about it, since it had only occurred to her now that it could also be the other way around. Maybe the Games was a stationary Time Lord but the circumstances had forced him to run away.

“Yeah, five of them. I was the oldest.” As the last bits of cheerfulness diminished from the girl, she turned her head back again to look at the monuments. Just as the Games was. Once he kneeled down in front of them she realized one more thing: these weren’t monuments, they were tombstones. “So… what happened?” she asked them, rereading the names silently inside her head and trying to memorize them. “I lived. Everyone else… died.” This particular answer made the girl look at the Time Lord, confused. “There was a Time War. Against the Enemy. My sisters were all working as either doctors or medics. My brothers and I, on the other hand, were sent to the field.” The Games knelt in front of the tombstones and examined the grass around them. He gently rubbed his hand to it and touched a thin layer of dust, bringing it back to his nose to smell it. From the outside, this action could seem dumb to Caitlin. Yet, it was one of the senses she needed to learn about. Now that she was more of a Time Lady, she possessed temporal senses that enabled her to deduct how old thing were by touching, smelling and sometimes even tasting. It had been a little more than a thousand years since the Games had last visited here. And the thin layer of dust from the surface of the tombstones confirmed it. “My brothers died in battle. My sisters suffered a similar fate, more or less. And my parents were killed during an ambush that took place outside Gallifrey, so their bodies were never recovered. Lots of people died. Along with all the members of my house. My old, noble house…” “You talk like your house has something more to it... like, it has a deeper meaning.” The man’s last sentence had woken a suspicious feeling within the girl. Was there something about his heritage that she didn’t know of? How more important could someone get? He was the Lord President after all.

“My house belongs to the Prydonian Chapter, which had the most political power. Probably more than all the other chapterhouses combined. Along with a few others it’s an “Oldblood House”, meaning it is among the founding houses. Most of them vanished throughout the years. Eventually my family was the only one left, so we were considered the protectors of the Prydonian legacy. But after the Time War I became the last surviving member of my house… the last oldblood alive.” He paused shortly to stand up. “Aside from the common Gallifreyan culture, each chapterhouse has its differences, unique customs and antiques. Oldblood houses are responsible with carrying the legacy on.” “That must be quite a burden.” she commented. “Certainly not a task to be carried out by a single person. But I try my best.” Even though the Games had never wanted to be bothered by such responsibilities, he basically had no say in the matter. In a society where he was the last of his kind, he would feel empty and alone if he didn’t try to carry on the remembrances of the old days. “Doesn’t matter, I guess.” Looking at Caitlin again, he tilted his head as a sign to move. “Come on, I have a lot to teach you. Gallifreyan history, your abilities, new senses.” Caitlin wondered what he meant by all of that. Though since she trusted the Time Lord, she didn’t question it. “Looking forward to it!” she said with joy, and followed the Games as he led the way.

[Shuren]

*several years later*

“Did you have to pull that lever Cait?” shouted the Games as he ran down the corridor. Next to him was Caitlin, holding a torch and running along the Time Lord, trying to keep up so she wouldn’t get squished by the giant boulder that was heading after them. “Well I assumed if I didn’t, you would!” she replied casually. The Games frowned at her response. “Why the hell would you think that?! Ugh, nevermind.” This was typical of Caitlin. Or at least, this incarnation of Caitlin. Though it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that her first incarnation was just as reckless. “Alright jerk.” said Caitlin with a smile and laughed. Knowing fully well that she was joking, the Games laughed as well. At the very same moment they approached a narrow gap on the right side of the corridor. Deciding to use this to their advantage, he grabbed Caitlin’s free hand and pulled her towards him. Together they entered the gap and let the boulder pass. “Seems like we are safe now.” he said, catching his breath. They had been running for a solid ten minutes now. But it wasn’t only because of that they felt lucky. Soon enough they heard a crashing noise. It was the boulder colliding with something, possibly a wall. Normally they would consider themselves lucky and just return to the TARDIS. But before they could, they heard a second collision sound, this being far louder than the first. The duo looked at each other with a surprised expression and without any need to speak, they both followed the path. Passing through the wall the boulder had demolished they entered a wide chamber. And in the middle of the room was the boulder, reduced into smithereens. “Wow. The boulder crumbled into pieces.” commented the Games as he approached them. “Yeah. But look. What’s that?” asked Caitlin, pointing at the hexagonal structure that was, in fact, an ancient sarcophagus.“No idea. A tomb, perhaps?”

“Isn’t it… I dunno… too strong for a regular tomb?” pointed out the girl. She was right, it wasn’t natural for some old tomb to be able to withstand a boulder of that size, let alone destroy it. “Let’s find out.” said the Time Lord, as he took his sonic screwdriver out and used it on the tomb. Though he did get absurd readings from his sonic, he also seemingly activated a mechanism within the structure. “I… didn’t do that.” The Games tried to stop the process, as he feared yet another trap was going to come after them. But that wasn’t going to be the case. The sarcophagus opened and revealed its inhabitant. “A woman?” Caitlin stood surprised, looking at the ginger woman emerge from the sarcophagus. “Ah finally. Thank you for letting me out. God knows how long I was stuck here. Days do pass quickly.” said the woman while dusting her clothes off. She looked at Caitlin first and then the Games, and smelled the air. They were indeed Gallifreyan like her, and after understanding that she continued looking at them almost as if she was expecting them to do something. They did, in the end, but something entirely different. “Sorry, just so we don’t have any misunderstandings. I wasn’t trying to get you out.” The Games was pointing his sonic screwdriver at the woman. Caitlin sighed at this. What was he going to do with a sonic, assemble a cabinet around the woman? “What… are you doing?” asked the woman, surprised. “Come on. You expect me to be familiar with someone I accidentally set free?” The Games didn’t change his position, which surprised the woman even more.

“Wait. You don’t know who I am?” “Should we?” said the girl while raising one of her eyebrows, signifying her doubt. “Well yes! Unless you live in a cave of course.” Caitlin wondered where the woman was from. Perhaps she was a celebrity from a far away planet. That would explain this constant need for recognition. “We do actually. Hermits United. We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It’s good fun... for a hermit.” joked the Games under his breath. He received a judging look from Caitlin. “Can’t you just tell us your name miss?” After Caitlin’s request, the woman finally understood that the duo wasn’t joking. “I’m Ivydellaphecaterionhi, obviously. Now, can we get going? I have a lot to do to cover my absence.” The Games’ eyes opened widely as the woman walked towards him. “Oh… Yes. I’m sorry for the unpleasantness. Please lead the way.” He said apologetically and allowed her to pass. Caitlin noticed the change in his demeanor, so she waited until the woman was far enough from them to ask him what was going on. “Games, what’s wrong? Who is she?” The Time Lord cleared his throat and took a moment to speak. “She is the Architect. One of the founders of modern Gallifrey. She invented the Matrix, which over time indirectly allowed the Time Lords to access temporal and spatial travel…” “But?” continued Caitlin, wondering what his sudden stop meant. “These were all thousands of years ago. In the Academy we were taught that she had mysteriously disappeared and was ultimately assumed dead. Yet, there she stands.” Although it was hard to believe, it was the truth. The Time Lord had mixed feelings about this: what was he supposed to do with her now that he knew she was alive? Was the history that was being taught at the academy a lie? If it was, how many more lies were there?

[Shuren]

“There is a bigger problem.” Caitlin interrupted his thinking. The Games, in return, put an annoyed expression on his face. “Ugh, what? Do you have to go to the toilet again?” he asked. Caitlin smacked his left shoulder as a response. “No, you jerk. Didn’t you notice how she talked? It was like she had been put there recently. She was surprised you didn’t know her, as if you should have. Like a person who lived in her time period.” The Games paused for a moment. Caitlin was making a good point, the woman did look astonished that they were unaware of her identity. “She also said days passed quickly… I guess you are right.” he added to the train of thoughts. “How are you gonna tell her?” asked Caitlin, directing the big question. The Games had no idea. He didn’t like dragging things out at all, there was no fun in that. Though this wasn’t a situation where he wanted to pursue fun either. “Hey, good plan.” said Ivy, referring to the Time Lord. Once she had his attention, she continued. “I don’t know my way around here. Better that you lead the way.” With a nod, the Games glanced at Caitlin and stepped forward to go in front of them. As they advanced through the dark corridors, the woman decided to get to know her rescuers. “So then, who are you two?” she asked cheerfully. “I’m the Games. And this is my friend Caitlin.” The Time Lord’s quick response made the woman giggle. Or at least that’s how it appeared to look like, which wasn’t the case. “Funny title. Do you also have a funny title, Games’ friend?” The duo looked at each other. This woman talking to them was a pure Gallifreyan, she didn’t know much about the differences of being partly human. She didn’t even know what a Time Lord was, so it was better to keep her off that topic.“Nope! I prefer using my name.” replied the girl. “I see. Then you wouldn’t mind me asking which house you are from, hm?”

“House Bell.” said Caitlin spontaneously. “Oh? Must be one of the new ones.” Back in Ivy’s time new houses had begun forming in every Chapter. With the people wanting to separate the founder houses of the newly established Gallifrey, they dubbed these new houses newblood. “Yes. Yes you could say that.” Turning to the Games, the ginger woman decided to ask the same question as well. “And you Games?” The Games knew this was coming. In all honesty, he didn’t like being questioned about his family unless there was a must. Plus, he didn’t know whether he should lie or not, since there was a high chance she would recognize his house. “Dorian.” he answered silently. “I see. You must be related to Geirr, right? He’s the only Dorian I know.” Ivy then wondered how much time had passed since she had been put in there. “What about my house? They must have been worried that I was gone for days.” She asked. At this moment the Games couldn’t think of any way to lie his way through. At least not cleverly. “Listen. I need to tell you something. The sooner, the better.” Caitlin understood what the Time Lord was about to say as he stopped and turned back to address the woman. “Games no!” she objected. “What are you two talking about?” Ivy was confused by the sudden change of pace in the duo’s synergy. “Ivydellaphecaterionhi. You are the inventor of the Matrix, but later on for unknown reasons you were demoted. After your disappearance the Matrix was used by Rassilon and the Other to suspend the Eye of Harmony in a permanent state of decay, which, with other developments, ultimately allowed them to access the Time Vortex. Because of your contributions to the Time Lord society you were given the title “the Architect” and honored.” He paused once he was done speaking to allow the woman to react. Caitlin also didn’t interfere. Ivy used this time to process his words while staring at him and the girl.

“You started normal but ended up ALL weird. What the hell are you talking about? Half of those things didn’t happen.” She objected, trying to make sense of everything. “He is talking about history. You think you have been sealed for several days but in fact, millennia has passed since you disappeared.” Caitlin nodded after concluding her sentence. “Geirr Dorian. You said he was the only Dorian you knew. That’s because he is one of the first Dorians there are to know. He is my paternal ancestor.” “So you want me to believe that Geirr is your ancestor?” Caitlin and the Games looked at each other, before the former replied to the question. “In a broad sense, so are you… probably.” “Hahahahah. That’s ridiculous.” Ivy had started to feel nervous, so she was trying to laugh it off. She started stroking her soft hair unconsciously, something she did when she didn’t know what to do. “You were so confident that I should know who you were. But I didn’t have the faintest idea until a minute ago when you told me your name. Which I remembered from my Academy textbooks.” added the Games. This was going to be followed by the real question. “So how long do you think I have been sealed back in there?” The Time Lord started to gather every single piece of information he had gathered from the tomb and from his knowledge over the Architect. Be it from the smell and taste of the ancient sarcophagus to the fact that she had witnessed the formation of Lord Presidency. “At least fourteen thousand years.” he murmured after a quick calculation. “Fourteen thousand years?!” yelled Ivy in shock. Even for a species that had a long life expectancy, that was a long time. Long enough to assume that everybody and everything she knew was long gone. She couldn’t stand the pressure and fell on her knees. “And… what about my family? My house?” she followed up, hoping at least her family had survived. It didn’t have to be people she knew, she just wanted relatives and a place she could call home. “House Caterion was one of the founding oldblood houses. Like mine.” started the Games, though once again he had difficulty continuing his sentence. Eventually he decided to continue his direct approach. “I’m sorry to tell you this but your house went extinct. They all did. We are the last oldbloods in existence.” Looking at him, Ivy’s irises dilated. And shortly after that she lost consciousness and fell back.

[Shuren]

*later*

About an hour later, Ivy started to regain her consciousness. Once her senses started to return she was greeted by the wheezing noise of the TARDIS. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around the coral control room. As the time rotor continued moving up and down, the Games walked around the console and maintained the flight. Meanwhile Caitlin entered the control room, seemingly having a fresh set of clothes now. That was when they noticed that Ivy was awake. “Where are we?” asked the woman, still inspecting her surroundings. “Inside my TARDIS, safe and sound. You have no idea how much trouble we had to go through to return here after you fainted.” explained the Games as he continued to fly the ship. “He’s right. We thought we could go back from the same path, but it was blocked. So we had to find a way to circle around and we eventually found a second path! Though it was filled with traps.” Ivy was glad to be away from that place. Especially after having spent much more time there than she could have ever anticipated. Though even then there was still one thing she didn’t understand. “What the hell is a TARDIS?” she asked, unsure if they really were referring to the vessel they were inside right now. Even if they were, she wanted to know what kind of vessel it was. “A TT-Capsule. Type 40. Plus some upgrades.” replied the Time Lord.

“They really did find a way to contain the Eye of Harmony.” murmured Ivy. She felt blank for a second, as if she was watching the current events from a third person perspective. “I can’t believe so much time has passed… I also can’t believe I fainted.” she added with a more audible tone. It was natural for her to feel that way. After all, she was the woman out of time. “So… we are the last oldbloods alive, huh?” She looked at the Games, who nodded to her question slowly. She could see that this particular topic pained the man but he was the only one who could clear the uncertainty in her head. “How did it… happen?” The young man knew this question was coming. He didn’t object to answer it, but he didn’t bother hiding his sadness either. While looking away at the lighting panels of the coral interior, he let out a sigh and then began to speak. “Mostly natural causes. More and more newblood houses began to appear, in every single chapter. And after a while, the oldbloods started to decrease in number. Most of them died out naturally. Yours included. Better than a tragic demise right?” Ivy relaxed, knowing her family led a good life. She felt good enough that she was able to stand up and lean on a nearby railing. Caitlin was doing the same on the opposite side of the room. “And yours? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“My house was wiped out during a Time War. My parents were murdered during a raid and my siblings died on the field. I was the sole survivor.” He paused and looked away for several seconds. “I’m sorry.” she said with a sad expression, even though she had no idea what a Time War was. “It’s okay. At least now I’m not the last oldblood anymore.” The Games smiled at the woman. Just like he had done with Caitlin, he intended to teach Ivy about the responsibilities of an oldblood. It was no longer his burden alone. “So, Ivydellaphecaterionhi… would you like me to update you on everything you missed?” Caitlin walked towards the woman, in an attempt to change the topic and lift the spirits up. The atmosphere inside the control room had gotten very heavy too quickly. “You can call me Ivy. And yes, please.” Caitlin grabbed Ivy’s hands and closed her own eyes. Now that she had more Time Lord genes, she was somewhat psychic and the Games had been training with her to make use of her abilities like this. She used them to give Ivy information about Gallifrey’s history after her disappearance, the wars, Rassilon and the Games. Once she was done, Ivy quickly pulled her hands back. She looked startled. “I was… right. I was right all along! The system was corrupt!” she declared cheerfully, before setting her sights on the Time Lord. Her expression changed into a disgusted one. “And you… so you are the current Lord President.” Though the Games knew that the reason she hated the higher ups of the Gallifreyan government was justified, he had expected her to, for some reason, go beyond a simple categorization. After all he had changed a lot of things ever since he had become the Lord President.

“I am. Is that… wrong?” He looked reassured and didn’t flinch while speaking. Why would he? He hadn’t done anything wrong. At least not on purpose. “I don’t know yet. But since you were kind enough to let me catch up I’ll do the same.” That said, Ivy closed her eyes. An almost invisible wave of violet energy radiated within the room and hit the Games and Caitlin. The control room started the warp as the trio’s surroundings changed. They were inside Ivy’s memory now.

[Shuren]

*inside the memory*

“I’m sorry, Ivy. The Council considers your article borderline treachery to the current establishment. So naturally there will be some consequences.” said the man in black Gallifreyan robes. He looked rather serious even though a tint of sadness or something that could be called regret could be felt from him. “Really now?” replied Ivy with a sarcastic tone. She was still sitting behind her desk, making herself comfortable. She knew who the man was; it was the High Council’s messenger, or something like that. They had worked together for years and become good friends, yet this time he was paying her a visit for a different reason. “Yes. They were strictly determined to banish you. But I managed to convince them to consider something else.” Ivy leaned forward on her desk and narrowed her eyes. “And what would that be?” The man put the document he was holding on the desk and slid it forward for Ivy. As she opened it and began to skim through the pages, he made his explanation. “A demotion. They made you the Supervisor of the Amplified Panatropic Computer Net within the Matrix.” he said. And he was right. It was a demotion that lowered her position several times. That’s why for the first time since they met, the man saw anger upon Ivy’s face. “That’s… simply ridiculous. I created the Matrix. This is an insult to my position as the Keeper.” Even though she wasn’t wrong, and it was her right to hold the position of the Keeper, there was nothing Ivy could do anymore.

“A position you no longer have I’m afraid. You were given a week to evict your office and your laboratory.” The man nodded and leaned forward to retrieve the document. But before he could Ivy pressed her right hand on it and didn’t let it go. “What about the temporal complexity problems? What about my work on the Eye of Harmony? What will happen to them?” she asked, now standing so she could apply more pressure on the document. But it was futile; the man eventually pulled the document back into his possession with enough force. “They will all continue from where you left off after the Council appoints a new Keeper.” he replied. With a regretful expression he turned around and slowly walked towards the door of Ivy’s office. “Listen to me Kalrune. This pitiful demonstration of power won’t change anything. Demote me or not, you do know that the system is corrupt as it is now. Lots of people have already read my article and they agree with it. They can’t hide that from Rassilon forever.” Ivy’s words made the man stop right in front of the door. “Yeah, I know.” he murmured silently before he turned his head back to look at the woman. “Sorry it had to be this way Ivy.” Afterwards the man exited the room. Little did he know that this would be the last time he would ever see his friend.

*the memory shifts to another one*

Ivy walked through the streets casually, making her way to her home. It had been a long day at work, though every single day had been pretty much the same for the last two months. She hated being yelled at by her superiors; and she hated having superiors while operating her own creation even more. They had put a Prydonian man to replace her as the Keeper of the Matrix, and ever since then the Matrix functioned differently. At least not in the way she had intended it to. Letting out a sigh she passed through an alleyway. Just as she was about to step onto the main street, six people suddenly surrounded her and knocked her out. She didn’t even have any time to react. By the time she woke up, all she could feel was a massive headache. “Ughhh. What happened?” she said as she tried to move her hands upwards to rub her eyes. But she couldn’t. She was restrained inside a containment field. Not only was she unable to move, she could also feel being on another planet than Gallifrey, since the gravity felt way off. She quickly scanned her surrounding to try to figure out where she was but before she could make any progress in the dark cave, several lights turned on and focused on her. She could barely see what was around her now but even then it was not difficult to notice the people standing in front of her. It was the Lord Chancellor, leader of the High Council, and behind him three cardinals on both sides. “Ivydellaphecaterionhi. Your treacherous article aroused unwanted attention on the High Council and risked its integrity. Moreover you continued to support the rebellious formations and even led them. What do you say in your defense?” said the man. Adjusting her head and sight, Ivy thought of what to say.

“Rebellious? Lord Chancellor, the current movement, as you call it, is to bring Lord Presidency back to what it was intended to be. Nobody wants to overthrow-” The cardinals cut the woman off by gasping at the same time. Though it was barely visible, this, and the woman’s words, put a smile on Lord Chancellor’s face. The only problem they could have right now would come into formation if Ivy had decided to address why she was brought on a different planet. But she hadn’t. She had sealed her fate. “So you do admit that you are leading a movement?” asked one of the cardinals. Ivy was “No! Of course not! We only wanted-” stammered the woman before being cut off again. “We? You mean your rebel group, perhaps?” asked another cardinal. “No, listen. I-” she began to explain, hopelessly. Yet it was futile. “We have heard enough! We will proceed to give you your sentence now!” exclaimed another cardinal. “You can’t do this! Just listen to me!!!” Despite her objection, the cardinals nodded in unison and the Lord Chancellor stepped forward. “You have been found guilty of the aforementioned charges. In the name of Rassilon, President of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions, Holder of the Wisdom, Preserver of the Matrix, Guardian of the Legacy of Omega, I, Lord Chancellor of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey, Jeldred of House Sarken, sentence you to die.” Ivy stood shocked, not that she could move otherwise but even if she could, she wouldn’t. Her life was going to end because she was pursuing the right way things should have been. She needed to get out of this shitty situation and she needed to do it fast.

[Shuren]

Soon enough, she came up with something. “No! Wait! You can’t physically harm or touch another Prydonian without consent. It’s against the law you passed yourself!” She struck back the Lord Chancellor with his own weapon. Or at least that was what she thought for a moment. “We know that. That’s why we are putting you in a timelock. You won’t be harmed, yet lead a fate perhaps worse than death.” replied one of the cardinals with a smug smile. With that, the last bits of Ivy’s hope of getting out of here were diminished. “No. No, no, not me. I haven’t been seen with those people, have I? Please, listen to me! They will find me eventually and my house won’t stand for it. Only then will it turn into an actual uprising.” she objected, though her objections were ignored. A sarcophagus started to rise from the ground around her, within the containment field. “Goodbye, Ms. Caterion.” whispered the Lord Chancellor. As the sarcophagus started to obscure the woman from view, she began her last pleas. “Please. Total social collapse! It won’t be the same when they find me. Ever! Please! Please, just listen to me!!!” Eventually the sarcophagus closed completely and Ivy stood suspended and out of sight. The cardinals and the Lord Chancellor left the chamber together. Now they had to discuss what to do next to make her disappearance believable.The trio came back to their senses after Ivy shared her memories with them.

*back in the TARDIS console room*

“Interesting memory Ivy.” commented the Games, at which Ivy raised an eyebrow. “Why am I sensing a hint of… sarcasm in your tone?” she asked. The memories she had shown them didn’t contain anything funny; in fact they could be considered quite dramatic. “Because you could avoid your punishment.” explained the Time Lord as he sat on one of the seats nearby the console. Caitlin happened to be behind him, so she used this opportunity to slap the back of the Time Lord’s head. “Hey! Don’t be a jerk now!” Though her warning seemed to have little to no affect on the man, as he didn’t change his relaxed attitude. “Well I had plans for introducing her to the High Council. But I never thought the Architect would get so daft under stress.” he said as he crossed his legs in a comfortable position. “Come on. I was threatened with death, it’s not even comparable to what you are saying. It’s only politics. How hard can it be?” Even though Ivy genuinely thought it would be an easy thing to master politics, having run the planet legally for so many years, the Games knew that was far from the truth. Anything the woman said sounded like an oversimplification to him. To make his point he needed to give an example, and he had the perfect one. “Okay. Then answer this. Do you know what time it is?” he asked with a smile. “Yeah, it’s uh… 3:40.” replied Ivy, though she didn’t understand the purpose of the question. As soon as she answered, the Time Lord made a buzzer sound with his mouth.

“Wrong.” he declared. This piqued Caitlin’s interest; she decided not to interfere but she knew if she had been asked the same question, she would answer the same way. Meanwhile Ivy made a confused expression and looked at her watch again. “I don’t… understand. It’s really 3:40.” Had the Games considered her answer wrong because they were outside of time? Even if they were, it was natural for the TARDIS to simulate a local time for their own timeline. “I know. But it’s still the wrong answer. The correct answer is ‘yes’. When you are asked a question you answer it specifically and leave it there. If they want more information, let them ask for it. Never volunteer anything. Same reason why they made assumptions so easily to frame and seal you.” Both Caitlin and Ivy let out an involuntary gasp. The former did it because she was practically amazed by the precise thinking whereas the latter had done it upon the realization that the Games was right about what he had said. “I guess I really screwed up before.” The Games nodded his head as a no as he stood up. “You just spoke the truth.” he said as he leaned over the console. “Yeah. That’s wrong isn’t it?” asked Ivy with questioning and slightly regretful eyes. The Games looked back at her to meet her gaze, and sported a comforting smile before speaking. “No, not wrong. Just very unusual in that place.”