It takes all of his willpower not to immediately lash out when she’s given orders. It isn’t her fault, he realizes that, but he’s absolutely seething with visible hatred while he listens.
And replies, even knowing full well he shouldn’t, hissing it under his breath. “You’re too lazy, too incompetent, to break me… tell your boss that,” he tells the other TimeLord. “I don’t even know what awful thing I did this time to make you want this.”
He has to swallow, has to breathe, has to force himself not to speak out again because it isn’t anyone who will take his side. They never will. He still doesn’t belong on Gallifrey anymore than he did as a child, and he’s furious, he’s disgusted at how easily it hurts to know he can’t earn redemption. Not the kind he wants, anyhow.
“I needed information,” he says softly to her question. “I can’t leave unless you break me, that’s what they want. I’ve given you permission, I’ve even told you that you’ll be forgiven for anything you have to do. I know it can be harder to forgive yourself, Doctor. I know you can’t understand their rules, I don’t know what happened to you, but we were friends once. I can forgive you now. I didn’t once and I didn’t expect it to have consequences like this.”
Nobody has ever confused her as much as ‘Koschei’ does, right now. He speaks like a friend, like he knows her intimately, but no matter how hard she thinks, she can’t seem to find any recollection of having met him before. “I’m sure you’re mistaking me for someone else,” she forces herself to resume a cold tone, with a closed-lipped, thin smile. “For a start, nothing ever happened to me, I don’t know you, and I don’t need anyone’s forgiveness.”
Rules? Friends? Consequences? Confusion leaves her frazzled. Her hands raise to rake through her hair, and eventually she shakes her head and turns to get the Time Lord who’d previously been in the room with her. “…My head’s getting confused again.”
He nods in understanding and leaves, returning with a chair, that she climbs into and allows him to secure her to. “Thank you for telling me, Theta. We can get that cleared up early, so this won’t take as long as usual.” When she nods, he places his fingers on her temples and she lets out an unholy scream of pain that lasts until he retracts them, at which time she slumps in the chair, breathing heavy. “It’ll take a couple minutes to get over the shock, but everything should be alright after that, okay?”
The rules are clearer in her head now as he undoes the restraints, and she mutters a thank you.
It probably isn’t too much of a reach to work out that they’d messed with her mind, and continue to do so in order to secure her compliance. The only difference now is that she willingly submits herself to it.
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