The Truth Hurts

(Myself, 10th Doctor, Theta, Quinn, Mal)

With a loud whoop of excitement, Sonya tumbled down a hill covered in snow. When she first arrived in the mountains, she wasn't sure about staying, but once she observed the untouched snow outside of the cabin, she just had to stay. The only thing in a while that could take her mind off of the disturbing thoughts that had been plaguing her for the past month.
Ever since her run in with the cyber controller with the Tenth incarnation of the Doctor, she had been having issues with strange thoughts that made no sense to her. The controller had tried to force open a door in her mind that both frightened and intrigued Sonya at the same time. And for some reason, ever since then she had been getting odd images and memories that weren't hers at all. The only thing she could think that would explain the sudden leak of different memories and thoughts would be the door had been damaged somehow.

Shaking her head, she stood up from the pile of snow she laid in and stared at the bright blue sky above her. Enough dark thoughts, there were large clouds moving in and from the looks of them, there would be another snowfall within a few minutes. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck outside during a blizzard. Turning back to the cabin, she trudged though the snow with her hands cupped in front of her to let her breath warm them a bit.

Once inside, she stripped out of her dripping coat and boots and sat down in front of the fire she had built before caving into the desire to tumble down the hill outside. Her eyes lingered over the flames as they greedily devoured the logs she fed them with as her thoughts slowly turned back inward. She knew there was a problem, and the only people she could trust with it were either out and about doing their own thing, or across the continent.

Sonya reached into her bag and shuffled around for a moment before coming up with her phone. The one thing she absolutely denied getting for nearly fifty years until she gave up and bought one last week. It was rarely used, but practical as she thought about it. She needed help, and most of the people she knew had phones. It had taken a few days, but she gathered enough numbers to get a hold of who she needed right now.
Taking a deep breath she fumbled with the buttons for a moment until finally opening up a text message and added several people to it and beginning her message. Once she was done, she looked it over carefully before hitting send and setting the dreaded contraption aside to enjoy the warmth of the fire in front of her. Now all she had to do was wait, it wouldn't take long before someone replied she hoped.

'Right then, first time using a phone... It's Sonya. You know how I am, issues are things I deal with on my own... Not this time, something is wrong, I don't know what it is. But I'm honestly... Well frightened. I need some help. You lot are the only people I can trust with this. Please.
-Sonya-'

The forest of Larach was calm; peaceful. Scaled monkey like creatures swung in the treetops, making chattering sounds like cicadas. A warm breeze blew through the palms, making some flowers closer to the ground glow various colors.

"GRRAAHHHHHH!!!"

The quiet of the forest was broken by the angry yell of natives of the planet. In the distance, trees swayed, and the sounds of running feet and crunching leaves reached the monkey like creatures, making them scatter.

Out of the bushes, Theta Sigma burst, muddy and laughing. Seconds after him, a bunch of blue skinned natives with face paint and spears followed. A spear hit a tree by his head, but Theta didn't care, and just continued to laugh.

A few yards away, there was a box that seemed very out of place in the forest. Black like obsidian, with glowing green doors on the front, the only word that would be able to describe it properly was alien.

"Nice having this chat, but I have to go now! Good night Larach!" Theta ducked into the doors, shutting them just as a spear attempted to imbed itself in the doors. Let's just say, the spear lost, shattering into many splinters at the contact.

Inside, Theta skipped up to the console, pulling down a lever, making the familiar tendrils of energy float up and down the hourglass. He leaned back against the railing, sighing in happiness. He thought traveling alone would be lonely, and it still kind of was, but he still had so much more to explore yet.

His head went up when a 21st century cell phone sitting on the console buzzed, lighting up with one sentence. Text from Sonya.

In the Time Vortex, a TARDIS that had been floating along casually suddenly veered around and blasted down the tube of energy, leaving only the light from the doors trailing behind.

In the cabin, a wheezing like sound just higher pitched broke the silence. By the fireplace, a box slowly materialized, fading in slowly like an image being enhanced. It solidified with a solid 'woosh'.

The doors opened a crack, and Theta poked his head out. He held up the phone.

"You called?"

The Doctor fiddled with the controls of the TARDIS like the mad man he was, with a grin on his face of cours. The recent encounter with the Sumerians, left a smile on The Doctor's face and a nice feeling about his entire body, "Who would have guessed that they only just left for vacation?" he proclaimed happily before looking up, "I mean..". He paused. The groans and moans of the TARDIS were the only thing heard in the TARDIS; he was alone once more inside of his time machine, an all too familiar sight for The Doctor. Then suddenly there was a ringing sound a buzz. With widened eyes, The Doctor searched frantically for the source before finally finding it in the phone that Martha had given him all those long years ago. "Hello?" The Doctor said, picking it up and holding it to his ear before glancing down at it and finally realizing what it was, "Oh..it's a text" he admitted with a purely dumbfound facial expression.

Seeing whom it was from, The Doctor grinned and quickly hooked it up to the TARDIS then yanked over the scanner where the location the text was from was pin pointed on the screen. With coordinates locked and set, The Doctor happily yanked down the main lever and sent the TARDIS spiraling through the time vortex. One moment it was hovering around a planet, caught in its gravitational pull and the next it was materializing in a small room in a log cabin.

Rushing down the ramp, The Doctor forgot his trench coat and just, instead, burst through the doors to be immediately greeted by a wooden door, his face hitting it with a loud smack. "Ahh!" He protested, "Who..who leaves a door there?!" he questioned as he ran his hand down the side of the door, found the handle then opened it up and glanced around the atmosphere of the cabin, "Sonya! Somebodies messed with the interior design of your house! They've placed a door directly in front of the TARDIS!".

I'm walking down a dark corridor, there is barley any light. It all seems vagley familiar to me but i cant quite put my finger on it. Some thing had woken me up, a loud noise of sorts, and of course being the way i am i got out of the bed and went to find it. The corridor seemed to for ever and ever getting darker and darker. The noises getting louder and closer. I could now recognize what they were. Screams. Then suddenly they stopped and so did I. It was only when i heard the scratching and clawing of something coming towards me that My body turned and started to sprint back down the corridor, but i seemed be be getting no where. I started screaming out for help but what ever was chasing me kept getting closer and closer. I stumbled and i could scenes the thing leaping at me as I lay on the ground crying but then the thing stopped. I continue to lay there for a moment before suddenly turning around to see- BEEP BOOP BE BOOP Quinn sprung up in bed holding back a scream. She let out an annoyed groan and fall back onto her bed. "Bloddy heel. Wha cuid mibeez aye, mibeez naw need me at this oor o' day." (who can possibly need me at this hour of day.) she muttered grumpily under her breath. As she picked up her phone and squinted at the screen raising her eye brows. "och thats wha" (oh thats who). she opened up the message and read through her message a few times thoughtfully. she exited out of the message and typed in speed dial 4: sonya. As her phone started dialing she jumped out of bed and threw on a pull over hoodie and started packing a bag, not knowing how long she would be gone. when sonya finnaly picked up she didnt even give her a chance to speak. "Oi, Sonya, Tis quinn. A dinnae ken whaur yer sae send some yin tae come grab me. A'm packing nou. See ye whin ah git thare!" (oi, sonya, Its Quinn. i dont know where you are so send some one to come grab me. Im packing now. see ya when i get there!) She hung up not seeing if sonya actually understood her accent and continued backing a large bag, sticking her multi tool in her hoodie pocket.

"Hello, Mally-o." The voice trapping Mal between a dead end purred at her. The voice was hidden behind a voice changer, making the apparent smooth voice sound like an eerie growl. "You're quite the runner, reflects your life, don't it? I mean, you run from your past, run from your fears, run from basically everything, you coward. That's not very rad at all." The black figure, the one speaking, was gesturing with tense, yet smooth, motions. This one wore a slick, black motorcycle helmet. Men in black with white masks were backing the Voice, guns pointed towards Mal in case she made a move to escape.

"Wh-what d-do you want with me?" Mal squeaked in fear. She was hunched over, trying to make herself small in the intimidating presence of the black clothed people.

"'Wh-what d-d', stop your stuttering. Jeez, I just want to talk to you. About this, all of this." The voice spread its arms, motioning to the men at the figure's disposal, awaiting an order. "You could have it, you know. All that I have. Just listen closely, deary, and you'll have ever-"

The shrill of an alarm combined with the violent vibrations of Mal's cellular phone rang out just centimeters from her head. She shot up with a scream of utter terror, hands clenching at the surface of the wooden desk she was sitting at. Her heart was beating wildly as her hand plastered itself to her forehead which was damp with sweat. She swallowed nervously though it did nothing to satisfy her parched throat. After swallowing down a few breaths of air, Mal looked down to the cause of her stress.

The light on her phone was blinking, indicating she had a message. Before she grabbed that, she stared dumbly at her dim lamp as it lit up the book underneath her torso. It was a sci-fi book she had snatched from the library one day, deciding reading more books about space would benefit her not-so-normal life. Last time she was going to read that, Mal declared internally. She shoved the offending novel aside as she picked up her phone and blinked in surprise at the message. It was from Sonya, though the Time Lady didn't add where or when Mal was needed.

Punching in the correct message took Mal a solid ten minutes. It read 'Right, I'll be there... where are you?' She nodded in contentment before dropping her phone and sighing heavily. With a glance at her clock she realized she must have been asleep for only a couple of hours. She was also becoming aware of the trembling coursing through her limbs. Dang, that dream gave her the creeps. It felt oddly vivid. But, then again, all of her crazy dreams felt like that.

With a sharp inhale, Mal rested her head back on her desk and let out a long groan.

Sonya stared at her phone for a moment after Quinn abruptly hung up on her before looking over at Theta with a shrug. "Quinn said you should go get her. I think she's being lazy again." She said with a forced cheerful tone before her phone buzzed again, alerting her of a message this time. Flipping it back open, she ran her eyes over the message before hitting reply and sending a set of Co-ordinants to Mal. "Right..." She sighed finally, tossing the phone on her bag before falling back onto the couch behind her and leaned her head back with her eyes shut tightly. "How have you lot been lately? Haven't seen either of you for a while..."

Theta smiled and exited the TARDIS, stuffing his phone into his jacket pocket then flopping down onto one of the uber comfy chairs. Theta shivered a bit and scooted the chair closer to the fire. After all, he had just been on a warm jungle planet, and now he was in the Himalayan Mountains. He was a Timelord, but even they took some time to adjust to temperature.

"I've been good, just the usual. Defeated a Cyberman or two. Insulted some Abzorbaloffs. Ran from some Larachian natives" He glanced over at the Doctor "And who are you, then? I don't think we've met, though any friend of Sonya's is a friend of mine" he grinned "Anyways, can't wait to meet you. I just have to go pick up Quinn..."

Theta jumped up from his chair and bounced around and into his TARDIS, the doors shutting behind him with a small click. The high-pitched wheezing commenced, and it didn't take long for the box to fade out of existence entirely.

---

In Quinn's room, a box slowly materialized in the corner. As soon as the wooshing sound came, signalling the TARDIS had landed, the doors swung open, revealing one grinning Theta Sigma.

"Hello stranger! C'mon, we're going to the Himalayas, Sonya told me to come give you a ride..."

The Doctor released a smile to Theta just as he disappeared in his TARDIS, much to the happiness and excitement of The Doctor who flopped down beside Sonya, "Wh-who was that again?" he asked her, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb with an eyebrow raised, "Don't believe i've met him before. And sense was there a new Time Lord dashing around, thought i'd feel him long ago..especially him..he's just like i was when i first started". Thinking back to his first travels in the TARDIS he stole from Gallifrey with his granddaughter Susan. It was a magical time, a time that was held tightly to his hearts as it did his memory.

The cold rushed through the partially open window in Sonya's log cabin, brushing up against The Doctor's leg like a cat, causing him to snap out of his gaze. Glancing around the cabin, The Doctor smirked at the decorations, it felt homely to him, a rare feeling that only came once in a great time. But the times that came with Sonya usually brought about this rare feeling, it was as though his mind was connecting Sonya with Susan, Oh..i need some sleep, The Doctor thought to himself with a chuckle.

Quinn looked up as the man stepped out of the blue box. "Th' names quinn, braw tae meit ye," (the names Quinn nice to meet you) she stuck out her hand to shake his then remembered something. "Och bide a minute, got tae gang teel gran aam leavin'."(Oh wait a minute, got to go tell Gran I'm leaving) She threw her heavey back pack towards the blue box and ran down the stairs to her Gran's room. she woke her up to tell her then also left a note just in case before running back up stairs and lifting up her back pack effortlessly. "Awright lets go," she said cheerfuly stepping into the box.

Sonya smiled slightly at the Doctor, her legs crossing in front of her as she stretched them out and let out a slight yawn. "He's from another universe like me..." Her eyes drifted back over to the Doctor out of the corner of her eyes as she studied his reaction. "His name is Theta." She added before closing her eyes and leaning her head back with a sigh, a dull thudding pain beginning to work at the point between her eyes. Reaching up, she rubbed the spot with a frown, trying to make the faint headache go away. "It's been a while since I saw you. Get into anymore trouble lately? Or do I even have to ask, considering it is you..." Sonya flashed him one of her customary grins as she lifted her head back up to stare at the Doctor. "You seem to be in high spirits anyway, so I'm guessing it hasn't been so bad."

Theta just stood there for a good while, trying to figure out what in Rassilon's name Quinn just said. He got her introducing herself as Quinn, but after that...something about a bra, gang something, and telling a grandma she was leaving. One of the only sentences he understood was the last one.

"Erm...ok?" Theta followed her, closing the door behind himself. Even the fish seemed confused at the odd new arrival, swimming up to the glass then bonking their heads on it...no, that was just them being strange again.

Walking past Quinn, Theta climbed the steps to the console. He pressed a few buttons on the blue touch hologram panels, each lighting up as he touched them. There was a hourglass like thing in the center of the console, and after Theta pressed the first button, a light right in the middle lit up brightly; a white point star. Whisps of energy traveled up and down the glass, and slowly the water that was under every one of the glass surfaces, including walls, floor, and ceiling, lit up and sparkled with energy. The fish swam around slightly more energetic than they usually were now-a-days, attempting to eat little balls of energy that clumped together. He'd really have to see into some sort of fish-vet soon; Thete had been neglecting that.

A high pitched wheezing noise followed soon after, along with the room being shaken around a bit as it traveled through the vortex.

Back at the cabin, Theta's TARDIS faded into view where it had been before...backwards. The door opened, and Theta walked out right into the wall, similar to how his counterpart ran into the door. He yelped, clutching at his nose with tears in his eyes.

"ʒəz wall!" he stumbled around the TARDIS and flopped down onto the chair he sat on before, rubbing his nose gingerly.

"Yeahh.." The Doctor replied with a sniffle, his chin held high in a proud, boastful manner, "Saved a planet from an erupting volcano..that..i inadvertently caused. Don't ask. Helped a lizard become king. And! Most importantly" he paused as he reached into his trench coats pocket then suddenly pulled out a bag, opened it up and popped in a bright green candy, "I found my Jelly Babies...would you like a jelly baby?". He asked her, extending the bag over to her as he chewed the one he had popped into his mouth just seconds ago with childish delight before the sound of someone hitting the wall made it's way to his ears and attention. Remembering his incident, The Doctor rubbed his nose with his free hand and glanced over his shoulder, "And that'd be the other universe Theta" he reasoned with a smirk before turning his attention back over to Sonya, "So, why call us here? What's going on exactly?".

Sonya chewed on her lip nervously for a moment before drawing her eyes from the flames and over to the face of one of her oldest friends with a weak smile. "My mind. That's why you're here..." She got to her feet slowly and began pacing back and forth on the carpet in front of the fire, alternately warming each of her sides with each pass of the flames. "Ever since our run in with the cyber controller... I've been having issues with this door in my memory. Where everything is locked away, you heard them, someone had locked my memories and wouldn't allow me to access them. In fact, I was terrified of that door, until you put my in that room, Doctor. Then I was a bit scared, but if anything, my curiosity burned at me to open it." She paused and glanced at the friends gathered before resuming her carefully-planned speech, her eyes drifting to the slightly faded carpet beneath her feet once more. "I need your help. There's something about that door, those memories that whoever locked them away, they didn't want me to find them. I want to know why..." Finally she swallowed thickly and drug her gaze up to meet each of theirs in turn nervously, her hands clenching behind her back in spasms. "I need you lot to see my mind... Whatever is in there, it's dangerous, and I do not trust myself to do it alone... There are bound to be traps, puzzles riddles something to keep me from going farther... I need you there to keep me going." She said softly, unable to meet their gazes anymore as her eyes fell back down to stare at the socks on her feet.
"Never mind, forget I called. This is mental and dangerous." Sonya suddenly said, her head shaking from side to side violently. "Just forget about it, your listening to a madwoman ramble about invisible doors..."

Quinn had noiticed theta's confused looks and the confused looks of the fish but remained quite, mostly becuase when she had went to say something the black box had started to move and she had had to grab onto something in order to stay standing. Quinn waited a few moments before letting go to what eveer she had grabbed on to before mumbleing, "Weel wasnae 'at fin." (well wasnt that fun). SHe snorted at theta as he ran into the wall, "Guid job, dornt blam it oan th' wall" she spoke in a slightly less scottish accent as she slipped out of the blue box not running into the wall. she turned to sonya smileing before throwing her back back onto a chair. "oi sonya! Hoo hae ye bin. noo wheres yer coffee. aam still in mah pajamas sae Ah want coffee. whaur am Ah onie ways" (how have you been. now wheres your coffee. I'm still in my Pajamas so i want coffee. Where am i any ways.) she skipped to the kitchen her orange pants brightening her sour morning mood and went on searching for coffee, so she could function properly and nicely around every one. she wouldnt be smileing if she didnt get her coffee.

Mal was staring at the cabin everyone was gathered in. She was ghostly white, shivering from more than just the cold, and her eyes were wider than a full moon. "Y-you want me to what?" Mal squeaked in surprise to the man standing behind her. The purr of a snowmobile engine rang through the air as did the man's chuckle.

"I said just ski down there. You came to a mountain, I'm assuming you've skied before." The man crunched through the snow as he came a little closer to Mal. "Come on, miss, I have to get back before I'm missed. So just go." And with his last words he gave Mal a promoting nudge that sent her speeding down the hill.

Mal went screaming the whole way down as the man got on his snowmobile and left. Her velocity seemed to only increase so she turned her legs to form a 'V' with her skis. She slowed slightly but closer to the bottom she ended up losing control and tumbling ungracefully the rest of the way. A heavy groan left her as she slowly lifted her snow covered face and untangled her limbs. She was a few feet from the cabin and breathed out, "Oh god, I'm not dead?"

After promptly kicked off her skis and abandoning them in the snow Mal picked herself up and stumbled towards the door. She flung herself to it and tore it open, basically crashing into the cabin. "Sonya, you so owe me for what I've been through." She growled, shedding her soaked winter clothes. Mal was unaware of the heavy speech Sonya had just voiced to everyone about her mind and the locked door within it...

~An hour or so earlier~

Mal had read the text with a gaping mouth before springing up and making the compulsive decision to fly to the Himalayan mountain. It wasn't logical, but Sonya had apparently needed her for whatever reason. Mal doubted she would be much use to the Time Lady but decided she should be there anyway.

After storming into the airport, Mal had begged for a last minute ticket purchase but the only offer made to her was way out of Mal's pitiful paycheck range. Thinking quickly, along with swallowing down her anxiety, she had reached out and placed her hand gingerly over the woman's (who appeared increasingly annoyed at serving Mal). Mal hoped a blank face would cover the awkward feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She pushed the thought into the woman's head that Mal was a member of the royal family from a rather small country in South America. With the lady convinced, she had called on Captain Erickson to fly Mal via a private jet.

Everything Mal worked for led her to an awkward plane ride with this Captain Erickson, one in which she would rather not speak about again. After that matter she also had to experience an awkward snowmobile escort from a man by the name of Ang Chambel. He had been reluctant at first but with a little influence he had been more than willing to give her a ride.

"Sonya" Theta gazed at Sonya intensely, a small fire alight in his blue eyes "When will you learn that if you want help, all you have to do is ask? I know that you're a mad woman; I learned that long ago, but that doesn't change things. I dunno about beanstalk over there" at this point Thete's eyes darted to the Doctor then back to his friend "but I'm helping"

At this point, Mal had burst into the cabin, completely covered in snow, like a living snowman in snow gear. Theta turned around in his seat and gaped, blinking and rubbing at his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Nope, snowMal was still there.

"W-what happened to you?"

The Doctor listened intently to Sonya's explanation of the events that had taken place after he had left her a few weeks or a month ago. Amazingly and ironically, The Doctor despite begin a lord of time, did not keep track of it very well when it came time to it. He chuckled after Sonya had got done with her speech and then desperately tried to retract all that she had said just a moment ago. Glancing over his shoulder, he scanned over the sight of the abominable Aravis as she barged into the cabin then peered back to Sonya as he forced himself up off of the overly comfortable couch and approached his long time friend. "No" He simply told her, staring deep into her eyes, "You had to face the Cyber controller alone...this time around you are going to need some back up. And what's better than two time lords, a Scottish girl and an extremely lucky woman?" he said with a chuckle.

Turning back to the group, he gestured them over with the movement of his head, "If we are going to do this then we will need to be psychically linked..all of us" he told them, extending out his hands back towards them, "Our minds all fused together". Pausing for a moment, he glanced back to Sonya, gave her a reassuring nod, then turned his attention back to the group, "All of our memories will be fused together. Everything we are put on display. So if you don't want any of us to see a part of your life then think of a door..then lock it...i won't look. Anything could be in there so be prepared..and stay close!".

Sonya bit down on her lip, looking into each of her friend's faces with complete trust in her eyes before she held her own hands out, unable to stop the slight tremble in them as they hovered in front of her. Nervously, she glanced around at everyone then cleared her throat for attention. "One thing I know of this... I won't have any locked doors. I have a feeling that this... Memory is going to try and hide from me now that I'm actively seeking it..." She cast another glance at them, a pained expression crossing her face for a moment before continuing. "Some of my memories... They aren't exactly the best. And I'm warning you in advance because I don't want any of you being shocked into breaking the connection. Doing that could cause everyone to break off. I want you to decide now if you want to do this, because there are things in my head that no person should ever have to see."

Theta honestly had no idea about what the Cyber Controller was; Sonya sometimes had mentioned it when they traveled together, but not often, and he had never had the courage to get her to open up about it more. It had seemed like a touchy subject at the time, and if that was bad, it was nothing compared to right now. He knew Sonya needed help, and while there were others around too, he wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing. Bad things in Sonya's head be damned.

So Theta reached forward and took the Doctor's hand with no hesitation, only pausing to lock away a few intimate and embarrassing memories. All the while he looked at Sonya, conveying with only his look that 'yeah, I'm helping, whether you want help or not'.

(We might have to continue out of order considering Quinn. When she gets back we can just let her slip in however she can. Act like she's still here, but leave our posts open so it won't be hard for her to rejoin if she wants to)

(Alright)

(Thet's replied, I suppose we could wait and see if Mal gets on today. But if not, you can go ahead and post David)

(Ok, i will wait for Mal to get on before i post)

((I'm so sorry! Things are getting busy here :I))

Mal looked at Theta and muttered a 'don't ask' when he questioned her.  She didn't know what was going on but the solemn emotion in the atmosphere told her it wasn't anything to celebrate over.  Her jaw seemed to drop in a dumbfounded way at the Doctor's words.


"Excuse me?  Sorry, but what's going on here?  A mental link for what purpose?" The anxiety in her voice was evident. Mal shifted away from the group a little, not at all pleased with the thought of someone being inside her head.  Though the Doctor said you could 'close a door' on any memory wished to be left alone, Mal doubted her ability to do so. 
((Omg I have no idea what I did to this... the new reply box has me baffled XD))

The Doctor nodded, forgetting about Mal's question, and then almost immediately his conscious and along with everyone else's, were sent into the seemingly endless enigma of Sonya's mind. Once inside, The Doctor opened his eyes and let go of his hold on everyone's hands and gazed around the door upon doors that were shut and locked of old and dangerous memories. Doors painted the color blue were his, doors that should never be opened. Some were different colors then others, marking their importance to that individual. Beneath their feet was a glass like floor where gases and pictures and flashes of exposed memories floated, peering out images of friends and family long gone, wars, battles, heart brakes and blissful memories. 

Above their heads were seemingly endless stars and doors, with huge human size bubbles floating down to him and around the pitch black consciousness of Sonya. "Don't wonder off!" The Doctor called over his shoulder to the group, "Get lost in here and i will never find you. Be careful".