For Love of Life (Rio, Sisi, Maria)

[The Second Doctor]

1967. The plague hits. It kills millions, ravages cities, and destroys lives.

1978. Careful immunization rings cure the plague, until only one country has it.

1979. One state.

1982. One city.

1983. One family.

---
Alec Harrison trudged through a city in Russia. At this point, the infectious disease had been narrowed to one family. But no one knew who. At this time, technology wasn't advanced enough to tell.

Unless you were a Timelord.

Alec's appearance had drastically changed since he had met Flynn. And not in a regenerative way. The space under his eyes was the deep purple of insomnia. Not to mention his eyes themselves, formerly a healthy bright gold, were now a demonic bronze.

His appearance wasn't all that had changed. His mindset, his ideals, anything that said he was kind or loving was gone. Left by an empty evil, like a demon fighting with no energy, no heart in it. No heart for life.

Any life, in fact.
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Taking a match from his jacket pocket, lightning it on a nearby building. It was a wonder what such a little match could do such destruction. Especially when one had a specific intention.
---------

Here it was was. The house with the plague. The family. The last hosts of the disease.
"Formerly the last." he thought aloud, tossing the match between two boards. It was, in Alec's eyes, the perfect execution. Slow enough so no one knew it was him, but not so long that anyone could escape.

The Dark Lord simply loved wooden houses.

[Rio Keâts]

Rio hadn’t been alive for the worst of the plague. He’d been raised in one of the original Treated countries. Six countries – the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Canada, and Italy – had been the original countries to have the cure. Unbeknownst to the general public – and most government officials – the plague hadn’t been cured by entirely human methods. But that was of no concern Rio. Even with the plague prevention ring, he’d never been at risk. His mother – a Karlaithyan – had ensured that he would remain physically healthy, even against the plague that was destroying the population.

He had, however, been alive for the miraculous spreading of the cure. He and his father hadn’t been around for the news. They’d been exploring Africa and Asia – unaware of the dwindling victims of the plague.

Russia. They’d been there countless times before. The boy thought the language was funny sounding – harsh and guttural compared to the French he and his father spoke to each other. The father, Tomas, liked the vodka and the adventure. Only years later would the boy reject the country, tense at its very mention; after Tomas was brutally shot in front of him.

“Papa?” Rio murmured, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands drowsily. Bright green eyes met his father’s pale blue eyes. “I’m sleepy. We’ve been walking for miles,” he whined.

Tomas raised his eyebrows and picked the boy up easily, carrying him under his arm. “Tired, huh?” he asked, grinning down at his son.

“That’s what I said, dad,” Rio giggled, squirming half-heartedly. His grin slowly faded as he watched smoke rise from a house. He sniffed. “Papa? That doesn’t smell like a chimney place,” he said.

“Because it isn’t,” Tomas responded, setting his son down gently. Grasping the smaller hand in his own, he hurried down the street. Confronted by the burning house, he turned to Rio and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I have to make sure no one was in there. And if I come out, we will take care of him,” he said, directing a glance to the man who was standing in front of the house.

The ten year old moved to follow him, but a few harsh words dissuaded him easily. The flames reflected in the bright green eyes. They slowly shifted over to the man standing in front of them. Riocard growled under his breath and barreled into the man, using sharp fingernails and teeth to tear at the man. “You!” Riocard shouted, still using his native tongue of French.

ooc| let me know if I need to change it.

[The Phantom]

The Phantom had felt a bit strange since her regeneration, her hair no longer that bright blonde, but a dark ginger. She was taller than her previous self had been, and found herself using her laser screwdriver more as well. Shockingly to the Phantom's surprise, she also managed to operate her Tardis with fewer crashes, and mishaps.

She walked around her Tardis console, which had also changed, instead of her starlike theme, it was more of a ember and fire style. The center console was no longer constructed to look as if it had three parts. It was just the one long center orb that moved up and down when traveling through the vortex, and a less oval control panel, and more of a circle shape.

Suddenly her Tardis lurched harshly, nearly causing the young Time-lady to slip off her feet. Luckily, she grabbed onto the control panel to steady herself.

"What are you doing?! You were just fine during the last few trips, why are you acting up now?" Maria asked her ship in irratation, annoyed with the way she was acting.

As if the Phantom's Tardis was responding to what her driver was saying. She parked herself rather roughly, causing the Phantom's legs to give and fall unceremoaniously to the Tardis floor.

"Oi!" She shouted at the console, standing up slowly and rubbing her back. "That wasn't very nice you know."

Maria tried to get her Tardis back into flight, only to give up when realising that the ship wasn't having it. "FINE! Fine. Have it your way."

Grabbing her black trenchcoat and putting it on, making sure the buttons were fastened before she opened the door to her Tardis and stepped outside. The Phantom quickly shut the door behind her, taking notice that her ship decided to take the form of a small house as she locked it.

"So where have you sent me, I wonder." Maria asked herself, her voice soft and close to a whisper. Looking around her surroundings she could easily figure out where she was, possibly when she was as well. If given enough clues. However, figuring out the time and place would have to wait.

When she saw the smoke rising with the wind, the Phantom ran towards it. Something's wrong. She could feel it in her gut. This isn't right. She had to know.

She almost froze when she saw him, and of course Him. She couldn't believe it, not at first. But it was him, The Dark Lord, or Alec as she knew him. Something is very wrong. Though something was different about him, he seemed darker than before.

She also saw her friend Rio, though it was obvious that this was early in his life. He was her previous self's compainion for a while. She almost smiled knowing what was to come for him in the future, but manage to contain herself. It nearly shocked her to see him so small, and charging after Alec.

Acting quickly she ran and held Rio back, trying to keep him away from the Dark Lord. "Easy there, mon cher. You have an huge adventure that is going to start for you, very soon." She gave him a light smile, before standing in front of him. Looking towards Alec she raised her eyebrow in dissaproval. "Dark Lord.. How did you come to this? Arsen really?! That's just low, considering all the things you can come up with."

She slowly took out her Blue Laser Screwdriver and held it tightly in her left hand. Holding it at her side for the time being.

[The Second Doctor]

For all the times Alec had heard the word "You" yelled at him, this had to be the youngest, the bravest, and the...Frechiest. He turned his head to a 90° angle to look at the assaulting youth. Alec sidestepped and brought his arm around the boy's neck in a head-lock. He bent down slowly, to where he was speaking directly into his ear.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't dispose of you now?" he asked, a murderous tone in his voice.

Then came a voice Alec had never heard.
"Easy there, mon cher. You have an huge adventure that is going to start for you, very soon." She said "Dark Lord.. How did you come to this? Arsen really?! That's just low, considering all the things you can come up with."

"Do I know you? I'm kind of busy, you see." he said.

Alec noticed her screwdriver, and he noticed what it represented.

[Rio Keâts]

Small hands clutched at the Dark Lord’s arms as the Time Lord held him tightly. He bared his teeth, glaring fiercely up at the man who was holding him. He most certainly was not Russian. His French was fluent, no trace of a Russian accent to be found. “Give me one reason,” the man snarled in his ear, stilling Rio’s escape efforts, “why I shouldn’t dispose of you now?” he finished, his tone betraying his intentions. The young boy glared into the older man’s dull yellow eyes, his own jaw and fists clenched.

“My papa wouldn’t let you,” he said confidently, changing his language to English. His voice was heavily accented – he would only lose his French accent when he was in his twenties – but he still had a decent grasp on the language. “He would dispose of you,” he returned, green eyes flashing a challenge. However, he still glanced worriedly at the fire, praying to the many Gods he’d learned of that his father wouldn’t become broken today.

Another voice broke through the haze of his mind. A woman’s voice. “Easy there, mon cher,” the woman said. He broke away from the Dark Lord, fists still clenched even as the woman held him to keep him from barraging the man with his tiny fists again. “You have a huge adventure that is going to start for you, very soon,” she said.

He stepped away from her, coughing due to the smoke. The child looked between the house and the two strangers. Something intrigued him about them, something that was urging him to stay. But they seemed to be deep in conversation; words he didn’t understand but those he did. He stared at the metal rod in her left hand, and shook his head gently.

And into the burning house the ten year old ventured, hopping gracefully over burning boards that had fallen from the ceiling. He wasn’t a stranger to dangerous situations. He’d mended and treated people while, in the other room, gunshots were echoing. His father had told him that sometimes, to do the right thing, you had to do very, very bad things. Rio had killed someone before his tenth birthday; a man that abused his daughter in a way that Rio hadn’t understood fully. But he knew it was wrong, so he had ended it.

“Rio!” his dad snapped, unburying a woman from a pillar of wood that was on fire. Rio hurried over, pulling the woman and her child out from under the wood. “What are you doing here? You need to go hide—”

“No,” Riocard said with a tone of finality. He was trying to lead the woman to the door, but she remained rooted at the spot, screaming in Russian. Unable to listen to the majority – something about a ‘husband’ – he looked to where she was. A man was on the floor, a table crushing him under its weight. He stepped forward on an instinct, trying to free the man – but he paused, fully recognizing the situation.

The man was dead. His face was terribly to look at – the way some of the plague survivors appeared. Riocard covered his mouth, trying to keep from retching. The woman and her children – his father was pulling the other children out from various places now – were exhibiting the same symptoms. He stepped back, crushing the man’s wrist beneath his foot. The man had clearly been crushed to death by the table that had collapsed in the fire – and now the fire was beginning to catch on his clothes, a rudimentary, inadequate cremation.

If Riocard ever wanted to forget anything during his life, it would be the sight of the woman cradling the broken man.

“Davaĭ,” he urged, trying to grab her. The woman didn’t budge. He tugged on her wrists desperately.

“Rio, come,” Tomas urged, grabbing Rio. He put the boy under his arm, the other children on his back and beneath his other arm. He walked out the door quickly, the children his first priority. Once they were set on the street, they watched as the roof crumbled down. He put the six children – his own included – behind his back, glaring both at the Phantom and the Dark Lord.

His eyes landed on the device in the Phantom’s hand, and he moved Rio even farther back, much to the ten year old’s chagrin. “Papa! We have to go help that wo—”

“It’s too late,” Tomas said abruptly. “She’s dead, and you will be, too, if you try to help.” He turned to his son and kissed the boy’s forehead, wiping the soot from his face as well he could. “Do you remember when we hid from the people chasing us?” he asked gently. Rio nodded.

“Run there.”

[The Second Doctor]

Alec raised his ears in success as two of the plague carriers- the adults, and in his eyes, the more important -were killed in the flames. It vaguely reminded him of his own family dying the same way, though he kept a bored expression on his face.
"Ashes to ashes..." the entire house caved in, destroying the bodies, "Dust to dust."

The Dark Lord kept his eyes locked on the boy's father, his hand drifting into his trench coat...

...and pulling out a nine mil, aimed at the children. He shot one bullet in their direction, stepping forward with a sneer. He turned back to the woman.
"Look, I don't know who you are, if you followed me from Gallifrey...whatever. Just stay out of my way." he said.

He started walking faster towards the man, his height and less weight giving him an advantage. Flipping the gun over and holding it by the barrel, he swung it over his shoulder in an attempt to bluntly strike him. Something seemed off about this kid, not quite human. Whatever it was, Alec didn't give it another thought.

[The Phantom]

She couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance with this version of Alec. Or maybe it was part of her personality, either way, she didn't like it.

"Look, I don't know who you are, if you followed me from Gallifrey...whatever. Just stay out of my way." He told her, after he fired a bullet after the children.

Maria's eyes narrowed at him, as if he had any right to tell her what to do. She raised the laser screwdriver, aiming it towards him as she called after him in Gallifreyan. "I'm giving you one chance Alec, just one. I know you probally won't reconize me, granted I was a bit shorter, and blonde. However I don't think that matters."

As she watched him walk in a quick pace towards the man who was protecting the childen, she fired it at his shoulder. Hoping that would at least stop Alec for a bit. "Let them go."

The Phantom never lowered her Laser Screwdriver, keeping it aimed directly at him.

[The Second Doctor]

Alec yelped in pain as a laser bolt hit his shoulder. Most of the pain was there, but it arched down his spine in a chain reaction that brought him to the ground.

Once he was down he stayed down, side-effect electricity still running through him. Struggling to his feet the Timelord has his gun leveled at Phantom's head. His eyes widened, seeming to remember something important.
"Maria?" he slipped into their native language.

It was obviously not a happy reunion, he knew as he lowered his gun. He was constantly blinking and clenching/unclenching his teeth in pain, a good bit of the energy still in him, however he respected the other Galifreyan enough not to retaliate.

[The Phantom]

"Maria?" Alec asked in their language, his eyes had gotten wider from the recognition. He lowered his gun, and in response she walked over to him.

"Hello again." Maria would have smiled at him under better circumstances. However, at the moment she would have to save the pleasantries for later.

"How much sleep have you been getting?" She asked upon noticing the shadows under his eyes. Maria wished that he would take better care of himself. Though she also wished he hadn't burnt down a house. "You shouldn't have down that. The plague was shrinking and would've been over for most of the world. Now you could've screwed that up. Do you realize that?"

Her tone sounded like that of a mother scolding a small child for trying to touch a burner. She shook her head wanting to know what caused him to do this. Speaking back in English she asked him. "What drove you to this?"

[The Second Doctor]

Alec had a horribly hating expression on his face, like a brother who was sick of his younger sister.
"Hello again-"

"No," he interrupted, "I refuse to be greeted by someone who just shot me, Phantom." he spit the name with malice.

"How much sleep have you been getting?"

"Why do you care for the details of my insomnia? If you must know, I haven't slept in three months." he replied.

"You shouldn't have down that. The plague was shrinking and would've been over for most of the world. Now you could've screwed that up. Do you realize that?"

"No, I've seen the future as you have, they would have spread the plague." Alec was still in pain, as the last of the energy dissapated.

He no longer felt any brotherly affection for Maria. He didn't trust her. He didn't trust anyone. He didn't trust...Susan even.

"What drove you to this?" she asked.

"Why do you care so much? It would benefit you more than anything to shoot me and leave me to die- don't act like it wouldn't. I dare you." he said darkly.

[The Phantom]

"Why do you care so much? It would benifit you more than anything to shoot me and leave me to die - don't act like it wouldn't. I dare you."

His words were harsh, and the look he directed towards her almost made her hearts break.

"I care because your one of my best friends, and you should know I don't have many. I care because it hurts me to see someone I love, as my big brother... I don't like seeing you in pain, and I care because it seems to me that you don't!" Maria's own voice was harsh, and she glared back at him. "Yes. I did shoot you. However that was to stop you, not to kill you.

Looking off to the side, the Phantom let out a sigh before looking back towards him. Her eyes softened somewhat.

"I don't understand..." She muttered. "Why must you make everything so bloody difficult?"

[Rio Keâts]

Tomas kept his eyes trained warily on the man as he dug into his coat. He pulled his knife out, preferring to use his gun only in emergencies. The gun didn’t seemed to be aimed for him – or, if it was, the man was a terrible shot. Throwing one quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the child hit wasn’t Rio, Tomas focused his attention on the man stalking towards him. A small smile played dangerously on his lips when he saw that the man didn’t intend to shoot him.

As the man prepared to strike him, Tomas’ eyes narrowed in on an exposed part of skin, raising his knife slightly. But before the man could lower his arm, he folded on the ground. He stepped back, placing the knife back into its holster. The woman shot him with something – obviously not a gun, and obviously not human. Blue eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked around for an exit. The children weren’t important to him – not anymore.

It was his child that was in the most danger, especially if Rio realized that he was only half human. He took a step backwards, grateful that the woman had distracted the destructive man. He turned away from them, hurrying over to the group of children. Rio was sitting next to a small Russian child, pressing his hands against the girl’s stomach harshly. The French boy had taken off his coat, wrapping the child inside of it. From between his fingers, a copious amount of blood was leaking.

“Did that man shoot her?”

Rio nodded, shivering slightly from the chilly weather. “She’s not going to die,” he said, glaring up at his father. Tomas shook his head at his son, kneeling down. The girl’s face was ashen, her eyes glassy.

“There’s nothing we can do for her.”

“There’s always something we can do,” Rio argued vehemently, anger sparking in the green eyes. He turned back to the girl, hugging her tighter and trying to stop her bleeding. Her siblings huddled around her, their small fingers clutching their sister’s clothes.

Tomas glanced backwards to the man and the woman. They were still arguing in a language he couldn’t speak. He sighed and looked back at his son, knowing that any minute they could stop and the man would shoot at them. “Xavier,” he said stonily. “You need to get the rest of her siblings to safety. And don’t come back. I’ll find you.”

Rio shook his head stubbornly, watching the life fade out of the young girl’s eyes. He stood up and ran towards the man that had done all these terrible things, pushing him with all the strength the ten year old could muster. Which, admittedly, was not very much.

[The Second Doctor]

"I care because your one of my best friends, and you should know I don't have many. I care because it hurts me to see someone I love, as my big brother... I don't like seeing you in pain, and I care because it seems to me that you don't!" Maria's voice was harsh, but Alec seemed unfazed. "Yes. I did shoot you. However that was to stop you, not to kill you."

"Now, admittedly, you seem to genuinely care about me, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not the same person thought I was. Not the same person Sus-" he stopped himself. "Nothing."

Alec felt a force in his back, not enough to knock him over, though he stumbled from the unexpected charge. He turned, and wasn't surprised to see the little boy from earlier. He put a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah, you're doing it wrong. If attacking someone with a height advantage from behind, you want to drive your foot into the back of their knee. The joint there will cause them to fall to their knees, giving you access to the neck and head. If you have a knife, or a rock, the end of the fight is right there." he instructed, not sure why he was doing it.

"Forget what I just said." then Timelord walked past him and ran after the children, ignoring the dying girl left on the ground.

[The Phantom]

She listened as Alec explained to Rio what he should have done. It almost made her believe part of the old him, the better him, was still there. Almost. That is until he started running towards the children.

It didn't take long for Maria to lift her screwdriver once more and shot at his ankles.

"I warned you. I will not hesitate." She narrowed her eyes at Alec, then turned to Rio bending down at his level.

"Rio, why didn't you run?" She asked him, her eyes showing her concern for him. "Please, listen. I understand if you don't trust me, but... Go help those little ones, they'll need you and your father's help."

Maria hoped that he would listen, though considering how stubborn Rio could be when someone was in trouble, she knew better.

[Rio Keâts]

Riocard glared up at the tall man. He nearly winced when the Dark Lord put a hand on his shoulder, but he remained stubbornly defiant, refusing to show his fear. “Ah, you’re doing it wrong,” the Time Lord chided. Confusion sparked in the green eyes, and they hesitantly moved over to the woman, trying to see if she could make more sense out of this. “If attacking someone with a height advantage from behind, you want to drive your foot into the back of their knee. The join there will cause them to fall to their knees, giving you access to the neck and head. If you have a knife, or a rock, the end of the fight is right there.”

What?

The boy wasn’t exactly what one would call ‘world-wise’ but he was almost positive that you didn’t give your enemy fighting advice in the heat of battle. He pushed Alec’s hand from his shoulder uneasily. “Forget what I just said,” the Time Lord said, running after the children. And, like a cat amused by how a mouse runs from it, Riocard turned to follow him, a devilish smile on his face.

And he would have gotten away with it, if it hadn’t been for that meddling woman.

“Rio, why didn’t you run?”

He bit his lip, glancing over her shoulder. His father was ushering the children away. “Please, listen. I understand if you don’t trust me, but… go help those little ones, they’ll need you and your father’s help,” the woman said. Riocard stared at her.

How did she know his name?

But that was a question that he would ponder over another day. He smiled at her, kissed her cheek, and ran by her.

Tomas was currently ushering the children away as fast as he could go. The woman could keep his son safe better than he could at the moment. He wouldn’t leave Rio with her for an extended period of time, but Rio seemed obsessed with the man. “Xavier! Go stay with her!” he snapped angrily over his shoulder, rounding a corner with the children.


Riocard grabbed Alec’s waist tightly. He lightly kicked at the back of Alec’s knee, grinning. While his main goal was to keep the man from killing any more of those children – and his father, of course – his secondary goal was far more childish. He liked the chase this man was putting up.

“Like that?” he asked, referring to his kick. “How hard should I have kicked?” he pressed, still clinging to the man’s waist.