Chapter Text
Martha turned to look at the body of the little boy that she’d discovered in the cupboard, his face was somewhat caved in from where it had been smashed against the hard floor, his right arm was broken and he was coated in his own blood, but if she ignored all of that, she could almost pretend the toddler was sleeping.
“Martha,” The Doctor’s voice was quiet, subdued, and she turned to glance at him. There was an obvious look of sadness on his face that she’d never seen before as he looked at Harry, then looked back at her. “We need to move, the Tychilla will return any minute.”
“Where?” Her voice cracked, and she let out a sob, her tears finally beginning to fall.
“The,” He trailed off for a moment, reaching out to tuck a strand of Harry’s hair behind his ear. “That break room, Harry,” She saw him blink and swallow, fighting back his own tears. “He left his stuff there.”
She frowned but nodded. “I’m not leaving him here when we go back upstairs,” The Doctor glanced at her as she spoke. “He deserves better than to be left here where they could take his body and do whatever to it.”
The Doctor nodded, and Martha sighed, moving to crouch next to the toddler, and moved to pick him up, her hand brushing against his bare arm as she did so, and she quickly pulled away from his body with a hiss of pain, looking down at her hand, and frowning.
“What’s wrong?” The Doctor questioned.
She looked at her hand, a bright red mark where she’d touched his arm. “I just got burnt,” She held her hand out for him to look at, and his brows furrowed in confusion.
She watched as the Doctor reached out and gently grabbed his arm, also pulling back in pain, he turned his hand over, and Martha saw that all his fingertips were a bright red, showing that he’d also been burnt.
He looked at his hand in bewilderment and frowned. “That’s strange,” He muttered, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, he glanced over it for a moment, then turned it on his hand, the tip glowing blue as it buzzed, and he frowned. “There’s nothing unusual about it, it’s just a normal burn.”
Martha frowned. “But how?”
The Doctor glanced at her, then over at Harry. “Well, there’s one way to find out.”
She watched as he turned the sonic on the toddler, running it along his arm where they’d been burnt, watched as his expression became progressively more confused, then as he carefully pulled his t-shirt up, running it along his chest. As he did so, his expression kept changing, eventually settling on a wide-eyed look of absolute shock, which was quickly replaced by some sort of realisation, then he turned to her.
“Martha, we need to move away from him now.”
She blinked. “What?”
She didn’t have a chance to argue with him, as he stood up and grabbed her arm, pulling her up onto her feet and away from the toddler.
“Doctor, what’s going on?” She hissed out as she tripped over her feet.
The Doctor frowned at her, stopping once they were stood several feet away from the boy, they both turned to look at him. “He’s about to-“
He was cut off as a bright golden glow, reminiscent of fire emitted from the child, and Martha could feel the heat it gave off from where she stood, and suddenly understood why the Doctor had moved her from her spot next to the child, knowing that if she’d remained where she’d been crouching, she would have gotten severely burnt.
“Spontaneous combustion?” She hissed out, eyes wide.
“No,” The Doctor breathed, an odd tone to his voice. “He’s Regenerating.”
And it was at that moment that she recognised the tone in his voice as longing, like he was seeing something he’d given up hope on witnessing and wasn’t quite believing his eyes. It was strange for her, seeing him so vulnerable, she could tell that he was struggling to come to terms with what they were witnessing, it painted a completely different picture than the man who relied on her to keep him grounded while also keeping her away from getting close to him.
“Regenerating?”
“Yes, he’s,” The Doctor sighed, slowly moving closer to the boy as the glow began to slowly dim. “Time Lords,” He began slowly, picking the toddler up as the energy faded. “We have an ability that allows us to continue on in life when we die, injury, illness, age.”
Martha walked over to the Doctor and looked down at Harry, his skin had gained a slight tan, a much healthier look on the toddler than the sickly pale he’d been before the energy had coated him, his face and arms were dotted with freckles, and his hair which had grown to shoulder length, falling in soft curls was a light brown compared to the short and messy deep black it had been before.
“He looks healthy,” She muttered as they quickly made their way to the stairs, heading back to the break room, just in time as the door was thrown open and some humans began to make their way back into the warehouse from when the Doctor had managed to trick them all outside and lock them out. The Doctor was barely paying attention to where he was walking, instead looking at the boy that he was carefully cradling in his arms, two fingers against his wrist, feeling his pulses, and Martha sighed.
“So, Time Lords cheating death?” She prompted him.
He hummed. “Yes, it’s not fun, quite painful actually, and the Regeneration Sickness,” He trailed off, then shook his head. “We release an energy, and it changes who we are, physically and mentally, we retain our memories, but our personalities can be quite different, and some skills can be forgotten depending on how it goes.”
“And that’s what Harry did?” She glanced at the sleeping boy, raising an eyebrow as a puff of golden smoke seemed to slip from his mouth causing the Doctor to cough slightly as it wafted into his face, and he pushed the door to the break room open, Martha quickly following him inside, locking the door behind her as the Doctor walked over to the counter, sitting on top of it and leaning Harry against his chest. Were it not for the dried blood caked on his little body, and the fact that he looked almost nothing like the black-haired child they’d met the day prior, she never would have guessed that he’d been through such a traumatic experience.
“Yes,” The Doctor agreed, staring down at the boy. “He’s…”
“A Time Lord?” She questioned when he didn’t finish his word.
She frowned in confusion as he nodded then shook his head. “Tot,” The word was spoken like he didn’t believe it, and she could somewhat understand, from what she’d been told he was the only one left, and to find another Time Lord, a child one at that.
The Doctor took a deep breath in, and Martha politely pretended that she couldn’t see the tears in his eyes as he hugged the child close to his chest. “Oh Rassilon,” She heard him mutter. “A Tot,” His fingers were on his wrist again, feeling his double pulse, still in disbelief.
A loud crash from just outside the room had them both turning to look at the door, a small whimper had Martha looking away from the door and at Harry who was slowly shifting in the Doctor’s grasp, the noise having disturbed him, and then she looked at the Doctor’s face, taking a step back at the dark look on his face as he glared at the door. “Martha,” he glanced at her, and she gulped in nervousness, she knew the look wasn’t aimed at her, but she couldn’t help but feel fear claw at her chest. The Doctor didn’t pay any attention to her nerves, and stood, passing the sleeping toddler over to her. “Look after Harry, I have to deal with something.”
She carefully rearranged Harry so that she wasn’t holding him awkwardly, watching as the alien stormed out of the room, quietly closing and locking the door behind him, and she looked down at the boy. “You know, Harry, I’m very glad he’s not angry at me,” He remained silent, and she sighed, moving to sit on the counter as the Doctor had moments prior. “I have never seen him get angry like this; I didn’t even know he could get like this, it's... It's terrifying, actually.”
A loud bang sounded and the child in her arms was startled awake, Harry looked around in confusion, then looked up at her. His eyes were still green, but they were pale, an icy green compared to the vibrant emerald green they’d been previous.
“Martha?” His voice was shaky and unsure.
She smiled gently at him. “That’s right, Harry, it’s Martha.”
He frowned and grasped at her t-shirt as he looked away, swaying slightly as he looked around, trying to recognise where he was, he stopped after a moment and whimpered, grabbing at his chest. Another loud bang sounded, and he hiccupped in response, releasing another cloud of the bright gold energy.
She watched as Harry looked at it in complete bafflement, and she frowned. “Do you know what that is?” He shook his head watching as it faded, and Martha hummed. “Do you,” She looked out the window and sighed. “Do you know what you are?”
Harry froze on her lap and looked up at her in fear, rapidly shaking his head, seemingly shrinking into himself.
“Shit,” She muttered. “No, no Harry, it’s okay,” She reached her hand out, gently grabbing his hand, and frowning as she felt his slight shaking. “Harry, it’s alright, you’re safe, I’m not gonna hurt you.”
He peered up at her, tears welled up in his eyes and she reached out to gently wipe them out of his eyes, tears pooling in her own as the emotional turmoil of the day’s events began catching up to her. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted as another burst of energy escaped from his mouth, he stared at it again, then sneezed, then cried out slightly in pain, while grasping his head, and a moment later, yelling began from the warehouse, easily heard through the door with how loud the shouting was getting, several voices mixing in with each other, and then the Doctor burst into the room, eyes locking onto the Tot who was grabbing his head in agony.
He rushed over and tilted his head back and let out a tut. “Involuntary telepathic shrouding,” He muttered, and Martha gave him an odd look, he sighed and glanced at her. “All of the humans got released from the hypnotism of the Tychilla at the same time,” He glanced at the door. “They’re not very happy with her, and they’re making that very well known.”
A high-pitched scream echoed through the building to prove his point, and Martha scrunched her nose up. “I mean, she deserves it.”
The dark look returned to his face as he gently ruffled Harry’s hair, pressing his fingers gently into the points on a Gallifreyan’s head that helped with their telepathic abilities, soothing the Tot’s headache. “She deserves more than that,” He muttered, then glanced down at Harry who was humming at the contact. “So, what happened to cause the shrouding?”
“He sneezed,” Martha informed him, and the Doctor paused, then let out an amused snort, and before he could continue speaking, Martha gestured for him to lean in so she could whisper in his ear, he shrugged and complied. “He doesn’t know what he is,” She informed him, and she saw him freeze.
He glanced down at the Tot who was rather obviously dealing with Regeneration Sickness but was very stubbornly awake and aware of what was going on around him, and he sighed, crouching on the floor and resting his arms on the counter, and he sent the boy a tired smile as he looked at him.
“Hi, Harry,” He greeted him, feeling anxiety flutter in his hearts as the Tot stared at him, and he wanted to scream at the unfairness of the fact that he’d been alone in a cupboard clearly alone without an adult present, and that he’d Regenerated, and yet he couldn’t be more than fifteen human years old.
“Do you remember I said that you could ask me questions once this was over?” He whispered, watching as the boy shuffled himself around on Martha’s lap to face him better and nodded. “Well, since you seem rather tired,” And he did look tired, his eyes drooping somewhat despite how alert he seemed. “How about I just tell you about Time Lords instead?”
The boy nodded from where he leant against Martha’s chest, glancing at the door as the Tychilla ran past the door, then back at the Doctor as he huffed. “Don’t worry, she can’t get out, the doors and windows have been deadlocked," He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and wiggled it about a bit. “And I have the only key.”
He sighed as he placed it back in his pocket and looked at the tired Tot, steeling himself to talk. “Time Lords are a specific group of people from my planet, Gallifrey, who are gifted the ability to look into time itself by the government,” He frowned, then shrugged. “There’s a bit more to it, but it’s quite boring, but the specific name of my species is Gallifreyan,” He grinned conspiratorially as he glanced at Martha. “Now don’t go thinking that we look like humans, because humans look like us, Gallifreyans came first evolutionary wise.”
Harry blinked and glanced up at Martha as she let out a mock offended gasp. “Are you saying you’re better than us?” She sniffed and looked down at Harry. “Can you believe what you’re hearing, Harry?”
He giggled at the exchange and the Doctor continued. “Now, the main thing that separates Time Lords from a regular Gallifreyan is that glance into time, which occurs when we reach the age of eight,” He paused, thinking. “Which would be about forty in human years,” He hummed, frowning. “Yeah, that’d be forty.”
He pretended to not notice the look of confusion that crossed the Tot’s face at his words, pretended that it didn’t cause his hearts to ache that this was how he was finding out what he was. “It is also during this time that a Time Lord will gain their Regenerations, although there are the occasional factors that could allow a Gallifreyan to Regenerate without having looked into the Untempered Schism.”
Harry looked up at Martha, who was watching the Doctor, also listening to him in fascination, then looked back at the Doctor who was now looking out of the window, watching the clouds move across the sky.
“The energy settles in the middle of our chest,” He pointed at a spot between his hearts. “After it settles, the energy disperses through a Time Lord’s body, ready to be used whenever we need to Regenerate,” He sighed. “When needed, the energy is rapidly pulled into the bloodstream through a Time Lord’s two hearts,” He heard Martha let out a small grunt of pain and glanced over to see Harry rushing away from them both, and he sighed. “And then, the energy is released, rearranging each cell and DNA structure in a Time Lord’s body, saving them from death.”
Harry was pressed up against the corner of the wall, and the Doctor knew better than to go over to comfort him when he was very clearly on the edge of a panic attack, the Tot was shaking his head, and he sighed. “It’s okay, Harry.”
“No,” He heard him whisper, and the Doctor frowned.
“You’re safe.”
“No, I’m a freak, I’m sorry.”
Martha gasped, and he glanced up at her, her eyes were wide in horror and filled with tears, her hand slapped over her mouth. “Who told you that?”
“Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon,” He muttered attempting to shrink further into himself. “And Dudley, and Dudley’s friends.”
Martha reached over to try and pull him into a hug, only to pull back when he flinched at her approach.
The Doctor growled, startling both Harry and Martha. “No, you’re not a freak,” His firm words had Harry peering between his arms, eyes wide. “Let’s ignore our mutual revelation for a moment, and let’s go back to when we met you yesterday,” He huffed. “I saw a curious little boy, one who was very lonely,” He glanced at Martha, then back at him. “You are most certainly not a freak.”
Harry simply looked down at the counter, and the Doctor sighed. “I thought I was alone,” He admitted, and he glanced back up at him. “There was a war, there were no winners, and I had to so something unspeakable, leaving me as the only apparent survivor,” He refused to lie to the Tot, he deserved to know what happened to his people, to what could have been his home. “If anything, to me, you’re a miracle.”
“Oh,” He heard him whisper, and looked down again, and the Doctor sighed, glad that the Tot was no longer on the verge of a panic attack.
“Hey, how old are you?” Martha cut in, curiosity evident in her voice. “It’s just the Doctor said that an eight-year-old is forty for his lot, so.”
The boy shuffled slightly, and Martha had to strain to hear his response. “I turned fourteen two days ago.”
“Oh Rassilon,” The Doctor gasped out, and Martha glanced at him. “You’re two.”
Harry glanced at him again, but before any of them could say anything more, a loud bang of metal clanging on metal sounded through the warehouse, and the Doctor sighed, standing up.
“I better go and finish dealing with that,” He muttered darkly, as the Tychilla ran past once more, this time with a large metal pole in her hands. He glanced at Martha, then at Harry and smiled softly at him. “You’re okay, Harry, you’re safe.”
Another bang sounded and he sighed, walking to the door, and glancing at Martha. “You’ll be alright here?”
She nodded, glancing at Harry, who was frowning at the countertop once again. “Go deal with the humans and the Tychilla, the sooner you’re done the sooner we can get outside and get some fresh air.”
The Doctor nodded and after glancing at the Tot, who’s world had been turned upside down while also dealing with Regeneration Sickness, he winced as he realised the boy’s mind would probably be spinning at that moment, he turned and left the room.
He had a Tot murderer to deal with.