The Story So Far Cataclysm Urban Decay So Long Legend Reality Bomb Once Upon A Memory Three Night Engagement '70s Cutaway The Millennium People I The Millennium People II Cutting The Threads The Convocation Nova Mondas Denouement I: Sacrifice Denouement II: Paradox Denouement III: Gift

Once Upon A Memory by Andie J. P. Frankham The haunting melody echoed throughout the corridors of the time ship. In the console room the Doctor looked up from his card game, puzzled. Since when did the TARDIS play out music? Although, he had to admit, it was a sweet tune. Made him feel all thoughtful and relaxed inside. Mellow. The Doctor got up and walked over to the console. “Well, old girl, where did you get this tune from?” In answer the scanner screen activated. It was an internal image, and showed Brad in his room playing his keyboard. The Doctor smiled. “Ah, Bradley.” He returned to his card game, mindful of his own thoughts. Brad closed his eyes, and let the music surge through him. The music was like a journey back in time, taking him to the day he and Jacen first composed the tune. ...Brad finishes playing the opening of the tune. “What do you think?” Jacen looks up from the floor and nods. “Sweet, man. Yeah.” He takes a puff of his joint. “What have you called it?” “Not sure yet. I was thinking of ‘Requiem’. Something simple like that.” “Yeah, I can dig that.” Jacen reaches down and picks up the bass guitar. “Play it again, man.” Brad does so. He never takes his eyes of Jacen as he plays. Jacen closes his eyes and starts swaying his head to the tune. He strums the bass then lets the music take over. Within moments they are both playing in unison. As the key changes they both adapt, taking the tune to the next level. They do not need words, nor do they need eye contact. Making music together is a deeply spiritual thing for both of them. For Jacen it is a sign of total unity of friendship, but for Brad it is a time of intense love. While the tune plays, he does not remove his eyes from Jacen... With his eyes closed Brad continued to play, remembering the good times. The Doctor was also remembering. Or least, he hoped he was. ... “That may have been true, when I was Koschei. But look at me.” The man indicates his yellow eyes and teeth. The Doctor does not like what he sees. It is dangerous, insane, evil. A based animal. “Some times I feel like an animal, Doctor. So like an animal I will destroy you!” The man rushes the Doctor, lifting him off the floor and ramming him into the wall. The Doctor yelps in pain and the man raises a fist. The anger in the man’s eyes is so forceful that the Doctor can almost touch it... The Doctor’s eyes snapped open. The face of that man. He knew it from somewhere, but where? The Doctor racked his brains, but could not find it. He looked down at the card in his hand and flipped it over. It was a king. Of course, the Brigadier! Shortly after his regeneration the Brigadier had described that man to the Doctor. And what did the memory mean? The man had said, "when I was Koschei". The last time the Doctor had seen his old friend was on DarkHeart, and Koschei had looked nothing like the man in his memory. Although... The Doctor could not escape the notion that the man with the teeth had indeed been Koschei. But how could that be so? How could he be remembering something that had obviously not happened yet? Another thought struck the Doctor. Maybe it had happened, but he had simply forgot about it. In that memory the Doctor was smaller than the deranged and regenerated Koschei, which would imply that the Doctor had been in his second incarnation. The only problem with that was the console room. It was an updated version of the room he was in now, and that implied that the memory was from his future. The Doctor let himself relax and sink into the music. Somewhere in his memories was the information he needed. He was no longer aware of his hands moving across the keys. It was pure instinct. The music continued, and Brad found himself standing beside Jacen’s grave. ... The wind blows his hair into his eyes as he stands there all alone. The sexton has just left, having covered the hole with dirt and mud. Brad shakes his head, at his own inability to face the facts. Hole, indeed. Why he could he not just admit it? It was not a hole it was a - He looks up, hearing the music. ‘Requiem’, the final piece played by the band, and the one tune Brad had so wanted to play while they lowered Jacen Lewis into the ground. It is a sad touch of irony, that they should compose such a moving tune only a week before Jacen’s “accident” . Again Brad scolds himself. Such pointless words; hole and accident. In his mind he can hear Jacen singing the last words of ‘Requiem’, like it is some kind of coda. “We all choose our time to go. And none went so well as I. Eternity open up for me.” Brad swallows hard, and turns away from Jacen one final time. He takes his first step on the long journey to his destiny... A single tear fell from Brad’s eye and hit the keyboard. The Doctor opened his eyes as soon as the music ceased. He frowned. The little insight gave him some clues. The man in his memory (Koschei to be sure) was the same man who had caused his most recent regeneration. He had to find that dark twisted future version of his old friend. He got up and walked over to the console. Since the TARDIS seemed to like that tune so much the chances were that she had made a copy of it. The Doctor accessed the TARDIS’s memory and sure enough there it was. He put the tune back on and closed his eyes. He would find his old friend somehow. While the TARDIS rode the time winds, the occupants remembered. This is what they remembered -