The Truth Behind the Lie
is a short One-Shot Fic that acts as a Crossover between Doctor Who and The Neverending Story. It was written in response to the revelation that the Doctor was originally the Timeless Child, a mysterious being from another dimension. The story posits that the Timeless Child was in fact the Childlike Empress and explains how she ended up in the Doctor's universe.
Tropes:
- Alternate Universe Fic: The story radically alters the climax of The Neverending Story by removing the metafictional aspect and with it the character of Bastian Bux. Thus, Fantasia is not saved, Atreyu is killed and the Empress uses the Auryn to wish for an escape.
- Call-Forward: One of the Empress' lines is taken from the ending of the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time", hinting at who she will ultimately become.
- Downer Ending: Fantasia is destroyed by the Nothing and the Empress loses her memories, essentially reducing her to a blank slate that Tecteun will exploit in the name of science.
- Godzilla Threshold: Using the Auryn can help you out of any situation, but costs you your memories.
- Identity Amnesia: The Empress' wish causes the Auryn to remove her memories and she is referred to as the Child from that point on.
- Language Barrier: The Child cannot understand what Tecteun is saying because she has never heard the Gallifreyan language before.
- Mythology Gag: The idea that the Auryn can remove memories is taken from the Neverending Story novel. There, every wish Bastian makes takes away one of his memories. Here, the wish is strong enough to take away all of the Empress' memories, thus explaining why the Timeless Child could not tell Tecteun anything about herself.
- P.O.V. Sequel: The scene from "The Timeless Children" where Tecteun first encounters the Timeless Child is retold from the Child's perspective.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Empress has lived for 10,000 years thanks to her ability to regenerate.
