AN: Hello again! This is a follow-up to my first story, Of Small Boxes and the End of All Things, as per request from QArbuthnot. Hope you enjoy, and if you feel like it drop a review! :)
AN Update: That awful coding glitch happened with my first upload, so here's to hoping it works with this one!
...and then, Romanadvoratrelundar opened her eyes. She was… alive?
Romana opened her temporal eye and searched the tattered timelines that were left from the Time War, only to find that… they were all repaired?
No, that wasn't it. They weren't just repaired, they were… gone.
She nearly fell from her seat with the awful shock of it all, her binary vascular kicking in as she struggled to breathe. She had been so used to being able to rely on her temporal eye- ever since she had looked into the Untempered Schism, it was a constant, and now it was gone.
How could the timelines be gone?
Romana rose from her seat at her desk and hurried outside her quarters. She didn't dare call it a room, because it was more of a prison cell, really. The new High Council that was formed after Rassilon had taken over was quick to erase any thought of her administration, one that had focused on helping some of the weaker planets harmed by the war. It was a policy inspired by the Doctor, and it was despised by Rassilon. As a result, anyone who had shown any sort of favor for President Romanadvoratrelundar- in any way- was forbidden from public office. Many were banished entirely, but Romana had too many supporters in the people, and Rassilon feared revolt. So Romana was held quietly in the Citadel, enough to satisfy the people, but forbidden from discussing any matter of politics.
When she exited her quarters, Romana saw all the politicians hurrying about, whispers rustling throughout the Citadel walls like one of those high schools on Earth the Doctor had told her about during their travels together. She blinked in confusion, because, aside from the talking, it was quiet.
No Dalek battle cries, no screaming from the people not fortunate enough to have the Citadel as a haven. Nothing that said that there was a war on.
Romana hurried up the steps to the High Council room, picking up her Gallifreyan robes so she wouldn't trip as they trailed behind her. When she followed the crowd of politicians inside, she saw a projection being played on repeat in the center of the room, from the War Council room.
"All twelve of them?"
"No, sir. All thirteen!"
The Time Lady's hand clapped over her mouth in a mixture of shock, relief, and irritation at the sight of all- well, what she assumed was all- of the Doctor's regenerations, flying into the Gallifreyan airspace- transporting Gallifrey!- into a pocket universe.
That was why she couldn't sense anything. They were in a tiny bubble on the skin of the prime universe. Away from the timelines. There was now nothing but Gallifrey in this little universal bubble, and they were away from the war.
Without Gallifrey, the Last Great Time War was over. Romana expected that the Doctor would have finished off the Daleks just to prove a point. The Time War was over.
Romana sagged against the nearest wall, her hearts bursting with intense emotion. It was over. Centuries of war, millions dead… and, just like that, it was all over.
"Oi. Fred."
She nearly jumped out of her skin, and she whipped around to see an aged man with a black coat lined with red and curly grey hair. His accent was Earth Scottish. Romana knew immediately who it was.
"Before you start scolding me for being an irresponsible, sorry excuse for a Time Lord, come with me back to my TARDIS," the Doctor said in a low voice. "I know you're not exactly amongst friends here, and Rassilon probably knows what'd happen if they found out I was here. Literally, Rassilon'd probably have me killed for getting in the way of his Final Sanction."
Romana stood, gaping, for once at a loss for words, and all she could do was silently nod her head. She didn't even protest when he grabbed her hand, and they began to run.
"Right around the corner," he muttered quietly, and Romana's breath caught in her throat as her eyes fell upon that old, shoddy box. It was full of memories for her, of Paris, of home, of learning how to empathize with other species of the universe that the Academy had never taught her. The Doctor saw her hesitation, and he pretended not to notice her expression of extreme nostalgia. "Well, go on, then. No time to lose."
Romana opened the doors and entered the ancient time machine, examining the new console theme with mild interest.
"You've redecorated," she commented quietly.
"Do you like it?" the grey Time Lord asked, grinning widely.
"A bit dramatic, but I suppose you've always been." She paused, before remembering that she was cross with him. She whirled around to face him as he shut the doors behind them. "How dare you cross your own time stream? And on purpose? You've always been careless, but this is extreme, and-"
Romana stopped then, for she saw the deadpanned expression on his face. It was one that had lingering, stale sadness in the back of his eyes, tinged with the emotion of something that happened long ago.
"The last day for me happened a long time ago, Romana," he admitted, taking a deep breath. "Come on, I'll put some tea on. I'll explain everything."
Romana hesitated, examining his eyes for one more moment before nodding, following him into his TARDIS.
"It's strange," she began, but didn't say anything else. So many things were strange now. It was strange that she was going into a TARDIS that wasn't meant for battle. It was strange that she was about to sit down for tea. It was strange who she was sitting down for tea with, and it was especially strange that there was no weight on her shoulders anymore. No more war. No more death. In a way, it was almost frightening. That weight had pressed down upon her for the entirety of the three centuries Gallifrey had been at war, and it had begun to feel like an old friend. Now that it was gone, she felt slightly disoriented. Lost.
"I know," the Doctor responded softly, seeming to know exactly what she was talking about. Of course he would. He had always known her better than anyone in the universe.
When they reached the kitchen, the Doctor pulled out a chair for the Time Lady and put the kettle on to boil. She raised an eyebrow at that.
"There are far more efficient ways to boil water, Doctor," she told him, mildly amused. "Spent a bit of time around humans since the end of the war?"
"Ah, well," he gave a smile that seemed almost forced. "Can't stay away from them, can I? Anyways, some of their ways, they're rather quaint, I feel."
"Well, quaint certainly is one way to describe them," Romana smiled softly. She glanced up at him. "You were going to tell me what happened? From what I feel in the timelines- that is to say, nothing- I'd say you've transported us into a bubble universe. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"But what I don't understand… is why," she pressed. "You were set on activating the Moment. At the time, I thought you were right, too. It was the only way, unless you're daft enough to gather all your past lives and station their TARDISes around the planet. Why did you change your mind."
The Doctor at that moment looked impossibly old, and Romana was once again reminded of that green-eyed, boyish Doctor she and the Fourth had met so very long ago in the little town of Leadworth. This one was even older than him, she presumed.
"Romana, I had a lot of time to think about that moment. About... about using the Moment," he said, and his eyes were half closed in a valiant attempt to force the words out. "When I regenerated from… from him, from my war self, I thought I had destroyed Gallifrey. I thought I had killed 2.47 billion children and billions more. In those first few months, I didn't move. I didn't eat, or sleep, or talk, I just sat at the edge of the TARDIS doorway above the dark spot where Gallifrey used to be, and several times I seriously contemplated throwing myself over- ending the Time War by ending the Gallifreyan race for good. But time passed, and I met humanity, humanity through Rose Tyler, and Martha Jones, and Donna Noble, and the Ponds, and…" He paused, seeming to come across a stumble in his memory. "And I saw that what I did that day didn't have to happen. Someone… someone helped me come to that decision, and with the scientific expertise of all the me's put together, we saved Gallifrey." A light smile touched his face. "And after centuries of believing I was a destroyer of worlds, I found a way to be a proper doctor again."
Romana listened to his words, hanging onto every syllable as though if she missed a single one, she might miss the whole thing. After he finished, she placed a hesitant hand on top of where his own lay atop the countertop. He looked up at her in mild surprise. For Time Lords, physical touch was something they didn't do often. It was seen as a rather primitive gesture practiced by only the most backwards of peoples. But that was Gallifreyan thinking- it was Time Lord thinking, and the Doctor had shown her just how egotistical the Time Lord superiority complex was. He had shown her that human beings- despite how daft they could be at times- were beautiful, emotional creatures, and through the Doctor she saw that there were certain things that could be learned from them. Touch was one of those things.
"You saved us, Doctor," she murmured, giving his hand a gentle, comforting squeeze. "You saved us from… from ourselves, quite frankly. From what the Renegade told me about what was going on in the High Council, this was the safest- and most benevolent- thing you could have done. And I thank you for that."
He did not respond, a small, lingering smile making its way onto his face.
"But you found us again," she added. "After all this time, you managed to remember and find us. How did you get back?"
"It took ages," he said. "It took three regenerations and thousands of years. But I knew I had to get back. I finally found the proper coordinates, and it nearly killed the old girl to get here. But I made it. She made it."
"Hold on, you didn't have to come back," the Time Lady stated bluntly. "You saved the whole of Gallifrey, you owe nothing to us. Why risk everything- your TARDIS- for a planet that has done nothing but torment you for all of your lives?"
The Doctor's lips quirked up wryly.
"I didn't come back for Gallifrey, Romana," he told her, taking his hand back as the kettle whistled. He turned around and poured the boiling water over the teabags in the two mugs. He handed one to her, and she accepted the hot cup, using it to warm her hands. She examined his expression carefully, but she couldn't quite place what he was trying to say. Finally, he took pity on her and explained, "You. I came back for you."
The Time Lady froze, her hearts thumping in her chest. Her? Why in Rassilon's name…
"Romana, I'm no good on my own," he admitted quickly. "You always grounded me, you know. And when I thought I'd lost you…" His ancient eyes grew misty. "Well, there was never anyone like you, you know. And then you were alive again to me, and I resolved that I would find Gallifrey. For you."
Romana had heard very many ridiculous things in her lives, but she thought that this might just top them all.
"Well, that's quite silly, Doctor," she said, avoiding his eyes. "I appreciate the gesture, but I still don't quite understand. Why would you-"
The old Time Lord shook his head, that same bittersweet smile still touching his lips.
"Anyways, I'm here now, and I just wanted to ask you…" he hesitated. "Would you come with me, Romana? The war is over now for you, and we can travel the universe again. No… no war, no mission to stop the universe from collapsing. Just you, and me, and stardust."
Stardust. Romana smiled tightly. Stardust had always followed the Doctor wherever he went. Stardust touched every life he encountered, and it brought new life to so many more. The Doctor without a perpetual, swirling cloud of glistening stardust was unthinkable. And as fanciful as that sounded, as good as it might feel to leave the turbulent world of Gallifrey with all its politics and all its conflict in place of stardust…
"No," she finally conceded. Noticing the nearly hidden expression of hurt on his face, she quickly explained. "Don't get me wrong, Doctor, I would love to travel the universe with you. Really, I would. But right now, Gallifrey is in shambles. Our people will be searching for a leader, and I cannot allow Rassilon to seize power again. I must stand up for my people. I must help them rebuild, and guide them in the right direction. You know just as well as I, Doctor, that after wars, the people are easily influenced. It is my responsibility to make sure that we do not grow to be as callous as we once were. I will make sure that our new regime is one rebuilt with you in mind. It will be kind."
The Time Lord listened to her words mutely, but he understood completely. It was so very like her. So responsible- something he had never been. But that was her prerogative to decide. It was his to run away. It was the only status quo in that mad whirlwind so many liked to call a universe that he never really felt like challenging. A real smile appeared on his face, and he nodded quickly despite the pain her words brought him.
"Quite right, Romanadvoratrelundar," he murmured, hiding his face in his tea. "Always were the responsible one. Go on then, rebuild Gallifrey. They need someone like you."
"And the universe needs someone like you, Doctor," she replied softly. "I'll do the work at home. You go explore, and help where you can. That was your motto at the beginning of the war, wasn't it? Live it out. And if you ever need help because you've gotten yourself into some rubbish, entirely avoidable mess, don't hesitate to call. Wouldn't be the first time I've had to slave away, fixing your disasters."
They both chuckled at that. And in the next half hour on the Doctor's TARDIS, they caught up on life- mostly his, all she had was the war, and that wasn't a fun subject for either of them. She lightly berated him with a smile on her face when she heard of all the daft things he'd done, and she held his hand when he recounted some of the more tragic things he'd experienced. When they had finished their tea, Romana stood, setting her cup down on the countertop.
"It was fantastic catching up with you, Doctor," she said in farewell. "But now, I've got myself a planet to rebuild. A people to lead."
"And I, a universe to save."
"Do visit, alright?"
His head bobbed up and down rapidly.
"I will. Now that I know where to find you mad lot, I will."
And as she walked out of the blue box and into the chaos of a broken, suffering world outside, the Doctor sighed deeply. He understood why she had to leave him again, but knowing that didn't make it any less painful. It had been centuries, certainly, since he had seen her, perhaps even millennia. His hands trembled as he began the dematerialization process, but he gave the monitor a small smile as her form disappeared, and he whispered in the empty box even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
"Yes, I'll see you again, my Romana."
~Fin.