AN: The story begins post Journey's End for the Doctor.

*This story is one chapter away from completion. It's been three years since last update, but 20 year old me finally decided to do something crazy and step back into the world of this fic to see it to completion. It's not a perfect fic in terms of writing style, but I'm very proud of it even still and I hope you enjoy.

~Chromatic Dreams


"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever."
-Keri Russell

Chapter One
First Steps Into the Dark

Above the glitz and glamour of New York City, a sphere waited to drop. The sphere, made of hundreds of interlocking triangular panels with lights attached, shimmered and glowed like a star in the sky. It sat patiently upon its pole, eager for the time yet to come. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people- humans of all shapes and sizes- eagerly waded through Times Square, making the Doctor another face in the crowd.

The Time Lord stood silently on the sidewalk. He stepped aside for an eager family of four who had tourist maps in hand. To be honest with himself, he wasn't different from them. They both flew a long way to see this brilliant celebration of Earth's achievements and coming future. Only one thing separated their experiences: the small family probably had friends and relatives and a warm home filled with happy memories to return to afterwards, and he did not.

While the rest of the Earth celebrated, he observed his surroundings with a melancholic air. Children danced through the streets, blowing on noisemakers and chewing on candy. Parents tried- with no luck- to lead their kids away from the flashy vendors, who were traversing through the bustling city with colorful wares of glow sticks, stuffed hats, and New Year's glasses. Babies cried in mothers' rocking arms. Elsewhere, fresh young couples embraced in the crowds, though most kept it very chaste, knowing the time for that special first kiss of the year was soon to come.

The Doctor wished beyond everything he could enjoy himself in this festive setting, but he couldn't. He'd lost too much. Rose lived in another universe, Donna forgot their adventures, and now he was completely alone. A sad smile crossed the Doctor's face, if only for an instance, as he remembered the last time he stood here. The turn of the second millennium, year 2000...


He came with Jack and Rose, back when he armored himself in leather. Rose suggested it. They parked the TARDIS down a dark alleyway far from all the action, and decided to stand within the massive crowd on the streets instead of using the psychic papers to get VIP access. It was completely worth the hassle. As they joined the mass of people in Times Square that evening, the pure euphoria the people generated overtook all of their hearts, becoming more magical than any faraway nebulae. The human race banded together as one- if only for a shining moment- as they took that first brave step into the unknown.

He remembered how the announcer of the special New Years' broadcast instructed the people to get ready for the countdown. Few minutes of the 20th century remained.

"Here we are, Rose," he told her. "A brave new world."

The blonde girl grinned, and squeezed his hand. "A brave new world," she agreed with a laugh. "They've got it coming for 'em, too. Autons, Slitheen, mad alien collectors..."

"Him," he muttered, and gestured towards Jack, who was flirting with a young man, a beer in hand. "I keep telling you, I'll dump him out here one day if he keeps that up."

"No you wouldn't, though!"

"Oh, yes I would! Just watch me!"

The two began to snicker, because both knew this idea was ridiculous. The former Time Agent chose then to make his grand entrance. When he stumbled over his feet, Rose laughed harder. Jack quickly set his bottle of beer on the ground and slapped his arms up over the pair's shoulders. "Heyyy Rosie... Doctor... How've ya' doing?"

Rose smirked. "Jack, you've been drinking, I can tell."

"And never been better!" he grinned cheekily. The trio stood in a line together for the next few seconds. They were an unshakable team. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose. They looked back and forth amongst each other, heartily exchanging fond memories and funny stories as the clock ticked the seconds 'till the New Year. Soon the world reached the minute mark, and the crowd began to bellow out as one connected body.

"Here we go!" Jack smiled at his friends, and kissed their foreheads. "Never goin' back now..."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and shifted his arm under Jack's grip. "We've got a time machine, idiot, we can always go back."

"Play nice, Doctor," Rose reminded him with a frown.

Finally, it was the thirty-second mark.

"30... 29... 28..." the world screamed in one voice.

"It's been fantastic, you know," the Doctor said as he stared up at the Times Square Ball, which slowly slid down the pole. The people surrounding the trio roared in approval, almost succeeding in drowning out the Time Lord's friendly words. "Traveling with you two. I'd have to say, you've changed me for the greater good."

"And me," the captain agreed.

"And me." Rose gave her most winning smile. "I was just a shop girl before you came along, and now won't you look at me! I'm saving the world everyday with the universe's best men!" She reached towards the Doctor and squeezed his hand. He gave a small smile back.

With an almost inaudible grunt, he moved Jack's arm off of his shoulder and shifted a few steps away from him to get a better view of the Times Square Ball. Rose quickly followed after him, and slipped her small hand into his own.

"12... 11... 10... 9..."

He gazed into her eyes when he felt the contact, slightly dazed. Rose glanced up at him with a small grin flicking across her lips, the one where her tongue would poke through her teeth. For just a moment, the Doctor could tell she was slightly confused.

"Doctor, you okay?"

The Doctor quickly snapped back to life, and he gave her a taunt smile.

"5..."

"Spin me!" Rose shouted suddenly. He grinned, and twirled her around him.

"4..."

She landed in a dangerous position, her feet almost slipping out from underneath her. With a small laugh, the Doctor caught hand pulled her up.

"3..."

Rose looked into his eyes then, scarcely breathing. The Doctor stared back. They stood with their arms on each other's shoulders, the entire world coming to a stop around them, the rest of humanity had ceased to exist.

"2..."

"Rose," he began, "I-"

"1... HAPPY TWO THOUSAND!"

It was this moment that everything happened at once.

The world broke into a mighty cheer, as the Times Square Ball hit the base and confetti burst out of cannons from the side of the streets. One second Rose was standing in his arms grinning, the next, Jack tore her away from him. The captain swooped her down and pressed his lips to hers, effectively stealing her New Year's kiss. Rose laughed as he picked her back up on her feet.

The Doctor glared at him for just a moment before locking up all that emotion behind his armor, where it would stay for years to come.


The Doctor, hiding his hands away in the dimensionally transcendental pockets of his brown overcoat, also glared as he thought back to these memories. He dug through his suit jacket pocket, and dragged out a silver key on a leather cord. It was the key he gave Rose, all those years ago. She took it with her, when she fell into the parallel universe. But recently, this key appeared in the TARDIS on the main console, and after testing to see whether it contained void stuff, he confirmed it as the same one. He liked to imagine Rose and his human counterpart managed to find a way to send it back to him- just a small object- back through the very walls of creation to this universe. Perhaps it was a sign that she was happy with him and letting go of the past.

And yet for some reason, he couldn't do the same for her.

His eyes glanced up to the throng of people, celebrating underneath the cloud of confetti. He knew the exact place his old incarnation and Rose and Jack stood. If he wanted to, he could bound over to them, crash his lips against Rose's, and change time. But of course he couldn't! Changing time like that was a dangerous choice, and one he refused to make.

With a sigh, he dropped the key back in the breast pocket of his blue suit. A group of party-goers in the building above him jammed their fingers down on air horns, adding yet one more noise to the sweeping symphony called New Year's Day. He could barely think in all this clatter.

Yet think he did. And while standing there, his mind lapsed back to all the times he had travelled to this exact moment. His ninth incarnation and Rose and Jack were in the crowds, of course, and his fourth incarnation was hovering somewhere in the sky, watching the celebrations from the TARDIS with Romana. His eighth incarnation was returning Grace Holloway and that young American-Chinese boy back to San Francisco after defeating the Master. The point is that he had been here a lot. Usually he would try not to land on even the same day twice, but here he was in the same city, at the same hour, within a few meters of his last incarnation. He didn't know why. He just felt lead here, like he was destined to come. Like something important could happen...

At that precise moment, a flying blur of red slammed into the Doctor and knocked him to the ground. His elbow hit the hard concrete first, sending a sharp jab of pain through the nerves in his arm. Behind him, he heard something splash on the sidewalk. It splattered on his coat and the clothes of a few close bystanders. The people surrounding the scene gasped in surprise, looking up to the building looming above their heads. Three young men stood guiltily at an open window, and one of them shouted his apology.

The Doctor caught his breath and turned to where he once stood. A young woman in her mid twenties stood rigid, looking no less surprised than he was. Her dark brunette hair and the top of her red dress were soaked with a dark liquid, likely beer. She glanced up for a second, but then turned and looked directly into the Time Lord's eyes.

"Run, you clever boy. And remember!" Her lips formed into a smirk, and she ran away.