Chapter 3: Regenerated Love
Centuries of blocking out the memories had dulled the pain, "but," he thought as he sat down on a park bench, "all the time in the universes could never remove her memory." Her presence was simply too strong.
Over six lifetimes had passed in the last half-millennium. He had battled Daleks, stopped a Sontaran invasion, thwarted the plans of his old friend, the Master, kept the Zygons and Loch Ness Monster from colonizing planet Earth, and interfering in the timeline of the young planet often enough as to have spent a majority of the past 500 years in exile. However, his renegade actions had earned him the respect, in addition to the reprimands, of the High Council, even to the level of being elected President.
It was his first time back on the Shining World of the Seven Systems since his removal from office, yet on that day, the Doctor wished for nothing more than to run from under the burnt-orange planet that he called Home. That day, he stood before the High Council, babbling on about his attempts at bringing the Master back from his refuge on Skaro, his cousin's escape, his own 8th regeneration, and the danger posed from their former compatriot, when the Doctor was, for the first time ever, at a loss for words.
There she was, in the Chancellor's chair- Larna. Her long red hair and heart-shaped face were different from in her previous regeneration. Nevertheless, his hearts skipped a few beats when he realised it was she- and that he was in love. Still, it would never work. She too had torn from the ideals of their youth- to use their position as Time Lords to help lower species, to make them better, to stabilize the temporal flux of the universe and protect those species not able to protect their own future. Instead, Larna had taken her "rightful" place at the head of Time Lord society, cutting her strings with other races in order to play the role of puppet for the pretentious, stagnant Lords of Time. And he, he was the Doctor who helped make everyone else better.
After the Council, the Doctor walked back to the TARDIS, ready to forget the roads his friends had wandered down- The Master and Larna had strayed, Gita was a cardinal at the Academy, and Xenorid, he was somewhere in the Citadel, which, though reassuring that he had not gone astray as his narcissistic cousin had, most likely signified a fate similar to…
"Larna- so your father finally succeeded in bullying you out of association with me- and other worlds, for that matter," the doctor spoke indifferently.
"He wasn't a bad man-"Larna stared at him curiously. "He just thought we should use our position as guardians, not gods."
"He exiled me for stopping the Blathereen. Seriously, if that wasn't being a guardian-..." He shook his head. "And now you're one of them? What happened to the Time Agency?? What happened to your plans and dreams and adventures?"
A small smile passed over her soft lips. "Oh, it's doing brilliantly! One of the largest humanoid academies when I left early 51st century, though, it may be overextending itself… need to go check on it come to think of it…"
"Yeah, you do, he barked coolly. "They're messing with the very fabric of reality, teleporting into I'm surprised don't you and your council stop all their meddling?"
"Well, I'm surprised that you're not a bit more grateful about your treatment today. What a stupid, stupid idea to be attacking the one person who has the power to ground you here indefinitely… especially since she just came here to say thank you?
"What?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
The Doctor spun around and looked at her. She was still smiling that sad smile as she got out her laser pen and pointed it at the phonograph in the corner. A waltz began to play as Larna spoke.
"Thank you, for teaching me to love this universe. For going to the edge and never looking back. For taking a stand for all the creatures, and standing your ground when you know you're right. And, most importantly for loving. … You know that's what intrigued me about starting up the Agency, not David-well in a way, yes- but it was more about teaching him- and through him. all that he came in contact with. Teach him about the universes and times and life out there- I wanted to teach them about what we had all seen, what we had loved, what we had screwed up." She laughed "Funny thing is, I had never thanked my friend who had taught me…"
Larna continued to smile at him, only now, the Doctor began to smile back.
"Will you dance with me?"
They danced in silence around the control room of the TARDIS for what could have been five hours or five minutes, lost in the timelessness of each other's eyes, until at long last, Larna broke the quiet
"It was his thirteenth cycle, and he contracted Marconi's disease, that's why I stopped travelling. I had to come back home and replace him…"
The Doctor stopped swaying to the music and looked into her mist-grey eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered as he brought his face down towards her hers. "I'm so sorry. I never should have assumed you would do that to…"
As his lips gently brushed against hers, it was like staring into the Untempered Schism all over again. He saw the whole of time and space in a single second. His hearts stopped beating. His breathing halted and his respiratory bypass failed him. Only this time, he didn't want to run away, but rather, stay with her forever. And so he did something he had never done before-
He told her his name.
