It's a very short chapter, I'm so sorry but I'm really busy with school and I want to make sure to keep you guys updated ! To the new reviewer : Technically the Doctor does speak all the languages, but I thought it would add something more to his character if he only spoke Gallifreyan since the beginning and the TARDIS translates for him, so he never practiced to speak in ALL languages, he was just preserving his natal tongue and relying on the translator field all that time. Thank you a lot for pointing it out, I should of mentionned it !
Enjoy this chapter, guys.
She dreamt of stars imploding and a scarlet blazing planet collapsing on the sun. But she was immobile, incapable to do anything but watch. She woke up, not at all reposed, her head falling off the Doctor's shoulders.
"Alright there?" she heard, distantly.
"Yeah I guess I...", she started, rubbing her eyes. "I can understand you!" she exclaimed with as much enthusiasm she could express while being drowsy.
A huge smile appeared on his face and The Doctor quickly hugged N., then standing up as fast as it's humanly possible, though he wasn't human.
"If the translator is fixed, that means we can travel to somewhere safer", he shouted before leaving the Zero room.
N. followed him with a sleepyish demarche, keeping herself standing with a hold on the TARDIS wall. On a shiny, silver, new wall. The heaviness of her eyelids instantly washed away and she examined the TARDIS. No wires to be seen, nothing hanging from the ceiling, the floor: clean and straight; the lights: bright and glowing of colorful tones.
She ran to the control room. Everything seemed so...modern. She gaped, her mouth open wide. Even the control board was set up in a futuristic version, yet it was still the TARDIS with its familiar hum and atmosphere.
"Earth, 2020, year of the apogee of fashion, well human fashion, I think, anyway we will only settle down for the TARDIS to fuel itself, not much of a big deal," the Doctor stated, slowly, while scratching the back of his neck.
He maneuvered with skillful hands and feet the commands and without any turbulences the TARDIS landed, so smoothly the Doctor had to check outside to be sure they did, had arrived.
"Oh, I think you might want to change clothes. If you go outside, of course," he declared, chewing his lips afterward.
She frowned and slipped her head out of the doors of the TARDIS.
What a peculiar view she got. Men and women, humans, all wearing extremely tight dark clothes, molding deadly skinny bodies, walking around like zombies, all of them carrying nothing but a bottle of a translucid liquid, she guessed was water.
"Is that..." she commenced, insecure.
"Humans." he completed, his brows knitted.
"What year is it, you said," she asked a few seconds later, still observing the unfamiliar scene.
He ran back to the control board and stared at one of the screens.
"2020. Los Angeles, United States of America," he read.
N. closed the doors and leaned her back on them. What had happened in 4 years to leave this world so alienated?
"How long do we have until the TARDIS completely feed," she asked, staring at the ceiling, waiting for an answer.
"She's still too weak to properly communicate with us, but it will probably take a few days, she was badly damaged, I almost thought..." he stopped, glancing at something she couldn't see.
"As long there is life, there is hope," she completed, this time, smiling widely.
He nodded with a school boy beam crossing his face.
"I'm glad I met you," he declared suddenly.
She blushed, turning her face away.
"I'm glad I met you too," she mumbled inaudibly, struck by his revelation.
Silence installed itself comfortably in the room and none of them was moving.
"So I'm going to try to find something to wear, you should too," she told the Doctor, before leaving the room awkwardly.
She found a pair of dull dark leggings and a black cotton long sleeves shirt. She'd also noticed the women wearing all remarkably high heels and she grabbed obscure giant plastic heels. Swaying clumsily (she was rusty in walking with heels) in the main room, she noticed The Doctor wasn't anywhere to be seen. N. then decided to practice her gait when he came back, dressed in a complete black set of clothes: suit, tie, shoes, shirt, socks, and maybe more. They stood looking at each other for a couple of seconds.
"I think we are good for a walk," the Doctor declared, offering her arm his arm.
The city was the same than in 2015, at least that's what the Doctor said; how could she know? She had never come to USA before. She had heard the stereotype that a lot of people were obese there, never she had thought to see walking sticks everywhere.
The buildings, the structure was exactly the same according to him: The only variant was its people. They had crossed the entire city, nothing explaining the apparent weird situation when at 4 pm straight everybody stopped practicing what they were earlier doing: walking, driving, talking.
They either picked up their mobile phone or gawked at a screen nearby. A group of women stood in the frame and a commentator was addressing to the public:
-10 spots are available from now on! Think you are skinny enough? Think you are boney-honey looking? Join our ranks and give your comrade a legacy to protect: Join now, you know where to find us.
The screens turned black and everything seems to come back to "normal".
The Doctor and N. looked at each other and nodded: They knew where to go now.