The nameless Doctor would never forget.
The ancient home where Time was born. The eternal fallen land of Gallifrey.
The lost memories of the boy's childhood, a sentimental time where all was beautiful. One who learning to walk in eternity. The lost child who became older, desiring to journey into the stars. An elderly gentleman who had a granddaughter, stealing an old box to became a renegade. The warrior who died, becoming another person to carry on his will of being a protector to the rest of the universe
A madman who was lonely, everything he loved disappearing over time. All that remained was continue onward, the legacy itself never forgotten.
A legacy of a promise to be a 'doctor'.
The story that would never end.
The girl named Gray awakened from her deathly sleep.
"Where...am I?" This endless summer plain was certainly beautiful although everything about it was otherworldly too...
"Oh..." The young magus stared down at her blood-stained cloak. The stab wound from Excalibur Morgan earlier had strangely disappeared, calm understanding blooming within her. "I...I died."
At last, it was all over. She had been born in a graveyard, surrounded by death all her childhood. The last memory she had in life was darkness. The darkness of dying on the battlefield, stabbed by the fallen Sword of Promised Victory itself. The last solace was acknowledging someone like the Doctor had been there in her last moment. The eccentric alien-stranger who she gave her life in the end out of the kindness of her heart. The burden of her sentimental identity was finally gone...
Although...
"Gray!"
The girl bewilderingly discerned the TARDIS behind her. The Doctor had awakened from his healing coma to stand at the time-machine's door, his raggedy waistcoat covered in blood. "Doctor? I...what are you - "
"Gray..." The Doctor appeared to be crying for a moment...then that was gone when the man hastily hid his face before giving a joyful smile of grandfatherly kindness. "It is wonderful you are alive, my dear."
"Alive?" the girl did not understand. "My stab wound...Excalibur Morgan...you..."
The Doctor grimaced sorrowfully. "The First incarnation of myself. He sacrificed himself to save us in the aftermath, materializing the TARDIS within the Everdistant Utopia."
The Everdistant Utopia?
This place could only be...
"Avalon..." Gray remembered the story of her ancient ancestor. The timeless 'Land of Eternal Spring', the lonely kingdom where Death's presence was forbidden. An utopia that was the ancient symbol of all Magic on Earth.
"I think you know the original ending of the Arthurian legend." the Doctor whispered quietly. "When she fell at the Battle of Camlann, King Arthur's corpse was brought to this otherworldly place to heal. Britain itself shall call upon her to awaken once more in the far future at its darkest moment, wielding the promise of victory to save the planet Earth. The TARDIS has materialized here at a time in history before all this."
"Then, why was I..." Gray was about to ask how she was resurrected here, only she sighted her deactivated Grim Reaper scythe beside her on the ground. The scythe that secretly disguised the divine spear she inherited from King Arthur herself as a child, Rhongomyniad (The Spear That Shines to the Ends of the World).
The Doctor smiled gently at his companion. "Gray...you told me before that the ancient remnants of King Arthur's spirit had been implanted within your body as a child using Magecraft so you will theoretically become the future host of the king when older. When your corpse was brought here in the TARDIS, the World itself mistaken you for being the dead Arthur...especially with the presence of Rhongomyniad on you."
"King Arthur cannot remain dead inside Avalon, otherwise her legend as the future savior of humanity would never be fulfilled." Gray observed, beginning to understand everything here. The only way to resolve this nearly paradoxical situation was to bring her who was mistaken by the World for Arthur back to life. What the Doctor did could only have worked once on no one else aside from herself because of her unique ancestry.
"One can say I tricked the World itself into resurrecting you." The Doctor made to walk outside the TARDIS although came to a stop by the door as an invisible barrier obstructed him.
"Doctor? Are you okay?" Gray moved over to the time-machine despite her healing wounds.
The Doctor sighed heavily. "Oh, dear me...I forgot, only those who are a symbol of hope for all humanity are able to set foot upon Avalon without retribution."
Although the Doctor was named Time's Champion throughout all his incarnations, his hidden inner darkness made him far less a symbol of hope than anyone thought. Avalon itself had recognized this, forbidding his presence from entering it. All the madman with a box could do was to admire this utopian landscape from a distance, unable to reach it himself.
Gray silently understood too. The Shadow of Eternity's identity was the Doctor Alter, after all. The nameless healer had a heavy burden within his hearts that would stay for the rest of his life. "I assume the Holy Grail War is over, what are we going to do from here on?"
"I am bringing you home" The haunting memory of Gray's corpse caused the Doctor to grimace as he gave his answer. The Time Lord Victorious was gone, although time had not healed all the scars. "I...I couldn`t stand to watch you be wounded anymore."
Fear materialized from the bottom of Gray's heart. "What?"
"The oncoming war to defeat the Doctor Alter...I have to do it alone. This long journey throughout the multiverse is far from over, no one else is going to die because of me." the alien-traveler hesitated, memories of all his previous companions throughout his incarnations who became lost flooding into him. "No more..."
"Doctor..." Gray stepped within the TARDIS, a flower of the battlefield reborn. "I understand what you are thinking about. You are scared by the Alter's identity. A lost child who is desperate for redemption from his inner darkness. A darkness that is cruel, cowardly. One that gives in or gives up on the endless burden of being a healer to all."
The Doctor stared bewilderingly. The Ruler-Class Servant had not thought his companion would be this perceptive of his inner self, despite theoretically not being his Master...could it be from all the girl's dreams about his incarnations' past?
"Although I will stay with you to the end." Gray sheathed her fallen Grim Reaper (Scythe of the Death God). "After all, you need a companion to watch over you. You are afraid of the scars of your inner darkness as the Alter? Then I would carry those scars with you. The wounds are never going to disappear, only that is fine. You saved me on this journey without regard for yourself, I think it is time I save you too."
A moment of silence passed.
What a young lady Gray has become. When he first came upon the girl, she was only a shy young magus who regretted her ancestral origins...although at this time she was certainly becoming to accept her identity to move on towards the future...
The Doctor observed the beautiful rising moon in the distance. This land named Avalon...it was strangely reminiscent to the fallen realm of Gallifrey itself. A sentimental otherworldly utopia lost to him because of his identity...
The TARDIS sounded a bell, indicating it had concluded maintenance on itself to be able to dematerialize at any moment. "Gray...a question for you. It is going to be a long time until I finally learn to overcome my inner darkness, only would you promise to come with me for one last journey back to Avalon? I would love to step foot inside this Everdistant Utopia for once before departing back to my home universe...as a 'Doctor'-Class Servant, eh?"
Gray smiled kind-heartedly. "I...I promise."
Once the girl thought about it, her story was an unearthly one. A fateful story as the companion who walks in eternity with the nameless madman with a box.
The flower of the battlefield who was learning to become a healer instead of a warrior.
After all, the utopia of Avalon was not the one to heal the Doctor.
It was Gray herself...