A/N: Last chapter. : )
Chapter 5- Libraries and Endings
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, Hetalia-Axis Powers/World Series/Beautiful World, or the picture that inspired this fic.
It had been 6 months since he had been to the future Earth, and he was having a hard time figuring out the controls to the TARDIS. So far he had made it to several different planets and times, but none of them were home. He started looking for some information on how to fly a TARDIS, but no one even knew what a TARDIS was.
On this day, as he left the newest location, the person he was talking to asked him the origin of the machine. He remembered the Doctor's last words.
"I am the Doctor. I am the last of the ancient race of Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey."
Gallifrey. That was what he needed to learn about.
Mattie was still upset though. Even though he could decipher most of the writing, he still hated trying to go somewhere, because it was in what Mattie assumed was Gallifreyan.
He had, on more than one occasion, had a moment where he knew exactly what he was doing, and others where the TARDIS would shake and send out alarms that Mattie couldn't stop until he had mashed enough buttons and flipped enough switches.
He had figured out that the TARDIS is what translated for him, what troubled him most, was the fact it didn't translate Gallifreyan. He guessed it was just a mystery he would never know the answer to.
He had given himself a mission, to find any and every library and find every bit of information he could about Gallifrey.
"So do you think I can find the answer there?" Mattie asked the librarian at the counter of the most recent library.
"Well it is the biggest library in the universe. If you can't find it there it doesn't exist." She smiled sweetly before showing him away. Mattie smiled. Now he was getting somewhere. All the libraries he had been to, had told him the same thing, the planet Gallifrey doesn't exist. But Mattie knew better. He had met the Doctor and had his TARDIS, so reason states they had to be real.
When he arrived, he was astounded! Apparently the entire planet was The Library. He stared at the million-million books. He smiled sure his search would end here.
There was something that caught his eye. A picture on the wall, it had 2 people. A woman with red hair and a man with brown in a trench coat and pinstriped suit stood in front of a blue police box. Next to the man a woman stood with curly brown and blond hair in a sort of astronaut suit. They were smiling at the viewer. The caption read, Donna Noble, The Doctor, and Dr. River Song.
Mattie frowned. That wasn't the Doctor he met. He looked entirely different. Maybe a typo? No, the TARDIS was right behind them. He shrugged the feeling off familiarity off and walked to the nears directory.
Mattie was tunneling his way through book after book, looking for the right one. He slammed his head down in anger.
"Where is it? They said it would be here! So where is it?!" He shouted in frustration, refusing to believe that Gallifrey did not exist.
"Can I help you?" A woman's voice asked him. He turned to see a woman with black hair and green eyes. She was wearing a red shirt and jeans. Her hair was pulled into a braid and her face was donned with black rimmed glasses. Her name tag said Lilia.
"I don't know if you can. I'm looking for a really old book. I don't know if it exists though. Most people say it doesn't."
"Well I know one place we could look." Lilia pulled Mattie to the computer on the wall. Mattie did a mental face palm. Why hadn't he seen that sooner? She pressed the keys in and asked him what book he was looking for.
"I don't know, try Gallifrey, and see what it finds."
Lilia pressed the keys and waited as the list pulled up. A note reading Black File popped up next to the search box.
"What does that mean?" Mattie asked while pointing to the screen.
"It means, nobody can read them."
"You mean restricted?" His heart deflated.
"No, I mean people can't read the books. We have had all sorts of translators come here and no one can read them. Some say, they are written in the oldest languages ever."
"Can I look at them then?"
"Sure, I don't know it will do you much good but you can try. Follow me." She led him through the huge building to the farthest corner where there was a room with hundreds of book shelves. Mattie followed Lilia to the farthest corner of the room, where the dustiest books were kept. HE pulled one off the shelf.
It was old and yellowed, the words, weren't words, so much as symbols. Mattie furrowed his brow as he recognized the Gallifreyan. As hard as he tried, he couldn't read it. He set the book down and scanned the rest of the shelves, till one book stood out. It was written in English, well to Mattie it was. He grabbed it and blew the collecting dust off of it. The title read Wikipedia : An Outsider's Guide to Gallifreyan.
Mattie's heart did loops as he opened the pages and scanned them. They showed the symbols and the lines, and what meant what for each letter. Though the English was choppy, he could understand it, and that was the important part.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Lila interrupted Mattie's little party.
"Yes! This is the book I've been searching for!"
"So what are you going to do now?"
"Well read it and learn the language, I guess, so I can read these books and go home."
Home, how long ago was home, seconds, minuets, hours, days, weeks, months, years?Home was coming and Mattie couldn't wait.
An entire year passed and Mattie finally understood the language known as Gallifreyan. He was practicing on the books in the library. The more he read the better he got. He found out most of the books were on the anatomy, politics, history and daily life of a Time Lord.
He now understood what the picture in the library was, and felt all the more appreciative of it.
He wanted to see what culture the Time Lords was like. He was tempted to set a course for Gallifrey, but something stopped him.
Maybe it was his unwillingness to go back, afraid he would not be able to go forward, and maybe it was the gut feeling and the thought of why the Doctor didn't go home in the first place. Maybe it was his unwillingness to be farther from his family then needed. Maybe it was the flashes of war and bloodshed he saw when he thought of going there. Whatever the reason, Mattie never did go back.
There was something that always bothered him though, and that was, why were there no more Time Lords. In all the time Mattie had spent in and with the TARDIS, not one had stopped him mid flight. How come nobody knew their language, how come nobody had heard of Gallifrey, and most importantly, how come these books were so old?
The only reasoning Mattie could come up with was, they were dead, and from the look of the books, probably for a long time. Mattie sighed as he read the last page in his current book.
During all the time he spent on the books, he had been living in the TARDIS. That was where he ate, slept and drank; it was a 2nd home to the nation. With a soft smile, he picked up the unfinished notebook and read the symbols, finally understanding how to get home.
Mattie was working, flipping switches and pushing buttons, as he worked, he found a book sitting on the ground. It was hidden under the consol, as if someone didn't want the book to be found. Mattie pulled it out and flipped open the first page.
On it was a list of names written in Gallifreyan.
The Lonely Angel
The Oncoming Storm
John Smith
The list went on.
Mattie sat and flipped the next page. It had a list of all the people that had called the Doctor by the names. Mattie smiled to himself that was the answer.
How could he not realize it before? The whole time he had been going around, he had watched and done some amazing things. HE had visited so many places and was thinking to himself, if he went home, how would he return home and not want to keep sneaking out to the TARDIS and visit all of time and space.
He thought to himself. He remembered it well. He set the TARDIS and was off.
The TARDIS stopped and Mattie opened the door into the nice warm sunshine. The sky was blue and a light breeze brushed past him. He remembered this place, with the green grass and the tall maple trees.
He pulled up his hood, and started in a direction he thought would lead him toward what he was looking for.
After 30 minutes, he treaded up a hill to find two small boys playing. The younger one was chatting away to the other, clearly excited about something. He must have seen something in the distance and ran off leaving the other with his small stuffed polar bear.
"Al! Wait for me!" The small childish voice tried to reach the other, but quieted as the other boy was out of hearing range. The young boy had tears in his eyes. Alfred always did this, seeing something, and running off. The small boy was about to walk off, when the older Mattie walked up.
"Who are you?" The little one asked hiding his face behind his bear. (He even asks himself who he is!)
"My name is Moose." That was all he said, before pulling out the sonic screwdriver and pushing the button. The light flashed and the sonic waves bounced off onto the small child.
Perception filters were hard to make, but he finally got it. He only made it big enough so it covered the little boy.
Now people wouldn't see him at first glance, but when they did they would feel as though he was a new person, and ask "Who are you?"
Over time, people could see past it. If he was sitting in a room, and someone walked in, he could be considered invisible. You have to look to actually find him.
"What did you do?" The midnight eyes stared at the man. He could tell the small boy was trying to figure out who the man reminded him of.
"I wanted to see if you knew who I was." Mattie said in his soft voice.
"I don't know you. Are you one of Papa's friends?"
"You could say that. I have to go." Mattie turned to leave and listened as Alfred walked back to his brother.
"Hey you! Who are you?"
Mattie remembered that was the first time the haunting question had been asked. Now he realized it was his fault. He remembered sitting in his bed at night and wondering if it was his fault no one remembered him. He now realized he had been telling himself lies for years. Yes it was his fault, but, he just had to get used to it, because in the long run the benefits were amazing.
With a heavy heart he returned to the TARDIS silently cursing himself for the years of torment, reminding himself he was going to use the filter to save people.
On the TARDIS he set a course for home. He timed it so he was there 5 minutes after he left. He appeared in his back yard on September 21, 2012. With him he brought syrup for the breakfast he never got to have.
England had been having a hard day. Most of it was filled with angry people yelling at him to fix all their problems. He always liked sitting down and have a nice cup of tea.
On this day of days however, he had heard a strange noise. It was loud and soft, and it seemed to echo. He heard it coming from outside where he had sent Alfred and Matthew to play. Slowly he stood and watched as a blue box appeared and a blond man in a red shirt walked out of it, toward the fields the children played in.
England stared at the box slack jawed and stepped up to it. He moved around it in sheer astonishment. He wondered at the fact a man had walked out of it, after it had just showed up. He had to know how.
He found the door and pushed. Apparently the man forgot to lock it. He had found the inside bigger than the outside and, after he got over the control room and it's humming, had journeyed into the many rooms.
Some had been bed rooms, some were stored with parts and gadgets, while others housed clothes of every color and style. He was curious enough to walk into a room with a bunch of random assorted objects, like a crystal ball, a fob watch, and even a metal dog.
He continued in his look around and found a small library. He had scanned the books, not caring about any of them, till a certain book caught his eye. It was brown leather bound and very old looking. He opened it up to the cover and read the inscription.
This is the Doctor's Companion Log. Inside are the stories of the past companions. Do not show The Doctor. List of companions:
Most of the names were faded and worn with time, but he could make out
Rose Tyler
Martha Jones
Donna Nobel
Amy Pond
Rory Williams
Clara Oswin Oswald
The name list went to the almost bottom of the page. He flipped to a random page to read:
"Today the Doctor and I traveled to America 1930's. It was right in the middle of the Great Depression". He skipped back a few pages.
"...And then Captain Jack Harknes, as he introduced himself as , danced with me in the middle of a German air raid in London 1945."
Flipping to another section
"...Rory waited 2000 years for me to come out of the Pandorica."
"I think I died, though I'm not quite sure I did."
Back again
"….Can you believe that? And to think I thought popping up in the TARDIS in my wedding dress was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me…."
Arthur was astounded. Those were thoughts of the future. He was about to read some more, when he remembered the man, forgetting the book, he ran out of the ship. Just as the blond man made his way back, the blue police box disappeared, leaving England whishing he took the book, and thoughts of what the future might hold, and the want to figure out who this 'Doctor' was.
Another boring world meeting getting nowhere as usual, and Mattie was done with it. He excused himself, not caring that anyone didn't notice, and walked out. He had returned a day ago and had rested and been whisked off to this meeting. He didn't even have time to blink.
He had parked the TARDIS outside his house and walked in. Thoughts filled his mind of the future, past and present. Excitement boiled in his blood. As he stood looking at the consol room from the outside in, he saw it. People from all days and ages, standing in various places next to the consol. Each of them held a smile. They started; going in what he felt was chronological order, smiling and waiting.
They all finally stopped on the man he had buried in the forest of maple trees and autumn leaves. The Doctor looked at him and said,
"Are you coming?"
Fin
A/N: Okay, so this was the last chapter. I have a sequel idea, but I don't know if anybody is even reading this, so I don't know if I'm going to write it.
10,985 words!
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