InsaneJournal

Gallifrey. The Doctor had woken up on Gallifrey. Not only was he on Gallifrey, but he wasn't in his TARDIS. He was in a bed inside a room that was impossibly familiar. He was inside a house-- he was inside his home, and he was slowly sitting up and looking around, sure that this had to be a dream. Well, he was sure until he was swinging his legs out of the bed and putting bare feet onto the cold wooden floors. Wood that matched the wood in his room inside the TARDIS. He'd modeled it to look as home-like as possible.. like this home. But there was no time to be thinking about that right now. He was standing and leaning a bit forward-- and his hair fell like a curtain into his face.

Wait a minute, hair? His hand lifted, pushing back through what should have been short-cut brown, but instead was luxurious waves of a slightly lighter color. Oh, no. He was Eight. Hazel eyes lowered to look at his hands, then over his shorter, thinner body. He was eight. He was home. And he was rushing to his closet to throw it open, bigger on the inside, as was everything with Time Lord technology.. it was the only way their tiny-looking, dome-enclosed city could thrive and hold so many hundreds of thousands. A city that looked like it should have held ten thousand people comfortably, was actually home to nearly a million. The Time Lords were blooming, as they were meant to. And the Doctor, in his excitement, was pushing through the rows of historical-looking suits before he came up with his favorite and was pulling it on, layer by layer. Soon enough, he was rushing through the rest of the large house, wide-eyed and wonderous. He was home. Home! His hands were smoothing over the wooden surfaces, over the brick here and there, along the alien architecture. It was amazing, it was just as he'd left it. Everything was perfect! Back to normal, it was amazing.. and the calender on his wall told him the date. Three years. It was three years before the final Time War would begin brewing, large and impossible to stop, impossible to stall.

Impossible to win.

The excitable Doctor was rushing outside and into the light of the two suns that encircled his home world. The sky was just as he'd last seen it, orange and bright and perfect. The grass beneath his feet was burnt umber, not the odd green of Earth. The houses all around his own were small on the outside, tucked away into the rocky mountains that surrounded the large domed city. The Citadel. Oh, he could see it from here and it gave him pause. Could he make it there? Could he tell them about the War, warn them? Maybe if they'd been better prepared, maybe if they hadn't chosen him as their general, maybe if-- no. No, he couldn't go there. He couldn't tell them. He couldn't change anything.. it all had to happen. These people? This world? It had to die. He'd tried so many times to fix it, he'd tried to go back, he'd tried to make it better, but it was impossible. And he knew, even now, if he tried.. that it wouldn't work. Nothing would work. Nothing.

Oh, but he was home, and Gallifrey was amazing, and-- "Doctor?" Came a familiar voice from his left, a beautiful young woman with brown  hair and a smile to die for was emerging from her own home, just three doors over. "Doctor, you look like you've seen a Barinak, are you alright?" She was coming over to him with that beautiful, amazing smile in place, and she was wrapping her arms around him. It took a few seconds, but the Doctor returned the hug, then tightened it and held on tightly.

"Grandpa?" She finally questioned again, worriedly, and the Time Lord finally found his voice, though it cracked a little upon his answer.

"I'm alright, Aileen. Where's your mother?" He was beaming brightly when he pulled away from her, pushing a long-fingered hand back through her hair as he did. She was really here.

"She's in the city, are you sure you're alright?" The much younger woman prompted with a little lift of her eyebrows, only to have her grandfather nod, causing those brown curls to bounce a little.

"I've never been better, have breakfast with me." It was less a request than a demand, his arm linking with hers as he took her slowly from the little community, towards the center of the city below. He waved to neighbors who were watering their lawns, or chatting in the front lawns. He inspected the sky, looked over the sparce wildlife, then as they got closer, he was looking in the shops, saying hello to the keepers within, he was pleased. He was excited. And for once, he wasn't going to try and save anything. He was going to enjoy this for as long as he could, he was going to see everyone he could, he was going to tell them all that he loved them, and when the darkness came, he was going to say good bye.

He was going to make amends for something he hadn't even done yet. It might confuse a good many people, but it was what he had to do. He had to.