This is posted on fanfiction.net
here. There are two more chapters in a loose arc. I do suggest reading them if you enjoyed this...
Time’s ChampionNight was falling over the old stone bridge. The earlier rain still lingered on the worn blocks as the lights were lit in the toll house at one end and servants returned to their kitchens to prepare to serve dinner. All was quiet. A single carriage clattered unceremoniously across before disappearing into a courtyard.
The clouds had all but dissipated and the moon was shining when a couple emerged from a side street. The lady, a young, slim blonde, wore a very fashionably cut midnight blue dress and her hair was held high by a dozen pearl-ended pins, which matched the cluster around her neck. Her escort was a tall man, dressed casually in what closely resembled a brown suit, albeit devoid of tails and a hat. Instead he sported a long brown coat rarely seen in the city. A true bohemian in the heart of old Bohemia. They wandered out over the bridge and stopped between two of the many statues that stood along its length. They moved to look out over the quiet river flowing onwards.
~oOo~
“There you are, Rose. Europe…ish, and not too far away time wise either.” The gentleman seemed ever so slightly proud of himself. “As requested.”
“Okay then, Doctor,” the lady, Rose, replied. “Where… and when, are we?”
“Charles Bridge, Prague. About one century back from your present. 1907 to be precise.”
“And no visitors?” she questioned, turning her face up towards his.
The Doctor rested his forehead on hers.
“Well. Only us.” This last was so quiet that she could hardly hear it. “And if you follow me, I’ll show you something truly extraordinary.”
~oOo~
Taking her hand, they strolled over the remainder of the bridge, under the tall tollhouse and left both behind as they moved through the narrow streets.
Rose gazed at the towering buildings around them as they walked, noticing with interest that each door had a picture exquisitely carved on the stone above.
Curious, she asked the Doctor what they meant.
“Well, in this day and age only the wealthy can read and write, let alone count, so house numbers are pretty much useless. There is a long tradition of symbols in Europe”. They stopped outside a building marked with three violins. “That means that the first occupants were either three violinists or a violin maker. Or both. And look…” he pointed across the street “a lion rampant. That’s either a noble family, brave soldier, or some link to the crown.”
“Thanks I…” Rose stopped short as they rounded the corner into the square, and saw exactly what the Doctor had been so excited about.
~oOo~
A huge clock, at least three or four metres across. But not just any clock, with twelve numbers and two hands. This had twenty-four roman numerals and another twenty-four on a ring around the outside, all delicately clad in gold. It had another ring, gold leafed, about half the size and showing the zodiacal symbols. One hand was gold, with a pointing finger and a sun half-way down. The other was dark, only reaching level with the sun on the first. A half silvered sphere lay at the end of it, mirroring the moon above.
“It’s so beautiful!” Rose breathed, awestruck.
“It’s also so powerful” the Doctor said, not taking his eyes off the almost imperceptibly moving gold hand. “You know I was telling you the other day… about the Key to Time? That’s one of the segments…I thought you might like to see it. It’s also one of the few things that still remind me…”
He trailed off as his eyes started to well with tears.
“When I brought it here to hide it, I had hoped it would become something more inconspicuous, but it saw into my mind and became this. A scale replica of the Clock of Time, reconfigured for Earth.”
“I thought all clocks told the time…” Rose looked at him as they sat down in one of the covered walkways. “Oh, Doctor! Why are you crying?” She held his hand tightly. “What’s wrong?”
~oOo~
“The Clock of Time” he replied, haltingly, “was the clock that stood at the very centre of the Academy, back on Gallifrey, on the front of the temporality and sidereal science college. It was enormous, twice the size of this one. It had dials for every planet in the Kasterborous system and hands for both suns and each of the moons.
“On the original, where you see those words there” he pointed “Aurora ortus occasus crepusculum, it said ‘Whoso ever hears the chimes, rejoice, for the champion of time is chosen once again.’ in the old script.
“Graduation was held in the Great Quad, the garden that it faced onto. The degree students had finished and my friends and I had completed PhDs and were up next. I was the last one up for my certificate. But as I accepted it and received my regenerations from the council member in attendance the bells began to ring. I turned with the rest to see what happening and the world went out, pitch black. I woke up two weeks later in the infirmary with Aureliarientrelundar, Nurse Aurelia, watching me from a chair by the window.”
“Did you find out what happened?” Rose’s mind was reeling.
“According to Koschei – my room-mate – almost exactly the same thing as what happened to you, when you looked into the heart of the TARDIS.
“Golden light swirled out from the dials and into me. My eyes shone gold as yours did. Then it left and I collapsed. Koschei and my other friend - Drax - carried me to the infirmary.
“As soon as I recovered I returned to my dorm room and packed. Everyone else who was leaving that year had gone already, but I found Koschei in the canteen. He wanted to do an MA. He told me what happened while I ate and he accompanied me to the gates. That was seven hundred years ago. I was all right for a while, but by the time I was 500 I needed to get out. I couldn’t go out in the street sometimes because of the staring and whispering. I was on the verge of insanity when I borrowed the TARDIS and left. Four hundred years and eight regenerations later I met you.”
The Doctor, in floods of tears now, released Rose’s hand. She hugged him tightly and he buried his face in her hair.
“And you are the only person that knows.” He whispered through his tears. “Because it’s all gone. The Clock, the Academy, the City, everything…”
“Shh Doctor… Don’t cry. I’m here now.” Rose stood, gave him a handkerchief and took his hand again. “Let’s go back to the TARDIS before we freeze, Doctor.”
~oOo~
Indeed, it was colder now, and the wind had started to blow through the narrow streets. Together they walked quietly back to the TARDIS, in a lonely backstreet behind a coal hatch.
~oOo~
Once inside, Rose made her excuses and went to change, and the Doctor stood alone in the TARDIS control room. He quietly started crying again as they left Prague for places new. He thought about what he’d told her. It wasn’t the whole story. When the vortex had entered him back at the Academy, his world hadn’t just gone black. He had seen the planet’s future: overrun by Daleks and destroyed. His room-mate’s gradual transition from good to evil, and the true reason why he had to leave.
Two children, one dark, one fair-haired, playing in a TARDIS crèche, with a young, pretty human female watching them. One who had been touched by the vortex.
He had never answered when aliens asked why he loved Earth so much. The answer was private.
“I was waiting for her” he said to himself as he left the control room.
Moments later, a humming filled the room.
“I, know…”
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