Where Waves crash and Journeys end (Doctor Who/Broadchurch)

24

Alec was going crazy about this mysterious hint from The Doctor. He didn't know if it had something to do with his past or other circumstances in his former life - what he definitely knew was one thing: He hated not knowing. He hated secrets, making you wonder so hard you lose your mind. That was how he felt right now, sauntering through the endless halls of the TARDIS with nothing but his imagination. 

When he was a Timelord, why he hadn't already shown he was different? Why he hadn't realized from the beginning? Why did everyone shush or gawped at him in confusion when he entered a room full of people? Had they felt it more than him? That there was something odd about him, not from this world he had known for so long? Just to forget about his past? What was really the prize for all that in the end? Would he die? Would he live? 

He just couldn't find a conclusion in this deep puddle full of riddles. 

Maybe...just maybe...he was just that. Cursed. 

"Don't listen to him!", a sharp sinister voice came from nowhere, making Alec shiver. He turned around, trying to find the person who had just spoken, but he couldn't see anybody. At the same time, a familiar ticking sound could be heard out of his suit pocket. 

Alec sighed, stroking over the filigrane golden carvings on the fobwatch. It was whispering to him once again, in the same voice he had just witnessed. Echoing through his mind, wanting him to follow. 

Come and see...come and see...

This time, he wasn't tired. He was wide awake to know what other secrets this special chest was just about to reveal. He just had to listen. To watch. To think. And as the golden strings were wrapping around his body, pulling him into the darkness, Alec felt nothing but excitement. 

I am ready. 

He is back. Back at the place called Gallifrey, once destroyed in the Time War. Another time, another day. No Daleks, no flames. No burning cities. No people running from the monsters. 

Just peace and quiet. 

Alec takes a few steps until the bright light of the two suns above dazzles his eyes. It hurts a bit, but still...it's beautiful. He is surrounded by large red fields, even the surface has gone red. The morning sun casts its beams over the horizon, painting the forest in the distance like on fire. And there, right in front of him, is the citadel. The last time he has seen it, it was burning, flames licking over the glass front of the dome around it. Now, it's shining again, its massive towers rising high up in the cloudless blue sky. 

Alec gets shivers again, this time from happiness. Pure joy. All of a sudden, he feels like a kid again, free and young. He wants to run, wants to run and never ever stop again. He wants to be lucky. He wants to be young again, living a life so long he even can't remember. He wants to be with his parents, not listening to The Doctor for one moment. 

He finally comes home. 

"It's always stunning to remember, isn't it?", the voice comes again, closer to his ears than before. Alec can see him now, standing in the light of the twin suns like a god. Another man, wearing a black hoodie and an eerie look on his face. He just has appeared from nowhere, like a shadow, a blurry figure of his memory. He walks up to the DI, smiling. 

"Remember the place you were born, remember your life. Remember the good old days, running from monsters only you can see...isn't it stunning, Alec?"

Alec frowns, this man seems to be utterly strange. Even stranger than him. He clears his throat before he replies, gawping at him. 

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" 

The other man raises an eyebrow, then bursts into laughter. It's cold and sends another shiver through Alecs spine, so cold that he just wants to turn away. He still doesn't know if he can trust him. As the stranger raises his voice again, Alec feels tired once more. 

"Oh, I have many names. Didn't your beloved Doctor tell you about me? Of course not, as far as I know him...always lying, that stupid prat. Only hiding the truth - it hurts, isn't it? Well, I can tell you. All of it, Alec. Like I said...don't listen to him. Listen to me - listen to your Master!"