damned_institute | DAY 36: LIBRARY

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DAY 36: LIBRARY

Keman retreated to libraries almost instinctively. He liked books. Books were simpler to deal with, and they didn't change. No matter what, the ending always stayed the same. Even if it was a bad ending, that ending was still a constant. Constants were good. They didn't surprise him, didn't show up out of nowhere and throw everything off kilter.

This had.

His mother. They'd taken Alara and done horrible things to her. Made her forget, fed her lies. He wouldn't wish it on anyone, not even Myre. And that was what would happen to him, too, if he wasn't careful. He'd lose himself completely. He was already slipping, already more halfblood than dragon. How long before halfblood turned to human, and Keman became Calvin?

At any rate, he needed to tell Shana everything that had happened. Alara was her mother, too. Keman left a note for his sister on the board, letting her know where he'd be, and then pulled the largest book he could find off the shelf: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It looked to be a massive collection of plays and poetry. Good. Opening it to a random page, he settled down and began to read.

[for Shana (and Valyn and Shadow?)]

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A possessions storage? Well why didn't they just slap a "stolen goods" sign on it instead? That was pretty much what possessions that had been taken were, after all. "That's more of a lead than a guess." And something else he'd said bothered her. "Wait, what do you mean if you left the TARDIS?" If he wasn't there then of course he'd left it. Did that mean he hadn't left it intentionally? Last Donna remembered she'd technically left the TARDIS intentionally, both at the Library (if this still was the Library) and on Shan Shen.

He supposed Donna could be right about the possessions storage being more of a lead than a guess, but it didn't do them much good in either case if they didn't know where the storage was.

The Doctor opened the book in his lap again, leafing through it. "The last thing I remember before being here was being in the TARDIS. I don't remember how I got here," he said absently. He was quiet for a moment, furrowing his brow and frowning. "I thought I told you."

That was so bloody simple that it probably was true. Maybe she needed to ask a different question to get a better answer then. "Fine then, how about you say where we'd been before you were and then weren't, hm?" There, he could answer that better, couldn't he?

And depending on his answer, maybe this really wasn't the Library. And not because there simply wasn't enough memory for his over sized ego.

Donna hadn't been there, but the Doctor couldn't tell her that. Telling her that would lead to her wanting him to explain that, and that was something he couldn't do.

"I— we were on Earth," he said. That much was true. "I was in the TARDIS, and you—" No, he couldn't say where she was. Or maybe he could, but he couldn't tell her why.

"I was getting the TARDIS ready to leave," he continued, "and then I woke up here."

"Wher--" No, that wasn't right, "When were we? And anyway, you really didn't answer what I was doing." She'd have known, wouldn't she? This was the past if that alternate reality had been right about anything. Or... maybe this was the future! God, that would be awful! Or maybe not.

Her getting snapped back into the future just meant she looked all the better for someone who was supposed to be older, didn't it?

"You were on the phone," the Doctor answered quickly. That was what she'd been doing when he had said his goodbyes, so it was reasonable to think that's what she'd still been on it when he'd entered the TARDIS. "Talking to— to someone, I don't know who."

He looked away from her, his gaze landing on the bookshelves. "As for the when, it was later, for you. After the Library. And, well, the rest is all spoilers."

He looked back at her and grinned.

His grin was annoying. Like he knew everything, when he didn't. Especially with what he'd just said.

So he thought she was from the Library, but he wasn't, did he?

"So you are from after the Library!" she realized, mouth opening at the irony of it all, "And here I thought I was the one having to avoid your bloody spoilers." Lot of good that had done. She'd just wasted a whole lot of thought over this for nothing.

She folded her arms now, almost as though she were ready for a fight. "All right then, if you're so smart: try telling me something I don't already know about."

"Of course I'm from after the Library," he said. "I thought I cleared all that up when I told you this couldn't be the Library. Well— Maybe I forgot to mention that. But it should have been implied, I would think, with the whole 'I wasn't saved' thing, and—"

He stopped.

"You're from afterwards, too." It wasn't a question; there had been that moment when he'd first found her (or she'd found him) when he'd thought she was from Shan Shen. He'd dismissed the idea since she'd started prattling on about the Library, but maybe that initial assessment had been right, after all.

"When are you from?" he asked. "You'd talked about something on your back, earlier. Shan Shen?"

When he said Shan Shen, her smile fell away. That, unfortunately, meant he did know beyond her. Wonderful.

"Fine," she hissed, giving an annoyed eye -oll for him being ahead of her now. It was so typical! He just had to be all spaceman about it! And she did not like that fact one little bit!

Getting over the initial annoyance, Donna realized exactly what that could mean. If he was from after her, then he probably knew what had happened in that alternate world. Or how it had happened. Probably how. She hoped he did, at least. He should!

"All right, then, listen," she unfolded her arms and pointed at him firmly. "I don't care about spoilers or whatever other kind of rules you've got for talking about your future time-space... mumbo-jumbo whatever!" She wanted answers, and now she knew he had them. "I just got snapped back from some God-awful parallel world, and you-- you know what happened then, so you better tell me!" And that wasn't a request either.

The Doctor was quiet, leaning back in his seat.

He couldn't tell her about what had happened after they'd left Shan Shen, but that wasn't to say he couldn't answer her question. He needed to know when, exactly, she had come from if he was going to do that... so that he could avoid as many spoilers as he could.

"Alright, Shan Shen," he said. "That parallel world of yours: what was the last thing that you remember from it?"

"Of mine?" she drew back. Oh yeah, that was what the blon-- what Rose had told her, wasn't it? Some... thing had been on her back and causing it or something. Donna's face scrunched a bit, trying to remember. "There was this truck..." she tried, thinking it better to work it out step by step instead of trying to dive right in. Maybe something would come to her, or the Doctor would be able to say.

From what Donna had told him before, the last time, that was enough for him to realize when she'd come from. She hadn't, however, told him anything about a mental hospital (that time)... Either everything here had slipped away quicker than the rest, or she had kept quiet about those parts. The spoilers.

"Once we get out of here, Donna, you're going to have to return to your proper point in time," he said seriously, leaning forward. "I can tell you what happened on Shan Shen, because I told you then, and I'll tell you when you get back. But when that happenes, you can't tell me about anything that happened here, because you didn't tell me about it. Alright?"

He'd tell her when she got back? But she didn't want him telling her when she got back, she wanted him telling her now, because she knew it was something she needed to know.

"If I can't even remember here, but I told you, didn't I?-- then how am I supposed to be able to do that 'when I get back'?" she reasoned somewhat well considering what he'd said had been pretty confusing, "I know it was something important!" she insisted, trying again to remember. Why couldn't she?! There had been the truck, and she'd been staring up. And... and that blond girl. And Rose.

"Well, you can tell me about the parallel world— the one before here," the Doctor said in way of elaboration. "It was important. Really... important."

He straightened, rubbing one hand over the back of his neck. "You'll hear all this again once you get back, but... On Shan Shen, there was a Time Beetle— one of the Trickster's Brigade. It latches onto a person and changes their life in little ways, but with you... Usually, the universe compensates for the changes and everything goes in generally the same way, but you had a great, big parallel world form around you."

He looked past Donna into the distance. "That's why Rose was there. She crossed from her parallel world into yours..."

His gaze snapped back to her. "The thing you mentioned that was important: there's something you have to tell me when you get back to your proper time. It was a message from Rose. Do you remember it?"

All right, so he knew Rose had been there. That meant he definitely knew. And he'd already said it was important, so why didn't he just let her know so she didn't have to think so bloody hard?!

"I don't..." she began, but then another thought came to her and she paused, losing the look of someone who was more scared than confused. "Wait hold on..." Donna closed her eyes and held up both index fingers. "Is it off me?" she asked then, reopening her eyes, "I'm not there yet, so do you know that beetle thing is really off me? This isn't just another part of that, is it?!"

Though she was asking, Donna really didn't want a negative answer. Just seeing that thing had freaked her out enough, but if it was really still on her then...!

The Doctor was taken aback, and he stared at her. Did he know for certain that the Beetle was off? He supposed he didn't. This could all be part of her parallel world if he had been forced into it, but he was certain enough to tell her, "It's not there. This isn't your parallel world."

She had overcome the Beetle on her own, so even if it was still there (unlikely), it would just be a matter of time. It was more likely that she had gotten pulled from her parallel world into this one while the walls were still weak.

He glanced down at the book still in his lap, and picked it up to set aside. "Right, so, when you get back. You can't tell me about anything here at this hospital. Spoilers," he said decisively. "But you have to remember Rose's message."

"You're sure?" she wanted "beyond a shadow of a doubt" sure and not just some "keep her from panicking" sure, "One-hundred percent?"

Her arms fell to the side and she sighed. Rose again. Donna'd realized a long time ago that the Doctor had a thing for the blond, but this was her problem right now, not Rose's. Or maybe that was what was so important. Was Rose in trouble somewhere? There had been something she'd said there at the end, before Donna had awoken.

"I'm sure," the Doctor said. "Well, not one hundred percent sure, but ninety-nine-point-nine percent is really close enough. I am certain— one hundred percent— that this place is not part of that parallel world, because it can't be. If it was, Donna, I wouldn't be here."

"That's not helping!" she barked at his rambling. Ninety-nine point nine was not one-hundred, and a blathering spaceman like him should know that! "And don't tell me it's just because you're here that it doesn't work again, because that was your last excuse!"

"This and that are completely different!" the Doctor defended. "It couldn't be part of the Library because there wouldn't have been enough memory space to save me. This can't be your parallel world, because even though the walls of the universe were breaking down at the time you came from, they're closed in the time I came from. I couldn't have crossed into that parallel world, especially since it's gone now. Well, relatively now. For me."

He paused for only a few seconds before continuing, "Besides, if this was that world, Rose wouldn't be here, either. Well, not this Rose. She's from before; she hasn't gotten trapped in that parallel world yet."

After a moment of silence, he amended, "Not your 'that parallel world'. I meant hers."

Edited 2008-11-04 04:25 (UTC)

Donna put a hand to her head and held up the other. "Stop, just... stop!" She'd already had to think enough today, and attempting to decipher that mess was only making her head hurt more.

The Doctor stopped when Donna told him to, but it was merely a momentary setback. He opened his mouth to clarify, to break it down into something simpler to grasp, and possibly to elaborate, but at that moment, the intercom came to life with an announcement. Barely seconds after it had quieted, his nurse walked up.

"I'm glad to see you and Mrs. McAvoy are getting along so nicely!" she said sweetly. "But I'm afraid that's all the time you have for today."

The Doctor frowned, but didn't argue. If it was time for dinner already, that meant he could continue looking for the TARDIS soon. He stood, ready to follow the nurse after he said a few more words.

"We need to talk later; you, me, and Rose," he told her. "Tomorrow, if we get chance."

"Oy! Watch it with the Mrs.!" Donna snapped immediately at the woman, but she was soon trying to pull the Doctor away from her. Oh, there'd been an announcement. Right, then they had to go or the nurses would get their panties in a bunch. "Right, later," she sighed but agreed. She didn't think he'd be more given to talking around Rose, but maybe she was good at getting him to talk. She'd see.

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DAY 36: LIBRARY

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