Epilogue

"The Time Lord knew death was in reach, but he remained selfless. He travelled to the void, therein he discovered what the creature sought, and continued to his home planet to retrieve the Eye of Harmony. On his last legs he delivered it back to the Darkness.

"He returned to Gallifrey one last time, taken by his friends, Rose, Don, Jack, Sarah and Martha, to the place he had known and missed for so long. Then in a warm hut on a snowy mountain trail, the greatest man the Universe has ever seen drew breath no more. But no one would ever forget him.

"The entire Universe mourned that night for the loss of the Time Lord. As thousands of planets' civilians grieved in processions and tribute, he was committed to a funeral pyre on the tiny blue world he had frequented so much. His friends stood by until the end, watching it burn until it became ash.

"One day the Boundless Man will be born to our race, and he will create a legacy. A legacy spanning eternity, changing the history and the future for the better."

The two young Gallifreyans looked up at the Hermit with wide eyes, hanging onto his every word.

"But... But..." one of them began shuffling forward in his seat. "When will he live? Will it be soon?"

The Hermit smiled gently. "Perhaps, my boy, he is already among us."

The boy who asked him the question nudged his friend and grinned. "I wanna be him."

"Perhaps you could be yet," the Hermit supposed, still smiling and looking between the two of them.

The boy nodded eagerly, but his friend suddenly frowned. "Why is he the Boundless Man if he died?" he asked quietly.

The Hermit spread an even larger smile. "I don't recall ever saying he died, Theta," he pointed out. "Now time's running late, you should both leave."

"But...!" the other boy began.

"C'mon, Koschei," Theta said getting to his feet to leave, dragging Koschei up and pushing him out the door.

"Theta," the Hermit said quickly, getting to his feet.

Theta turned back, half in and half out the door. "Yeah?"

"Your destiny is yours, my boy. External forces can shape it, maybe even direct and influence it, but your destiny lies within you and is determined by what you do with the events you are faced with. The Boundless Man is not a prophecy, but a historic tale echoed back through time of a single man's decisions. Always be true to yourself and you will never be disappointed."

Theta nodded shortly, despite not really understanding. Then he left, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Koschei asked.

"Nothing," Theta dismissed, before shivering and wrapping his academy robes a little tighter around him, snowflakes already in his hair. "Ahh, cold."

"Of course, plungboll, we're halfway up Mount Lung," Koschei mocked, starting off down the path.

"Yeah? Well, you're a plungboll!" Theta yelled back, but Koschei either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him. Theta heaved a sigh and wrapped his robe even more around him, starting off after Koschei, concentrating on his footing. He was so concentrated in fact, that he completely missed the person coming towards him and they ended up colliding – sending Theta falling back onto the snow.

"Oh, sorry kid," a man's voice said and looked up to see a man with black hair, a body of a brown-haired man in his arms. Something didn't feel right to Theta... "You all right?"

"S-sorry," Theta said quickly, scrambling to his feet before quickly running off after Koschei. He didn't want to be late home. He had a class trip with Cardinal Brabbajaggl tomorrow...

The End... (of the beginning?)

A/N: Sometimes I can be swayed for a sequel or add on or what have you, but not for this one. This is completely and utterly finished and I am never coming back to it. This was a grand master plan for about a year in my head before I finally executed it and it has always been to me and always will remain a complete standalone.

If you reviewed The Debt or the Christmas one, thank you and I'll reply as soon as I can :D If you didn't... Shame on you! :P

No, but seriously, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and will be having a great new year. Let's hope it's a little better than 2011 turned out to be...! Thank you so much for reading and especially reviewing, it really does mean so much in ways that probably mean nothing to everyone else but the world to me. I'll see you in 2012 if you'll have me! :D

Laura