1: Bullet

Clara was running, with a Timelord, down the corridor of an alien spaceship. All of this would be incredibly normal, for her standards, except that the Timelord she was running with was, in fact, a Time Lady and, to top it off, it was Missy. How she had gotten herself into this situation was beyond her. All she knew was that she had to keep running and make sure the guards didn't see her. That's all the Doctor had time to say before dashing off to God-knows-where, apparently. She would berate him about it later, though. Right now, she had about a million other things to worry about.

In the corner of her eye, she watched Missy round the next corner without any precaution or hesitation. Clara sighed and glanced warily down the corridor before turning it herself. Remarkably, there were no guards. She would add Missy to the berating session later, though. She was acting even more rashly than the Doctor typically did, and that was certainly saying something. Why couldn't Gallifreyans be just a little more careful? No wonder they all needed so many lives; they probably went through them like she went through sweets on Halloween.

Missy stopped so suddenly Clara nearly crashed into her, then pulled the dishevelled human into a maintenance cupboard, slamming the door shut behind them. The small space went incredibly dark, with only a few thin holes in the door letting light in. Missy's agitated voice cut through the dank air like a knife, louder than normal due to the small size of the closet.

"Can you please be quieter, I'm trying to focus on saving my boyfriend."

Clara's eyebrows furrowed. She replied in between panted breaths. "What...am I breathing too loud?"

Missy rolled her eyes. "Not your voice, dear, your brain. It's very distracting."

Clara's eyes shone with confusion in the three skinny streams of light. Missy tapped her head with a pointer finger. "Telepathic."

Clara nodded. "Right." Suddenly, the human turned another baffled glance at the Time Lady. "Hold on, did you say boyfriend?"

Missy closed her eyes. "Shhh. Mummy and daddy are talking."

Clara shook her head and peered through the cracks of the door, praying that no guard or custodian would come by any time soon. Behind her, Missy stood completely still, for once, focused completely on her telepathic conversation. Clara almost wished she could hear it herself, but another "Shoosh" from Missy forced her out of her thoughts and into an almost trancelike meditation.

The next thing Clara heard was the scraping metal of the door opening as Missy led them back into the corridor. "Come on, dear, we haven't got all day."

The young teacher shook the fog from her brain and followed Missy to the next intersection of corridor, making sure to close the closet behind them. "So what did you talk about?"

Missy either didn't hear her or didn't care enough to respond. Instead, she led the way, two paces at a time, down three more strips of corridor until finally they heard voices of the guards. Missy pulled Clara roughly into a service hatch as two young men walked by, militaristic weapons leaned on their shoulders. Clara strained her ears to listen to their conversation.

"We caught an intruder today. Fields said to execute him right away."

"And did ya?"

"Nah, I gave 'im to the new recruit, Brady, in 5B. Not too smart, but they've gotta earn their place someway, eh?"

Clara's big eyes turned on Missy, who seemed much too calm. As quietly as she could, Clara whispered, "Is this part of the plan?"

Without a response, though, Missy stood and hurried down the corridor, towards a door labelled 5B. Clara made to follow, but the Time Lady put a hand out to stop her. Unexpectedly, Missy then rounded the corner and rushed off, leaving Clara half-kneeling in the service hatch on her own.

"Missy. Missy!"

Clara's voice strained as she whispered as loud as possible, but it was to no avail. Missy was long gone down the next corridor when Clara finally willed the courage to dash out and check. With one final angry glare, the teacher hid behind the closest wall and peered through the window of 5B, where the sight her eyes met made her heart skip a beat.

In the mostly empty, grey room stood a soldier, in a similar uniform to the guards, holding an ominous gun in their grip. Five meters away, against the wall stood the Doctor, arms hanging loosely at his sides, staring down the barrel of the gun with fire in his eyes. It was all Clara could do not to charge in there and rescue him herself. Alarms would blare. Guards would be called. No, the Doctor knew what he was doing. And Missy would help. She could be diabolical sometimes, but never at the expense of the Doctor's life. Right?

Suddenly, a bang went off, and Clara's blood went cold. The Doctor dropped to the floor. The soldier, Brady, hesitantly lowered their gun and knelt beside him, checking the pulse in his neck. Clara stood in her little nook in the wall, frozen in shock, eyes glued to her unmoving best friend. Brady got back to their feet, appearing almost nervous as they turned around. Clara accidently met their eyes. She had another mini heart attack before the soldier burst out crying, letting their weapon fall to the floor. Clara took a few shaky steps forward, pulled open the door, and entered the room without another delay.

Brady leaned against the back wall, wiping at their eyes. "I didn't...I only joined them so I could help...that's what we do, isn't it? But this isn't...I…"

Clara closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be real. Of course not. The Doctor was going to pop up any second and they would run off together, hand in hand. They would laugh about it in the TARDIS later, and tell off Missy for leaving them; for disappearing. And then all three of them would laugh again, because this wasn't real.

Clara finally looked down. The Doctor was lying on his stomach, head facing away from her. His black velvet coat covered any damage he had sustained. Clara dropped to her knees beside him, fiddling with her fingers. Her hands were shaking violently. It took a strong will of courage and disbelief for her left hand to tear itself away from the right and, practically vibrating with fear and shock, come to rest on the Doctor's neck. Just as she expected, there was no pulse.

Clara's left hand stayed frozen on her friend's throat as the other clamped her mouth shut. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Somehow, she still couldn't believe this was happening. It didn't feel real. Something was missing. Something important.

Regeneration.

With one word, Clara's entire mind did a backflip. If he were dying, he would be regenerating. Unless it was too late?

She didn't know anything about him, really. Maybe he could still regenerate. Maybe he hadn't needed to. Maybe he couldn't. She cursed her lack of knowledge. How long had they been travelling together and she still didn't know these things?

"Doctor."

The word escaped her lips like a plea, and acted as a kickstarter. Instantly, she wrapped her arms around him, crying into the curls of his hair without shame or relent.

"Stop this. I know I shouldn't need you, but I do, Doctor. You're my best friend and I need you to stop this."

Brady watched from the other side of the room, apologizing profusely. None of their words reached Clara, though. Not, at least, until another voice entered loudly from the doorway.

"Humans. So many emotions. It's a wonder you get anything done when you're stuck crying all the time."

Missy was leaned on one arm in the doorway. Clara eyed her with malice from the floor, still cradling the Doctor in her arms. "Where the hell did you go?"

Missy rolled her eyes, pushing off the wall. "I was busy. Places to go. People to see."

Clara blinked, tearing her eyes away from the Time Lady. "Missy, leave. I'll give you five minutes, just go."

Missy approached Clara and looked down at the scene. She let air out through her teeth before muttering, under her breath so the human couldn't hear her, "Gullible."

Clara glared up at her. "What did you say?"

Instead of responding, Missy brought her boot up to the Doctor's shoulder and pushed.

"What are you doing?"

Clara scooted back and cradled the Doctor's head as he fell onto his back. Missy shook her head. "Didn't even check."

Clara glanced from one Gallifreyan to the other. "Didn't check what? What did you do?"

Without turning back, Missy said simply, "Look at his shirt. Is there any mark?"

Clara looked at the Doctor closely, for the first time, and noted the pristineness of his white shirt. He appeared to be completely unharmed. The human's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, it's...it's probably invisible kind of damage."

Missy turned to Clara and, reaching into her jacket, pulled out a small handgun."This is what you heard. Good old fashioned trick of the ears."

Clara eyed the weapon strangely. "So…he didn't actually get shot?"

Missy carelessly gestured with the gun in the air. "Do you see a bullet anywhere?"

Clara stared down at the Doctor. "No…"

"No bullet. Just a sound effect."

The teacher shook her head. "Then why did his hearts stop? How did he die?"

Missy dropped to her knees beside Clara. "Do I have to do everything around here?"

She loosely picked up the Doctor's arm and forcefully placed Clara's fingers on his wrist. Clara's eyes inflated and deflated rapidly. "He...he's alive! But he wasn't before."

Missy dropped both of their arms nonchalantly. "Another trick. Slow down your hearts enough to make people think you're dead and they'll believe it. Primitives, at least."

"Oi!"

Clara whacked Missy's arm, but smiled nonetheless. Even Missy grinned a little. "He'll be fine in a few minutes. Might have a headache; should be even more irritating than usual. I better go."

Missy stood to go, but Clara grabbed her wrist. "Hey, Missy...ugh, thanks."

"For what?"

"I don't know, not killing anyone, I guess?"

"Have I not killed anyone today? Gotta remedy that."

"Missy…"

"Fine, fine."

Missy started to go, but turned back when she reached the door. Clara was holding the Doctor's hand in her own, stroking his hair back with the other. With more gentility than she typically seemed capable of, Missy asked, "Take care of him, alright?"

She left only after Clara had given her a smile.

The Doctor, sure enough, began waking only minutes later. He shifted on the floor in front of Clara, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, legs straightening out from the awkward position they had been stuck in for ten minutes. Clara's big brown eyes were the first thing he saw when he awoke.

"Hello."

"Hiya."

Clara helped him sit up against the wall, then sat beside him. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a forefinger and thumb. His carer was there for him, holding his other hand and rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. "Missy said you might have a pretty nasty headache."

"For once, she wasn't lying."

Clara chuckled, then turned very serious. "That was a pretty stupid thing you did, you know. I thought you were...dead."

Her eyes tried to meet his, but he wouldn't comply, rubbing circles on his temples instead. She punched his arm.

"Oi, Clara! Injured man, here."

"You let me think you were dead and now you won't even look at me?"

The Doctor's hands fell to his lap. "I'm sorry."

"Say again?"

"I'm…"

The Doctor finally met his companion's eyes, and he smiled. "I thought Missy would at least warn you first."

"Missy, lover of chaos?"

"Maybe I had a bit of a mental relapse. It was necessary, though."

"Necessary for what?"

The Doctor merely looked up at Brady, who was watching with wide eyes from the opposite end of the room. Clara followed his gaze.

"How goes the day, soldier?"

Brady hesitantly pointed at themselves, throwing a glance to the wall behind them. "M-me?"

"You're going to command this place someday, I think."

Brady shook their head, almost laughing. "I don't know about that."

Clara eyed the Doctor curiously, but before she could ask anything, he was struggling to his feet, holding his head. She stood beside him, holding his arm. He turned sharply towards her. "Clara, never let me go that long without my hearts again."

"Agreed."

He turned back to Brady, who had gotten to their feet and was standing at attention with wide, almost fearful, eyes. The Doctor pointed at them, peering into their eyes with a hypnotic stare. "Remember this. Remember how you felt holding that gun."

"I'm never touching that thing again."

"Exactly. Remember all of this. It'll be important someday."

Brady nodded fervently. The Doctor let his eyes close and staggered into the wall. "Clara?"

"Got you."

"Thanks."

Clara led the Doctor away from the wall, taking on much of his weight. As they neared the entranceway, the Timelord turned to the soldier one last time. "Remember this."

Clara pulled him through the threshold, accidently walking him into the door. Her voice squeaked a quick "Sorry!" as they continued down the corridor. Brady watched with confusion written all over their face.

. . . . . . .

"So Doctor, what just happened?"

The Doctor was sat in his favorite armchair, holding a bag of frozen peas to the back of his head. Clara was standing idly by the bookshelf, leafing through a copy of Pride and Prejudice.

"The other day I made a slight booboo in Brady's timeline, accidentally started a war, and destroyed a few civilizations. That was me remedying that."

"By getting killed?"

"By making them think they killed me. Skae Brady is the future commander of the ship we were just on. They lead their people to peace and prosperity, but only by first learning the horror that killing really is."

"How do they become the commander if they won't carry a gun? Won't that be a problem for the boss?"

"Skae is a nonbinary human on an alien spaceship that kills anyone who tries to intrude on their archaic system without trial. 'Special' doesn't begin to describe them."

They were silent for a moment. Then, Clara turned a page in her book and asked playfully, "What was Missy doing there?"

"She happened to be with me when I made the booboo."

Clara looked up. "Happened to be with you? What, do you travel with her now?"

"Only when you're not available."

Clara chuckled, looking back at her book. "She called you her boyfriend."

"Did she?"

The human looked back at the Timelord with her mouth agape. "Are you pleased?"

"What? No, of course not. Why on Gallifrey would I be...she's always said things like that, doesn't make them true."

Clara swayed a bit, smiling to herself. "Anyway, that would never work. You're both too much to handle individually. You and her together would bring chaos."

The Doctor returned the peas to the back of his head. "Not too unlike ourselves."

"What's that mean?"

"You were about to kill her when you thought I'd died."

Clara froze. "Could you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Clara cleared her throat, returning the book to its shelf. "I better, ugh, get washed up. Maybe we could have dinner in tonight, eh? Don't want to risk you hitting your head on the ceiling at Pluto Cafe, eh?"

"That planet was made for you, you know? Everyone there is under five foot four. It's a wonder I even got into the restaurant!"

They shared a laugh before Clara started down the steps. As she descended, though, the Doctor's suddenly soft voice called her attention again.

"Clara?"

"Yeah?"

He bit his lip, hesitating. "I need you, too."

He met her eyes for a quick second before sinking into his armchair. Clara smiled at him for a second longer before she, too, turned away and went off to get washed up for supper. The TARDIS hummed quietly, and all was right with the world.