A/N: Sometimes, when I have the availability to fulfill prompts, I open up a window of time for people to submit an idea to my writing tumblr. This is the product of one of those times, though I keep on forgetting to crosspost.

The prompt for this one was "Clara x the Valeyard. Anything, as long as she's in touch with her dark side here."

Valeyard, My Valeyard

My name is Clara, and I was born to save the Doctor.

Sometimes he's grey and wise. Other times, he's young and sporty. He also can have funny hair and act rather oddly. No matter what, he is still the Doctor, the same man sporting different faces, over and over across time. I have saved him from the Great Intelligence a countless number of occasions. He often does not know it is me, yet I do it all the same. Sometimes I die in the process, but not to worry—I have been fractured over time and space, millions upon billions of times. Endless copies of me exist, living their own lives, forming their own sense of selves, until he shows up in their lives and turn it upside down.

This version of the Doctor was sick… very, very ill indeed. He left another version of me elsewhere a long time ago in his reckoning and had since then brooded in the TARDIS and ended up on my planet. I was a teacher before war broke out, when the Sontarans came down and demanded our planet as their own. Now, with all my students having died in my arms, and my ex-soldier husband slain as an example, there is little keeping me from pulling the trigger on my rifle other than the soft, golden glow emitting from his fingertips and his pleading eyes.

"Clara…? Is that you?" he whispered, elated as he crept up from the floor to his knees. I took the rifle from his forehead and lowered the barrel.

"That is Lieutenant Clara Pink of the Blixtran Freedom Militia to you," I responded, keeping my voice level and expression straight. "State your name, company, commanding officer, and nature of your visit or so help me I will blast your brains out."

"Pink…? Clara Pink? You… you… where's Danny? Is he out on patrol?"

"My husband is dead," I snarled, jamming the rifle back in his chest. Part of me felt I should have killed him right then and there; the swirling golden dust was beginning to come out from under the collar of his jumper at that point. The pain was still too raw and I ended up with tears in my eyes. Damn… six months and I still couldn't think of him without tearing up, even in the middle of an abandoned building in downtown Gul-Blixtra. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he said. His eyebrows raised as he reached up to touch my face with one of his large, knobby hands. "You were the first face this face saw, and now you'll be the last. Thank you." The glow finally enveloped him and he passed out, a blinding flash of light.

"Drop your weapon, Human, and surrender your life to the glory of the Sontaran Empire!" shouted a voice. I cursed under my breath—caught. There had always been the chance that I'd get caught while out on patrol, but I had been lucky up until that day. I raised my rifle and turned around, pointing it at the five Sontarans that had me and the Doctor cornered.

"Over my dead body." I fired the rifle and took one out, causing the other four to fire back. Of course Sontarans are mostly dangerous due to their numbers, not their shooting expertise, so it was almost as if they were firing warning shots. I fired again, this time hitting a loose bit of concrete that brought down three at once. We were both down to the last man.

Except, a hand settled on my shoulder, causing me to look. The Doctor had changed, now no longer grey fluff and awkward limbs, but a shock of auburn hair and a grim face.

"Leave this one to me," he said. His accent had changed as well. I lowered my rifle as I watched him cross the space between us and the final Sontaran.
"Surrender now to the glory of the Sontaran Empire!" it demanded. "Relinquish yourself, and you shall suffer only minimal amounts!"

"No, it is you that shall suffer," he replied, stopping a few feet from the Sontaran. He waved his hand and the Sontaran staggered before righting itself. Within moments it put its gun to its head and fired, dying instantly. "Now the Sontaran Empire will have the disgrace of suicide amongst its ranks. Congratulations." He turned around and faced me, opening his arms wide. "Clara, my Clara, thank you for keeping me safe until I could regenerate."

"You… you're welcome. How did you do that?"

"I'm psychic and it is easy to manipulate the mental functions of beings so simple-minded as the inhabitants of Sontar." He approached me, wrapping me in a hug and stroking my hair. "You have been through a lot Clara Oswald Pink. Let me make things better."

"Can you?"

"Yes," he murmured. "I can crush the invading army and restore order to Blixtra. For you, I would do anything."

Pushing away, I looked up into his eyes and frowned. "What then? What will you do after that?"

"We shall rule as King and Queen, if you will have me," he replied. He bent down on one knee and took my hand, kissing the back of it lovingly as he gazed up at me. "I can offer you power, glory, anything your heart desires that has not already passed you by."

"I accept, Doctor," I said, furrowing my brow. "Give me the justice I desire, that my husband and students deserve."

"Oh… I can do better than that," he replied. "I am now the Valeyard, and I can provide more than mere justice. I can supply revenge."

Something odd swelled in my chest and I bent down, pressing my lips to his. He pulled me to the ground and held me as I took him in a bundle of pent-up frustration and tearful oaths.

I was born to save the Doctor, but I was also born to love the Valeyard.