Hey everyone, I wrote this when I was watching Doctor Who, "The Dalek" (My favourite episode!). In all truth this can be seen as any Doctor with this companion (But I see it as the Twelfth). I know Sarah Jane's name's wrong in the list, but I couldn't think how to put it in without making it sound like two different people, so yeah. I know I left some companions out, and added others that some people won't agree are true companions, so sorry if you think that way.
Nothing owned or gained.
It whirled around its axis at over one-thousand miles an hour as it fell through space at over sixty-seven-thousand miles an hour. Spinning and tumbling, so fast that he nearly felt sick for the first few moments every time he landed on the Earth. And then his feet steadied, and everything came rushing back into an awful clarity.
The Face of Boe had been right to say he was not alone, not with the Master still out there. But his brother-enemy was gone now, and so was everyone else.
No more Time Lords.
No more enemies that made him, him.
The Oncoming Storm. The Destroyer of Worlds. The Doctor. Time Lord. The Last of the Time Lords. Friend/Brother/Father/Lover/Fighter/Grandfather.
The Lonely God.
As he walked along some random street, in some random city, and thought of all the companions that had come before, his hearts ached, their beat rising quickly as he pushed the grief away. Time Lords could not be strangled for their respiratory bypass system, but for a moment The Doctor knew what it felt like to have the breath squeezed out of him, as a lump formed in his throat. So many lost.
The ones who had died, Katarina/Jamie/Adric/Nyssa/Kamelion/Astrid/Lynda/River.
The ones who had left him against their own wills, and mostly for his own, Susan/Sarah-Jane/Peri/Rose/Christina/Donna/Jack.
The ones that had left his nest, to fly on their own wings, Ian/Barbara/Vicky/Steven/Dodo/Polly/Ben/Victoria/Zoe/Jo/Harry/Leela/Romana/Teagan/Turlough/Melanie/Ace/Grace/Martha/Wilfred/Amy/Rory.
He felt so old now, no matter how young he looked. Not even one millennia, and he already felt too old sometimes.
He sat at a corner café and watched the world go by around him. A young brunette bumped his leg as she passed with her friends, arms full of bags, and she called an apology over her shoulder. An old man held the hand of a young girl as they crossed the street. A dog barked in the distance. And still the earth hurtled on through space, with no one even paying it attention, because they knew the sun would still rise and set, and the moon would still pull the tides. Because that was how things were.
Sometimes, he loved these apes, these giants whose lives flashed like firecrackers in the night. Sometimes, he wondered if one day he would just turn away, and let it all burn.
That would be the day he would need to change his name. Because he would no longer be the Doctor. He would be someone, something, else.
"Oi, you great lump!" The voice cut through the din of the city like a whip, but bellied an affection that broke the Doctor's skin.
A boy, blonde and waif-like with lilac coloured eyes, dropped into the chair opposite the Time Lord, and reclined with the confidence of the young. Not for the first time, the Doctor wondered why he kept this youth with him, when his life was so dangerous. Armel, not even fourteen, not even tall enough to ride a roller coaster. Armel of the street gangs. Armel of the underbelly of the human race. A Warrior Prince.
"What's up with you?" The kid questioned with a raised brow and a teasing smile on his lips, which faded as his friend continued to stare right through him. "You okay, Doctor?"
"Look at them, Armel Whittaker." His words were serious, and heavy. "They come into this world alone, and no matter how much stuff and how many people they surround themselves with, they die alone. We all do."
Silence fell over the pair for a moment, then the younger sat forward and grabbed the time-travelers hand, dragging him to his feet.
"Come on, I hear there's an amazing aurora happening on Rashnafoo IV this time of the century."
As they made their way towards the TARDIS, determined human child and humouring Time Lord, a small grin crept onto the Doctor's new face.
He was never alone, not really.
Not while he had a companion.