Run, You Clever Boy, and Believe
Author's Note: I wrote this story because of one of Elphaba's writings, so I think she deserves a bit of credit!
The Tenth Doctor will always be MY Doctor, although Matt Smith is very good too. Also Clara is an amazing character, and not just because she's very pretty! So, what if the Tenth Doctor and Clara knew each other, for even a short time? Well, wonder no more, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any of its characters.
The Doctor gasped in pain as he watched the girl disappear into the block of flats. This was it. It suddenly dawned on him that he could never see her again. In this, or in any other incarnation of himself. He would never again see her blue inquisitive eyes, or her smooth blonde hair or her youthful character that always brightened up his life.
For nine-hundred-and-six years, he had always put others first. All those companions, his grand-daughter, Sarah Jane, Martha, Donna, Jack, Wilf, Mickey, Jackson, Joan, many others, and of course Rose; they all belonged away from him, with their families, with their homes.
He winced in more pain and cold, as the snow charged down on him. He smiled bitter sweetly knowing that Rose will indeed have a really great year, she had all that to look forward to. But not with him, just another version of him, just like his Human clone that he had sent to live with her in the Parallel World.
He finally understood how River Song had felt knowing that the Doctor would get to know her, but she would not, that he had everything to look forward to but she already had those happy times. Watching that person walk away, gave a sense of comfort and hope for them, but you would always feel a little dead inside, knowing that you may never see them again.
The Doctor limped to the door of the TARDIS, absorbing the singing of the Ood to ease the throbbing in his entire body. His song was ending, but his story wasn't.
"You don't want to go, do you?" a deep and chilling voice said. The Doctor turned to see a man with pale skin, black collar, red long Time Lord robes and a skull cap. He had a sly grin on his face, and on his right fore finger he wore a gold ring.
"You!" the Doctor gasped in horror, grabbing the TARDIS control desk. "No, no, no! This is impossible! You're meant to be dead!"
The man cackled smugly and shook his head. "How can I be dead, Doctor? You know that I can not be dead, don't you?" He edged towards the Doctor, who backed away, forgetting about the throbbing pain.
"You know who I am, don't you Doctor? That's why you don't want to go. For I am the Great Valeyard, the Last of the Timelords, I am you! Or what you will become closer to every time you regenerate!"
"No!" the Doctor snapped. "It can't be! I won't let it!" He struck the Valeyard with a fierce punch, sending him stumbling. "Leave me alone!"
The Valeyard wiped his bleeding lip. "But my dear Doctor, you are alone! It doesn't matter, what you do to me, I will come to pass. Do not resist me! Accept me as you! Only then will you win against this regeneration."
"I won't!" the Doctor roared. "I am not like you! You're just trying to take my regenerations, just like you did when you put me on trial!"
The Valeyard shook his head. "For someone who is over nine-hundred-years old, you are very much naive, Doctor. For you are very much like me!
"Full of pride! Arrogance! So much anger! You don't want to go! It's not fair, is it?"
The Doctor began trembling, how did he know about that? The throbbing of the radiation was nothing compared to the burning words of the Valeyard.
"I saved him! I sacrificed myself!" the Doctor growled. "Something you would never do!"
"You didn't want to, at first did you?" the Valeyard interrogated, pacing the TARDIS and stroking the controls. "But you were scared of what people will think of you, of what old Wilf would think of you!"
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.
His tormentor laughed. "How does it feel to be so... weak? To always put others' happiness first? To lose them forever, Doctor?
"What about leaving them, because you aren't man enough to carry on?"
"Please, forgive me, Sarah Jane," the Doctor beseeched silently.
"The damage is already done, Doctor. She is slowly but surely fading away, a bit like you!" the Valeyard taunted.
The song of the Ood turned into a more saddening and slow symphony of despair.
"No!" the Doctor shook his head. "It can't be, I would have known!"
"People don't want to look weak in front of you, Doctor!" the Valeyard said. "Because, they age so fast, while you don't look a day older.
"But you know that one day people will forget you, and all that you do. One day you'll walk away, because you'll know that the human race must learn to fend for themselves, because... well... because they stop loving you," he whispered.
"Stop it! That's enough! I want you to go, now!" the Doctor bellowed.
"Can you hear them, Doctor?" the Valeyard said, putting a hand up to his ear. "Their screams as they get butchered... the men, women...children... your own blood. You had a chance to save them, but you failed... again!"
"Get out of here!" the Doctor bellowed, striking the Valeyard again, before punching with the left and letting out a cry of despair. He kicked the Valeyard towards the door of the TARDIS. Suddenly, a dull burning sensation crept up onto his hearts and his blood blazed with heat, as his legs almost gave way, he had to hold on to the controls.
"Look at you, Doctor!" the Valeyard tormented, rising up and brushing his robes, but his cruel grin remained like a stubborn bee sting. "You are already so much like me! You know that given time, you will become exactly like me!"
The Doctor collapsed to the floor, completely overcome with anger, guilt and mental anguish. "Why can't you leave me to die in peace?" he demanded, through hot tears.
"Because I am your only friend!" the Valeyard laughed. "I am here while you're dying, and you will take after me!"
"No, he won't!" declared a new female voice.
The Doctor's hearts skipped a few beats as he winced and turned to see a girl with dark brown hair tied in a pony tail. She was Caucasian and wore a blue floral maxi-dress and black trousers, around her waist was a pouch that wrapped around her waist like a belt. She was quite small, about five foot two, but carried with her a very angry and glaring look with her sharp brown eyes.
"Leave him alone, now!" she demanded.
"This is no business of yours, woman!" spat the Valeyard.
"I'm sorry, maybe I didn't make myself!" the girl snapped, drawing a small silver oil lamp from her pouch. It glowed a ray of white that shot straight at the Valeyard, almost singing him. He staggered back with panic as he fell back against the doors.
"I said, leave him alone!" exclaimed the girl, moving in with the oil lamp.
The Valeyard pried open the doors, he took one look at the Doctor, who was huddled by the controls. "Look at that, the Mighty Doctor, cowering and being saved- by a girl!"
"Shift!" the girl commanded angrily, thrusting the lamp.
The Valeyard jumped out of the TARDIS, and into cosmos of stars, planets and galaxies below.
The Doctor exhaled with difficulty, unable to absorb or comprehend what was going on, which was strange since nothing like this had happened before. Maybe his regeneration power was failing him, maybe now was the time for him to die.
"Doctor?" the girl said, touching his forehead. "My God, you're boiling!" She loosened his tie. "Don't listen to what he said, he doesn't know anything."
The Doctor did not react, he just lay there as she put a bottle between his mouth. He drank a little but then turned away.
"Doctor, come on, stay with me please!" she beseeched. "Here, have a souffle, it'll help you feel better." She reached into her pouch and drew a small chocolate souffle, the size of a muffin, from a plastic bag and handed it to him.
The Doctor didn't move, just stared catatonically.
"Please!" she begged. For the first time, the Doctor looked into her moist brown eyes, sensing her anguish despite her seemingly level headed exterior. He swallowed and took the souffle into his hand and took a bite. It tasted delicious, even eased the pain inside him.
Soon, he had eaten it all, which prompted her to smile. He returned it, though very weakly.
"Doctor, take my hand!" she cried, holding it out. "Take my hand and don't let go!"
The Doctor slowly took her hand and squeezed gently.
She pressed a button on her watch and smiled wistfully, as she put her free hand on his. "It's going to be OK, Doctor."
A flash of light! They were transported to another warm and outdoor location.
"Where are we?" the Doctor asked, looking around. They stood in a vast green field, covered in sweet scented hyacinths, swaying like fans during a slow song during a concert. Across the field were shrubs of golden corn, roses, ponds full of lilies and apple and maple trees, which saluted him. In the horizon was a blue sky over a calm and clear sea, which a school of white doves cooed at and rushed to meet.
"Cherry?" Souffle-girl offered, picking a few off from a tree near them.
"Where am I?" the Doctor repeated. "And why can't I feel any pain? And who are you?"
"Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Clara," she chirped. "And I've brought you to the Garden of Iqtananza, the souffle had a special temporary time-lock and pain killers."
"So, in reality, we're still back in the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked.
Clara nodded.
The Doctor silently looked across the sea. "It's beautiful, this place," he whispered, blinking
"I know," Clara whispered back. "He was wrong, you know," she said suddenly. "The Valeyard. He couldn't be more wrong."
The Doctor shook his head. "Look, Clara, thank you, but you don't know me, at all."
"No, Doctor, I think I know you very well," Clara replied, holding his hand. She caught him looking at their hands, as if he was a boy who is uncomfortable around girls. "Doctor, you trusted me to go back and help you," Clara said. "We should sit," she motioned to a bench.
"No!" the Doctor croaked, after sitting down. "How old are you Clara?"
"Twenty-four."
"You are a lovely, young and bright girl," the Doctor began. "Run far away from me as you can, you have no idea what I've done, or what I might do! Don't let me pull you down with me!"
"Doctor-"
"No, I'm serious, Clara, you have no idea..."
"Doctor-"
"If you knew where I was heading-"
"Doctor, will you shut up and listen to me?" Clara shouted.
The Doctor looked dumbfounded.
"That's better," she resumed her warm smile. "Doctor, we all make mistakes, and we've all got a bit of darkness in us. But we can choose to reject the darkness and nurture our goodness. That's what you told me when I was feeling really low."
She looked at the Garden. "You brought me here, you gave me some fruit, you calmed me down. You told me: 'Go to sleep, Clara. It'll help you feel so much better.'
"And it did," she croaked, wiping a tear from her eyes.
The Doctor reached over and gently wiped the other tear; she reached her hand up and held his to her cheek, causing his stomach to tingle.
"You inspire so many people, Doctor," Clara continued. "You've protected this world and it's people, and helped them to believe in themselves. You're going to travel through time and space to find the baby girl of one of your best friends. You're a good and honourable man, Doctor, that's what the Valeyard hates the most."
The Doctor nodded. "Thank you, Clara, but saying and doing aren't always the same thing, are they?"
Clara gave him an amused look. "OK, he's still as stubborn as ever," she laughed, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "But believing is a major step. I have faith in you, Doctor. I know that you'll beat the Valeyard's mind games, you'll rise up to any challenge that comes your way. You deserve to be happy, too, so don't run away from that."
"OK, then, I won't, I promise.
"I'll still have to regenerate won't I?" he asked, after a pause.
Clara nodded.
"Will I see you again?" he asked, slowly.
Clara nodded again. "You will see me again."
"Will you remember me?"
"I'll never ever forget you," Clara said tenderly. "When the time is right, you'll remember me too. Oh Doctor, we have so much to do together!"
The Doctor beamed, for what seemed like the first time in many years. "I'm ready," he said. He rose from the bench and faced her. "I'll keep an eye out for you, Souffle-girl!"
Clara rose and pecked him softly on his scarred cheek. "Run, you clever boy, and believe!"
The Doctor closed his eyes, as a burning sensation returned in his chest. He opened them again to find himself back in the TARDIS, on his own, but it was all right. He grinned, despite his pain and removed his jacket.
The Ood were right; his song was over. It was time. But his story was not, this was just the start of a new chapter.
He held out of his arms and looked up, smiling, thinking of what Clara had said to him.
"Oh, Clara, I believe in hope!" he roared, before letting himself be engulfed in the radiant and powerful regeneration energy.