A/N: No I don't own. Here's a sneak peek of my Allonswin fic, Stuck In Reverse. Got the idea from the lovely nonny who left it in my inbox on tumblr. Yes, cliffhanger because I'm evil like that.
He stumbled through the doors of his beloved ship and slammed them shut behind him, sagging against the doors with a groan. Reluctantly, he moved to get up. At once he abandoned the effort; it was all he could do to hold back a cry as white hot pain blossomed in his left shoulder. Nonetheless, a sharp cry escaped breathless lips. Tension took hold of his limbs, and he sank back against the doors, bereft of what little strength he'd had before.
He didn't dare move again until time had passed and the pain receded to a dull throb. Even then, it was with some hesitation that he reached up with his right arm and snaked it over his shoulder, probing his injured shoulder for a wound of any sort. His fingers found naught but a warm sticky substance he recognized on the spot. Blood, and his own by the look of it. Several levers on the console flipped of their own accord, and the ship began to make her dematerialization sounds. "Not this time, Old Girl," he said softly. The weariness in his tone was evident in the lines of his face as he gazed at the familiar console. If only he could rest his hands on it, feel the thrumming of a life beneath his palms. He couldn't reach it just now; he lay too far away, and the effort to get up the time before had been taxing.
The ship gave a low almost dejected hum by way of response. He listened to the sound, despite the age-old ache it brought to his hearts. The exhaustion of endlessly saving worlds, galaxies, universes that couldn't have cared less finally now reached him. He felt it in his bones, in the four-beat rhythm beneath his breastbone and in the grey haze lingering at edges of his psyche.
He was tired, so very tired.
After a moment longer, he reasoned with himself that he couldn't do much good lying on the floor of his Tardis, and it certainly didn't do her any good either. On the mental count of three, he closed his eyes, grit his teeth together and forcefully pushed himself back on his feet. He took shaking steps forward, one foot after the other until he'd reached the console. He tried—he really tried to hold himself upright the moment his hands hit the warm metal. However, the jolting impact, as small as it was, reverberated up his left arm and sent blazing hot agony licking through his veins. The world before him flickered, blackness lapping like waves at the edges of his vision.
Reviews are love (and they encourage me to continue so please review?). xx - Ella