He leaned against the door frame of his rickety old home. Slowly the old man lowered himself to the grassy ground. Quickly and quietly he took in and let out the cool night air. Every breath pained him, every gulp of air a stab in his side.
The man was dying. Death came to visit. She finally got even.
"About time…" smiled the Doctor.
When he was younger the Time Lord ran from his death or found a way to negate it, but not now. Everything has its time and everything ends. A friend, from so long ago, taught him that. His companions, his friends, all those shining faces, from all those fleeting lives, one lesson shone brighter than any other. Live life and face death with dignity. That's what he looked for in his companions in the end. In more centuries than he could even guess at, this was the only real truth he had ever learned. He hoped that the people of the universe would hold onto that thought in their last moments.
At the end of all things, on the day he was needed most he wasn't enough. Total event collapse. Not just the collapse of time and space, but the breaking down of the universe. No way back from this. Time was burning at every moment. Even if there was a way, it wouldn't be him saving the day.
The signs came too late. Sure, he was always the last to get what was happening. That was his downfall, but somehow he managed. Maybe the universe liked him, maybe he was lucky.
Not this time though.
That man, that thing. There was no way to stop him. Perhaps if he knew. If he wasn't alone. Had help.
He chuckled to himself. Looking for some way to make things better.
Even now… the Doctor.
Never give up, never give in.
But he had nothing.
The TARDIS was gone.
The only thing he ever really had.
Dead.
The Doctors constant companion… destroyed. She tried protecting him, but in the end the force was overwhelming. Mournfully he turned his head to look into the entrance of that blue box.
The interior of the TARDIS was pitch-black. Just a ghostly silhouette of the console appeared to float in mid-air. She was gone. His head felt so empty without her.
The ground beneath began to shudder.
"Here we go..." whispered the Doctor.
Slowly the planet would break apart. The inner mantel would rip through the crust. Its innards would spew across space. Each atom would break down into radiation. Entropy would finally become master of the universe. Events would halt. Time simply not a thing anymore.
"At least I'll be warm" smiled the Doctor.
Convulsing in pain he turned over onto his side. His right heart had ceased beating. Death came quicker now.
At least the old Time Lord had a view of the night sky.
Earths night sky.
Even after all these years of alien skies, this sky, the earths night sky was strangely the most beautiful.
Earth, his last home. Always there for him.
"Look at that sky" he grinned while forcing his face up. It still filled him with awe. Every time he looked at it he gasped in amazement. The stars would slowly flow across the sky, each blinking with a promise for adventure. He knew every name.
Even Gallifreys sun twinkled away. The Time Lords would be running around in utter confusion. The attack came to quick. It was too late for them to fix the situation, it was too late to escape.
His remaining heart began to falter.
Slowly his vision blurred. There was a time when dying frightened him, but it always seemed so far off. When leaving this universe to its own devices terrified him more to the core than any enemy he faced. The idea of not being there to give a helping hand filled him with dread.
And even now, after all his years of making peace with himself, at the end of everything he still felt uneasy. After all he had accepted there was still doubt. There was still fear.
Why? What kept him feeling responsible? He was useless, even if there was a way.
His visions went.
"What would you do?" a thought within his own mind questioned. The voice rung with authority. First startled, the Doctor forced his mind to focus.
"Help" he whispered.
"Who?" demanded the voice.
"Yes" was the last thing the Doctor uttered.
That was the last word of the universe.
The universe faded and death moved through the void towards its next meal, breaking open sealed doors long forgotten and passed onto a new world, this world.
The void of the perished world lay still.
However, there still lingered a single thought silently following this monster of time.