The doors forced open quickly, letting in the fiery heat and robotic shrieks coming from the engulfing spaceship outside. A tall, lanky figure suddenly slammed onto one of the doors, head held down, legs bent and shaking violently, his breathing rapid and hard. A pair of cracked sunglasses falling from his face to finally split in half on the floor.

"'Protocol….R-E 12'…..now!" His raspy, Scottish voice bellowed through the console room, sprucing up steam through the metal platform surrounding the console, which was currently emitting numerous 'beeps' and 'clinks' and even a 'puwee-weee-weee-weee' or two before the bright red column began to fully whir to life.

As he shut the doors, he continued to cough and groan, the very action pulling most of his muscles into a great stinging pain, causing the man to hiss.

Every action only brought it closer now.

The change.

"Oh, and while…you're at it…Change the protocol title to…'R-E 13'," The Doctor grumbled as he limped to the console, grabbing the hand rail hard…no point in it being 12 anymore, and before you ask, no, I don't want to change it to 15, I don't care if it's the right number, I count them how I want."

He heard the distinct beep noting the protocol was changed. "Good." The Doctor whispered, his eyes looking up to the spinning discs onto of the column, noting one disappeared already. The Tardis was already changing herself for him. The next him.

He felt himself start to slide down, his knees buckled, no more feeling in his legs. The poison was now finally taking effect, it was killing him from the inside out, and it was one of the most painful feelings he'd ever feel, and he's already died 13 times before.

As he hit the floor, his mind traveled back to a similar death of his, his fifth life; Mr. Celery and Cricket. The only true difference was that he was alone. He didn't have to be strong for anyone. Bill was at home, River went off to the library, and Clara….Cara? Carol? Whoever that girl was, he just hopes she was happy.

That's all The Doctor ever truly wanted: happiness, peace, and a friend to share it with across the cosmos (maybe some jelly babies too).

Now he felt his stomach lurch and bubble, his system was starting to fail. Now he was laying, desperately grabbing at his midsection in a vein hope to control the pain. His eyes now caught sight of his shelves, filled with books, numerous novels and dictionaries and map books from across the universe.

He shut his eyes and remembered when bookshelves filled the walls of his Tardis, during his eighth life. He remembered himself, Charley, and C'rizz building a little nest to sit back and read, in peace. He would've started chuckling out of nostalgia if he didn't feel one of his hearts slowing. This was it, his last moments.

"You know…." He suddenly stated as loudly as he could, breaking the mechanical background noise of the Tardis going through the time vortex. "I've always said…..that we're all stories in the end…..that we have to make our stories worthwhile, lively, not the kind that….could turn the reader into a complete….pudding brain."

There was about thirty seconds of coughing before he went on.

"But my lives….are chapters….chapters of one big story…..And I was the first chapter of a new story….and honestly….I was a great beginning….not perfect, far from it….but I was decent, musical, stern, maybe even a bit…..charming? I don't know."

He felt it coming, the regeneration, the energy started in his hands, like always. He could feel his final breathes begin.

"But, as my chapter closes….my final page turns…all I can ask is….that my next chapter be…be… better… than this one."

The silent chill of death fell over the timeship as it landed before a golden glow engulfed over the old time traveller, a light as blinding as any number of suns.

Then it began, the change, the refreshment. His skin lost its wrinkles, pulled together into a softer, fresher body. His hair went from curly and gray, to bushy and a slightly lighter brown. His face rounded out a bit, and his eyebrows went from sharp and piercing to calm and thin. He felt his body shrink and compress slightly, pulling out his red velvet coat and undershirt.

"The new chapter begins." was the last thought of the 12th Doctor.

As the energy faded, the regeneration seemingly complete, the new Doctor laid unconscious on the Tardis floor, all the while the sentient timeship revealed where they landed.

The planet Airelon, home of the Fressiti.

A/N: So here's another one of my obsessions entering my list of stories; Doctor Who! This is meant to be the regeneration of the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and the beginning of my own original incarnation and a start of a bunch of fan stories starring my OC Doctor and soon an OC Companion. So look out for the first full Doctor Who story some time soon.