Gold
For one shining moment, she could see all that was, all that could be. Possibilities flowed around her, endless streams of swirling gold. The Daleks' timelines were a shriveled, yellow colour that marred the beauty of her tapestry. Her tapestry, for she was the one who had woven it. Time itself bowed to the will of the Bad Wolf.
"You're going to burn!" her Doctor told her. "The power's going to kill you, and it's my fault!"
Burning. She was burning. The gold was like a river of fire, coursing through her mind, destroying her in its fury. And then it wasn't. The gold left her. She was drained, spent, and the memory of shining gold spiraled away into the depths of her mind as she fell into blackness.
It was years later before she remembered.
She had seen gold, for a moment, on that beach. The first time he had never finished his sentence, and she had wept, and felt the gold in her mind again. It told her how to get back. Forgotten strands of Time threaded across her vision and she resolved that she would not fail. However, while she recalled this attitude in later hours, that brief moment of shining was hidden away, where it would not damage her. She was not ready.
The gold returned many times as she jumped through universes, protecting her. She never remembered it, but always she could see the echoes of timelines where she and the Doctor were reunited. The Doctor would've been terrified if he knew. Burning, he had said. But she never remembered for more than a few moments after each flash.
She remembered again, after the Crucible, and Davros. The gold flooded her mind and for a moment, she burned. But she saw the timeline: a long, fantastic life with the Metacrisis, who truly was the same man; followed by a return to the Time Lord who needed her always and forever by his side. She forgot this glimpse, of course; her human mind could not hold it. But it lingered just below the surface, resided with the gold in a hidden part of her mind, behind a deep blue wall.
The gold returned when the Doctor died. She wept for him, and the gold washed over her once more. Yet this time, it was soft, gentle, a cleansing caress that eased the grief. Her eyes glowed, again, and she remembered. Timelines that could yet be flashed across her vision, and with a negligent wave of her hand, she left what remained of her family and passed across the Howling.
The Wolf was awake. No more would she be a mere echo of power, a brief breath of gold brushing against her awareness. Time itself bowed to her once before, and it would do so again.
She shone gold, blazing brighter than a star, as she proclaimed her love to the universe, and felt it echoed back by the only one who could ever tame Time's Wolf.
And Time's Wolf burned; but now, she was not alone.
