Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.
AN #1:Whouffle for the win! So excited for next weeks episode! This was inspired by it!
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Somebody To Die For
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I was born to save the Doctor…
There were so many things rushing around through her head, so many things that were vying for her attention that it was giving her a headache. But the one thing that stood out the most, that echoed and rang in her ears and turned her blood to ice were those few simple words that had been uttered by the strange man in the prison.
I'm Clara Oswald and I was born to save the Doctor.
She had no idea what it meant! And yet, a tiny part of her, that small part that she had learnt to ignore since she had met the Doctor was screaming at her to listen to what she had been told and to do something about it. But what?
Born to save the Doctor…
Everything around her had seemed to slow down, as if time itself had frozen and all that was left was her standing on her own in the middle of a battle field. She could hear her own harsh breathing in her ears, the blood pounding in her veins and feel the frigid air stinging the exposed skin on her arms.
I was born…
Behind her, passed the broken doors of the TARDIS, was the Doctor, laying on the ground in front of that grave stone that seemed to mean so much to him. Not an hour ago he had touched the decaying marble and whispered the name carved into the stone so reverently, and now he lay dead or dying over the grave of his late wife. Standing tall above him was Simeon, the man who had caused all of this to happen, and the man who had terrified her more than any Dalek or Cyberman ever could. With him were those things, the Whispermen as he had called them, walking slowly towards the open doors of the TARDIS with the intent on killing her.
And she was all alone in remains of the TARDIS, her walls covered by creeping ivy and tendrils of rotting vines that slowly ate away at the metal that had once been alive and pulsing with energy.
To save the Doctor…
"How!?" Clara suddenly screamed, tears stinging her eyes as she slammed her hands down on the console, her heart shattering to tiny pieces, millions of jagged shards tearing and ripping her apart from within. It was hard to breath, her mind coming to a screeching halt as her voice echoed around the dead walls of the TARDIS.
Silence descended like a thick shroud, a death knell pushing down on her shoulders and causing her to stagger under its weight. She crashed to her knees, desolate and hopeless, her eyes darting back to the open doorway and staring at the Doctor's crumpled form. Even though she knew his name, she couldn't call him by it – that wasn't who she had come to know and love. It might be his name but it wasn't who he was; he was so much more than a name any way. She kept staring at him, her breath freezing in her lungs as she searched his face for any signs of life, for a stirring of any of the muscles in his face…
A sob hiccupped from her chest as he continued to lay there, his face devoid of any colour, his lips turning purple and his brilliant green eyes glazed in what she had quickly become to associate with death.
Tears blurred her vision and her stomach threatened to lose what little she had eaten that day (how long had it been since that picnic lunch on Barcelona? Three hours? She couldn't remember) and she turned away from the sight. The helplessness roared up again and she sobbed, curling up on her knees, feeling that there was no reason to try and fend off the Whispermen if it meant that she could survive while the Doctor didn't. She wept for all the things that she had never been able to say to him, for the things that they would never be able to do together, for all the stories that would never be written… She sat there for what felt like an age, an eternity seeming to crawl by her before she lifted her head, her vision blurry from her tears and despair.
It wasn't until she looked out the open front doors that she realised something was wrong.
With a start, she jumped to her feet, the tears leaving silver trails on her cheeks as her eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
Beyond the doors, she could see the Whispermen, reaching towards her through the opening, but looking as if they had been frozen in place. Behind them, she could see Simeon, his face twisted up in anger as he pointed his cane towards her, the snarl on his lips looking feral.
"How…" she whispered to herself, taking a hesitant step forward.
"That would be me, sweetie," a voice behind her said, making Clara jump and scream.
Whirling around, Clara stared at the woman behind her, her heart beating like a drum in her chest. "You? How can you be here when-"
The other woman shook her head, a small smile curling on her lips. "Spoilers." She said simply, her eyes darting over Clara's shoulder and staring at the crumpled form of the Doctor. She blinked and took a sharp breath before returning her eyes to Clara, taking in her broken appearance. "We haven't much time, sweetie."
Frowning, Clara wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand, taking in the woman in front of her. Her hair was a mass of curls that suited her nicely and gave her a mischievous aura about her. She wore a strange looking pants-suit in a metallic-like fabric with a darker jacket over the top. The woman in front of her felt familiar to her but how, she couldn't put her finger on it. She was about to open her mouth when a bright light caused her to stagger away from the console of the TARDIS, her hands going to cover her eyes.
"What is that?!" Clara yelled, peering from between her fingers to stare at what used to be the console.
Where the console of the TARDIS once was, was a massive funnel of red, swirling energy. It spun angrily, like a tornado trapped in a jar and every few seconds there were bright flashes of light that looked like lightning bolts. The sound that accompanied it hurt her ears, the roaring akin to a freight-train screaming passed her, but then, if she listened close enough, she could hear whispers. It startled her, causing her to drop her arms and her eyes to focus on the swirling vortex that seemed to be calling out to her.
"No! Don't look at it!" the curly haired woman yelled, but her voice was lost over the roar and the thousands of whispers that seemed to reach a fever pitch, all chanting and roaring and singing one word: Clara.
Without meaning too, Clara took a step forward, one hand reaching out to touch the very edge of the red storm in front of her.
A bolt of the yellow lightning hit her finger.
A million trillion thoughts and feelings and emotions and memories flashed through her mind in the blink of an eye. Worlds burned, civilisations collapsed, people died. Species were born, empires were built from the ground up, peace reigned…
The Universe spread out at her finger tips.
She gasped, clutching her head and squeezing her eyes shut. The pain increased ten-fold before it disappeared, leaving her breathless and strangely numb. The pain was still there of losing the Doctor (justdon'tthinkaboutthat!) but then there was the strange numb melancholy that was hard to describe. What had that all been?
Clara looked up at the woman, knowing who she was, and yet not knowing who she was either. Her name slithered out of her grasp like sand through an hour-glass, but Clara knew that she was supposed to be dead. "What…" she started and then she stopped, her eyes widening as a smile came to her face.
A flash of a memory, of pink and yellow, of a wolf and scattered words…
"What ever it is you're thinking of doing, don't," the woman said suddenly.
Clara glanced up at the woman again, her eyes distant.
She knew what the storm was raging in front of her, she knew that it was the only way to save the Doctor, and therefore all of the Universe. If it meant her death… Well, from what the Doctor himself had said, it wouldn't be the first time she had died. (Oh yes, she thought, she now remembered the day that never was). She turned her head and glanced through the doors of the TARDIS, taking one last longing look back at the Doctor before she looked back at the woman.
"I am Clara Oswald, and I was born to save the Doctor," she said with a distant smile, before leaping forward in to the red vortex and letting time sweep her away.
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AN #2: I was re-watching the trailers for next weeks episode and I realised that the Doctor was attacked inside the TARDIS. Oh well. For the purposes of this fic, it will be outside. So don't go pointing out these errors please. Enjoy though, and I might think of continuing.