I have this horrible feeling that this will become a multi-shot. For now, I'm keeping it as a one-shot, but that's likely to change. For anyone who's ever read my fic The Colour Red, you'll know that I have this weird obsession with colour-assignment. And, for Clara, this idea wouldn't leave me alone. Thanks for reading, it's good to be home! ~J :)

The Colours of Clara Oswald.

Grey. And red. Two colours swirling around Clara, enveloping her in a mixture of nervousness and fear, and creating a tightness in her chest that served only to restrict her breathing. She spun on her heel, trying to find the door but being unable to see anything with the colours. So bright, so vivid, so... dangerous. Dangerous. This was dangerous. Here was dangerous. She needed to get out, she needed to escape and run, run fast and far away, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she?
The door. Where was the door? Why couldn't she find the door? Why couldn't she find the exit?
Exit.
Exit-er
Exit-er-min
Ex-ter-min-ate
EXTERMINATE
EXTERMINATE!

"Clara?!" She could hear his voice. Chin-boy. He had come to save her, and she knew he would, and they would run off into the abyss and never return and their adventures would last forever; just her and Chin-boy on an excursion to infinity.
Excursion.
Ex-cur-min
Ex-ter-min
Ex-ter-min-ate
ETERMINATE
EXTERMINATE!

Too many walls, too many colours, they were hurting her. Her eyes; she couldn't see. Nothing but swirling greys and reds and a little blue light in the distance. Light. At the end of the tunnel there was light, and that was good. That had to be good, right? Clara would follow the light, find her way out.
"Exterminate!" She knew that sound, but where was it coming from? Was it coming from the source of the light? Impossible. Light was a good thing, wasn't it? Or was this one of those don't go into the light situations? "EXTERMINATE!"
"Clara?!" Chin-boy's voice sounded panicked now. Where was he? He should be here by now. The light was coming closer to her. Or was she going closer to it? She wasn't entirely sure. Either way, there it was. Blue, and beautiful. Radiant. As it got closer, and Chin-boy's voice became more panicked, she found a sort-of ease washing over her. She could still hear the voice, wherever it was coming from, a resounding "exterminate" resonating off the grey, concrete walls. Until, finally, she reached her destination. Only, it wasn't an exit.
It was... A mirror?
She could see herself, reaching out to touch the glass, still looking for a way home. A way back to the man who was supposed to have saved her by now.
"Exterminate." Came the voice, again. Only now, it was merely a whisper.
And it was coming from her.
She watched in the mirror as her own lips formed the word. Her eyes an iridescent cerulean blue instead of their usual chocolate colour. "Exterminate." She whispered again, as tears of red fell from her would-be eyes.
"Clara, please." She could hear the echo of Chin-boy's voice. "Do this for me," It said, sounding so far away but so close simultaneously. Almost as though he was whispering in her ear from another dimension. A parallel universe, perhaps? "Wake up, Clara."
"Exterminate?"
"Wake up."
"Ex... terminate?"
She removed her hand from the mirror in order to place it on her cheek. She could feel his hand underneath hers, cupping her face. But where was he? Why couldn't she see him?
"Wake up, Clara Oswin Oswald."
She could feel his lips on her forehead and she closed her eyes. They stung from blue and grey and red. But she felt safer now that she could hear him and feel his presence. She was not alone anymore.
"I need you." He told her.
"Doctor?" She mumbled.

"Doctor?" Her eyes fluttered open.
"It's alright, Clara, I'm here." His voice was soft, and his eyes were concerned, and he was holding her as though he had no intention of ever letting her go. She could feel the stains on her cheeks from where her tears had trailed down into his fingers. She grabbed hold of his jacket, bunching it up at his shoulder blades and he pulled her tight into him, resting her head on his chest and stroking her hair.
"It was just a bad dream." He said, kissing the top of her head and rocking her comfortingly. "I will keep you safe, I promise."
"I don't know, Chin-boy." She said, honestly. Though it sounded crazy, even in her head, she knew the dream meant something. And she knew The Doctor knew it too. "There's only so much that even you can do." She pulled back from him, and slid gracefully from her bed. They were in her room, TARDIS and all, and she looked around at everything she owned, suddenly feeling distaste towards everything. There was too much red and too much grey. She turned to the TARDIS. And now too much blue. "It seems to be my destiny to either kill you, or be killed." She said it so nonchalantly, it might as well have been the weather forecast. She ran her thumb over the TARDIS door. "And, if it comes down to it..." She turned back to face The Doctor, her fingers curling around the TARDIS' frame as she tried to steady herself. She gave up and decided instead to lean against it. The Doctor was looking at her, curious and terrified, as though she had just told him the truth. But she hadn't yet.
"Clara," He said, standing to attention. He knew where this was going and he wouldn't let her say it.
"If it comes down to it," She repeated, not wanting to look in his eyes, but knowing she had to. "You need to-"
"I won't." The Doctor told her, petulantly. "I will never hurt you."
"Then, if it comes down to it..." She said, removing her hand from the TARDIS in order to place it on his cheek. He pulled himself closer to her, images of Amelia Pond flashing through his mind as his current situation, in Clara's bedroom, holding her against the TARDIS, reminded him of Amy. Reminded him of loss. Images of everyone he'd ever lost following suit. He couldn't do it again. He didn't think he'd survive it.
"Clara, no." His voice was low and dangerous, one hand on her waist, pushing her against the TARDIS doors, and one hand around her neck, his eyes dark and searching. "I promise you we will find out who you are, and why this is happening to you and we will stop it. You will be safe, Clara Oswald."
"Chin-boy," She said, brushing her lips against his ear. "If it comes down to it,"
"Clara."
"I will do it myself."
There was a pause, the revelation becoming momentarily too much for The Doctor and their intimacy becoming momentarily too much for Clara, before The Doctor reached behind her and threw the TARDIS door open. They fell inside, The Doctor on top of Clara, his memory flashing through his losses again, from River to Susan and back, but Clara was quick to throw him over, until she was straddling him, a cheeky glint in her eyes. Away from her room, she was a completely different person. He was unsure why. And he couldn't decipher whether it was a good thing, or not.
"Now, Doctor," She arched an eyebrow at him, a playfulness having come over her. "Is this any way to treat a lady?" She brought her face down to meet his, her lips hovering over his own, and his eyes widened. Was she going to...?
"That would be a no." She told him, and jumped up, bouncing over to the TARDIS console.
The Doctor breathed out a rather frustrated sigh, and let his arms, which had only moments ago been pinning her waist to his, fall to the floor, staying there for a mere second, attempting to get a grip on himself, before flouncing his way over to her side in a way that only The Doctor could. He hadn't felt this intensely about anyone since Rose Tyler, and he knew, for good reason, why it was a bad idea for him to feel like that again. The higher you rise, the further you fall. And yet, he often found himself remembering the day Clara kissed him -bang on the lips!- and it made him feel giddy, and happy and loved.

Yes. He would find out who was after her, and why. And he would kill them.

Or be killed in the process.

See what I mean about this being the beginnings of a multi-shot? Goddamnit, I don't have time to be getting myself caught up in fanfiction again! If the interest is there, though, I probably will.

Is anybody else utterly infatuated by Clara? Or is it just me?