Never Forget
Summary: This is my take on Doctor Who 9x12: Hell Bent and Clara's final goodbye.
"No!" She gasped, as she watched the man she loved fall slowly to the ground, a slight gasping sound escaping from him as if he was trying very hard to breathe. "Why… Why did you do it?"
Clara's eyes met the war-torn eyes of the Doctor's, as she touched his face in a soft embrace; tears forming in her eyes, ignoring them as she looked at the other Hybrid, Ashildr for help.
"Help me?" She pleads, but the woman made no movement to help as she too looked helplessly at the man before them. "Please… Don't leave me."
"Clara," The Doctor called, as he took her hand into his own, a smile upon his face. "Do me a favour? Never be cruel, and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends."
He lightly wiped away a fallen tear, as he then patted her face softly like he had done so many times before- he lightly groaned as he could feel memories of meeting Clara in the TARDIS and asking her the stupid question: How do you fly this thing?
"Doctor…" Clara called, making him open his eyes weakly. "I'll never forget you."
That made the Doctor laughed, and it hurt… Terribly.
"Smile." He blurts out, getting a confused expression from the brunette woman before him; the woman he would travel billions of years into the future to save, he broke all of the codes he went and vowed by just so he could see her again, hear her voice and now… They were all going away, some rescue mission this turned out to be. "Smile for me?"
"How can I smile at a moment like this?" Clara replied, as her hands were once again upon his cheek. "You'll forget me."
"I don't think I'll ever forget you, Clara Oswald; my Clara Oswald." He joked, with a smile… A true smile upon his face. "The impossible girl."
That had made her laugh lightly, as she looked back into his eyes.
He was still the same, old Doctor she had come to know and love- eyebrows and all. It was then that she lightly swept her lips across his; as she then pulled away from him.
"I love you." She whispered.
…
"Where do you think we should take him?" Ashildr asked, as she glanced from the screen to the woman that still held the Doctor in her arms.
"Home."
"Gallifrey?"
"No, Earth." Clara replied, as she got to her feet. "We need to locate his TARDIS anyway."
"One step ahead of you there, Clara."
"You always are." The woman replied making both women laugh as the TARDIS then materialized beside the highway.
Stepping out of her own TARDIS, the woman laughed as it took on the form of a roadside dinner; the TARDIS knew exactly what she wanted, it was then that a man pulled up beside her.
"Excuse me," He called, gaining her attention. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Came her reply, as she turned to face him. "But my friend, he isn't."
"What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing." Clara replied, as she then called him into the dinner. "He just needs someone to look after him; do you think you could do that for me? Look after him until he wakes up?"
"Sure, I guess."
…
Ashildr located the TARDIS just a few miles away from where they were and the Doctor's confession dial- which Clara had opened up and retrieved his coat- the Doctory looking one, the one she liked.
Her eyes then landed onto the chalk board, spotting a broken piece of chalk upon the floor the brunette then wrote a message on the blackboard for the Doctor.
Smiling at her masterpiece, hanging the coat upon the coat-rack; the brunette took a look around the TARDIS… A final look as she knew that she wouldn't step foot into this TARDIS again.
"Goodbye old girl." Clara whispered, as the TARDIS lightly hummed just as soon as Clara exited through the doors. "Take care of him, and… Spare me a thought now and then, yeah?"
…
"Hey," Clara called, making the Doctor look up from the strings of the guitar. "Did you love her, this Clara woman?"
The Doctor paused, his brain working effortlessly to see if he loved her or not; then he looked up into the face of the waitress before him.
"Yes." He replied, with a small smile. "I would like to think I did."
The brunette woman nodded, as she walked from behind the counter as he got to his feet; lightly strumming the guitar.
"And what did she say to you?" She asked, as she neared the back area of the dinner. "When you were running?"
"I don't remember." He replied, with a small smile. "But then, that is a story for another time. Stories are... where memories go when they are forgotten."
"Do you know what they say about memories?" She asked. "They turn into songs."
Glancing down at his fingers which were automatically strumming along to a beat within the back of his mind, the Doctor was so focused in figuring the words to the tune that he didn't see the woman slip into out the back into a room that seemed to be bigger on the inside.
"I still haven't figured out the chameleon circuit yet," Ashildr spoke, as soon as Clara walked into the room. "You'll be stuck as an American Roadside Dinner until it's fixed."
"Lovely." Clara replied, as she lightly smirked at the woman.
"Where are we going?"
"There are some people I need to confront," Clara replied, as she pulled a lever and the TARDIS hummed and whirled into motion. "We're going to Gallifrey. The long way round."
Ashildr laughed, as Clara then walked around the console; flipping switches and pressing buttons- like she watched the Doctor do a thousand times before, the woman felt like she knew what she was doing.
"And I got the perfect name for the dinner." She adds, as Ashildr looked at her. "The Dinner at the end of the Galaxy."
