The shirt hung in tatters, clinging to the Doctor only held on by blood. He lay there, his breathing coming heavy pants. If only he had listened to his past self. If only he could have found a way to save both himself and his best friend yet enemy. The pain ran up his spine, and he let out a small scream of pain, and began to writhe. Opening his eyes he could make out the outline of the TARDIS. He need to get there, he needed to regenerate… He needed…
The Doctor grinned at Amelia Pond. "You know, your name is truly in a fairytale now." She nodded, not looking at him. Once again he was trying to cheer the woman up, though at least this time he had all of time and space to do it with. "Amy, please, look at me."
"Doctor, I'm tired of you always leaving me to die."
"I do not leave you to die. I never do. I always work to save you." Standing he looked at her. "If you think I'm leaving you to die, then I can just take you home." "Fine!"
"Fine!" He walked over to the central control, and turned the dials, and the machine whirred into life. "I'll take you home." The Doctor nodded and then sat down, staring straight ahead. Amy looked at him, "but won't you be lonely?" Her voice was filled with worry, and she reached out to touch his arm. The man pulled away, and shot her a look.
"I'll be just fine. I did it for the longest time, and I can do it again." Amy's hurt crossed her face and he tried to ignore it. He really didn't want to see that expression, so he tried to ignore it as best as he could. Finally the mechanism around them it stopped and the raggedy Doctor stood, offering his hand to the Scot. "Come on." She reluctantly took his hand and pulled herself up, and they walked over to the door. She had tears in the corner of her eyes. "Will I see you again?" "I always come back, but not for a while." Opening the door, he watched her leave very slowly, and as much as he wanted to stop her, and he didn't want to deal with the pain, he let her walk away. Once she was gone, he turned and walked very quickly over to the controls, and like that, he was off. He had all of time and space, and yet, he didn't even know where to start…
