A/N: Hey lovelies, this is a fic I wrote with my friend Pansychic27213. You all should check her out, shes rather new on Fanfiction but her fics are beautiful. We spent a lot on this, so we hope you enjoy it. R&R please.
Run You Clever Girl
He stumbled into the TARDIS doors, and nearly fell on his face. She caught him as he went down, and attempted to help him balance against the control panel. He stumbled a bit, but managed to catch it, using his fading strength. When she looked at him, all the painful years of his life flash in front of her on his young face, and his misted green eyes, which are dulling, and producing tears.
"I'm dying, Clara." he rasped.
"Bu...but you can regenerate, can't you?" she replied, her eyes filling with tears.
He shook his head. "I've already regenerated twelve times." He coughed and heaved, droplets of red blood hitting the TARDIS floor. He grimaced and pressed his blood-soaked hand harder against the bullet wound that had ripped through his skin.
No! No!" Clara exclaimed, "You're lying, you're lying! I don't believe you, I WON'T." Tears pricked her eyes as she stood, "it's a flesh wound. Nothing but a flesh wound. A measly flesh wound that one of us measly HUMANS can survive. So you stop it. You stop it now."
His head tipped backwards and he wheezed, gasping for breath as he tried to stand again. His weak leg muscles gave way, and he fell back against the control panel. The back of his head banged against the time rotor with a "plunk". He grasped tightly against the control panel, trying to tame some of the pain that he was feeling. His grip was so tight that his hands trembled, palms staining it red.
"Doct-" Clara went to catch him as he heaved again. He held out a blood-stained hand. "it's okay." he said, "I'll be fine I promise." He tried to reassure, though it seemed as if he was trying to reassure himself more than Clara. He didn't look fine. Droplets of sweat were forming on his temples as another violent fit overcame him. "I'll be fine..." he breathed, pushing her away, "I'll just be in horrible pain for a few minutes."
As he heaved, the wound in his stomach bled out crimson. Hie head was tipped backward to the ceiling as a grimace filled his face when he tried to catch his gasping breath, which mad him sound like he had just run a marathon. His wound pulsed and gushed, and it felt like he was being stabbed with a thousand tiny daggers. He coughed again, this time causing more blood to spray from his mouth, spilling over his chin and dribbling down his bowtie and shirt. Blood now covered a large amount of his shirt and tweed jacket as he fought death clawing at him. It was then he began a violent coughing fit and started to sway. "No, no, no!" in her tears, Clara ran forward and caught him just as he about fell, causing her knees to buckle at his weight and she banged against the TARDIS floor, pain searing through the knee caps. She held him over her lap for a bit before she propped him up against the control panel. He coughed violently again, red splattering all over Clara's face and dress, and she continued to bawl. His head lolled from side to side, groaning and crying. "It STINGS!" he gasped, pressing a red hand over his bullet wound. By now tears of pain had sprung from his eyes, leaking down his face. Seeing this, Clara tore off her jacket wrapped it around the gaping wound, in a panic, pressing it tightly against it.
"No...Clara..." the Doctor groaned, "I don't need that. I'm fine, you see." He tried to stand, to reassure her, only causing more of the crimson to rush down his pant leg. He even managed to stumble a few steps. He could hang on for a while. He'd done it before.
As she watched him, she saw the grimace on his face, and his breathing worsened even more as he attempted to take more steps, grabbing onto whatever he could use to balance himself, grunting as he tried to hide his pain.
"Please stop it." Clara pleaded, not even bothering to fight back the tears. "You'll just be in more pain. Come back over here and sit." She got up and made her way toward him, supporting his back, but he was so weakened with his blood loss and fatigue that she practically had to carry him back where he was. He practically fell over himself when they got back and allowed his body to sink into her lap. She cradled him gently, smoothing the hair out of his misty green irises, and adjusted his bowtie. Another coughing fit shook his body, and he started to take faster, shorter gasping breaths, groaning, shutting his eyes, head lolling from side to side.
Clara suddenly knew this wasn't a joke. He really was dying, and she didn't know how much time he had. She looked down at him, "You're gonna survive, got that? Live and I promise...I solemnly swear, until death do I part...that I will stay in the TARDIS. I won't ever leave. I'll die in here if that's what it takes. I'll bind myself to her...And bind myself to you." As she spoke these words, her voice was phasing with the buckets of tears she had been crying, and each word she uttered had a pause before the next, as she practically choked on her tears. "Just...please...don't...go."
"I can never ask you to bind yourself to me..." the Doctor replied.
Seeing that she was getting no where with him, she started to shout at the TARDIS. "What about you can't you do anything?" She said to the air, looking up at the ceiling, practically blinded by the tears in her eyes. "Do something, anything. I don't care what...if you have to take my life away and give it to him...do IT! Just don't let him die you stupid machine! What good are you if you can't save him?...I am talking to a machine. OH GOOD LORD! She cried, SAME THING...TAKE MY LIFE...PUT ME IN HIS PLACE...JUST DON'T LET HIM DIE! DON'T TAKE HIM! I HAVEN'T HAD NEAR ENOUGH TIME WITH HIM! I DID THIS TO HIM...IT'S MY FAULT. HE JUMPED IN FRONT OF THE BULLET BECAUSE I WAS IN ITS WAY...I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN! ITS MY FAULT. MAKE ME PAY. MAKE. ME. PAY. TAKE AWAY HIS PAIN AND SUFFERING AND GIVE IT TO ME...PLEASE...PLEASE, MAKE ME SUFFER. I DON'T WANT TO SEE HIM LIKE THIS. I DESERVE IT, NOT HIM, IT WAS MY FAULT..."
She gazed back down at the Doctor and clutched his sweaty, tear-streaked, cooling, deathly pale face, and gazed at him, watery brown eyes blazing, tears falling in waterfalls. "YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE ON ME!" she screamed, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, UNDERSTAND? STUPID ME! STUPID ME! YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE BULLET HIT ME! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND RUN IN FRONT OF IT? AND YOU STUPID MACHINE!" She screamed at the TARDIS and kicked in. "WHAT GOOD ARE YOU IF YOU CAN'T HELP HIM IS HIS TIME OF GREATEST NEED? YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING WOODEN SHED!" She doubled over and bawled into his bloody chest, smearing blood all over herself. "I didn't even spend a lot of time with him..." His trembling hands seized her shoulders and he pushed her away, and she fell backwards against the ground in surprise as he pressed both of his hands against his wounds and bent over, arching his back in an unnatural way. He screamed as excrutiating pain ripped through his entire body, each cell, individually feeling it, one at a time. He felt every one of his cells pulsing against his skin as they each tried and failed to get regeneration energy flowing through his body, but it was not to be, for they were too weak. He cried out again, and gripped the right side of his chest as that heart gradually slowed. The weaker one on the left side began to pulse and beat twice as fast...badumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadump...making his feel like he was being punched from the inside. He thought the pulse would rip a hole through his burning chest. "Not...dying...not yet." He gasped. Beside him he heard Clara kicking the TARDIS. "You stupid machine!" she cried, "I'll give you anything if you save him!" she kicked it again, and sunk to the floor and cried.
"CLARA!" the Doctor cried, throwing his body back up against the TARDIS. "IDRIS! PLEASE SAVE ME! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT...I'LL LET YOU FLY YOURSELF, JUST HELP ME! MAKE THE UNIVERSE STOP ME FROM DYING!" Clara stared at him. He looked sickly, he was white as a sheet, and the blood that covered the entire area around his mouth and chin was drying, his eyes were dull and there were tears staining his cheeks. He was sweating and his hair was a mess. She turned away and ran to the kitchen just down the hall, wetting a rag with the cool sink water. Then she ran back and sunk to the ground beside the gasping Doctor, who was moaning against the panel and lolling his head, eyes closed, cheeks stained with tears. She smoothed his hair again and adjusted the bowtie, stroking his head as took the cool towel across his face. He opened his eyes and forced a small smile:
"My Clara-" he was cut off abruplty as more searing pain ripped through him, and he doubled over again, screaming out as stomach acid leaked from his insides, circling throughout his freezing body, and it filled with a searing, hot pain. Layer by layer, he felt his skin and cells being burned away to nothing, melting so slowly, He could almost hear the sizzling as it reached the surface of his skin and he felt it burning. He screamed and lurched back against the panel, coughing and racking through his sobs, blood continuing to spill over his front. He threw his head back, closing his eyes, and breathing quickly, And then memories of all his companions circled his mind and faded. And it was then his sweet Rose crossed his mind, whispering how she loved him so, until her image faded and he could no longer see them...no Rose, no Jack, no Mickey, no Martha, no Donna, no Astrid, no Wilfred, no Rory, no River, no Amy, they were gone, he could no longer see them in his mind, and Clara began to fade too. "Why now!" he cried, "Why now? I have so much more I need to do!" Now he was just crying, a pool of crimson flowing onto the TARDIS as his body slowly began to slow down...oh so slowly. "go on then!" he called, "You win!" It was then he used his shaky fingers to fumble with the keys. "take her home." he said, his hand falling away.
"No! No! No!" Clara screamed, running forward, gathering the Doctor in her arms. She stared down at him, in love, stroaking his hair and repeating the same process before the fit. "Don't go..." she whispered, "Please don't go..."
He forced a small smile, "It's okay Clara. it's just my time."
"No, no, no, you can't!" she was shouting through sobs.
"I have no choice." and he tilted his head back, as regeneration energy poured from his chest and mouth, casting a blinding yellow light into the air. It was long, and painful to watch, as it stopped and faded to nothing. His wound was gone, but all his spilled blood remained, and he was left doctor staring blankly at the ceiling, like he was frozen in time, lips parted. His body was still.
"Doctor?" Clara said softly. No response. "Doctor!" she screamed, then she shook him, "Doctor!" no response. He was gone. She closed his eyes, and began to rock him, screaming and crying out in grief, burying her face in his. And she remained like that for several moments with pained cries echoing "No. No. No." Over and over again.
-XXX-
The familiar rasping, wheezing sound filled the air as the TARDIS dematerialized. It was only then that everything fully made sense, and as the TARDIS took her last trip, Clara screamed up at the cieling. And the TARDIS landed. But Clara didn't get up, and continued to mourn the doctor. And the silence followed, only being filled with Clara's grieving cries.
-XXX-
"Clara, Clara..." and all-too familiar voice filled the TARDIS air. She looked around with her tear-stained face, when she saw him. The Doctor standing tall, looking familiar and healthy , with his tweed jacket and bowtie.
"Doctor?" for a minute she was hopeful, but it couldn't be him. He was lying bloody and dead in her arms.
"TARDIS voice interphase." he said, "The TARDIS will self-destruct in sixty seconds following this message. Clara Oswald, message from the Doctor;" The voice echoed in silence for a bit before the image of the Doctor faded and she heard the ticking as the countdown began. "What message!? What is it?" She screamed. No response. She didn't move. Not for at least five seconds. She wasn't ready. She just held him.
"Clara..." came a weak raspy voice. She gasped and looked down. His eyes were open, and he had spoken, but he was extremely pale, and his voice was almost inaudible.
"Doctor. You're alive."
"Not for much longer. My eyes are darkening. I have to go. But one last thing before I..." He closed his eyes, catching his breath, and lifting his head for his dull green eyes to stare into her brown pools, "Run...run, you clever girl, and remember me.." That was the last thing he ever said. His head fell and his eyes closed. And Clara began to scream.
"Doctor? Doctor? DOCTOR! Doctor come back! You come back now you brilliant idiot!" Her voice was so strangled with her sobs the words were almost forced out of her chest. And she rocked him, held him, and cried.
"TARDIS self destruct in ten seconds." Said the computerized female voice.
She let a few more tears fall before she looked up from him. Knowing that he would want to stay in the TARDIS, she gently laid him down on the floor, crossing his arms at his abdomen. She kissed him on the forehead, and took her jacket back. Then she got up and bolted for the doors, closing them behind her. Without ever looking back, she turned, and as the TARDIS exploded behind her, she ran.