A/N: I would like to point this out, for those of you who will actually read this, two things. One; I am not a die-hard Doctor Who fan, though a good portion of my family is, but I have not seen many episodes of this show. Some of you are like: "Oh, well then how can you know anything about the show? Accurately show off/write the characters?" My sister once pulled the same thing with me, about how I "Shouldn't write any fanfiction about that," because I "didn't know specifically what happened and about certain things that are quite important." Admittedly, she was partially right, and this was also about a different fandom. This did come up again, but I had made my point the last time. I now have it run past her for this to make sure that it is at least along the lines of it. Now, Two; um….. Let's see….Ah, yes! Okay, the second thing was that this is specifically created as a prologue/one-shot towards another Fanfiction that I will be writing shortly. Mainly because this is the only part of the story that the Doctor is part of in this fanfiction.

Prologue:

Clara Oswald was staring at the doctor as he rushed around the TARDIS. Everywhere else she looked her reflection stared back at her in the chrome-like metal that plated the inside of the TARDIS. So she decided to look at the single onboard the TARDIS that she still hasn't lost interest in trying to decipher.

The Doctor.

Her eyes looked over him again, remembering the original version she fell for and then comparing them, not for the last time either. The difference between the two is like that between a tree and a mountain. Long flowing locks of maple-brown replaced with snow-gray. The high-cheekbones and gently rounded face replaced by that similar to a rugged mountain-side. Once he was tall, thin, and nimble. That was replaced by a sturdier, well-muscled, and stocky form.

The eyes are pretty much the only thing that hasn't changed. Yes, the color changed. The once lime-green eyes changed to stone-gray. But the eyes are still ancient, knowledgeable, a deep well of emotion that she could get lost in, all the while still holding that small flare of…. She couldn't quite place it. She would say something like excitement mixed with a bit of mischief…

"What are you staring at?" The Doctor's voice rang out through the near silent TARDIS. His Scottish accent, sounding slightly angry, though she knows it is just his natural tone.

"Just you." Clara responded.

The Doctor turned to look at Clara with a slightly confused look on his face as he tried to comprehend what she had said.

"There is no 'Just' me." He started. "I'm too weird to be 'Just me'."

The Doctor soon focused on Clara's unimpressed face as she waited for him to continue.

"Oh!" He suddenly shouts, making Clara flinch. She glared at the Doctor at his sudden outburst. "Sorry." He said, lowering his voice a notch before continuing. "Is this one of those things that I won't understand because it is a girl thing? Something to do with the female mind? The one thing I haven't learned to decipher in all of my thousand plus years of living….the female mind…" He added this last part under his breath, thinking Clara couldn't hear him, though that illusion failed when she gave a short giggle.

The Doctor opened his mouth to ask what she was giggling about now when the TARDIS lurched to the side, throwing both of them off balance. An alarm started going off in the TARDIS, making both of them flinch every time it rang through the TARDIS.

"What was that?!" Both Clara and the Doctor said at the same time, they both then glanced at each other before looking at the central column. The TARDIS started shuddering uncontrollably as the Doctor rushed around the central console, with Clara questioning him.

"What do you mean; 'What was that?' didn't you build this ship?"

The Doctor looked a little peeved at Clara, or maybe it was just the little spot of custard on the console for when he dropped a fish finger in his previous life.

"No, I didn't build the ship. Not entirely anyway…"

"Well, you said you repaired the inside at least, so then what is that sound?"

All of a sudden the TARDIS stopped shuddering. The Doctor and Clara shared another glance before the both started moving towards the door. They soon reached the door, the Doctor reaching into his jacket pocket for what Clara thought was his sonic screwdriver. When he pulled out a spoon.

Clara gave him a look, motioning for him to put it back. Sighing and, after groaning like a child, he switched out the spoon for his screwdriver. Just as he was about to open the door, a faint knocking sound could be heard emanating from the door.

They shared another look, the Doctor's face shrouded in confusion.

Nobody really knocks on the door. The Doctor thought to himself, then shot a glance at Clara. Well, almost nobody… The Doctor shook his head and opened the door.

The first thing they noticed was the dark alley they were concealed in. The dark brick walls barely visible in the dying light of day. The next thing they noticed was the little boy, somewhere around the age of 10, sitting in-front of the TARDIS like he was knocked over.

The boy had dark brown hair, which nearly obscured his right eye that was starting to swell shut and turn purple. He was wearing a pair of slightly ripped jeans and a dirty blue shirt. His tennis shoe covered feet were tucked up against him as they opened the door.

Clara was the first to react after seeing the kid.

"Hello." She said in a soft voice, smiling at the boy. The boy stared up at her, then glanced over her shoulder into the blue box, his eyes widened slightly before he focused his gaze back onto Clara.

"Can you tell me your name?" Clara continued, touching the Doctor's arm so that she could pass. The boy looked over at the Doctor, then nodded his head slightly.

The boy struggled to stand, wobbling a little from his distorted vision, then held out his hand while sporting a scared and slightly nervous smile.

"My name is Dante. Dante Intrepid ."

The Doctor's ears perked up at that.

"Intrepid?" The Doctor asked. "Like, derived from the latin word Intrepidus? It means without fear." The Doctor said this last part to Clara, who was glaring bloody daggers at him.

Dante shrugged in response, lowering his outstretched hand. Dante's nerves were still on high as he watched the two people have a staring contest. Dante started to slowly back up, hoping to slip away without them noticing.

"Where are you going Dante?" The weird, angry sounding man asked. Dante froze before looking back up at the two, only to find them now looking at him instead of eachother.

Dante was saved from answering as the alarm started going off again, reminding the Doctor of the situation. The Doctor looked back at Dante after glancing inside the TARDIS before asking:

"Dante, what city are we in?"

Dante looked at the weird angry man again, though in confusion this time, and answered with; "We are in Happy Harbor, sir. Previously home to the Justice League's base."

The Doctor and Clara glanced at each other again, with Clara mouthing 'Justice League?' and the Doctor shaking his head. The Doctor then disappeared inside the building and Clara, after debating on following him, decided to step outside and talk with Dante.

"So, Dante, do you have a favorite of the Justice League?" Dante looked up at her in suspicion for a moment before nodding his head.

"I have a couple favorites, though I will say that Green Lantern John Stewart was probably my most favorite, followed closely by the Martian Man-Hunter and then...hmm, I would say Batman."

Clara nodded in understandingly, even though she didn't even know who those people were, she decided to try and get a bit more information.

"Why do you like those over the others? Like, oh what were their names again…"

Dante answered almost immediately, his child-like glee overcoming the small pain he was in and the odd people that showed up randomly.

"Normally, I only stick to the main seven when trying to pick my favorite. They are called the "Main Seven" or "Starter Seven" at my school because they are the ones who formed the Justice League, though there have been a few additions now and then. The Starter Seven are; Superman, who has super strength, in-vul-ner-a-bill-a-te," Clara chuckled slightly at the ten-year olds use of the long word, before focusing back onto the topic as that word and those that followed were processed.

"Heat-Vision, and super speed, though not as fast as the Flash in my opinion, and he can fly. Next we have Batman, nobody really knows him as nobody has really seen his face, but he uses lots of gauge-uts and tools to help him fight crime. Then there is the Green Lantern, John Stewart, he has this glowing green ring and can use it to create things like guns and swords and stuff out of this green energy stuff. After that we have Wonder Woman, who is also super strong and can also move really fast, and it is said she can fly, but I don't know if that's true. She has this rope-thing that is unbreakable and is said to be able to make people tell the truth. She also has these bracelet things that can deflect bullets and stuff as well. Next is the Flash, he is the fastest of the heros as he can travel around the whole planet in like two seconds! He would be one of my favorites, but he is never really serious enough when he needs to be. Although, he has been getting a bit more serious recently… Anyway, moving on. Then we have Hawkgirl, who is a girl also with incredible strength, and uses a special mace. She can also fly this is because of the wings on her back. And last but not least, Martian Man-Hunter, he is a guy from Mars as his name suggests, he is green, and is also in-vul-ner-a-bil, though he does get a bit nervous around fire. He is another that has super strength and can shapeshift into other people and animals and what not. He is another one that can fly."

Clara looked off at the wall next to them in amazement, trying to process all the information she just recieved. On one hand, this is a kid who can make up stories, on another, she doubts the kid could make up this much in a short period of time. She shook her head of the thoughts and turned back to Dante when he asked her a question.

"Sorry, what was that?"

Dante just shrugged before asking again. "Do you have a favorite?"

Clara gave a small nod before answering. "My favorite is either Wonder Woman or HawkGirl."

"Why?" Dante asked her, a simple question, though Clara decided to give an honest answer.

"I have always wanted to fly. To feel the wind and know that it was under my power to fly, and leave the earth for some peace every now and again… It would be nice." Dante looked a little confused, but then nodded and was about to ask another question when the Doctor's voice rang out from the slightly open door.

"Clara! I found the problem!" Here he rushed out to see Clara and Dante off to the side of the alley, both looking at him and waiting for him to continue. Glancing at Dante the Doctor just shrugged and started talking to Clara about what he found.

"Okay, so you remember that time when the TARDIS exploded?"

"WHAT?!"

"Guess not. Oh, wait, you weren't there yet. Yeah, the TARDIS exploded back when I was my last regeneration, causing cracks in time and space, though I don't know why my past selves before him ever experienced them, but that's not the fan theory we are discussing at the moment. Well, due to the explosion, and the cracks, I believe that what happened was when the cracks appeared, the walls blocking this reality from ours thinned a bit, causing us to be able to accidently travel through. I can get us back to our dimension, and then I will see if I can do something to rebuild to wall so that it doesn't happen again, but it is going to take a day or two for the TARDIS to recharge. I am suddenly glad that my past self decided to fix that small happening in the TARDIS so that I don't have to give up a bit more of my energy to restart it." The Doctor said this last part to himself as he walked back inside the TARDIS.

Dante looked over at the man as he disappeared into the blue police box again. After glancing at Clara to see she was thinking rather hard and not paying much attention, Dante walked forward and pushed open the door just a little more before looking inside. After seeing the inconsistencies of the dimensions of the room and the box, he peeked to the side of the box to confirm it before turning around and walking back to Clara who was still distracted. Gently grabbing her hand, Dante lead her into the box and closed the door, before walking up to the center of the room towards a large computer-looking device, still pulling Clara along.

Dante soon stepped back from getting too close to the console as it glowed slightly as the man was almost fluttering around it like a hummingbird. The Doctor soon turned around and saw Dante standing there with Clara. He saw that though Dante had a slightly interested look on his face, it wasn't as awed or freaked out as most of the other faces that had seen the inside of the box. The Doctor soon noticed the slightly glowing console and tapped a small button before transmitting the relevant information the TARDIS gathered into his mind. His eyes widened a fraction before returning to his normal face and looking back at Dante.

"So, Dante." The Doctor began. "Where is your home?" He asked as he moved to the other side of the console so Dante was still in sight so he could act like he was working and keeping an eye on him at the same time.

His question caused two reactions. Dante gave a slight wince before schooling his face into neutrality, while Clara was broke from her thoughts and noticed her new location and Dante's reaction, before giving a half-confused glare towards the Doctor, though he was unsure of which reason she would be glaring at him.

Dante gave a weary glance towards the two before he answered in a almost harsh voice.

"Does it matter?" The Doctor looked Dante in the eye before answering the question.

"Well, how can I take you home if I don't know where it is?" Dante flinched at the word 'home' before answering.

"I live at 726 W Harbor Rd in the downtown area. It's three blocks away from here."

The Doctor nodded his head understandingly while Clara again shot him another confused glance, having noticed the way he was acting and that he hadn't actually been messing with the console like he was pretending.

"That would be the local Orphanage, is it not?" Dante looked down and nodded while Clara's eyes widened before looking at Dante sadly.

"I didn't know that Orphanages let there wards run around town at," Glancing at the clock on the console that showed the local time, the Doctor continued. "Almost ten-thirty P.M. At night. When it's dark." Dante locked eyes with the Doctor at this point, and the Doctor noticed that he looked a bit guilty, before trying to school his face again. That was probably one of the more impressive things about the ten-year old, being able to nearly mask all emotion, but that isn't really a good thing.

"Ah," The Doctor stated, still staring at Dante. "You were running." Dante gave just the barest flinch, however, the Doctor still saw it. "But what from?"

Dante broke eye contact with the Doctor and looked over at the only other person in the box/ship. Clara was looking at Dante with concern written across her face, though didn't move as she had dealt with similar cases from her teaching career. Orphans really hated the Orphanage, especially those Dante's age or older, as they are harder to get adopted. Dante eventually answered the Doctor as he looked at Clara, and the seemingly caring aura she had around her.

"I, I was running from a couple of my roommates. They were chasing me."

"Why were they chasing you?" Clara decided to step in here, as the Doctor has some tact, but not enough for what was needed. Dante winced at the question, before deciding to answer the odd, but nice people.

"They were chasing me because I was afraid. I was afraid of them, and getting beat again. So they chased me, and I found this alley to hide in, hoping they wouldn't notice me. But I obviously wasn't very lucky." Here Dante brushed the tip of his fingers through his hair, moving some more of his hair out of the way so that they could see the slowly swelling eye. Suddenly Clara started to notice the busted lip, and a couple of the bruises on his arms, previously hidden to her due to not giving a close enough inspection. She shot a glance at the Doctor, to see that he already knew, and was looking at Dante with almost pity in his eyes, before a thought struck him.

"So, you were scared." Dante gave a half-glare at the Doctor. The Doctor's next point confused him. "What's wrong with scared?"

Clara tilted her head, remembering the last time he said those words, and gave a small smile at little Rupert Pink. She turned her focus back towards the conversation.

"Fear is a Super-power!" The Doctor exclaimed. "When you are scared, you can run faster, fight harder, and jump higher, than ever in your life!" Clara then decided to add her little bit to the mix as well.

"Fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly, like he said; when you are afraid, you gain your own super-powers. Maybe not as strong as Superman, but you could rival even Batman when you are older, if you don't let your fear control you."

"I'd rather be brave than scared." Dante mumbled, though he didn't mean to say it as loud as he did. The Doctor decided to use one of the most commonly used saying when dealing with this situation, to see if he could get the point across.

"Bravery isn't about being fearless." Dante looked over at the Doctor, locking eyes with the older man as he continued talking. "Bravery is only when you are scared, and you don't let that fear control you. You face it, head on, and no matter what happens, always face it, again and again. Because if you don't, those you hold dear to you, they will be in danger, especially if you let your fear control you."

A long silence permeated the central room as the words were being processed by some, and one was working on his TARDIS.

This silence was broken by an energetic voice coming from the Doctor.

"Well, time for you to go home!" After hearing this, Clara then walked over to Dante and gave him a hug. Dante freaked out for a moment as he got hugged, it was one of only half a handful of hugs he has gotten over the years. Dante hugged her back, then they both let go as Clara and the Doctor walked Dante to the door, and then escorted him back to the Orphanage.

As Dante stared at the door of the Orphanage, someone patted his back. Turning Dante looked up and saw that the Doctor was smiling at him. Dante didn't know when exactly he stopped thinking of him as the weird angry man, but was glad he did. Nodding to the Doctor, Dante turned back towards the door with a determined look in his eyes, and started to walk up to the door. At the door, he turned and gave them a small wave, before opening the door and walking in.

As Dante walked into the building, the Doctor saw a thin film of yellow light surround him, before the door shut. Shaking his head, the Doctor killed his natural curiosity and walked with Clara back towards the TARDIS. Oddly enough, the TARDIS was almost finished charging, even given his previous thoughts of it being another day, now it would only be another hour.

Looking at the gauge that showed when it was charging, he noticed that during his talk about fear with Dante, the power levels increased drastically. The Doctor looked at the door with longing in his eyes, dying to sate his curiosity, but shook his head as he knew that if he did, he would never willingly leave the new dimension. Clara also looked a bit out of focus, before also shaking her head and looking back towards the Doctor.

"How did you know about Dante's life? And don't say that you just guessed or just looked and saw, how did you do it?" The Doctor sighed, having hoped that this topic wouldn't have come up, before turning and answering her.

"You know that the TARDIS is sentient, right?" Clara shrugged and answered the question.

"I suspected it was, especially with how you talk to it all the time."

"Okay, now, the TARDIS also uses a form of telepathy to make it so that we understand the alien races we talk to. There is another function, though rarely ever used, and it was for cases like this. When we enter into a new dimension like the Time-Lords of old used to do, they had to have some way to assimilate information that is native to this dimension. What they do is that if someone enters the TARDIS, or is in close proximity to it, the TARDIS can copy any relevant memories and share them with the Time-Lord. Now, since the TARDIS is sentient, this helps decide what memories are relevant, and this time it decided that a bit of the more...personal…memories of Dante were relevant for the situation."

Clara nodded, deep in thought of what this new information would cause. Only to realize two things, one; it was only used when in a new dimension, and two; how did the TARDIS know what would be relevant at the time?

"The TARDIS is also connected to the time vortex, so if she sees anything in future events that could even remotely help people, then she would do so." Clara looked freaked out for a moment, it was almost like he read her mind for a moment.

"Anyway, time for us to go." The Doctor said, before typing in something and pulling a lever.

And the TARDIS disappeared from the face of that galaxy, never to be seen again. Though the influence it had, specifically upon one young boy, would be remembered for a long time after.