The Doctor solemnly stood, staring out the TARDIS doors and into the infinite darkness of space. He had always admired the majestic view of the planets, the stars, the rise and fall of interplanetary civilizations, but never before had he seen just how magnificent this view was. Was it his new eyes, or did it take 2000 years for him to change his perspective of the universe before him? It did not matter, really, because after neglecting how fortunate his last twelve incarnations were to have traveled countless galaxies time and again, what mattered to him was that he was here and now, ready to start from the beginning.
A sudden feeling erupted in both of the Doctor's hearts. A childish feeling of excitement and enthusiasm, a breathtaking urge to plunge into the eternal abyss of time and space. Nothing better or worse, simply different and completely new.
Deep breath.
He exhaled a golden mist into the cosmos and watched them twinkle away. A new beginning for the Doctor, a whole universe to explore, another opportunity to see it the way he ought to. But all that could wait. There was justice to be done, at any given place and time, and the universe needed the Doctor.
Or did it? The Doctor thought about this for some time, questioning the very basis of his own morality. Did the universe need him, and did he need to answer its call for help? Should he play the hero, or should he walk away?
No. He definitely had a choice. Or did he? Probably. The idea of being able to witness history unfold without intervention, to cause complete chaos and gain manipulative control over entire civilizations, create and destroy the gears of the clockwork universe, or to do theoretically anything he wanted was a disturbing thought to him. He had made self-control his second or third or five hundredth nature, and he was not about to let himself off his own leash. Or would he?
For now, at least, he knew the universe was silently waiting for him to drop in and save someone and something, somewhere, sometime. If he were to someday sit back and let the universe unravel itself, he could at least make sure that he had made a better universe in which his last incarnation may rest in peace.
The Doctor shut the TARDIS doors and flung himself upon the console, swiftly and methodically flipping levers and mashing buttons, expertly sending his ship diving straight into the glowing galaxy below and into complete darkness.