Chapter Nine
The Waters of Mars: Escape
The two ran through the metal corridor, spotting Captain Adelaide a fair distance ahead. Clara forced herself to exert her muscles harder than she ever had before to keep up with the Doctor's almost unnatural pace. Approval was what she wanted right now. If she could somehow prove herself worthy of his time, maybe life could become something more then ordinary.
"Doctor?"
To her regret he didn't hear, probably too caught up in the experience of running...
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Do you believe in predestination?" she questioned, wholly out of breath. "Like, in the sense that whatever anyone does to change a certain event, the event will still happen?"
He shot her a rather dark look for his generally jovial demeanor.
"Not exactly," he muttered, and scratched at the nape of his neck.
"Than what?"
To he great annoyance, the Doctor chose to ignore her plea for information. He merely kept running, and Clara knew he was purposefully avoiding her gaze as to pretend her last comment never happened. Oh, the nerve of that man... He never ceased to fascinate her and piss her off, often at the same instant.
"Doctor! Clara? Decided to come along?" Adelaide shouted, suddenly becoming aware of them behind her.
"What you lot need here are bikes!" the Doctor exclaimed then, his brooding disposition melting away instantaneously in the sight of the captain. "Seriously, little fold-away bikes, don't weigh a thing."
"Bikes!" Clara agreed, somewhat pleased at this change. "I could certainly use one of those. I could use a good soufflé, too. My stomach's getting rumbly."
"Soufflés?"
She playfully punched him in the arm. "Yeah, soufflés! I like soufflés. My mum taught me how to bake them."
The end of the corridor came quicker than Clara expected, much to her delight. The airlock that closed off the glacier was small, only big enough for one person to climb through at a time, but small spaces suited her better than the vast openness. They felt safer to her. Adelaide gripped the thick handle and pulled down. A quiet hiss met their ears as the pressures in the two areas equalized.
Adelaide stopped suddenly, her legs straddling the door. "You two make the strangest couple I've ever seen," she commented.
"We're not a couple," the Doctor shot back as she opened the airlock. "Just friends."
She shook her head wearily and stepped through the doorway. The Doctor and Clara carefully scrutinized each other. Once more, his hauntingly familiar face featured a brand new expression. This time, bemusement. For some reason, his emotions were incredibly volatile- having changed from one extreme to the next in the past few minutes more times than she ever imagined possible.
"Clara, we're not-"
Her lips turned up. "I know. Come on. We need to catch up with her."
They stepped through the airlock seal, and shut the large metal door behind them.
The two had no trouble in finding Adelaide in the ice field sector of Bowie Base One. Once they stepped through the door connecting the dome and the modular walkway, they walked across a steel floored hallway. Metal beams lined the path, and the Doctor used the pipes sprawling above to navigate their way to the glacier where Adelaide was sure to already be. Soon, the walkways opened to a vast dome, with a glass ceiling open to the stars. They found the captain here, standing by a railing next to a computer monitor. She typed furiously on the keyboard.
"Maggie's escaped," she stated flatly, apparently locating them in her peripheral vision. "She broke out of containment. Ed just gave me the memo."
Clara sighed, a bit distracted by everything around her. She stepped to the railing so she could see the glacier, the Doctor trailing behind her. When she finally caught her first glance, she gasped.
"Oh my stars..."
There below was a gigantic glacier that shimmered in the light. It was frosted with a light dusting of snow, Martian snow. Snow from a completely different planet, she thought excitedly. The very thought of it seemed magical in itself, and was enough to distract her from the cutting chill of the railing at her fingertips. A few dozen pipes fed through the ice to supply the base with water, and below the metal platforms that had been built around the glacier, the red rocky terrain of Mars was visible, still completely in its natural state.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"They tell legends of Mars from long ago," the Doctor began, suddenly leaning on the bar between Adelaide and Clara, "of a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow."
Adelaide's distant expression suggested she was on another world entirely. "I haven't got time for stories," she murmured, busy with the computer, although Clara could tell she wished she did.
He shrugged. "Perhaps they found something down there. Used their might and their wisdom to freeze it."
Clara gazed out over the solid cap, watching its surface sparkle in the starlight. Her fingers skimmed across the icy railing. "What, the Ice Martians?"
"Warriors," he gently corrected. "Ice Warriors."
Still stationary at the monitor, Adelaide continued to fuss with its controls.
"Doctor, we need to find any sort of change in the water process," she said, typing at the keyboard. "We've got to date the infection."
She stabbed at the enter key.
"Access denied," the computer happily chimed.
She frowned, deep wrinkles forming around her mouth. She lightly tapped the side of the monitor with her hand, making the picture turn fuzzy. "Damn this software! I'm trying to access the maintenance logs, but it won't let me connect to our servers."
"One of many reasons I hate computers," Clara muttered. Adelaide chuckled slightly. "For some reason it's reassuring to know that even in the future technology sucks," she said even quieter, to the Doctor.
The captain cracked her stiff fingers, deciding to take a break from her hunt. She glanced between the Doctor and Clara.
"You two don't look like cowards, but all you've wanted to do is leave. Mostly you," she stated, nodding at the Doctor, and he frowned. "But you both seem to know so much about us."
"Well, you're famous," the Time Lord shrugged, drawing out the 'well' as he always seemed to do. Clara found it most amusing.
"It's like you know more."
This silenced the Doctor, if only for a little bit. He glanced up to the ceiling in thought, a habit of his, Clara had noticed. "This moment," he finally began, "this precise moment in time, it's like- I mean, it's only a theory, what do I know, but I think certain moments in time are fixed."
There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are, echoed a voice at the back of Clara's head. It was a male voice unrecognizable to her, which made it standout at the forefront of her mind.
"Tiny, precious moments. Everything else is in flux, anything can happen..."
This is not one of them, the same voice continued, this is an opportunity!
"-But those certain moments," the Doctor resumed, "they have to stand. This base on Mars with you, Adelaide Brooke, this is one vital moment. What happens here must always happen."
"Which is what?" Adelaide asked.
For just a split second, his face fell, and his eyes grew dark and stormy. But as he remembered who was in front of him, he managed to plaster a clueless expression on, just for the meanwhile.
"I don't know," he muttered innocently. His eyes locked with Clara momentarily, guilty, and then slid back to Adelaide.
He's lying again, Clara's subconscious screamed. What is it he knows about Adelaide?
A weak smile appeared at the corner of his lips. "I think something wonderful happens. Something that started fifty years ago, isn't that right?"
Adelaide Brooke shook her head in disbelief. "I've never told anyone that."
Never told anyone what?
Clara had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, which was why curiosity led her to pay close attention.
"You told your daughter. And maybe one day she tells the story to her daughter. The day the Earth was stolen and moved across the universe. And you-"
"I saw the Daleks," Adelaide breathed, and suddenly she was but a little girl, speaking through the body of a sixty year old. "We looked up. The sky had changed. Everyone was running and screaming. And my father took hold of me."
Clara listened intently as the captain closed her eyes and told them how her father left to find his wife, her mum, saying he'd promise to come back.
"I never saw him again," she recalled sadly. "Nor my mother. They were never found. But out on the streets, there was panic and burning. I went to the window, and there, in the sky, I saw it, Doctor. And it saw me. It stared at me. It looked right into me. And then it simply went away. I knew, that night, I knew I would follow it."
"But not for revenge."
Adelaide gazed at the Doctor, sheer passion in her eyes. "What would be the point of that?"
His eyes lit up in awe. "That's what makes you remarkable. And that's how you create history."
"What do you mean?"
The alien man peered in Clara's direction for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then, he began to speak.
"Imagine it, Adelaide," he said, "if you began a journey that takes the human race all the way out to the stars. It begins with you, and then your granddaughter, you inspire her, so that in thirty years Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first light speed ship to Proxima Centauri."
Clara watched his deep brown eyes light up as he passed this knowledge to Adelaide, so bright she thought she might be able to see constellations in them.
"And then everywhere, with her children, and her children's children forging the way," he voiced, making wide sweeping gestures with his hands. "To the Dragon Star, the Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Map of the Watersnake Wormholes."
Eventually, these celestial names he spoke of settled in Clara's heart, capturing her imagination in no other way possible. In her mind, galaxies swirled around each other, stars shinning so bright they could be seen from millions of light-years away. Even nebulae, the birthplace of stars and planets everywhere, surrounded her view. These were all things she had the possibility of seeing now, with the Doctor, and it was an incredible thought to grasp.
"One day a Brooke will even fall in love with a Tandonian prince," the Doctor continued, "and that's the start of a whole new species. But everything starts with you, Adelaide. From fifty years ago to right here, today. Imagine."
His speech left Clara wordless. She desperately wanted to ask how he knew all of this, what would happen to Adelaide and her granddaughter, and most importantly- was there room for her to explore this deep, beautiful universe- but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had no place in this conversation. Something about it seemed so forbidden to her, like she was witnessing events that she couldn't meddle with. Meanwhile, Captain Adelaide Brooke of Bowie Base One tensed up, keeping her expression well guarded.
"Who are you?" she asked warily. "Why are you telling me this? Doctor, why tell me?"
He paused. "As consolation."
Clara frowned, unable to stay silent any longer. "What the hell does that mean?"
The stubborn man refused to meet her gaze, and instead dashed towards the computer. He quickly scanned the monitor with his screwdriver, so close to going unnoticed, but both women caught him in the middle of the act. The screen cleared for a moment, to be replaced by the very database the captain was seeking.
"Oh, would you look at that!" the Doctor exclaimed, putting on a surprised face. "I believe that would be your computer connecting to the local server."
"Nice job averting the question," Clara pointed out, crossing her arms tight over her chest. He deftly ignored her.
Adelaide Brook dashed to the keyboard, and immediately began looking through the archived maintenance logs. It didn't take her long to find promising results.
"Andy Stone. He logged on yesterday," she observed.
Crewmember Andy, back when he was one hundred percent healthy, gazed at the camera in the short video. "Maintenance log, twenty one twenty, November 2059," he said. "Number three water filter's bust. And guess what? The spares they sent don't fit. What a surprise." Clara giggled at the sarcasm dripping from that last statement. "Over and out."
"A filter!" the Doctor exclaimed, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "One tiny little filter and then the Flood."
"But that means the infection arrived today, and the water's only cycled out of the Biodome after a week. The rest of us can't be infected," the captain pointed out, relief coming back into her voice.
"You can leave now," Clara said excitedly.
"Yes! Yes, that's exactly it." She scrambled to take the communicator from her belt- a spare one, it seemed- and pressed the talk button. "We can leave. Ed, we're clean."
When Clara returned back to the Central base, chaos had fallen. The crew scrambled about, trying to pack as much food and supplies as they could. Steffi was beginning to lose her patience with some crew members, especially Roman, who was having a bit of trouble putting Gadget away in storage. The arms wouldn't fold up as they were supposed to, apparently. Mia and Yuri hurried around with small dollies, carrying protein packs from place to place. Ed paced around the workspace, trying to keep everyone focused, and it was a harder task than one might think.
Clara ran to Mia, who was now back at the bins, taking out more packs of food. "Can I help with anything?"
The woman did a double take, but then slightly smiled, a knowing smile that made Clara a bit troubled. "Hello, Clara. Yes, if you don't mind, I could use help peeling these food packs out of the freezer. As you can see, they're a little stuck." She grunted, trying to rip out a pack that was frozen to another. Clara reached down into the bin and held down the one it was stuck to so Mia could heft the other out of there. Finally, there was a sucking noise as the ice gave way, and the protein pack came apart from the one below it.
As she paused to take a break, she looked right into Clara's eyes. "Yuri told me everything, by the way. He told me where you came from."
"He told you everything?" she questioned. "Did he tell you he loved you?" Mia's face froze. "Because he does, you know. When you get back to Earth, you should ask him out."
"Do you really think so?"
"Yeah, you should."
Mia smiled warmly, and glanced over at Yuri. Just then, someone tapped on Clara's shoulder. It was Captain Adelaide, who thrusted the bright orangey-red spacesuit she had come here with into her arms.
"Thank you, Clara. Now save yourself along with the Doctor."
With those parting words, she hurried off to help her crew finish packing up, and Clara was left standing at the side of central base. She glanced over to the Time Lord. He seemed comatose, frozen in an upright position with his spacesuit and helmet slung under his left arm, watching the crew scatter about with a blank expression. Sighing, she walked over to him.
"Please tell me what's wrong. You're worrying me."
The hurt behind his eyes almost killed her when he turned his head.
"It's not The Flood, is it?" she continued. "Because you never quite told me exactly what happened there in the Biodome, how you got soaking wet, but I can guess. The Flood transfers through water, and they create water, so Andy sprayed you. You've got the infection?"
The Doctor offered a weak smile. "Brilliant thinking, but no."
"Then what? Do you not trust me, or somethin'? Please tell me, Doctor."
The Time Lord sighed heavily, and gazed towards the main airlock. "Being a time traveller, you- sometimes you learn things. Things most wouldn't want to know." He swallowed. "I am aware of some of the circumstances surrounding my death, but I seriously doubt it is here. After Andy caught me, he starred at me... and he simply said it was not my time."
Just then, the ceiling of the base creaked, reminding the two that it was not time to talk; the moment to escape was now.
A few minutes later Clara finished pulling her spacesuit over her dress, with assistance from the Doctor. He managed to get his on by himself, lucky man that he was, but then... oh, well. He was a Time Lord- he'd probably put on spacesuits thousands of times. Finally, when they were sure that every zipper was sealed and their helmets were attached securely, he hit the airlock button.
"Access denied. Access denied," chirped that female computer voice. The door didn't open. Clara tried hitting it, and it still didn't budge.
"Oh, what's wrong now?" she moaned.
Captain Adelaide Brooke's voice came over the intercom. "Tell me what happens," she demanded, definitely not beating around the bush now.
"Did she just lock us in?"
"I don't know," the Doctor replied. In a way, it was a fitting response to both questions.
"Yes, you do," the captain insisted. "Now tell me."
"You should be with the others."
"Tell me!"
Beat
"I could ramp up the pressure in that airlock and crush you," she hissed.
Clara clamped her eyes shut. She didn't want to imagine that Adelaide could ever do such a thing, but right now... she was beginning to have doubts. So in a way, these could be her last thoughts. This could be her death, her time. Her fists clenched, waiting.
"Except you won't," the Doctor pointed out calmly. "You could have shot Andy Stone, but you didn't. I loved you for that." He quickly looked down at Clara, with a half smile, one that she tried to return. She knew all too well it was shaky. He continued to speak. "Imagine, imagine you knew something. Imagine you found yourself somewhere. I don't know, Pompeii. Imagine you were in Pompeii."
"What the hell's that got to do with it?
"And you tried to save them," he went on, ignoring her comment. "But in doing so, you make it happen. Anything I do just makes it happen."
"That's not true, Doctor," Clara interjected. "You saved Kratx, got him home! I don't know what may be in your past, but sometimes, things do just happen."
He gazed at her, hurt.
"That may be easy for you to say," he began, quietly, "but I've seen more than you could ever believe."
The intercom filled with static for a moment. The Doctor and Clara both held their breath, equally worried as to what path Adelaide would choose to tread.
"I'm still here," the captain said then- a reassurance.
"You're taking Action One," the Doctor bluntly stated. "There are four more standard action procedures, like I told you earlier, Clara. And Action Five is?"
Clara wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know anymore.
"Detonation."
"The final option. The nuclear device at the heart of the Central Dome. Today, on the twenty first of November 2059, Captain Brooke activates that device, taking the baseand all her crewmembers with her."
Clara swallowed. Hard. The environment around her became all the more destitute and final- the atmosphere of a graveyard. They were all dead men walking, and the Doctor knew what would happen all along, just as presumed.
"No one ever knows why," he said softly. "But you were saving Earth. That's what inspires your granddaughter. She takes your people out into the galaxy because you die on Mars. You die today. She flies out there like she's trying to meet you."
"I won't die. I will not," Adelaide replied, her tone becoming more desperate the longer she spoke.
"But your death creates the future," he said, as if that were proper consolation for somebody who was about to die.
"Help me. Why won't you help, Doctor? If you know all of this, why can't you change it?"
"I can't."
"Why can't you find a way?" she pleaded. "You could tell me, I don't know-"
"I'm sorry, but I can't," the Doctor said seriously. "Sometimes I can, sometimes I do. Most times I can save someone, or anyone. But not you. You wondered all your life why that Dalek spared you. I think it knew. Your death is fixed in time forever. And that's right."
"And what about you?" Her voice was taunt. "Is your death fixed, as well? You'll die here too. Both of you."
Clara breathed the stale spacesuit air deep into her lungs once more. Her muscles trembled. Her body stiffened. If this was the end, then she wasn't quite ready to go. If she had to die, she'd rather say goodbye to her father first. She'd like to bid farewell to her mum as well, but... that possibility was already long gone. It was long gone almost eight years ago.
"No," the Doctor said simply.
"What's going to save you?" Adelaide asked him.
"Captain Adelaide Brooke."
Another pause. Shortly, a hiss. The computer inside the airlock beeped, informing the two that they were able to leave Bowie Base One.
"Damn you," the captain muttered. Those were the last words Clara heard from her before the door opened and she was thrown back out into the brightness of the Martian surface.
Once again, sunlight glinted on her visor. She could barely see the Doctor. All she could see was red. Red was everywhere. It was in the rocks and the soil of the ground, it was in the sides of the base where the metal had rusted and corroded. It was in the tough scratchy fabric of the spacesuit she was wearing. It glared angrily down at her from space, blinding her vision and yet giving so much life. Red was life.
So was running.
She ran. She didn't know where she was running, exactly. The world blurred all around her, almost making her dizzy. She could hear her heavy breath in the tiny cramped space of the helmet. And then there was the dark silhouette of the Doctor, just barely visible a fair distance away. Was it really he, or was it an illusion? Yes, she could hear his voice. She could hear the Doctor.
"Clara? Clara, this way!" he called, and it almost sounded like he was calling from inside her head. "Don't stop, we haven't got much time!"
"Doctor?" she cried, treading across the rocks, searching more than ever before. Nothing was real, it seemed. There were only dust and stones. "Doctor, I can hear you! But where are you?" Rasping in exhaustion, she continued jogging in no particular direction, just trying to follow the voice. To her horror, she soon remembered that she couldn't follow it, as it was only a voice relayed though a speaker in her helmet.
She gasped, realizing that he could be anywhere. "Doctor? Doctor?!" she screeched, her terror evident.
"I'm here," she heard him say then, as Clara stumbled forwards into his arms. She could hear his uneasy laugh. "You're fine, Clara. In fact, you're brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" She let out a sob of relief, her arms wrapping around his skinny frame like she had not seen him in a thousand years. Her heavy helmet fell against his chest.
"If they're gonna detonate the base," she whispered, "shouldn't we run?"
The Doctor gently pushed Clara upright, extending her at arm's length so he could see her face and she could see his. "Do you trust me?"
She nodded. Their thick-gloved hands found each other's, and without looking back they began to sprint from Bowie Base One in the Gusev Crater. The ridge of the crater loomed in front of them, bouncing up and down in Clara's vision as they ran.
Can we even make it? Clara thought. It's a nuclear device, and the TARDIS is over a kilometer away. How much time do we have?
As if her thoughts were an alarm clock, something exploded behind her. The shockwave launched her into the air, stripping her away from the Doctor. For a minuscule moment, she experienced the dizzying sensation of complete weightlessness. Her lungs constricted when she collided with the surface again. She tumbled across the rocks, coming to a halt a few meters away. Her mouth twisted into an 'o,' but she was physically unable to scream.
CLANG
She ducked into fetal position, nearly missing being knocked down by a large support beam. It crashed onto the soil some distance behind her. She looked to the air. Pieces of metal shrapnel from the shuttle were still soaring above like deadly harpoons. She located the Doctor a few steps to her right, who attempted to stand on wobbly legs. And then- her eyes growing wide with desperation- she saw it.
"Doctor! Look out!"
She leapt to her feet with all the power she could muster and shoved him over. Startled, the Time Lord had no time to react before he landed on the rocky ground shoulder first.
He collided into the side of the small ridge so hard that all he saw for a few seconds was a dizzying white light. A horrid scream arose from nearby, one that he wished to never hear again. However, it was this scream that shook him internally. It didn't matter how seriously he was injured physically, this sound tore open his hearts in ways he never thought possible.
When his vision returned, he rolled to his side and up on his knees, with a gigantic lump in his throat. No more large pieces of shrapnel fell from the sky anymore, only ash from the explosion. Clara lay next to him, on her back. A large shudder wracked his body when he saw what protruded out from just below her right breast, by the lungs. It was a rather sizable shard of metal scrap, twisted in such a way at the end as to make a deadly weapon. Her eyes flicked up at him, desperate and scared.
"Loosing air," was all she could gasp.
The Doctor suddenly realized the shrapnel pierced through her spacesuit. Thin tendrils of sweet, life giving air were already leaking out. He swallowed, knowing what he'd have to do, but plastered on a reassuring smile anyways.
"You're fine," he tried to tell her, as he slid his sonic screwdriver out from the small pouch on the leg of his spacesuit. "I promise you, Clara, you will get out of here, safe and sound, only a scratch. Now, I won't lie. This is going to hurt."
He closed his eyes, and switched his screwdriver to setting 83. Melting metals and plastic. He placed it at the base of the metal shard, right where it had punctured through the suit, and activated the emitter.
In this moment, more than anything else, he was most thankful for the earsplitting sonic frequency his screwdriver always produced. If it weren't for him concentrating solely on it, then he'd have to concentrate on Clara's horrendous screams as he melded the metal with the fabric of the red spacesuit. Smoke from the hot molten metal crept into the air, and the Doctor tried not to break inside as he saw fat tears streaming down his friend's face. He hoped she would forgive him for this.
Quickly, he switched settings on the sonic device again, and flicked it over the molten mass. It solidified within seconds, successfully closing up the gap so no more air could leak out. He let out a big breath he didn't even know he was holding, and carefully pulled Clara up. She cried out in pain as the Doctor lifted her up to a sitting position, and almost gagged when she saw what had impaled her. Immediately, she moaned, silently instructing him to set her down on her back. She looked up at the Doctor fearfully.
"I'm gonna get you home," he grunted, as he tired to figure out how he could carry her, "and you will live a long, brilliant life, but you have to hold on, just a little while longer!"
Clara, frail and weak, attempted to speak. Her voice was very hoarse. "Sorry, I-"
"No, no, don't be sorry. It's my fault this happened, it's my fault you're here. Just keep quiet, and we'll find a way to-"
Clara shook her head hard, her eyes bulging. "Stop! You don't understand! I had to save you, Doctor, I'm just a-"
What she was planning to say caught in her throat, and she began to gag on fluid coming up from her lungs. She coughed; he could see blood pooling in her mouth.
The Time Lord's hearts began to beat faster, as he realized he was already too late. He pulled himself next to her, and began stroking the cool glass of her helmet. "Stop it! You're fine, you hear? You are..." -his voice wavered- "...so brave, and you will make it, all the way to the end. Look above, look at the constellations, see? See there? We've only just started, you and me!"
Clara's eyes bulged in anger, already red and puffy.
"Don't you dare lie to me," she yelled at him, her voice weakening with every passing moment. "Don't you dare reassure me, 'cause I already know I'm dying!"
"How?" he practically begged.
"Huh?"
"How do you know that? Why did you have to save me? If you have to die, at least tell me this."
"I don't-"
"Please!" the Doctor burst out. He grabbed her shoulders and rubbed them with his shaky, gloved hands. "You knew I was called the Doctor before I even told you; you told me to run the very first time- I can see every second of every parallel of creation, and yet when I look at you I can't begin to understand why!"
Behind them, the sunlight glared down on the Martian surface and on the pair, refracting off every molecule in sight and giving them their color. The soil was a murky brownish-red, and the suits were orange-red, but Clara's skin was bone white. Already a ghost. His face screwed up, desperately trying to keep control of his rapid emotions.
"Tell me!" he shouted.
Her eyes were glossy enough that he could see his own pain-stricken face reflected in them. "There's only one thing you can do," she whispered. "Run, you clever boy. Keep running. And remember me."
She stopped breathing.
"No. Please, Clara," he whispered unbelievingly. Her mouth was still slightly agape, but her eyes were cold, unresponsive. The Doctor's jaw tightened.
It was all over.
He felt a pressure building up in his core, almost a fury. As he gazed down at the limp body in his arms, the pressure continued to build, until his spine shook and his teeth seethed with hatred towards the monstrosity that was The Flood- the parasite that made the destruction of Bowie Base One's spacecraft necessary.
When he simply couldn't take any more, his emotional barriers shattered. His helmeted head buried into her shoulder, he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and wept for the woman. Silence couldn't hold his mourning for long. Hushed sobs soon gave way for uncontrolled keening. Tears dripped onto the glass of his visor, slightly blurring his line of sight.
Clara was dead. She died in his arms, his fault, like everyone else he had ever touched or influenced. Everybody died. Even his own people died. His entire family, all of his friends, gone in an instant. He was entirely alone in this vast universe, the last son of Gallifrey. He closed his eyes, his body wracking with silent sobs.
I'm not just a Time Lord; I'm the Last of the Time Lords. They'll never come back. Not now.
I've got a TARDIS.
The only one who had been there for him the whole time was his TARDIS. She was there for everything; the one companion he could always count on.
Same old life, last of the Time Lords...
And they died and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed, gone forever.
Words he had once said, spoken to friends, associates, echoed through his mind, reverberating through his hearts. Thoughts once meaningless now brought new meaning. He was the last of the Time Lords. The very last one.
The Time Lords kept their eye on everything.
The Laws of Time. They were overseen by the Time Lords, back when Gallifrey still sat in the sky. Gallifrey...
It's gone now.
With his people and his planet gone, there's nobody to watch over time anymore.
But they died, the Time Lords! All of them, they died.
He had always thought it was luck he and he alone had survived. A curse, more like.
There's no such thing as luck. Everything happens for a reason.
Perhaps... things did turn out the way they did for a purpose. He obviously couldn't save Clara, but what about Adelaide? What about Ed, and Steffi, and Roman Groom, and Yuri and Mia? Could he save them? Could he?
He sniffed one last time, let the tears dry on his face, and looked up to the sky. The universe liked to tell him he couldn't; a lie he would hear no more. He would be victorious.
I'm the last of the Time Lords, he thought. The last man standing.
I won.
