A Second Passes

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"Ah ha, well now, there you are." the woman with blonde hair said, tugging at the black coat she wore over a hooded jumper. "You're very tricky to find, did you know that?"

Clara turned in shock looking at the woman, standing behind her in the great market of some alien world's space port. Me was busy haggling with some vendor over some strange looking blue melon with fairly sharp, possibly toxic thorns on it.

"Here- I am?" Clara said with confused bemusement. "And there, you are?"

"Quite…" The woman said smiling brightly. The woman then furrowed her brows. "You have no idea who I am. Do you?"

"Of course I-" Clara started as she slalomed through her memories, even the complicated ones that only half existed. "You're…" Clara continued looking at the woman's face for any clue. The blue eyes, the smooth, rounded off facial features. "You look a bit like Kate Stewart, you're not some far future ancestor or something."

"I most certainly hope not!" the woman said affronted. "It would make all of that time in the sixties or seventies or eighties fairly complicated I would think…"

"I'm sorry, then I have to admit, I don't know who you are. Maybe, you think I'm someone else…" Clara said slightly relieved as she turned away from the woman and started to walk away to find Me.

"Clara, you still can't see me?" the woman sighed quietly. "After all that we went through, after everything I did, you still can't see me, when I'm standing right in front of you."

Clara stopped dead, well, nearly dead she had a fraction of a second left. A cold unsympathetic chill swam down her spine. She swallowed slightly as she turned. The woman was still standing there looking fairly dejected. Clara gulped slightly and looked slightly behind the woman and her stopped heart, stopped even harder, almost rushing into complete inverse, as she saw the frame of the blue box aligned behind the woman. A jump of joy flew through Clara, and then as was often the case a lightning blast of absolute confusion.

"But- but you're a woman!" Clara yelped pointing at the woman.

The woman blinked slightly and then looked down at her hands and the rest of her. "Oh, yes, tell you the truth I'd completely forgotten about that…" The woman then smacked her forehead. "Oh of course, no wonder you were confused. Though, shame on you, Clara Oswald! You know better than that!"

"I mean, what? But, I've…" Clara blinked in shock and turned in a small circle, wrangling her hands about. "You are aren't even supposed to remember me!?"

"Regeneration, it destroys the best laid plans of mice and men-" the woman said and then smirked at the phrasing.

"But you're a woman!" Clara gibbered coming back to her original surprise.

"You saw what happened with the General, you knew Missy!" the woman said shoving her hands into the pockets.

"Missy? But she was…"

"She was Harold Saxon at one point." the woman said, as she kicked the dusty road with her boot a slightly exasperated tone in her breath. "And a lot of, other men, and a couple of corpses."

"It's just, it's been so long." Clara said looking at the woman. "I had hoped maybe you had found some peace, with everything, and to find you still looking for me-"

"Oh, well, it's one of those things, causality and all that." The woman said, as she took a deep breath. "I actually came to find you, for a reason. Not for my own edifice, or well being, it's been a good while since then. The problem, of course, is you're still alive."

"That was the point though, right?" Clara said swallowing and holding her arm.

"But you should be dead. You've been dead for a long time, save for this last fleeting second." the woman said. "You're a catch in the record in the album of history."

"So is Ashildr, I mean Me." Clara said, crossing her arms.

"No, Me, is different. She's a part of history, a smooth integration." The woman said, as she straightened herself. "You were ripped out of history, you're a piece of frozen time, bouncing around causality like a ping-pong ball. Time has to be put right, your second has to tick past."

"But you saved me!" Clara shouted. This caught the attention of the other denizens of the market. "You can't just…"

Clara saw Me heading towards them. The young-looking woman strode up to them, holding the blue melon.

"I can't give you more time, I can only give you immortality." The woman said, she looked at Me. "I learned that that is a curse one should never inflict on another. Clara, please, you've experienced far more time than was ever afforded to you. It was my fault you died, it was my fault you lived. I stole your death from you, I took something sacred from you and tarnished it because of my own self-centered greed and fear. If ever I'm going to come to terms with your death, then you have to go back, you have to see the close of your history."

"Please, Doctor, not now! I have so much more to see!" Clara cried, taking a step back, she clasped Me's arm. "There's so much I can do!"

"I know, that's the point." The Doctor said, as she reached out to Clara. Her hand extended.

Clara looked over to Me. The immortal woman smiled, a sad, inevitable smile, and nodded slowly. Clara shook her head, gripping Me more tightly. Me put her hand on Clara's.

"We always knew this would happen, one day." the immortal said.

"But this is too soon!" Clara cried.

"There's never a time when it isn't too soon," The Doctor said, calmly, remorsefully. "Even if it takes millennia, it ends all too soon. The longer you struggle ever in place, the longer you fight to hold back the inevitable, it never makes it long enough, it only ever makes it that much more too soon. Trust me, I know. I know it all too well."

"But you fought so hard!" Clara yelped, chastising the Doctor. "Does that mean nothing!?"

"No, it means everything, that is the reason why I am here, now." The Doctor said. "I fought so hard, I broke every rule I ever held dear, and I was wrong. I nearly tore reality apart to save you from the raven, and I was wrong to do so. I have to do this, it has to be myself. Please, Clara, my impossible girl, it's time."

Clara gulped slightly, as her grip on Me lightened. She reached out and grasped the Doctor's hand. The woman nodded and smiled and turned walking with Clara towards the blue box. The world inside of the box was much the same. The woman walked to the console and with a methodical flourish the vessel groaned to life. A short trip, the old TARDIS grumbled as she pushed through the perception filter into the trap street between the beats of a heart. The TARDIS doors opened. The Doctor held Clara's hand and walked her out of the vessel. Clara looked up and saw the glowing sterile white of Gallifrey behind a half-opened, impossible portal. She could see the Doctor, her other Doctor, was standing there pointing a staser at another Time Lord, frozen in place. The shadow of a raven wings tipped forward, beak piercing through the air was hanging in place right next to the portal.

"We're slightly out of phase with reality." the Doctor explained quietly. "Kinda in sideways temporal orbit. Can't have me see me, putting you in Me's execution. It would ruin many things."

"Like that sentence?" Clara said laughing slightly through tears.

"Yeah, the English language really needs that fifty-first century upgrade." The Doctor said, looking at Clara sadly. "Brave heart, Clara. I'm sorry, I just wanted to say that. I'm sorry for getting you put here." The Doctor swept her arm around the alley, she then pointed to the portal. "I'm sorry for getting you put there. I made a promise. I didn't keep it back then. I was cruel, I was cowardly…and I can only hope that me doing this, is sufficient as an apology. Farewell, Clara, good luck."

Clara nodded slightly. "I-I never blamed you. Thank you, for, all of it, even this. You're right, I'd never have come back here, without you. I'm glad you came for me finally, I always wished for it. Thank you."

Clara took her position in front of the raven. She turned to look and saw the Doctor slowly walk backwards towards the blue box. The door creaked opened, echoing in the stasis. The door closed and the box silently disappeared. Clara turned to the raven. The portal to Gallifrey slammed shut and for the first time in a long time, Clara felt her heart beat. It was only the once. It was all that was afforded to her as the quantum shade slashed through her. It didn't hurt nearly as badly as she thought it would.