Fic Name: Endings
Rating: K+
Prompt: Endings
Disclaimer: Unfortunately Doctor Who et al belongs to the BBC and not me...please forgive me for any/all wrongs done to the characters. Be nice if I did though...

He was barely able to stagger into the TARDIS with Peri let alone set the dematerialisation sequence. He had no idea where they were headed and perhaps it was better that way. He gasped as he could feel his body loosing its fight with the spectrox poison that circulated through his body. He'd only been able to get enough of the bat's milk for one person and as he poured it down his young companion's throat he sincerely hoped that it wasn't too late for her. That he hadn't let her down. He was frantic for a moment when he realised she wasn't moving, her breathing shallow and her body felt clammy. 'Come on Peri,' he mentally urged his friend to wake up.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he could feel her breaths getting stronger. He allowed himself one last smile as he collapsed backwards. He barely had the energy to tell Peri that there was only enough antidote for her. He'd given a life for her, perhaps all his lives...different poisons had different effects on the Time Lord physiology. Some inhibited the regeneration process and he was worried that this one would do the same, he hadn't heard of any of his people being spectrox poisoning before.

The lights in the TARDIS were getting too bright for him to see so he shut his eyes momentarily, remembering back to another time in this incarnation when he was prepared to give up all his regenerations for Tegan and Nyssa's safety. He was vaguely aware of Peri hovering over him asking what was happening. "I might regenerate...I don't know," he found himself saying, opening his eyes and looking at the girl. "It feels different this time."

Indeed it did, he could feel his cells dying, but instead of the regeneration process that would normally kick in about now he felt nothing. "I-is this death?" He asked feebly, it was a scary prospect and despite the fact that he was almost 900, he found he didn't want to die. He thought back to Adric; the poor boy had died alone, crashing into a planet in a universe that wasn't even his own. In stark contrast, the Doctor had Peri beside him and the familiarity of the TARDIS for company.

His mind was beginning to stray and he could see the faces of his past companions, he smiled weakly as he saw each of their visages before his own eyes, unaware of Peri in the background crying. Suddenly, he could feel the familiar regeneration process begin, slowly at first, but soon gaining momentum. He felt his body jerk and then felt nothing.

He opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, he felt different, but that was to be expected with regeneration. "What happened Doctor?" Peri asked him, understandably apprehensive of this new Doctor. "Change my dear," he said simply, "and it appears not a moment too soon."