A Collection of Whouffle

The Worst Burden

Prompt: Clara sees a Weeping Angel and gets sucked into a different time to live her life out (like Amy and Rory). Sent in by hiddleswholock. Please enjoy! (I put it in the Doctor's POV, and so everything I say is basically what he thinks of himself, even if it's not directly being said he thought it. Trust me, it'll make a lot more sense when you read it.)

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The Doctor couldn't believe he had let it happen again. He had been careless, and he had gotten one of his companions into trouble. 'Again', he thought meekly to himself. He was always pulling stunts like this. And it had gotten Clara taken away from him, stranded, out of his reach.

And unlike the Ponds, there was absolutely no way he could ever get to her. She had way too many echoes that had caused so many paradoxes; she was lucky she even existed. With the Ponds he could've probably gone back for them if they had travelled outside of Manhattan, but there was no way he could communicate that information to them and he didn't know when they weren't in Manhattan IF they had ever even left the city.

But all he could think about was the word "again". It was pounding through his head, and nothing could silence it. Again. Again. Again. He screamed in frustration and threw his screwdriver, crying in frustration. He had lost three of his best friends now. And Clara was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.

He had feelings for her, and she had them for him, that much was obvious. But the great part was that they had at some point actually done something about those feelings. With Rose, he had kissed her a few times, and then almost said he loved her, only to leave her in a different universe with a duplicate of himself. That had broken his hearts, but at least then he knew Rose would be happy. With Clara he could only assume she was terrified and waiting for him to return and save her, and this time he couldn't.

"Doctor...there's something over here. Oh wait, never mind...just a statue," she had said to him. He had yelled at her to get away but the angel was already on her. He had managed to get her out of that one.

"Clara, these are Weeping Angels. Keep eye contact, do not even blink. If you do, I'll lose you forever." These are the words that he remembered saying to her. They might not have even been completely true as they replayed in his mind. He had no way of knowing.

He wasn't even sure how she had gotten touched by one when he wasn't looking. All he knew was that she was saying, "Doctor, how can a statue-" and then she was gone. She didn't even get to finish her sentence; the Doctor had been rambling. He never got to say "I love you". Never got to say anything important because he had assumed they were going to get out of the situation and laugh about it later.

'Like an idiot' he thought to himself.

Now he was in their room, crying and touching their pictures. These were the only things that remained of her as he sat in the TARDIS bawling. He didn't even realize how much time had passed as he got up and wiped the tears off of his eyes. He needed to get out of the box and away from the scent and memories of Clara Oswald.

As he stepped out of the box, he stopped and looked up at the sky. He saw the many stars that were above him, and vaguely remembered how he had promised Clara she was going to see every single one of those stars.

"Lies," he said out loud to himself. "It's all my fault, Clara. I am so sorry...I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am. We never got to see what our lives would have been like. I am so, so sorry," he moaned into the night sky. Just then a man of about seventy years old stopped in front of him.

"Son, are you alright?" The man asked, concerned.

"Um...no. Not at all. Sorry I didn't mean to cause a scene or anything," the Doctor said, wiping his eyes once more.

"What's your name? I was told to come here at this time, in this exact spot. For a young man named the Doctor...."

"That's me!" The Doctor shouted. The man produced a letter from inside of his coat. It was old and yellowed, but it had Clara's handwriting on it. It was labeled "Doctor".

"My great-aunt gave that letter to me. She told me to deliver it to this spot, on this night, to a young looking man in front of a blue box. Something about how she knew you, and you needed this letter. She was a bit crazy, but I was told to bring it and I couldn't say no," the man explained.

After thanking the man over and over the Doctor went back inside of the TARDIS and into their room. He opened the letter, and read it slowly, over and over again. He fell back into his chair and cried. He cried more than he thought was ever possible.

The lonely man in the blue box was once again alone, lonelier than ever. His old eyes grew older still, but his body did not. The man who had suffered and lost so much received his harshest blow the day she disappeared. He slowly faded back into a ghost of his old self, but he was never the same. They could no longer laugh. He could no longer take her to see the stars and she could no longer attempt to make him the perfect soufflé. All was lost and much was gained, but what was gained was worse than anything that he could ever do or comprehend. Heartbreak and sorrow is a worse burden than the guilt he could feel for his previous days.

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That's it, hope you enjoyed! As always, please vote, comment, follow, and SEND IN THOSE PROMPTS! Love you all! P.s. I'm updating as fast as possible. I've been abnormally busy lately.