WHOUFFLE WEEK 2020

DAY SIX: Eternity / Fairytales

Notes:

We're nearing towards the end of the Whouffle Week 2020! Today day Six!
The prompts were:
ETERNITY/FAIRYTALES.

This goes out to my best friend, who gave me the idea for this fic. Thank you for your contribution and support!
It also goes out to my friends at Clara's Diner, who I'm having so much fun with creating content every day. Thank you all for the awesomeness!

I've been experimenting and trying to write some light stuff, keeping the angst at minimum for these fics, but this one required to go deep into the angst and the pain, to resurface again at the other side. That's also why it's significantly longer than the others so far. Kind of Fix-It fic, sort of.

Set in Twice Upon A Time, you'll recognize the moment straight away. Some of the dialogue is taken directly from the episodes, it will be in italics.

ENJOY!

"What happens now, where I go now has to be alone"

Bill nodded and immediately went to envelop the Doctor in a hug, which he accepted gratefully. Nardole did the same, and the Doctor pressed both of his friends towards him before they disappeared in his arms. He felt cold all of a sudden and fought against the urge to hug himself to keep the warmth, although false, of his friends.

"Time to leave the battlefield" he whispered to himself before walking the short distance towards the TARDIS.

He got inside, closing the door behind him. The pain was starting to be excruciating and his hand went to his stomach, feeling it twisting underneath his skin. But he had a new sense of purpose now, and ignoring the pain, he willed the regeneration energy to stop hurdling inside him, willed his body to hold the regeneration back. Just a bit longer.

"You wait a moment, Doctor! Let's get it right!" he exclaimed before he pushed the buttons of the console "I have one more thing to do before my time is up..."

He didn't know where she was or how to find her, but he knew what he had to do. What Clara had done on two previous occasions. Now that she was in his mind again, mending the hole in his broken hearts and scaring away the emptiness that seemed to accompany him wherever he went; but before the new Doctor could emerge, he had to see her. She was the first face this face had seen, and he wanted to make sure it would be the last. A promise, to her and him.

He switched off the safeguards, turned off the nav conn and pushed his fingers into the TARDIS telepathic interface. He closed his eyes and focused on Clara, on the way she laughed, the way she smelled and the way she looked at him. He focused on her smile, sometimes so wide the dimples in her cheeks showed, or her angry expression when he did something to make her mad. His mind took him to the day he'd lost all his memories, how blind he'd seen that he'd had Clara in front of him and hadn't recognized her. He remembered now, vividly, what he'd told her that day in the Diner.

"I know we sat together in the Cloisters and she told me something very important but I've no idea what she said. Or what she looked like, or how she talked or laughed... there's nothing there. Just nothing"

He was seeing it vividly in his mind, he could see now how his words impacted her, he could recognize in her expression how she tried to keep the tears at bay, even if he couldn't see it before. Her strong Clara, always looking out for him. Always being the brave one.

But that had passed. He remembered now. His lips painted an affectionate smile when his inner eye saw her, smiling at him playfully, and couldn't contain a small laugh. He focused on Clara, his Impossible Girl, asking just one thing: where is Clara Oswald now?