Chapter 1: The Impossibles

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"The Thing."

"What thing?"

"The thing with your eyes again. Where it's like they're trying to show multiple emotions at once. It's confusing."

Clara threw up her hands in frustration and grumpily trudged forwards several steps ahead of the Doctor in the orangey-pink grass of their latest travel destination.

She had to admit that Aluereygo XI was a gorgeous planet. Several tall, hollow columns of stone jutted up from the ground at random angles and spewed out giant naturally-occurring iridescent bubbles into the atmosphere. The Doctor had some lengthy scientific explanation for this phenomenon about sub-terrestrial gases, but Clara had been too interested in their beauty and the orangey-pink plains ahead of them to listen.

At first she had been impressed with the Doctor for choosing a seemingly harmless destination for once, but that thought had been scattered once they discovered the invasive species of robotic bear-like creatures with tall bodies, long thin claws, and large flattened heads from a neighboring planet. After being captured and nearly made into lunch, the Doctor managed to free himself and Clara at the last possible moment- ending up accidentally killing all of their captors when the normal setting on his sonic was too much for the creatures to bear.

The duo narrowly escaped the ensuing explosions and were now trudging through endless plains with the Tardis nowhere in sight.

"Maybe my eyes wouldn't be doing the thing if you hadn't killed them all." She spat back after an eternity, kicking an orange rock out of her way.

"You did notice that they were trying to skewer us with their claws and roast us with their digestive acids, Clara," he grumbled. He could never win.

When she didn't give him any kind of response, he raised his hands up in surrender, "Hey, I didn't know. Nothing has ever been harmed by that low a setting on the sonic before. I couldn't have possibly known." he grated out with a twinge of guilt.

When Clara didn't respond, he felt compelled to bring a hesitant hand to her shoulder to look her in the eye. "I really didn't know, Clara. I'm sorry."

Clara wrested out of his grip with a forceful tug. "Don't touch me, Doctor! I've had enough of you always lying to me! You always say, 'This planet is harmless. We are here purely for fun,' but we never are, Doctor! There's always some hidden agenda under everything!" she whirled away from him on her heel and stormed off.

He was surprised by her unexpected tirade and had to take a moment to come up with a response. "Well fine, Clara!" the Doctor sputtered after her angrily, "I guess saving countless lives across the universe everyday isn't your cup of tea, is it, Teach?" he seethed, jerking on his lapels and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You didn't save any today, did you, Doctor? There's always collateral damage with you, and half the time it's me!" Clara yelled over her shoulder from her now-considerable distance from him. She crossed her arms indignantly and quickened her pace. She didn't know if this was the right way to the Tardis or not, she just wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

After the Dream Crabs, Santa, and Danny's death, she thought things between them would be different, but everything still boiled down to the same old routine of deception and tension.

"I can't take it anymore! Take me home, Doctor, and never come back! I am through with you and your ego!"

Taken aback by the viciousness of her tone, he matched it with his own storm of fury. "Fine, I don't need your nagging all the time, Clara! I'm better off without you pudding brains anyway!" he growled and stomped off, wondering why she had exploded like that, even considering the circumstances.

Needing time to cool off, the Doctor took off in the opposite direction at a brisk pace. He furrowed his eyebrows into a deep scowl. He didn't need her. All she had done this regeneration was hurt him. He saved her from Trenzalore and waited alone for death for a thousand years. He regretted sending her away for the centuries to come, even though it would have been selfish to trap her there with him until she ultimately died and left him alone again.

He had surprised himself in how he had chosen her as a companion so quickly. At first he hoped that he hadn't judged her character incorrectly based on his first impression of her by her echoes. But when she convinced the stubborn Time Lords to give him more regenerations, he knew that he was right about her. She had always had his back for countless years, even from when he was a discouraged child sleeping alone in a barn because he thought he would never make a Time Lord. Even in his darkest hours, she was there.

The moment he began to regenerate was the moment he knew he loved her. He knew right then that he would do anything to return the favor to her. He owed her everything, and when he became his current self, he trusted her enough to lift his mask. He was willing to be vulnerable with her by choosing a face that more clearly resembled his true self. He knew what he was inside, and he believed that he wouldn't need to pretend to be a goofy young man anymore in order to be liked. He trusted her character so much that he believed she would still love him no matter what form he took.

He was raw and open to her, showing her a form closer to his true self than any other companion before her. She knew his name, she was intimately intertwined all throughout his life, so he gave her the truth.

But when he finished his regeneration and his new face first stared into her huge eyes, he discovered that they were full of fear. He instantly panicked and recoiled slightly. She wasn't supposed to look at him that way. That's not how he had planned it would work out. His hearts were shattered when she asked Jenny and Vastra how to change his face back; when she said she didn't know the Doctor anymore.

As the months went by, his thousand-year love for her never waned, but his hearts continued to shatter as she became cold and distant from him. Gone was the sassy young woman he had known, for she had changed too.

It was true that he didn't help matters much by being reclusive and unaffectionate unlike his previous incarnation, but that wasn't who he truly was. He was truly a broken, cynical old man, with only glimmers of love from his pudding brains to give him a reason to go on.

When she left him for Danny, and their adventures became far and few between, their relationship splintered until it snapped on the Moon when she claimed that she loved Danny Pink. When she wanted the Doctor to leave forever. When she said she hated him. And now she wanted him to leave again. This time for good.

The Doctor was shaken out of his train of self-pity when he nearly stumbled over a small boulder hidden among the tall grass. He was grateful for the distraction and kicked the rock away. He could feel his anger leaving with it, replaced with an aching pit of sadness as it bounced away down a small hill. He sucked in a deep breath and buttoned his coat against the chilly wind. Temperatures on this planet were known to drop abruptly after its triple suns set.

He took one long gaze at the majestic sunset and gave in. He turned around and followed his footsteps back into the direction where Clara had gone.

If she truly left him this time, he didn't know if he could ever find another companion again. Once he lifted the mask, there was no going back. What sensible pudding brain would want a rude, grumpy, old alien around? He resolved that he would never find another one like her. As he climbed back up the hill to where they had first split nearly an hour ago, he straightened himself up and put on a neutral face, betraying his true feelings.

A sharp scream echoed faintly in the distance, and that was all it took for the Doctor to snap to attention.

"Clara!" His mind filled with dread, and he sprinted across the rough fields as fast as his knobby legs could carry him.

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