Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar.
Author's Note: Despite being AU, the Doctor used is the 10th Doctor. And yes, and AU Doctor Who, though this story will draw on some elements from the series. I hope you enjoy it!
Once, the Doctor gave people hope. The mere mention of his name was enough to bring renewed light into the hearts of those who previously had been surrounded by darkness. He was their last line of defense, their saving grace.
Then something happened.
Those closest to the Doctor knew that he had lived many years, travelling the universe and saving lives, interfering with time not to make terrible things happen, but to save everyone from an untimely and painful end.
And then…
No one could say exactly what happened. No one had been there to see it. The Doctor could have been anywhere in the universe and there was simply no way to tell. Those who had known the Doctor once knew him no longer.
He was gone.
Trouble brewed in different parts of the universe and the first stirrings were felt on earth. Yet the Doctor did not make an appearance. Others, such as the Torchwood organization, were left to sort out the trouble. And elsewhere in the universe people died wondering why the Doctor had not come to save them as he had done for others so many times before.
Rumors emerged that the Time Lord had finally given in to death. Perhaps, some suggested, he had been unable to regenerate. Or perhaps he was being held prisoner.
It was touching, really, that not one of the theories even thought to suggest that the Doctor had just given up, had grown tired of saving people, had grown angry at the universe and at himself. No one would dare think such a thing of their savior.
Yet, that is exactly what the Doctor had done.
He had given up, grown tired of saving people. He was angry.
Had he heard how people described him as their last hope, he would have laughed. A grimace would have twisted features that he still wasn't entirely used to. He would tell himself that those people were so wrong.
He would feel something like satisfaction in knowing what everyone else did not know; with his last regeneration his body wasn't the only thing that had changed. He was no longer the Doctor they knew.
He would no longer save the world.