Mad Man in a Box (One-Shots)

Straight for this Life

Straight for this Life - Eleven.

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Night had fallen, bringing an almost eerie calm where none was usually present. For once, there was no desire to run, to spend the night out and about. Because wasn't that it; wasn't that what he always did - run?

If he were to ever indulge in honesty with himself, he would realize the truth. That he was running from himself.

The Doctor looked around at the TARDIS' console. It was a room so familiar to him, yet so foreign. Walking up to the controls, he began to fiddle aimlessly with them. All sense of vigor and excitement held in this simple act was gone; replaced with emptiness.

His eyes followed an invisible line up to an exit, heading off to the many rooms. And in one of them, Clara Oswald. It was only further punctuation on how he always ran. Faster and faster until he could no longer see what was in front of him.

His eyes began to blur, human emotions getting the better of him. He could only think of the past, and yet he found himself for a brief moment imagining the future. How will Clara react, he wondered. She would wake to a new man. To another Doctor.

And the thought frightened him. She was his impossible girl. Perhaps he was the same man, but there was a small part of him that wasn't ready to go. But it wasn't because he didn't want to go, it was because he was afraid too.

He was afraid of what would come after him.

If the Other Doctor, his secret, his name, had taught him anything, it was that whatever came next, would change everything.

He couldn't bare anything happening to his Clara.

The changes had already began, he could feel them. Like tiny insects, crawling through his bloodstream, his veins glowing a light yellow.

He looked up at the time rotor, stuck in perpetual movement. Somehow through the ups and downs he had managed to stay on the same path, tried to help people, even if he didn't always succeed.

He remembered the first time he met Clara Oswin Oswald, in the Dalek asylum. How she had saved his life. And her final message:

'Run you clever boy, and remember.'

He was ready.

The future wasn't fixed, he could change it - he had too.

Taking one last glance around, he began to grin a an exuberant glow began to overtake his body. He would fix it - all of it. He was the Doctor.

"Geronimo," he whispered.

And then his body erupted into golden flames of regeneration, a new man being formed. A new man that would change everything; for better or worse. A new man who was just as eager to run straight for this life, just as the old one had been, straight up to the very end. Even in the last seconds of his life.

The regeneration stopped; and the twelfth Doctor stood, looking around the TARDIS...

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Hello! So I realize I haven't updated a one shot in a while, sorry about that. Anyways, I wanted to write a small Whouffle tribute, but focus on kind of the sadness and regret the Doctor holds, especially the eleventh. I also wanted to tip my hat off to the news of having a new Doctor! The twelfth Doctor is... Peter Capaldi! I think I'm excited. I guess this could be classified as a goodbye piece to Smith's Doctor, but I don't really see it as that.

My inspiration for this one shot came from Matchbox 20's "Straight for this Life," off of their newest album, North (Deluxe Version).

I would post the song, but I'm uploading this from the Wattpad app, and sadly don't know how to add the video in.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this!

~ Moffate.