Chapter Text
Clara heard screams and echoes…..
Tries to move her eyes behind her closed eyelids….
She catches her breath, the warm stuffy sulphuric burns her throat.
After a split second…….
Rolls her eyes……
Then back into nothingness.
The Impossible Girl came to her senses once again, feeling her head throb with the echoes that were so desperate to get out of her mind, her joints ached with every minimal movement the Doctor did. She groaned as Clara tried to stir.
They stopped walking before Clara felt a soft, wet kiss being pressed gently to her forehead. “Hold on to that Leaf, Clara.” He breathed into her hair before feeling the time lord hurry through his time stream. The companion could sense his panic, knowing she was getting worse by the minute, and that it was all his fault. Yet he still devoted some time to show her such affection. She needed that more than anything.
Clara groaned in reply.
That was the least she could do.
She soon succumbed herself to unconsciousness.
A few moments later….
After slipping in and out of consciousness so many times……
Each time hearing the same screams and echoes…. Feeling the same pain over and over.
Still feels like a stuffy place….
So heard to breathe.
Tries to bring up some of her rapidly depleting energy.
“Chin boy…..” Clara breathed. She soon felt the arms holding her wrap themselves tighter around her shoulders and knees.
He shushed her. “Rest my Impossible Girl.” She heard the Doctor hum.
“Where are we?” The girl breathed.
“Moving through the Time Stream. We’ll soon be at its centre…. We’re close.” He answered, panting frequently, ”We’ll get out of this hellish place.”
But it was his hellish place.
“Then I’ll take you home, to the TARDIS, and I’ll take care of you. I’ll take you anywhere you want.” Clara was still holding onto his blazer in fear, it brought him to tears. "Please, hold on a little longer."
She could barely hear him.
The desperation? The voices? The screams?
Another headache….
Why do they hate you…..
The children….
You can always call me Oswin…..
Rest now, my warrior.
Doctor?
Actually, she was called Nina…..
Rest now, your hardship…..
Where am I?????
A wave of tears slipped from Clara’s eyes. She was still so scared and in pain. The Doctor could protect her from the dangers in the time stream, but he could never, in no way possible protect her from herself. The girl’s grip on the Doctor’s blazer softened themselves in defeat and the overwhelming state she was in.
“Hey, hey…. I’ve got you, Clara.” The Impossible Girl felt yet another light kiss on her forehead, and the Doctor tried to heave her up again as gently as possible as she began slipping from his grip.
So many echoes….
“Show me…. the stars.” The companion breathed, clutching the Leaf ever tighter, afraid that she might lose herself and her sanity altogether.
Rescue me…. My Chin boy……
Clara immediately felt herself drifting off into sleep once more.
The 4th time Clara woke up after jumping into the Doctor’s time stream (and staying awake for longer than a split of a second), she found herself still in the time lord’s arms.
Still walking in the same old stuffy place and hearing the same screaming voices.
Nonetheless, still no idea where she was.
The girl had almost no chronological recollection of her life. Lives? How many lives has she lived?
She relaxed into the arms of who held her. No matter how confused she was, there was one thing that was for sure; she still in the Doctor’s arms, keeping hersafe from anything that could harm her, soothing her.
“Have we come to Hell?” she asked.
“Still in my time stream, Clara.” He cuddled her closer to his chest. “Soon out, I promise. A few more feet and we’re there.” In fact, it was still the time stream; no hell could make her feel so cold. The companion’s cold fingers wrapped around his shirt, only slightly trembling in her saver’s arms.
A sudden sense of horror washed over her as her vision blurred and faded to black.
The Doctor looked horrified at the state of his companion. “Clara, you’re cold.” She trembled even more as she slipped into panic mode. The companion could in no way control her breathing. Her eyes were wide open in fear.
“C-cold.” She stuttered. “Torture. Sss-scared.” She continued, as she remembered an old echo, an extraterrestrial who had been tortured and finally frozen to death. And she did it just to save him. “Run…” She closed her eyes shut, pressing her temples with the palms of her hands as she screamed her heart out. “Run you clever boy.” The girl continued. She felt like she was going to die at that instant. It would have been better, but she wanted to stay with the Doctor, keep an eye on him.
“It’s going to be ok, my Impossible Girl. Hold on, we’ll soon get out.” He said as the time lord hurried to the centre of his grave.
“I can’t hold on any longer, Doctor. It hurts!!!” She screamed, writhing in his arms, her eyes shut tight... hoping the pain would end soon enough.
The Doctor couldn’t leave her like this for a second longer. The exit was a few feet away but it would take minutes to get out. So he laid her gently on the ground, the companion never taking her hands off her temples. “Shhhhh…. It’s going to be fine, Clara.” He hastily soniced her. Her mind had programmed itself to conserve heat as if she was in freezing place; her mind hacked by the echo she was reliving. He slipped his fingers under her palm, which were pressing hard against her forehead. “Look at me, Clara.” He pleaded.
But she kept on repeating the same name as she trembled in fear. “Oswin Claire….. Oswin Claire…”
“Clara.” He continued to grab her attention as the time lord tried to soothe her, caressing her forehead and cheeks, with no success. But the time stream shook to the core. With every moment that passed, the chances of getting out of there and staying alive were getting slimmer.
And so were the chances of the Universe surviving. But it was a risk he was willing to take to save his Impossible Girl.
“Open your eyes, my Impossible Girl.” She wouldn’t budge. “Clara, my Clara, please look at me!” She finally did, those pleading eyes swimming in tears, gazing terrified at the Doctor. Her pupils were wide and amidst the fear of reliving the torture of Oswin Claire, he could still see the terrified state of his companion.
His Impossible Girl. His Clara.
And he wasn't going to let the guilt he possessed stop him from helping the companion under his care.
“Goodnight, my Impossible Girl.” Feeling the surge of energy travelling down his arms to the tips of his fingers, to her battered mind. Those large eyes soon cleared from the mumble jumble going on in Clara’s mind, rolled in the back of her head and her head relaxed in his arms. The Doctor felt teardrops crawling down his cheek, yet another tremble from inside the time stream shook him out of his desperate thoughts, gently heaved the unconscious companion closer to his hearts and hurried out towards the exit.