(A/N) So this is my first time posting anything... Hopefully, this goes over well...

I do not own Doctor Who. I don't even own the computer I am writing this on, let alone a brilliant television series.

"I didn't ask, have you got any sort of faith?"

He was surprised at how calm his voice came out. Here he was, ten miles down a colossal pit, about to fall to what, most certainly, was his death. Yet he sounded as if he were asking about the weather, or mentioning the events of a football match. He didn't think Ida would mind the question. Partly because she didn't seem the type to take offense to it, but mostly because he knew she wanted to stall him.

"Not really. I was brought up Neo Classic Congregational, because of my mum. She was… My old mum…" The Doctor heard Ida's voice quiver. No doubt that she was remembering her childhood. "But no, I never believed."

"Neo Classics, have they got a devil?"

"No, not as such. Just, er, the things that men do."

In different circumstances, he might've given a half-hearted chuckle, but not now. In actuality, he could see where the Neo Classics were going with it. "Same thing in the end."

"What about you?"

"I believe…" The Doctor paused. What did he believe? He'd seen so much destruction, so much pain and loss. What is there left to believe in? Well, there was still one thing. One person. "I believe I haven't seen everything… I don't know… It's funny, isn't it? The things you make up, the rules… If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe it, but before the universe? …Impossible. Doesn't fit my rules. Still, that's why I keep travelling, to be proved wrong…"

He could feel the emptiness wafting around him, and he knew it was time to go.

He fingered the last caribiner. "Thank you, Ida."

"Don't go!" He could tell she was afraid, but he couldn't just go back. He had to let go.

Suddenly his thoughts flashed to a special pink and yellow girl.

"If they get back in touch… if you talk to Rose… just tell her…"

Tell her what? He's sorry? Sorry for trapping her here, in a time where she doesn't belong? That he's sorry for leaving her all on her own, for breaking his promise to her?

"Tell her…"

The worst part was, even if he said sorry, he knew she would forgive him. She would always forgive him, even for leaving her. She'd forgive him a thousand times over, until the end of universe, because she's just so…

So fantastic, the Doctor thought, smiling a little at his word choice. If only he could tell her, explain to her what she means to him, because the three words he knows she wants to hear can't even begin to cover it.

He gave a little sigh. "Oh, she knows."

And with that, he released the caribiner, and fell.