It was almost odd.

Well, odder than usual.

The cold metal stuck within her caused her no pain, but it seemed to be causing the Doctor great amounts of pain, as he held her to his chest and cried.

It was the first time she'd seen this one cry. He never liked to reveal his true feelings. But here he was, sobbing over her broken body, raw emotion spilling out of every pore. A tear fell onto Clara's face, and she felt it slide down her cheek until it dripped onto the ground beneath them.

She was too weak to lift her fingers, but if she could, she'd glide them along his jaw, push his head up just a little so he had to meet her eyes. She was too weak to talk, but if she could, she would tell him the three words she'd promised not to tell anyone else, including him.

I love you.

Clara tilted her head back, removing her eyes from him and decided to stare upwards, at the sky, at the stars sparkling. She wondered if there was, in fact, something after death. Or if it really was just nothingness. All the grandness, all the wonder of life...could it really just be that there was so much and yet so little? So many beautiful things in life...and nothing in death? Or, perhaps, was there something even grander waiting for her beyond the veil?

She was soon to find out.

Realizing she couldn't feel most of her body, she turned her head to the Doctor again, who was holding her even tighter now, his sobs growing, his body shaking. The people surrounding them were too stunned to see the strong, cold man broken down to tears and emotion to do anything. Blood stained the ground around them, her blood rushing to join the rest. Bodies littered the area, and hers was about to become just another one. The stench of war and death filled the air, but she could smell nothing. Only the Doctor mattered in her remaining moments, and she somehow found the strength to tighten her fingers around his.

His head lifted up, a sob hitching in his throat, and his eyes caught hers. She couldn't smile, but tried to portray her feelings through her eyes. The way he tightened his grip on her even more let her know that he understood.

The stars above them flickered as Clara's breath started to slow. She felt nothing but cold and the Doctor's fingernails digging into her, heard nothing but his sobs and cries for her to remain. Is this it, then? Nothing after life? The universe is so grand...and yet there is nothing after death?

A feeling of warmth spread throughout her, and she felt weightless. Realizing she could move, she let out a breathy laugh and dug her fingers into the ground as she sat up. She didn't want to look at the Doctor, for she was afraid he would not have such joyful look on his face as she felt, and so she continued her journey upwards and stood.

"Doctor," she spoke. Her word was airy, and she furrowed her eyebrow at it. "Whatever you did, it must've worked. I can...I'm alive, I'm-" she broke off as she turned around and found her lifeless body in the Doctor's arms. He was still crouched over her, sobbing, and her body was still broken and useless, bleeding out onto the ground and her clothes and his clothes. The land was still littered with bodies, the surviving locals standing around them with wide eyes sparkling with tears.

Thunder cracked overhead, and she looked up, finding that the stars were fading. No clouds were in sight, nothing to dullen the stars but themselves. They weren't dying, just fading. The sky became a little less grand, and the TARDIS let out a low, sad whistle.

The whole universe was crying, whispering the impossible girl is dead. And that impossible girl stood there, wanting to cry out that she was still there, alive, but in a different way. But she couldn't.

Nobody was listening.