"Clara!" The Doctor held her in his arms. It broke his hearts to look at her pale face draining of life.

She gasped and held onto the Doctor. She was still alive! A tiny spark of hope ignited in the Doctor's mind.

"Clara!" He cupped the side of her face. He held Clara's fragile body and gently placed her down on the infirmary table.

"Doctor… You have to let me go." Clara whispered. "Please. I just want it to be over." She was crying, all she wanted was for it to stop.

"No, Clara. You have to fight. Just a little longer." He pleaded. "I can fix this. I promise." The antitoxin. The equations… It had to work. It must. He rushed around, frantically gathering everything he needed.

"Doctor! You are not listening to me…" Her cold, trembling hands held onto the Doctor's. "Just accept my death… I need you do to do that for me. Please, just listen to me. Just this once, do as you're told."

"Don't be silly, Clara, you are not dead. You are under my protection. I am the Doctor, and I am going to fix you." He froze as he saw the last part of the equation. In front of him was a black liquid. He hadn't properly read the ending until now.

"The equation…it… it doesn't make sense"

He felt a cold hand gently squeezing his shoulder. Clara was standing behind him. No, that wasn't possible.

"How..?"

"Tell me, Doctor. What does the ending of the equation tell you?" Clara's calm voice was confusing him even more.

"This isn't an antitoxin." He whispered.

"No, it's not. So… what is it?" Clara pushed him for answers.

"It's a potion. It forces you to regenerate." He frowned. "This is not possible. Theoretically, it could cancel the effects for Time Lords… but it will be toxic for humans. This was not what I was looking for. Nor was it possible for any human beings to discover."

Clara gave him a sad smile.

"The Polovox toxin. It affects your brain." Clara slowly paced along the noisy scanners, switching them off. "It makes you hallucinate. Am I correct?"

"Yes, but…" Clara quickly placed her finger on his lips.

The Doctor was so confused. One moment Clara was on the brink of death, the next moment, she wasn't.

"Does this seem real to you?"

He frowned at the question.

"Of course it is. Why would you even ask that?"

Clara took his arm and led him to the library, where the books were still in piles on the floor from him searching for Tia's identity.

"Tia, where is she now?" Clara asked, placing the books back into a neat pile. "Now, here's a better question. Both younger and older Tia is present in the TARDIS. Why hasn't the TARDIS collapse from the paradox? In my memory, I know you rejected the older Amy from entering the TARDIS for the same reason."

"The TARDIS probably fixed the paradox. She's probably in the console room. Why are you asking me these questions?" He refused to believe everything she was trying to imply.

"Voice interface." Clara called out.

"Voice interface activated." The picture of the Doctor appeared.

"Scan for Doctor Tiana Gatford in the TARDIS."

"Scan completed. She is not present in the ship." She stared at the Doctor. He slowly shook his head in denial.

"I… I don't understand."

"Have you realised how Tia doesn't make sense? How does she know both of us so well? For her, she's only met you once, and I wasn't even in the picture. The only explanation she gave was 'timey wimey'. Where did she get a vortex manipulator from? How can she know the equation that no human beings can discover?"

He backed away shaking his head.

"Remember the polar base? I was consumed by the dream crabs. You risked your life to wake me up from my dream. What was that dream about?" Clara's voice wavered slightly.

"Christmas. You dreamt of soldier boy."

"And why did I dream about him?"

"Because…" The Doctor firmly shook his head. "No… That's not true."

"Because I was grieving. Because that alternative was much better than the loss I had experienced. He was alive again. Just for one last time, we were happy."

"Look at the books closely. Remember the test we did in the North Pole?" Clara placed a random bottle of liquid Gallifreyan encyclopaedia in his hand.

"Now, as you know, Gallifreyan encyclopaedias are linked psychically… which means…."

"Which means you won't be able to hear it in your dormant mind. Even if you do, it will sound like gibberish."

"Like a book test, but for Time Lords."

The Doctor stared at the bottle. He was scared. Properly scared.

Clara gestured. "Go on."

With trembling hands, he opened the bottle, and heard nothing. No… listening closely, he heard three words on a loop.

"You are dying."

He dropped the bottle in shock.

"How… how did you know?" He asked Clara breathlessly. "How did you know it was all a dream? For all I know, you are dreaming with me."

"Well, sort of. Technically I am in your dream because there is still psychic residue left in the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS?" He froze, he remembered dying on the TARDIS.

"Good, Doctor, you are waking up. Think about what happened. Carefully."

"I saw you in the hospital. I saved you with the bracelet."

Clara shook her head. "Think deeper. What happened before all of that?"

He closed his eyes.

He saw Clara dying… no. Dead. In her grave… and then in the capsule in his TARDIS, next to Kate, whom he had preserved just before her death. Then he was dying from the poison... alone in the TARDIS, preparing for the worst.

"No." He shook his head in denial. "I fixed that timeline where you died. That's why you are alive. That was not a hallucination. Please tell me I wasn't hallucinating from the poison. I don't want to live in a world without you, Clara." That was almost a confession. He knew that Clara knew that as well.

"Doctor, remember the ship in the asteroid belt? It was the second place that this version of you took me to. Where we met Rusty. I told you and the soldiers that I was your carer. This is me… a best friend, your carer, protecting you. Wake up, my warrior, and live the lives I never could." Clara cupped his cheeks. "Doctor, when you do wake up, you have to save yourself. With your residual energy, you'll be able to save Kate as well. Tia too, if she is still alive. But promise to let me go. You'll be wasting your energy if you use it on me. I'm… too far gone."

Clara gave him a light kiss on his cheeks. He disappeared and she was left in this universe, where she knew, if she woke up, she would be back in her dead body. She took out the letter which had once been wedged behind the blackboard in her room. "Dear Clara," it read on the outside. She gently opened it and smiled in sadness.

"You are already dead. Save the Doctor before it's too late."

She turned around to face her mum, who was always there- every step of the way.

"I did it, mum. I saved him." She whispered, a small tear sliding down her face.

"I am so proud of you." Ellie gently wiped the tear and hugged her.

oOoOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOoOo

The Doctor gasped quietly. He was in the TARDIS, and everything was overwhelming him. Lights, the humming sound… even his hearts thumping.

"Voice interface…"

He called out the equation, and in front of him was a vial full of the black liquid.

When he drank it, a golden light consumed him. When he opened his eyes again, he scrambled to the mirror. A familiar face with furious eyebrows stared at him.

"It worked." He let out a small laugh. "The toxin cancelled out with the potion!" With no time to lose, he threw open the TARDIS door to see the blackened body of Tia. He touched her and she came back to life, with no scratches or wounds on her body.

He ran to the freezer room and took Kate out of the capsule. He used the remaining energy on her.

The Doctor paused in front of Clara's capsule, where Clara looked like she was peacefully asleep. He placed his hands on the window of the capsule.

"Thank you." He choked the words out. "And I'm sorry."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The Doctor returned to the console room with a sigh.

McGillop was not alone anymore – he had a new assistant, who, in some ways, knew more than she let on. Kate was back as the scientific manager of UNIT and everything was normal. Except that empty hole in the Doctor's hearts he could never fill.

He returned Clara's body back in her grave to rest, which was more traumatising than he initially thought.

He placed a white lily on the grave.

"This is me... letting go. Rest in peace - I will always remember you, my impossible girl."

OooOoOoOoOoOo

One day, he was sitting in a café sipping on his tea, staring out into his window. It was the same café as the one they had their first 'proper' hug. Which was also Clara's favourite cafe. The memories flooded him, but he let it consume him. He was filled with the happy days, thrilling chases and their constant banter.

"Doctor?"

He heard a cup smashing on the floor.

He looked up. His eyes widened as much as the pair that was returning the stare.

"Clara."

The end

Thank you everyone for following me through till the end :D You guys have been fantastic!