AN: This is my first multi-chapter FanFiction that isn't just a series of one shots, like The Two Sides of Me was. Constructive criticism is welcome! I am always seeking to improve my writings! I hope you enjoy!

Introduction:

Fire burned through the Doctor's veins.

Each second felt like a lifetime.

In this place, there was no time, no space, just agony.

He could see every single moment of history burning, swirling in front of his eyes, constantly changing and pulsing with the heat within him.

It was like someone was turning every single fantasized agony into written truth.

The Doctor no longer knew who he was.

All the memories he clung onto so avidly, all his comfort, was gone.

He could feel them all forgetting him.

Emptiness filled his hearts.

Then, for a fleeting moments, glimpses of the present whirled before his eyes.

He could see the Ponds.

They were walking.

Talking.

Laughing.

The happiest couple in the world.

Their lives were just as the Doctor never could have made them.

And yet he couldn't help but cry out.

Over and over he cried their names, but they would not listen.

He tried to reach out to touch Amy's hand; she seemed so close; but all he could feel was the touch of red-hot steel.

The memory slipped out of his reach, fading into another version of reality, one that he could not touch.

One that he could not mess up.

He could have had this a long time ago.

He could have said goodbye before ever saying hello.

But it hurt so much.

In all the loneliness that the Doctor had ever known, this was the greatest curse he had to bear.

Because now he could see all of them.

What they could have been.

Donna was just an ordinary temp.

She never forgot.

She never HAD to forget.

Martha went on.

She got her degree.

There was no man she was forever waiting for.

And Rose….

Rose was still the pink and yellow light in the world that she had always been.

She married Mickey.

She lived an extraordinary human life.

She went places.

And yet….

She lived life everyday and never ever cared about the universe.

About the Doctor.

HER Doctor.

And it ripped him apart.

Because out of all the things he had known,

The sorrow,

The despair,

The thing the Doctor had always hung onto was hope that there was someone out there who cared.

The next adventure.

Something new.

SOMEONE new.

The old linger,

Holding onto hope that the young will come and lift up their spirits again.

And out of all of time and space, the thing the Doctor most needed was not his TARDIS.

It wasn't Gallifrey.

It wasn't Earth.

It was that knowledge that there was always a hand to hold.

Someone out there who could say Doctor Who

And DELIGHT in the answer.

DELIGHT in who,

What the Doctor was.

And yet now,

Now all his years,

Watching the clock slowly,

Surely,

Run out,

He was alone.

And now there was no one to hear his voice.

No one to listen.

His purpose was extinguished.

All hope gone.

And he waited,

His skin burning with all the fire inside him,

Knowing all hope was gone.

It could have been a thousand years that the Doctor sat there,

Hopeless,

Empty,

With no way of escape from his misery.

He had once cheated death to continue his existence.

Because life held so much.

Now he wished nothing more than to end it.

If this was life, he did not want it.

Then softly, like a whisper from far away, he heard Amy.

She was slowly coming into view.

She was…..

Crying.

Almost pleading.

He heard his name, like a voice from the past.

Doctor.

And as through a haze,

All his agony,

All his misery,

Faded away,

Leaving him gasping for air like he had just run a marathon.

Then he heard a familiar sound.

He half expected it to fade away,

To be a trick his mind was playing with him to cope with the agony around him,

But no.

He could hear the TARDIS humming in his mind.

So alive.

So very alive.

How many years had it been since he could touch life?

Feel life?

How many lifetimes had he experienced crashing down before this moment came?

He slowly stood up, felt the ground.

Yes.

It was his TARDIS.

He could have shouted for joy.

He ran frantically around,

Throwing clothes here and there,

Double checking everything.

Bowtie?

Cool.

Top Hat?

Also cool.

Blazer, shirt, trousers?

All cool.

Fixing a smile on his face,

Smoothing out the weight of the trauma he had been through,

He made his grand entrance.

And all through the night,

As he danced away the sorrows of his past,

He made sure never,

Ever,

To once let on that he had despaired.

Eventually the weight of holding up his façade was too much.

He slowly edged out of the party,

Wandering back to his TARDIS.

The smooth wood felt cool,

Familiar under his fingers.

The Doctor gave a sad smile.

Rory and Amy Pond.

The Girl and Boy Who Waited.

But he could see it all now.

How much happier they would be without him.

Yes,

The emptiness would still burn like fire in his memory,

But they were happy.

He could go back to saving the universe with that thought on his mind.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, Raggedy Man," Amy's sassy Scottish voice cut into the Doctor's thoughts, "It's my wedding night."

"Away," He answered quietly, and stepped into the TARDIS.

Amy followed,

Dragging Rory behind her.

"My Ponds," the Doctor sighed, "I'm afraid this is goodbye."

"Yes, I think it is, right Rory?" Amy agreed.

"Yes, definitely," Rory answered, seemingly ready to leave.

But Amy said goodbye,

Not to the Doctor,

But to her planet,

To her life,

Because she knew where she belonged.

Right there,

Traveling with the Doctor,

Until the end came.