The Doctor had many regrets from his long life, many indeed. They tore at him from the inside out: all those he abandoned, all those he was forced to leave to die, all those he betrayed. They haunted him in his waking hours and in his sleep, clamoring to be heard. And he couldn't drive them away.

All those people he never said goodbye to. Donna, Sarah Jane, Ace, Susan, Romana, even Mickey, the idiot. And so many more; so many who he had abandoned, so many who had been trapped, so many who died. He missed every one of them with a longing that devoured his soul. It wouldn't go away, couldn't be cured. There was no time to repair the wounds they made inside him. No time.

As he sat on the chair in his TARDIS console room, the Doctor felt his life force ebbing away. There was no time to visit anyone else, as soon he would be gone. Only time to remember, to rejoice in what was and to regret what could have been. He guessed it would have to be enough.

Almost 2000 years. Quite short for a Time Lord, but quite long enough for him. Now that he thought about it, he was ready to die. After saving the universe so many times, and meeting so many extraordinary people, he didn't think there was much more to live for. It wasn't worth it, being alone. No joy or awe could replace the feeling of loss, knowing that he was and always would be completely alone. That's why it was time to move on.

He breathed in and out. He closed his eyes. He leaned his head back in the seat. A single tear was on his cheek, but no one was there to brush it away.

And so there, completely alone, the Doctor drew his final breath. His soul left his body, and dissolved into the fabric of the universe, giving it new life. His mind passed into all the minds of every being in the world, giving them all a little more wonder. And his body lay there, preserved for all eternity, floating in the Time Vortex with no means of escape. Suspended in the TARDIS, suspended in time, as a Time Lord should be. And gradually people forgot about the Time Lords, about Gallifrey, about the war that destroyed two great empires but created a man. Fact turned into legend, forgotten over the ages of the universe. But it didn't matter. Because the man who lay suspended in time for all eternity had finally achieved what he had always wanted- peace.