He sat in the snow; mind reeling and body coursing with pain. He could barely speak, barely move, and barely form a coherent thought. But he had to. He had to move, no matter how painful it might be, he had to keep moving. His song was ending, but there was still work to be done. In his hears he heard it; the sweet sound of another life as it pumped through him. Everything told him it was time, his time, time to let some new man saunter in as he staggers back into the shadows. As he rolled his head to one side, he looked out from the dirty and dank alley way he was in. In the distance, he saw him: The one who had herald his death from the very beginning. The one who told him he could not run, could not hide, the one who had singled him to his home world and shared with him the dreams of him and his kin.

Ood Sigma.

The Ood that had had rescued and freed so long ago, looked back at him with its large, bulbous eyes. It turned its head to the side, as if pondering to itself why the Doctor had chosen an ally way in London of all places to fall. The white orb connected that was tethered to his being by a white, plastic tube, glowed orange, and the Doctor soon heard a familiar voice echoing inside his head.

“We will sing to you, Doctor. The Universe will sing you to your sleep.”

The Doctor stared briefly at his friend, as if processing the words with that infinite brain of his. “Yeah? Well, pardon if I don’t oblige just yet.”

With a grunt, the Doctor pulled himself to his feet, and shook his duster dry of the newly fallen snow. Each limb burned with regenerative energies, every strand of muscle and atom that made up his being screaming for him to just give up. But giving up was not something the Doctor did, ever. What was to come maybe be inevitable, but he would be damned if he adhered to its schedule. After all, he was the Timelord Victorious. The laws of Time and Space bowed to him.

“You cannot delay this any longer, Doctor. Even Timelords must die. Everything that is born must someday die. Thus is the way of the Universe.”

“I’ve saved the universe time and again.” Grunted the Doctor as he took a pained step forward. “I think it can give me a bloody half hour or so to say goodbye.”

Again, the Ood cocked its head. “Goodbyes? But you have already said goodbye. All your companions, all of them. There is no on left.”

“Maybe.” The Doctor sighed as he walked towards his Tardis, keep it, and it alone, in his line of sight. No distractions, nothing to deter him. He had made it his mission to say goodbye to everyone he had met with his last few moments. Damned if he wasn’t going to do just that. “But that’s this universe. Plenty of others… others to go to…”

“There is no time, Doctor. Your song is ending.” The Ood watched in quiet quandary as the doctor passed him. “Even now, it sings to you. We sing to you. Can you hear us Doctor?”

The Ood was right. Past the sound of rushing blood, of pulsing veins and creaking bones of a body so old, he could hear it. His song. The song that would usher him to whatever lay beyond this world.”

“Then call this the Extended version.” With a snap of his fingers, the Tardis doors opened inward, and the Doctor was bathed in the familiar glow of his home. He smiled, happy to see someone who was not forecasting his death. Once inside, the doors shut behind him, and he tossed his coat onto the smooth, organic arch that had grown from the Tardis floor to support the ceiling. As he approached the Tardis Console, he heard Ood Sigma’s voice once again.

“You are out of time, Doctor.”

“I will make time.” He said Breathlessly. Not saying anything more, he placed his head on a round jade dial on the console, putting his fingers in between the teeth of its gear like dial. “In times of great duress, when a Timelord needs more time, they can activate something, something special, from their Tardis.”

He did not know if Ood sigma could still hear him or not, but he Didn’t care. Talking aloud, even just to himself, made him feel as if someone was there. And he needed someone, now more than ever.

“It’s called the Chronovert. It allows a Timelord to take a moment, any moment in time, and remove it from the time stream, allowing a Timelord to use those moments again. The displaced event vanishes from reality as if it never happened. Because now, it never did.”

He looked back behind him, and saw the muddled image of Ood Sigma looking back at him through the fogged glass of the Tardis.

“I’m taking this time.” He said. “Starting just after you told me about your singing me to my sleep. That was a nice sentiment, don’t want to get rid of that. But everything after it… up till now… I’m taking it, and I’m going to use it to say goodbye.” With a jerk of his wrist, he twisted the Chronovert and the Tardis lights shifted from amber to a deep blue. He could feel reality flex and bend around him, twisting and warping as it lost that moment from itself.

“The process is a bit unfair though. Taking a moment from reality and using it to fuel another… it’s a tricky thing.” He sniffed, and scratched behind his ear. It was funny, this habit of his. He never gave it much thought, just one of those quirks that made regeneration special. He was going to miss it. “Since you can’t very well leave a gap in between one moment and another, that would cause reality to bleed all over itself. You would get whole moments in time mixed with others, like... milk spilled into water.”

Releasing the Dial, the Doctor pressed a series of small button around the immediate area of the console. The Tardis let out a small groan, as if it was trying very, very hard to do what the Doctor wanted. “Instead, the time I used up will be taken out of my life and placed back into the time stream. I’ll be trading one moment for another. I won’t remember what I’m about to do. But that’s alright. I’m not exactly the one I’m doing this for.” He pulled a lever, an punched a few numbers and letters on a small typing pad into one of the Display monitors. “As far as Reality is concerned, the gap will have never existed. It’ll just… take the two ends where the moment was, and put them together. True, the end result may be a bit stretched out, time will move a bit slower here, kind of like sand through a funnel, or a worn spot on a VCR tape. But no one will ever notice.”

After making sure the information that the monitor had displayed back to him was correct, The Doctor placed his hand his hand on the shiny red handle of a metal lever. “No one will know what happened. And in exchange… I won’t remember what It is that I am about to do…”

He looked behind him, the blurred image of Ood sigma had gone. All he saw was black. Turning back to the Console, he sighed and looked at the Time Engine column in the middle of the Console. “Right then. Allons-y.”

With a quick tug, the lever fell into the place, and The Tardis kicked to life, flying away through time and space, and even further as the lines and boundaries of reality came undone. He was out of his universe now, and time would act differently. If he stopped now, he could remain in the void forever, never moving forward or back in his timeline. But he couldn’t stop, not even if he wanted to. His song may be ending, but he was the one who would conduct the final notes.  With a steadfast look of determination, the Doctor water for the moment when he touched down, when he could begin his final task.

“All aboard.” He said to himself. “Next stop, Equestria.”

Next Chapter: Goodbye Twilight. Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes