Doctor Who: The Boy Who Remembered (Fan Fic)

Chapter 11: No Place To Call Home

The Doctor had found himself in his favorite place to ponder, resting low and hunched upon the red armchair between the bookshelves of the upper balcony. Since arriving back onboard the Tardis he had not moved from his spot while Benjamin French found anything he could to pass the time. There were a hundred books to be read about things he knew nothing about, histories of species that defied the imaginings of even the grandest dreamers, and facts that challenged the basis of humanity's greatest sciences. Yet even amongst the wisdom of those from across the stars he had been captivated by none save the stars themselves. For somewhere amongst those distant bright lights racing across the threshold of time there was the planet he called home.

For the first time since stepping into the blue police box he had missed all of the people and things he had come to resent. There was no telling whether it had been days since having left, or if it had all taken place within a single night, but it had already felt like a lifetime had passed for the boy who remembered. All of the teachers who had called him different, his forgetful parents, and even annoying Margaret, had all seemed far less bothersome than before. Perhaps it had been the fear of knowing he might never see them again, or perhaps he had just forgotten the bad times all together, but for some reason, Benjamin missed home.

The Tardis had been set on a direct course with the Ood Flotilla which remained high in orbit around the planet of Tivoli. Although many had followed the wisdom of the Council and settled on the planet's surface even more had stayed behind. Queenie had few answers for the inquisitive Doctor, and even what little she knew had been far too cryptic to comprehend. For what clues had been left behind by the Faceless Man, the Doctor of either the past or the future, had been riddled with puzzles of a unique nature. It was clear the only hope that remained would be found on the Flotilla. Upon the sudden appearance of the Tardis in the middle of the throne room, the Tivolians had urged the Doctor to reconsider conquering them. With little hesitation the Time Lord had confidently declared he was quite sure he would not be returning any time soon before disappearing once more.

Benjamin had lingered by the screen as he watched the planet growing further away before joining the Doctor. It was only after he had seated himself upon the balcony that the Time Lord had raised a brow, "First a star goes missing, then an event in time, and now a planet. Curious."

"Do they have anything in common with one another? Something particular the Time Thief may have been looking for?" inquired Squire French.

The Doctor's eyes remained firmly shut as he rubbed his temples, "Just the fact that no one would notice them go missing."

"I wouldn't call the Crusades a minor point in history," argued Benjamin.

"Maybe to you lot," the Doctor had begun conducting a silent orchestra in his head as he swayed to a song the boy could not hear. "Whether you like it or not, the tales your era holds dear, if not the whole of human history, is but a spec of cosmic dust in the ever expanding universe. Trust me when I say not too many people will notice it has gone missing. But that still doesn't change the fact it should have been a fixed point in time. That there were elements surroundings the Crusades that should have consequently run their fated course."

Benjamin knew he should have felt offended on behalf of humanity but instead brushed it off, "Fine, then what about the star?"

The Doctor took a deep breath, still swaying his head to and fro, "What about the star?"

"Well...it's a star...I think more than one person would notice it has gone missing."

"Not necessarily," clarified the Time Lord. "You see our Time Thief is a clever one. He didn't just choose just any star. They chose a star with no major intergalactic societies along its timeline. No terrestrial home-worlds, just a few gas giants and uninhabitable planets along the way."