Prologue
Lost
"There was a planet once… it was vast with trees and plains and rivers… It was beautiful: Almost as beautiful as Gallifrey. I always loved to go there, especially once my home was gone. It.. comforted me, I guess? But anyway… this planet was called ATEOTU, a strange name for a planet indeed. I don't know what its supposed to symbolize.. but it's there. I would change it but that's illegal under proclamation number 1043 of the shadow proclamation: 'no changing planet's names'. That's probably a good rule because the Daleks would have changed Gallifrey's name to something strange and offensive, and since.. as much as I hate to admit it… since my people were generally uptight, we probably wouldn't' have done it back. Rubbish, right?! Oh, sorry.. I'm getting off track again.. Anyway, this planet… it disappeared one day. Well, the city on it disappeared first. It just.. left overnight! They searched and searched.. and none of the searchers ever returned, so they gave up. The area around that planet, the entire system it was in; was evacuated for fear that whatever had taken them would take the rest of those planets too. They just left it, Amy. It could still be out there! Anywhere in the universe.. People have tried looking, including me.. but nobody ever finds it.. "
There was silence for a bit after the Doctor's mouth closed once again, his words; the story he had told out in the air. Nothing was left to say. All there was now was silence, the Doctor sitting across from Amy in one of the many rooms of the TARDIS: the library. Amys eyes were filled with thought, sadness creeping into her gaze as well, as she thought of those lost. "How did it just.. go away..?" he murmured, her eyes meeting the Doctor's. "How has nobody found it..?"
"I don't know," the Doctor answered quickly, his hands clasped together, his eyes cast downwards. The planet had felt like a second home again, the second home he'd lost. The last time he had actually settled down. He had always figured; why settle down if it would always leave you? It was like him and his companions.. they always left in the end; didn't they?
"Doctor?"
He snapped back to reality, looking up at the concerned red head. "You okay, Doctor?" she asked, standing and coming to sit next to him on the couch he had taken residence on.
"Yeah.. yeah I'm fine," the Doctor responded; his answer hardly convincing. Deciding not to pester as usual, Amy entwined her hand with his, resting her head on his shoulder as she stared into the depth of his library; where his gaze seemed to be fixed. His hand tightened around hers almost instantaneously, and Amy could have sworn that she saw the ghost of a smile etched onto his face.
The silence returned once more, for longer now. Until, Amy spoke once again. "Doctor?"
"Yes Amy?" his head turned to look at her and she sat up, meeting his gaze.
"Can we look for it?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
The Search Begins.
