A Sky Full Of Stars

She stared at the scratches on the wall. There were enough days and nights and weeks and years that had passed by but she never forgot. A new one added to what seemed like a thousand, a wall covered with a load of marks that meant something significant only to her. She grabbed her staff, eating once again outside and gazing at the landscape, the waves of sand travelling into the distance and seemingly beyond the horizon. Whatever was out there, she never knew it. She never knew any other life but the one she was leading. It was only vague, anyway. A trapped memory in her brain, only just remembering the day she was taken away. Shouting, crying, longing to jump back into her father's safe and secure arms but being carried away by new and foreign people. Her attachment to Jakku was neither a desire nor the spirit of free will. She stayed and waited. Waited for them to come back and reclaim her as their daughter. Her parents, who she knew were still out there, as sure as the beats of her heart were still steady. Contemplating the bright sapphire sky and burning sun she leaned on her staff and dreamed momentarily of life beyond the ever expanding sands.

••••

'Where are we going?' She asked, biting her lip in anticipation.

'Take a chance?' He said, patting her shoulder as he pulled the lever.

'If it's somewhere acidic again, I won't be thanking you.'

'Well, at least if it is, we have my acid-proof umbrella.'

'Yeah, I'm not sure that actually works, Doctor.'

'It did for me when I visited the Talismanian galaxies. It poured for a whole month and left the atmospheric dust shrink.'

'No acid,' she said firmly, 'Somewhere hot.'

'Well, we're about to find out.' He said, as the ship careened from left to right and suddenly stopped with the sound of the screeching brakes warbling out.

'We better hope it's not that tribe again that stole the TARDIS for the vworp vworp noise.'

'Yeah,' he reminisced, pointing a finger and laughing, 'that wasn't a great day.'

'Actually, it was a very good day.' She countered, pulling the lapel of his red velvet jacket teasingly as they opened the doors to the landscape beyond them.

'Well, you said you wanted somewhere hot.'

Clara stepped out into the scorching heat, observing the endless mountains of sand and creasing her eyes from the sun.

'It looks barren. Do you think there's something here for us?'

'Hmm, let me just check.' He walked back to the console, observing the screen panels. From there she could only see the Doctor's face furrow and eyebrows knit and she stepped back inside the cool TARDIS.

'Where are we, Doctor?' She asked.

'It's, uh, somewhere we haven't been before.'

'Ooh,' she lit up, eyes widening at the Doctor, 'new adventure.'

'Maybe.'

'Come on, let's check it out.' Clara encouraged, raising her eyebrows in excitement. He carefully walked over to her, closing the doors behind him and inspecting each aspect of their surroundings with precision. He raised his index finger in the voluminous path of light cast from the sun for a second before he nodded. 'Doesn't seem to be harmful. Normal levels of oxygen, no radiation, no acidic rain possible.' He joked.

'But I can sense alien life.' He announced, turning to her with a grin.

Clara beamed in return and they trekked across the scope of desert with the same enthusiasm they always beheld.

'Which planet is this?'

'We're in a star system for sure...somewhere very, very distant from our own. Perhaps even a whole new galaxy of solar systems, Clara,'

'A galaxy far, far away.'

'You could say that,' he turned to her, eyes squinting in ponderation, 'But there's a pull. A very powerful pull, extra terrestrial. It's very...strange.'

'What, are you okay? Does it hurt?' She asked, watching his eyes shut and a hand close over his chest.

'When was the last time we visited the Prymodial galaxy?'

'Why are you bringing this up?'

'It's important.'

'I don't know. More recently than anything, I think.'

'It can't be that, then.'

'Why, what's wrong?' She asked, a fraction concerned as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'I think we have been here before, Clara, a long time ago.'

'How can we be in a solar system we've been before but don't remember?'

'How can you be flying around space with a two-hearted Time Lord?' He questioned back.

'Touché. But how? I would have remembered it.'

'I don't know. But it feels...familiar. I think we're nearing a city. So many...life forms.'

They stumbled on, and Clara removed her jumper, tying it round her waist, the heat flushing her cheeks already.

'Why didn't you change into something less...tight?'

She arched an eyebrow. 'Why didn't you?'

'My body temperature is a lot lower than yours, Clara.'

'Yeah, but you're still sweating.' She laughed.

In defeat he removed his jacket and waistcoat, throwing it over his shoulder.

'So, we've been here before, despite not remembering it...what if we aren't greeted so well by the residents?'

'It was only a theory, but it has the exact same energy as we visited last time. It's coming back to me, Clara.'

'What did you think we did here?'

He didn't answer, but looked oddly solemn.

'Doctor?'

He looked straight ahead. A memory flashed before his eyes before he could stop it.

'I think we should go back.'

'What?'

'I know what's beyond. We need to get back now.'

'Why, is it something life threatening?' She asked, staring at the Doctor pointedly.

'No, but there's someone there we shouldn't meet again.'

'Why? Did we upset them?'

'No, it's something much more complicated than that.' He shook his head. Clara was confused to no end and of course in want of answers.

The Doctor knew now, remembered. The memory wipe had only been a human one. And he wasn't human. It had distracted him, made him forget in time, but now back on this planet...he knew.

'Doctor, where are we? I know that look, you're not telling me anything.'

When he neither responded nor took a step she walked up to him and with a much fiercer tone of voice she put him in place.

'Doctor, where are we?'

He looked to the sand beneath his feet, avoiding her gaze for a second before he met her eyes and replied simply. 'Jakku.'

'Jakku?' She said, her face creasing, 'I feel like...I feel like I recognise it.'

'I did tell you we had been here before. And we won't go back again. Come on, Clara.'

He turned his back, beckoning her to join him as he started walking back to the TARDIS, but she had moved in the opposite direction.

'Doctor, I can see a place. A town.'

He stopped in his tracks, sighing as he turned back. Now she'd definitely want to investigate. He also felt tempted, but knew nothing good could come of it. He felt drawn, tied, and it must have been blood calling to blood because he had no doubt Clara was feeling it too as she stepped tentatively over the edge of the sand dune.

'Clara, we should go.' He said again, but the resistance was pulling at him further, his voice becoming weaker as he neared the edge himself. He could see the town Clara had mentioned, as unchanged as it had been last time. Without another word of protest she ran down and he had no choice but to follow her. When she found out...maybe he shouldn't tell her. But one look at her and Clara would know instantly. He feared her reaction and his own, yet at least knew better than to tell her about the memory wipe.