"What did you call this place again?" Amy asks, walking further down the path, the ground appeared to be painted a dim yellow colour. An atrocious contrast to the lush greenery that surrounded them, with majestic hills that could be spotted not too far from where they stood. "Well, many call it Osmolia, the land of impossible dreams. But I prefer to just call it the Land of Oz" the Doctor explains, closing the Tardis behind him. "Like that story, with the Wizard of Oz" Rory states proudly, piecing the two things together.
"The Wizard of what?" the Doctor asks incredulously, unaware that there's a tale about some Wizard in Oz. "You know, with Dorothy and her merry band of misfits" Rory explains, curious as to why the Doctor doesn't know about it, even imitating the infamous quote in a high-pitched voice "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore".
"No, sorry" the Doctor frowns "I'm afraid I don't know of that tale."
"It's a great movie, one of my favourites" Nora comments absent-mindedly, admiring a lively rose bush nearby. The Doctor smiles fondly. Amy coughs rather loudly, catching everyone's attention, "So why are we here? Anything worth running away from?" she asks, with a certain gleam in her eye. Nora could feel the sense of adventure radiating off of her, like she was ready to run for her life at any given second.
"Last time I checked, no." the Doctor points at Amy "And the last time I checked, this adventure was for our guest". Nora smiles at his comment, happily skipping ahead of the group, she briefly turns around and waves them over "Come along then".
Walking around, Nora begins to wonder how Amy could prance around in boots, when she could barely make it around in her loafers. Her heel wasn't even an inch tall,and her feet were already sore. "So, um, Nora" Amy spoke up just behind the brunette, pulling her out of her thoughts, "I know it's not really my place to know-"
"It's alright Amy, you can ask" Nora chuckles, allowing the ginger to catch up with her.
"You said that you were close with the Doctor. I was just wondering... how close, exactly?" Amy hesitates.
"Well" Nora thinks for a while, smiling to herself "I guess you could say we were, very, close"
"Like" Amy then makes kissing motions with her hands, causing Nora to chuckle and nod. Amy blushes at the thought, she'd thought about kissing the Doctor many times, but she could never imagine him being intimate with anyone. However, she was intrigued to say the least, "How long did it go on?" the ginger adds.
"I'd say almost a year, but he was always in and out" Nora reminisces her days with him.
"And he never asked you to be a companion?" Amy crossed her arms, feeling slightly defensive for Nora.
"He did, many times. But I could never do it" Nora looks away in the distance, still remembering that moment as if it happened yesterday. "Oh. How come?" Amy piqued, she didn't know how anyone could turn down such an offer, especially if they were intimate. However, she could see the brunette struggling to answer her question, a hesitant look resting on her face. Amy realises that she had just put the smaller girl in an uncomfortable position and immediately apologises "You don't have to answer".
"No, it's fine. It's just…" Nora didn't know how to put it to words. How do you tell someone that you wished you were them? That it should be you travelling with the Doctor, that it should be you gallivanting across time and space in the Tardis, without making them feel guilty. Amy could see the conflict in Nora's eyes, and decides that the answer wasn't worth it, not if it'll only make Nora uncomfortable.
"Right, I'm beginning to wonder if this place is just one big un-inhabited garden" Amy shouts, directing her statement to the bow-tied man. Nora looks up in surprise, barely catching Amy's subtle wink. She wasn't sure if she was thankful for the diversion or not, but they had been walking for a few minutes now, and she was yet to see another living creature.
"That can't be right. The Land of Oz is supposed to be buzzing with people, even travellers, from across the galaxy" the Doctor takes out his screwdriver and scans the place, and when he checks it, he adds "Something's wrong" in dangerously low tone. He speeds off in front of everyone, running down the same yellow path, making random turns, and his companions could do nothing but follow along.
Rory, who has been silent for some time, notices something off about the path. Every time he tried to follow along, the path always seem to diverge. And each time, the yellow path would be narrower or more hidden in the greenery, in comparison to his other option, which was painted a deep red. But before he could say anything, the Doctor puts a hand up, motioning for everyone to stay low. He puts a finger over his lips, as he manoeuvres everyone behind a rose bush.
Not too far from them, a small capsule, made of metal, floats above the yellow path. The Doctor eyes it carefully, trying to figure out what it's doing. The metal contraption simply floats along, minding its own business, until it was out of sight. The Doctor keeps his hand up, telling everyone to stay low, as he stands from his crouched position to make sure their surroundings were clear. A few seconds later, Amy pops up next to him, "So, now what?" she asks.
"I didn't say you could come up yet" the Doctor frowns. "Yeah, well, there's no one else around. So I reckon we're pretty safe" Amy answers, dusting herself off. Nora is next to stand up, and Rory was still feeling off about the diverging red path. As he was about to speak up again, Amy accidentally cuts him off "So, the place is abandoned, and there's weird flying objects going around. If I knew any better, I'd say something evil lurks about" the red head smirks, excited at the idea.
"Yes, very much so" the Doctor replies, less enthusiastic than his companion. "Well maybe people just stopped coming, maybe the Land of Oz just stopped becoming an attraction" Nora offers absent-mindedly "And all that's left is this beautiful garden, and that metal contraption tends to the plants so they don't wilt."
"Well, good guess, but quite impossible" the Doctor smiles, appreciating Nora's participation "You see, the Land of Oz is famous for its title, the land of dwelling dreams"
"Dwelling dreams?" Amy piques "So literally like the Wizard of Oz."
"Like who?" the Doctor asks, however he could care less as there were bigger things at hand "Whatever. What I'm trying to say is, no one will just abandon this place, because the Land of Oz will literally grant you your wishes; no one can turn down that opportunity."
"So, maybe they were invaded?" Amy offers, crossing her arms "I mean, come on. Planet that grants you your wishes? Everyone would be after this place."
"But that's the thing" the Doctor rebuts "The Land of Oz is protected by the whole universe, a common agreement between species. Everyone is in harmony here, and in turn, they all get their wish granted"
"So someone broke the rules" Nora finishes off "It's not hard to be selfish, Doctor". The time lord sighs. She's right. He thinks to himself for a moment. A planet invaded by, possibly anyone at this point, but for what reason? They could have just had their wish granted; a dream of domination, and the Land of Oz would have given them a simulation, allowed them to be the ruler of some made up kingdom. What did they gain from this?
The Doctor paces for a few seconds, until he almost bumps into Nora. Then he remembers Nora, the woman he was supposed to grant a magical adventure to, suddenly turned into a whodunit mystery. He quickly turns to the girl with apologetic eyes, "Nora, I am sorry for dragging you along such a dilemma. I didn't even realise-"
"It's okay. I really don't mind" Nora chuckles, skipping over, reassuring him "I mean, who gets the chance to solve mysteries in the universe every day. I'm milking this trip for all its worth."
The Doctor grins at her answer, clapping his hands together as he dives into the plan. "Well, in that case. Nora Smith, you and I will look for that… weird floating capsule thingy. And, Amy and-" the Doctor pivots and to his surprise, he only finds Amy "Where's Rory?"
The red-head spins on the spot, "He was here a second ago" she replies, unsure of her own answer. She looks around to where he could have gone, but there was only one yellow path, and she doubts Rory would have swam through the hedges without leaving a mark. "He couldn't just vanish in thin air, could he? He definitely couldn't escape so easily, where would he run to? We would have surely heard him" Nora deduced by herself, trying to figure out where Rory could have gone to.
The Doctor would have praised Nora's train of thought, had he not realised what was going on. He froze, as realisation hits him like a bucket of ice. He was so caught up in solving the mystery, he forgot to tell his companions a crucial piece of information about this planet. He begins to hit his head repeatedly, mumbling out his and stupidity. Nora, who'd seen the quick change in character, rushes up to him, similar to how she would with her Doctor. She pries his hands away from his face, hushing him in a commanding and calm tone. At this, the Doctor is pulled out of his thoughts, and towards the woman in front of him. For a second, Nora forgets that this is a different man, and she treats him the same way she'd treat him. "Come on love, calm down. Now tell me what's wrong? What did we miss?" she asks calmly.
"The path" the Doctor breathes out.
"What about the path?" Nora slowly steps away, allowing him to do his work. The Doctor takes out his sonic and does a quick spin, scanning the area around him. Checking the readings on the screen, he sighs to himself, how could he forget?
"The paths in Oz are designed to lead you to your desires, your wishes. The moment you set foot on this planet, the path will attach itself to your mind and read your thoughts, allowing it to see what it is that you desire"
"So this yellow path leads us to what we desire?" Amy asks, looking up ahead of them, curious as to what they'll receive. "No, the yellow path is designed to be the main path, similar to a main road. It gets you to places like the city square" the Doctor explains "No, the yellow path won't lead you to your wishes. But once the psychic link has been made, it finds your wish,and it will create a diverging path, and that path that leads you to your granted wish".
"So you're implying that Rory followed his diverging path?" Nora asks, piecing the puzzle together. "But that's impossible, we would have seen it" Amy cuts in, a bit furious that her boyfriend just left her like that.
The Doctor rubs a hand down his face, walking away from the two women hounding him down. "No, we wouldn't have" the Doctor answers Amy, his back facing her "the paths are designed for you, therefore you're the only one who can see it".
"So him vanishing…"
"He was following his path" Nora finishes off for Amy. "He wouldn't just leave like that, would he?" Amy asks, more to herself than the others. "It depends, what was he wishing for?" the Doctor comments, his features falling to a frown as he stared at the pink path that suddenly appeared in front of him.
A/N Ooooh, so many questions! So many paths! What does it all mean?
I hope you don't mind me making up my own adventure, the story really stuck out to me, and I wanted to try something a bit different.
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story, and feel free to let me know what you think of it so far! - Angel