"Oublieux." Rose repeated the strange name, her mouth curling around the word. It tasted foreign on her lips.
The Doctor looked over at her, his brown eyes wide. He blinked several times.
"It's French, meaning "forgetful." Welll… actually it is derived from Oublieux's native peoples, but the word was likely integrated into multiple languages, including human French, by travelers like us. Strange to think the travelers probably forgot where they heard it…" he trailed off, gaze stuck in a "spaced out" look while he stared at nothing in particular.
"The time lord over here has been avoiding the planet for years now," Jack chimed in. Rose had almost forgotten that he was there. He was leaning against the door frame with one foot propped up behind him, inspecting his fingernails coolly.
Rose looked to the Doctor, eyebrows knitted together.
"Doctor, is that true? 's not like you to avoid an adventure."
He continued to appear lost in thought. "I wasn't avoiding Oublieux," the Doctor turned to face her. "I couldn't find it. Everyone who has ever visited the planet has forgotten. Bit of a legend."
He pivoted on his heels and started toward the console room. Rose had to jog to keep up with him, Jack trailing not far behind.
The Doctor grabbed his coat from the console chair, making his way to the door.
"Why d'ya keep talking about people forgetting this place? Is it that dull?" Rose started, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't satisfied with his earlier explanation. The Doctor and Jack's initial reactions still bothered her. There was something they weren't telling her.
"Oh yes. Welllll… It seems as though there is a force on the planet that keeps its visitors from remembering their trip. Or anything else for that matter," the Doctor explained, his eyes dark.
"The Mangeurs de Mémoire," Jack added, placing his hand on Rose's shoulder.
The Doctor nodded gravely. "Those are the natives to Oublieux. Human French for 'Memory eaters,' except technically it's not really from humans that we get their name, because the humans who visited Oublieux-"
"Yeah, yeah. The whole thing with the human French really coming from Oublieux language," Rose cut him off mid-sentence. There were more pressing issues on her mind then the roots of alien linguistics. "But what do these things look like, the memory eaters? How do they get people's memories?"
"That's just it though. No one knows because they can't remember it. Whatever these 'mangeurs de memoire' are, they use memories as a source of energy, of life. Unfortunately for us, we won't know what they look like until it's probably too late," the Doctor replied.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "So pretty much, we're on an alien planet where everyone loses their memory and we don't even have a clue what the creatures look like?"
"Yep," he agreed, popping the "p" sound.
The Doctor flashed a brilliant smile and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Rose felt all of her previous reluctance melt away. She knew that no matter what danger may face them, the Doctor was worth it.
He led them to the door. "Allons-y!"
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Several bright suns and an earth-like forest greeted Jack, Rose, and the Doctor when they stepped off the TARDIS. Rose looked around, admiring the beautiful landscape. Tall trees stretched high all around them, the branches of the trees overflowing with leaves of every variation of green. She could hear chirping songs from bird-like creatures. In the middle of the forest was a sundrenched meadow filled with lush alien flowers.
"It's so beautiful!" Rose breathed, taking in her surroundings like a small child in a candy shoppe. She must have sounded like a child too, because the Doctor let out a chuckle.
"It truly is brilliant," the Doctor agreed, his face lit up like a fireworks display.
Jack let out an exaggerated sigh. "Well I'd love to just stand here and take in the beauty of nature… buuuut I have some locals to find. The memory-eaters aren't the only ones who can make someone lose their memories." He winked at the last part.
The Doctor rolled his eyes at him. "Good idea." Rose shot him a strange look. "The part about finding the locals," he stumbled, quickly trying correct himself.
Rose had to bite down hard on her lip to suppress a giggle. The Doctor cleared his throat.
"I think that I'd be good for us all to look around, and see what we can find. I have to run some tests on a few samples back in the TARDIS…" His eyes darted wildly at some of the plants around them, many of which they had never seen before. "But you lot should be fine on your own for a bit."
Jack nodded and gave the Doctor a mock salute. He began to walk away, off to find something or someone with a compatible physiology to mate with.
Rose shook her head, laughing at him. "That man…" She looked back at the meadow she had seen before. She started to walk toward it, but the Doctor grabbed her wrist.
"Rose, please be careful." He turned her to face him. His eyes were big and pleading.
"Aren't I always?"
The Doctor chuckled. "Rose Tyler, you are a magnet for danger. Really, please come find me if you see anything strange. I shouldn't be gone for too long though."
"I'll be fine. And if I do happen to see anything, I can just phone you." She poked at the phone in the pocket of her jeans. "Now go play with your alien plants, you daft man." She playfully shooed him away.
The Doctor bent down to pull leaves off of several strangely colored branches that lay around them. He gave her a beaming smile before heading back to the TARDIS, leaving her to herself.
Rose continued toward the beautiful meadow, which seemed to have a dream-like aura surrounding it. The field was filled with flowers of all different sizes, colors, and shape, and each flower she saw became her new favorite. A pleasant perfume-like smell hung in the air and filled her lungs. Oublieux isn't dangerous, she mused to herself as she sat down on the soft green grass. It's beautiful!
A wave of exhaustion hit Rose. She let herself sink into the grass, which felt like a mattress beneath her small figure. A kip sounds nice. It's just a nice meadow. And the grass is so soft…
Rose let her eyes wander shut. She could faintly hear the sounds of melodious singing off in the distance. She felt herself slowly black out as she gave in to her exhaustion.
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Rose's eyes fluttered open to reveal the Doctor's face hovering over her. Surprised, she recoiled away from him, stumbling to her feet. She looked him over, her forehead creased with confusion.
"How was your sleep?" he asked slowly, giving her an odd look.
"It was really good. The grass is really comfy." Her eyes continued to dart across his face.
"Fantastic! I've run those tests on the plants. Jack hasn't come back, so I assume he's found someone to entertain himself with. We should probably go look for him."
"That sounds great, but one thing first," Rose squinted her eyes at him, as though she was trying to look at something far away. "Who are you?"
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A/N: Thank you all for reading the story and for your wonderful reviews. They mean the world to me. I apologize for taking so long to update, but I've been going through a lot of personal issues lately and my life has been nothing short of hectic. Please leave me a review, and I'll see you on the update!