Hey, I made it. Just a day late that's all. Right guys? Right? Heh-hehnervous laugh. I said end of the week, and it's monday... Oh well, can't be helped.
Okay, lets get on with this: Knight Writer 95, thanks for the suggestion, works like a charm now. To every one else, thank you for your reviews!
Alright, you waited long enough. Here's the chapter that's been building for a while.
Note1: this chapter has (ItT) in the title. This means Into the Temple. It's a sub chapter heading linking a few together. This is part 3.
Note2: This chapter has been edited, see the end of the chapter for explanation.
Anakin, still thinking about the day's events, took his time to go to the Archives. He wanted to go, but he felt a great weight settle over him when he started moving. His body was lethargic and unresponsive, as if it was resisting going to the destination. Anakin didn't know why, but he felt that something was keeping him from moving. As much as he tried, there was a part of him that didn't want to face what could have been.
Wandering down the hallways, led by the moonlight Anakin tried to make sense of everything. The Force had never provided him answers to questions like this. The cloud that had clouded the eyes of the Council had always been there for him. It wasn't a sense of not seeing the future; far from it in certain cases, such as when he had visions of his mother dying. But those were given to him; he didn't search for them like he was now.
Why do I feel so conflicted? He wondered. I know Ahsoka's still out there, and she's alive, so why do I feel so horrible? I've been searching for her, and I think I've accepted the fact that I have done all I could. So what is still troubling me? Why do I feel so reluctant to look at Ahsoka's bust?
Still pondering that question, Anakin came to the outside of the Archives, but before he entered, he rested his head against the wall. Come on Anakin, It's not the end of the galaxy. Ahsoka's not really gone… He stopped. That is it. Ahsoka's not gone, but I wanted her to come back to the Jedi Order. This whole time I've been searching for her I've had the thought of her actually coming back to the Order. I want her back here so badly, but once I see the bust, then it will sink in that she's gone and won't be coming back.
Deep down, he knew that was it. He didn't want to accept the fact that she was gone. He had been fighting the feeling ever since she did leave. And if he saw her statue, then that hope would be gone.
But there was a darker, deeper feeling. Fear. Fear that he had truly failed at being a Jedi. Fear that he gave up on his friends. Fear of what the future held. If he failed at protecting his padawan, then who else would he fail? Would he fail his wife, Padmé? Would he fail Obi-Wan? The Council? The list goes on, but all centered around the fear of failure.
Anakin shook his head, trying to get the negative thoughts out of it. Come one. Just go in. You shouldn't be afraid. With those internal words, Anakin passed through the doors into the Archives.
Every time he has been in the Archives, it has been for a purpose. Anakin never went in there for recreation or for enlightenment about the Jedi way. It was always something he needed, or something he was told to look at. Starship manuals, droid schematics, and other technical books were usually what he looked at, trying to find new ships or droids to build and improve upon. Very rarely he would search for other material, and usually that was for a mission he was going on. Philosophy, history, and Jedi beliefs were sections that were barely touched, only visited when he was still a padawan and Obi-Wan made him read the materials. Anakin never perused them after that, only when necessary.
Anakin entered through the First hall, which was the History and Philosophy section. He noticed as he went in that there was a bunch of books and datapads piled up on one of the tables. I suppose that this is where all the Jedi in the Temple have been today. Then he wondered, why are they left out? Shouldn't they have been put back? Even if he didn't go the Archives all that much, he still knew common courtesy of putting things back where you found them… although that rule doesn't apply to his quarters.
He took a quick scan of them and found that they were mostly general history books of the galaxy, and some of them were Jedi history books as well. They were stacked on top of each other like somebody had pulled them out and tried to at least make them look neat. Anakin didn't think much of it, he was just mildly puzzled.
As he went further into the Archives, when he came to the rotunda, he saw something that gave him a small smile. Petro, a Jedi initiate, was asleep on the chair inside the circular main desk. His feet were up and planted firmly on the desk, and his hands were supporting his head. The boy himself was snoring gently, his mouth slightly open.
Anakin smirked to himself at the sight, but then sobered as he remembered something. Petro was one of a group of Jedi Initiates that Ahsoka took with her to Illum for them to make their own lightsabers. After they were finished, they were attacked by pirates, led by a familiar face to Anakin and Ahsoka both: Hondo Ohnaka. He wanted the lightsaber crystals the Initiates had just made, but Ahsoka fended off the pirates, but got captured in the process.
The other Initiates that Ahsoka saved decided to pull off a rescue mission of their own and freed Ahsoka from the pirates. But General Grievous came and captured the pirate base and almost killed them all when they tried to get off world. Ahsoka once again, saved them by holding off Grievous long enough for them to get a ship and escape, where Obi-Wan Kenobi quickly picked them up.
That was one of the last missions that Ahsoka went on by herself, Anakin thought. He looked back at Petro. Petro must have been worried when Ahsoka went on the run. He had developed a friendship with her forged out of conflict, so he, along with the rest of the group must have been deeply concerned about the recent events. Anakin knew firsthand that they got indirectly involved. When he discovered that Barriss was the one behind the Temple bombing, their following duel fell, or at least Anakin did, right in the middle of a lightsaber practice exercise which Petro was a part of. To say that the group was shocked must have been an understatement if Anakin ever heard one.
Anakin sighed to himself and decided to let the boy sleep. I don't blame him for falling asleep; Archive duty isn't exactly the most exciting thing to keep you awake, especially at this hour. Anakin reasoned that the pile of books on the table must have been one of the last things Petro did before falling asleep. That explains why they weren't put back.
But there was something nagging at him, something feeling out of place. Anakin looked around but didn't see anything amiss, so he moved around the sleeping Initiate to his original destination. However, if he had looked just a little harder just a few steps further ahead, then he might have seen a tall, strange, blue object hidden in the shadows in the Nature and Diversity hall.
Anakin walked a little further to the Geography and Politics hall, since that is where Obi-Wan told him Ahsoka's statue bust was. He walked with slow steps and his head down, not wanting to look at what was to come until he was ready. He made little noise and he moved across the room, his moonlit cast shadow hugging the ground. Once again, the darkness over his heart seemed to close in and threaten to overwhelm him. Anakin scrunched his face, and continued on to Ahsoka's statue…
Only to find someone else there.
Anakin stopped short. There was a man in front of him staring at Ahsoka's statue intensely, not noticing that he had company. He had slightly spikey brown hair, and was wearing a strange blue suit, a type that Anakin had never seen before. While that was fine, Anakin had seen many strange things people wore, it was the way the man was staring at Ahsoka's statue that made Anakin go on guard.
Who is he? Anakin wondered, I've never seen anyone dressed like that, and I'm pretty sure he's not a Jedi. But what is he doing here? Anakin was puzzled, then he thought, what is he doing here now? Who invited him in? Who let him in? Is he an intruder or a guest?
But then something clicked inside Anakin's mind. Why is he staring at Ahsoka's statue like he knows her? An echo came up from when he was talking to Dex, "There was one other thing, she had a human male with her. He was really strange. Friendly guy, but something seemed off about him and I can't put my figure on it. Wore some sort of blue suit I never seen before."
Is this the guy that Dex was talking about? This man matches his description. So what does he want, and what is he doing here? And how does he know Ahsoka?
Anakin walked around the table behind the man and decided that he better get his attention rather than just start talking, as there was no knowing how dangerous this person was. He held up his right hand over the table and knocked three times on it.
At the first knock, Anakin could see the man visibly tense up, probably from surprise at the sudden sound in the silence. At the second knock, the man jerked his head up violently and Anakin could suddenly feel waves of fear and worry radiate off him. Why is he so afraid? I could see some fear of getting caught, but this goes beyond a simple caught-in-the-act reaction. Anakin knocked a third time, and this time the man turned to face him. He had a youthful face that looked like he was in his mid twenties and had brown eyes. But Anakin could see a lot behind those eyes, not unlike the eyes of some people who've seen too much of the frontlines.
Anakin narrowed his eyes and said, "What are you doing here?"
The fear in the man's eyes diminished, and the overwhelming emotion calmed somewhat. But that was replaced with worry instead, although at a lesser level than it was previously. The man's eyes looked over Anakin much the same way Anakin's were. The man opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. He repeated this for a few more times then finally said, "I'm the Doctor."
Anakin frowned and was about to say something when the man frowned and said, "No, wait, that's not what you asked." He was obviously confused at what just came out of his mouth. "Usually people first ask "who are you" when they first meet me and then I'd say, "I'm the Doctor", but you asked, "What are you doing here?" So, uhh, let me start over." The man took a breath and said, "So: what am I doing here? Well, why do people come to a library? I wanted to look up some stuff before heading out again."
Anakin didn't know how to react to the man's character. I think I know why Dex though he was strange; he talks too much. Anakin straightened up and said, "Who let you in? You're obviously not a Jedi so who gave you permission to enter the Temple?"
The man shrugged and said, "I would have asked to come in, but it seemed that the help desk was busy checking his eyelids for holes." Anakin spared a glace over to the sleeping Petro before returning his attention back to the man. "So I decided to come in and just take a quick look around before heading out." The man seemed to suddenly remember something, and reached inside is coat. "I actually have permission to be in here, given to me by the Republic Senate." He said with a smile as he pulled out a small paper pad and showed it to Anakin.
Anakin read the paper, which said: The Doctor has the permission of the Galactic Republic Senate, in concordance with the Jedi Council, to access the Jedi Temple Archives at his own use for research. At the end was the seal of the Senate, making it legitimate.
Or making it seem that way. Anakin was momentarily fooled by the paper and saw it for what it was showing. But years of Jedi training kicked in and he realized that the paper had some sort of imprinted mind trick on it, making him see what the man wanted him to see. As he concentrated, the words started to fade away and made him see that the paper was really just that: a blank piece of paper.
Anakin's frustration started to increase. "Are you trying to trick me?" He growled as he started to walk around the table to the man's side.
The man's smile slid off his face. "Ah. Should have figured it wouldn't work." He muttered to himself before saying, "Actually, no, I wasn't. I was testing a theory I had, and it worked out great." Anakin continued his slow pace to the man, and he saw him start to get nervous.
"You don't have any permission to be here." Anakin stated.
The man's mouth worked for a moment before he said, "Well, I did have permission in a way…"
"And who gave it to you?" Anakin demanded.
Anakin noticed the way the man's eyes flickered momentarily to Ahsoka's statue before he answered. "Now that is a very interesting story, and I'm sure that you want to hear it, but…" He reached out for this strange machine on the table, and Anakin reacted.
In one fluid movement, Anakin reached down, brought up his lightsaber and ignited it, pointing it at the man. The man stopped dead in his tracks. "As a matter of fact, yes I do." Anakin said. He gestured with the lightsaber to the machine, "What is that?"
"Oh this?" The man said, his cheeky voice back, completely ignoring the bar of blue tinted concentrated plasma pointed at him, "Oh it's nothing, just a little something I made to help me with reading all this stuff." He said looking at the tall shelves. Anakin took the opportunity to try and see inside the man's mind, like he did earlier with the Rodian. As he tried, he was suddenly thrust back by a strong mental barrier. He's strong, I'll give him that, but he doesn't seem Force sensitive. But how did he repulse by attempt so easily?
Anakin made direct eye contact with the man. He was also looking directly at Anakin, probably sensing his mental probing and seeing what he was going to do next. They eyed each other for a moment to make sure the other wasn't going to do anything before the man said, "Well, this has been nice but I need to get going, so…" He reached over the table and tried to pick up the machine again, and at the same time reached inside his pocket for something else.
Anakin stepped closer until the blade was a few inches away from the man. "Don't try anything." The man slowly straightened up and withdrew his hand from his pocket, holding a small metal device. "What is that?" Anakin asked.
"This?" The man said, "This is a sonic screwdriver. I was just going to fix something I saw wrong with my copier."
Immediately Anakin knew what was going on. "Copier? You were the one who pulled out all those books in the first hall? You were copying them?"
The man grimaced and scratched the back of his head, "Yea, sorry about the mess, but I was in a rush and couldn't find where I got them from. I mean I would have put them back, but still…" He stopped suddenly when Anakin shoved the lightsaber blade closer to his face "Ah, could you get that out of my face please?"
Anakin growled, "Not until you tell me exactly what you are doing here, and who you are." Anakin interrupted the man before he started, "And don't avoid the questions, understand?"
"Uh, yes."
"Good, now, who are you?"
The man got a mischievous glint in his eyes and said, "I'm the Doctor."
Anakin narrowed his eyes. "The Doctor. Just the Doctor? Doctor Who?"
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at that. "Just like Ahs…" He stopped as he caught himself from saying a name. He coughed and said, "Yes, my name's the Doctor. And you are?" He asked as he held out his hand, still keeping his head away from the lightsaber.
Anakin didn't respond to the prompt and ignored the hand. "So Doctor, what are you doing here?"
"Well, truthfully, I kinda needed some information to get around and I heard that this is the best place to find that. And since I can't take the stuff with me, that's where this comes in." He finished, gesturing to the copy machine he had.
"So you are stealing then." Anakin said.
"No I'm not." Came the reply. "Tell me, do you see me taking anything?" The Doctor asked with some venom in his voice now. "All I'm doing is copying raw data, nothing is being taken except the knowledge of each book and datapad, no more than if you yourself made a copy. So tell me, why are you interrupting me like this?" He said gesturing to the lightsaber held at him. "What have I done to warrant such a reaction?"
Anakin was slightly surprised. This is the closest this man (the Doctor?) has come to making a complete and honest answer, and is more intense than I would have thought. I need to be more careful.
Anakin adjusted the blade so that it was no longer directly pointing at the Doctor, making a higher angle pointing to the above ceiling. "You came here uninvited, and I'm surprised that no one stopped you before you got here."
"Well technically, I was asked to come here. And nobody here saw me come in, so nobody could of stopped me."
"You snuck in? So you're a spy then?" Anakin changed the angle of his blade again, once more pointing it directly at the Doctor.
"What, no! No no no no no no!" The Doctor said in protest, "I'm not spying on anybody. I'm helping a…" The Doctor paused, "a friend."
"And who is this friend? A Separatist infiltrator?" Anakin demanded an answer.
"No she's not. But, uh, she's, umm," the Doctor stammered, "you know, I don't know what she is right now. She's confused due to some recent events that I have yet to get to the bottom of."
Anakin stopped to think about what the Doctor said. Everything is adding up. The strange man, his avoidance to naming the person, Ahsoka's disappearance. I'm positive he knows about Ahsoka, but just a few things are missing, like who he is, where he fits into this, and where Ahsoka is.
"Then who is she? Name!" He nearly shouted, shoving the lightsaber closer to get his point across.
A sudden look of worry and concern crossed the Doctor's face. He seemed to be debating whether to keep the secrecy of his counterpart, or run the risk of enraging the Jedi with the lightsaber pointed at him further. He looked over at the bust, then after a moment the Doctor finally said, "Are you familiar with a former Jedi who goes by Ahsoka?"
Anakin blinked, and his arm wavered slightly. "How do you know Ahsoka?" He asked quietly.
Uh-oh, thought the Doctor, now comes the part where he is about to lose all self-control he had. I need to end this quick before I lose my hand… or my head this time, and I won't regenerate it back this time. And this person looks like he won't tolerate any more distractions.
"Uhh, we met quite accidentally. She found me in a bad state and took care of me until I recovered." The Doctor said.
"What happened to her?" The Jedi said, still staying worryingly quiet.
"She was in this apartment place when I met her, then we talked and she asked me to help her with something." He left out the parts with Ventress in them, not knowing how this guy would react to that knowledge.
"What did she want?" The Jedi asked, starting to lose his collected calm.
The Doctor grimaced and clenched his teeth together when he said, "It wasn't exactly what she wanted to be sure."
Anger flared in the Jedi's eyes and the Doctor suddenly felt his throat get tighter, making it hard to breath. Training prevented him from starting to gasp for air, but the Doctor was definitely alarmed. He saw the Jedi's left hand clenching and figured it was his doing. "Where is she?" He growled out.
The Doctor was about to answer when what could be called good timing happened. Alarms started blaring throughout the entire temple, warning everybody inside that there was an intruder. All throughout the Temple people were startled awake by the loud blaring siren, including a certain Initiate who was taking a nap in the Archives.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and the Jedi suddenly looked around, also startled by the alarm. The unseen grip on the Doctor's throat stopped and the Doctor sucked in some air. The Doctor had to give a small "I knew this would happen" smile to the Jedi saying, "That's probably her right now."
The Jedi turned back to the Doctor and something changed in his eyes. They hardened and turned cold. He drew the lightsaber back, and years of experience came to the Doctor, knowing that the young Jedi was going to attack him. Acting on reflex, the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at what he figured was a lightsaber. If it's a mechanical device, then it must have some sort of circuitry. Then if that's the case, then I could short it out for a brief time, at least long enough for me to not get my head impaled.
The Doctor pressed the activation button, and a high-pitched hum suddenly cut through the alarms. As the Jedi started to move forward, the lightsaber he was holding suddenly deactivated and made a short bizz-bizzt sound. The Jedi stared at the lightsaber in confusion. Taking advantage of his lapse in attention, the Doctor grabbed his copier and jogged past the Jedi. For some reason, as he passed the Jedi, the Doctor had the urge to pickpocket him, seeing that the Jedi's utility belt had a pocket for what passed for currency. So with this in mind, the Doctor made it so that he "accidentally" bumped into the Jedi, nabbing the pouch's contents in the process.
The Doctor quickly put the money in his pocket and then moved past the Jedi. Turning around and walking backwards, the Doctor said, "Sorry 'bout that, but I think that's my que to move along. Besides I think you have somewhere else you need to be, rather than bothering little old me." He said, commenting about the alarms. "Nice chatting with you, wish we could do it again!"
The Doctor turned around when he heard a confused "Huh?" behind him. He saw that the boy had woken up and was looking around somewhat groggy because of just waking up. Then his eyes cleared as he saw the Doctor moving around the rotunda. Then he got confused.
"Hello!" The Doctor said, being cheerful. "Nice to see you awake! I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up. Wish I could chat, but you know, things to do, places to see, people to save. The usual. Oh, by the way, the alarm wasn't me for once."
The boy's expression was priceless, being a mix of confusion, surprise, and astonishment. He stared at the strange man in a blue suit in front of him, not knowing what to say to the comments just made. Then he saw the person behind the man in the blue suit and worry came into his features. "Master Skywalker?"
The Doctor stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the Knight. "Skywalker? Ahsoka's master? That explains a lot."
"You will tell me what she is doing." Anakin said, using one of his more powerful mind tricks in the hope to get this Doctor to talk.
The Doctor could feel the mental suggestion behind it, and it was strong. Really strong. If he were anyone else it would have reduced him to blabbing his life story. That is, if he weren't a nine hundred year old Time Lord from Gallifrey. Instead, it just gave him a really good mental workout. He's good; I'll give him that. "Could you please stop trying to invade my privacy?" The Doctor said.
Anakin growled and made a run for the Doctor. Realizing that this would be a good time to get back to the TARDIS, the Doctor also ran as well. Heading to where he parked it, he fished the key out and opened the door. He managed to get inside and close the door just as Anakin's hand reached for his jacket collar.
The Doctor rushed over to the control panel after setting the copier down and started to flip switches and pull levers. There was hammering on the door as the Jedi tried to get in; but this was the TARDIS, so it would be impossible to get in. The Doctor turned on the outside monitor to see what was going on. The screen flickered on and the Doctor saw Skywalker standing outside the door pounding on it with his hands. "Good luck trying to get in." He muttered.
Then he saw Skywalker's hand move down to his belt. When it came back up, a bar of blue plasma came with it. Whoops, looks like my little bypass didn't last for long. The Doctor once again started moving around the console, but then he stopped. There was a glowing spot on the door, not very big, and not very bright, but it was there. He looked at the monitor again and saw that Skywalker had tried to impale the TARDIS with his lightsaber. I don't know whether to be impressed that he's breaking through, or to be angry that he's damaging my TARDIS! Enough's enough.
The Doctor flipped a lever and a familiar sound came through the area as the TARDIS dematerialized from the physical realm.
Vroomp-Vroomp-Vroomp-Vroomp.
Anakin had enough of this. What is this the Doctor entered? It's barely big enough to be an escape pod, and it looks to be made out of wood of all things. Anakin grabbed his lightsaber off of his belt from where he put it after the Doctor deactivated it with that device. Let's see if this can stand up to a lightsaber. At that, Anakin activated the lightsaber and brought it up to chest level, then plunged it into the strange blue box.
Or tried to. The blade suddenly stopped when it barely got less than a centimeter in. Huh? What is this? It looks like wood, but it's stronger than most metals I've seen. That didn't stop Anakin from trying harder. The spot where his lightsaber was digging in started to blacken from the heat and Anakin could feel some progress being made. Slow, barely noticeable, agonizing process, but it was there.
Suddenly a strange sound started filling up the air and the blue box started to disappear. Anakin felt the Force surge around the blue box, and it was almost overwhelming. "No!" Anakin shouted, but as the box disappeared, his lightsaber met with less and less resistance until it disappeared and his blade swiped through empty air, almost damaging the bookcase in front of him.
Anakin looked wildly around for any sign of the box, but there was only Petro standing there and the alarms blaring. He stood there with a dark look on his face, and he noticed that Petro was looking at him funny. He looked at the boy, and saw him flinch. He realized that his glare must have startled him, so he tried to lighten his face.
Petro hesitantly approached. "Master Skywalker, who was that man?"
Anakin looked distant at that moment. Honestly, he didn't have an answer for Petro because he didn't know himself. The man raised more questions than he provided answers, and Anakin wasn't much closer than he was an hour ago to finding Ahsoka. The only thing he had was that she was somehow connected to the Doctor.
"Master Skywalker?"
Anakin looked down at Petro, seeing the concern in the young boy's eyes. Anakin thought for a moment before he said, "I don't know Petro. I don't know."
Somewhere in the Temple somebody turned off the alarm, and the sudden silence was defining. Then Anakin's communicator started beeping. "Skywalker here." He said.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan's voice came though, "can you come up to the lightsaber vault? We have something that you should see."
Anakin could hear the concern in Obi-Wan's voice. "I'll be right there." Then he cut the transmission. He paused for a moment before saying to Petro, "Go back to your quarters and get some rest, I'm sure we'll be fine without you for the time being."
Petro nodded and headed out of the Archives. Anakin stayed a minute longer before doing the same.
"Well that was entirely too close." The Doctor said to nobody in particular. He had managed to get inside the time-vortex before Skywalker did any real damage to the TARDIS, but the episode reminded him that there was such a thing as too close of a call. He walked around, making sure that he was firmly inside the vortex before lifting up the copier and plugging it to the central computer. Hmm… it'll take a while for it to download, so I'll just have to wait until then.
So he moved around and plopped himself on the swively chair. He idly rotated back and forth for a moment before he started doing the one thing he didn't want to do right now: think. If I think, then I'll start having a discussion with myself again about whether to take Ahsoka with me, which is entirely out of the question by the way. And if I do have that conversation with myself, I need to remind myself of all the reasons why I shouldn't bring her with me. Then I need to rationalize those reasons into something that even I can't refute. But then there will be that last minute doubt that'll make me reconsider and fool myself into thinking one more trip. Then that trip will turn into one more. Then another. Then another. Then another until something happens to her and she becomes lost to me. Then I'll blame myself for letting something happen to her and I'll carry that with me forever.
I cannot take her with me. It's for my own good and for her own. She'll become something different than she is and it won't be for the better. She'll change into someone else, not who she is. It's happened before. Rose Tyler, the sweet girl becoming the Bad Wolf. Martha Jones, the nurse turned warrior. Donna Noble, hotheaded human now half Time Lord. What will Ahsoka be? Ex-Jedi becoming what? No I can't take her with me.
"But then who will watch over you?" A voice said in the back of his head.
"Oh great, here we go again." The Doctor, or the first part of him thought, "I can't and you know why."
"Yes, but we also know what happens when you are by yourself." The second part said.
"Don't bring that up again. It was a mistake, and I've learned not to do it again."
"Sure. You've learned how much you can alter events, and now you believe you can avoid those mistakes but still do the same thing. You think you've learned, but you're fooling yourself."
"I have learned. I can never be the Time Lord Victorious. I can never control the laws of time. I know that."
"But at that moment you didn't, and it took a life to make you learn that."
"All the more reason not to take her with me."
"All the more reason for you to. She could stop you from going too far to prevent something like that from happening. She knows the universe in simpler terms, terms that you seem to have forgotten."
"I haven't forgotten them, and it was one time-"
"One moment is all it takes."
"Enough!" The Doctor shouted to an empty room. "No more. I'm not taking her with me and that's that."
The voice was silent, and the Doctor relaxed slightly. But then, "Are you just going to leave her there?"
The Doctor sighed and started pacing around the room. "I said I wouldn't rescue them out if things went wrong. And why should I? They strong-armed me to coming here in the first place. Why should I help them?"
He stopped pacing. "There's no reason to. They've done nothing to make me want to do such a thing, so why do I feel… bad about it?" The Doctor frowned. He found himself in front of the control panel with his hand on the coordinates back to where the two women said they would be. Ahsoka's done nothing to warrant such an action from me. True she took care of me, but I've repaid that several times over by now, and don't get me started on Ventress. So, what is stopping me from just leaving them?
The Doctor pondered for a moment before realizing the reason. I'm curious. Why did Ahsoka leave the Jedi? What has happened to her? She's a mystery and I can't resist any mysteries that come my way. But that's not it, at least not completely. I feel something, like I want to know her and heal what she's been through. She's been though a lot, and I am a Doctor. And…
And I do need someone to look over me.
The Doctor had his hand over the lever that would materialize him where Ahsoka and Ventress would be when he left. He sighed, realizing that there never was any decision to be made. He grasped the lever tighter and pulled down.
"Allons-y!"
This chapter was a bugger to write. Much longer than the other ones I've done, and I'm happy with it. I'm not sure how long the next chapter will be; it might be long or it might be short, who knows? The words come and flow when they do.
Anyway, next chapter, we'll be catching up with Ahsoka and Ventress, and you can bet those two will get along nicely insert dripping sarcasm here. And what did they do to set off the alarm? Find out next time!
*Note2: I changed what Obi-Wan said to Anakin from communications center to lightsaber vault. The change will be evident in the next chapters.
As always R.R.F.F. (Read. Review. Favorite. Follow.)
-OrangeGalen