Chapter Five: The Cave of the Dark Side
"This place is different," Luke Skywalker commented.
The Doctor and Jennara had taken Luke out for a run as part of his training regiment. They were now into the middle of the third week, and Luke had grown even stronger in the Force, much to the Doctor's delight. The Doctor had felt that it was time to introduce Luke to the Cave that the Doctor himself had entered on his quest to learn how to preserve his consciousness. The Doctor was not surprised that Luke found the Cave different. He and Jennara could sense it, too. Anyone with a brain and two eyes could see that something was not right about this cave.
"How do you feel, Luke?" asked Jennara.
"I feel...cold," answered Luke. "Like I'm back on Hoth with no gear."
"What else?" asked the Doctor.
"I can feel anger, fear, rage, and death," Luke answered slowly. "It's the Dark Side, isn't it?"
"Yes," replied the Doctor. "I want you to go inside."
"What's in there?" asked Luke.
The Doctor was reminded of the exact words that Qui-Gon Jinn had spoken to him when he said, "Only what you take with you."
Luke began to head into the Cave, but was stopped by the Doctor one more time.
"Your weapons," he said, remembering his own encounter with the Cave twenty-three years ago. "Don't take them. You won't need them."
Luke looked at the Doctor for a moment, but ignored the request to leave his weapons behind. Blaster and lightsaber strapped to his belt, Luke journeyed into the Cave alone.
"Why did he take his weapons?" asked Jennara after Luke was out of sight.
"I don't know," said the Doctor. "He doesn't need them, yet he feels that he does."
"Why didn't you stop him?" asked Jennara.
"He needs to see what rushing headlong into battle will do to him if he is unprepared," answered the Doctor. "It's not my choice, Jennara. It's the choice of the Dark Side Cave to show him what it will. I'm just interpreting it."
"Okay," said Jennara, accepting the Doctor's answer and sitting down on a log. The Doctor sat with her and, after a few minutes of silence, nudged himself closer to her. She copied the act, nudging her body to be closer to his, smiling as she did so.
"What?" asked the Doctor. "What's so funny?"
"You are," said Jennara. "You're just sitting on a log trying to get comfy."
"I'll have you know that I am always comfy regardless of the seat on which I'm sitting," the Doctor said with an air of mock pride as he straightened his bow tie.
"Sure, that's exactly what it is, Doctor," mocked Jennara with a playful punch to the Doctor's arm that made his hearts skip a beat.
"It is," said the Doctor defensively, playing off Jennara's mockery.
"Alright, alright, I believe you."
The Doctor suspected Jennara of simply teasing him once more, but his mind stopped any and all thought on that when Jennara leaned her head against the Doctor's shoulder.
"I'm glad I met you, Doctor," Jennara said softly.
"Me, too," said the Doctor, placing his arm around her shoulder.
The Grand Master and the Knight looked at each other. The Doctor's green eyes locked with Jennara's brown, and he found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't think. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He had to break eye contact with her, but he found that he just couldn't.
What are you doing?! he thought to himself. Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT! You can't think of her this way. She's your former Padawan. You can't just go about kissing your students!
Even as the Doctor's brain tried to wrench his body away from Jennara, he found that his hearts had other plans. The Doctor and Jennara slowly inched their heads towards each other, their lips tantalizingly close. Jennara closed her eyes, and the Doctor did the same, preparing himself for the kiss.
But it never came. At that moment, Luke came bounding out of the cave, looking absolutely terrified. The Doctor and Jennara quickly broke apart, and the Doctor could feel his face burning scarlet. Jennara shut her thoughts out to him, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking. But if he had to guess, he would have said that she was just as embarrassed.
What interested the Doctor was Luke's fear. He had never felt something so strong. Luke was scared of what he had seen. The Doctor was curious as to what Luke had seen in there. He also wanted to see what would happen if the Doctor himself went inside. What would he see? Would it be different than what his tenth self saw? He imagined so, but there was only one way to find out.
"Are you coming, Doctor?" asked Jennara, breathless for a moment as her embarrassment continued to wear off. The Doctor looked at her and saw that she and Luke had already started back towards the camp, where Obi-Wan was certainly waiting for them.
"No, not yet," he said in reply. "I want to check something out."
"Okay," said Jennara as she made to follow Luke. "Be careful."
"Always," said the Doctor, so quietly that only he could hear.
A few seconds after Jennara and Luke left, the Doctor took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and reached out with his senses to his immediate surroundings. He had gotten a whiff of an old friend while he was sitting with Jennara.
Here we are again, Qui-Gon, the Doctor thought.
Indeed, said the disembodied spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn in reply, though your chin is noticeably bigger, my friend.
What is it with people and my chin? the Doctor thought self-consciously, to which Qui-Gon laughed.
Do you plan to enter the Cave again? asked Qui-Gon.
Yes, replied the Doctor. But first, I'm curious as to what Luke saw.
He saw what the Dark Side would make him, answered Qui-Gon simply. A copy of the man you know as Darth Vader.
I see, thought the Doctor quietly. He had suspected that that was what Luke had encountered, but he wasn't entirely sure until Qui-Gon had told him. What will I see?
Now, Doctor, Qui-Gon said almost scoldingly. I cannot tell you that.
Why not? asked the Doctor.
Spoilers, replied Qui-Gon simply.
Fair enough, said the Doctor as he shrugged off his outer cloak, left his lightsaber on top of it, and journeyed once more into the Cave of the Dark Side.
The Doctor was not intimidated by the Cave's outward appearance, rather by what he thought he might face within. He had no idea what would be waiting for him. But then again, that left him to be surprised, and he liked surprises on the odd occasion.
The Doctor felt cold, just as he had the last time he was here. He exhaled loudly and saw his breath start to fog in front of him.
"Doctor!" someone cried out in terror. The Doctor spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice.
"Hello?" he called out. "Who's there?"
"Help me!" cried the voice again. It sounded so familiar. The Doctor was sure he had heard that voice before. But who was it?
The Doctor's question was quickly answered when he saw Jennara Oswin engaged in a duel with a shadowy figure. Her yellow blade did its best to deflect the red blade of the figure, but the Doctor could see that the figure was too quick for her. The figure was toying with Jennara with his fast moves that could go even faster if he wanted to. He had seen bladework that fast in only one man.
Darth Sidious.
"Jennara, NO!" the Doctor shouted as Jennara and Sidious struck at each other mercilessly. Jennara looked at him, distracted for a moment, and that was all Sidious needed.
The Doctor's eyes welled up when a look of pain and surprise crept up on Jennara's face as Sidious ran her through with his blade, stabbing her right in the heart.
"NO!" the Doctor cried as Sidious forcefully removed his blade from Jennara's chest. Jennara slumped to the ground, and her lightsaber slipped out of her hands as she exhaled for the last time, the ghost of the surprise from her own death etched on her face.
"No, no, no, please, no," the Doctor said, tears flowing forth at another loss of someone he cared about deeply. "Not again. Not again."
"You've failed, Doctor," taunted Sidious. "You failed to protect her. Now, you will join her."
The Doctor heard the sound of a lightsaber being raised into the air, and he quickly extended his hand, hurling Sidious across the Cave's interior with his command over the Force. A satisfying crash was followed by a large number of rocks falling where the Doctor had pushed Sidious.
The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the danger was gone. He looked to where Jennara lay dead on the ground, but she had disappeared. She was nowhere to be found.
That's odd, thought the Doctor.
Still reviewing what had just happened and assuming that Sidious had probably disappeared along with Jennara, the Doctor stood and looked back the way he came in. He wanted to leave, but he got the feeling that there was more he had to be shown.
His instincts took him deeper into the cave, into a large clearing encircled by ten tall, thick, and identical trees, where he saw two more figures. This time, they were not fighting each other, but rather standing side-by-side, their backs turned to the Doctor. They were dressed in all black robes, and the Doctor could see by their builds that one was male and one was female. He sensed power accompanying them, on the level of Anakin Skywalker. That could only mean that...
"Hello, Doctor," said the man, and the Doctor quickly recognized his voice as that of Luke Skywalker.
"Were you expecting us?" asked the woman, whose voice belonged to Leia Organa.
"Don't know," said the Doctor. "Depends on what I'm supposed to expect."
Luke and Leia turned around, revealing their faces. Luke and Leia's faces were extremely pale, with several cracks in the flesh. Their eyes were bright yellow. It was one of his worst fears come to life, the Doctor realized in horror.
Luke and Leia were slaves of the Dark Side.
"Okay," said the Doctor, trying not to betray his fear. "This is new. Definitely a bit unexpected."
"Master Sidious came to us in our moment of need," explained Leia.
"He gave to us what you, your stupid child of a shadow, and that foolish old man could not," said Luke. "He gave us power beyond our wildest dreams."
"He corrupted you to the Dark Side," concluded the Doctor.
"He didn't corrupt us, Doctor," said Leia, sounding shocked that he could even say such a thing. "He freed us from the filth of the Jedi way."
"Listen to yourself," urged the Doctor. "This isn't you. You aren't the Luke and Leia I know."
"You're right, Doctor," said Luke. "We're better because of the teachings of Master Sidious."
"I can imagine that Sidious would try to corrupt you, Luke, but why you, too, Leia?" asked the Doctor. "He doesn't know you have command over the Force. You don't even know that."
"After Master Sidious saved my brother, he found that the power he had sensed in us was not totally in his grasp," said Leia. "He sensed that Luke must have had some other relative who had the potential for command over the Force as strong as Luke's, and that was when he found me. At last, the Skywalkers were reunited."
"Oh, yes, Doctor," said Luke maliciously. "We know about our father, Vader. We did not forget how you Jedi lied to us about our family."
"And we do not forgive you for it," said Leia.
"Well, so much for forgive and forget," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"And now, the Skywalkers are finally united under the banner of the Dark Side!" called Luke.
"There's nothing you can do about it," sneered Leia.
"Please, listen to me, both of you," begged the Doctor. "Your minds may have been corrupted, but you are not beyond saving. I can help you turn away from the Dark Side."
"But we don't want your help," said Leia. "We like the Dark Side."
"It's fun," Luke gritted his teeth as he spoke. "You get to do this."
At that moment, Luke proceeded to electrocute the Doctor with Sith Lightning. It was not as powerful as Darth Sidious's Lightning, but it still stung quite a bit and left the Doctor on his knees, gasping for breath as his mind expelled the lightning from his system.
"You're weak, Doctor," sneered Luke. "Like all you foolish Jedi, you fail to see the power of the Dark Side."
"Allow us to give you a taste," said Leia.
Both Luke and Leia shot various Dark Side powers at the Doctor. Everything from Lightning to Choke to Plague to Death Field was shot at the Doctor. The Gallifreyan screamed in agony as his body tried to fight off the massive amount of Dark Side energy entering his system. Luke quickly compensated for the Doctor's screaming by closing his throat with Choke. The Doctor was overwhelmed by their brutality. He thought he might regenerate from all of the pain he was enduring. He didn't want this body to die, not after three years of life. Who knew what would come next?
Gathering his strength, the Doctor outstretched his hands, creating a shield for himself that protected him against Luke and Leia's Dark Side powers. Quickly, he worked to expel what Dark Side energy was left in him before building up a power of his own: Maelstrom. He had not used that power since the Clone War. He recalled that he was in a rather uncomfortable position the last time he used it. He did not quite forget the goop that covered his entire body after Durge exploded due to his use of Maelstrom. And as he gathered energy for Maelstrom in the Cave of the Dark Side, he hoped that the results would be a bit less goopy for him.
As his Maelstrom gained strength, the Doctor could sense his shield weakening. Luke and Leia were starting to break through. He had to work quickly to repel them.
The shield would not last much longer. If the Doctor had to guess at that point, he had maybe a few seconds left before Luke and Leia broke through. It was a good thing, then, that a few seconds, to a Gallifreyan, was a very long time.
The Doctor was able to build up enough energy with just a half-second to spare. The Gallifreyan wasted no time at all. As soon as the Maelstrom reached its peak level of power, the Doctor released it, and a deafening boom sounded off throughout the Cave. Luke and Leia flew back and disappeared as soon as they hit one of the ten trees. The Doctor breathed another sigh of relief. Another of his nightmares had been vanquished.
The Doctor looked back down the way he came, but he still felt that there was something left to do in the Cave. Something else he needed to face. Something he needed to learn.
"Alright," said the Doctor to the Cave, breathing a bit heavily, his pulses elevated from what he had had to experience thus far. "Come on, then. What else have you got for me? Because you've softened me up a little bit. You've shown me things I'd rather not see. You've scared me a little. Good on you, then, Cave. You've made me afraid. I am the Doctor, and I am afraid."
"Are you so certain?" asked a voice that the Doctor never thought he would hear again. He turned in the direction of the voice, and he found that an old man had materialized in front of one of the trees surrounding the clearing. The old man had sleek white hair that curled in the back. He had both hands over his chest, holding the edges of his dark grey cloak. Occasionally, his thumbs would rub the edges for just a moment, then return to their original positions. On the old man's belt hung a single lightsaber, which, like the old man himself, the Doctor never thought he would see again.
Of course, for the Doctor, this old man was not an old man at all. To the Doctor, he was a very young man. In fact, the young, yet old man was a younger version of the Doctor himself.
This old man was the First Doctor.
"You," said the Doctor. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Yes, well..." the First Doctor said shortly. "I did say that one day, I shall come back, though I did not mean it for you."
"What did you mean when you asked if I was certain?" asked the Eleventh Doctor.
"He wants to know if you think you've lived up to the name of the Doctor," said another voice from the Doctor's past, this one belonging to a short man with a dark black bowl-cut. His robes were far more tattered than the First Doctor's, and the Eleventh Doctor immediately recognized this homeless-looking man as the Second Doctor, who had materialized from the tree beside the First Doctor.
"Which is something that I have certainly been wondering myself," continued the Second Doctor. "What do you think?" he asked of the First Doctor.
"No, not at all," sneered the First Doctor. "Too silly. Far too silly."
"I quite agree with you," shot the Second Doctor. "Even by my standards, this one is ridiculous."
"You know, I liked you," countered the Eleventh Doctor, pointing at the Second Doctor. "I thought you were cool."
"'Cool?'" asked the First Doctor in disgust. "What is this foolish vocabulary with which you have decided to plague the universe?"
"And I don't like you. You're too condescending. You remind me too much of Count Dooku," the Eleventh Doctor accused the First Doctor, pointing to the old-looking man.
"You know, it's rude to point," said a tall, strong-looking man with curly grey hair and green robes, which were much more flashy than the robes of the First or Second Doctor. "Unless of course, you wish to point a weapon at your enemies and defeat them in combat," added the Third Doctor.
"Oh, yes, my third life, the incorrigible show-off," spat the Eleventh Doctor. "Always looking for a fight."
"You stand here, accusing me of wishing to battle, yet you yourself cannot hold a fight on your own," shot the Third Doctor.
"I prefer not to fight at all, if that's alright with you," said the Eleventh Doctor.
"If it came down to it, though, and you had to fight, you would hesitate before taking a life," said another very tall man with traditional brown robes, brown curly hair, and a ridiculously long scarf. The scarf which once belonged to the Fourth Doctor.
"Yes," agreed the First Doctor. "In fact, you hesitate even now."
"If it could save the universe, we would kill," said the Fourth Doctor. "You would hesitate, give them a window of opportunity, and then you would die."
"I would regenerate," said the Eleventh Doctor. "Not die."
"Yes, you would regenerate," said a man in tan robes who had a vegetable from Gallifrey on his outer cloak, blond hair, and a younger face than all of the other Doctors besides the Eleventh. This face was the face of the Fifth Doctor. "And, hopefully, you would regenerate into a man with more spine, a real Doctor."
"I am a real Doctor!" shouted the Eleventh Doctor.
"Are you sure?" asked the Second Doctor. "Because all I see is a silly young man who flops his arms around far too much when he talks."
"Who does not even wish to hold his own in a fight," jeered the Third Doctor.
"Who will not kill even when it is absolutely necessary," accused the Fourth Doctor.
"And who is a spineless fool," said the Fifth Doctor smartly.
"So you see, my boy," said the First Doctor. "We are all in agreement, then. You have certainly not lived up to the name of the Doctor."
"There are only five of you here," said the Eleventh Doctor. "Five Doctors. Five of my past lives. Where are the other five? Don't they get a say?"
"I'm not sure what my successors will say," said a man who wore wacky mismatched robes and had very curly blond hair. The Eleventh Doctor quickly recognized the Sixth Doctor as his sixth incarnation added, "but I agree with my predecessors. You are too much of a fool to even be considered a Doctor."
"Oh, great, the wacky wonder," the Eleventh Doctor rolled his eyes. "You know how you died? A bang on the head. Hardly a fitting death for a Doctor, is it?"
"Hold your tongue, fool!" shouted the Sixth Doctor. "The adults are reprimanding you."
"He is not ruthless enough to be considered the Doctor," said a short man in dark brown robes, who had beady eyes that seemed to analyze literally everything he came into contact with. This analyzing nature belonged to the Seventh Doctor.
"I can manipulate if I want," countered the Eleventh Doctor.
"Yes, but you don't," said the Seventh Doctor. "And that's what divides us from you."
"Listen to me, all of you," the Eleventh Doctor gestured to his first seven incarnations. "I am the Doctor. Why can you not see it?"
"I know why," said a soft voice belonging to a young-looking man with shoulder-length, curly brown hair and dark, navy blue robes. He was the Eighth Doctor.
"Then enlighten me," challenged the Eleventh Doctor.
"You haven't proven that you're the Doctor," said the Eighth Doctor.
"Quite right," agreed the First Doctor.
"Yes, indeed," said the Fourth Doctor. "What exactly have you done to prove that you're worthy of the name of the Doctor?"
"Loads of things," said the Eleventh Doctor. "I've only lived three years, but I've done a lot in that time."
"Oh, really?" asked the Sixth Doctor sarcastically. "Do go on. We're all just dying to hear it."
"I've aided the Rebellion in their fight against the Empire," said the Eleventh Doctor instantly. "It's a noble cause worthy of our assistance."
"The Rebellion is a stagnant beast laboring on its final breaths," said the First Doctor. "Not so noble, I think."
"Your unwarranted assistance may have kept them afloat for a while, but they will fall eventually," said the Third Doctor. "You know this to be true."
"If I were aiding them, this war they are submerged in with the Empire would have been won already," said the Seventh Doctor. "I cannot say that you are truly aiding them."
"I am sorry, but that doesn't qualify you for the name of the Doctor," said the Eighth Doctor, although the Eleventh Doctor could sense that he wasn't sorry at all.
"I know what will," said a man in a short black tunic that only covered up to his knees and a red undershirt. On his belt hung the two lightsabers made after the Eighth Doctor had regenerated. The man had close-cropped hair and a scolding look on his face. The Eleventh Doctor remembered that face. It was the face of the Ninth Doctor.
"And what's that?" asked the Eleventh Doctor, preparing himself for a snappy comeback from his predecessor.
"Well, you could go to Kashyyyk and kill a terentatek that's been terrorizing a village of innocent Wookiees," said the Ninth Doctor, who then put on a fake face of realization, then added, "Oh wait! I've already done that!"
"So have I," said the Eleventh Doctor.
"Yes, but you were me when you did," said the Ninth Doctor. "Doesn't really count there, does it, Chin Boy?"
"Alright, then, if we're going to go there, Big Ears," countered the Eleventh Doctor.
"Enough of this foolishness," called the First Doctor.
"There is still one more face you must acknowledge," said the Second Doctor.
"I know," said the Eleventh Doctor, sensing what was coming next.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor," said a voice from behind him. It belonged to a tall, skinny man with spiky brown hair who wore brown robes, a darker brown cloak, a blue undershirt, and carried the same two lightsabers as the Ninth Doctor. This man was the Eleventh Doctor's immediate predecessor.
The Tenth Doctor.
"Hello, Doctor, I'm the Doctor," said the Eleventh Doctor.
"Are you sure?" asked the Tenth Doctor.
"You know, that's the third time today I've asked myself that, and it's really starting to irritate me," said the Eleventh Doctor a bit angrily.
"Control your anger, boy," snapped the First Doctor.
"And be a soulless robot like you?" asked the Eleventh Doctor. "No, thanks."
"It all comes down to one simple question," said the Eighth Doctor. "What have you done to prove yourself worthy of the title 'Doctor'?"
"Lots of things," said the Eleventh Doctor weakly. He didn't quite know how he was going to prove this to his other incarnations, but he had to try.
"Oh, please," scoffed the Sixth Doctor.
"He hasn't got a clue!" laughed the Fourth Doctor.
"Oh, this is rich!" cackled the Third Doctor. "The poor sap really can't think of anything to prove himself!"
"I'm leading the hope of the galaxy to defeat the Sith," the Eleventh Doctor said quickly, trying to put up a defense against all ten of his predecessors' jeering.
"Fantastic work there!" the Ninth Doctor said, clapping his hands sarcastically. "Real bang-up job you're making of that!"
"The boy has no hope of success!" cried the Second Doctor. "Surely, you know this!"
"Luke has a great destiny ahead of him!" shouted the Eleventh Doctor.
"I should think not!" mocked the Fifth Doctor. "The idiot boy doesn't even know how to defend himself against probes, let alone the Sith!"
"He's mastered that already!" defended the Eleventh Doctor.
"Yes! Now, the boy only needs to learn everything there is to know about the Force, and then he will be ready to defeat one of the most powerful Sith Lords who ever lived," sneered the Seventh Doctor.
"It can't be done," said the Tenth Doctor. "And you know it."
"You're the one who decided to help Obi-Wan train him!" cried the Eleventh Doctor. "How can you say that about him?!"
"It is only the truth," said the Eighth Doctor.
"Listen to me!" called the Eleventh Doctor, now terrified by what he was experiencing. "I am the Doctor! Please, listen to me!"
"I made the ultimate sacrifice for Jennara," said the Tenth Doctor. "Do you think you could do the same?"
"In a heartbeat," said the Eleventh Doctor instantly.
"But you want to spend more of your life with her, don't you?" asked the Tenth Doctor with a smirk upon his face. "But if you do that, she'll remember my sacrifice and know that you are a coward."
"I'm not a coward!" roared the Eleventh Doctor.
"Enough!" called the First Doctor. All of the other Doctors, including the Eleventh, looked to the First Doctor, clearly the authority figure among the bygone Doctors.
"It is clear to me, my boy, that you are not worthy of the title of the Doctor," said the First Doctor, already reaching for his lightsaber. "With that said, you will now be exterminated to make way for a better Doctor. Prepare yourself for the Twelfth Doctor!"
The Eleventh Doctor's predecessors then activated their lightsabers, all of them blue with the exception of the main sabers of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, which were green. They moved forward, ready to force the Eleventh Doctor to regenerate. They had not accepted him as one of their own. It was one of his worst nightmares come to pass.
And that was when it hit him. Everything the Eleventh Doctor had seen had been one of his worst fears. Jennara's death, Luke and Leia falling to the Dark Side under his watch, and not living up to the name of the Doctor. All three of those things were his worst fears, and there was one thing to do when faced with fear.
He needed to trust in the Force.
The Eleventh Doctor started laughing, a slow chuckle at first, but it quickly transitioned into a hearty laugh, much to the confusion of his predecessors.
"What's so funny?" asked the Ninth Doctor.
"Why are you laughing, boy?" asked the First Doctor.
"I just figured it out," said the Eleventh Doctor.
"Figured what out?" asked the Tenth Doctor.
"I've just figured out what you wanted to teach me, Qui-Gon," called the Eleventh Doctor. "There are some scary times ahead. My worst fears might be realized in the course of the next while. And I've got to trust in the Force when those times come."
Very good, Doctor, said Qui-Gon Jinn. With that, the other Doctors disappeared, and the Eleventh Doctor was left alone in the Cave.
As the Doctor exited the Cave in the way that he came, he spoke with Qui-Gon about what he had seen.
So, my worst fears, hmm? asked the Doctor with his thoughts as he picked up his cloak and lightsaber, putting them back on.
I had to get you to trust in the Force, answered Qui-Gon. It is imperative that you do so, now more than ever.
So, are there dark times ahead? asked the Doctor.
Yes, Qui-Gon answered simply. You've got to focus on your ultimate goal, Doctor, but do not be afraid to help those who are in need.
Right, thought the Doctor. I'll do that.
And do not worry, Doctor, consoled Qui-Gon. Your affection for young Oswin will be kept a secret until you choose to reveal it.
Qui-Gon, are you suggesting that I have feelings for Jennara? asked the Doctor, trying to sound shocked, although it might have had a tinge of confirmation; the Doctor could never be sure when his hearts combated against his head.
Are you suggesting that you don't? asked Qui-Gon, amusement evident in his voice. Come now, Doctor. A violent death for her is one of your worst fears. You don't expect me to believe that you don't care for her, do you?
Yes, lied the Doctor.
A final, personal word of advice, then, implored Qui-Gon. I once had a feeling of attraction to a Jedi Master named Tahl. She felt the same way, but we decided not to act on these feelings, due to our commitment to the Jedi Code. I can honestly say that this was the worst mistake of my life. I urge you not to make the same mistake, Doctor.
Thank you, Qui-Gon, said the Doctor, thinking on the words of his friend as Qui-Gon's presence disappeared and the Doctor made his way back to the camp, pensive and reflective about what had happened to him in the Cave of the Dark Side.
So, yeah, this was one of my favorites to write! I particularly enjoyed writing the Eleven Doctors sequence! For the first time, we see the other nine Doctors, and we'll see them again soon-ish. This is not the last appearance of the first nine Doctors, friends.
So, anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter? Let me know your thoughts in a review! They are always appreciated, and I love hearing feedback from you guys!
When writing this, I was torn about whether or not to refer to Eleven as "Doctor" or "Eleventh Doctor" during the Eleven Doctors scene. I ultimately chose "Eleventh Doctor," to provide less confusion about who was speaking. Although you probably could have figured it out, anyway, as I refer to the others by their number. Oh well. It is what it is.
Next Friday: Luke sees a possible vision of the future and goes to Bespin. Meanwhile, the other Jedi deliberate whether or not to follow him.
And that about does it for this rather short author's note. Until the next chapter, my friends!