A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 7. I know I had basically promised to post it in the weekend, but this is only a day later, so I think I'm doing fine. I will be away for a week, so I won't be updating for maybe two weeks or something. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you might recognize from either Star Wars or Doctor Who.
Chapter 7
-Jessica-
''Good. You're already doing better. You're a quick learner.''
''Thanks, Ahsoka.'' Ahsoka took her chance, though. For one moment I had dropped my guard and I was already lying on the floor.
''Gotcha.'' Ahsoka said with a grin. ''Never drop your guard when you're still in a fight.''
''You complimented me on a purpose, didn't you? You were hoping that I would drop my guard.''
''Of course I did. The compliment was genuine, but you're right. I intended for this to happen. Enemies will also tend to try to distract you, you must always be prepared.''
''Okay. But I think I had enough fighting for today. I'm exhausted.''
Ahsoka snickered. ''Already?''
''Yes, already.'' I sat down on the ground. ''I'm not used to this, in case you had forgotten.''
''Hmm, I think I must have missed that part.'' She grinned again and then sat down next to me. ''You really did good, Jessica. Are you sure you didn't get a training of any sort?'' She asked. I saw she was genuinely curious and not joking around anymore.
''No. I literally have no idea what I'm doing. Of course I did the occasional gymnastics at school, so I can do some basic things, but other than that, I have absolutely no experience with this.''
''Strange.'' She muttered.
''Why is that strange?'' I asked her.
''As I said: you are quite good, especially with the hand to hand combat.''
''Yeah for a rookie maybe.'' I shrugged, I didn't see her point. She had beaten me in all of the training matches we had had. I hadn't been able to get past her defence once. And she had probably been holding back.
''I know what you're thinking: She was probably holding back. But, Jessica, I was not holding back, not really. At least in the end I wasn't. At first I did go easy on you, but as the fight progressed, you became stronger, so I had to challenge you a bit more.''
''That can't be right. I have never done this kind of thing.'' I couldn't believe it. It was simply not possible. Ahsoka is a Jedi, I'm not.
''Maybe it's because you're strong in the Force…''
''Yeah… Maybe…''
''Don't worry about it too much. It's not a bad thing.'' She said with a grin.
''I suppose not.'' I responded. ''Are you up for another match?'' I asked her.
''Sure.'' She said and she gave me a hand to stand up. ''But maybe we can do it with training sabers this time.''
''We can't. What if someone finds out?'' I asked her. This was a ridiculous idea. No matter how awesome it would be to actually hold a lightsaber, even if it was only a training-saber. ''Besides I don't have any experience with a lightsaber, you would probably chop my head off.''
''Of course I won't. I will go easy on you. And no one will find out. This time of the day it's always this quiet. Everyone's having a meal.''
''Are you absolutely certain that they won't mind? Won't they get mad about someone else using a lightsaber?'' I was still a bit unsure about this. But I had always liked trying new things, and fighting with a lightsaber was something I had wanted to do my entire life. So if Ahsoka was sure no one was going to find out about it, I would be happy to do some lightsaber training. It would probably be my first and last time, because at this time I couldn't imagine myself staying here. And I thought that there was a small chance that my decision would change.
''I'm absolutely certain.'' She said with a stern voice. We had been in the training room for about two hours now. Ahsoka had shown me some awesome things and then we started doing hand on hand combat. We had done one match so far, but it had taken quite some time to finish.
''Ready?'' Ahsoka asked and I nodded. She picked up two training sabers and gave one of them to me. We each took a stance, Ahsoka had learned me some basic stances, and bowed to one another. Then She came charging towards me. She flipped over me and landed on the other side of me, but I was prepared and dodged her attack. I swung my own lightsaber at her and she blocked it. I heard the hiss of two lightsabers clashing with each other. She pushed a little harder and then she flipped the blade around. She prepared to strike at me with her saber. To prevent her from hitting me, I did a clumsy back flip and when I landed I moved my lightsaber above my head, to parry the strike Ahsoka would inevitably use to try and cleave my head in two. That was a smart move. She hit my lightsaber and we pushed against each other. She pushed down on me and I slowly felt my resistance weakening. I couldn't hold this much longer. Then she flipped my lightsaber back and her own lightsaber stopped right before it would hit my leg. I looked surprised. Her reflexes were a lot faster than mine.
''You would have lost your leg if this was a real fight.'' She extinguished her lightsaber and smirked at me.
''I understand that.'' I snapped back, a little bit more angry than I meant. ''Sorry. I didn't mean to act so angry. It's just reality hitting me.'' She nodded, accepting my apology.
''No problem. I understand completely. The first time that happened to me I reacted not all that differently.''
''Yeah. But that must be a long time ago.'' I said to her.
''Ehmm…'' I got the feeling that she didn't want to say when she first had been attacked like that. It was probably a very long time ago.
''You can say it, Ahsoka. I know you have been here almost your entire life and that you have been trained to be a Jedi almost your whole life. It wouldn't be a surprise to me.''
''It's quite a long time ago, I guess. I think I was six years old or something.'' A small smile appeared on her face when she thought of that. Happy memories… ''But, wait a second, how do you know all of that?''
''It's not that I haven't heard of the Jedi before. I know Jedi grow up in the Temple, and are very young when they start training. I guessed you were probably the same as the other Jedi. And I can imagine the choice to start training when you're still so young. Being a Jedi must be hard.'' I explained her. Of course, that wasn't the whole truth. I had heard of the Jedi before, but it was far more than just that. I saw the first movie when I was only seven years old and I had grown to love the story. I was so interested that I decided to do all kinds of research on the Star Wars Universe. I had read that most of the Jedi were taken in by the Temple when they were still very young, and that most were about four years old when they started their real training. Most of them don't remember anything from their real home, because they were so young when they were taken away. Anakin had been an exception. He was already nine years old, and that was actually already too old to be taken in by the Temple. But because he was the Chosen One they had chosen to train him. That's why I was so surprised I had been given the chance to become a Padawan Learner. I was way too old to start training. There must have been something else about me, although I didn't understand what, for Yoda to give me the option to become a Jedi.
''Alright. I'll take your word for it.'' Ahsoka said, reminding me that I wasn't alone in this room. ''Everything okay? You kind of drifted of a second ago.'' She asked me, now she looked worried.
''No. Everything's okay.'' I murmured. She looked at me searchingly. I didn't think she believed me. And she was right not to. Everything was coming back. I saw my family and friends, my home. I felt a little nauseous and my legs began to falter. I quickly sat down, so Ahsoka wouldn't notice I was about to pass out.
''You sure about that?'' Ahsoka asked, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile. But that smile quickly faded when she saw how white my face was. ''Jessica, what's going on?'' She asked me. I couldn't really answer so I just mumbled something.
''Okay. That's it. I'm taking you to the med-bay.''
''No need for that.'' I said to her and I batted her outstretched hand away. ''I don't need to go to the med-bay. Everything is fine. I can easily move around myself.'' I tried to give her a reassuring smile and stood up, but my legs gave way again.
''I don't care what you're saying. I'm taking you to the med-bay. Now.'' She said firmly. I looked at her and I saw there was no way around it. I sighed in defeat and nodded. She took my hand and helped me stand up.
''Easy now. Easy.'' She whispered. I walked out of the room, supported by Ahsoka. It was clear I couldn't walk by myself. We walked towards the med-bay, but we were stopped by Obi-Wan. Great. As if I wasn't in enough trouble already. Ahsoka could keep a secret, but Obi-Wan would tell Anakin. Anakin would tell the Doctor, and then he would be even more concerned than he already was. That wasn't really what I needed right now.
''Ahsoka. Jessica. What are you doing here?'' He asked. He quickly glanced at Ahsoka's arm around my shoulders and lifted one eyebrow in suspicion.
''I'm bringing Jessica to the med-bay, Master Kenobi.'' Ahsoka answered him.
''Why? What's wrong?'' He looked me over. I almost started to laugh. His face was just so comical. You almost saw the big question marks written all over him. Curiosity dripped of his face.
''She almost passed out.'' Ahsoka said again. I gave her a quick death glare, but she only grinned when she saw my look. Okay, that was another thing I had to work on. People clearly didn't think my death-glare was all that threatening.
''Doesn't look like you like being brought to the med-bay, Jessica.'' Obi-Wan said with a little smile. There was still concern in his eyes, but my glare to Ahsoka hadn't gone unnoticed by him.
''No, I don't like it at all.'' He began to laugh and I came to the conclusion that there was no way to stop them laughing. Then I started to falter again. My legs just gave up. I dropped to the ground on my knees.
''Jessica!'' Obi-Wan and Ahsoka cried out in unison. They came to either side of me and lifted me up again.
''No jokes anymore. We need to get her to the med-bay immediately.'' Obi-Wan said and Ahsoka nodded. I didn't care anymore where they would take me. If I could just close my eyes.
''Don't close your eyes, Jessica. You cannot close your eyes.'' Ahsoka said to me, seeing that I was about to do just that. I groaned a bit, but I understood that I couldn't close my eyes with the risk of falling asleep. I had enough medical knowledge to know that, in the state I was in, it wasn't good to fall asleep. They began to walk me to the med-bay. Well not walking, more like dragging me. I was about to doze off again as we finally reached the med-bay.
''Medic. I need a medic now.'' Obi-Wan said, laying me down on a bed.
A medical droid came quickly towards us. ''What's the problem, sir?'' He asked Obi-Wan, already starting to look him over.
''I'm not the one having problems. Jessica here,'' he sounded very irritated and he pointed at me, ''almost passed out just a minute ago. Can you examine her?''
''Of course sir.'' The droid said and he walked towards me. I backed away a little bit.
''There's nothing to be afraid of Jessica.'' Obi-Wan said reassuringly. ''He's only going to examine you. We need to know what's wrong with you.'' I nodded, but I still stayed as far as possible from the droid. I felt a little bit uncomfortable, knowing that both of the Jedi were looking at me.
Ahsoka saw my discomfort. ''Master Kenobi. I think you should go.'' She said to him.
''Oh. Yes. Of course. I will be back when you're finished.'' His cheeks turned a little red and he quickly walked out of the room. I relaxed a bit. The droid came towards me. He checked my heartbeat, blood pressure and breathing. Then he started testing my reflexes, in a very annoying way. He started pinching me in all sorts of places.
''Ouch! Can you please stop that? It really hurts, you know.'' I exclaimed and I hit the droid.
''Sorry ma'am, but this is necessary.'' He only replied and just continued with it.
''Ahsoka, can you please ask him to stop?'' I pleaded.
''Nope. I'm enjoying this far too much.'' She said with a smirk. Then she became serious again. ''And it is necessary. We can't have you passing out at random times. You need to be in full health if you want to go with us on missions.'' The droid pinched me again and I cringed.
''Are you done?'' I asked the droid. I was becoming more and more irritated.
''I'm done.'' He walked away and I sighed in relief.
Ahsoka walked outside and a couple of seconds later she came back with Obi-Wan. The droid came walking towards me again, but this time he had something in his hands. Something I didn't like the look off. It looked like an IV. I didn't know if they even had IV's here, but it looked like one, and it probably had the same effect. I hated needles. I backed away again.
''I don't need this. I'm fine. You've checked me and now I can get back to what I was doing.'' I said to him.
''Jessica. You need this. Let the medic do his work, please.'' Obi-Wan ushered me to come towards the medical droid again. I sighed and before I knew the IV-thing was attached to my wrist. There was no pain. I was pleasantly surprised.
''So, medic, what is wrong with her?'' Obi-Wan asked the droid.
''I don't know, sir. I've checked everything, but I can't find anything.'' The droid replied.
''See, I can just go back to what I was doing.'' I said to Obi-Wan. Hoping he would agree with me.
But he shook his head. ''We don't know what it is and that's exactly why you're staying here. We need to find out what just happened.''
''It was just a minor meltdown. I don't have to stay here.'' I persisted.
Obi-Wan sighed. ''You're just staying here. Case closed. We don't want this happening to you on the mission.'' He looked at me. ''Have you experienced something like this before?''
''No. I never experienced this before. But I do know that it's not something to worry about.''
''How do you know that for sure if you never had this before?''
''I just know, okay?'' I exclaimed and threw my hands up in the air. ''There isn't an explanation for everything.'' Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were shocked by my reaction.
''Then we need to find out what that was. Jessica, we don't want this happening to you again. It was clear you weren't feeling well. You need to stay at least one night to let your body recover.'' Obi-Wan pointed out. The medic had disappeared for a minute, but now it was back with all kinds of devices. He attached everything to my body, so I was literally caught in strings.
''We are going to monitor you for the next few days.'' He said and then walked away.
''I can't stay here! I have things to do. I need to prepare for the mission, you can't just leave me here.'' I said. I looked pleadingly to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, but they shook their heads. I have always had a really great dislike of hospitals, doctors and all that sort of stuff. I just didn't want to go near them.
''We agree with the droid, Jessica. You need to stay here.'' I sighed and sat back in the bed.
''Let's get the Doctor here.''
''No!'' I yelled. They looked back at me.
''Why not Jessica?'' Ahsoka asked me.
''I don't want him to know of this. He would only be worried.''
''You're absolutely right he would be worried, but he needs to know of this.'' Ahsoka replied and they walked away, getting the Doctor. I sighed and tears started to roll down my cheeks. What mess did I get myself into?
''Jessica!'' The Doctor came rushing towards me when he saw me. He wanted to give me hug, but he stopped when he saw all the strings that were attached to my body.
''Stupid strings.'' I muttered and tried to move them away, but it was to no avail.
''What happened?'' He asked. His eyes scanned my whole body, there was concern in his eyes.
''I don't know, actually. The medic says he doesn't know what it was.''
''What do you think about it? Do you think it was serious?'' The Doctor asked curiously. Finally. Someone who took my thoughts seriously. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan hadn't. The Doctor reminded me he would always be there for me. Even if others didn't believe me, he would believe me.
''Honestly, I don't know what happened. But I do know that I'm feeling well again. It was just a minor meltdown, nothing serious. Maybe it was because I was shot in my back. I just don't know…'' I said with a sigh.
''I understand, Jessica. I get where you're coming from. You don't want to be here, attached to all these machines. But I do agree with Obi-Wan, we need to find out what it was. The only way we can find out what precisely happened is to monitor your health for a short time. Of course, the mission to Onderon is coming up, so they won't be able to hold you in bed for very long. I think they said it would only be four days till the mission. We can't go earlier, because the Jedi still have some other important things to do. ''
''Yeah. But that's still four whole days confined to a bed.'' I said softly. Why did this happen to me? ''Doctor, what am I going to do?'' I asked him desperately.
''I honestly don't know, Jessica. I don't know.'' The Doctor replied. He looked sad. How could he not know what to do? He always had the answer. Every. Single. Time. He always knew what to do.
''What do you think caused the meltdown?'' I asked him instead.
''I think it was caused by emotional trauma. Your body does not know how to react to this. Or it was indeed because of the fact that you were shot in your back some time ago, but that is very unlikely.'' The Doctor said.
''But I'm fine! I don't have emotional trauma.'' I said it. And the second it came out of my mouth, I knew it wasn't true. I was in fact emotionally drained, I just didn't want to admit it. I shielded myself, so I wouldn't get hurt again. Gone was the happy, careless, adventure-seeking Jessica, instead there was a shielded, serious Nanori.
''Jessica…-'' The Doctor sighed.
But I didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence. ''That's not my name! Not anymore. Don't call me that.'' I shouted at him. He backed away from me, and I saw hurt in his eyes. I felt a pang of sorrow, but I ignored it.
''Go away, Doctor. Just go.'' I said, looking at my hands. I wasn't able to look him in the eye. From the corner of my eye I saw him nod and he left me. I had to get out of here. I couldn't stay here any longer.
-Anakin-
I had heard about what happened to Jessica, this morning. She had some kind of physical meltdown. Both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan wanted her to be monitored for the next few days to find out what happened. What would have caused that? I thought everything was fine. In fact, she was doing better than I had expected, better than anyone had expected. Any other person would probably be an emotional wreck by now, after all she had heard about herself in the past days. I hadn't had time to visit her, but now I had finally found a free minute, so I decided I would go to her in the med-bay. I came into the room and looked around. Jessica wasn't in one of the beds. I went to the other rooms and searched for her, but she wasn't there. I called a medic.
''Droid. Where's Jessica?'' I asked him, getting a strange feeling that there was something seriously wrong. Jessica should be here.
''I don't know sir.'' He answered. I became angry. I looked around again and then I saw something. There was an empty bed, strings of machines hanging beside it, useless. I groaned. Jessica had vanished. She had left the med-bay. But why?
''Go find her!'' I shouted at the droid. ''Rex. I need three squads searching the streets of Coruscant, now. Jessica has escaped from the med-bay and we need to find her.'' I said in my comlink.
''I'll dispatch them immediately, sir.'' He responded. No questions asked. Questions would come after this. We now needed to find her. I ran my hands through my hair. What have you done, Jessica? Why are you gone? Where could you have possibly gone to? She couldn't be far. Not in the state she was in. The Doctor! He needed to know of this. I was already running away.
''Doctor!'' I yelled at him. He was walking away from me, towards the Room of a Thousand Fountains. ''Doctor!'' He turned around and saw the look in my eyes. He immediately knew that something was terribly wrong. He started running. Running towards the med-bay. He knew it had to something with Jessica. I didn't need to say anything, my eyes said it all. I ran after him.
''Where is she?'' He started shouting. I had never hear him shout before, he was always so calm. ''Where is she?'' He asked again.
''Doctor. You need to calm down.''
''How can I calm down? Tell me where Jessica is.''
''We don't know. It looks like she has escaped.''
''Why would she do that? Go find her!'' He looked absolutely furious. ''Why didn't you have any guards? Didn't anyone see her leave?'' I became scared of him. His jaw clenched together. His eyes hardened, the usual brown irises had become black. As if the pupil had melted and had spread through his eyes. Almost like oil. His eyes were completely void of any emotion. There was just black. This was the other side of the Doctor. No teasing smile; no sparkle in his eyes; nothing. I had seen a lot of people angry, but this was something entirely different. Even the worry in his eyes was gone.
''Sorry. We didn't suspect she would do something like this. Or could.'' I tried to apologize.
''No excuses. Go find her! I can't lose her, you understand?'' He yelled at me.
''We have already sent out three squads to search for her, and every cop on Coruscant is on the lookout for her. We will find her Doctor. I promise.'' I said to him.
''Don't promise me anything! You better just find her.'' He said to me and then the look in his eyes saddened. ''I can't lose her… Not again…'' He mumbled. A lonely tear shimmered in his eye.
''You won't lose her Doctor. We will find her.'' I looked him in the eyes. I was determined to find Jessica. If we wouldn't find her, than I feared what the Doctor would do. I had seen the rage in his eyes. It wasn't something I wanted to see again. The Doctor turned around and he walked to the door.
''Where are you going Doctor?'' I asked him.
He looked over his shoulder. ''I'm going to find her.'' Was the only thing he said before he walked out of the room.
''Oh no you don't. Not on your own.'' I muttered and ran after him.
''Doctor!'' I yelled at him. He looked back at me. ''I'm coming with you.'' I said to him.
''No, you aren't.'' He replied and started to walk again.
''Yes, I am. And you can't stop me.'' He sighed, but he didn't say anything. I took his silence as a permission-granted-sign. So I walked after him. We stopped in front of the Tardis.
''Don't touch anything.'' He warned me and then he opened the door. I walked inside and couldn't help but stare.
''But… It's bigger on the inside.''
''Yep. Have heard that one thousands of times before.'' He walked towards what looked like the control panel. And began touching buttons and pulling levers.
''It's bigger on the inside.'' I repeated. I couldn't believe it. How was this possible? Why didn't we have these kind of things? It would be very convenient if we could use this.
''How are you doing this?'' I asked him.
''The Tardis is doing it. And, no, you can't use it. It's only the Tardis.'' He said, already guessing what I wanted. Were my intentions that obvious?
''Why not?'' I asked him.
''You just can't.'' He looked at me and then he did something strange: he winked. ''Hold on.''
''What? Why?'' I asked him. Then the whole Tardis began to shake and it started making strange noises. I stumbled around and then fell. Now I knew why he had said to hold on. Maybe I should have you just done what he had asked me, but, no, I had to be curious.