ALWAYS IN MOTION

by ardavenport

Always in motion . . . .

. . . . the red lightsaber thrust into his chest. It slid in so easily. The incredible pain flared and died in an instant as the red energy severed his spine. His padawan, Obi-Wan, cried out in shock and anguish.

The evil, yellow-eyed Sith, triumphant, withdrew his weapon, leaving him standing for a moment before he fell to his knees, dying . . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

. . . . he caught himself and rolled, evading the Sith Lord's lightsaber. Darkness shrouded everything. Sith lightning came at him from the Dark Lord and Qui-Gon barely got his lightsaber up in time to deflect it; his whole mind pushed back at the phenomenal power trying to kill him. How could they have been so blind, that the whole Jedi Order had not seen this in their midst? His former Padawan stood transfixed by the confrontation, caught between aiding his Master and . . . what? Qui-Gon realized that he was doubly blind, not realizing that a Sith had befriended his Padawan until now. And had risen to become Chancellor, all this time. The Republic had become corrupt, but he never imagined this.

Anakin finally decided. Shouting his defiance, he struck. His lightsaber cut off Qui-Gon's arm. The Sith renewed his attack on the defenseless Jedi Master. Qui-Gon toppled from a high place, crying out as he fell . . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

. . . . "Noooo!"

His impetuous padawan rushed his former Master. Qui-Gon Jinn pushed aside the betrayal, the sense of loss at the realization of Dooku's fall. Lightning flashed from Dooku's raised hands, lifting up his apprentice and striking him down, leaving Qui-Gon alone to face his former Master. The battle was short. Qui-Gon easily blocked the lightning with his saber, but Dooku soon had him cornered with his lightsaber. The power of the dark side filled the room. First one cut to the arm, then another to the leg disabled him. He lay on the ground as Dooku uttered insincere regrets over him before raising his weapon one last time . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

. . . He blocked with his lightsaber. He fought with the other Jedi, his green saber repelling the blaster bolts of a colossal droid army in a dusty orange arena on Genosis. They had never imagined that there would be so many. Twenty battle droids focused their fire on him; inevitably a bolt got through, destroying one knee; he went down, his saber going out . . .

. . . a lightsaber . . .

. . . a blaster . . .

. . . a lightsaber . . .

. . . a lightsaber . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

. . . they were winning. The battle droids were falling back. But a sudden flare of warning in the Force made Qui-Gon hesitate and turn around. His clone troops were pointing their guns at him . . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

Anakin threw his lightsaber away.

"You failed, Emperor. I'm a Jedi, like my Master before me."

The words pierced Qui-Gon's heart. Instead of destroying his former master and becoming Sidious's new apprentice, as Qui-Gon destroyed Dooku, Anakin had found his own way.

"Very well, Jedi." Sidious sneered. Sith lightning arced out and struck Anakin down. He cried out in pain from the unspeakable onslaught. But Qui-Gon could not look away from Anakin's suffering. No matter what else he might have done, Anakin was a Jedi. Sidious laughed, totally taken with the power, as he always was. He delighted in destruction.

His gaze falling on his evil master, Qui-Gon suddenly lunged and grabbed Sidious from behind . . . .

. . . . always in motion . . . .

Qui-Gon stared up at the low cave ceiling. His light cast long, black shadows over the rock from where he had dropped it. It was so low that he'd had to stoop, but this was the place he needed to be, he felt it. The rough ground under him was very, very cold. His body shivered violently, his teeth chattering. Panicked Qui-Gon tried to draw the Force to himself for warmth, but it did not come. His breath came too quickly, clouds of it condensed in the air above him. His hands clenched on the new lightsaber in his hand. He lifted it up; light glinted from the silver emitter shroud. His hand trembled. He remembered building it, in this cave on Ilum, before the visions had taken him.

Then, young Qui-Gon Jinn died.

He lay, unmoving, his arms and legs still convulsed, his hand clutched tightly on the new lightsaber; his body cooled.

The Force came to him.

He felt its unknowable flows pushing him back together from a thousand fragmented deaths. In every possibility, he saw himself dying violently, in the midst of a clash between the dark and light sides of the Force. Sometimes he was crushed by the first emergence of the dark; sometimes he was struck down at the peak of it's rising. Sometimes he the Chosen One at the pivot point between power and peace. Sometimes it was someone else. The power of the light and dark rose and fell in succession like waves breaking on sharp rocks, the balance of the Force tilting wildly.

Every death was real and the ripples from them spread out from each reality, connecting to all the others at once, forming an inescapable path toward meaningless carnage, pushing him beyond where dark and light had sundered.

Qui-Gon stirred. This time, he calmed his mind and the Force warmed his body from within. Slowly he got up. He still shivered, but he no longer felt the killing cold inside him. Clutching his lightsaber, stumbling on legs tingling with needles of returning life, he hit his head more than once getting out of the cave. Leaving his discarded light behind, he turned into the darkness of the wider passage; he could not see, but the Force knew where he was going. He followed it.

The winding cave passage led upward. Gray light invaded it from above. He stumbled toward the white daylight. There was snow piled all around the cave entrance. One lone person, wrapped in a dark brown Jedi robe sprinkled with snow, waited.

"Qui-Gon!"

Master Dooku rushed forward, catching him as he fell. He held up the lightsaber in his trembling hand. His thumb hit the activation switch and a green blade came to life. Dooku stared at it, astonished for a moment before closing his own hand over his Padawan's, shutting off the saber. He took the weapon and tucked it inside his own robe.

Dooku shook him when Qui-Gon began to slide down to the ground.

"Stay with me, boy!" he demanded. "You've been in there for three days; you're not going to die now!" Dooku swept Qui-Gon up in his arms and carried him, returning to their ship.

I will live again, Qui-Gon thought. I will always die and live again.

Always in motion, the future is.

### ### – END – ### ###

Disclaimer: This story posted on tf.n on 3-Mar-2011 . All characters and the Star Wars universe belong to George and Lucasfilm; I am just playing in their sandbox.