Just really, REALLY, wanted to do a father/son fic bout Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn. Episode One is my fave Star Wars, (don't judge me! I was actually alive when that one came out!) and I would LOVE to see a prequel to THAT trilogy! How the Galactic Dynamic Duo came to be! Anywho, hope you enjoy this! Just in a Star Wars fad at the moment!
Enjoy!
Always,
WOBE
Screams. He could hear them piercing through his unconscious state of sleep.
Obi Wan sat bolt upright, sweat soaking his forehead and saturating through his shirt.
His breathing was ragged, his pulse racing, and his heart pounding so hard he thought it might escape from his chest.
Realization dawned on him then.
He had been the one screaming.
But why? What had troubled his peaceful sleep?
Nightmares. Again.
They had been plaguing him for several months now, but they had usually been very vague, nothing concrete or too graphic.
However, tonight was different.
He had been running alongside his master, chasing after an enemy. That much he could sense.
They came to an abrupt halt, drawing their lightsabers to confront the evil in their midst, when a dark shadow suddenly loomed over them. A bright red light broke the darkness for a moment, flashing before them and then vanishing. As soon as the fog had begun to clear, Obi Wan turned to his master, only to find him on the floor, a gaping hole in his chest.
"No!" He had screamed, falling to his knees and cradling his master's head in his arms.
"Youngling," Qui Gon choked out the word. "How could you have failed me?"
There was pain in his eyes, a pain Obi Wan never wanted to see, not since he had been a boy and he was sick.
"No master please! I didn't know! Forgive me!" he pleaded, not forcing the tears coming yo his eyes away.
"I am disappointed in you. I should never have taken another Padawan. I should never have taken you. You failed,"
Qui Gon took a final, weak breath and was gone.
Obi Wan screamed, the simple two-lettered word dragging on and growing in intensity.
That was when he had woken, his screams the only companion he had.
He drew his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, and rocking back and forth.
He hadn't done this since he had first become a Padawan and had trouble falling asleep.
He was seventeen now. He shouldn't need to return to that habit to find comfort. But he did.
His breathing became even more haggard, his eyes wide and beginning to water.
He wanted to run to his master's room, see for himself that Qui Gon was fine, but his fear at what he might find overpowered his will to know for certain, so he stayed put.
A second later, the door to Obi Wan's room burst open, his master standing in the doorway.
Obi Wan would know that silhouette anywhere.
"What happened?" the man asked, his voice laced with worry and his breathing heavy.
"Nothing Master. I'm sorry to have disturbed you," the Padawan replied in the most even voice he could conjure up.
Now, to any other person, or even Jedi Master, Obi Wan Kenobi's acting would have done the trick and they would have headed back to bed. However, he did not have the same lick with Qui Gon.
"I could feel a great disturbance in our bond. What happened?"
"It really is nothing to worry yourself about Master,"
"Don't you dare give me that young man. I will not ask again. What happened?"
Qui Gon Jinn was known for being stern, and a good master, but rarely did he ever pull the, "I am your Master and you will do what I ask", card. When he did however, Obi Wan couldn't help but oblige.
"I had a nightmare," the teenager whispered, fiddling with the thin sheets of his bedding. He had said it just loud enough for Qui Gon to understand.
He tried desperately to form a further explanation, but couldn't seem to find the right words.
Obi Wan expected his master to say, "Is that all? I woke up for nothing?"
He did not however, expect what actually did happen.
As fast as he had come, Qui Gon ran the short distance from the door to his Padawan's bedside and sat on the bed, enveloping the boy in an embrace. His strong arms were only around the boy's shoulders for less than a second, before Obi Wan wrapped his arms around his Master.
Qui Gon could feel his Padawan's body wracking from the silent cries he buried into the man's shoulder, the tears beginning to wet his robes.
"You died," Obi Wan released between sobs.
"You died, a-and you t-told me I failed. That I sh-should n-never have been your P-Padawan,"
he stuttered out.
Qui Gon felt his heart wrench at the revelation of Obi Wan's dream.
He pulled away from the embrace for a moment to look at his apprentice.
Obi Wan knew what his Master was trying to do, and he refused to be a sore spot for him.
"Look at me," Qui Gon ordered.
Obi Wan didn't lift his head.
"Please look at me," he tried again, and again he was greeted with a bowed head.
"Obi Wan. Look at me,"
At the sound of his name being uttered from his Master's lips, he lifted his head.
What he saw, shocked the Jedi Master. His Padawan's eyes were red, bloodshot, and dim. Not the usual bright, happy eyes that he had been a witness to on a constant basis.
This was a new side he hadn't seen of his apprentice. A broken, lonely, scared boy.
"Obi Wan, how long have you been having nightmares and not been telling me?" he asked.
"About five months now. But nothing has ever happened like tonight. This was the first time for that kind,"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did not want to worry you with my own trivial matters Master,"
"Obi Wan, nightmares are not trivial. I need to know what you are going through in order to help you,"
"I know. But they aren't severe like tonight's was,"
"What are they usually about?"
"Going to the infirmary, or the medical facilities. Being given to another Master as a Padawan. Losing my lightsaber. Seeing my parents die. Failing a spar in front of the entire class,"
Qui Gon's eyes widened in surprise. He had no idea his Padawan struggled with so much!
"Why did this nightmare frighten you so much? You said you have nightmares about seeing your parents die, so someone dying shouldn't necessarily be new to you,"
"No, but J never knew my parents. I just imagine what they look like, and that I have just found them before they are both shot in front of me. You though,"
"You know me," Qui Gon said, realization dawning on him.
Obi Wan nodded. "Which makes the pain all the more real,"
There was a long pause before Obi Wan spoke again. "You are the only father I have ever known Master,"
Qui Gon was taken aback for a moment at hearing this. Obi Wan saw him as a father?
The man stared blankly into the dark room, his eyes unblinking.
Obi Wan was about to get worried, when he was pulled into another embrace.
A fresh wave of tears began pooling in the Padawan's eyes, knowing that what he had dreamt was not true. He clutched tightly to the man, his fingers curling into the cream colored fabric of the tunic.
"You are more than an apprentice to me. You always have been. You always will be,"
Obi Wan found himself smiling in the silence, before the tears began to fall again from the next word his Master whispered.
"Son,"
Obi Wan could feel his eyelids beginning to droop, but he wanted to fight them, fight sleep. He wanted to stay in this moment forever.
It was not meant to be though.
"You should get some rest. Tomorrow we will need you at your full strength,"
"Yes," Obi Wan bit his tongue before he could say the next word, but Qui Gon could feel it through their Force bond.
"I will stay with you until you fall asleep," Qui Gon said, pulling away from the embrace and looking into the clear, blue eyes of the teenager.
Obi Wan simply nodded and laid back down.
Sleep had almost overtaken him, when he felt the gentle touch of his Master's hand brushing through his short, bristly, red hair.
"Goodnight Son," he whispered into the darkness.
"Goodnight. Father," he replied through the bond.
Both Padawan and Master slept well that night. Identical smiles plastered to their faces.
Ones that Qui Gon refused to explain to Mace the next morning.
