Initus
Rating: G
Synopsis: This is my version of how Obi-Wan Kenobi became Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan.
Notes: This is where my series goes way AU.
Disclaimer: All canon characters are property of the Great Flanneled one and now Disney. I make no money off this endeavor.
Beta: None, all mistakes are my own.
Timeline 46 BBY

Speech: " "
Training bond communication: /
Internal thoughts: italics

Chapter One

Obi-Wan Kenobi looked around the empty dojo with a smile on his face. Before him were at least a dozen training remotes resting on the floor, waiting to be activated. With a snap-hiss, he lit his lightsaber and took the initial Shii-Cho position.

At some unseen signal, the remotes turned on and rose from the floor. Lights blinked from every angle and they started revolving around him. This would be easy, he mused as he blocked the first strike.

As the remotes continued to move around him, the colors inside the droids changed from a blue to a red. Blocking another bolt and sending it back to the remote, he watched as it hit it and exploded. What?

The remotes moved faster and Obi-Wan found he couldn't keep up with the onslaught. A bolt went through his leg and it buckled, forcing him to the floor. With his blade still up, a remote fired another bolt and it sliced through his arm like a lightsaber. He dropped his weapon. It clattered to the floor. He scrunched up his face at the intense pain as he cradled the now stump of his arm with his remaining one, then looked up.

Instead of the training dojo, he was in someplace dark.

A woman's voice echoed all around him, "Forgu gin."

An anguished cry surrounds him. "Ne, ne volu."

The darkness changed, now it wasn't so dark and there was a warm flickering light that played odd formations across the walls. A woman slowly appeared. Her eyes were as fair as her skin was dark. She held out her hand towards him. Without a thought, he reached out, but before their fingers touched she faded into the darkness with her light eyes remaining. In her place a glowing blood-red blade swept down towards his head –

Obi-Wan bolted upright, breathing hard. With a shaky hand, he ran his fingers through his short hair. What was that? Leaning forward, he put his face in his hands while shaking his head. Using some of the techniques he learned during his early years in the creche, he managed to slow his breathing and heart rate to something more normal.

It was only a dream, he repeated over and over. Yet the images still remained in his head, mocking him. He crossed his arms rubbing his hands against them to warm them. It took a moment before he realized that those same arms were undamaged compared to what happened in that frightening vision.

If his arm was all right, then he knew his leg would be. Thank the Force.

Eventually Obi-Wan lay back down with a sigh in the darkened room. With him nearing the time for him to be picked as a padawan, he was given his own room in the residential levels of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Like any other padawan, or knight's living quarters, it had no window. In fact there were no windows on these specific levels. On one wall was what one would call a picture window, but it was no window. Instead of having what was directly outside the Temple walls displayed, it was a scene from a heavily forested planet. Even though he was strong in the Unifying Force, he was actually drawn to the primitive setting. In the canopy opening the stars shown so bright that he felt he could reach through the screen and touch them.

Between the soothing image and his sleep-couch was a bedside table with an electric chronometer. The numbers it displayed made Obi-Wan realize that it was either way late, or too early. At this point in time he really didn't care.

On the other side of the couch was a door that led to his cramped refresher.

In a corner, and near the door that led out of his small room was a round cushion. Maybe I should meditate on what happened. The images from his nightmare, or possible vision, still whirled around in his mind. Even from his earliest recollections, he was plagued with them. Long before he was advanced enough to become an initiate, Master Numa always helped him work through and teach him how to banish his fears into the Force.

I'm a senior initiate, not a crechling. Only crechlings are scared of nightmares.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he could do this, he was twelve after all. An Initiate on the cusp of becoming a padawan shouldn't be afraid of something as little as a nightmare. "Focus," he muttered as he tried to relax.

It didn't work. In fact, he felt more anxious than before.

You can talk to me any time, Master Numa's voice echoed in his mind.

But she's busy with her charges. Obi-Wan pushed the thought to the side. Plus it was in the middle of the night. Who calls at this force-forsaken hour? Someone who's desperate.

Obi-Wan looked to the table with his chronometer. Beside it was his communicator. At least he hadn't lost this one, well not yet. Along with being clumsy he also misplaced things.

Communicator calls in the middle of the night were never a good thing. The small, cylindrical object chirped again. It was just loud enough to pull Creche Master Numa Shima out of a deep sleep.

With a muffled grunt, a blue hand slipped out from under the blankets and fumbled over to the small table. Eventually her fingers wrapped around the small communicator.

It chirped again.

Sighing, she brought it to her face as she sat up. "Yes?"

"Master Numa?" the voice sounded oddly young, but more importantly, scared. It didn't take long for her to figure out who it was on the other end of the line.

"Obi-Wan?" She was wide awake now. Numa glanced to the chrono again. "Nightmare?"

She heard a hitch, "Yes."

"Remember, Obi-Wan, they're not real."

"But…."

Numa frowned. Before he would easily agree with her, not this time. "Was it a vision?"

"I think so...I don't know," Obi-Wan sniffed.

Numa sat up, placing her free hand on her bare head. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be there, okay?"

"Okay." If anything, Obi-Wan's voice sounded even smaller.

Throwing the blankets off, she rose from her sleep couch and began pulling on her robes. Leaving her personal rooms, she moved across the corridor and knocked on the door while sending a tendril of thought through the still intact training bond to her former apprentice.

A few moments later the door opened and a very sleepy Twi'lek appeared. "Master?" Aayen Wetu rubbed her eyes then shook her head.

"Aayen, I need you to stay here. I will be leaving the area for a short time. Don't worry, I shall be back soon enough," and with that Numa turned and moved down the hall towards the lifts. The older Twi'lek thought it was a blessing straight from the Force when Aayen decided to remain and become their newest creche master. It took a special knight or master to be able to handle and teach the youngest of the little ones their first lessons with the Force, while also have them learn the most basic of manners and social skills.

"Yes, Master," the voice called from behind her.

Numa traveled through the well known corridors into the residential levels and eventually stopped at one of the doors. Next to it was a plaque that declared to everyone its current occupant: O. Kenobi.

Just as she raised a hand to activate the door chime, it slid open to show a very tired looking initiate in sleep clothes.

"Master Numa," Obi-Wan muttered and then took a step back, letting her into the chamber.

"It is good to see you again, Obi-Wan," she gave him a kind smile. For a moment she remembered the crechling with the unnatural red hair who was also plagued with nightmares. The hair now looked better. It had darkened until it was a light brown with red highlights.

"Though not in the best of circumstances," he muttered as he ran a hand through his spiky hair.

Numa placed a hand on his shoulder as she walked past. He was still short. Even when he was a youngling he was small. Obi-Wan followed her and then indicated the chair at his desk. As she sat down, he pulled his meditation cushion across the room and then sat down on it. Instead of crossing his legs, he bent his knees and wrapped his arms around them while resting his chin on them.

"What happened?" Numa kept her voice low.

"I dream a lot about my lightsaber training."

"And?"

He ducked his head down so that his eyes were hidden as he mumbled. "It changed. Mylegandarmwerecutoff."

"Wait," Numa leaned forward. "What did you say?"

Obi-Wan frowned as he raised his head. "While I was in one of the training dojo's my leg and arm were cut off." He paused, "There was also girl and then a lightsaber was about to kill me when I woke up."

Not able to lean forward anymore, Numa slid off the chair and stood on her knees before Obi-Wan. She reached forward and placed her hands on his shoulders. "It's not that unusual to have dreams like that."

"Even if the blade was red?"

Red? She felt her back straighten. "Explain?"

"Master Numa, the lightsaber blade at the end of the dream or vision was red. I've never seen one like that before."

Numa leaned back so she could sit on her heels. "Neither have I. It's impossible to find a red kyber crystal naturally." She knew she would have to speak with Yoda about this.

Obi-Wan slid off the round cushion. In a surprise move, he wrapped his arms around Numa and leaned into her.

Placing a hand on his head she wrapped her free arm around him. "Don't worry Obi-Wan, everything will be all right."

TBC...