White Ithiliel Thank you for your review! I'm so glad you like it and I'm glad Mace isn't coming across as a villain. I quite like him, most of the time.

TheVastEmptiness I'll try not to stomp on you with my cleats anymore. Mostly because it's really hard to get them clean after. Thank you very much. Anakin is my favorite perspective to write from, so I appreciate your comments. Hope you continue to enjoy!

julzdagger88 I LOVE when Mace and Qui-Gon get a little catty with each other, haha. Thanks very much for reading and reviewing.

That night he dreamt that Obi-Wan was walking with him in the Gardens. The trees loomed above them, the flowers trembled and swayed as they passed.

"I miss you," Qui-Gon whispered.

Obi-Wan did not look up.

"Will you tell me if you're in pain? Will you tell me you're there?"

Still no answer. They walked until the Gardens he knew lay behind them, and ahead was a dark and tangled forest.

Obi-Wan started to head into the shadows there but Qui-Gon gripped him by the arm, pulled him back. "No, Padawan, stay here with me."

And then Obi-Wan looked up, and his face was smooth and unencumbered, his eyes so blue. "He's waiting for me. I should go."

His fingers curled into Obi-Wan's tunic sleeve. "You shouldn't go. You should stay with me, where you belong."

Obi-Wan stared at him. "He's waiting."

Qui-Gon clasped him by both arms. "Who?"

"The Sith," Obi-Wan answered, in that soft and lilting Core accent, as if it was quite a normal thing to say.

"He's dead. You killed him. You cut him in half."

Obi-Wan twisted in his grasp. "He's waiting."

"I'm waiting," Qui-Gon would not let him go. "I will wait forever if I must. He can't hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you, Padawan."

"We don't have forever. It hurts. I'll go now."

"Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan, no. The Sith hurt you but he didn't win. He died and you lived. Come back with me. We're all waiting for you. Your life is waiting, Padawan."

Obi-Wan wrapped his hands around Qui-Gon's. "I'll go soon."

He wrenched awake, covered in sweat. Dawn filtered through the blinds in his sleeping quarters.

Soon.

He ran to the Healer's Ward.

Two figures in white tunics were leaning over the bed when Qui-Gon entered. His heart leapt into his throat.

"What happened?" He demanded, breathless.

One of the figures looked up. He recognized her as an apprentice healer, with large violet eyes and cornsilk hair. "Just the usual monitoring, Master Jinn. We were about to bathe him." She offered a small smile, and he saw the pity in it. "Unless you wanted to…?"

Obi-Wan had always been modest about his body. Qui-Gon took care of hygiene whenever he was available to do so. He stepped forward and took the sponge from her outstretched hand. "Thank you."

The healers left swiftly and silently.

Qui-Gon waited until the door closed, then drew down the blankets. Obi-Wan's gown fastened in the front, and Qui-Gon slid his arm under the limp body to remove it. The charred hole in Obi-Wan's chest had healed, with only a faint red mark remaining as proof of the Sith's resurgence.

He touched the scarred skin. Phantom pain seemed to vibrate from it, from the old wound.

"M-Master….I'm sorry…."

"Don't say that...shhhh….you're going to be alright, I promise you."

"...hurts…"

"I know. I'll help you."

Qui-Gon had nearly died helping, absorbing so much of the injury himself that by the time a medical crew arrived, Master and apprentice were both sprawled on the generator floor, in the twilight between corporeal existence and eternity. He had been revived easily enough, and immediately gave away any vitality he had to the flickering presence of his Padawan, until the healers realized what he was doing.

"You are pouring your lifeblood into a sieve, Master Jinn. The damage is catastrophic. He will die regardless. Do you want to die with him?"

The answer had been yes. He did not want to live if his apprentice was dead. He had looked into the putrid yellow eyes of the Sith and knew that hateful stare signaled a new and terrible age for the Jedi. For the galaxy.

How could he face such darkness without Obi-Wan's light?

He dipped the sponge into the basin of warm, soapy water and began his task. Healer Che had suggested one of the best things to do for a comatose patient was talk to them.

So he talked.

"Knight Muln is still on his extended mission in the Outer Rim. He asks after you whenever he can get a connection. Of course, Healer Eerin is here every day." He soaked the sponge again, and gently ran it over Obi-Wan's thin arms, avoiding the port in the left crux, and myriad tubes attached to support equipment. "Anakin is doing very well in his classes. He's taking an ancient literature course. He reads to you from the books. If you hear him, I'm sure you'll agree his pronunciation skills need some work." Qui-Gon's soft chuckle devolved into a strangled sob. He turned his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Damn the Council. Damn them. He dashed the tears from his face and cleansed Obi-Wan's midsection and legs, holding any lingering emotion tight in his chest.

"I'm sorry, I…Obi-Wan, Padawan, what can I do?" His eyes roamed to the Learner braid trailing over Obi-Wan's bare shoulder. "I made a promise to you, on Bandomeer, and on…." He faltered, had to steady himself before going on, "...Naboo. I also made a promise to Anakin, though I know it wasn't the right time. I still think it is imperative that he be trained.

"But what the Council asks of me is intolerable. Choosing one Padawan at the expense of another. Would I look at Anakin and see what I lost?" Washing Obi-Wan's hair and face was the most difficult, as his respirator could not get wet, or be removed. Qui-Gon dabbed the sponge over auburn hair, outgrown from its cropped Padawan cut. "And what repercussions come with Anakin being assigned a Master that doesn't understand where he came from...or if he is not apprenticed at all? They must see that the circumstances are unique." He untied the colored threads from the braid, and set them on the side table, in order of achievement. "Do you remember in the beginning, when you used to lament your stubby braid? And you were not exactly adept at plaiting back then. I would have you start over and braid a section of my own hair as an example."

Now the braid would fall past Obi-Wan's waist, if he stood. If he could stand. He carefully washed and rinsed the kinked length of hair.

"I meant it when I said you were ready, Obi-Wan. You will be ready, again. And I will find a way around this rule. You needn't worry about anything." Qui-Gon stroked the side of his face. The dream sullied the edges of his mind, a distant sense of dread. "If you come to that dark place again, do not go in, Padawan. I am still your Master, and I forbid you from going there. If it beckons you, look for me."

But of course the only response came from the machines, measured and passionless chirps, proof of life and vindication of his hope.

Natu was picking at her lunch. Anakin had seen her eat maybe one muja slice and she had steered clear of the spiced potatoes and nerf ribs on her plate. It just didn't make any sense to him. On Tatooine, you never passed up food, because who knows when you'd get more. He supposed Natu and the other initiates didn't know what it was like to lay awake at night, feeling like your stomach was gnawing itself, or doing the worst jobs at the Junkyard hoping it would earn you some of that meat lump stew the old timers would leave for Watto.

If Natu didn't eat now, she knew there would be another meal in a few hours.

Anakin's stomach twisted with that hot, queasy feeling again, but he kept eating anyway. He told himself it wasn't her fault she was raised without having to be scared or hungry, just like it wasn't his fault he was—he used to be—a slave. He licked the marinade from his lips and gulped down another glass of ice water. Ice was kriffing awesome. It would melt in like a second back home.

Not home. The Temple was home, with its huge statues and trickling fountains and giant cafeteria.

"Hey Anakin, did you hear?" Natu smiled at him, her eyes bright. "Master Mundi has asked me to be his apprentice. Officially." The syllables floated from her tongue. People from the Core Worlds sounded so fancy. She was human like him, but older, with brown skin and a soft cloud of black hair. "I'm so excited I can't even eat. I keep waiting to wake up and find out it's been a dream!"

Anakin grinned back at her. Now he sort of understood why she wasn't scarfing all this good food. And he really understood the dream part. Every day he had to remind himself this was his life. Good and bad. "That's so cool. When do you get to start goin on missions and stuff?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. But it's the best feeling, knowing I'm going to be a Padawan. You'll know what I mean in a couple years, Anakin. I'm sure you'll have your pick of Masters."

Anakin felt a flush in his cheeks. Some of the other initiates were mean to him. He knew it was because they were jealous, like when he'd get all that attention because of his pod and Kittster would suddenly get mad at Anakin for dumb little things. But Natu was one of those people that was naturally kind; she sparred with him during open salle time and sat with him in the cafeteria when he was eating alone. "I've already got a Master. Master Windu told me I'm gonna be a Padawan really soon."

"Wow, Master Windu is training you?"

"No, not him," Anakin was pretty sure Master Windu would rather marry a dewback than train him. "Master Qui-Gon."

"Oh, Master Jinn. He's going to be your teacher?"

Anakin was annoyed by her tone. "Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"No, nothing," Natu shrugged, "I've just heard...it doesn't matter, Anakin. I was foolish to say anything. It's wonderful that you've already been chosen."

But Anakin wasn't stupid. He knew when someone was being nice to cover up something that wasn't nice. He didn't know being a Jedi would be so...confusing. "What did you hear about Master Qui-Gon?"

Natu chewed her bottom lip. "I've heard that his second apprentice turned to the Dark Side and his next was killed by that Sith."

Anakin shook his head. That couldn't be right. Jedi didn't use the Dark Side. Someone like Master Qui-Gon would never let that happen. He would know, because he was super smart and Anakin secretly thought he was smarter than Yoda. "Obi-Wan isn't dead, Natu. The Sith got 'im but missed his heart and the really important stuff. And then Obi-Wan cut the ugly mudcrutch in half. Like two pieces."

Natu's eyes were wide.

Satisfaction tingled in the back of Anakin's mind. "Master Qui-Gon says Obi-Wan is just having trouble waking up. I see him all the time." He didn't mean to sound proud about it, but he was, kind of. "He's always asleep. Qui-Gon says everyone has to be extra clean around him cuz he can get sick if someone sneezes down the hall."

"I had no idea. No one's seen him for so long, Master Jinn either. I hope he's going to be okay."

Anakin looked down at his empty plate. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure." Natu touched his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But I don't know...it doesn't really seem like Obi-Wan is going to wake up, even though Qui-Gon says it like every day. He can't be my Master unless he tells the Council he's not going to be Obi-Wan's Master anymore. But I really want to be his apprentice. And he promised me, when he took me from my mom."

Natu pushed her plate in front of him. "That sounds hard. Master Jinn must be so conflicted."

"Yeah," Anakin glanced up at her, "Did his apprentice really turn bad?"

"That's what everyone says. It was before I was born, but you know, even Masters talk. But I have to go meet with Master Mundi right now actually so I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Anakin quirked his mouth to the side. "Sure, thanks, Natu. I hope he's a good Master."

"Thanks, Anakin." She stood and straightened her white tunics. He could feel her nerves like a quick flutter through his head. "And hey, I hope Master Jinn can train you."

"Me too. See you around." He watched her walk across the crowded room. He imagined wearing white tunics like Natu and not getting any of his lunch on them, and having a perfect braid like Obi-Wan, and saving slaves like Qui-Gon.

Anakin ate the potatoes Natu had given him, even though they were cold. He knew he could be the best apprentice ever, because he was the Chosen One (something Qui-Gon told him not to say around anyone else) and he was pretty sure that meant he was the best. He would make Qui-Gon forget about that evil Padawan, who was a kriffing traitor, and he would make him forget how sad he was about Obi-Wan.

A Master as special as Qui-Gon was like ice on Tatooine. He didn't want to lose him.