Dare You to Move

Part II: Hello, Part III

By: Helena of Trebond

Obi-Wan was sitting in the middle of a lush, beautiful garden. The water from a waterfall splashed onto him, making the rock he was sitting on slightly wet.

He sighed in contentment, and drew his knees up to his chest, laying his chin down on them. Surely this was a dream. But, it felt too real to be a true dream. What was going on?

"Obi-Wan?" He turned away from the clear blue water to face the one who had called him. He blinked.

Another Obi-Wan stood before him, grinning insanely. There was a mad glint in his eyes that scared the real Obi-Wan.

Next to him was the man who had called his name. He wore black Jedi robes, and held a lightsaber in his metal hand.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my dream?" Obi-Wan asked curiously. Just who were these two?

"I'm you. Well, the true side of you. The one who has chosen the right side, of course." The other Obi-Wan told him. Suddenly something clicked into place. This was a representation of the darkness in him. What he would be if he turned to the Dark Side of the Force.

"I am Darth Vader," The boy with the metal arm told him calmly. Obi-Wan paled. That was obviously a Sith title. But how could someone so young be a Sith?

"No. You're Anakin," The Force had told him that.

The boy scowled.

"And here I thought you wouldn't know me yet, Master." The boy said.

"Shut up," The other Obi-Wan said. "Now, since you're too stupid to understand what's going on, let me explain it to you. You're stuck in your own mind. Well, a world that your mind has created for this... special duel.

"You have to fight us, and win. Against both of us. If you win, you go back. If you lose, you join the Force. Simple enough for you?"

Obi-Wan paled. He was expected to fight two against one in his own head? But it wasn't as if he had a choice, was it?

Sliding down off of the rock, he drew and ignited his lightsaber in one swift movement.

"I'm ready."

"He's not dreaming, Ravin. Not really," Master Davius Conte said, eyes shining with confusion. "I wonder what's happening?"

"Fighting, young Obi-Wan is." Yoda said from the corner he had been standing in ever since coming to visit Obi-Wan with Davius.

"Fighting what, I wonder? The virus?"

"The virus, it is not. Make his choice, he must. Come to us he may. Go to the Force, he also might," Yoda said.

"What he means is that Obi-Wan is currently fighting in some way, and the outcome of this 'fight' will determine if he is to... become one with the Force or not," Healer Ravin said quietly. She had seen this only once before, and the patient had slipped away from them only an hour after the mysterious "fight" started. He had lost a padawan on a mission, and the grief drove him to death.

Heartless, stupid Qui-Gon Jinn!, Ravin thought bitterly. It was all his fault that the boy was like this! If Qui-Gon had merely taken an interest in his padawan's life, perhaps open up to him a bit, then Obi-Wan would be fine. Just fine.

"What should we tell Qui-Gon? The truth?" Ravin asked the two Masters quietly.

Davius snorted (very un-Jedi like). "Yes, that's a perfect plan! What will we say? 'Hey, Qui-Gon! There's a fifty-fifty chance that your padawan's going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it!' I'm sure he would take that well." He said sarcastically.

"Save him, Qui-Gon could." Yoda said. "Depends on how strong their bond is, it does."

"What would he have to do?"

"Into Obi-Wan's mind, he would go. Convince him that he has reason to stay here, he would." Yoda tapped his stick on the ground again, his expression thoughtful. "Obi-Wan's time to go, it is not. Needed here, he still is. See this, he must.

"Tell Obi-Wan, we will."

Obi-Wan had just barely defeated the boy that the Force told him was Anakin (but called himself Darth Vader), and had turned to attack the Dark Obi-Wan. The other version of himself had merely smiled, and sat leaning against one of the many trees in this garden.

"I'd rather talk. After all, fighting is such a waste of time and energy. Why would I want to kill you, when instead I can turn you towards real light?" He asked.

Obi-Wan cautiously disengaged his lightsaber, holding it in his hand just in case as he sat back down on the large rock by the waterfall.

"I'm curious about something. Tell me, what reason would you have for keeping yourself alive and in their world, when you can be at peace. Be one with the Force?" He asked. "There's nothing there for you."

"I have Qui-Gon."

"He doesn't want you. He never wanted you. Qui-Gon only took you as his padawan because Master Yoda never left him alone. You were passed on by all of the other Masters. Why would Qui-Gon have been any different?"

Obi-Wan could not think of a reply to this, and settled on concentrating on his breathing, which had become much too quick for his liking somewhere in that twisted conversation.

"I see you don't have an answer for me. Why don't you have any friends at the Temple?"

"Because I keep to myself and focus on my training," Obi-Wan responded instantly. This was what he had told himself hundreds of times as he sat and watched other Padawan's joking around, laughing and yelling cheerfully.

"Stop lying to me," The Dark Obi-Wan ordered him, "It's useless. We both know the truth."

"They hate me." Obi-Wan whispered. "And Qui-Gon didn't want me, because I'm not worthy of being a Jedi. I'll fail him. I've always failed him in everything I did. No matter what I tried, I'm never good enough. I'm a failure."

The Dark Obi-Wan smiled triumphantly. "That's right. You're worthless. You don't deserve to be his padawan. You don't deserve to be anyone's padawan. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"I knew you'd see it my way."

Healers walked in and out of Obi-Wan's room, checking vitals and running stats. Suddenly, one of them stopped.

"His connections with his body are getting weaker! We need Jinn to get here soon, or he's not going to make it!" She yelled over the noise of the machinery. The other healers nodded gravely.

"I'm afraid that you're right. But Master Yoda insisted upon talking to him before letting Jinn go through with this procedure."

"Assuming, of course, that he actually does want to do it," One of them pointed out, and received a glare from the others. "We have to think realistically."

"His breathing's getting shallow!"

"Fever's going up!"

"Heart rate is speeding up!"

"Get me some Amarine now!"

At this point, Tari wondered if he would make it. From the way his stats were looking, it didn't seem likely. Still, he could not give up hope, for the boy's sake.

Shaking his head to clear it, he began handing the Master Healers medicine that would—hopefully—help to save Obi-Wan Kenobi's fragile life.

Hello

I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to

Hello...

-Evanescence, "Hello"