4

"Hummmph! Always in motion the future is. One cannot be sure, but I have sensed... a kinder destiny for you."

After several minutes of trying to subdue Obi-Wan the guards jabbed him with a force pike. The blow brought Obi-Wan to his knees and sent an electrifying jolt throughout his whole body. He cried out and with the remaining strength he still had he tried to get back up. His head spun and his vision was hazy. The guards cried out something Obi-Wan could not decipher. His whole body felt like it was on fire, but he still tried to attack the guards in his unjedi-like fury. His body wouldn't respond in the way it normally did and he fell to the ground again. The guards sent two more electric jolts through his body. Obi-Wan was paralyzed. He tried to move, to scream, to do anything besides lie there, but he could not.

The guards picked him off of the ground and Obi-Wan inwardly shrieked. All that he had done was for nothing. He was about to become nothing. Obi-Wan reached out to the Force, but it had slipped away from him. 'Even the Force has abandoned me.' Obi-Wan thought hopelessly. The one thing he had counted on not to leave him was gone. He barely noticed as the guards threw him into another cell like room with a strange droid in it. It's coppery outside plates shone sickly in the half-light. Some Phindians started tweaking with the droid, but Obi-Wan barely noticed. He was trying to move, but he couldn't.

He couldn't believe this was happening. He was loosing everything. He couldn't fight anymore. His body wouldn't let him. Obi-Wan stopped trying. He gave up. He tried to calm himself and remember the Jedi philosophy. A Jedi accepts his death with grace. It is the will of the Force. The philosophy did not help him though. It was meaningless. There was no Jedi philosophy on loosing your memories at thirteen. Obi-Wan found that he was too tired to be mad or give into anger. Perhaps that was a good thing. What a failure he would be if he gave into the dark side of the Force. Qui-Gon wouldn't have been pleased.

Obi-Wan couldn't think of Qui-Gon without feeling a sharp pang in his heart. He had wanted to be his padawan so badly. When Obi-Wan had been sent to AgriCorps he didn't accept it. He knew he was supposed to be Qui-Gon's apprentice. Now, before their first official mission together he had already failed his Master. He was not meant to be Qui-Gon's apprentice. That was the reality that Obi-Wan accepted. The Force had stepped in to put Obi-Wan back in his place.

Obi-Wan looked up at the Memory-Wipe droid. The Phindians were still setting it up. At that moment that emotionless droid was the embodiment of every evil in the galaxy to Obi-Wan. There was the machine that would take everything away from him. The droid issued some beeps. It was ready. Obi-Wan was not. He tried reaching out to the Force again. If the Force was with him he wasn't alone. The Force would be with him, and that is all a Jedi needs. The Force was there as a comforting presence. Obi-Wan immersed himself into its flow. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Two cold metal rods were attached to his temples. Obi-Wan kept his eyes closed. The Force was with him and he would fight as hard as he could. If he failed he would never know. A Jedi accepts his death. The droid made indecipherable beeping noises. Memories flashed before Obi-Wan's eyes. He watched them all with a bittersweet smile on his face. There were some very good memories and bad ones. 'At least I never have to think of Bruck Chun again.' Obi-Wan thought, but it was an artificial consolation.

The guards just watched. Obi-Wan waited with his eyes closed. The droid whirred and then activated the Memory Wipe. There was a faint buzzing sensation in his head and he whirled his head to the right. The buzzing continued and he felt a headache coming on. He winced but kept his eyes closed. His hands were cold. His head was tingling and the electro-pulsars at his temples became hot. A strange throb came out of them and it reminded Obi-Wan of a heartbeat. The throb went deeper and deeper inside of his head until the throb was all he could think of. Had he become that faint pulsation? He felt like he was sliding back... NO! He wouldn't let them take his memories that easy! He was a Jedi Apprentice. They would not win not while the Force still existed, and the Force would always exist.

The pain increased and sent jolts throughout Obi-Wan's body. He gritted his teeth and clawed at the air with his clenched hands. The Syndicat guards laughed but their voices were somehow far away to Obi-Wan. His eyes were tightly closed and he was moving his head around constantly. Memories flashed before his eyes and for each one that passed he grabbed on to it with all of his strength.

"He's resisting." A guard said casually.

"They all do." Another commented.

"Not like this." The first guard said pointing to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan was now writhing on the ground in agony but not making a sound. He hoarded his memories like treasure and kept them close to his heart. They would have to kill him to get them. They were his. The pain became a blinding white light and Obi-Wan shrieked in defiance. Soon his shriek died away and the pain receded, a little. They wouldn't win. He was a Jedi... They wouldn't take them, but they had. Obi-Wan panicked. There were black holes in his mind. They leered at him and threatened to suck him into their deep darkness. Obi-Wan glared back at that darkness. They wouldn't win. They wouldn't.

He felt extremely sick and the white light wouldn't go away from his closed eyes. A rough voice broke through his world of pain and bright light.

"What is your name?" Someone asked.

Obi-wan knew. He knew! They hadn't taken his name. They failed. He won! Didn't he?

"Obi-Wan Kenobi." Obi-wan said defiantly.

The guards looked at each other and shook their heads.

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi." Obi-wan said as loud as he could.

Obi-Wan's voice had grown stronger but it was not as forceful as he thought it would be. He panted and the rhythm of his heart started to slow a little. He felt extremely dizzy, but he still had his name. He still had the Jedi Temple; he still had his friends and his Master. He had all the embarrassments and the accomplishments. He had the horror of being sent to Bandomeer to be a farmer and then Qui-Gon calling him padawan in the mine.

"Increase the power." The leader said.

Obi-wan heard a few other voices speaking but he couldn't really decipher what they were saying. His vision was blurring in and out and everything was starting to confuse his senses. Was he hanging upside down? It didn't matter much. He had won. Obi-Wan smiled and blinked. He felt a warm feeling envelop him. The Force? Yes, of course. The Force saved him. The Force could do anything.

"Poor bloke, he thinks its over." One said.

"Darned shame." Another responded.

Obi-wan puzzled over the words he couldn't quite comprehend. What was going to happen now? He could feel the Force. It surrounded him in comforting waves. It was like the mother that protected her child from harm. Qui-Gon would be so proud when he rescued him. Sure Obi-Wan was too weak to escape by himself but he knew his Master would come after him. He would enter with his green lightsaber blazing. He would easily dispatch the guards and free him from the cage. He would hand him his lightsaber back and lecture him on the importance of his lightsaber. Obi-Wan would nod, soaking up the reprimand, but knowing that Qui-Gon didn't really mean it. They would meet up with Guerra and Paxxi and save the planet. Obi-Wan smiled again. It sounded so wonderful in his mind.

"Ready?"

"All clear."

Obi-wan wondered where Qui-Gon was now. On his way to rescue him surely? He wouldn't wait until morning. His Master was wise. He would defy all reason and logic sometimes but he was wise. The Force would guide him to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan knew pride was not a good trait for a Jedi, but it didn't matter right now. He had beaten the memory wipe when no one else had! Him! A padawan! Obi-Wan smiled.

The Phindians looked down at Obi-Wan's smile for a long time as if deliberating whether they should pity him or not. In the end one of them snorted and the rest followed suit.

"Activate the Wipe."

A Phindian flicked a switch on the memory-wipe droid and it beeped twice. Obi-Wan wondered for a second what those beeps meant until the purpose became entirely too clear. They weren't done with him yet. The pain was not gradual. It hit him with its full force and set fiery blades into his mind. He felt as if thousands of tiny spiders with poisoned tipped legs were crawling around frantically throughout his brain. He tried to scream but no sound came out. His back arched and his eyes went unnaturally wide. He tried to concentrate on the immense power of the Force but he felt it slipping away. He could feel memories slipping away.

Bant's silver eyes danced with joy as she looked at the slowly levitating object. The object was a small silver ball that seemed to perfectly match the color of her eyes. It seemed hesitant to leave the ground but as it gained altitude it went faster. Soon it shot up into the ceiling like a rocket. When Obi-wan and Bant heard the slight crash they exchanged guilty looks and burst out into laughter. Obi-Wan screwed his face into his best impression of Yoda and said,

"Control, control! You must learn control!"

This caused Bant to laugh harder. Obi-Wan looked at the ceiling and saw that the silver ball had made quite an indentation in the ceiling. They were young; no one would blame them... Better to do the Jedi-like thing and admit to the act. Or they could do the safer and easier thing and run away. They ran.

It flashed in his mind and then it was gone. Then just as quickly she was gone and he didn't know who she was. He knew he was missing something, but he didn't know what. The pain continued and he gritted his teeth. The dull colors he was looking at suddenly got brighter and he watched as they blurred and refocused. Obi-Wan didn't understand. He had won... He was so sure. Why were they doing this to him? The colors became so bright that he had to shield his eyes again but he still felt the steady and loud pounding of the electro-pulsars. It was now continuous as if the beats were one long note.

Strangely enough he felt like he was being pulled away slowly. It wasn't that his memories were being ripped away from him but he was slowly being dragged into oblivion and his memories were left behind. Was that it? Obi-Wan tried to crawl back to where his memories floated in dazzling colors and light but they slowly faded away.

"It's going to kill him." A guard remarked.

"Better for him that way." Another gruff voice answered.

A white ponytail of hair trailed behind a boy's head as he parried a blow. He was ruthless and his eyes shone with hate. It was time for Bruck's endless string of insults and his perpetual scorn to end. Now. He took the offensive strongly and knew that Qui-Gon's eyes were locked on the both of them. This was the one chance he had to become a padawan and he would not let it be taken away. When the final blow was dealt a wave of triumph washed through Obi-Wan.

'I've won. I beat Bruck soundly. Qui-Gon is impressed.' He told himself.

But he hadn't. It had only made things worse.

'Like now.' He thought ironically.

With that thought the memory disappeared without a trace and Obi-Wan was pulled further away. Obi-Wan told himself he had to fight against it. He had only lost a little. If he could just remember a little then others would help fill in the gaps. Despair started to take hold and the pain was weakening his resolve. He was on the verge of falling unconscious and he knew that would be the end.

He started imagining the Memory Wipe as a hungry predator, prowling for memories. At first it hunted down the weak ones, but it longed for juicier prey. What a strange thought. Obi-Wan started to repeat his name over and over in his mind.

'My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi and I'm the padawan of Qui-Gon Jinn.'

'Qui-Gon is going to save me. He is. He is. He will.'

He didn't come. Obi-Wan cracked an eye open and the pain that it brought sent him reeling back. The rapid thumping of the pulsars began to slow until he could take a breath in between each throb and then it became so slow that he waited in anxiety for each painful pulsation to come. He knew he wasn't safe yet. They were trying to fool him so he would take his defenses down. He was tired and he tried in vain to reach out to the Force but it still lay beyond his grasp. He felt alone and incredibly sick. Maybe if he vomited all over the Memory Wipe Droid it would malfunction... The thought was fleeting. The droid was out of range.

The pulsations were so slow he was almost sure they had stopped. If they asked him his name this time he would lie. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it in the first place. They wouldn't know if he were. Ah, he was a clever one, but they didn't ask. Instead an incredibly loud thump resonated through his whole body like a ramming stone against a fortress. He cried out in pain and then it came again and again.

"Is this normal?" A younger voice asked.

"Well. I'm not sure.. Nobody gets this far." A nonchalant voice answered.

Each time the blow fell against his mind Obi-Wan screamed. Even with his eyes closed he saw all white and if he thought the light could not get brighter it flared with each pulsation. Each time it got brighter and brighter and he didn't know how much more he could stand. He felt like his mind was chipping away and pieces fell and tore away with each blow. The light became brighter. He screamed one last time before the light became dark and then he fell away into oblivion.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates... Wow... Severe lack of updates.... Six months? Wow. Awesome. Thanks to all who believed in me and those who gave me helpful hints I have taken into consideration. Guess when the next update is coming? evil laugh