Hey! Here is chapter 4! It is shorter than usual, but I figured this was a good place to cut it off. If you thought the last chapter was awkward, this one is even worse! So prepare to board the awkward express.
"Do you feel anything? Any pain, Any distress?"
"NO! No, no no! I don't feel anything! please stop asking me!" Haven sobbed.
This was the fourth time that this had happened. Obi-wan was dragged away and she was left with that awful creature who had the nerve to call himself a scientist. He would spend the entire time standing against the opposite wall observing her, then he would ask her questions. Unnerving questions.
The first time this had occured she had been concerned and done her best to ignore the questions, but when the interrogation had been over Obi-wan had been thrown roughly back into the cell, and she had lost all her calm. He was bruised and bloody. Obviously tortured. It was similar to when he had first arrived, only worse because she was seeing the wounds fresh. She did her best to patch him up, but she didn't have much to work with. In the end, she had to use torn pieces of her tunic to stop the worse bleeding.
Not by any means was she a healer. Her mother had been over protective to the extreme, always making sure her little girl was safe. Any activity that had the slightest possibility of ending up in injury was forbidden. Now she was wishing that she had been a bit more rebellious, then she might have some idea about what to do for such grievous injuries.
She knew that when he left that Obi-wan would be brought back in, and she would have to do her best to patch him up. They never hurt him too bad, but enough to make her cringe and him slightly sick. And then there was the knowledge, he was being tortured right now, that thought made her sick.
The scientist shook his head slowly. "I am very disappointed. I expected results sooner. However.." He trailed off looking slightly thoughtful. "Perhaps you need more pushing."
Her breathe caught. More Pushing? Was pushing torture? Because if it was, then she didn't think either of them could handle much more of it. No, that was not true. He was strong, she knew he would be able to go weeks and weeks and still endure whatever this madman could throw at him, but She was weak. She didn't think she could stand seeing him in such pain much more. Haven had come to a very important conclusion.
The first time he had come back, she had been hysterical. Panicked and insanely worried. She hadn't been much of a help until he had managed to calm her down. He hadn't been able to sit up, but his voice had managed to talk her through the basic steps of first aid. That night she hadn't been able to sleep. She had insisted that he take the sleep mat, unable to bear the thought of him on the floor with those wounds. She had lay on her side watching him sleep, terrified that if she closed her eyes, he would stop breathing. He had insisted his injuries were not that serious, and to a Jedi she supposed he had sustained much worse, but to her, they were life threatening.
The second and third time and been very similar to the first, but she had only realized it on the third. She had fallen in love with Obi-wan.
To her, it was shocking. She had never been in love with anyone before. She had had handsome friends before, even had a few crushes. But this, this was different. Every time he got dragged away, she felt like she was dying.
If she had been a stronger girl, someone who wasn't afraid to say what she thought, she would have stood her ground, refusing to let them take him. But she was not. She had always been weak. Easily pushed around, too afraid to stand up and defend her beliefs and herself. Defend? She couldn't even talk about herself, and because of this weakness, she was suffering and someone she loved was suffering in ways that made her sick to her stomach.
She knew he was a Jedi, and would never be able to love her back, however at the present moment she didn't care. Haven was well aware that in the future that she may grow to resent the code of the Jedi, but in this moment she was perfectly happy to just make sure he was alive and try to tend to his injuries. Even if she had been able to speak of her feelings openly, she would not have. She would not put them in a situation that made them both uncomfortable. He was not allowed to lover her, even if he had feelings for her, and she wasn't sure if such feelings even existed.
As the scientist left the room she did her best to pull herself together. Wiping her tears away, and looking around for anything to be used for first aid. Obi-wan would need help, and she would be of no assistance if she dissolved into a hysterical mess.
Obi-wan knew he shouldn't push his luck, but he could't help it. Sometimes the sheer idiocy of people annoyed him to the breaking point. Then his sarcasm came out. He knew from past experience that his sarcasm tended to make people more annoyed, and therefore more idiotic. Goodness knows he had seen it enough with Anakin. But it didn't stop him from using it.
Being led back to his cell by the woman he had stepped on in the room that he and Haven had been bonded together was certainly showing off his sarcastic side. Yes, he had accidentally stepped on her foot, so therefor he had destroyed her entire life. He nodded that made sense.
She was angrily muttering. "Seven years of studying, millions of credits down the drain. Gone! all gone!"
He couldn't help himself, he never could. "Such a brilliant mind as yourself, I would have thought that it would have been obvious to save a copy of your studies onto a second datapad, or a memory chip."
She didn't respond. Opening the cell door she shoved him in. Through the pain he vaguely wondered how she got to be so strong. He then felt softer, kinder hands touch his face. Haven.
He smiled as much as he could with his fat lip. Of there was something about this entire situation that he did not regret it was her.
He found the entire situation odd. To be honest, what about his situation wasn't odd? A Jedi Master kidnapped by a scientist for experimentation? But the part that confused him the most were his feelings towards the girl he shared a cell with.
He continually repeated to himself the code, over and over again. However, it did not help. Had he access to the force, he could have meditated on his feelings to find there true purpose or to release them, but force suppressant made meditation slightly difficult. He had only his instinct to rely on, which were usually very good. This point only worsened his confusion. His gut feeling was telling him that whatever relationship was developing between the two of them, it was ok, in fact, it was good and for some reason he felt it may be extremely important, but he had no idea why.
Of course, then there was the fact that they were married. He was surprised when Haven had dropped that bombshell, but then again, not too surprised, or at least, not as surprised as her. He had known what a bonding ceremony was, she had not. It was an interesting turn of events. When they escaped (He refused to think 'if') the marriage may cause some difficulties in their lives. Some marriage bonds could be broken, but with the strength and nature of this one, he didn't know if it would be possible in their case. Then, did he really want to break it? His Jedi instincts were saying 'of course, no attachment' but another part of him, a part he trusted more, was saying no. In any case, the council would not be pleased.
Pushing such thoughts from his head, he turned his attention to the 'here and now', just like Qui-Gon always said. He would worry about his feelings later, when they were more pressing.
He gathered his energy and pushed himself up. Today wasn't as bad as the past couple of days had been, or maybe he had just gotten used to it. He felt her help him to sit leaning against the wall. What would he have done without her?
There was silence for a moment as she pressed a damp cloth to his forehead. Exceptionally grateful for her assistance and willingness.
"I wish I knew why they were doing this." Her voice was quiet but echoed easily around the room. He shifted slightly, moving his weight, wishing he had an answer to that question as well.
The Jedi Temple was too quiet. The hallways were quiet and dark. He was supposed to be asleep. If he was caught he knew that he would be in a heap of trouble, but he could find the energy to care.
He had visited the soul healer today. It was the councils last desperate attempt. Sometimes a specifically trained soul healer could trace a bond even when blocked. It was painful, and wouldn't necessarily lead directly to his master, but might have given them an idea of where to look.
Anakin couldn't get the healer's face out of his head. The way she had looked at him after hours of her painful digging through his skull. She had simply given him a look of sympathy and pity that had made him sick.
Twice he had insisted that she try again. She had complied, but finally she had admitted defeat. "I'm sorry." That's all she had said.
Now tired, but too depressed to sleep, he wandered the halls. Wondering if it was truly too late.
"But...Sir! This is illegal!" The teen jogged after the older man. He was surprisingly nibble for a man of his age. Then again, he really didn't know the man's true age. Maybe he just appeared older as the result of some experiment gone wrong. It wouldn't shock him at all.
"Kidnapping, murder, and trade of another intelligent being are also all illegal, but you didn't seem to mind becoming involved with those." He glanced over his shoulder at the youth.
He bit his lip, indignantly thinking about how to answer that. "You know very well that I did not know anything about, any of that when I agreed to study under you. You never make the details of your work public. How was I supposed to know the sheer extent of you illegality?"
"Ahh," The man said chuckling. Obviously the young boys displeasure was amusing the older man. "But you still stayed, and you haven't turned me in."
"I cannot leave in the middle of my Graduate Assignment! You are well aware of that, plus, turning you in, would land me in trouble as well. Whether I got charged as well, I would still lose my apprenticeship, and therefore 5 years of hard work and expensive study!"
All he did was laugh in response.
The two of them entered a control room. It was darkly lit, so the screen that showed the inside of the cell would be clearly visible. A panel of controls streatched the entire length of the room. There was no doubt in his mind that this room was especially designed to hold the prisoners and experiment victims. The thought made him slightly sick to his stomach.
One of his helpers, or as the apprentice liked to think, 'minions' was watching the screen with a furious expression on her face. He knew she was upset that the jedi had accidently destroyed her studies. Personally he thought she didn't have anyone to blame but herself, but he had decided it was wiser to keep his mouth shut.
"I don't care what your reasons are, that lust drug is illegal in every system of the republic and highly immoral!" The younger boy yelled.
"I think you will find," The older man pulled a vile of liquid from out of his pocket "That moral and immoral are largely based on personal opinion."
The apprentice let out a frustrated breath. This line of argument was getting him nowhere. trying desperately to think of another way to combat this current line of madness, his thoughts were interrupted.
"I have already explained this to you, but I will again. The bond has obviously not completely formed, as shown by the lack of results from our tests we have been running."
Tests. the boy snorted and crossed his arms, willing to wait out the insane plan again.
"If the bond was completely formed they would be able to feel everything the other person was experiencing. I think it is quite obvious to all of us that this is not working correctly." There was a note of impatience in his voice now.
"You could wait!" he cried out, flinging his arms into the air. "There has already been progress, If you just give them more time, i'm sure they will reach that point on their own!"
The man chucked again. His constant amusement with this as starting to drive him mad.
"Oh, i'm sure they would, however, I don't have that type of time on my hands. I need results quickly. There is certainly an attraction there, but it would take too long to make the connection naturally. He is too immersed in his Jedi training to give in to his attraction, and she is too shy to address anything. I agree with the assessment that they are perfect for one another, but the connection would take months to make, possibly years to make naturally. I'm simply speeding up the process."
Then before he could make a counter argument, the older man walked briskly forward and connected the vile of lust drug to the controls of the ventilation system of the cell.
Furious and disgusted, the apprentice left the room. The others turned to the screen to make sure the plan was put into action correctly, carefully watching the reactions of the figures on the screen. The two unsuspecting people in the cell.
AN: Ok, I promise this was necessary for the plot! If anyone can guess the real reason the bond insn't working ill give you a plate of my virtual brownies!
Anyone else see the Phantom Menace in theaters? I did! and i actually thought the 3D was pretty good, especially during the pod race.
Please Review!