My thanks to the kind works of my reviewers thus far. To those who read and don't review, that's cool, I don't mind, but a little comment is always appreciated, if you can.

Anyway, we get to visit our dear Obi-Wan this chapter...

Obi-Wan felt himself coming back to consciousness slowly, dragging himself up from the depths of darkness. He tried to open his eyes, but there was something pressing on them that prevented him from doing so. His head was hurting, and all his muscles ached something terrible, and he could feel…wire…his ankles and wrists were bound, his hands behind his back, with a thin wire-like rope, which cut sharply into his skin. Obi-Wan could feel a thin trail blood flowing form the wire-cuts, down his palm and over his fingers.

Mentally kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner, Obi-Wan reached out to the Force, feeling its warmth and letting it fill him, reaching out to Qui-Gon – but something stopped him. The link with his Master was still there, still present, but it was distorted somehow, blocked. He couldn't feel anything from it. It worried him.

The floor beneath him was vibrating, moving…a ship's deck? Bound and blindfold on an unknown ship, the Force-link blocked?

What had happened? Where was Qui-Gon? Where the Force was he?

Slowly, memories began to resurface, piecing themselves together. He had been chasing the assassin, and had gone into the warehouse, where there had been droids…hadn't he beaten them? He had been shot…a bolt grazed him, his arm…then more had come…there was the sensation of falling, then…nothing. Darkness.

Trying to relax and still his anxieties, Obi-Wan tentatively reached out to the Force. It was still there, still with him, unhindered and untainted, pure and white like it always was. It flowed around him, filling him, helping him piece together the events of the past few hours.

The changing target of the droid, shooting at the floor. The gas-filled room. It all came back with painful clarity. He had been dropped into a gas-filled chamber, been knocked out, drugged, been captured…

And now he was captive on an unknown ship, being taken to…Force knows where…and… He let his mind assess his body. The blaster graze was shallow and weeping under the torn edge of his tunic, the wires cut him sharply, but other than that he seemed to be unhurt. Confused and worried, but unhurt.

He was captive. Why? As a hostage? Did they know whom they had caught? His lightsaber was missing, the reassuring weight gone from his belt – but he had a vague memory of it flying out of his hand as he fell, so he did no think it was in the hands of his captors. The Force-bond block seemed to suggest his captors knew he was a Jedi, or was it coincidence and they did not know at all?

He could do nothing bound and sightless. Using the Force, he could feel another presence – only one – and a dark shadow of danger, of darkness. The Dark Side of the Force was around him here, wherever here was, and around the being he was with. Realisation hit him like ice. A Dark Force-user? The thought was chilling. Being captive was one problem, being captured by a Dark Side Force-sensitive was a different matter entirely.

He could hear, albeit muffled, fingers over a keyboard, a dramatic sigh, and movement coming from somewhere ahead of him. There were footsteps approaching him, stopping beside him. Pain suddenly lanced out of nowhere in his ribs, as he was kicked harshly. He cried out in surprise and pain; as he curled his body up to meekly defend himself. Another blow of pain to his chest and hands shot through him.

There was a harsh, short laugh, and the footsteps retreated, leaving Obi-Wan curled in pain. The kicks had been hard and uncaring, but he could sense no bone breaks, just heavy bruising. They had come out of nowhere – he couldn't sense them through the Force.

There was another round of typing, and then the footsteps began to come back. This time, Obi-Wan braced himself for pain when they stopped beside him, but the blows didn't come. A pair of hands seized his bound wrists and he felt himself being roughly dragged, pushed somewhere, there was the click of a lock, muffled footsteps and silence.

Reaching out with the Force, Obi-Wan was sure he was alone. Finally.

His hands were bound tightly, but Obi-Wan pushed himself up into a semi-sitting position and, planting his hands firmly on the ground, pushed himself back over them, managing to bring them from behind him to in front of him. Hands now in a position to help, he pulled off the blindfold and took a look at his surroundings.

It was a tiny room. It couldn't even be called a cabin – it was more a storage space of some kind. It was only just wide enough for him, but he could stand. There was nothing on the blank walls, no sign of a door or control panel – it must be opened from the outside.

Sighing, Obi-Wan looked down at himself. The thin trails of blood on his hands were almost dry, their redness offset against his pale skin. The wire was tightly bound, and Obi-Wan could se no way of getting off his hands without cutting them off or risking severely injuring himself. An assessment of his feet produced the same result – his ankles were thankfully protected from the cutting wire by his boots, but it was still tight and impossible to remove without help. His comlink was gone, as were the food and energy capsules he carried and his underwater breather.

Leaning back against the wall, Obi-Wan remembered his injured shoulder as he put weight on it. The tunic around it was singed and torn, and the wound itself was shallow, but red and bloodied. There was a risk of infection if he didn't deal with it, so, harnessing the Force around him, he pushed the healing warmth towards it and felt the pain begin to subside.

That taken care of, he let his mind drift to his situation. He was bound, captive, alone, and couldn't reach Qui-Gon. He had no idea where in the galaxy he might be, or how long he had been unconscious. He had no idea who had caught him, or why. There were so many questions and hardly any answers.

He couldn't cross his legs to meditate, so instead he kneeled, stilling his mind and descending to the calmness of the Force. The Force was telling him to wait, to survive, to endure. He knew Qui-Gon would look for him, and he was determined to take a chance of escape should it present itself.

Sitting deep in meditation, the Force warned him a split second before the unseen door slid open, and Obi-Wan was backhanded across the temple. He fell to the ground, his bound hands beneath him and their wire cutting into him again, as his head swam. The blow had made him instinctively shut his eyes, so a glance at his captor was lost, but as he risked raising his head, he was granted a blurry image of a cloaked figure above him, before he was kicked in the back of his neck and everything went dark.

He woke suddenly, Force knows how many hours later, in a dark cell of some kind. There was only limited light, but it illuminated enough for Obi-Wan to make out his surroundings. The cell was smooth rock, glittering black and cold in the dim light. There was no apparent door, nor window. A tiny grate by the roof circulated clean but stale air.

His bonds were cut, the wire gone, and the blindfold had not returned. The cuts on his wrists ached but were paper thin anyway – irritating but not fatal.

The thing that worried Obi-Wan most was the pressuring feel of darkness that was here in abundance. It was the cold, harsh weight of the Dark Side. He pulled the light of the Force to himself for comfort, courage, protection – but it felt weaker here somehow. Nevertheless, it did lessen the darkness slightly.

Obi-Wan sighed, sitting in the corner of his cell. He had tried to reach Qui-Gon again, but he had still got…nothing. Maybe part of it was battle fatigue, but he doubted it in his heart as he curled himself up and tried to sleep.

His dreams were dark and terrible, full of long since buried memories and death. He woke, cold and uncomfortable, unrested, a few hours later. He wasn't completely sure of the time frame, but his body was telling him it had only been a few hours, that was for sure. He had no way of telling what the time was outside his prison.

A sharp slap to the face woke him. He couldn't remember falling asleep again, but it did not matter. What did matter was the man who stared down at him, a twisted smile on his handsome face, blue eyes that burned with cold fire. The same face that had leapt into an acid pool, ten years before…

His voice caught in his throat form horror. "Xanatos?"

Xanatos smirked down at his prisoner. "Obi-Wan! You remember me! I feel honoured," here he spat the word like it was poison, "and I'm so glad you're my…guest."

"How?" It was all he could think to say. Obi-Wan tried to stand, but horror and shock had frozen him in place. Xanatos had died, burning beneath acid…

Ten years ago, on Telos, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had chased him to the acid pits…Obi-Wan had seen Xanatos leap into an acid pit rather than be caught by Qui-Gon and taken for trial – he said that if he died the Qui-Gon would never get the satisfaction of catching him. Xanatos had died…

Xanatos could obviously guess his line of thought. "I always have a back door, surely you know that by now. It wasn't acid, not that one. I had it neutralised days before. I lead you to there, I governed that battleground. You thought you saw me die painfully. It's not that easy." He laughed. "But here I am."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but be stunned by this turn of events. He and Qui-Gon had thought Xanatos dead, the bad end to a long feud. To find out it had been a charade, a game to him, was…sickening. Xanatos was evidently enjoying Obi-Wan's discomfort, standing above him with a smirk on his face.

"Do you like your room?" Xanatos placed a hand on the wall of black stone by him. "Do you recognise it? It's Malab, from Telos IV." He turned to look at Obi-Wan again, loathing and hate clearly showing in his blazing eyes. "It reminds me of home," he said, in a dangerously quiet tone. "A home that you took from me."

The last time Obi-Wan had seen Xanatos, when they thought he had died…Xanatos had been a hero on his homeworld, Telos IV, but had been deceiving his people and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had shown them the truth – Xanatos had run as the society had demanded he be brought to justice. He had run to the acid pits, they had fought…

"And now your beloved Master will come for you, won't he? How much closer have you become in the intervening years? Much, I daresay." Xanatos' voice became low and harsh. "And so he'll die along with you." Xanatos turned on his heal as Obi-Wan sprang up to attack him, only to be repelled by an unseen wave. "Don't try it," Xanatos warned, sneering over his shoulder. "This place amplifies Dark Side power. You really can't beat me this time." Laughing maliciously, he placed his hand on the wall and it turned clear, allowing him to step through. He noticed Obi-Wan's surprised reaction.

"Yes, just like the ones on Bandomeer, all those years ago." He sucked a breath in between his teeth and looked melodramatically wistful. "That was the first time I met you. You found these walls there, didn't you? Except this one activates with Dark energy, not just the Force. Which means, little Jedi, you're completely trapped, and completely at my mercy." The wall became solid again, but it couldn't block out Xanatos' laughter as he walked away from his prisoner.

Obi-Wan scowled at the wall where his captor had vanished. Xanatos…still alive. It was a shock to be sure, and a worry. Qui-Gon didn't know, didn't know where his apprentice was or what had happened. Thank the Force Obi-Wan had told his Master of the droid attack…at least it would give him some vain, some slight clue. Where was he now? Was he waiting for Obi-Wan, for a message from his apprentice? Was he searching in vain in the abandoned warehouse for a clue? Or was he on his way already?

Obi-Wan could only see this small room. Was it possible that he was still on Jernosi? It was more likely, it being Xanatos, that he was on some obscure planet in the Outer Rim, far away from civilisation and the Republic.

Held captive, Force knows where, by a supposedly dead madman.

Obi-Wan sat back down against the wall of his cell and put his head in his hands. This wasn't good. Actually, 'wasn't good' wasn't even close. Lifting his head slightly, his gaze fell on his cut wrists. He should do what he could, at least. He was a Jedi. He would make the best of this bad situation, meditate, conserve his strength – and escape and survive. Xanatos would not have the pleasure of killing him or Qui-Gon.

The Force here wasn't the bright white light he was used to. It was still there, still present, but weaker somehow, and harder to reach out to. It slipped from Obi-Wan's grasp even though he could feel it. It took Obi-Wan three or four patient tries to gather the Force-energy he needed to help heal the cuts, and the effort left him slightly drained.

His ankles unbound, he could, at least, meditate properly. Relaxing his mind, he leant with a straight back against the cool stone, releasing himself into the Force. Here, it was peaceful. Definitely more calming than the cold, depressing cell. Obi-Wan let himself fall deeper, away from his situation, away from the darkness, away from reality. Somewhere in the trance, it became sleep.

Calmness turned to nightmare. Light to dark. Peace to chaos.

Obi-Wan could feel the darkness, the dark energy of this place, of Xanatos, all around him, suffocating, pressuring. The light was gone and would not return. He was alone, no Force, no strength, as the darkness tormented, reminded, brought up old hurts and forgotten memories, memories Obi-Wan had thought he was at peace with.

He was sent away from the Temple, his home. Unwanted.

He gave his sabre to Qui-Gon on Melida/Daan. Disloyalty.

Bruck Chun's lifeless body stared up at him from the base of the waterfall. Murder.

He was being memory-wiped by the Syndicate. Weak.

Bant was trapped at the bottom of the pool. Helpless.

He was going to be executed by Xanatos on Telos IV. Criminal.

Qui-Gon was tortured by the mad scientist. Guilt.

Tahl died, killed by the people she tried to help. Betrayal.

Cerasi fell to blaster fire in the square. Failure.

Qui-Gon treaded on the edge of the Dark Side, overcome by grief. Master.

He was never good enough. He worked so hard, tried to meet the heavy expectations upon him, tried to be what he should be. But it was never enough. Not when he was twelve, trying to prove himself to Qui-Gon. Not now, at twenty-two, trying to prove he had taken the lessons on board.

He was alone. Qui-Gon was with him mentally. No, their Force-connection was blocked. Qui-Gon still blocked him out, like when Tahl had died, didn't let him help, just left him on the outside…it hurt to think he wasn't trusted…

Obi-Wan opened his eyes. He could feel tears in them, brought on by the dark thoughts, but they were easily blinked away. He shook his head slightly to dispel the remnants of the nightmares. They weren't true, they were just brought on by the Dark energy that was in this place.

Obi-Wan unconsciously brought out his stone. It was a river stone, from the River of Light on Qui-Gon's homeworld. Qui-Gon had given it to his apprentice for his thirteenth birthday – Obi-Wan had originally thought it only a rock, but it was actually Force-sensitive, and had helped him retain his memory when the Syndicate tried to memory-wipe him. He kept it in an inner, hidden pocket of his tunic, near his heart. Now he brought it out and pressed it between his hands.

It brought warmth and light to him, as well as a shadow of the presence of Qui-Gon. The darkness receded slightly, and Obi-Wan cast the bad memories aside. The things that had happened, that had been done, that he had done – failures and successes both – had helped him grow, helped him learn, and were in the past – there was nothing that he could do about them now. He had to focus on the here and now, the Living Force.

Putting the stone back into its pocket, Obi-Wan tried to sleep.

The Living Force. The here and now.

Right here, right now, he had to survive this.

Dun dun dun...my poor Obi-Wan. I'm so mean to him. And yeah, it's Xanatos...(if you've read the Jedi Apprentice series, it will make sense. If not, that's cool, I think I said everything you need to know) Reviews make the world turn!