AN: I'm sorry this took me so long; I totally suck. Real life got a bit complicated and I think my Muse may have dropped dead and to make matters worse when I moved back in July I lost the next chapter of Jedi League 3... hopefully I'll be fully cought up again soon. T
Part 2 – Investigation
Qui-Gon did not immediately go to Dex after leaving Obi-Wan, first he had some concerns he wished to discuss with two members of the Council. Instead of meeting in the Council chamber, he walked with them through the Temple halls discussing matters that weighed heavily on his mind.
"I'm concerned for my apprentice; I do not think he is ready for an assignment of his own."
"The Council is confident in its decision, Qui-Gon," Yoda answered.
Qui-Gon was not sure, but he thought he saw a look pass between the two other masters before Yoda had answered his concern.
"The boy has exceptional skills."
"But he has much to learn still, his abilities have made him, well... arrogant., Qui-Gon argued further. Qui-Gon waited, studying his companions' reactions; yes this time there was definitely a glance.
"Yes, yes, a flaw more and more common among Jedi, hmm, too sure of themselves they are. Even the older, more experienced ones."
"Remember, Qui-Gon, if the prophecy is true, your apprentice is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance."
"Of that I am aware, perhaps more so than most." Qui-Gon strode forward a step and turned to stop the other two Jedi in their tracks. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"What do you mean?" Mace asked.
Qui-Gon thought he was trying to look innocent, which made him look even guiltier. If they were not discussing something so important, Qui-Gon might have found his expression amusing, as it was, he was simply irritated.
"Don't play games with me; something is going on."
"Another Jedi has expressed concern about your apprentice," Mace relented.
Qui-Gon was ready to be furious at the audacity of another Jedi going to the Council about his apprentice before coming to him first. It was not how the Jedi worked. He took a breath to demand to know who dared to go over his head when the name of the guilty party popped into his head.
"It was Obi-Wan, wasn't it?"
The two Council members had the decency to look apologetic, but not regretful.
"What did he say?"
"Ask Obi-Wan that yourself you should."
"If he was willing to tell me do you think we'd be having this conversation?"
Yoda, although unwilling to divulge privileged discussion between the Council and the Shadow, did take pity on Qui-Gon and offered him a single answer.
"Spoke of concerns he did, the same as you now tell us."
Qui-Gon would have demanded to know more, but he knew that Yoda would not reveal any more of what the Council and Obi-Wan had discussed. He accepted for the moment, but knew that as soon as their current mission was over he would seek Obi-Wan out and demand to know what his concerns were and why he had voiced them to the Council and not to his bondmate.
Across the city, ignorant of the conversation between his master and the Council, Anakin watched as Padme passed on her duties to Jar Jar Binks.
"I don't like this idea of hiding," she told Anakin irritably after she had dismissed Jar Jar.
"Don't worry, now that the Council has ordered an investigation, it won't take Master Qui-Gon long to find this bounty hunter."
He continued to watch her as she continued to complain about the situation while packing her belongings.
"Sometimes we must let go of our pride to do what is required of us," he told her solemnly, echoing words that both his master and Obi-Wan had said to him on more than one occasion.
"Anakin," Padme looked at him surprised. "You've grown up."
"Master Obi-Wan manages not to see it," he told her sulkily, walking to the window, looking out over the city to the Jedi Temple far into the distance. "Don't get me wrong, Obi-Wan is a great mentor and having his assistance in training me is an honour. I am thankful, but sometimes I feel as though he is interfering in my training and influencing Master Qui-Gon. In some ways, in many ways, I'm really ahead of him. I'm ready for my trials but he feels I'm too unpredictable; he won't let me move on. And Qui-Gon refuses to see me any differently."
"That must be frustrating."
"It's worse. He's overly critical, he never listens, he doesn't understand... it's not fair."
"All our mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like; it's the only way we grow. And Master Jinn does not strike me as a man who is easily swain or manipulated; if he does not think you are not ready for the trials then it is his opinion."
"I know," Anakin admitted with a sigh. "But sometimes it's difficult, constantly being in Obi-Wan's Shadow."
"Anakin," Padme began, knowing there was little she could say that could help him past his frustration. "Just, try not to grow up too fast."
"But I am grown up, you said it yourself."
"Don't look at me like that," Padme suddenly demanded, retreating behind her mask, hiding away from the intimacy of their previous conversation.
"Why not?"
"It makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Sorry, Milady," but it was clear to both that he was not.
Obi-Wan watched from a distance as Anakin and Padme made their farewells. He heard Padme say,
"Suddenly I am afraid."
And he heard Anakin's effort to reassure her, which he easily did. Obi-Wan wished his own fears could so easily be quelled. He turned his attention back to Qui-Gon in time to hear both older men share their concern for their young charges.
He watched Anakin and Padme's ship leave with worry on his mind. Despite his persistent warnings, and now it seemed despite Qui-Gon's concerns, the Council had sent Anakin off with the woman he fiercely loved and whom, Obi-Wan suspected, loved him in return. The danger he felt was murky and he could not see anything clearly, but this path, the one the Council had chosen, was the path that this potential danger lingered upon. It was not a certainty.
Not yet.
And Obi-Wan knew that love for a Jedi was possible, Qui-Gon and he were testament to that, but a balance had to be found.
But he's so young and powerful, the voice he had come to recognise as his Shadow voice said. And he knew it was right. In his five years away from the Temple, Obi-Wan had come to know his duty and realise his dedication to the Jedi, but Anakin was still only a padawan, learning about the Force and what it meant to be a Jedi. Most Jedi did not come to understand what it meant or the commitment required of them until their first mission as a knight. Obi-Wan just hoped that the Council's decision to put Anakin in temptation's way would not hinder his development into a balanced Jedi.
Obi-Wan returned to the Temple after watching the refugee ship leave the atmosphere. He had seen Qui-Gon leave the space port also to make his way onto see Dex. Obi-Wan smiled a little at the thought of his friend Dex. He wished he could have gone with Qui-Gon to the diner, however he had other business to attend to; he had duties. Visions he still could not decipher plagued his mind and the only thing left to do was meditate on them until some clue could be gained, but if all else failed he would simply leave Coruscant and trust in the Force to lead him to where it needed him to go.
"Obi-Wan?"
Obi-Wan frowned.
"Obi-Wan?"
The voice was persistent and gradually Obi-Wan realised it was not a voice from within his mind; it was, however, a voice he recognised. He opened his eyes to find his beloved kneeling before him.
"I did not want to disturb you," Qui-Gon said, apologetically. "But I wanted to tell you what I found before I leave."
"It's alright, I was only drifting really," Obi-Wan said, gathering his thoughts. He took a deep breath and left behind his visions, and it was only then he realised how much time had passed and what Qui-Gon had said to him. "Leave?"
"Yes, according to Dex, the dart is Kaminoan. The Temple archives do not have any records of the planet, however it appears as though someone has tampered with the records."
"Who would do that? And why?"
"I don't know, which is why I'm going to Kamino."
"Kamino," Obi-Wan repeated, thinking on the name and allowing it to cast images in his mind.
Rain and storms.
"Are you able to come with me?" Qui-Gon asked, seeing some recognition at the planet's name in Obi-Wan's eyes.
Rain and storms, but not where I am meant to be.
"I would like to go with you, beloved, would follow you anywhere if it was up to me." Obi-Wan told his bondmate. "However, the Force calls me elsewhere."
"Has what I told you helped at all?"
"Yes," the younger Jedi told his master. "I believe so. Find what you can on Kamino; it will be important."
"And where will you be?" Qui-Gon studied his lover, hoping to see something beyond the mask of the Shadow. Obi-Wan swept so freely and so easily between Jedi and Warrior that sometimes the older Jedi feared he would lose track of his partner's state of mind.
"I think there is an old acquaintance of the Jedi I must pay a visit to," Obi-Wan told him abruptly. Now that the mystery of the rain and storms had left, his vision much seemed clearer. "When do you leave?"
"Within the hour."
Obi-Wan nodded before a sly smile broke out across his face. Qui-Gon smiled back to see it, knowing that the mask had been dropped and that it was his lover who sat before him.
"That doesn't give us much time."
"That depends, my own," Qui-Gon responded as he leant forward slightly. "On what you intend."
"We don't have much time and it may be a while before we see each other again; what would you like to do, Qui-Gon?"
Qui-Gon appeared to consider the question for a moment, and he opened his mouth to respond, however whatever he intended to suggest was silenced by Obi-Wan's lips upon his own. The Jedi master closed his eyes as the kiss deepened. He leant into the kiss, raking his fingers through his bondmate's hair.
'You read my mind,' he told Obi-Wan, without interrupting their kiss.
'No, beloved," came the soft response. 'But we do think alike.'
Qui-Gon reached Kamino without incident and as Liam in Yoda's class had suggested, the planet was there as it was supposed to be, proving without a doubt that someone had erased it from the archives. Someone had not wanted the Jedi to know about Kamino or go there. What the Jedi master learnt there added only more questions to his already troubled mind. Why had Master Sifo Duas ordered the army? Who was behind that order? What was the ultimate goal of the conspiracy?
His meeting with the man who had been the clone template had not helped matters. He almost certainly was the bounty hunter that Obi-Wan and Ankain had encountered. The man was edgy, but cautious. A man who lived by his instincts, however he was not rash. He answered the Jedi master's questions, giving little away as the two men measured each other. He did not attack Qui-Gon until the Jedi tried to prevent his departure. And now Qui-Gon found himself once more hurtling through space on the trail of a killer, but this time he had no idea where his destination was to be.
If Qui-Gon was confused by the recent turn of events, it was nothing compared to the confusion of his apprentice. Anakin accompanied Padme to her home planet, but the more time he spent with the beautiful, intelligent senator. the more his senses became intoxicated by her and the less he was able to think on anything else.
He went with her everywhere and as her constant companion they began to talk less as old acquaintances and more as friends. He had told her of his political belief in one person rule and although she had disagreed, she had not lectured him on his choice. She respected him. And he, her. Eventually he had not been able to control his growing affections for her, and learning that she felt the same way had been both a blessing and a curse. He knew he did not suffer alone, but despite this, the woman he loved would not enter into a relationship with him, refusing to live in secrecy and to live a lie. Part of Anakin understood and even agreed, but a deeper, darker part of him rebelled at her decision. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had formed an attachment, why was he forbidden? And so he dwelt on his bitterness, once again turning to a place in the Force he had not sought out since he was a child, it was a place of comfort and a place he believed only he could find and unknown to him, it was a place of Darkness.
Time passed for the young couple until Anakin's dreams could no longer be ignored, dreams of his mother suffering on Tatooine. His rebellious nature already fueled by his bitterness over the bondmates' relationship, he set off for his homeworld with Padme at his side.
Obi-Wan was just coming out of hyper-space when he felt it; a wave of grief, anger and death and its source was the Dark side. His destination, Geonosis, hung desolate in space. A desert-like planet that appeared barren and deserted from space, but Obi-Wan knew that a threat lurked within. He studied Geonosis as he felt around the edges of the wave of emotion he had felt through the Force. He had been guided here, to this planet, but now it seemed a new threat had arisen. Within his mind, the Shadow still saw desert, but it was not the hard, red rocks of Geonosis he saw, but endless dunes of sand.
Tatooine.
And as he thought the name, so too, did be know that it was Anakin who needed him. Did he have time? The Shadow thought not, but he also knew that he had to try. The grief was not yet real, it was simply a phantom of what could be, but it was not the feelings of grief that made Obi-Wan's decision for him; it was the rolling Darkness that followed close behind it. The Jedi Warrior turned his ship from the barren planet of the Separatists and headed straight towards a different kind of threat.
As Obi-Wan came out of hyper-space he was once again hit by a maelstrom of negative emotions, this time real and powerful, however it was not until he set foot on Tatooine's surface that the vision hit him. However it was not a vision of what could be or what he may prevent, instead it was a vision of the present; of what he was too late to stop.
He stood in desert, away from Mos Espa, at the side of a Tusken raider camp. The night was heavy and the air cool, but still. All should have been silent and peaceful, even here where the Light and Dark existed so closely together. From the camp came screams; men, women and children, all slaughtered, and at the centre of the carnage stood a lone man, wielding a blue lightsabre.
'Anakin,' Obi-Wan's mind whispered and knew that his failure was greater than anyone would be able to imagine.
As the vision faded and grief gripped his own heart, the Shadow was sure that Anakin had turned to where he was standing and looked, with eyes filled with recrimination, straight at him.
Obi-Wan came back to his body and found himself still standing on the streets of Mos Espa. It was as it had been before the vision had gripped him; bustling, noisy and dangerous. However, within the Force something had changed, the Shadow could feel all those who had been murdered by Anakin. Their deaths darkened the already tainted currents of the Force of Tatooine.
With heavy steps, Obi-Wan found his way to a cantina. He sat at the back where shadow and smoke would hide him. He sat for a long time and for the first time in a long while, Obi-Wan found himself questioning his ability to do his duty. He remained on Tatooine, staying close to Anakin, unsure of what he should do. The boy needed him, that was a certainty, however was there anything that Obi-Wan could do for him?
It seemed he would get no answers from the Force, however there was no need for the Force to intervenedand send the Shadow somewhere else; events dictated his next move instead. As he watched over Anakin and Padme, a message was sent to the young apprentice, a message from his master. When the transmission was abruptly interrupted and the droideka appeared, Obi-Wan was not surprised.
He had had a sense of danger on Geonosis, it was what had led him there in the first place and now he realised in trying to save two he had failed twice. But it was not this alone that filled the Shadow with guilt and dread. He also realised that events were moving spirally closer together and the Darkness was spreading its claws far and wide. He knew that this would not be the last time that he would receive conflicting visions from the Force; he knew that a time would come when the Shadow could not save all the Jedi the Force instructed him to, but must choose who to aid. This time, he thought, was just a warning, a gift from the Force to prepare him for the coming trials because this time there was still time to save Qui-Gon and perhaps time to undo the damage done to Anakin.
It would take some time to return to Mos Espa and back to his ship; Anakin would have a good head start (because there was no doubt in his mind that Anakin would go after his master), he just hoped he would arrive before Anakin and Padme got into any more trouble.
Obi-Wan's fervent wish was not to be. He was preparing the ship to leave Tatooine when a new vision assaulted his mind; a vision of Anakin and Padme being captured by the Separatists. The Warrior knew that he would not get to Anakin in time to prevent his capture. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. Between them, Obi-Wan had often thought, Anakin and Qui-Gon were going to be the death of him. He left Tatooine and as he made the jump into hyper-space decided that his two wayward companions needed a reminder about a Jedi's need for subtly. He would have to talk to Mace and see if he could persuade the reserved Jedi to give such a lecture. Obi-Wan grinned, imagining Qui-Gon's reaction.
Obi-Wan settled into the pilot's chair and sunk into a light meditation. He already felt the hum of battle within his body, already his muscles longed for action and his blood burned for a fight. By the time Obi-Wan's ship arrived at Geonosis, all traces of Knight Kenobi would have left the young man at its helm, instead it would be the Shadow that descended onto the planet.
Master Jinn was not concerned, despite being captured and imprisoned in a Force shielded cell. He was not concerned, no, instead he was a little annoyed, but most of all he felt dread. Not of what might happen, but dread of having to explain to Obi-Wan how he had gotten captured. The Shadow already complained he spent more of his time following Qui-Gon around that any other Jedi and now, it appeared, as though Qui-Gon had just proved his point.
'I'll never hear the end of it,' he thought.
However, these thoughts fled him as the door to his cell opened and he was confronted by a figure he had not expected to see again.
"Master," he exclaimed, his surprise allowing the single word to escape his Jedi control.
"Hello, Padawan." Count Dooku said with a half smile playing on his lips.
Qui-Gon looked at his master and thought, for the first time since he saw the droideka, that he may be in trouble.