Please note that this story is rated T for bad-Jedi language, some violence, and some non-graphic adult situations.
Just when you thought (and probably hoped) that Qui-Gon couldn't possibly spend any more time being hopelessly confused ...
New Arrangements
By: Syntyche
Chapter Seven
All was silent in the small ship apart from the communications console beeping impatiently at him, and while he really, really wanted to ignore it – maybe Kenobi could retrieve the message – the Jedi Master knew that at some point he would have to get up anyway, even though the soft vibrations of the ship's engines through the deck were actually rather comforting in a way, gently lulling him back into the blackness that had flooded his mind after …
… master's here...
Qui-Gon Jinn bolted upright, waves of dizziness crashing over him and he quickly put a hand to his head, hoping the simple gesture would ground him somehow. He groaned lowly, regretting his hasty movement.
"Take it easy, Qui-Gon, you are trying to do too much too fast."
The voice was warm, velvety familiar to his ears and the concerned words were spoken with a hint of longsuffering amusement. Qui-Gon allowed a small smile of his own at the well-known mantra heard so many times during his apprenticeship: Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn had been no less impetuous than Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, though Jedi Master Qui-Gon had come to realize over the years that what he had originally thought was impetuousness often turned out to be the Living Force nudging him in some direction or another.
"I didn't know you were assigned to rescue parties now," he rasped, gratefully accepting the gentle hand that brushed his temple gracefully, sending warm and healing energy that calmed and soothed the residual headache to a light background drone.
"I am not. But when I heard you might be in trouble, how could I not come when I was so near to you, my young Padawan-learner?"
The easy familiarity was like a balm to Qui-Gon's puzzlement, and he relaxed fractionally.
"It has been a long time since I have been a Padawan, Master," he acknowledged ruefully, grasping for the console behind him to lever himself to his knees. His old master's reassuringly firm grip under his bicep was surprisingly helpful; Qui-Gon's knees were unexpectedly weak as he rose shakily, leaning against the comm once he was upright while the cockpit spun dizzily before his eyes.
"Are you all right, Qui-Gon?" Dooku questioned quietly, and when Qui-Gon nodded slowly the old Jedi glanced at him in concern, confusion etched into his proud features. "And your Padawan? Is he not with you?"
A small thrill of horror swept through Qui-Gon at the elder Jedi's query. "You didn't find him also? Padawan Kenobi?"
Dooku shook his head regretfully, concern flashing in his face. "You were alone, Qui-Gon. There was no sign of anyone else aboard."
Except for the sticky crimson smear on the decking that had pooled where Kenobi lay after smacking his head on a console. Qui-Gon averted his eyes, feeling tension tighten his stomach and throat.
"That's not possible, Master. Padawan Kenobi was here. We diverted course to intercept a distress signal… "
Dooku frowned, interrupting as Qui-Gon trailed off. "Yours was the only vessel in the area, Qui-Gon. As the nearest Jedi to your current location, we received an emergency signal from the Council requesting we respond to the distress signal your vessel was transmitting. I knew that it was you, so of course I accepted."
"We're sending a distress signal?" Qui-Gon was surprised, realizing that was the source of the beeping on the communications console. Curious, he pressed the speaker, and Kenobi's emotionless voice filled the small cockpit.
"Attention Jedi Temple, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi; we have been diverted from our course by a distress signal and engines are now offline. Please send aid to the following coordinates … "
A string of numbers followed, all recited in Kenobi's familiarly bland tone, and the message clicked over to begin again. Qui-Gon stabbed the speaker button to shut the recording off, confused.
"But the engines aren't offline," he noted, the knot in his stomach growing uncomfortably. "I don't understand. I must find Padawan Kenobi," he murmured tersely. "Something is very wrong."
Dooku laid a hand on Qui-Gon's arm, clearly troubled. "I fear I must return to where I am required, Qui-Gon, though I will assist you as I can in the search for your young Padawan." Dooku's gaze narrowed and he added curtly, "Did I not tell you that Kenobi could not be trusted? Are you so certain that this decoy wasn't a ruse of his own making? After all, he clearly had the presence of mind to record a fraudulent message for the Council on Coruscant."
The thought had honestly not entered Qui-Gon's mind, but now it did nothing to ease the tense uneasiness that gnawed relentlessly at him. "Why would he do that, Master?" he questioned, skeptically but respectfully. "Kenobi was intent on becoming a Jedi Knight; he would have known such deception would greatly harm his chances." It was weak and Qui-Gon knew it, knew also his lame reasoning wouldn't pass muster with his former Master.
"Who can say?" Dooku replied absently, straightening his robes as he prepared to return to his shuttle. "My interactions with Kenobi were seldom, but I have always thought him to be unstable. Why the Council assigned him to you rather than releasing him from the Order I do not know – though I do not think it was out of simple kindness on their part."
"Why would that be, Master?" Qui-Gon wondered, suspicion cold as it mingled with his growing tension.
"Kenobi is dangerous," Dooku said shortly. "I wonder that you didn't realize it, but perhaps he is more skilled than I had imagined. For the safety of all concerned, I recommend you return to the Temple immediately; I am sure the Council will know what to do."
"Yes, Master," Qui-Gon replied automatically, an old habit that had never quite left him. "I shall endeavor to keep you updated."
"See that you do," Dooku acknowledged. "I will wait for word from you, and if I can assist you I implore you to let me know."
Qui-Gon watched absently from the cockpit as his former Jedi Master's shuttlecraft disembarked from the small shuttlebay of the Council vessel, his gaze tracking the small shuttle but his mind wandering along a track that frankly confused him. He and Padawan Kenobi had not formed an official training bond, but with the young Jedi nowhere to be found, a part of his mind that he hadn't wanted to acknowledge was eerily silent and that worried Qui-Gon Jinn more than anything; as disconcerting as it was, he realized that he'd become accustomed to the discordant hum that often accompanied Kenobi, accentuating the young Jedi's discomfort and continual struggle to keep his control in check.
Now there was nothing but silence in his head and in his ears, and it concerned Qui-Gon greatly. As soon as Dooku's shuttle had cleared his path Qui-Gon swiftly engaged the dual levers that would propel his vessel into hyperspace, heading toward the pre-calculated route to Coruscant. Though he didn't do his own piloting very often he was certainly no novice, and Qui-Gon settled into light meditation from the pilot's chair, keeping a portion of his awareness directed on the ship's sensors while he puzzled and meditated over recent events, hoping to find answers even before he reached the Temple.
Primary in his thoughts was Kenobi. The young Jedi had vanished, literally without a trace other than the blood smudges on the console and the decking. The only recent hyperdrive trails in the area were Dooku's and that of the Council vessel, there were no hospitable planets within short range, neither of the shuttles on their vessel had been taken, and there was no sense at all that Kenobi was anywhere nearby, though Qui-Gon knew that he was limited in his ability to sense Kenobi's presence due to the absence of a training bond.
Without a hyperdrive trail to follow, Qui-Gon's options seemed to be to return to the Temple or begin a galaxy-wide search for Kenobi with no evidence to point him in any direction to even start in.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
He had chosen to return to the Temple. The nagging thought edged the back of his mind that if Kenobi had been a Padawan of his choosing, if he truly had wanted the young Jedi, returning to the Temple wouldn't even be considered, but in truth Qui-Gon was weary of Kenobi's unsettling and disturbing nature. And Qui-Gon trusted Dooku's estimation – his former master had not yet steered him wrong with any of his perceptions, and if he had to choose between Yoda and Dooku, Qui-Gon knew without a doubt that Dooku's sage advice was that which he would follow whenever possible.
So he would return to the Temple, and turn the search over to Master Yoda and the Council. He would assist, of course – he was technically still responsible for Kenobi – but if this turned out to be a ploy of some sort on Kenobi's part as Master Dooku had implied, Qui-Gon would have no problem relinquishing Kenobi back to the Council and Yoda was on his own to do whatever he wanted to try and salvage their current pet project.
Only, when Qui-Gon closed his eyes, it wasn't the superhuman Negotiator Kenobi had become on Agamar that filled his thoughts.
It was a tired, empty-eyed young Jedi who known very clearly the fine line he walked; it was the quiet tears in the dark of the night and the flashes of amused spirit that had shone through Kenobi's cracked defenses.
Where are you? he wondered as he walked silent paths in his meditation, searching for one he knew he wouldn't find. His troubled thoughts occupied his time the entire trip to Coruscant, and when the proximity alarm beeped at him warningly, Qui-Gon blinked in surprise, shifting awkwardly in the pilot's chair. They had been halfway to Coruscant before detouring to check on the falsified distress signal, but the Jedi Master was still surprised by how quickly he had completed the remainder of the trip.
He commed ahead to the Temple and was informed that Master Yoda would await him on the landing platform; he was unsurprised and actually a little grateful that he could meet with Yoda privately rather than reporting to the Council.
He docked the ship with a minimum of fuss, and gathered up his robe. Yoda was waiting at the bottom of the landing ramp – not impatiently, of course, but as close to it as the small Master allowed himself to get.
"Master Qui-Gon. News, you have for me?" he asked, forgoing greeting and preamble. It was a true testament, Qui-Gon realized, to how upset the Council member truly was.
"Yes, Master," he replied, quickly detailing everything that had happened, from the successful negotiations on Agamar to the distress signal and his meeting with Master Dooku.
Yoda was grim and silent as he listened, the Force around him pulsing with strength of the power the small Jedi Master struggled to keep in check, but tendrils of sadness and distress still stabbed through the air around Qui-Gon, surprising him with the depth of Yoda's concern for Kenobi.
"Most unfortunate, this news is," Yoda finally murmured softly, large eyes sad. "Find him, we must. Assemble search teams, we will." He looked at Qui-Gon gravely and his eyes narrowed shrewdly, almost as if he were sizing up the large Jedi Master. Finally he said quietly, "More use you would be here at the Temple, Master Qui-Gon; assist with the search for Padawan Kenobi you need not."
"What? I can't do that," Qui-Gon immediately protested; Kenobi was still his charge, after all. "He is my responsibility."
"For your own safety, I recommend this," Yoda murmured, already turning away. "Accept now I do all responsibility for Padawan Kenobi. Free you are to resume your former duties."
"What?" Qui-Gon repeated, stunned, irritation slowly setting in as his long strides easily caught up with Yoda's slow pace. "You bullied me into taking him as a Padawan and now that something's happened you want me to forget about him?" Never mind that he had been considering that very thing on his return trip to Coruscant – "I can't do that."
Yoda swiveled to peer up at him, and Qui-Gon was struck by the absolute certainty in the small master's steady gaze.
"Better for you it is if now your association with Padawan Kenobi ends. No more I have to say on this." He stumped off, leaving Qui-Gon standing alone in the hall staring after him.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The powerfully executed kick landed with satisfying, crunching force into Kenobi's unprotected side, and the enraged Jedi towering over the barely-conscious Padawan smiled grimly, coldly energized by the satisfying aftershocks that rippled up his thickly-booted sole from the thrill of the contact.
Sprawled limply on the cold permacrete of the floor, Kenobi said nothing as his body absorbed the blow; ribs the Jedi Master knew had been broken before easily splintering under the crushing impact. Kenobi had been well-trained, but an agonized whimper that was almost a howl escaped him nonetheless as he reflexively curled around his wounded flank, shaking and trembling under the agonizing assault.
"Little bastard!" the Jedi snapped angrily, his words whipping into the cold air of the detention chamber. "Thought you could run to Yoda, did you? Thought that help you, he could?" and he enjoyed the cruel stab as he mocked the small Jedi Master's twisted syntax. Kenobi's resultant low moan was answer enough, and the Jedi could feel as well as hear the low hum building in the air, exciting him with how little it had taken to bring Kenobi to this point.
He felt no sympathy for the Padawan lying in crumpled heap at his feet; instead, long-building rage coursed through him, snapping into pieces the compassion for the young Jedi that he had once held, replacing that dead emotion with hatred and wrath, and a frigidly bitter pleasure that one who had been taken from him had been so fortuitously returned.
Though he knew that Kenobi had been meticulously reassembled by Yoda and other Council members, even the all-powerful Jedi Council wasn't capable of producing the miracle it would take to make Kenobi whole, which left the young Padawan as gratifyingly susceptible as he had ever been.
It wouldn't take much to achieve what he had set out to do, what he had almost succeeded in doing before Kenobi had somehow slipped from his control.
Kenobi just needed to be reminded of his ultimate purpose.
Another kick followed the first, and the whimper turned into a sob, though the Master knew it was more from the truth sinking into Kenobi's slowly-comprehending mind than the pain.
"You thought I wouldn't find out?"
The Jedi Master's lips pulled frighteningly back from clenched teeth in a grotesque approximation of a smile. Kneeling, the Jedi pushed into Kenobi's shoulder harshly, grinning in genuine pleasure at the contact while forcing the Padawan to uncurl from his defensive posture until Kenobi's wide eyes were staring directly into the unforgiving gaze that bored into him.
"You forget, little one, that I know everything about you."
The Jedi's voice lost its sneer and became as smooth as shimmersilk, every purring word wounding like the lash of a whip across Kenobi's bared soul, the excitement the Jedi felt at their closeness crackling excitement through him. He was so close now that his nose almost brushed Kenobi's, the younger Jedi's uncontrolled, frightened gasps for air rasping against his bearded cheek and stirring a familiar ache.
"Everything, my Padawan," he whispered covetously, greedily stroking the soft, plaited line of Kenobi's long braid, lingering on each small bead that symbolized a Trial passed, and the Padawan shuddered on a choked, hopeless sob.
"I know how you earned each of these," he continued almost lazily, rubbing the ruby bead wound into Kenobi's ginger hair between his fingers. His probing hand wandered around to the Padawan's back, drifting pointedly over the protruding bones of Kenobi's right shoulder blade, over the marks the Jedi knew were hidden under the white tunics.
"And how you earned each of these, little one."
The Jedi smiled hungrily, towering over Kenobi's slight form, reveling in the fear and the utter resignation reflected in Kenobi's emptying eyes before the light that brightened them went out, leaving darkness in its wake. He rubbed a thumb along Kenobi's pale cheek with a smile.
"And I think it's time you earned another, my dear Obi-Wan."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sorry if it's a little rushed – I couldn't not write about Obi-Wan, even if it pulls away from the 'mystery' somewhat. Please review if you can, comments feed the Muse! Thank you!
