A Jedi Wizard's Tale

Chapter 7

**Author's note: trigger warnings this chapter for non-consensual kissing and touching

Obi-Wan knew a little about the Dark Side. All Jedi did. Know thy enemy, after all. He knew that the Force could be misused, just like any tool, any weapon. He also knew the stories of bindings, and what was involved.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Like Sith spit he was laying down and taking that.

Even as he thought it, he realized it was the worst possible way to word it.

For the second time since Skywalker entered the room, Obi-Wan jumped on the bed intent on getting to the door and away. He ran smack into a Force wall and landed on his back on the bed. Just as quickly, Skywalker was on top of him, grappling for his wrists.

Obi-Wan reached again for the Force even as he landed a hard jab to Skywalker's ribs. Skywalker retaliated with a vicious backhand. Obi-Wan's Force push was cancelled by one of Skywalker's own. Then with a vicious bite to his own fingertip, Skywalker smeared a line of blood across Obi-Wan's cheek.

Obi-Wan recognized the impromptu Force restrictor spell for what it was. Panicked, he pushed against it with his own magic, now a twisted tangle of his and Skywalker's essence. They both gasped as the Force was suddenly repelled from both of them completely.

Skywalker screamed in rage, bringing a fist down into Obi-Wan's gut. Obi-Wan grunted and twisted enough that he could kick out. The fight was now only physical and he feared what a loss would mean.

Through passion, I gain strength.

He scrambled out from beneath Skywalker and tried to roll off the bed only to have Skywalker drop his full weight on his back. And dammit if the Sith wasn't both taller and heavier. Obi-Wan brought his elbows to his waist as Skywalker tried to grab his wrists again. If he could just—

Except Skywalker was a dirty fighter. He yanked Obi-Wan's head back with a fist in his hair. Then he had a forearm around Obi-Wan's throat. Obi-Wan tried to roll again and he reached up to grasp at Skywalker's arm. Skywalker pressed down with his weight as he continued to pull back with his arm.

Obi-Wan choked, bile burning the back of his mouth and turning his stomach sour. This would not end the way he wanted. His vision was spotty and his arms were starting to feel like limp noodles.

Just as suddenly as it all had started, Skywalker released him and was off the bed. Obi-wan curled his fingers into the sheets, not caring about anything except breathing at the moment. Skywalker was cursing somewhere to his left. His skin tingled, not just from the fight, but from whatever strange twist of the universe made their auras and magic mesh.

"I would have you tell me what spell you've place on me, Jedi!" Skwalker cried.

Obi-Wan managed to turn his chin just enough that he could glare at Skywalker out of the corner of his eye. "I told you already, Sith, it wasn't me."

Skywalker scowled at him. "Anakin."

"What?" Obi-Wan pulled himself up to a sit and scooted back towards the headboard. He rubbed at the blood on his cheek. It was enough to dissolve the restrictor spell and he grimaced as Skywalker's eyes flashed with power; so the spell had indeed affected Skywalker and now he could use the Force again too.

"My name. It's Anakin."

Obi-wan stared. Did he suddenly want to be civil? "Excuse me if I didn't realize we were on a first name basis," Obi-Wan said.

Skywalker flexed his hands then clenched them into fists several times. Obi-Wan rubbed his throat and pulled a flicker of their mixed magic to his fingertips in case Skywalker decided he wanted to cut off Obi-Wan's air yet again.

"Don't try it," Skywalker hissed.

"I'll defend myself, Sith." Especially now that he could, both of Skywalker's inhibiting spells shattered, he realized, by the power flowing between the two of them.

He thought he had his guard up. But all his attention was directed towards Skywalker and maybe that was Skywalker's ploy all along with giving his name. "No!" Obi-Wan snarled as the headboard came alive, growing around his wrists and neck before he could stop it. He tried to push his own magic into the wood to reverse its hold on him, but Skywalker was there, kneeling over him and once again swiping a line of blood across his face.

His focus was all wrong again, on Skywalker when it should have been on what Skywalker was enchanting the headboard to do, on the headboard when it should've been on Skywalker. The blood flared against his skin and the burn sunk into his mind and the Force went dark and absent from his heart.

His heart which was now beating at a terrifying rate. Obi-Wan couldn't move his hands, his arms, his head. Skywalker straddled his thighs, preventing him from moving his legs. Obi-Wan blinked rapidly. He wrung the sheets between his fingertips where they were pinned by the twisted wood.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength I gain power.

Skywalker's touch was discordant in its gentleness as he brushed a lock of hair off Obi-Wan's forehead. Those blue eyes demanded Obi-Wan's attention as fingertips moved down his cheek to trail along his jawline.

"Call me Anakin," he murmured.

"No," Obi-Wan said, and he averted his eyes, no longer willing to submit to the Sith's gaze.

Skywalker made a frustrated sound and then his hands were at the hem of Obi-Wan's shirt. He pushed it up, fingertips tickling across his abs. He felt his bound magic hum and simmer inside his chest at the touch. He felt too hot, his stomach twisted into knots at the light touch. "Stop it," he tried as he jerked in his bonds.

"No," Skywalker mocked. Wicked fingers found his nipples next, a lazy exploration that flicked over the top of them. Obi-Wan bit the inside of his cheek and found himself looking into Skywalker's eyes again.

Skywalker had a deep scowl on his face, brows pinched even as he drug a thumb down Obi-Wan's sternum, the terrifying electric tingle from skin on skin between the two emphasized by the singular touch. For a brief second, Obi-Wan saw past the cruelty of the moment, the tightness in the back of his throat, the knots in his stomach. Something in his eyes told him, Skywalker was as confused and upset as him.

And that was the key for him to let go of his fear. Obi-Wan shuddered out a deep breath.

"What—?" Skywalker began, sensing the change no doubt.

Obi-Wan could see the bond that connected them now, the one he had been denying. And from there it was easy to draw Skywalker's own power along it to dissipate the most recent restrictor spell Skywalker had cast.

Obi-Wan realized that if the two of them were on the same side, no one would be able to bind one without binding the other. They would be formidable in battle, their strength doubled by each other's presence. Any tandem spells would be spectacular.

He reached for the magic infused into the headboard next, intent on releasing it back to its original shape. Except he should've known Skywalker wasn't out of tricks.

The kiss was daggers against his lips. And explicitly distracting.

He gasped, a mistake as a foreign tongue invaded his mouth. He tried to bite down but there were strong fingers at his jaw points applying painful pressure. Skywalker wasted no time plundering his mouth, licking behind his teeth, tangling their tongues together. All the while, magic zinged and burned with each contact. Obi-Wan felt hot all over and he would never admit it but he found himself kissing back, a strange compulsory rightness searing through his chest, like this was something he needed as much as air.

It seemed to surprise Skywalker who pulled back a fraction to search his face. A glimmer of a smirk played at the corner of his mouth. Obi-Wan felt drugged at the look, at the kisses, at the electrifying skin-on-skin touches. He tried to shake his head to clear it, impeded still by wood collar grown round his neck.

Skywalker kissed him again, and he went with it, unable to think clearly. Then there were hands at the waistline of his under-breeches and he jerked in his restraints. He needed to say something to stop this. He couldn't concentrate on anything but the skin-to-skin which fogged his mind, stopping him from pulling power through the bond once again. It was still too new and strange for it to be natural. Skywalker ghosted his fingers over his lower abdomen, and he sucked in his breath. Dammit why couldn't he think?!

All of it left bile burning in the back of his throat and Obi-Wan hadn't ever been—intimate, and this was not how he would have imagined it. Any lover of his would love, and comfort, and trust…

"I'll never trust you!" he spat. "You can—can force this binding, but I will loathe you and hate you and never forgive you! You can't…" He trailed off, ashamed to realize he was close to tears.

Skywalker stilled, resting a hand on each of Obi-Wan's hips. "Why should I care?" he said, not making eye contact.

It was such a sliver of hope, this pause, but words were all he had at the moment. "You care," he said. "You want me willingly at your side. Not," Skywalker's hands slid back to caress his ass, "not like this!" Obi-Wan finished, voice higher, unable to hide his panic.

The two locked eyes. Skywalker's jaw was clenched so tight, Obi-Wan could see a muscle twitching in his cheek. "You will call me Anakin," he ground out, pulling his hands back to his thighs.

Obi-Wan squirmed, trying to alleviate Skywalker's weight pinning his thighs. "Yes all right," he said, averting his eyes. He felt displeased, upset, disappointed. And then he realized with a jolt that he wasn't feeling any of those things, or maybe he was but so was Skywalker. "I mean," he started, "yes all right, Anakin."

Immediately the displeasure and disappointment faded and was replaced by a foreign feeling of hope. As if Skywalker had hardly ever felt hope in his life.

Obi-Wan was getting a headache.

Skywalker leaned in again for a short kiss, startling Obi-Wan into jerking back against the headboard, the twisted wood digging painfully into the back of his neck. There was that weird sense of other-feelings not his own again, a swirl of frustration, alarm, and worry. Skywalker was worried about him?

With a groan in the air, the headboard untwined from his neck and wrists. Obi-Wan didn't dare move though. He sensed this was a fragile peace.

Skywalker slid off the bed, eyes never leaving Obi-Wan's face. He touched his own lips and suddenly his eyes looked a little glazed and his face hungry. Obi-Wan hid his mouth behind the palm of his hand. Otherwise he still hesitated to move.

Skywalker gave himself a shake, blinking rapidly. "What's your name?"

Obi-Wan couldn't stop himself. "Pretty sure you're supposed to ask that before you kiss someone," he said. He took satisfaction from the high color that slipped onto Skywalker's cheeks.

A moment of silence ticked by.

"Obi-Wan," he finally said.

Skywalker nodded, licked his lips. "Obi-Wan," he murmured. "Would you…would you like some supper?"

The food tray that Skywalker had brought earlier had gotten kicked off the bed, little slices of cheese and fruit scattered on the stone floors like a strange parody of fallen shoulders. Obi-Wan brought his legs into a cross-legged sit, trying to ignore that his hands were trembling. His lips still tingled. "I seem to have lost my appetite," he replied honestly.

Skywalker's face went ugly, one side of his mouth slashed upwards in a sneer. Obi-Wan looked towards the open window. He could focus on the Force again. He cast out his senses to it and pulled at the bond, hoping to be ready for another attack if it came. He clenched his fingers tightly to stop them shaking.

Just as he felt a flare of other-feeling of rage, frustration and, alarmingly, lust, it all snuffed out in a burst of alarm and surprise. "Why do you feel…?" Skywalker started and trailed off. The muscle in his cheek jumped again.

And Obi-Wan was suddenly sure of what the other was thinking. "You want to say 'You don't need to be scared of me,'" Obi-Wan said. "But you can't because even in all your Dark Side subversion, you would know it for the hypocrisy it is."

Skywalker opened his mouth as if to say more. Then he snapped it shut and went again to the door. This time Obi-Wan stayed silent. He even held his breath waiting for the Sith to leave.

Obi-Wan had a tickle of warning before a sharp tug jarred through his chest, that feeling like a hand in his chest back once again. He curled forward, one hand pressing against his chest.

The wind picked up again inside the room as Obi-Wan felt a steady stream of his own magic being dragged forcefully away from him along the bond. Certainly two could play at that game? He imagined the magic swirling back to him even as he reached for the Force for an extra boost…

Shields abruptly dropped down over the bond. What a great idea. Obi-Wan brought up his own shields in response.

"I'm sealing this room," Skywalker said. "I think you know that at this point I'll know if you try to leave." The door slammed shut behind him. The air hummed throughout the room before going silent. Obi-Wan inhaled as the little hairs on his arms stood straight on end.

He waited a few moments more before gingerly getting off the bed one more time. He walked to the window. He stuck one finger out the window. "Ow," he said, as he pulled his finger back from the sting of energy field Skywalker had generated around the room.

They had awakened something in each other. Of that Obi-Wan was sure. What the exact nature of the bond was still puzzled and alarmed him. But he was also sure that Skywalker couldn't restrict him from the Force ever again. Which is why the Sith hadn't bothered to try before leaving the room; he knew it too.

Obi-Wan picked up a piece of cheese from the ground and picked off any bits of dirt he could see. He popped it in his mouth and chewed slowly. He'd eat what he could. Then he would break Skywalker's enchantment and see how much distance he could put between the two of them before Skywalker could reach him.

He leaned against the window frame, finally taking in the view. The bird was back in the window, preening its chest. It cocked its little head at Obi-Wan and flitted away. Obi-Wan sighed and turned back to the spilt food. Levitation spells, after all, burned through energy like crazy.