I am so bad at updating this apparently. Thank you for any reviews. They make my day! Alright so Return of the Padawan-

-and it may not be who you think.

Hope y'all enjoy!

Never had the Council been so annoyed with Master Jinn. Never in all their years of trying to get him to take another apprentice, had they faced such a ferocity of objection and refusal. Never, ever.

One month had passed. One long month of Qui-Gon sitting next to Obi-Wan. One long month of healers trying to pry the man away. One long month of Council meetings with Qui-Gon in an attempt to convince him to 'have mercy' on the boy and let him painlessly and easily become one with the Force. One long month of Mace, Tahl, and even Yoda pleading with Qui-Gon to not be selfish. Obi-Wan was gone. Nothing would bring him back.

Yet still he held. Still he fought. Still he resisted everyone's objections, feelings, and information. The resistance to his decision was one of the strongest trials that Qui-Gon had to face. He felt as if the world was standing against him, pounding on him, trying to make him fall. And often he felt as if he should. He often broke down alone with the lifeless Obi-Wan, overcome with grief and the belief that all hope was gone and that he had ultimately failed where he needed to succeed.

Then the Force would wrap his arms around him and whisper comfort. 'Trust me, trust me, he will be alright.'

To make matters worse, Qui-Gon could feel the Force warning him of the peril growing closer and closer. And the closer it got the more he wanted to run. So on one hand he had the entire Jedi Order trying to have him give up on the boy, on the other he had some ominous danger coming closer and closer that only he seemed to sense.

Oh, and of course the Force that simply told him to 'Trust in it' and everything would work out in the end.

Great.

Only one thought kept him going. Master Jinn had failed Obi-Wan once. He wasn't going to fail him again without putting up the fight of his life.


Tahl had come in and started one of her speeches about being kind to Obi-Wan and letting him go. Qui-Gon only half-heartedly paid attention, as he had heard it a hundred times over. The boy was not some dog to be put down. He was a living, breathing, human being. True, he wasn't exactly…walking…or thinking…but still!

The day had been quiet and peaceful. Few people had come to visit the bay, and Qui-Gon was actually drifting off to sleep…

When he suddenly got to his feet and activated his saber, startling Tahl so much she fell back against the wall.

"Qui-Gon! What-?"

"Shh!" He hushed her for a moment and tilted his head, trying to listen to the small voice of the Force. It said only two words. You wouldn't think they could send fear into the heart of a Jedi Master.

'Get ready.'

Qui-Gon turned to Tahl when a sudden explosion literally rocked the floor they stood on.

He fell to the ground, his weapon deactivating and clattering out of his hand. Screams were heard through the vents and walls and alarms from somewhere blared warning. Tahl rushed to her feet and ran out the door before Qui-Gon even processed what had happened.

"Master Jinn! Master Jinn!" Young Bant came running into the room, out of breath, "What happened? Master Tahl just rushed out of here without a word!"

"What are you doing here, youngling?"

"I came to see Obi-Wan when the explosion when off."

"Where was it?"

"I don't know, sir."

Qui-Gon pushed himself up and found his saber. He paced for a moment before responding. "Go up and investigate before reporting back to me. Figure out as much as possible."

"What will you do, Master Jinn?"

He frowned slightly, "I… I will remain here and make sure the Medical Bay is properly evacuated.

"Evacuated, sir?" Bant frowned. "But the explosion wasn't here."

"Call it a Master's intuition." Qui-Gon gave a grim smile. "Now go."

"Yes, Master Jinn." Bant rushed out without another word.

Evacuation was hard to start, as many healers insisted that it was not necessary, but Master Jinn was a master on intimidation. After the healers had been 'convinced' the evacuation began. It was slow and painful. Several patients were bedridden and it was required to transfer them to a stretcher before getting them out the door, but most of the patients had been evacuated by the time Bant returned.

Qui-Gon was seeing an older Master out the back door when the entrance slid open. Bant stood in the doorway, her hands slightly shaking.

"Initiate Eerin, I was wondering what was keeping you. What happened?"

Bant didn't answer immediately. She finally managed to gasp out, "Help…me…"

Qui-Gon frowned. "What do you-?" his question died in his throat.

Bant's figure was overshadowed by a figure in a dark cloak. He was tall and his hood hid his features. From the depths of his cloak, a red saber emerged. The man grabbed Bant's arm and yanked her towards him, holding the saber to her neck.

Qui-Gon cautiously glanced between Bant and the figure, his hand slowly moved to rest on his saber.

"Master Jinn…" Bant gasped softly, her voice trembling slightly.

"Let. The girl. Go." Qui-Gon's gaze hardened slightly. He didn't know who the man was, but he knew one thing: they were no Jedi.

A dark chuckle was heard. The figure reached up and touched Bant's head with his hand. She dropped down to the ground with a small gasp, unconscious. The figure stepped over the girl and raised his blade.

Qui-Gon activated his saber, listening to the healers rushing out the last few patients before the back door closed. "Who are you? What do you want?"

A cold voice spoke from under the hood. It sent chills up his spine. Master Jinn's face went a shade paler and he almost dropped his saber in shock.

"Hello, Master."

The hood dropped to reveal a cold face with brown hair and blue eyes. A broken circle was on one cheek and the gaze was fixed with such hate and despise it sent a fresh wave of horror through the man.

The Force had time to whisper,'Stay strong, Qui-Gon.'

And then Xanatos lunged.

Qui-Gon blocked on instinct and fell back into a defensive formation, focused on blocking his strikes, too stunned to do anything else. How was Xanatos in the temple of all places? It made no sense in any galaxy! It was impossible!

Just because Qui-Gon couldn't speak didn't mean his attacker wasn't willing to talk.

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" He growled and threw his weight on a particularly hard strike.

"Wh-What?" Qui-Gon defended himself from the next attack, bewildered by the sudden outburst.

"You had one job. One job." he sliced and managed to singe his robe. "Come to Bandomeer. You couldn't do one simple job!"

Qui-Gon was too shocked to even begin to follow the conversation. "Bandomeer? What does Bandomeer have to do with any of this?"

"It had to do with everything!" Xanatos jumped back for a moment to shake his fist at his ex-Master. "You were supposed to be there! Then I could have gotten rid of you and my competition at the same time. But no, you stayed at the temple and I had to completely redo my plans!" Then he lunged back into the fight, the blades dancing in a deadly show.

Qui-Gon was now recovering from his shock and began to move on the offensive. "Xanatos, why are you here?"

"Why else? TO MAKE YOU PAY!" He feinted right before swinging left, coming up in a crescent arch and knocking his old Master's weapon away. Qui-Gon ducked back down and avoided the waving blade by jumping back and dodging, but he could only move so fast. He tried to locate his saber and had just spotted it in a corner when-

"Master Jinn!"

Qui-Gon glanced over to find one of the younger healers. A young human boy who had just finished his training, if he recalled correctly. He was holding his saber and standing in front of one of the doorways, guarding it. Obi-Wan's room. Obi-Wan had apparently not been successfully transported out of the bay with everyone else, due to the machinery that had to be unhooked and precautions made to his condition.

Qui-Gon's focused faltered for just a second, giving Xanatos the upper hand. He pushed Qui-Gon across the room with the Force and summoned Qui-Gon's blade to his hand.

Xanatos was a tad confused at the appearance of the healer, but he shrugged it aside. What really caught his attention was the way Qui-Gon shoved himself to his feet and rushed to stand in front of the healer and patient. Not even a care for his lightsaber falling into his ex-Padawan's hands.

And now that he thought about it, Qui-Gon never missed a mission. That was why Xanatos was so shocked when it was reported that Jinn had missed his own flight. There must have been a reason.

Now what was it?

Qui-Gon was standing in front of a healer and patient, unarmed. Now why in the galaxy would he do that when the healer had a weapon? No, it wasn't anything to do with the healer. But the patient… Xanatos had only caught a glimpse inside the room and it appeared to have been a human boy. Looked about 13 years old so probably a-

-Padawan.

Xanatos smiled. "Why, Qui-Gon… Did you get another Padawan?"

Qui-Gon's eyes grew wide. "What? No?"

"Then why are you guarding some boy's door?"

"Obi-Wan has nothing to do with this. Leave him out of it."

"Obi-Wan?" Xanatos raised an eyebrow. He knew his Master and a name without any title meant something important. "If he's so close to you, perhaps I should introduce myself."

The already pale face seemed to drain of any remaining color as he was shoved back with the Force.

The Healer held up his blade, but was no match for the infuriated ex-Jedi and he fell down with a scream, wounded on his side.

Qui-Gon shoved himself up to his hands just in time to see Xanatos smile and the door shut to Obi-Wan's room, all three lightsabers inside. "NO!" He pushed himself up and ran to the door, which was locked up tight. He banged on the door. "XANATOS!"

Inside, Xanatos grinned. Oh, how he enjoyed hearing his ex-Master suffer. But his focus was needed elsewhere. He sliced the healer's blade in half and tucked Qui-Gon's in his belt before turning his attention to the unconscious boy.

The initiate appeared to be sleeping. Some sleep if he could sleep through all of that racket. But upon further investigation, he found that the Force surrounding this 'Obi-Wan' was chaotic. Out of control. Conflicting. Dark swirled with Light creating an almost twister like feel. The symptoms were there and with the heart monitor and brain scanner, now disconnected and on a nearby operating table.

He must have meditated a little too deep and was now trapped in the Force. The situation almost made Xanatos laugh. He prodded at the boy gently and was shocked at the ease of breaking through his mental shields into the boy's mind.

He had run to the meditation gardens and hunkered down in his hiding spot. The words that Qui-Gon had said were still ringing in his ears. Qui-Gon might as well have stabbed him through the heart.

The Force tried to comfort him, but he shoved it away. 'You lied! Leave me alone!'

His brain was scrambling around, not thinking completely straight. No one wanted him. Why was he even here? Did the Force just like messing with him?

Meditation was the natural response and any fear he might have had seemed to just vanish. Who cared what happened?

No one. Not the Council. Not his friends. And certainly not Master Jinn.

Obi-Wan didn't even try and fight the folds of his mind. He just gave in. Maybe if he dove in deep enough he'd never have to go to the Agri Corps. Or ever feel this pain again.

"You need to do better with your younglings, Qui-Gon. Sounds like this one hated you more than I do." Xanatos grinned. "I mean, driving a youngling into a self-induced meditation coma? He never wanted to speak to you again, did he?" He brushed the boy's hair out of his face and grinned at the door. "Well… maybe he'll wake up. Maybe he won't. But it doesn't matter to me. All that matters is that this 'Obi-Wan' will not be with you."

Qui-Gon's blood went cold.

"Maybe I should try teaching. I'd make a much better teacher than you ever were."

That single thought seemed to shoot through Qui-Gon's mind and tear it apart, then glue it back together in a single second. Xanatos was not going to touch that boy, if Qui-Gon had anything to say about it. He calmed his mind and reached into the Force, feeling the lock.

Xanatos barely had time to try and dodge when the door suddenly slid open and Qui-Gon lunged at him, knocking his ex-Padawan to the ground. He grabbed his lightsaber and activated it just as Xanatos swung his red blade down.

The confined space was tight and not easy to maneuver in, keeping the swing lengths not as strong or large. Qui-Gon's goal was to protect Obi-Wan from the slashes as Xanatos did not care if he killed Obi-Wan while trying to kill his former Master.

But ultimately, Qui-Gon was older and from his month of sitting in the medical bay he hadn't kept up his strength like he should have. He was formidable, but Xanatos had prepared for much longer. He flicked his Master's weapon out of his hands and threw Qui-Gon against the bed, his blade pointing at his face. "Any final words, Qui-Gon?"

Qui-Gon's failures seemed to just break right there. He had failed to train Xanatos properly. He had failed to protect Obi-Wan months ago and he failed to do the same now. There was no peace in his mind and there was certainly no trust in his mind. The Force had abandoned him. Qui-Gon looked over at the sleeping Obi-Wan and took the boy's hand, tears filling his eyes. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan." That was all he could say.

Xanatos grinned. "Goodbye, Qui-Gon." He swung his blade down, arching for the killing stroke-

-only to be stopped a mere inch from Qui-Gon's neck.

His eyes grew wide. What…? Qui-Gon was calmly waiting for his death to come. The healer was incapacitated. And Obi-Wan… was sitting up.

The initiates eyes were shining with a fierceness that Xanatos had never seen from a youngling. One hand was stretched out, shaking slightly, as he held the saber only a mere movement from killing Qui-Gon. His other hand gripped Qui-Gon's as tightly as he could, almost afraid to let go.

Qui-Gon opened his eyes and found the predicament as startling as Xanatos had. He stared at the now conscious Obi-Wan, befuddled by the turn of events.

'Well, don't just stand there. Do you think he can hold that forever?'

Qui-Gon flung Xanatos back as hard as he could, calling his weapon back and slashing downward. Xanatos was pushed out of the room and into the hall again. Only seconds later, Mace Windu and Tahl rushed in, weapons drawn. All three Jedi circled around, eyes fixed on Xanatos and blades shifting slightly.

Xanatos measured his chances and realized he was out matched. He pulled out a small round ball and glared at Qui-Gon, "Until next time, Master Jinn." He threw the detonator at the three and it exploded in mid-air sending a shockwave and burst of light that blinded the Jedi.

When the smoke cleared, Xanatos was nowhere to be found.

"Are you alright, Qui?" Tahl rushed over and examined the small cuts and bruises that the Jedi had received from his fight with the fallen Padawan.

Qui-Gon shook her off and peered into Obi-Wan's room.

Mace and Tahl followed his gaze, their eyes going wide as they took in what they saw.

Obi-Wan was staring at all three, his gaze blurry and unfocused. He blinked a few times before falling back onto his pillow, too exhausted to remain conscious for long.

Qui-Gon rushed to the boy's side and managed to grab his hand and mumble, "You're going to be fine, Obi-Wan. You're going to be alright."

Then the initiates eyes closed and he passed into a peaceful sleep.

Dang it! Cliffhanger! Well, sort of. Maybe the title should have been 'Return of the Padawan's' since there was two of them...

Whatever, doesn't matter. Let me know what you liked and what you didn't like! Thanks to everyone who favorited and followed! Y'all are amazing!

Until next time, May the Force be with you!