(with Qui-Gon in the Jedi temple)

"Are you feeling alright?" Mace voice was worried and it sounded so strange and unusual that it brought Qui-Gon directly back into the here and now. He gazed into warm brown eyes, but no words wanted to form in his mind, so he settled for simply nodding. It seemed to be enough.

"Speak you must," encouraged the wise and green Jedi Master and apparently he had been wrong, nodding had NOT been enough.

"I want to know what happened to Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon eventually said.

Mace sighed audible, "We all want to know what happened with Obi-Wan that could have caused... this," he said in a calm voice that was supposed to be soothing, "but we cannot just rush into things and assumptions."
"I know that," Qui-Gon snapped. The calm tone in his friend's voice had not helped to calm him down, quite the opposite in fact, "but it all doesn't make sense. Obi-Wan would NOT lie to me, there HAS to be some kind of mistake or misunderstanding." He knew that he was repeating himself, but he could not help it. His Padawan was concerned after all.

"What do you expect what happened?" Mace questioned.

"I don't know," the taller male admitted, without looking at one of the two Council members in his quarters, "but I am going to find out." In his mind he was already making plans on escaping the temple to follow his Padawan to wherever he had vanished to. It was clear to the long haired male that he needed to have patience. He would undoubtedly be under supervision for a while now, but as soon as they began to feel comfortable around him again, he would act. He just needed to find out where Obi-Wan had travelled to. That couldn't be THAT hard, right?

Light:

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. His daily schedule had changed drastically since his first day with Qui-Gon's former Padawan. They would still work on his combat skills, even though he had greatly improved, but other aspects where also covered, diplomacy and the history of the dark side for example. Both topics were only briefly talked about however, because Xanatos was bored with them. At least that is what the raven haired male had said. Over the few months Obi-Wan had spent in his new Master's company, he had also learned a lot about him. Xanatos was brilliant, in his own strange way. He had a similar sense of humour and he had a way with words, especially when people of the other gender were involved. With him Obi-Wan truly learned the most, simply by observing.

It was still strange though. In theory, Xanatos was still the enemy and Obi-Wan still had a mission to fulfil. Not that he was one step closer to finding the Sith Master's true identity. He had only briefly seen Sidious one or two times since their last encounter and the ginger haired Jedi in disguise was not sure if he should be happy or disappointed because of it. If he was honest with himself, then he missed the Jedi temple not as much as he probably should. The freedom he had here, was great. It was a feeling he did not want to lose. Xanatos had said that this was the dark side that was starting to become his ally. If this was actually true, then the ginger haired Padawan was not sure if the dark side was truly as evil as the Council said it was.

Actually the dark side was... warmer, as stupid as that sounded. Passion was the way of the Sith. They did not deny emotions, yet they did not let emotions control them either. It made all a lot more sense. It was not about power, at least this is how Obi-Wan had come to understand it from the books he had read. And if the young Padawan was completely honest with himself, then he was beginning to enjoy it perhaps just a little too much. There were still certain aspects that he did not enjoy, torturing people just because they stand in your way was one of those thing. Playing with their minds however, well THAT was certainly a skill that could prove to be very useful, especially since Qui-Gon often did so too.

Shadow:

Dooku was not a forgiving teacher, Obi-Wan had learned that very early in his new apprenticeship. Every mistake had consequences, most of the time in form of physical punishments. The ginger haired male had long since lost count on how many beatings he had gotten during the last few months. He only knew that their numbers had lessened the last few weeks. Either Dooku had grown tired – he highly doubted that – or he was finally beginning to understand. Obi-Wan guessed the latter was the case, because Dooku seemed not the type of man to just give up. In this case the two of them were very much alike, stubborn and determined and ready to fight for their goals.

He had learned a lot about the dark side, the power it could give you and all the little advantages it had over the light. Also, his fighting had improved as well. His Master had taught him Soresu, a counter based fighting style that had elegant movements and could be fuelled by the dark side. Obi-Wan's most favourite activity were the diplomatic missions however. When he and Dooku were negotiating, his Master allowed him to play with their trading partners, be it mentally or just intimidating them. One time, he had threatened to kill all people present in the room, because he had been bored and tired from the workout earlier this day and just wanted to rest. Dooku had been both highly amused when all had signed the papers without reading or thinking twice, and he had been satisfied with Obi-Wan's skills. Qui-Gon had never allowed his Padawan to take the initiative and it usually ended in a lecture when Obi-Wan had somehow shown his boredom and annoyance.

There were also the meetings Obi-Wan had with Sidious. He met the man weekly. Their session usually involved meditation and it ended with Sidious 'attacking' his mind. The official version was, that he just wanted to improve Obi-Wan's natural shielding ability, the unofficial was that he wanted to have an eye on him. He seemed satisfied with what he was looking for however. The ginger haired apprentice could tell, because Sidious eyes had that certain sparkle, that meant that he was enjoying something greatly. Also – and Dooku had told him this – he would most likely be already dead, if Sidious was not satisfied with him.

Obi-Wan had also long since learned the man's true identity and wasn't it laughable that a Sith Master had been right under the Council's nose for so long? A highly respected and well known Senator, he found it amusing. Of course he hadn't contacted the Jedi Order, why should he? He had come to realize that they had never done anything for him. In fact, they had abandoned him twice and without a second thought. Not even Dooku had done so after he had ruined one of his carefully planned diplomatic encounters. He had just been disciplined afterwards, but he HAD remained the man's apprentice. He had earned the trashing, there was no doubt about it, and afterwards Dooku had sat down next to him and explained what he had done wrong.

To outsiders their relationship might have looked abusive or violent, but to Obi-Wan it was perfect. Dooku understood him on a level that not even Qui-Gon had. It was strange, but somehow the two of them just mixed. It was as if the two of them were made for each other, especially since they shared the same interests and views...


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