Yes, I left you on an evil cliffhanger! But you guys have twisted my arm - I was going to wait a few more days to put this up, but I'm doing it now. Bad influences, you lot :D
Here we go...
Qui-Gon's blood ran cold.
This wasn't happening.
He had died. So long ago, on Telos IV. Gone from reality to live as a dark memory from the past. Qui-Gon had thought it finally over when Xanatos had leapt into the pool of acid, never to trouble him again…he had let go of the memory and all Xanatos had symbolised…and put it behind him…
Xanatos spread his arms wide, looking melodramatically disappointed. "Not pleased to see me, Master?"
Qui-Gon stared at his fallen apprentice, speechless. What words were there for this situation?
Crossing his arms, Xanatos smirked; his charateristic expression. "I'm alive and well, Qui-Gon. You've failed again."
"You died," Qui-Gon whispered, his mind unable to comprehend what was before him.
"No, you think I died. I'm cleverer than that, Qui-Gon. Surely you could have worked that one out? No? Pity. But then, I did surpass you. And now you can't even accept that I'm alive! I can see it in your eyes. I know you."
Xanatos being behind all this made some kind of twisted sense. He was clever enough to pull it off, had the money for the droids, the knowledge of Dromund Kaas' Dark Side history, and had the hatred to do it all. Willing himself to believe this was real, Qui-Gon placed a hand on his sabre hilt. Xanatos laughed.
"Come now, you think you can beat me? Look at what I've done to your precious apprentice! I'm far stronger now than I ever was before – and you are weakened here. That is the magnificent power of this place!" he waved a hand at the stone walls. "A Dark Side Force-nexus. You have no idea how good the power feels, Qui-Gon."
Silently, Qui-Gon unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and held it, deactivated, in his hand. Xanatos' smirk faded into a scowl. "You can try…but you will fail."
Qui-Gon activated his lightsaber and took a step towards Xanatos in one movement, determined to rid the galaxy of this evil once and for all. He held no anger or spite within him - as much as it hurt to think of all Xanatos had ever done, and all the suffering he had caused, this had to be done for the right reasons. Xanatos was too dangerous to be left alive: this was simply justice.
Xanatos flicked his wrist as Qui-Gon neared and the Jedi Master felt agony pass through his body – Force-lightning. He dropped his lightsaber from the intense, burning pain – was this what he had felt from Obi-Wan? – as it forced him to his knees. Behind him, he thought he heard Obi-Wan shift slightly, whisper something he couldn't make out through the haze of pain that was stabbing into him.
"This is your fault, Obi-Wan." Xanatos taunted, letting the lightning fade from his victim. "Your Master suffers because of you. Because you couldn't do anything yourself."
Qui-Gon tried to raise his head, tell Obi-Wan that Xanatos was lying, but another bout of extreme pain stopped him from doing so. He was close to passing out, and could feel the darkness of unconsciousness upon him…
Xanatos smiled as Qui-Gon slumped to the ground, unconscious. Well, that had been easier than expected. He pressed a button on his wrist-comp and a hidden droid marched out of the darkness. He directed it to pick up the limp body of Qui-Gon, taking the two lightsabers from the body as the droid marched past him and down the stairs with its burden.
Qui-Gon's was still the same as it always had been, even when Xanatos himself had been an apprentice. The other was clearly Obi-Wan's. Xanatos flipped it in his hand, activating it and looking at the blue blade nonchalantly. He swung it casually a few times, then deactivated it, heading for the stairs as the wall of Obi-Wan's prison turned opaque again. It did not block out Xanatos' final, soft comment to his captive.
"You'll hear him scream, Obi-Wan. I promise."
"Qui-Gon?"
Qui-Gon groaned instinctively as he opened his eyes and the world came back into focus. He was on the floor of a stone room, lit by glowsticks, one wrist chained to the wall behind him. Both his lightsaber – and Obi-Wan's – were gone, his head hurt like it had been slammed against the floor – and his body like it had been crushed by the Temple.
The source of the voice was Tholme. As Qui-Gon's vision cleared, he could see his friend and Quinlan in a Force-cage at the end of the room, about five or six meters from him. Both looked weary but physically unharmed.
"I see you're in the same predicament?" Qui-Gon said as he brought himself up to kneel, facing his friends.
"We are. Who is this madman, Qui-Gon?"
Qui-Gon hesitated a moment before answering. "It's Xanatos. Surely you remember him, Tholme?"
"Xanatos? But he died on Telos IV?"
"Apparently not."
"Master," asked Quinlan quietly from his position next to Tholme, "who is Xanatos?"
Tholme looked over at Qui-Gon, his expression clearly asking if he wanted to tell Quinlan himself, or wanted Tholme to answer. Qui-Gon looked at the Padawan and addressed him directly. "Xanatos was an old apprentice of mine who turned to the Dark Side, Quinlan. He hunted me and tried to kill me many times – attacked the Temple once, too. I tracked him to his homeplanet of Telos IV, where he jumped into an acidic pool rather than be caught by me. We thought him dead."
"But, I'm not," Xanatos said as he swept in, placing the two lightsabers he held on a small table. It also held a whip and other evil-looking instruments. Xanatos caressed a few momentarily before turning to the chained Qui-Gon and clapping his hands together. "So, where should we begin?"
Before Qui-Gon could answer, he was incapacitated with the burning lightning again. He heard Tholme call out, yelling at Xanatos to stop, but all Tholme got in return was his own apprentice being subjected to the same torture. "Speak again, Jedi, and he'll get even more."
Qui-Gon felt the pain lift, and he reached out to the Force for help. It was so much weaker here, and it almost slipped from him. But it was with him, he could feel it. As he began to create shields to help him, Xanatos struck him with the whip, laughing as it cut deep into Qui-Gon's shoulder.
Xanatos looked at Qui-Gon pityingly as he coiled the whip around his hand. "I want Obi-Wan to hear you scream – you'll have to do better than that, Qui-Gon."
He stretched out a hand, letting the lightning flow from him, into the captive he had before him. How good it felt! Finally, Xanatos could make Qui-Gon properly suffer for what he had done. His screams and pitiful cries were like music to Xanatos' ears – such a sound he had been waiting so many years to hear!
The pain built. Every nerve, every fibre of Qui-Gon's being was screaming…he might have been screaming too, he couldn't tell anymore…the Force wasn't there, he could feel only the white hot pain of Xanatos' torture…it was consuming him, filling him, killing him…
He could hear Qui-Gon screaming. The sound burned into his mind, tore at his soul, pierced his heart. Qui-Gon was suffering, and it was all his fault…Obi-Wan tried to block out the sound and focus; but focus wouldn't come, and the sound wouldn't leave. It was driving him mad.
Emotion swirled within him, and guilt rose to the surface. It was his fault…his fault Qui-Gon had come to find his worthless apprentice – probably because losing two Padawans wouldn't look good to the Council – and so, his fault his Master had been caught and was now getting tortured at the hands of a madman, his fault he had been stupid enough to get caught in the first place…
How could he be so stupid? Stupid enough to get caught, and then to stay captured and not find a means of escape? By the Force! He was a Senor Padawan! He was better than this – or was he? Was he capable of doing anything right? He couldn't even get out of a stupid cell.
He feared for Qui-Gon's life. What would happen if Qui-Gon died, as Xanatos had so wickedly promised? He would never forgive himself, the Order would never accept him back after his carelessness, never forgive him…he would be lost. He would waste away with the grief and guilt…he was the reason Qui-Gon died. He didn't do anything to help, or try to give his own life instead. He just sat and listened to his Master's screams. Pathetic and helpless. Weak.
The screams died away for a moment, and Obi-Wan heard the chilling laugh of Xanatos fill the gap. Xanatos. He was the one putting Qui-Gon through this, the one hell-bent on revenge. Obi-Wan's hands curled into fists. Everything he had ever done, was still doing, came back to him in an instant. That bastard. Obi-Wan could feel the stirrings of rage and hate beginning. He would kill Xanatos, for everything. For Qui-Gon's torture, for his own…for making them suffer, making the galaxy suffer. Revenge.
Qui-Gon cried out again, louder than before, and something snapped within his listening apprentice. Obi-Wan yelled in anger, felling power fill into him from somewhere – he didn't know, or care, where. There was no light or dark, only him. He stood, gathering the power around him, before slamming his fist against the Force-sensitive wall of his prison. With a sharp crack, the wall turned clear for an instant before it split down the centre, leaving Obi-Wan with a gap to escape.
He stepped through the crack, seeing for the first time the world beyond his prison. Taking in the small chamber and the staircase in an instant, he ran down the stairs and through the glowstick-lit corridor, towards the horrific sounds. He could feel raw power crackling through him, making him faster, and sharpening his movements. He had to get there and find Xanatos. He would kill him.
Of that, he had no doubt.
Using the Force, he swept the door to the room aside, not caring as it smashed into the wall. Within, he could see – who was that? Tholme and Quinlan? What were they doing here? – in a Force-cage, watching what was going on. Xanatos stood in the centre of the room, looking surprised, and, beside him, Obi-Wan could see Qui-Gon, crouched on the ground in pain, one wrist pathetically chained to the wall.
Xanatos bared his teeth and glared at Obi-Wan, putting out a hand. Knowing what was coming, Quinlan called a warning from his cage, but it didn't matter. Quinlan watched on, amazed, as Obi-Wan caught Xanatos' lightning and deflected it into the wall. There was something different about his friend, though, something he couldn't place, somehting wrong…
Xanatos snarled, pulling out his red lightsaber, but before he could even activate it, if flew from his hand to Obi-Wan's open palm, and he switched it on, letting the crimson blade light his face frighteningly. Xanatos took a step back, away from this…this…person, who he had thought nothing more that a broken shell.
"I will make you suffer."
It was little more than a whisper from Obi-Wan's lips, but it was loud enough to carry around the entire room. It was dangerously low, and held promises of pain and torment.
There was a soft clink of metal as Qui-Gon managed to look up from his knees to Obi-Wan. He could sense the power emanating from his apprentice – dark power – and see the dark hate in his eyes. There was no light now, only anger and revenge. He had to reach him, draw him away from the darkness. "No, Obi-Wan…"
Xanatos seemed to have dismissed Obi-Wan's statement as idle talk. "That's not the Jedi way." He laughed.
Obi-Wan showed no emotion on his face as he lifted an arm until it was level with his shoulder. He didn't know how, but he knew what to do. Calling on the Force, it came immediately at his command, flooding into him, stronger than he had ever felt it. Lifting his arm higher, he couldn't resist a smirk as Xanatos was lifted off his feet, in to the air. Xanatos cried out and tried to struggle, but Obi-Wan shrugged aside his pathetic uses of the Force. He closed his hand into a loose fist slowly, as Xanatos began to gasp for breath and cry out in pain as his bones were crushed.
Obi-Wan could hear them break. Ignoring the gasps from the other captured Jedi, he kept crushing until Xanatos' presence in the Force vanished, and then he dropped the body unceremoniously to the ground.
Turning, Obi-Wan caught sight of the Jedi on the ground. Anger filled him again. The Jedi. They had left him to die. They had never thought he was any good, but had cast him out of the Temple, never really cared…he lifted a hand, calling the Force to his fingertips. Ice-blue lightning arched to the figure on the floor, and the Jedi cried out in pain.
Recognition flared in Obi-Wan's mind as he suddenly came back to himself, and released Qui-Gon from the lightning. With a strangled cry of his own, he staggered back a few steps as his Master began to breathe easier and get up. Out the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan could see Master Tholme and Quinlan staring at him, both speechless.
Oh, Force – what had he done?
Obi-Wan did the only thing that he could think of. He fled, running from the room, away from what he had done.
What have I become?
To all those who were expecting a rescue...ah, not quite. I can't believe I did that to him! Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think - so please review!