A.N.: Sith... I guess I was just really agitated and jumpy when I am not writing this story...or writing any stories. So I decided that I should work on this.

Mark was about to inform the prince of the current situation when he felt nothing. Literally nothing. The boy was not breathing nor his heart beating anymore. He couldn't feel it anymore. He couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. The boy…had died.

"Boy?" He asked carefully, shaking the boy gently, "Obi-Wan?"

The prince came closer, his eyes fixing solemnly on the queen in Len's arms and the representative holding the queen, "How is my mother? Is she hurt? Is she alright?"

Len hurriedly reassured the agitated prince, "She is fine. Her legs were trapped under a fallen debris but with the help of your-"

The prince interrupted him worryingly, "Trapped? We have to send her to a healer now. If we don't…"

The representative bobbled his head, "Yes, of course." But the man made no move of going anywhere. The tall brunet stared at him when the representative still didn't budge as if waiting for his chance to speak, "What are you waiting for?"

"I will be going, but I just wanted to tell you something else," Len said, shifting the queen slightly in his arms and spared a glance at Mark, "We have found another boy as well. He was the one who helped the queen to get out. He was hurt badly. He said that-"

"The Queen is the most important right now," Prince Arcturus ordered sternly and angrily, "I don't care about any boys. I will go congratulate him later if you want. But tight now, the queen is my top priority."

The representative hurriedly hobbled off, leaving Mark and the boy on his back standing a few meters away from the prince. The prince still hadn't noticed them yet but Mark saw that the prince was relieved after seeing the queen safe and sound. Not completely unharmed but at least alive. He wanted to tell the prince about the boy on his back but he swallowed it back. Clearly, Prince Arcturus didn't care a thing about the boy judging by their conversation. Turning over his shoulder slightly, he watched the boy slept. Though he knew that the auburn haired wasn't sleeping, he was dead. Shifting the boy in a more comfortable position, he set off to the temporary hospital tents. The boy was a Jedi after all. Were Jedi supposed to be immortal and invincible? Of course they are, he told himself though the taste of the lie lingered in his mouth bitterly.

Even though he had only got to know the boy for a merely fifteen standard minutes, he had taken a liking to him. There was an untouched ball of light and pure kindness in the boy that was rare among the galaxy. The boy wasn't tainted like so many others including him. He was still pure.

He walked toward the tent, hoping that they will have a way to revive the boy. He shook his head, no, not revive. To heal the boy. The boy wasn't dead, he was just…resting for now.

"I am sorry, Representative…." The doctor hesitated as he shook his head, letting go of the boy's slack wrist.

"Mark." He offered.

"I am sorry, Representative Mark," The doctor swallowed and continued softly, "I am afraid he is dead."

Even though he knew what was coming, he couldn't keep the shock out of his expressions. Maybe he had lied so well that he himself had believed in it or maybe it was something else, but he couldn't believe that the boy is dead.

"Doctor," He began slowly, "He is alive. He is just resting."

"Representative Mark," The black haired doctor placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "He is dead. You will have to accept it."

"I already did." He said softly, turning to look at the boy before glancing pleadingly at the doctor, "But he is a Jedi! Jedi won't die that easily. Can't you heal him?"

The black haired gave a start as he heard the word 'Jedi' but he shook his head nonetheless, "I am sorry, but Jedi are human as well. They can die. I understand your sorrow for I have seen too many in my life. He must be important to you. Is he your son?"

"No," Mark shook his head, "I met him fifteen minutes ago. He saved the queen. At the cost of his life."

The doctor's eyes widened in surprise before he continued in his gentle tone, "I am glad to hear that, Representative Mark. I really am. He was a bright lad, I am sure. Then we should laid him to peace. That will be what he wanted."

"You can't sleep. If you sleep, you will never wake up."

"It…does not matter. I have fulfilled my duty. It is time for me to rest."

He jerked slightly as if he was slapped. The boy had said that his duty was fulfilled and he wanted to rest. Forever. Was it just a momentarily and out of mind muttering, or was it the honest truth? He didn't know and he couldn't decide either for the boy.

Turning one last time pleadingly to the doctor, he asked, "Can you bandage him? I will come back soon. I will find a way to heal him."

The doctor merely shook his head sadly but he replied, "Alright. I will do it. But if you don't come back soon his body will rot away."

He flinched at that, "Don't worry, I will be back."

With that, he fled the room, leaving the dead, no, asleep boy in the tent and raised toward the transport. Distantly, he could make out the shape of the Prince and the Jedi. The Jedi was what he wanted. The boy, Obi-Wan was a Jedi as well. Maybe Jedi could heal each other better. Maybe the boy will have a chance. He sprinted faster toward the silver transport. He closed in and slowed down to a walk to calm himself and his breathing.

As he walked closer, he could see that the prince and his guards were having an argument. The guards were closed to shouting and he could see traces of tears in their eyes. The prince was just shaking his head. The handsome brunet was turned away for him so he couldn't see his expression. Judging by the way his shoulder was tensed and his fists were curled, he was angry.

"Excuse me, Your Highness?" He interrupted them politely and bowed.

"Yes…?" The Prince asked.

"Mark, your highness. My name is Mark." He supplied.

"Yes, Mark?" The prince turned to him, slightly irritated for the interruption.

"May I talk to the Jedi?" Mark asked politely, not wanting to offend the future king of Cyril.

"Then why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be asking him?" The prince glared at him before turning back to his guards.

"Yes, of course. Sorry for wasting your time." He bowed once again and hurried to the Jedi hidden in the shadow of the transport.

The large Jedi had listened to their conversation and his gaze landed on the representative hurrying toward him. Uncrossing his arms, he greeted the man with a respectful nod of his head, "How may I help you?"

Mark breathed a sigh of relief then he turned serious, "Are Jedi immortal, ah…"

"Jinn," The Jedi smiled, "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn."

"Yes," He bobbled his head, "Are Jedi immortal, Master Jinn?"

Master Jinn gave him a funny look before chuckling softly, "What gave you that idea? Jedi aren't immortal. We merge into the Force when it is time." Seeing his confused look, the brown haired Jedi quickly explained it by rephrasing what he said, "We all die when it is time. We are still human after all."

"Yes, that's true." He insisted, "But are Jedi able to be revived from the dead? Aren't there something you can do to revive, I mean, heal them? There must be something you can do!" He was beyond desperate and he knew that it was showing on both his tone and his face, "There has to be something you can do!"

The Jedi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and shook his head, "Someone dear to you have passed away, I presume? We all have our due dates. I am sorry to hear your loss. What was his name? I can pray for him if you want me to. The Force work in a mysterious way and maybe they could hear us through the Force."

Mark swallowed, ignoring what the Jedi had just said, "But can't you do something?"

"I am afraid I can't." The Jedi said gently and turned to walk away, "You will have to get over it. It will take time, but you will. I am sorry that I couldn't be of any help."

"Wait!" He called desperately, "Do you know a boy named Obi-Wan?"

Master Jinn froze in his step and turned sharply at that, "What did you say?"

"A boy named Obi-Wan." He repeated with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, "Do you know him?"

The master walked back and clapped his hand on the representative's shoulder, gripping it tightly with his hand "Yes, I do. Where is he?"

"You know him?" Mark's eyes widened with relief evident in it, hoping against hope that this Jedi can help the de—dying boy.

"I do. Where is he? Why wasn't he with the Prince?" The man leaned in closer, a dangerous gleam in his eyes, but it had no effect on Mark.

The representative looked into the man's dark brown eyes and pled, "He is dead, Master Jedi. Please help him. Please. I beg of you. Please."

What?" Qui-Gon was shocked.

"He is dead, Master Jedi. Please help him." The worried representative pled in front of him, "Please, do your Jedi thing and revive him. I beg of you."

He slowly backed away in horror, "You are lying. He can't be dead. The wound he received couldn't have killed him that fast. The Prince said he was going back for him. He said so himself." Then the realization of the tone of the words the prince had said drawn on him and his face paled, "Impossible, impossible. He couldn't have abandoned him."

Turning blindly toward the Prince, he grabbed the tall brunet's arm, "How could you?" He choked, "You said Obi-Wan was stilled alive when you left. But he is dead! He is dead!"

The Prince turned toward him, not registering his words. The retort he had for his guards died on his lips after a moment, "He is dead? How?"

"You abandoned him!" Qui-Gon nearly screamed, "You abandoned him! You said you were going back for him. If that's the truth, then why are you still here?"

"He said he will hold on until I come back. He said so himself." The Prince said slowly, each word hitting the Jedi right in the heart, "But I know that he won't survive that."

"If you have gone back there after you couldn't find the queen, he would have survived!" One of the guards, the blond one cried, "Maybe he could have held on until then. You left him at a crumbling hallway. How in the blasted world is he going to survive?"

"He asked for me to go." Prince Arcturus swung around angrily, "Besides, the queen is much more important."

"But he is important to all of us." The blond said quietly as a single tear escaped, "And you couldn't find the queen in time before the representative came out. If you went in sooner, Obi-Wan might still be alive!"

The prince was stunned for a moment then he turned toward Qui-Gon, "How do you know he is dead? What prove do you have for it? Maybe he is at the healers?"

Qui-Gon side stepped to allow the representative to come forward, "He said so himself."

The prince frowned then he turned toward the man, "I believe you are Representative Mark? How did you know that Obi-Wan, someone you don't even know, is dead?"

"I saw it, I felt it myself." The Representative's voice quavered with emotions, "He wasn't breathing after we came out of the castle. I wanted to tell you but you didn't care about it at all."

"Calm down," The large Jedi placed a gentle hand on the man's shoulder and soothed the man, "What exactly happened? Can you tell us about it from the beginning?"

And the man began, starting from the moment he saw the boy peeking from outside the rock to check out the source of the sound, to the part where he and the other representative came out of the castle and found the prince. Qui-Gon couldn't believe what he was hearing.

As the man slowly came to a stop, the Prince's eyes widened and he was choking as he cried silently, "So he was the boy that Len was talking about? The one who saved mother?" He slammed his fist into his palm as a fresh wave of guilt washed over him, "Why didn't I realized it earlier? If only I had gone earlier…"

The Representative turned back to him once again and he saw dried tears on the man's face, "Master Jedi, you must have a way to heal him. He isn't dead, he couldn't be!"

Nodding slowly just to reassure the man, he said, "Take me to him and I will see what I can do."

Obi-Wan…He felt something hard blocking his windpipe and making it hard to breath. Multiple emotions ran through him. Sorrow, pain, grief and the most pronounced was guilt. It was burying him alive. If he had just paid a little bit more attention to the boy, to his feelings, none of these would have happened. If he hadn't been so quick to blame the feeling of betrayal onto the boy right after the Melinda/Dann incident, they wouldn't be here, looking at the crumbling palace of Cyril. Obi-Wan would have stilled been alive. Oh Sith, he cursed inwardly as the Representative led him toward the medical tents. He had told the boy that he was a failure, he had truly thought of it during that moment. It just didn't occurred to him how much he will regret it in the near future. Even though he said that out loud, he knew that some part of his brain rejected the idea. The boy was his other half. He couldn't bear it if the boy died.

Not if, a small voice said, he is dead. Shut up, he told it as Mark pushed open the tent flap and led him inside. He just couldn't bear it, a life without the bright boy. It was all his fault.

"He is…here." Mark's voice broke his thought and he jerked up.

His gaze landed on the pale boy lying on the bed. His stomach, where the lightsaber from the Sith had torn was bandaged. His outside were disheveled. There were multiple cuts on his cheek, arms and legs and there were dusts in his soft auburn hair. He wasn't paying attention to them. He was focused solemnly on one thing and that one thing brought great pain to him. There was an empty hollowness near the boy. Obi-Wan's Force presence, once one of the brightest amongst the temple, was gone.

Maria de Sanctos: Haha. I should be named the Queen of Cliffhangers. Anyways, thanks for your review, it really encouraged me to write! Hope this chapter was satisfying enough. :)