Hey guys! Just a side note I know I have been writing in first person and many of you like it but fair warning some chapters may be in third person simply because some scenes are easier for me to write in third person. Regardless Enjoy! Oh and review you don't know how happy they make me.
Ch28
I awaken on a slablike bed. I can hear the bleeping of the monitors. There's wires injected at regular intervals on my body so I know I'm inside our shuttle. Kriff I feel even worse than after one of those obedience sessions, compliments of Darth Sideous. Someone just walked in. I can tell its Mace from his breathing and walking pattern. Knowing these seemingly trivial details are crucial to the survival of a Sith lest the wrong master walk through the door. Blast it, it hurts.
"Easy there." Laughing at the irony of the statement would hurts but I keep laughing anyway. There's something uncannily hilarious about this situation. "How long was I out?" It's a bit blurry when I open my eyes but I can make out Mace pressing on several things onto a panel and theirs less pain. I feel as if my mind is not my own. He must have used Nyex, the symptoms vary but the prominent effect is less pain and a drugged mind.
"Thirty six standard hours." I groan and he frowns down a me. "Are you alright?" No, no I'm not "alright." Kriff it hurts just to look at Mace he is like the sun his presence in the light is overwhelming. I have never felt the need to kill something as keenly as I do now. I must clear my mind lest he sense my thought's if he doesn't already.
"What happened?" My raspy voice startles myself and a flask of water is poured down my throat. I choke on some. Kriff it. My "master" doesn't seem fazed by this and only seals the shuttle. "What you did back there was impressive; the locals have reported a decrease in the fatality rate of the villagers bitten by the Hssiss. The Hssiss themselves seem to be making themselves scarce. You fought the darkness and you won." I can sense awe in his voice but I pay it no heed.
"Yes well, it wasn't like I knew what I was doing." Will he buy the lie?
"Perhaps but you have saved them. That is the Jedi way." I do not care to understand what he is hinting at as another wave of pain assails me. His hand is on my forehead no doubt in an attempt to place me in a healing trance. It burns, I resist the urge to scream out in agony at the light but a hiss and flinch escape regardless, myself having no control in the matter. I can sense the dawning in his mind. Kriff it all!
The realization has him reeling he uses the time to punch the jump to hyperspace. "You know I never asked you where it is you learned Juyo.
He wants to interrogate me? "Not exactly, padawan."
Kriff, Kriff, Kriff to think it would be so easy to slide past my first mental defenses! No matter; he can't hear me now though the fog in my mind is thickening. "I won't ask anything personal."
Like bantha's hide he won't. I know he can sense my distrust in the force. How dare he? I struggle to rise but he pushes me back. Kriff these accursed Jedi. "What do you want to know!" it comes out as a hiss. Why he is surprised at my tone is beyond me. Breaching such a trust between any Master and Padawan is against the code is it not? "Kriff it let me go!"
"Before we return to the temple I want answers."
"And you're not kriffen getting them Master!" A disconnected image of Darth Sideous emerges in the back of my mind but at the moment nothing matters. Only that I am lying half dead while being interrogated by a Jedi who is-was supposedly my master.
He doesn't seem to be fazed by my lack of cooperation and presses his question instead. "Where did you learn to use the force like that?"
"Like what?"
"You can't hide it from me son. I suggest you give me an explanation on how you resisted the darkness."
"Kriff you Master I don't know let me go or I'll run you through when I'm in full control of my faculties!"
He's laughing now, finding my dark humor funny no doubt though I myself find nothing hilarious in the situation. "I'm not doing this to harm you, I want to help you. It's harder to do that unless I know the truth."
"There's no truth to know!" Kriff it I feel like a child, what's the sedative doing to my mind? I can't breathe! It's like someone is trying to choke me. Kriff it how much of the stuff did he pump me with?
He's going into shock! I recalibrate the meter and lessen the flow of the sedative. His fever is still high. I smooth another blanket over his prone form. He is the epitome of death incarnate. His face is as pale as the sheets he lies on. They say I am one of the unrelenting masters but I am more human than the temple initiates may think. And seeing my padawan in such a state is like a knife under a rib.
There is a lot of emotion built up in the recesses of his mind. I can feel a sharp pain radiating from the back of his head. I attempt to sooth it away to hands on either side of his head. This only causes the force to churn around him. Something breaks a data pad if I am not mistaken. I use my own presence to clamp down on his in the force. It is difficult but not impossible and I do not yet wish to become one with the universe yet. No need to have the hyper drive broken the ship is already shaking violently from the rapid force shifts.
I suggest sleep he struggles against my hold ignoring the command. I put more force into the command and the combination of both the sedative and the induced suggestion are too strong for him to fight against. He slumps exhausted. I do not blame him for I myself am in need of an extremely long meditation session. I had not wanted to do this but I must. For both Kenobi's sake and the safety of the temple. His mastery of the dark side of the force was flawless. I have spoken with Master Yoda via holo and he too is troubled. We both fear the same now. I do not wish him harmed but, if he truly is of the darkness. I obliterate the thought. The boy's actions have spoken for him. To singlehandedly free a planet from its darkness that is a feat even I would have trouble with.
I pry against his shields but they are adamant in their refusal. I attempt again and am assailed with dull images protected by a shimmering haze. I pry at the membrane of his mind and nearly choke on the intensity and rawness of his psyche. The images assail me most too dark to make out. Only one remains the epitome of both Kenobi's hatred and his rage. My eyes widen and I instinctively recoil reinforcing my own shields.
I have feared that this was the case but now I am certain. All that remains is my Padawan's side of the story.
