Sorry for the delay! But I hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think!
Chapter Fifteen
Obi-Wan writhed on the ground, but would not give them the satisfaction of screaming. "Your master screamed so prettily for me when he was just a little older than you," The dark figure hissed. "Why won't you cry out for me?"
Tendrils of darkness pressed against his shields, caressing them. The sith was toying with him, Obi-Wan knew. He was obviously powerful enough to obliterate his shields if he chose to.
"Ooh, how interesting...your bonds with your masters are powerful..."
Obi-Wan felt it creeping along his bonds, and then pausing to examine his bond with Xanatos. No! With all of his strength, he shoved the sith out of his mind.
The dark figure stumbled backwards. Rage and shock rippled through the force. He whipped a collar from his sleeve and Obi-Wan instantly recognized it as a force suppressant collar. As courageous as he'd tried to be, the thought of being cut off from the one thing that had been constant for him throughout all of this was terrifying. How could he withstand the torture without the aid of the force? And how would his master find him if their bond were cut off?
Obi-Wan scrambled backwards. The sith grinned. "Not so brave now, are you, little one?"
Lightning streamed from the sith's fingertips. Obi-Wan reached for his bond with his master, holding tight to it. /Padawan! I'm here!/
He held steadfast to the love and safety that came with their bond, fully aware that his master was absorbing most of the pain he felt for him. /I'm here. I'm here, Padawan. I'm here./
Xanatos's voice comforted him up until the moment it faded and the shock of the force lightning seared through him in a way that it hadn't before. The force—the force was gone. Obi-Wan reached up and brushed the collar on his neck. He grit his teeth, but felt overwhelmed by the seemingly never-ending onslaught of fire through his veins. He screamed and hoped Satine couldn't hear him.
"Yes, that is beautiful."
Feemor was pretty sure he'd made a mistake letting Anakin steer the speeder bike. The boy didn't seem to have any sense of self-preservation. No wonder Qui-Gon looked so gray.
"Watch that!" Feemor shouted as Anakin, at the last possible second, banked left to skim harmlessly over the canyon wall.
The boy laughed -actually laughed after that. "Okay, I'm flying us back after this," Feemor grumbled.
For miles they had flown and had not seen anything other than endless stretches of sand and canyons. No sand people that Xanatos had briefly mentioned. No sounds of tormented screams. Just the wind, beating sun, and sand.
"I hope Qui-Gon is having more luck securing another speeder bike for us so we can cover more ground," Anakin grumbled, pulling to a stop.
Feemor closed his eyes and reached out with his senses to see if he could detect any nearby life forms. Again—nothing. Just rock and sand. He turned to Anakin. "Do you sense anything?"
Anakin pursed his lips and stretched out with the force. Feemor was startled by the sheer power behind Anakin's presence as he grasped the force and demanded it to reveal life to him. The boy was clearly very powerful in the force. His usage of the force, however, surprised Feemor. It was so much more demanding that he'd thought Qui-Gon would ever train in his apprentices. Then again, it'd been years since he'd interacted with his former master.
"Just small critters here and there," Anakin murmured. "I feel like...maybe they'd traveled through here. Do you sense a very faint force signature at all? It doesn't feel like Obi-Wan's, though."
Feemor frowned and tried to sense what Anakin did, but he felt nothing. "No, I don't sense anything. But stay open to that. Perhaps you're sensing what took Obi-Wan and the duchess."
"Yeah, maybe." Anakin frowned and shrugged. "Should we keep going?"
"Feemor, Anakin." Qui-Gon's voice crackled through Feemor's comlink.
"Everything okay, Master?" Anakin asked, using the force to snatch the comlink from Feemor's belt.
"Come back to the hovel, now."
"What is it?" Feemor asked. He frowned at the hardness in Qui-Gon's voice. Even years later, he could pick up on the micro inflections in the man's tone. Qui-Gon was clearly distraught.
"We have Satine."
Qui-Gon tended to Satine's injuries. Shmi, now a free woman who was still stranded on the planet that'd enslaved her, helped Qui-Gon. "I'm sorry that you're spending your first few moments of freedom still stuck here," Qui-Gon murmured as he applied some bacta to the wounds on Satine's wrists.
"Perhaps I am choosing to remain here. It gives me a better understanding of who my son and his mentor is." Shmi gave Qui-Gon a small smile before turning her attention back to Satine.
The poor duchess slept on Shmi's bed. She'd been badly sunburnt, dehydrated, and there were bondage marks on her wrists, but other than that, Qui-Gon was relieved to find that she didn't have any major injuries. It could've been worse. Through the force, Qui-Gon could only sense that she was extremely fatigued. Qui-Gon exhaled through his nose.
Xanatos was still unconscious in the main living area with Padme sitting vigil. The pain that'd roiled from Xanatos had been disconcerting. The young master had clearly been absorbing his padawan's pain, and that had taken its toll.
/Master? We're here./
Qui-Gon started at his padawan's presence. He hadn't sensed him nearing. "Ani," Qui-Gon stood and held a finger to his lips.
He pulled a thin blanket up to Satine's chin and followed Anakin back into the living area. "How?" Anakin asked.
"It released her," Qui-Gon explained. "She walked for force knows how long, made it here to hand us a comm chip, and then collapsed."
"Has she not woken up?" Feemor asked.
"Not yet, no. Poor girl is exhausted."
"And Xanatos?"
"No movement from him, either. The chip is for him. It's a direct line from the sith to his comlink..." Qui-Gon sighed.
"What does that mean?" Feemor frowned.
"I don't know. I won't know until one of them wakes up. But since you're both back, I'm going to go meditate. Make yourselves useful."
"I'll go help Padme with...Xanatos," Anakin volunteered.
Feemor rolled his eyes at Anakin's retreating form. "That boy is smitten with that girl, you know. He's full of passion."
"That he is," Qui-Gon nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"He's also extremely powerful."
"Yes."
"He sensed residual force signatures somewhere out on the outskirts of Mos Espa, you know. And he could recognize that it wasn't Obi-Wan's. That is very impressive for an apprentice."
"I take it that you didn't sense anything then?" Qui-Gon raised a brow. "His instincts are typically correct when it comes to that."
"I didn't. And I believed him, of course."
"Something is bothering you."
Feemor studied Qui-Gon contemplatively before shaking his head. "Nothing is bothering me, Master."
Qui-Gon snorted and patted Feemor's shoulder. "Good. Keep an eye on the young ones. I need to go clear my mind."
Just as Qui-Gon turned to leave, a shriek erupted from the bedroom. "Obi-Wan!" Satine screamed.
"Padawan?" Xanatos groaned.
Qui-Gon rushed towards Satine, leaving Feemor to help Anakin and Padme with Xanatos.
He entered the bedroom to find Satine hysterically sobbing into her knees. Shmi looked up helplessly at Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon waved her out of the room and sent waves of calm into the force, absorbing and releasing the panic rolling from Satine. "Satine," he said.
"Qui-Gon!" Satine threw herself at him and it was only due to his jedi reflexes that he was able to react quickly enough to catch her.
She buried her face into his chest. Qui-Gon held her tightly against him and could feel her fear dampening. "Sh, you're all right, Satine. I've got you."
She nodded. Perhaps it was because she'd so recently lost her father, and Qui-Gon reminded her of him, that she felt so at ease with him. Whatever it was, Qui-Gon was glad he was able to provide her with a modicum of comfort.
When her sobs subsided, she sniffled and said, "I'm sorry. I'm not behaving much like a duchess at all."
Qui-Gon made no move to let her go. "Not all duchesses get captured by sith and have to witness their friend being tormented," he murmured. "You're behaving just as expected. We're glad to have you back, and for the most part, unharmed."
"Oh, Qui-Gon. We have to get Obi-Wan. They did something to him. I've never heard him scream like that before..." And with that, Satine dissolved into more uncontrollable sobs.
"Sh, we'll get him back," Qui-Gon murmured and tightened his hold around her as his heart constricted in his chest. Would the poor boy be the same once they got him back?
"Satine," a voice rasped from the doorway.
Satine's breath hitched and she raised her head just enough to see who spoke her name. Qui-Gon studied the younger jedi's sagging shoulders and the way he leaned against the doorframe. "Xanatos, you're up," Qui-Gon said. "You don't look good."
"He insisted," Feemor said from behind him. "And trust me, I advised against it."
"Shut up, Feemor," Xanatos groaned. "Wait, sorry, that was mean."
Feemor snorted. "Wow, never thought you'd apologize for something as harmless as "shut up". Don't worry about it."
Satine shifted so that she could face Xanatos. "I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back with me, Xanatos. He—he saved me. I wouldn't be here if not—for Obi-Wan," she sniffed, but kept her tears at bay.
"It's all right, Satine. I'm glad you're safe. I'm glad my padawan did his duty to keep you safe." he gave her a gentle smile. No roguish charm. No manipulation. Just kindness and a genuine compassion that made Qui-Gon's heart swell with pride.
Xanatos shot Qui-Gon a look of curiosity. Perhaps Qui-Gon hadn't been shielding as well as he'd thought. "Still, I'm sorry, Xanatos," Satine sighed shakily. "The monster gave me a chip. Qui-Gon has it."
"He didn't hurt you in any way, did he?" Xanatos asked.
"No, he just kept me chained and used me to keep Obi-Wan behaved." Satine sniffled and a few tears slid down her cheeks.
"Good. You're safe, that's what matters." Xanatos stepped forward and cupped the side of Satine's face. His thumb brushed away a tear. "You did nothing wrong, okay? Don't feel bad."
"I feel horrible!"
He pulled her into a hug and murmured, "Don't. Obi-Wan did what a jedi was supposed to do. He made sure you stayed safe. And I'll get him back. He'll be back with us soon. I promise."
He looked over her head at Qui-Gon. "You have the chip for me?" Xanatos asked.
"Yes."
Xanatos glanced down at Satine, the sobbing, exhausted duchess who was crushed with guilt, and gave her a sleep suggestion. She slumped into his arms. He grunted under her dead weight. "A little help, Qui-Gon?"
Qui-Gon gathered the girl and tucked her back into bed. The jedi filed back into the living area and Qui-Gon handed Xanatos the comm chip.
Xanatos put it into his comlink. Nothing happened.
"What now?" Anakin asked.
"Now, we wait," Xanatos said. "I'm going to meditate."
"Again?!" Anakin exclaimed.
Qui-Gon looked at Anakin and smirked, "Perhaps you should join him, Padawan."
Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Is that an order or a suggestion?"
"Meditation would be good for you," Qui-Gon said.
"An order, then." Anakin groaned, receiving a swat on the back of his head.
"I'll join you," Qui-Gon said.
"Well, with all this excitement, I think I'll join all of you, too." Feemor offered.
"And here I was hoping that I was going to have some alone time," Xanatos mumbled. "My peaceful solo meditation just became a party."
"Knowing you, you'd probably end up sulking the entire time and not meditating at all." Qui-Gon snorted.
"I agree with our master," Feemor laughed. "Party meditation is better than sulky meditation, Xanatos."
"I am literally in the lamest lineage ever," Anakin groaned.
Please let me know what you think! Hope you enjoyed this!