Happy New Year everyone! ^_^ I hope you enjoy this second to last installment of Kite. I spent most of my holidays working on it… (locked up in small dark room, typing away, with only Qui-Gon cutout to talk to…not good for jess! Not good for jess… computer screen so bright…so shiny…my precioussssss….ACK!) I even forfeited my holiday fic so I could finish it! *waits for praise* See, that makes up for the bad cliffhanger and shooting Qui and all that, right? Right…? Okay, I will cease babbling and get to the fic now. Enjoy! And, as always, thank you readers so much for your kind reviews… Just a few comments…
Lay'ren: Sticks and stones, luv. :P I am not evil! I'm just misguided, and I have your twisted influence to blame for that! No, no, all joking aside, thank you for your words and enthusiasm.
Athena Leigh: ^_^ Thank you for all your wonderful words! Well, I hope this chapter is able to resolve the little mess to your approval. :D thanks again for your faithful support!
Yaebginn: Yes, sorry about the length of time between updates… (blush) hopefully the final chapter will be out the fastest, since I've almost finished that one already.
BecJedi: ^_^ hugs to you for all that. Thank you so much for all your beta work …and even on top of all the beta/feedback you give me, you still make time to review. I hope you like what I've changed with chapter 17.
…now, on with the show!
Qui-Gon could see Conn as if he were looking through a cloud. He saw the gun blast again, and braced himself for death.
But it did not come.
There was a flash of green light between himself and Conn. The shot was… blocked?!
The Muh-Hadden screamed out with rage. He could see the bolt of light meant for him fly back out into the darkness, having been diverted. The boy stared at the beam of glowing green in confusion. He could not fathom what had just happened. The flash of green...a lightsaber?
He felt the force move around him, brushing his consciousness, but it was not him who was controlling it. He watched Conn fall backwards with it's strength. For a moment, all was silent except the buzzing of the saber protecting him. Then the beam lowered, and a warm, very real hand dropped out of the nothing and rested on his bare shoulder. He found himself staring into dark, familiar eyes...
...Dooku's eyes.
Qui-Gon felt a rush of dizziness. He stared blankly at his Master, unable to form words; quite mute with shock. Everything was suddenly spinning around him. He felt sick.
"Be still. Are you wounded?
He felt a catch in his throat as he looked up. A strange feeling rose within his chest. He knew this... It was familiar to him. It was something he recognized. It felt like home.
Dooku had come for him. After everything, Dooku was here.
Qui-Gon stared up for a long moment. He struggled to find his voice. "M-master?"
"Yes."
"Oh...." He did not know what to think. There was a wave of pain from his side and his vision blurred and wavered. The image of Dooku flickered and then disappeared, like a hologram, fading into nothing. Inside him he felt a flash of panic..and then....nothing. A sense of apathy descended on him like a fog. It was odd...just a moment ago it had seemed so desperately important to talk to Dooku...and now...nothing really felt important. Qui-Gon just wanted to sleep, sleep for a long time and perhaps never awaken. He didn't even feel the impact of his body against the hard stone floor as he passed out.
Dooku peered down at his unconscious padawan concernedly. "Padawan?" He shook his apprentice's shoulder lightly "Qui-Gon are you alright?" The boy was out cold. For a few moments, Dooku didn't understand. Then his eyes strayed to the blaster burn, the boy's thin chest, the scars... For an eternal moment, he watched him. Something within the connection of their minds snapped. Bond, memory and pain blended and swirled, and in his heart, Dooku began to understand what had happened. The Muh-Hadden. What had this man done?
Or perhaps, what have you allowed him to do? Dooku stared down at his shaking hands a sinking feeling of guilt and despair welling inside him. Betrayer... "No!"
He rose and turned, his dark eyes bloodied with rage.
A few meters away, Conn was stumbling to regain his fighting position, flailing out with his staff. Dooku's sudden appearance had thrown him off. True fear was beginning to stir in his cold black heart, and his mind flared with the adrenaline rush of self-preservation. Something in this new Jedi's eyes told the Muh-Hadden it was time for his actions to be counted.
Dooku stepped toward him slowly, never taking his eyes off Conn. His footfalls echoed through the hanger as he approached, finally stopping a distance before Conn. He drew his saber in an elegant sweep, his face illuminated by the greenish light. The blade twirled in an ancient salute and came to rest pointing downward, at the ready.
"So...you fancy yourself a sword man with that little stick of yours?" Dooku whispered, softly, dangerously. "Excellent. I am certain Qui-Gon would not object to me finishing his duel."
"I beat the whelp...I can beat y-" Conn would have liked to finish his sentence but found his mouth was rather dry suddenly. He knew somewhere in the Jedi's code they were forbidden to kill in anger...but a look at this Jedi told him that he was marked for death. Conn attempted to say something more, but he was paralyzed by those terrifying eyes. His mind buzzed with panic. The only option left to him was to turn and flee.
With a flash of the saber Dooku was moving, his footwork flawless as he crossed the space between them. The lightsword moved like a mere extension of his arm, swirling and blurring in a blinding display as it hummed toward it's prey. "Beat my whelp, did you? Well let's try something else, if Qui-Gon was too easy for you..."
Conn ran toward the platform he had leapt on during his fight with Qui-Gon but remembering how easily the boy had jumped it, decided on another route. The only escape would be to get to his personal speeder on the other side of the base. If he could get out of the hanger alive...
He raced back into the fuel storage area, looking for a hiding place. He ducked behind a storage tank.
Dooku spun the blade faster, getting closer. "You're delaying the inevitable." His face was a mask of cold wrath as he sliced air to get at Conn. "Come out and face me."
In desperation, the Muh-Hadden began firing blaster bolts at the Jedi Master, but his shots came back, deflected, and he had to duck to avoid being struck by his own bolt. A few of the shots that went awry smashed into the fuel tanks. Fire exploded around them.
The master smiled grimly, his face illuminated by the flames as the fire grew, hungrily licking up the stored fuel. He slashed at a few more tanks, adding to the inferno. He would burn this beast out if he must. Little pools of spilt fuel on the floor ignited into mini blazes, and the wooden hanger would soon be aflame. But Dooku seemed to have lost any thought besides that of the rage stirring in his blood.
As the smoke plumed and grew, and Conn knew he could no longer hide. He charged out of his now fiery hiding spot and toward Dooku. Their blades met with a tangle of sparks and heat.
Back and forth they fought across the burning hanger, Dooku dominating the fight, Conn searching desperately for a means of escape. The Jedi Master would not give an inch, would not yield a fraction of floor. The fires grew around them, climbing higher as they fed on the oily, combustible substances the hanger was filled with. And the higher the flames climbed the more doomed Conn knew he was.
Dooku seemed to be in an impenetrable trance as he twirled and fought amongst the inferno. It seemed the very sight of Conn only fueled the all-consuming fire of his rage, as the image of his unconscious, broken child buzzed in his mind. It was this man who had turned this test into hell, it had been him! His saber missed Conn narrowly and he turned and struck again. He would burn this evil place to the ground, and all in it.
~*~
Tahl coughed weakly as smoke filled her lungs. Her eyes began to water and soon the tears from the smoke turned to tears of frightened confusion as she tried to find her bearings. She had been slowly coming to during the battle, but the only thing she really remembered of it was a certain flash of light from a blaster bolt, speeding toward her crumpled friend. And that image alone was too much.
She eased her bruised body up, her temples pounding as she did. Her only thought was Qui-Gon, and whether he was dead or alive. Everything that made her who she was had frozen and then melted to nothing the moment she had seen the light of the blaster fire. Now she felt empty with fear. As she tried to rise, another violent paroxysm of coughing seized her and she shudder\ed and gasped for a lung full of clean air. The atmosphere in the hanger had gone from dangerous to stifling. It was heating up like a furnace and the smoke was nearly impenetrable. Her watering eyes searched in vain for any trace of her friend.
And then she saw him. Nearly obscured by smoke, he was lying limply on his side, unmoving, not even as the fire inched closer. A blaster wound on his other side told it's own tale.
Tahl tried to call his name desperately, but all that came out of her mouth was a little choked cry. She managed to crawl slowly over to him, although the heat made the going nearly unbearable. If Qui-Gon was alive he wasn't going to be much longer, she thought, hearing the roar of the flames. The smoke made it almost impossible to see, even though her friend lay only a few feet from her.
The only thing Tahl knew for certain were the rough stones under her fingers. Fear was suffocating her just as surely as the smoke from the flames. After everything...to come this far and then lose... She tried not to think about what would happen if she found Qui-Gon dead. Little memories stirred inside her like ash; smokey, and easily disintegrated with the touch of a hand, yet still potent.
Laughter, as they stumbled through the Room of a Thousand Fountains, with their friends. These faces were clear to her, cheerful and friendly. It was so bright, so alive there...so different from this burning place, filled with so much pain, and rage ...and ash.
Finally her hand touched something soft and she knew she had reached Qui-Gon. He had been nearly lost to her in the smoky haze. Tahl huddled against his still body, fearing the worst. She didn't know how long he and Conn had been alone. She didn't know what she would find. Let him be alive...
His eyes were closed, his face, pale and strangely bluish in spite of the flickering flames dancing around them. A thin trickle of blood ran from his nose down the side of his face. Her heart seemed to fall through her. Desperately, Tahl draped her hand over his mouth, over his broken nose. For a moment she felt nothing.
Then warm moisture stirred against her palm. He was breathing, if only barely. Her spirit soared.
Even so, he had been inhaling almost straight smoke for a good amount of time. She was not surprised when he gave no response to her ministrations. Tahl coughed and tried to pull him towards the exit or at least away from the fire, but as limp as he was it was difficult. The smoke made it hard to draw proper breath, and she felt the weakness in her muscles. Finally, panting, she gave up trying to budge him.
"Qui-Gon...please...I can't do this." She slumped against him hopelessly. The fire grew more intense around her and she fought back the urge to cry. It was getting so hot... her eyes were streaming from the smoke. But she could no more leave her friend here to die than she could burn her own heart away.
"Get up...come on..." she shook him, tears starting to mark her sooty cheeks. "Please, or we're both going to die..." A burning beam from the ceiling crashed down to the floor near them and she found herself screaming. "Qui-Gon!"
Under her she felt his chest suddenly expand as he took a breath. Looking up, she saw wide grey eyes staring into hers. Qui-Gon gave a small gasp and then another. Ragged spots of color blossomed on his cheeks.
Tahl was nearly sobbing with relief as she wrapped an arm around his shaking shoulders. "Just breathe..." she whispered to him as he choked and coughed on the smoke. "Take a few deep breaths, you'll feel better I promise."
He moaned, weakly pushing her away and rolling onto his stomach, face against the stone floor. His chest shook with spasms as he choked and wheezed, trying to clear his lungs of the black smoke. With every agonized expansion of his ribs came shooting pain from the wound on his side.
Tahl meanwhile kept one hand on his shoulder, rebuffing his efforts to push her away. She continued to murmur to him in the same quiet, broken tones. "You're okay, it hurts but the wound isn't bad, merely a graze really. Keep breathing."
He wearily coughed into his hand, his eyes streaming. "...can't....force...hurts..." Qui-Gon croaked. He was regaining color, but his breathes came in quick gasps as his body struggled feebly to compensate for the lack of oxygen. "Tahl...let me just...die."
"You don't really mean that. Come on... the hanger is going to collapse." As if to agree with her, another beam crashed down in a shower of flame and spark. "You've got to get up."
A tear rolled down his sooty cheek, followed by another. "No...you don't...." He choked out the words, nearly sobbing. "...understand...I'm just...tired of it all. It hurts...tired of hurt...leave...I'm....done..." Qui-Gon buried his head in his arms gasping for breath.
But Tahl did not leave. Instead she wrapped her arm tighter, and curled her body up closer to his. "You might think you're done... but life isn't done with you..." She worked her arms around so that her friend was entwined by them. She was crying with fear but her hold on him was eternal. "And I won't ever let you go."
Another fit of coughing took him and he barely managed to shake his head no. Around them the flames grew. Tahl cast about desperately for some escape. In the distance, she thought she could hear her name being called. She felt a wave of panic pass over her at that, perhaps the smoke was beginning to really get to her. But then she heard the call again, this time crying out Qui-Gon's name. She knew it was no illusion. "Qui-Gon-"
He looked up. "I heard it too..." The boy's voice was hoarse, but a bit of faint hope in his tone made it different. "...what...what do you think?"
"Either we both are having the same dream or someone..." She wiped at her eyes anxiously. "...someone know's we're in here and cares." Tahl tightened her grip on his shoulder although it was unclear if she was supporting him, or he supporting her. "Let's get out of here."
"I'm starting to think..." Sweat glistened on his forehead as he continued to choke for breath. "...that you may be right about that."
Tahl breathed out her relief and helped him up."Of course I'm right. Ugh, where'd Conn go?"
"Dunno, don't care," he gasped. "It's getting...hot." Qui-Gon winced as he stood.
The pair headed through the billowing smoke to the exit on the far side, staggering and stumbling. Embers glowed around them, snapping as they passed. When they reached the heavy door, Tahl plunged her sapphire blade into it, and it melted away. They spilled out into the clean night air, coughing.
Qui-Gon collapsed, and Tahl behind him. They lay side by side, regaining their breath, while fire consumed the hanger even more completely behind them. The cool air revived them.
Suddenly a dark shape appeared out of the darkness around them. Tahl looked up, her shaking head clutching at her saber, but when she saw who it was, the weapon dropped from her fumbling fingers.
"Azul! Master!"
A lovely Twi'Lek came into focus, elegant head tails swishing as she moved, golden eyes gleaming with worry. Her bluish skin was mostly covered with a dark tunic of leather, and long strands of colored beads completed her outfit, jingling off her tunic as she moved. The woman's blue saber glowed out of the gloom. "Tahl!" Her accent was strange, even for her species. "Qui-Gon?" She gasped out in surprise.
Tahl rushed to Azul's side, throwing her arms about her Master. "Yes, yes, It's me. Qui-Gon's here too, but he's hurt..."
The Jedi Master shook her head. "Thou both are lucky ones. We shall see to thy friend in a moment. This hanger is unstable-nigh collapsed already. Follow me." She guided them both away from the burning building, her beads and headtails swaying with her careful steps.
Tahl and Qui-Gon followed the Jedi closely, almost stepping on her heels as they went.
A few paces later she spoke again. "Where is Master Dooku? Did he not go in to find thee both?"
Qui-Gon spoke up, his voice trembling. "Dooku-my master is here?"
Azul turned her keen eyes to him. "Aye, he did come for thee. Ye did not see him, then?"
Qui-Gon thought back to the battle with Conn, and the flash of green light in front of his vision. He remembered the sound of Dooku's voice in his ears. At the time, he had assumed it was a dream. But now his heartbeat fluttered, and his pace quickened as he struggled to match Azul's stride. "Wait-Master Azul, he's still in there!" He stared back in horror at the hanger, which was now completely
engulfed in flames. The memories came back in a rush, and suddenly the boy understood. "He went after Conn. They're both still in there."
"Oh....no."Azul's gold eyes widened a moment as part of the roof structure crumbled.
Qui-Gon turned. "Master Azul?!"
The Jedi Master stared at the flames for a long moment. "Tis nothing we can do, Qui-Gon." She whispered. "Dooku's a Jedi, he will take care of himself."
"That's-no!" He choked out, starting back toward the inferno. "No, no, that doesn't work! We've got to do something! He'll die...I can't leave him to die..."
Azul moved so quickly neither Tahl nor Qui-Gon caught it. She pinned the young Jedi's arms behind his back, and effectively restrained him with one quick move. "Do not be foolish." She whispered into his ear, firmly, but gently. "Thou would be dead from the smoke before thee could even find thy master. Be still."
"But he's going to die, don't you understand!" Qui-Gon yelled, fighting her grip for all he was worth. But it was not enough. She did not budge. Tears came to his eyes. He knew too well that feeling of being abandoned, of being lost. He remembered clearly those long hours in the cells, watching the door, so sure that any moment it would open and a familiar face would come to his rescue. He remembered the broken realization that no one was coming. Qui-Gon would not abandon his master as he had been abandoned, even if it was too late. "Please, please let go, if he dies, it's the last straw, and my life's not worth living anyway, let me go..." The hands remained fast around his wrists. Tears began to trickle down his cheeks. "Please, he's my master..." The boy's voice broke with the word, and he felt his strength give out.
Beside them, Tahl looked stricken. But she knew Azul was right. To go back in would mean death. But then again, she fully believed that to lose his master on this mission of hell would destroy Qui-Gon as surely as if he did go back inside. Her heart broke for her friend. Her eyes stung as she stared into the blazing hanger.
And then, there! Out of the thick, black smoke she could make out a familiar figure striding toward them. Out of her side vision she saw Qui-Gon break away from Azul and raced toward his Master.
Dooku was soot-stained and sweaty, but looked unharmed. Qui-Gon felt himself nearly collapse with relief at the tall, confident figure of his mentor. As the man approached, words tumbled out. "Master! Are you alright?"
Dooku had frozen at the sight of his padawan. Qui-Gon looked positively wretched. He was shirtless and bleeding freely, shaking with shock, pain, or exhaustion; perhaps all three. One eye was swelling nicely, quite blackened by some punch in the fray. In addition to the boy's obvious injuries, Dooku noticed that he was thinner than he had ever seen him, and there was something....something different in his eyes. He reached out a hand to steady the trembling apprentice. "I'm fine..." Dooku murmured, searching Qui-Gon's face. "Are you alright?"
Qui-Gon simply stared at him for a long moment. Then he dropped to his knees sobbing.
Tahl immediately moved forward to comfort her friend, but Azul caught her by the shoulder and shook her head no. Tahl looked confused, but her master was unyielding. She lead her away from the pair, with only a glance over her shoulder at Dooku. Do something.
The other Master had been staring, shocked, down at his crying padawan. At Azul's look he abruptly dropped down next to the boy, and awkwardly patted him on the back. "Qui-Gon...Padawan...it's alright..." Dooku wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and the boy collapsed helplessly into his arms.
He had never seen Qui-Gon cry before. It frightened him a little bit. He eased his robe off and folded it around the apprentices bare shoulders, embracing him more fully. He could feel how thin the boy was through the robe.
"Here. Just...calm down."
Qui-Gon coughed miserably into the fabric and shut his eyes. "Master..." He nestled down into the robe. "You're actually here. I...thought...I thought you wouldn't come...when I talked to you...you cut me off...I couldn't...couldn't feel ...bond...I told you, I told you, I'm not dead, see?" The young Jedi hiccuped dolefully. "Oh, I don't feel well."
Dooku nodded, pretending to understand the padawan's disjointed sentences, only really catching the last phrase. "I know you don't. It's alright now though. The healers will see to it that you feel better." He looked down hopefully at his apprentice to see if his words would have any effect. He had never pretended to be a comforting individual. Compassion has always been a hard concept for him. He had almost been thankful when he first met Qui-Gon, that the boy seldom sought out reassurance from others, seemingly to find it from an internal source. It was not, of course, that Dooku did not care...but he hadn't any idea of what to tell the sobbing child.
Qui-Gon shook his head in reply, far too worn out to really comprehend anything Dooku said anyway. His eyes drifted closed and he slept.
Dooku sighed in relief, scooping his light apprentice up and turning to Azul and Tahl. "Is anyone else injured?"
Azul nodded, keeping one hand on Tahl's shoulder as if she were expecting her to do something very rash, or disappear in a puff of smoke. "The both of us are fine, more than ye can say, Dooku. Singed, art thou?" She raised a smooth eyebrow, motioning to Dooku's leg.
"Merely a burn." He muttered, color only slightly visible on his cheeks, the tiny betrayal of his irritation.
Azul nodded. "And where is the one ye sought?"
Dooku began to limp off, his eyes narrowing as he went. "No idea. Lost him in the fire. Most likely dead. And what did you accomplish then, my blue friend?"
Tahl whirled to stare at Dooku, incredulously, but then she saw that Azul was smiling.
"Ah, someone had to keep the guards out of thine hair, Master Dooku." She bowed, giving him a little quirk of the lips. "Now come, bring thy boy, the healers have just landed."
Dooku smiled wanly back, and followed her toward the sound of the ship's engines.
~*~
Qui-Gon opened his eyes blearily, not quite remembering what had last happened. He was leaning up against a stone wall, a small lantern illuminating the space around him, his master's large robe wrapped around his shoulders. He rubbed his eyes, wincing, unsure how long he had been sleeping. He could see shapes looming out of the night; a little squad of what he recognized as Philomel, his master, Azul, and a blond human woman, all talking together. Snatches of conversation drifted in and out...
"...but then, are they gone for good?"
"...the Jedi will need to send someone eventually to help with the..."
"But they are now divided amongst themselves, they will be easy to destroy completely, thanks to that child of yours..."
"...we are not here to eradicate the Muh-Hadden, we are here to return our own..."
Qui-Gon shut his eyes. Their loud voices were hurting his pounding head. He wished he could go back to sleep. When he opened them again, there was someone beside him. He squinted curiously at a young girl, not quite comprehending. She had blond hair, and her sharp brown eyes were fixed on him. He felt he knew her somehow, but he couldn't place her face in his jumbled thoughts."Who are you?"
She laughed softly, and flashed her pretty smile, and he felt a surge of recognition. "Oh, Ro, it's you, I thought so." He nodded sleepily.
Ro crouched beside him, pressing a hand against his temple and keeping the same small smile on her face. "Hello Qui-Gon. Good to see you awake."
He looked up at her piteously. "Wish I wasn't..."
"Bad day?" She raised her eyebrows.
He let out a shaking breath, closing his eyes and attempting to let go of the pain. "You have no idea..."
"Well, my master's here all the way from Coruscant, to stick you back together, that's good news, right?" Ro brushed her blond hair behind her ears, pulling out a datapad and beginning to type in some information.
"Guess so."
She gave him a quick smile. "You'll feel better soon. Alright...name?"
He stared at her a long moment. "Pardon?"
"Your name. I need your personal information for healer's records." She was still grinning. "That would be Qui-Gon Jinn, correct?"
He closed his eyes, leaning back against the cool stone. "That would be it."
"Age?" There was laughter in her voice.
"Eighteen....almost."Qui-Gon frowned at her. They had been classmates and friends through initiate training. Of course she knew his age...
"Name of your master?"
"Ro!" He moaned.
This time she actually laughed."Fine, make me do all the work." She typed in the remaining answers onto the sheet, and then began to fill out the medical form. A long silence followed, the only noise being that made by her typing.
Finally Qui-Gon spoke up. "Thanks for coming, Ro. You and your master." He whispered. "I didn't think any healers would show up. I guess I thought everyone forgot about me." Qui-Gon tried to say it lightly, as if he were amused by the idea, but his voice wavered tellingly. He painstakingly attempted another half smile.
The young healer grimaced as she inspected the wound on his side. "Of course we came." She looked up and her eyes were focused with intensity. "And the temple would never forget about you. Healers code, we never leave a Jedi behind."
"Oh...." Qui-Gon breathed in, a buoyancy rising in his chest. A Jedi... So many times with the Muh-Hadden, Jedi had been a curse, an insult spat at him. Now he felt a sense of pride. He was a Jedi. The feeling of belonging swelled inside him. The pain didn't matter for a moment.
"Mm-hm." Ro tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she continued to assess the boy's condition, making little notes on her data pad. If she noticed a change in his demeanor she did not speak it. Instead she clacked in another entry into the pad. He was in rather bad shape, Willow would have her work cut out for her. Pausing momentarily, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her, the girl glanced up."Break your nose again, Qui?" She managed to make her voice sound casual, but the beginnings of a grin were on her face.
"A Muh-Hadden broke my nose." He said in a reproachful voice, touching it gingerly. "You make it sound like I did it on purpose or walked into a wall or something..."
She laughed softly. "Your record precedes you in this case. I was just asking."
"Hm..." He winced slightly as she felt for the break. "It's not my problem people seem to go for the nose."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Hey...you're blonde now." Qui-Gon said, looking up at her newly dyed hair abruptly, and grinning. "Looks good."
"I've been talking to you for five minutes and you just noticed?" She glanced up with laughing eyes. "Well, do you like it? Thought I needed a change."
"It looks very nice..." Qui-Gon murmured. All of the sudden he felt unsteady; sick. It seemed as if the pain he had held back for so long had just now broken through.
Ro saw it on his pale face. "Qui-Gon, are you alright?" She stretched out a hand toward him.
"I..." He swallowed, wincing. "...I don't know...feel...suddenly...dizzy." There was the familiar spinning sensation accompanied with creeping darkness in his vision. He almost groaned aloud. He was so sick of passing out. He squeezed his eyes shut, putting a hand to his temples. With his left hand he batted her away. She caught his flailing hand in her own, trying to calm him.
He gave a little gasp of pain when her slim fingers closed around his own. His eyes darted up, wide and violated. The young healer felt the breath catch involuntarily in her throat as she saw his maimed palm. Her horrified gaze locked on his. They stared at each other for a long moment.
Then Ro spoke; her voice quiet and unsure, but not shaking. "Master, I think I'm going to need your help."
The Master Healer broke off her conversation with Dooku to stride over and kneel next to Qui-Gon and her apprentice. "What's up?" Willow said in a low tone, placing a firm hand on Qui-Gon's forehead.
Qui-Gon pitched forward a bit with a small moan. "I think I'm....ugh..." His eyes began to slide closed.
"Hey, quit that, I need you awake..." Willow frowned and let him lean his weight against her. "When was the last time you ate anything, kiddo?" Qui-Gon only sighed into her shoulder, trying to hold his precarious grip on consciousness. The healer went on. "That's what I thought. It's all too much for your body. You're going to need some painkillers, aren't you?" She nodded at Ro. "Would you please run, get me my pack? Thank you..." Willow hugged the boy gently, watching her padawan go for the medical supplies. She whispered to Qui-Gon as they waited. "...just hold on until I've got you stable and then you can have a nice long rest, hm?"
Ro came back a few moments later with a pack slung over one shoulder and a glass of some juice. She pressed the cup into the boy's hands and then dropped the pack into her master's arms. "Just sip that a bit..." The young healer said in a low voice, as she sat down next to Willow.
Qui-Gon obliged, bringing the cup to his lips and tasting it tentatively. It was far sweeter than he had expected, and he almost spat it back out with surprise, but as the older healer nodded that he should drink it, he forced himself to swallow. The second sip was easier, although he still didn't recognize the flavor of the juice-it certainly wasn't muja fruit. But it wasn't bad. He could feel the cloudy delirium around him beginning to break, as surely as the moon was breaking through the clouds above him. The sugar was beginning to jump start his body back to wakefulness.
Willow nodded encouragingly at him, and handed him a pack of crackers. "Good, and eat these. Ro, you go see to the girl, make sure she's had something to eat too, patch her up, you know the drill." Ro nodded to her and turned away to find Tahl.
Qui-Gon watched the proceedings carefully, nibbling on his cracker hungrily, still attempting to recapture his bearings. Willow was fiddling with her bag again, and Ro had disappeared from sight. He wished he was with Tahl. He felt so confused and muddled, and he didn't really know Willow well enough to confide. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on....
The healer spoke again, in a slow, gentle voice. "Now, I'm just going to give you a little shot of some mild painkillers...alright?" She poised a hypo over his arm expertly, preparing to administer the drug.
Qui-Gon shuddered and pulled out of her grasp with a little cry. "Willow-please-no needles..." he whimpered, shrinking back. "I..." His voice cracked and he couldn't finish. He wished desperately for Tahl or Dooku or anyone other than this unfamiliar healer. He just could not explain to her... The boy felt his breath squeeze in his throat.
However, the woman's ice-blue eyes softened and she moved away, dropping the hypo. "It's alright. I think I understand. I can give them to you in a pill form." She fished out a bottle from the medpack and handed it to him, inclining her head to the juice Ro had brought him. "Doesn't taste nice, but better, right?"
Qui-Gon felt a rush of gratitude toward her, nodding quickly, taking a sip of juice and downing the pill. She continued to speak.
"Some of the Philomel have offered their homes for us to spend the night in. Master Azul and your own Master decided it would be best to wait until morning to leave, until everything is sorted out. Come on, I'll patch you up inside."
Qui-Gon accepted her hand as she pulled him to his feet. He allowed her to lead him into one of the long buildings beside them. It struck him suddenly that it must be very late at night. The elusive moon chased clouds through the night sky above them. The rain had stopped.
Once inside, the boy found himself in a small bedroom that had hastily been converted into a hospital. Willow guided him over to a bed and motioned for him to lie down while she pulled various items from her medkit. He watched her in a daze. Whatever was in the pill she had given him was beginning to take effect... And there was something else. He felt almost as if there was a foreign presence in his mind.
She seemed to know. "How are you feeling?"
He tried to focus on her. "Sleepy..."
Willow smiled vaguely at him and reached in to adjust the blankets around his shoulders. Her expression was softened as she bent over him. "Could I look at your shoulder?" The healers voice was quiet and pretty, it comforted him somehow.
He nodded. A disconnected part of him now knew he was feeling the effects of Willow's mind influence. He had heard about it before, although never felt it's full force. Her species were especially perceptive to the feelings of others, not exactly mind-readers, but telekinetic all the same. She was often assigned to work with trauma patients at the temple because of this ability. With the Healer's combination of force-suggestion and her natural gentle spirit, Willow's skill was invaluable to fight against shock and panic in these sort of cases.
The medicine had already began to work in Qui-Gon. He felt everything else draining away except for her lovely soft voice. He listened in a daze as she murmured to him the universal: "Where does it hurt?"
"Hm, everywhere..." the boy confided dreamily. "Muh-Hadden beat me up pretty good..."
"Oh...okay." Willows fingers felt pleasantly warm against the scarred and raw skin of his healing back and he relaxed. He felt the tension seep slowly out of his muscles. She was an expert, and he felt safe.
"Yes, I see the bruises. And these burns?"
"Mm-hm. Electro-jabbers." Qui-Gon spoke again in the same sleepy fashion. Despite the painful things he had to tell her, he seemed content, not bothered by the questions at all.
"Well, those wounds will heal up quickly enough." She smiled at him, and he felt inexplicably happy. Willow didn't frighten him by telling how bad of shape he was in, or how horrifying his wounds were. He felt another surge of gratitude as she spoke again, the reassuring words he so desperately needed to hear. "The burn across your ribs from the blaster is only a graze. It must have been frightening, the shock of it, but it's a mild hit..." The healer began to bandage his side. "See, it's not too bad?"
"Okay..." Qui-Gon found himself smiling dully, as though drugged. A tiny part of him reasoned that he only felt happy because she had him practically hypnotized with the force, but the lack of pain came as such a welcome respite that he could not care. For the first time in weeks there was some other feeling besides the agony that had become his world. "Thank you," he whispered, and meant it.
She smiled her pretty smile, and pulled a blanket over him. "Certainly. Now I'll be tending to you a bit more, just putting on some bacta and things, so don't be afraid if you feel me bandaging you up. I want you to try to sleep for a little bit, alright?"
He wanted nothing more than to sleep. The pain had faded away to dreaminess, now he could rest properly. He nodded as Willow tucked in the blankets around him. "'mm-hm, sleep." Qui-Gon repeated after her.
She grinned again, and pressed a hand against his temple, finishing his consciousness off with a slight force suggestion.
~*~
An hour later, Dooku was waiting outside the door as Willow exited the little room. "Well? How is he?"
Willow sighed, shutting the bag of medical supplies, her expression grim. She did not answer right away, instead setting the kit down, and accepting a cup of tea from her padawan who had been waiting as well.
"Thank you Ro..." She sat down beside the girl, closing her eyes and taking a sip of the tea. "How's the girl?"
Ro spoke quietly, so not to disturb the sleepers in the rooms down the hall. "A little shoulder wound, she said from some...plant..." she raised her eyebrows at her master. "...but it was healing. A mild concussion as well, but otherwise fine."
Willow nodded wearily and leaned back. Across the room, Dooku cleared his throat impatiently.
"My padawan?" he prompted.
She kneaded her forehead with her hands. "It took all of my abilities to keep him sedated enough to find out just how he had been injured..." she took a breath, and opened her eyes to stare a Dooku. "He's dehydrated, and half-starved for a start. There's some sort of infection, something in his body I can't quite pinpoint...in addition to a multitude of other wounds. He's been functioning like this for a good deal of time." She sighed again, and looked over at Ro a moment before continuing. "And there's something else, Dooku..." Her face grew sad. "I don't know exactly what happened to him, that could get him in that shape but...it was bad. We're going to have to put the pieces back carefully, or he'll break."
Dooku stared at the healer, his features frozen in a look of uncharacteristic panic. Slowly, it melted into blankness. He nodded.
Willow stood and walked across the room to the door. Her padawan followed. "There's another bed in there, across from him. Why don't you sleep in there in case he awakens during the night. I gave him a good dose of painkiller, but he's still rather restless."
Dooku nodded again, starting toward the door.
"Wait-" Ro's clear voice broke through the silence. Both Dooku and Willow stared at her. She crossed the space between herself and Dooku, offering a little basket to the tall Master.
He looked down at her in silent question.
"Tahl asked if I could give this to Qui-Gon. Will you take it in there for him?" She looked down at the basket. "She said it was his."
Dooku peered into the basket. Bright dew-drop eyes stared back at him curiously. A little bird was crouched in the basket, a puffball of downy scarlet. It chirped softly at the master. "Oh..." He took the basket from the young healer and nodded. "Thank you."
Then Dooku turned and crossed the threshold into the little bedroom. It was a plain, wood paneled room, with one window, through which a beam of moonlight flooded in. The moonlight was the room's only illumination at this hour. The master scattered it across the floor as he crept past the window, the tossing off shadows and the blocking of light being the only disturbance he made to the quiet room. Qui-Gon remained sleeping and still, too exhausted to wake even if his Master had been loud. The little Jedi did not even snore; completely unconscious in his rest.
Dooku paused beside the cot, looking down at his padawan. For so many nights he had prayed that he could take a short walk across the hall and see this simple sight: Qui-Gon, alive, and sleeping peacefully. But now it was bittersweet. He had his apprentice back, but he could never have his child back. Even now with Qui-Gon safe, and even on some level of comfort, Dooku knew it was already too late to save his soul. Something sacred and irreparable in him had been forever lost. Now he was looking at a shell, a shell that looked mockingly like the Qui-Gon he had sent to Childor, sleeping deeply here.
Dooku sat down on the chair next to the bed, the bird resting in his lap, surveying Qui-Gon sadly. It seemed all so strange to him. On Coruscant he had been so sure of his padawan's death, and now it felt surreal to see him here, breathing, alive. Tentatively, he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder afraid that his touch might shatter the dreamy still. Under his palm, he could feel horrible scars through the thin sleep shirt, etched across the skin like careless graffiti into some work of art. Grief ripped through him when his apprentice shuddered at the touch, a response instilled in him after weeks of constant pain. Qui-Gon flinched, even in his sleep, and tried to pull away. Dooku could almost taste his fear.
His first desire was to turn and leave this pain. But he knew he could not. He had caused it. He had sent the boy into that pit of hell that had broken his spirit. And now he had to make it better, somehow.
"Before, I thought you were too naive. And now I've gone and destroyed your innocence." Dooku murmured softly; brokenly. He touched their mental bond softly with a light wave of reassurance. Qui-Gon did not pull away this time, instead settling deeper into his blankets with a contented sigh. His mind quieted again.
Dooku sighed and set the basket and bird down on the night stand. There was nothing else to do now. Softly he got up, and crossed the room to the cot on the other side. He did not bother to undress, dropping wearily onto the blanket and exhaling sharply.
Across the room, he heard Qui-Gon wince, even in his sleep, either from pain or dream. He remembered Willow's words and shuddered. He raised his hands in front of his eyes to look at them. The moonlight turned them white silhouettes against the black of night.
He heard the boy shift again. In the past, when he had shared a room with his padawan he had found it amusing when the boy talked in his sleep. Now he doubted anything Qui-Gon said would be funny.
The hands clenched.
Dooku shut his eyes tightly and lay back against the hard cot, but he could not find sleep.