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            Obi-Wan watched the boy sleep, musing over the times in the past he had done likewise.  This boy, however, was not that boy from years before.  Resembling his father with his shock of thick blonde hair and intense eyes but nowhere else, Luke was much younger than his father had been on that first journey.  A journey that had been away from the planet they were now approaching.

            Tatooine.  A name that brought mixed images to his mind.  Obi-Wan Kenobi did not look forward to returning to the desert planet.  It was here, over twenty years earlier, that he and his master had first encountered Anakin Skywalker.

            Qui-Gon.  Thinking of his master, Obi-Wan allowed himself to remember his time as a Padawan before they had ever encountered Queen Amidala or Jar-Jar Binks or the boy. 

            Anakin.  If Qui-Gon had known what was to come, would his convictions been any different?  Obi-Wan asked himself.  Would he have insisted on Anakin's training, even if?  Obi-Wan hoped not.

It was plain that Qui-Gon could not have known what was coming, just as he had not foreseen his own death all those years ago.  Obi-Wan's thoughts led, as they always did, to the monster who had taken his master's life. Deep inside himself, surfacing in dreams, he could still see the tattooed Sith Lord strike the killing blow and hear his own cry of disbelief.  Qui-Gon's expression returned to his mind's eye--that look of shock and pain as he tumbled to the deck, never to rise.  The Sith Lord's own look as he fell down the shaft, cut in two.

Even now, Obi-Wan refused to let his emotions come through his stoic demeanor.  He pushed the past away and as he did, he almost heard Qui-Gon's voice come back to him across the years.

"Don't center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan.  Keep your concentration on the here and now where it belongs."

The here and now, Obi-Wan mused, was not much better than those days.  He had failed in his task then and now he had failed once again--a failure stained with blood.  Blood of the Jedi, of the dying Republic.

Qui-Gon was only the first to die in this madness, Obi-Wan told himself.  Everything he fought for, everything he gave his life for…all are dying before the boy he believed in so strongly.  The boy who would bring balance to the Force.  The boy of the ancient prophecy.

Yes, Obi-Wan told himself, Qui-Gon believed in him when no one else did.  And maybe Qui-Gon was right.  Master, you said I would be a great Jedi, a greater man than you were.  I don't see how this has come to pass. I failed…failed myself, the Jedi, the Republic, Anakin himself…

Anakin…Vader…they were one and the same.  The boy had grown into a man and in turn, into a monster.

            Those years before, Obi-Wan had cradled his dying master in his arms and promised to train Anakin, a promise Yoda had permitted him to honor with reluctance.

            Yoda was right, Obi-Wan told himself, and I was wrong.  But what is past, is past.

            Can I atone for my failure by protecting this child?  Perhaps.  Is it possible that in doing this I can be forgiven for that failure, even though I know I can never forgive myself?

            ."Don't center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan.  Keep your concentration on the here and now where it belongs."

            Obi-Wan shook his head as the boy stirred in his sleep.  "Master," Obi-Wan whispered, "I am sorry.  I am so sorry."

            There was nothing but silence and the beating of his heart in reply.