Thank you, Cerasi5… again ;) Well, there's always a way to improve.
TallyG, yeah Qui-Gon's hopes seemed to go up and down quite a bit in the previous one :D
Now I will continue with the story.
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An hour had passed since Obi-Wan had woken up. And he was still the same: unresponsive, staring straight ahead and seeing nothing. His eyes were glazed, mirroring the room around him but not mirroring his soul. He answered simple, straight questions when asked but otherwise didn't react to words - or to anything else for that matter. Qui-Gon was hoping that any moment Obi-Wan would look at him with his usual eyes, bright and full of life. But with each passing minute the hope slowly faded away into despair.
Kamon and Namira had left the medical center soon after Obi-Wan awoke. There was no reason for them to stay. And it was clearly very hard for them to see their friend in such a condition. Qui-Gon could barely stand it himself. It tore at his soul to see his Padawan - his son - so detached, devoid of his usual self.
Tarlott had stayed. He visibly shrank every time Qui-Gon glanced at him. The man was obviously distraught by what he had done, though he had done it inadvertently. And Qui-Gon wasn't about to alleviate his burden. He found himself thinking that the man deserved this and much more for the doing of his hands. Blind rage rose in Qui-Gon, a dark bottomless feeling from the pit of his stomach. Fury.
With an effort Qui-Gon suppressed the feeling. He couldn't let himself feel like this. This was unbecoming of a Jedi, and Qui-Gon felt ashamed. He quelled his rage and bitterness. Still he couldn't help thinking that if not for Tarlott Obi-Wan wouldn't have been in this appalling condition now. Yeah, he would have been dead, a voice whispered in Qui-Gon's mind. A voice that used to be his own.
Qui-Gon's comlink suddenly buzzed, startling the Master and Tarlott, who jerked and looked at Qui-Gon.
"Jinn here," the Jedi said, picking the comlink up.
"Master Jinn, come up here, into my office," the distressed voice of Arones almost screamed into the device. "Something horrible has happened." Qui-Gon could hear the frightened, hysterical notes in the man's voice. This was so unusual and uncharacteristical for Arones that Qui-Gon immediately knew something was very wrong.
Why does everything happen in the most inconvenient of times? Qui-Gon wondered grimly.
His duty as a Jedi was to protect Arones and to find out what was wrong. But that meant he would have to leave Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon looked again at the boy who was staring absently into the wall. How could he leave him now?
"Did you think of anything yet?" Qui-Gon asked Tarlott.
"I… No, I'm afraid, not," Tarlott looked apologetical.
Qui-Gon sighed heavily and turned back to Obi-Wan. He took the youth's hand in his and squeezed it slightly. Holding his breath, he waited for a response, but none came.
"There must be something," Qui-Gon said to no one in particular. Tarlott looked at his hands. "There must be. Anything." Qui-Gon didn't want to give up. In some way, having Obi-Wan like this was even worse than loosing him. Or maybe not.
And now he will have to leave Obi-Wan alone to go find out what had happened up there. The Force was telling him that what happened was very important. He had to go.
But Obi-Wan! Qui-Gon was torn. The Force was telling him to go, but Obi-Wan needed him here. Should he heed the Force's bidding or should he listen to his heart? He didn't know.
Finally he made up his mind. With great reluctance, he stood from his chair. He looked into Obi-Wan's eyes, hoping beyond hope that the boy would recognize him. But there was no miracle.
"Obi-Wan… Padawan, I need to go away for a little while," Qui-Gon didn't know if Obi-Wan understood what he was saying, but he needed to explain it to him anyway. He simply could not leave without telling him. "I'll be back soon." He put both hands onto Obi-Wan's shoulders, then hugged him. To his surprise and incredible joy the boy hugged him back. Qui-Gon's hope soared into the sky…
… only to be smashed into billion pieces when he looked into Obi-Wan's eyes. They were as empty as they had been since the Padawan woke up. Feeling tears burn his eyes, asking to be shed, he turned away, unable to look at Obi-Wan anymore.
"Look after him," the Master told Tarlott. If anything happens to him…" He left the end of the sentence hanging, not wanting to threaten the already scared man.
Tarlott nodded in understanding. Without any other word Qui-Gon left the room, striving to get over with whatever it was as quickly as possible.
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He opened his eyes to look around. Where was he? Who was he? He didn't know. There was no one to ask. He was alone here. Here? This place wasn't anything like one that he thought could exist. Nothing was around him. Pure void. In some sense he wasn't here, either. But he was here; where else could he be anyway?
He vaguely remembered the mist - gray mist. But this 'place' was empty. Not even the mist was here. And this void was much worse than any mist. The emptiness here was unfamiliar and hostile. It didn't like the intruder. The place wasn't dark, but wasn't light either. Nothing filled it.
Utter loneliness. He wanted to scream, to tear this cloud of nothingness into shreds with his voice, but no sound existed in this place. He wanted to move, to run - but there was nothing real around him, and he himself wasn't real. He should have had a body, yet by the joke of some force he didn't have it.
Force? Yes, the Force. It was supposed to be with him even when everything else abandoned him. The Force! Such a familiar word. It brought warmth and comfort. Safety. Memory... no, there was no memory, only confusion. And loneliness.
He could see in any direction around him, but there was nothing to see. Virtually nothing. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. Nothing to feel.
He suddenly felt like he was being watched. He felt like someone very old - as old as eternity itself - and cynical watched him with cold interest. Fear gripped him. Erratic memories and thoughts - he could not tell which was which - swarmed in his head, but not one of them answered any question. He couldn't remember his name, he didn't know who he was or where he had come from.
Maybe he had spent all of his life here? Perhaps there was no way out. If he had a body, he would have sat down in defeat, although there was nothing to sit on. The void stretched beneath him and above him just like it did to the right and left, ahead and behind, of him. It was simply everywhere.
He thought he saw something flicker in the distance. He strained to see what it was. Hope surged through him. There was a glow - in the distance so great that the light was almost impossible to discern, yet it was there. A small dapple of hope. With all his being he reached for that light. Whatever it was - he didn't care - he wanted to get to it. Maybe there was something more than emptiness here. The light seemed to come closer, grow brighter and larger. But then it dimmed, and before he could reach it, flickered out of existence.
Hopeless.
Cold and empty was this place.
Cold and empty did he feel.
Cold, empty, and alone.
Totally, completely alone.
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