Chapter 9 - A Duel of Fates

What followed happened quickly and the battle for Naboo ended swiftly. The Queen and her guards made it to the Viceroy and demanded a surrender, Anakin joined the space battle and single handed destroyed the command ship, consequently freeing the defeated Gungans on the planet's surface, who had fought bravely and created enough of a distraction to allow the Naboo to get back into Theed and get the pilots to their fighters.

But what of the Jedi? What happened to the Master and his Shadow? What became of the Sith?

As Queen Amidala escaped the hanger, with the help of Anakin in a fighter's cockpit, the Jedi shed their cloaks and stood ready to fight a battle they knew they might not win.

Obi-Wan felt the moment stretch on, but instead of living within its confines as his Master had always taught him, he looked beyond it, into time where possibilities lie and where the unwritten future can be glanced. He saw the spiralling darkness and felt the grief of a Padawan, who could have been him, as he watched him Master die. Obi-Wan felt the heat of a red blade close to his face; he felt it enter his Master as the phantom future played out before him in its horrifying possibilities.

This future could never be; he had discovered his gift, however that did not mean that the warning was not heeded. Qui-Gon would die bathed in a blood red light, unless the Jedi Warrior could protect him as he had not been able to do so in another life, another time, another universe.

Obi-Wan feigned a lunge forward and allowed Qui-Gon to engage the Sith first, confident, for now, that the Master could defend himself. A second later he to joined the battle, fighting with the fury only a Jedi could posses.

Together the two Jedi pushed the Sith back along the walkways of the power plant. Qui-Gon had forgotten what it felt like to fight along side his lost apprentice and once again Obi-Wan's energy invigorated him. Not knowing the consequences of his actions, Qui-Gon reached out for the bond that should have dissolved years ago, when Obi-Wan had been Knighted, but had remained. The two Jedi were momentarily deafened by the song with the Force.

Maul saw his opponents wince and took the opportunity to strike out at his most dangerous foe. He kicked Obi-Wan, who fell from the platform. The Jedi fell and fell, landing heavily hundreds of feet below.

Seeing Obi-Wan fall, Qui-Gon also kicked out, sending the Sith over the edge. The dark warrior saw the blow coming and was able to control his decent. He fell, but not as far as the youngest Jedi.

Obi-Wan watched as Qui-Gon jumped down behind the Sith and continued to fight him, pushing back towards the rotating shields that protected the core. The shields, they were red. A blood red light covered the body of Qui-Gon Jinn.

Echoing the scream of a Padawan he could have been except for fate, Obi-Wan jumped up to the platform that Qui-Gon and the Sith fought upon. Praying that Qui-Gon would catch himself, he pushed the Jedi Master off the walkway with the Force.

Maul fought Qui-Gon, knowing separated he could defeat the Jedi. He did not expect a sudden Force wave that took the Master off his feet and over the side of the platform. He watched him fall and land below.

"No!" a shout echoed around the vast space and he looked up to see the other Jedi running towards him, using the Force to carry him faster than what was humanly possible.

Maul turned and ran past the force fields, ready to make a stand on the other side.

Qui-Gon looked up and saw Obi-Wan run past and follow the Sith down the corridor with the cycling force fields. He jumped back up to the walkway and followed the other two warriors, however he was too slow.

He was trapped between the first and second shields while Obi-Wan had reached the Sith and, even as Qui-Gon watched, began the deadly dance of a lightsabre duel.

Obi-Wan ducked the blade aimed at his head and countered the move by kicking the Sith in the chin. They stepped back a moment before just as quickly exchanging a dozen blows, each intended to kill.

Obi-Wan leapt over Maul's head, hoping to knock him off balance. It worked, but only for a moment and in that time the Jedi brought his blade down and cleaved the staff weapon in two. The Sith discarded half of it and continued to fight with the other.

Behind him he could hear the shields cycle off and knew it would not be long before Qui-Gon once again joined the fight.

Qui-Gon ran as fast as he was able, nevertheless he did not make it past the last shield before it reactivated. Trapped again, this time so close to Obi-Wan and yet so far away.

He knelt on the floor and closed his eyes centring himself for the fight he would soon join. Immersed in the Force he could watch Obi-Wan fight in a way he had never been able to before. When he fought, as the Jedi Warrior, the Light appeared to stream off him in a waterfall, filling the space around him, strengthening the man at its centre.

As he knelt and saw Obi-Wan for the first time as he truly was, he received a small measure of the gift that Obi-Wan possessed. He felt the infinite number of possibilities that lay in the room, that lay within the duel that was being fought before him. And just as Obi-Wan had done he saw another fate, one that would have darkened the galaxy and led his own Padawan to the very brink of despair. He found a place within the moment that saw the future, all futures. He heard the whispered 'Qui-Gon' a second before it was uttered and saw Obi-Wan fall the moment before the blow fell. Obi-Wan's lightsabre fell with him into the pit. Unlike the lost weapon, Obi-Wan was able to grab hold of part of the wall and stop his decent.

Qui-Gon did not open his eyes, watching through the Force and knowing what the Jedi Warrior needed. Seeing the future where he died, he understood what to do. He took his lightsabre in his hand and waited for the right moment.

Obi-Wan was just outside of the Sith's reach. It did not matter for he too was waiting, knowing as Qui-Gon did what would follow in a parody of destiny that would never be fulfilled. He felt the Force gather within him, felt it build in his soul as only it could do inside him. He felt the force field cycle off and jumped.

He flew over the Sith's head, reaching out to the lightsabre he knew would be there. He activated the green blade and swept it though his opponent as he landed.

The Sith fell, never to rise again.

Qui-Gon rose from where he had thrown his lightsabre. Obi-Wan smiled.

"Thank you, for this." He waved the blade. "I seem to have misplaced mine."

"You can build another, my Obi-Wan."

"Yes, I can, but there is no need." Qui-Gon did not understand and waited for Obi-Wan to explain. "In the library of the Jedi Temple many things are kept and preserved. Far at the back, where few go, is a blade that belongs only to the Jedi Warrior."

"You will remove that one then?"

"I already have, the one in the case is just an empty casing." Obi-Wan handed the Master his 'sabre. "I have carried it for five years and have never used it. I never felt as if it was really mine, that I deserved it."

"And now?"

"Now I think is not the time for my fears. I am the protector of the Jedi and I must accept that fate. I thought that I had; now I see that there was more to it than even I realised. I have seen the future when the Jedi Warrior was never revealed, I have seen the Darkness of which I could never have imagined; I have seen what fate could have created."

The two turned and walked together from the power plant.

"For a moment I saw it too. I knew what you were, Obi-Wan. But now I think I understand what that means."

"I needed you, Qui-Gon." Obi-Wan continued as they walked. "To fully understand that my gift is not a punishment; destinies and fates change, my Master, but this, however, will not."