Title: Love of the Jedi
Summery: Sequel to Shadow of the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon complete thesoulbond.
Warnings: This is SLASH.
Catagory: AU, Romance
Rating: R
Notes: Were to start? Firstly this started off as an interlude between my rewrite of ATOC, however I had so much interest in the O/Q relationship that my idea for a brief fic turned into another full-length story. Secondly, AHHHH, I have messed about so much with this fic I'm not sure what to make of it any more. I've edited and re-written I think all of it. Please could I have some feedback, let me know what you like, if the story goes along ok, etc. The first part is written; the second half is getting there. But this isn't really a WIP.
Prologue – Shadows of Phantoms
The battle of Naboo was won, its people, all of its people, were victorious. The Council, drawn by the mystery of the Sith, arrived on the planet to hear from Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi their account of the final battle face to face.
The Jedi talked long of this Dark Warrior who had fought them so viciously, and when the Jedi Warrior spoke, the Council listened. The Sith on Naboo was dead, but his master remained, alive somewhere, plotting his revenge.
"Grave this news is, the Sith among us again. Find the master we must, stop him before more harm he does," Yoda told all those present at the gathering.
"How?" Qui-Gon had asked.
"He will look for a new apprentice." All those present turned to the Jedi Warrior, waiting for him to read the signs he saw in the Force. "A Jedi will fall to his will first and then, and then he will seek the boy, bending him to his will also."
"Anakin must be protected," Qui-Gon finished for him.
"Meditated on this we have. Your apprentice Skywalker will be."
Anakin Skywalker was given into Master Jinn's care to be trained as a Jedi. The boy was ecstatic that his dreams were being fulfilled. However, the Warrior still had his fears. Night came and the city celebrated its victory. Yoda found himself alone in one of the palace's great rooms. He was waiting. He knew he would come.
"Come out of the shadows you can, Obi-Wan. Time I think it is."
"Apologies, Master, old habits." Obi-Wan came out of the darkness and knelt before the older Jedi. "You wanted to see me?"
"Hmph, since when has that made you appear? Come to me because speak to me you wish."
"Yes, Master."
"Just like Qui-Gon you are, stubborn and rebellious when you need not be. Your enemy I am not, Obi-Wan." Yoda rarely sounded angry; even so, when he spoke now his voice contained a hard edge.
"Apologies again, Master Yoda. After keeping myself apart from the Jedi for so long, I am finding it difficult to readjust."
"A reason this is, though not yours. Listen I will, Obi-Wan."
"I am going with Qui-Gon and Anakin. I can no longer be dead."
"Abandon your duties you are?"
"No, I will leave them when I must. But Anakin, the Chosen One, is a sign that war is upon us, Master Yoda. One we must all fight. The best way I can think to protect the Jedi is to protect him."
"Sense something you do." It was not a question.
"The danger I sensed to Qui-Gon has passed in the present, but I can still feel it." His voice has dropped to a whisper. "It is all around me, I can feel it everywhere. Darkness and death are surrounding us, although from where I cannot tell."
"Clouded the future is, see it clearly I cannot. Words of comfort I have not for you. Still one thing I will tell you that I told Mace five years ago. Darkness there may be, young one, shining through a bright light does. A soulbond I can see."
"Yes, I see it too. It is more than a comfort. Will it be enough?"
"What is enough? Do our duty is all that we can do. Trust in the Force, Obi-Wan, led us this far it has."
"I must go, Qui-Gon waits."
"May the Force be with you," Yoda said to the shadows. "Jedi Warrior."
And as easily as that Obi-Wan Kenobi was reborn to the Jedi. A message was posted at the Temple of the return of a colleague thought dead in much the same way his death had been reported five years earlier. By the time he set foot on Coruscant, the news of Obi-Wan's return would be old.
Qui-Gon waited for his old padawan at the ramp of the ship headed home. He knew that it was something that would happen often if he tied himself to the younger man. The Jedi Warrior was never sought out, but instead was the one to seek you. So Qui-Gon waited. And waited.
"This may become a habit," a voice said from behind him.
Qui-Gon turned to see Obi-Wan standing three inches from him. He had not heard him approach the ship, nor felt him within the Force. His only sense of his apprentice had been that he was still on the planet. The Jedi knew that this was how it would be from now on, unless Obi-Wan decided otherwise. Either by allowing him past his shields or by creating a void like the last time they had been here. It was more than any other Jedi would get. And still there was the unspoken bond that lay between them that allowed Qui-Gon this unique connection.
"Are you coming then?"
"Yes. You need me and so does Anakin. But if you agree and I do come, this…" he spread his arms to indicate the ship and its lowered ramp. "The waiting may become a habit. I still have a duty to the others, Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan Kenobi may not be dead anymore, but the Jedi Warrior is still not ready to step out from his shadows."
Qui-Gon did not look pleased, not because of the waiting, but because still Obi-Wan could not live his life.
"Do not be saddened, my Master, it is simply not time. Before, I lived between the living. At least now I have half of a life, with you."
"I'd like nothing more than to have you with me, my Obi-Wan, in any way that is possible, and I think you will come one way or another, whether I agree or not."
They both smiled.
"The Chosen One must be protected, Qui-Gon."
"Yes, and he has us both to do it." He moved up the ramp. "Shall we go?"
Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon up the ramp as Qui-Gon disappeared into the ship. While the danger was still there, lessoned, it was now a dull throbbing in Obi-Wan's mind. No other Jedi needed him now. He turned back to the ship only to glance over his shoulder again when he felt the weight of another's stare. A figure stood behind one of the high windows of the palace, watching the Jedi ship.
Chancellor Palpatine.
Obi-Wan's own gaze lingered on him a moment before strolling up into the ship's belly. As he went he said to no one,
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Deep within the shadows, a light dwells, one almost indiscernible to those who first glance into the Darkness, but the light is strong, if not fulfilled. It lies waiting, ready for the moment when it will flare to life with the brightness the suns of Tatooine would envy. It lies dormant, not yet recognised by the world or spoken of by those wise enough to have seen it.
Darkness pushes in on the worlds of the galaxy, a named foe threatens the peace of a millennia, a phantom waits to strike. For the Jedi, hope yet remains in the form of a young boy and in a love unspoken.
Time has been allowed for the two men who are joined within the Force, time the galaxy could ill afford, time they needed, and in five years of doubt, that love has grown until the song within the Force, that celebrates the existence of the bond, plays forth within their ears and it can no longer be denied or ignored. It will be realised and the tiny spark of light will blossom into a nova that no evil can defeat.
Love will win out and time enough had passed to allow old wounds to heal and for fears to be laid to rest. They come together now as equals, destined to be together, naturally and with no trepidation.
This moment has been long in coming and the two men will treasure it and live within in it because their duty is a dangerous one and fate is fickle. Who knows when they can once again lie in each other's arms? Who knows when the Warrior must return to the shadows? Who knows when wars must be fought and love forfeited for the sake of a galaxy?
The Force is with them always, guiding them, but sometimes it must lead them away and they must follow, ever trusting to its call, for after all, it gave them each other.