Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

"So what do we do now?" Aida asked, staring blankly at the large fork in front of them, two massive hallways splitting off.

Nevan rolled his eyes, "Why do I feel like I'm in some sort of bad holo-vid."

Aida grinned, "So which way do we go?"

Nevan and Qui-Gon looked at each other for a moment, Qui-Gon beat Nevan to the punch, "I do not think splitting up is wise."

Nevan shook his head, "Even if we all searched alone we probably wouldn't be able to cover the entire place, besides I don't sense any immediate danger, we should be fine."

Qui-Gon sighed, knowing his friend wouldn't give in, "Alright."

Nevan pointed to Obi-Wan, "Obi and I will take the right path, Aida you and Qui-Gon take the left."

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow, Nevan took one look and burst into a grin, "What's the matter Qui-Gon afraid I'll corrupt him?" Waving a hand dismissively he pointed to his Apprentice, "I simply want Aida to be able to benefit from someone else's knowledge and experience, it's nothing more then a learning experience."

Qui-Gon stared at him for a moment before turning to Aida, "Stay behind me."

Moments later they had disappeared into the darkness of the hallway, Nevan looked over at Obi-Wan, "Looks like it's just you and me kid."

Obi-Wan acknowledged this distractedly as he dwelled on how this event would play out.

The thoughts sped through the young Padawn's mind at the speed of hyperspace, his concern for his Master, the curiosity towards the Shadow Master to his left, and all the unanswered questions so far.

"Any questions?"

Obi-Wan had been so deep in thought that he jumped when Nevan's voice had cut the silence, quickly the Padawan caught himself and responded, "What do you mean?"

Nevan laughed, "Well I did call this a learning experience, I'm sure Qui-Gon wouldn't like it if I had him teaching my student while I left his without any guidance."

Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully as he dredged up all the questions he had and sorted them, "If you had the knowledge of how things would have turned out when you left the Jedi would you still have?"

Nevan went silent for a moment, "No."

Obi-Wan looked over at the Shadow Master, surprised by his response.

Nevan looked over at Obi, understanding the look on the young mans face he clarified, "You don't understand, I never had a choice, if I could have stayed a Jedi I would have but I'm just not cut out to be I was never a good enough person, not deserving enough to be a Jedi."

"But the life of a Shadow Jedi was a path you could follow?" Obi Asked.

Nevan smiled, "I'm not a true Shadow Jedi."

Once again Obi looked over at Nevan a look of surprise clearly plastered across his face.

The barely contained laughter on Nevan's face was obvious, "Kid when you get back to the temple you really need to get Qui-Gon to teach you how to maintain your composure whenever you receive a piece of unexpected information or you'll be walking around for the rest of your life with that expression on."

Nevan stopped and waved one hand, opening a door, to reveal a small, empty room, "I am one of the Shadow Jedi, and I have mastered the Shadow arts but in my heart I am still the Jedi I once was, still trying to help as many as possible and empower the light, I do see the Force for what it is, an energy field composed of the life energies of the universe, one whole power, not something composed of sides."

Obi frowned, "If that is your take on the Force then why do you speak as though you are still aligned with the light."

"That young Kenobi is why I am not truly a Shadow Jedi, for all my knowledge of the Shadow side I still believe in the light, not the light side of others, but the light that lies within our own hearts and it is that light that composes the sides of which we believe, and my heart yearns to be completely light, unfortunately my mind and mentality contradict that which is why in the Shadows lie my path."

"But-" Obi-Wan started, he was promptly cut off by Nevan's placing his hand over Obi's mouth.

The Shadow Master whispered, "Are we truly the hunters or are we prey?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"What was my Master like when he was younger?" Aida asked Qui-Gon, taking her eyes off their path for a moment to look at the Jedi Master.

A nostalgic smile crossed Qui-Gon's lips, "He has not changed much, only embraced the freedom that he gained in leaving the order, he always had a rebellious streak we both did, or rather do." Qui-Gon corrected himself, "His heart was in the right place but his methods were not what the council considered right."

Aida nodded, "He's mentioned a few times how the council both respected and hated him."

"He's a brilliant and wise man but never have I seen anyone get into a shouting match with Yoda, until that day I didn't even know Master Yoda could be that loud or that he could be lowered to that level."

Aida grinned from ear to ear at the thought of her Master and the diminutive green Jedi screaming at each other, "What was it about?"

"The outcome of a mission your Master had led, he believed that the death of several, somewhat innocents to be necessary to the mission."

Aida raised an eyebrow at Qui-Gon, "And he actually managed to get Master Yoda to raise his voice?"

With a trace of questioning in his own voice Qui-Gon answered, "And the strange thing is the two always treated each other with respect afterwards except the pranks."

Aida stopped dead in her tracks, "Pranks?"

Qui-Gon laughed, "Yes the two constantly played pranks on each other afterwards, you would not expect it especially because he hides it so well but Master Yoda has a very strong sense of humour."

"I'll take your word for it." Aida replied skeptically.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"I know Master Orinis and yourself were captured but I was never told how you survived."

Nevan stared dead ahead and his eyes seemed to cloud over, "They made a mistake, they tortured me until they thought I had been converted, in a final test they asked me to kill Eros, Shaza, and Jon who had apparently been captured the second the stepped foot on the planet."

"And?" Obi-Wan pushed, eager to hear more.

A slight smile curled at Nevan's lips, "I slaughtered them."

Obi-Wan placed one hand on his saber nervously.

Nevan continued on, "I thought I had done it for the sake of the mission, they died so that I might live to finish what had been started." The silver eyed Shadow Jedi hung his head in shame, "I thought it had been necessary, I still had until I knew that they survived now that I know the murder was futile even in the name of the mission I don't quite know how it should have happened."

Obi-Wan was now thoroughly confused, "Why, how could you still not know how it should have happened?"

Nevan smiled, "You have an inquiring mind, good man Kenobi, the reason I don't no is one and the same as the reason why I am Shadow Jedi, yes I wish I could rejoin the Jedi order, I've always tried to help people but unlike your Jedi my methods are harsher, the ends justify the means in my mind."

They walked in silence for an eternity that lasted no more than a few moments.

Obi-Wan wanted to know, and this desire overwhelmed the voice in the back of hid mind that said drop the subject for now, "What happened next?"

"They made another mistake." Nevan replied, "They gave Orinis and I our lightsabers back, they wanted us to duel to the death to determine the stronger, we just nodded our heads and in a flurry power and skill, they were dead."

"That's it?" Obi-Wan asked skeptically, after all that he got the feeling it would not end that way.

"No." Nevan shook his head, "We made our way out of the building, the same warehouse as before at the end we were met with the man who had began it all and someone else, Orinis and Anoch made their way outside for their own battle, I was left with the other, in the end I couldn't straight out kill her so I collapsed the ceiling and ran, when I made it outside Anoch was dead and Orinis felt close to it, there was nothing I could do so I found Qui-Gon and got out of there."

"What about-" Obi-Wan was quickly cut off as Nevan pulled him back a step, he turned to the Master to ask why he had done it, he was only greeted with Nevan pointing at the floor he had been on moments before, it had dropped away, revealing a seemingly bottomless pit.

He smiled, "Always be on your guard in hostile territory."

With an almost smug look on his face Nevan bounded across the pit with a Force aided jump, he turned back to face Obi-Wan and finish his lecture when the boys yell cut him off.

"Look out!"

Nevan turned in time to find himself face to face with flurry of blaster bolts careening towards him. Only time tested reflexes aided by the Force allowed him to draw his saber and deflect them in time.

Nevan grimaced when he saw the smirk on Obi-Wan's face, "Let's pretend I didn't give that little speech right before letting my guard down shall we?"

Obi made the jump and smiled at the silver eyed alien, "I don't know my Master might want to hear about it."

Nevan looked at him seriously, "You know I could cut you in half before you knew what happened." He turned from the padawan and continued forward cautiously.

Obi-Wan stared worriedly at the back of the Shadow Master, unsure of whether it was a joke or not.

The truth layed in the immense smile on Nevan's face, which unfortunately Obi couldn't see.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

A/N: I'm SO sorry I didn't get this up sooner but I just couldn't write for a while, I just kind of lost motivation for a while. I hope you liked it and please review if you can get around to it, otherwise have a nice night.