Chapter 2
Mysterious Runaway
Just less than a week later, Obi-Wan found himself entering the hospital again. Not because he was injured, but because the hospital administrator had contacted him concerning the boy he'd brought in for treatment. The Jedi Knight paused at the desk and spoke with the secretary before being directed towards the administrator's office. A short lift ride later Obi-Wan found himself greeting an aging human man with thick glasses and a well-worn suit, the hospital administrator.
"Thank you for coming so quickly Knight Kenobi, I hope this isn't inconvenient for you." The man, a Mr. Lassen, apologized.
"It is no problem, what can I help you with?" Obi-Wan replied politely.
"It concerns the possible runaway you brought in last week," Mr. Lassen sighed unhappily. "The staff removed him from the Bacta tank last night and everything appeared to be fine. But this morning, the nurses found his bed empty."
"So he's run again." Obi-Wan mused to himself. "But, why contact me? Why not CorSec?" He asked. Jedi rarely got involved in such small cases, that was for local law enforcement to handle.
"We would have, but then we went through his personal effects a second time." Mr. Lassen paused to remove and clean his glasses, more to gather his thought than actually clean them. "The first time we searched his bag and clothes it was to find some kind of ID, and we found none. The second time it was to see if we could find any clue as to where he might've gone, or why he ran away. And we found this." Mr. Lassen pulled a crate out from beside his desk which contained the missing teen's clothes and bag. From that crate, he pulled out a metallic cylindrical object and laid it before the Jedi. "Now, is that what I think it is?"
Obi-Wan picked up the object and studied it very carefully. There was a red activator switch roughly in the middle of it, and one end was an emitter, the other end had a soft grip…it was definitely what it appeared to be: a lightsaber. But what in the galaxy would that boy be doing with one? His clothes were not in the style of the Jedi. He lacked any sign of the distinctive Padawan learner haircut, or even just the braid. There was no way he was old enough to be a Knight already, and if he was simply not taken as a Padawan and shipped off to be part of the Agri-Corp he would not have a lightsaber. Now he saw why he had been contacted.
"Yes, it is a lightsaber." Obi-Wan sighed, setting the weapon down on the desk. "Did you find any clues in his belongings?"
"Aside from that saber, no, we found nothing." Mr. Lassen shook his head regretfully.
"Well, I thank you for contacting me. I shall look into this." Obi-Wan promised and gathered up the small crate of the boy's belongings to take back with him to the Temple.
He cursed himself yet again for his impulsiveness. He'd been in such a damn hurry to get out of that hospital that he hadn't thought to search for his clothes and bag. Now he lacked his clothes, his tools, his credits, and his saber. He was screwed. With another soft Huttese curse he glared at the gray, washed-out-looking pajamas and thin slippers the Healers had left him in.
Well, at least I feel better… He thought, semi-sarcastically.
After stashing the box of the boy's things in his assigned quarters, Obi-Wan took the lightsaber to the Corellian Temple's saber-master, Nejaa Halcyon. If this saber belonged to someone associated with this particular branch of the Jedi Temple, it was very likely that Master Halcyon would recognize it. When Obi-Wan located him, he had just let out a class of younglings.
"Hello there Knight Kenobi!" Master Halcyon greeted once he sensed Obi-Wan's presence.
"Hello Master Halcyon." Obi-Wan smiled.
"What can I do for you?" Nejaa asked curiously as he put the last of the small practice sabers away in a cabinet.
"I was hoping that you might be able to tell me who this belongs to." Obi-Wan replied, holding out the mysterious lightsaber.
"Hmm," Nejaa muttered, taking the saber to study it better. After a few minutes, he frowned and shook his head. "It's very well made, but I can't say that I've ever seen it before. What color is it?"
"I don't know." Obi-Wan shrugged.
"Well let's take a look." Nejaa grinned and flicked the activator switch.
The blade sprang to life with the familiar snap-hiss…and Nejaa's grin vanished in an instant. Obi-Wan paled at the sight of it. It was a crimson blade. No Jedi ever, ever, had such a color. Only those who had fallen to the Dark Side and the Sith used such weapons. Master Halcyon quickly switched the saber off.
"Star's End," Nejaa hissed. "Where in the Sith Hell did you get this Obi-Wan?"
"From a hospital, they found it among a missing patient's personal effects." Obi-Wan breathed.
"A missing patient?" Nejaa repeated.
"Yes, he slipped out of the hospital last night and no one has seen him since." Obi-Wan sighed.
"So will you go find this missing patient?" Nejaa inquired softly, handing the red-bladed saber back.
"That's what I was planning on doing." Obi-Wan replied, reluctantly clipping the tainted weapon to his belt.
"I'll come with you." Nejaa decided.
Obi-Wan just nodded. He figured that he was going to need some extra help with this. So what if he was the first Jedi to kill a Sith in several hundred years. He had no desire to ever face one again. And a Fallen Jedi was no better. Even if the kid had just found it and claimed it as his own, he wasn't going to take any risks. Together, they slipped out of the Temple and began looking.
He shivered as the sun set and the warmth quickly bled out of the atmosphere. It didn't get as cold as quickly as it did when the suns went down on Tatooine, but it was close enough. He never liked being cold. He scowled down at the thin gray hospital pajamas yet again and slunk through the dark streets in search of a place to crash for the night.
He was so engrossed in looking for shelter that he failed to see or sense a pair of cloaked men fall in a few steps behind him. He was totally oblivious to his tails for nearly three blocks before the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and made him freeze. Feeding off his anger and fear, the Darkness in and around him thickened and whispered to him. Two beings of Light were behind him, and they were following him.
"Shouldn't you still be in the hospital, young one?" A vaguely familiar voice asked.
"Prob'ly," he grunted warily, his slightly hazy mind racing to try and place the voice.
"Then why did you leave?" The voice asked.
"Wasn' safe." He growled, turning very slowly to face the two people behind him.
"How was it not safe? In my experience, hospitals are very safe places to be." The man inquired.
"Nowhere's safe for me." He snapped, then paled when he made out who he was talking two. They were a pair of Jedi. Oh kriffin' Hell!
"Why is that?" One of the Jedi, the one with a beard, asked softly.
His mind raced as he put things together. The only reason the Jedi were here for him was that they'd seen his lightsaber. He was in serious trouble. "You know why!" He spat, shaking.
"I'm…not sure that I know what you mean." The bearded Jedi lied.
"Don't lie!" He raged. He was very sick of being lied to.
"Humor us then." The second Jedi finally spoke. His voice was a good deal colder than his companion's was.
"If…if they don't find me, you will, and…and either way I'll end up dead." He replied, struggling, and failing, to keep his voice steady.
"Who are 'they'?" The first, nicer, Jedi asked.
"The…the Count and h-his Master and their lackeys." He half-whimpered, cursing himself for how pathetic he was sounding.
"Who?" The nice Jedi asked worriedly.
"The Count, his Master, and–"
"Who?" The meaner Jedi demanded sharply.
"The…j-just gimme my stuff an'…and I'll go 'way an' I'll never bother you again, I swear!" He begged, panicking and hating himself for it.
"What?" The nicer Jedi muttered, puzzled by the reply.
"I swear, I'll…I'll jus' disappear an'…an' I won't bother nobody." He whimpered, staring at ground and trying not to cry. What the Hell is wrong with me!
Suddenly the nice Jedi was standing right in front of him and the Jedi's hands were on his shoulders. He slowly lifted his head to look the Jedi in the face. "We won't hurt you unless you force us to." The Jedi promised, and this time he wasn't lying.
He had no idea what was wrong with him. He could only guess that it was the stress of the past month and the lingering effects of his illness. But, for whatever reason, he suddenly found himself clinging to the Jedi, sobbing into his shoulder like a big baby. The Jedi stiffly patted his back and tried to comfort him through the Force. He flinched at the blinding touch of the Light. It burned, but at the same time, it made him feel, for the first time in a long time, safe.