Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. School just started, plus I have a job and so on and so forth. It's hard to find time to do anything anymore, but I will try to update this story more often. I hope to have it done before my surgery.

Chapter 11

I just want to fly away; I just want to go somewhere where no one can find me. I just don't want to feel pain, suffering, or misery anymore. I just want to be free.

She was coming back. Obi-Wan still could not see anything in the void of his cell, but he could hear her enter his cell as her bare claws scratched against the cold solid steel floor. How much more of this would he have to endure? How much more could he take? Obi-Wan did not know the answer, but was not sure he wanted to know. His world was crashing down around him and as Helena light up the room, burning his sensitive eyes, he just wanted it all to end, so that his soul may be free from the torture it was meant to suffer.

"Well, well, well, little kitten, how are you holding up, you poor dear?" She said sarcastically. Obi-Wan glared daggers at the woman. She made him so angry. After all these years, she still made that cold worm of fear, buried deep in his gut pop to life after long years of hibernation, but he would not let her win.

"You're such a pathetic waste of space, Obi-Wan. I'm surprised that anyone would take you on as their Padawan. You know why he did it though, don't you? He did it because he felt sorry for you. He doesn't really want you, and you know it. You just get in the way. You don't deserve to be a Jedi, you don't deserve to live. No one cares about you, no one will love you. I'm doing this world a favor by riding it of your disgusting presence." Obi-Wan cringed at her hateful words, but no matter how much he wanted to tell her that it wasn't true, he couldn't. He couldn't lie. She was right, no one wanted him, but he wouldn't let Helena know that. He wouldn't let her win.

Helena simply laughed at his silence. She was starting to win the battle for his soul.

"You can do all you want to me Helena, but you will not win. I would rather die than betray all that I have ever known." He whispered softly, his words bounced off the cold barren walls. Helena growled and fiercely slapped the boy, but Obi-Wan was determined. "There is nothing that you can do that will change that, Helena. You've already lost." Perhaps Helena had underestimated Obi-Wan's defenses.

"We will see." She threatened. Obi-Wan retreated to his safe place and let his mind fade from reality. In a little while, you'll be gone, the moment has already passed. It's gone and I'm not here. This isn't happening. I'm not here. I'm not here.

Hours later, Helena sulked out of the room, leaving a bruised, battered, beaten and bloody apprentice, but not a broken one.

"I will not let you win."

"So, where do we start looking?" Tahl asked. The answer was obvious wasn't it? Qui-Gon opened his mouth to answer the silly question, but then quickly snapped his jaw closed. Where were they to begin looking? Obi-Wan could be anywhere on the planet.

"How about space port terminals? If Helena and Obi-Wan are still on this planet, then their ship has to be somewhere. Helena isn't exactly a dull species. Someone is sure to recognize her." Bant proffered.

"You're right. Let's start at the closest terminals and work our way from there."

"According to this map," Tahl added. "There are two terminals in town and one in the town closest to here. Why don't we split up and check the terminals here, then meet in two hours at the next closest port."

"Where is it?"

"Applinz."

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go." Bant impatiently exclaimed. Tahl smiled at her Padawan's enthusiasm, but sobered when she realized how right her Padawan was. In a situation this delicate, with so much depending on their success, there was no time to spare.

Obi-Wan slowly blinked his eyes. What had forced him to stir from his blissful unconscious state? All still seemed eerily silent and the endless abyss still floated before his eyes, but something had startled him from his sleep. Perhaps it was the voices slowly growing in volume that rang just beyond the encompassing darkness.

"Nothing we do is working, Dei'ma. He is too resilient to our torture. He isn't even responding to our mental abuse anymore. He knows what to expect now, and he knows how to fight it. Our benefactor is going to be extremely ticked off if he comes back to find Obi-Wan unbroken and defiant. We have to do something." Helena said near hysterics from Obi-Wan's unbreakable defenses.

"He has created a hiding place. Somewhere that he can go, where no one can hurt him, and he has built sturdy walls around his safe place, but those walls aren't impenetrable. Some things will break through his shields. All we have to do is find what would hurt the boy the most. What can we do to him that not even the little dark corner in his mind can protect him from it?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well, I can't exactly read minds, Helena, but I do believe that we have the same objective in mind."

"Just one question remains. How?"

"I know someone that could be able to help us. He can be here within two days. Soon that boy's spirit will crumble, Helena; soon that boy will be under our control."

"And soon we will be millionaires," was the last thing Obi-Wan heard before the voices faded away. Obi-Wan let the tears fall from his eyes. A big, black void now covered his future. He thought he had been prepared for whatever Helena threw his way, but now, he wasn't so sure he could handle it anymore. And he was right. What clouded his future was more than even Yoda could tame. A dark monster threatened to sully his white light, but Obi-Wan had made a promise. The young apprentice would accept death before he let the monster consume him, even if he was forced to take his own life. He would not let Helena win, he would not let Dei'ma win, he would not let the darkside win. No matter what, till the very end, Obi-Wan would always be able to say, that he had not betrayed the light. This was a battle Helena was not going to win, this was a battle Obi-Wan would fight till the end, this was a battle for his soul, this was his life.

"I will never give up, I will never surrender. Prepare to loose Helena, prepare to loose."