Thank you to everyone reviewing! And sorry to the AO3 peeps, I will respond to everyone's reviews, I'm just limited by an old computer and writing on my phone which has slowed me down some. My expensive laptop is still being shipped back to me because quality control is lazy :D

Chapter 16 - Everything You Thought You Knew

They had more prisoners than Mace could count but the death count among both slaves and slavers was much less than they had feared.

Things had settled enough that they had to discuss moving forward as Knights and Padawans began counting and figuring out where in the galaxy they needed to take people while the MediCorps worked overtime to get everyone in critical condition stabilized.

Mace was standing with his fellow Council members Depa, Qui-Gon, Kit, Plo, and Shaak Ti under the oppressive sun of this planet whose very sand and dirt hummed in the Force from all the blood and pain it had absorbed. Mace was only half listening to Shaak Ti's account as he kept an eye on the group of Mandalorians not far off from them.

Jaster Mereel, the Mand'alor of Mandalore, had come through with a significant fleet to add to the Corillian and Jedi Navy.

Apparently, however, Jaster had not been aware that his son, Jango Fett, was planet side. The reason for which became clear when they were reunited with a young man and a much younger girl.

Mace, who did not speak Mando'a nor their sign language, wasn't having an easy time eavesdropping, but even on a planet like this their pain and fury radiated in the Force.

Depa brushed against his mental shields.

He let her in but didn't take his focus off the Mandalorians whose discussion was growing progressively louder.

Are they a danger? Depa asked gently.

Mace gave up any pretence of not eavesdropping and looked toward Jango Fett who glimmered in the Force, and let Depa see what he saw.

Jaster Mereel had major Shatter Points, like most planetary leaders whose actions or life directly affected their people.

But Jango Fett…

The fate of the very galaxy hung in the balance of his Shatter Points.

Empires would rise and fall in accordance to this man's actions and choices. The Republic's tenuous attempts to repair, and the Jedi's attempts to save themselves from a sinking ship, somehow, all rested along those same Shatter Points.

If they were enemies, Mace would have killed him rather than risk the danger he posed. But there were too many other fracture points, Jango wasn't necessarily singular in his importance, the people he was tied to certainly were.

Oh, Depa breathed, understanding his distraction.

"Mace, are you alright?" Plo asked.

Mace was about to answer when Jango exclaimed something, yelling at Jaster in Mando'a but one name seemed to cut the world and Mace watched the fracture points shatter around his own recognition.

"-Bajur Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

The Council members froze, their eyes widening as they all turned to stare at the Mandalorians.

It was of course possible they were speaking of someone else but they were Mandalorians.

And their Obi-Wan had disappeared while in the Mandalore system.

Quisdenses did not reach so far.

Jango was seething as they waited for the rest of the clan to finish their recon. Finding ade in these conditions was near impossible and they couldn't travel offworld until they knew where to go and if he wasn't planetside.

Jango was glad Jaster was here, glad they had proof Obi-Wan had been here, but Obi-Wan had been kidnapped.

Again.

"What?" Jango demanded at the end of his rant as Jaster, Adonai, Chakraborty, Micah, and even Bo-Katan tensed up. But even as he asked it he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and he turned to look behind him at the half dozen Jedi gawking at them.

In Basic, Jango demanded, "What are you lot staring at, Jetiiese?"

Senator Windu watched him with a strange gaze in his dark eyes, like a hawk deciding if the mouse was worth diving for.

Jango tensed further, itching for a good brawl.

But the Senator's words stalled him, "Obi-Wan Kenobi? You found him on Stewjon four years ago?"

Jango sucked in a breath, and a moment of cluster phobia hit him and he took off his helmet to glare at the Jetii, "Obi-Wan Kenobi is my son."

The Jetii looked as if he had been gutted, and for the first time in remembrance, he saw one of the Great Jedi Knights show tangible emotion. It was startling to see the famed stoicism crack.

A woman with braided hair and a bindi touched his arm, then his hand, and he caught her hand, clutching it as if truly needed the support.

Chakraborty had been living at the Jetii Temple on Kashyyyk for nearly two years now, and had reported that those from the Knight Corps were stoic where their children very much weren't.

But at the mere mention of Obi-Wan's name, this Jetii seemed pushed on the brink.

"He survived the bombing on Stewjon," Windu said half in question and half in answer.

The small voice screaming in the back of Jango's mind finally became intelligible; How do they know my ad'ika?

"Quinlan Vos," Jaster growled.

Jango turned to see the Kiffar who they had met on Melida/Daan, who Obi-Wan had introduced as a friend.

The boy had grown a few inches as well as some bulk, froze. A much larger man stepped up to the Kiffar's side putting a hand on his shoulder, moving his cloak to reveal his lightsaber hilt in threat.

Quinlan's black hair was still in braids, but now that Jango could see his own lightsaber on his belt, he noticed the single braided with corded leather and coloured beads.

A Padawan braid.

Jango shook his head, No.

Obi-Wan had been a Jetii foundling? Was that the root of his secrets?

Not Death Watch.

Jetii.

"Where's Obi-Wan?" Quinlan asked.

Senator Mace Windu spun on the boy, he didn't exactly yell so much as raise and deepen his voice when he demanded, "You knew he was alive?"

"Master," the woman at his side cautioned but Windu ignored her.

To Quinlan's credit, he didn't flinch back, just said like an obnoxious teenager in his own defence, "He was the one who saved Master Tahl on Melida/Daan."

The long brown haired Jetii rubbed his face.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Windu demanded.

"Because he made me promise not to," Quinlan said easily.

Karking ade.

There was a long silence after that.

"Well," Chraborty broke the tension, who had been signing in translation to everything being said. "At least we know where his Coruscanti accent comes from now."

Jango shook his head again and tried to think, but all he could think was of his ad'ika's disappearance on Melida/Daan. He attempted to not be angry, but he was furious.

How could Obi'ika keep this from him?

Then Jango remembered the poor joke he made about disowning him when Obi'ika had floated the idea of being a Jetii.

Kark.

Kark, kark, kark!

Obi'ika was afraid of him, his buir, his ba'beir, and his aliit. Afraid of what they would think of him if they ever learned his background.

Kark.

But Jaster was way ahead of Jango's processing abilities. He walked right up to the Senator and just shy of grabbing him and he asked in a low tone, "What did you do to him?"

"What did I do?" Mace asked, incredulous. "You're the ones who kidnapped a Jedi youngling."

Jango snapped, pushing past his buir to shove the takisit backward. "Kark off. Obi'ika was left for dead and he never asked for the Jetiiese. He seemed pretty convinced he had no one."

Windu narrowed his gaze, a few of the other Jetiiese had their hands loose at their sides, ready for anything.

But Jaster spoke before the Senator could reply, "You put him in danger. I thought it was safe to allow the Reeves ade with you, but not if Obi'ika is an example how you dar'buir raise your young-"

The long haired Jetii stepped up to Windu's otherside, "That's rich coming from a Mandalorian. Has Obi-Wan spent the last four years fighting in your ridiculous clan wars?"

Jaster snarled, his voice going deeper than Jango had ever heard, "He was experienced in war, he's a skilled tactician. He had formal military training at eleven years of age. What hell did you put my bu'ad through?"

Windu shook his head, "What are you talking about? His trip to Stewjon was the first time Obi-Wan had left Coruscant since the Seekers had brought him to the Temple at the age of two. Obi-Wan had no military experience. We train Knights, not soldiers, certainly not child soldiers."

Which wasn't possible because Obi-Wan knew Mandalore proper, he said he had fought their before and knew things about the planet that could only be learned from first hand experience.

"Who is Cody?" Jango asked, because that was the name Obi'ika always brought up when they discussed his past.

"Cody?" Windu asked with a frown.

"He was Obi-Wan's friend, Commander Cody. From what he's told me, they fought and bled together. Cody was his closest friends," Jango elaborated.

Windu and the long haired Jetii exchanged a look, then they looked to Quinlan.

The Kiffar shook his head, "I don't know any Cody's and I was Obi-Wan's only real friend. He was kind of a nerd and so good at most Force techniques that his other age-mates were jealous. I'm not surprised he's good at tactics, but there's no Cody."

Jango was annoyed and pissed, "Are you telling me that Obi-Wan lied about him?"

"He lied to you about who he was," the long haired Jetii said, his blue eyes flashing. "Clearly, he didn't feel safe with you."

Jango couldn't stop his flinch or the pain those words inflicted as Jetii cut far too close to home. Obi'ika's fear had been something Jango had been trying to help him through since they met.

Micah slashed his hand through the air in negation, then signed, 'No. Obi-Wan is not afraid of you, Jango. He wants you to be proud of him, he's afraid of disappointing you.'

Jango let out a breath and signed, 'Foolishness. I have always been proud of him.'

Micah shook his head before signing, 'His birth mother tried to drown him when she discovered he was a Force sensitive. She also killed and tortured the boy who contacted the Jetiiese who saved him.'

Jango's heart lurched. Again, he felt remorse at his ill chosen words, whether it was logical for Obi-Wan to fear being truthful with his aliit was meaningless.

Trauma wasn't about logic.

"What did he say?" the woman beside Windu asked.

Jango swallowed hard, but translated for them, because if not for the Jetiiese, the Stewjonians would have killed Obi'ika as a foundling, or at least, not have saved him. "Micah said that Obi-Wan's birth mother attempted to drown him when they discovered his Force sensitivity, and that's why he didn't share that information with us."

Windu nodded, "He was dying when the Seekers found him hidden in a shipping crate."

Jango really wanted to kill things, he directed that anger at the Jetiiese. "You haven't explained how Obi-Wan had so much military experience at age eleven."

"That's because he had none," Windu said. "The real question here is why he stayed with you. If you threatened him, forced him to fight in your wars-"

Jango growled, "We forced him into nothing. He left your Order of his own free will, he chose us. He could have contacted you at any time, we would have brought him anywhere in the galaxy if he asked. He could have left Melida/Daan with Quinlan, but he didn't. By galactic law, he is my son, and the Jedi Order has no claim on him."

Windu's jaw ticked, yet he gave no answer.

"Answer him, Jetii," Jaster demanded. "What did you do to him to make him leave your Order?"

"At a guess," the long haired Jetii said.

"Qui-Gon," Windu warned.

Qui-Gon continued, undeterred, "We allow all our younglings to return to their homeworlds, if they so wish, to learn of their people's culture. Obi-Wan had grown extremely interested in Mandalore, its history, your languages. At the time, the Temple received contact from a Stewjoni family that had discovered their youngling had a connection with the Force. We granted Obi-Wan permission to travel with a Seeker to retrieve the babe. The Seeker just barely made it out of range with the youngling, but after searching, he believed Obi-Wan had perished in the bombing."

The woman sucked in a sharp breath, seeming to catch onto whatever Qui-Gon was leading up to, "No."

"Depa?" Windu asked.

Depa closed her eyes, "Could he have blamed himself, thinking that Master Feemor died?"

Blaming himself for things that were entirely out of his control?

Yeah, that sounded like Obi'ika alright.

"He did believe that," Quinlan said. "But that's not why he became a Mandalorian."

"Then why?" Jango asked, annoyed he hadn't been able to put the pieces together himself years ago.

"To save Mandalore," Quinlan said.

Jaster made a harsh sound, "He was a child."

Quinlan shrugged, "The Force gave him visions of Mandalore's destruction, of the fall of the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan was convinced that if the Jedi interfered with Mandalore in any way that it would lead to the destruction of everything. You see, Jango Fett, no matter what you believe, or what Obi-Wan himself thinks; he has always been a Jedi."

"He is a Mandalorian," Jango growled.

Quinlan smirked, crossing his arms as he said smugly, "Sure, but thanks to him, Mandalore has been stabilized and he put you and your dad in power, didn't he? That's what Jedi do, they create peace from chaos."

For a moment, Jango had no thought, just anger.

Fury, actually.

Jaster's voice was almost quiet, "Are you trying to tell us the reason my bu'ad joined our clan, fought in our wars, is because of some Jetiiese mystical bantha-shit?"

Quinlan's smirk grew, "Pretty much, yeah."

Jango hated everything.

"He was eleven!" Chakraborty exclaimed. "What kind of eleven year old joins a war to help a people who tried to kill him for what he was? He was a stranger to us."

Mace Windu sighed, "Because he is Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was beloved by the Order. He was going to become one of the greatest Jedi Knights this galaxy had ever seen. His connection to the Force… he had a rare gift. Never have I seen a youngling more at peace with the Force and the galaxy around him."

Micah snorted and signed, 'What bantha-shit, Obi-Wan is too angry to be a Jetii.'

"Obi-Wan cut himself off from the Force," Quinlan said, his smug demeanour dropping, an undercurrent of urgency to his tone.

Jango startled as all the adult Jetiiese turned toward the Kiffar with predatory focus.

"He did what?" Qui-Gon asked, tone slow and dangerous.

"He cut himself off from the Force," Quinlan said again.

Windu swore in a language Jango didn't recognize.

"Why is that bad?" Jango asked, "He doesn't need any of your mysticism."

Windu raised a brow, "Doesn't he? Obi-Wan is extremely gifted and he left the Temple before he came of age. How often does he meditate?"

Jango's lip curled, disgusted at the notion, "He doesn't."

Some pain flashed through the Masters' eyes.

It was the Kal Dor who asked, "Does he have moments of darkness? That is to say, moments of extreme agitation, anger, rage, irrational fear? Does he have trouble controlling his emotions, or a troubled mind, night terrors?"

Logically, he knew Koska had been having a much more mild version of those symptoms, but she was young, Obi-Wan was old enough and intelligent enough to know his own mind.

"How could you know that?" Jango asked.

"Because there are reasons the Order accepts almost all younglings who have strong connection to the Force, and why so many parents choose to surrender their own children. Outside of communities who can foster their abilities, teach them how to handle them spiritually, most Force sensitives turn to self destruction," Qui-Gon said.

Jango's heart hurt at that, he'd been watching Obi-Wan burn himself out for years and had been unable to help him.

Unable to find the source of his problems.

If meditation had been the answer, if it would have helped his ad'ika, Jango would have learned to do it himself.

"Adonai!"

They all turned to the voice.

Myles was walking toward them with Satine Kryze in his arms.

For a moment, Jango had hope, three out of four ade accounted for.

But Obi-Wan did not follow behind Myles and Satine…

She was too still in Myles's arms.

As beautiful in death as she had been in life, her body was limp as Myles laid her in her buir's arms, her neck bent at a wrong angle.

Adonai let out a cry that was equal parts rage and sorrow.

Bo-Katan stood still, motionless as she watched her father fall to pieces over the loss of her sister.

"Where's Obi-Wan?" Jango asked.

Myles bowed his head, "No sign of him."

"I can find him," Quinlan said. "He's not on-world if that's why you're still here."

"How?" Jango demanded.

"Obi-Wan and I have a bond," Quinlan said.

"A bond?" Jango asked, already so sick of the mystical kriffery. When they got Obi'ika back they were going to sit down for a long talk.

"They were crechemates," Depa said.

Jango refrained from saying anything.

Maybe, that was true, but Obi-Wan's eyes had only ever turned blue when in the Quinlan's presence.

Perhaps that was him opening up to the "Force" or perhaps the boys were too young to understand their feelings for one another.

Something the Jetii saints wouldn't understand.

"If you can find him, then do it," Jango said.

Quinlan looked up toward his buir, or Master, rather. The man with a hard face and green eyes nodded his assent.

Quinlan folded into a seated position on the ground and closed his eyes to…

Meditate.

Karking Jetiiese.

Jaster growled under his breath in Mando'a, "Obi'ika is going to be doing paperwork for the rest of his life after this."

Jango almost smiled.

Almost.

Obi-Wan found nightmares in the blackness.

Darth Maul setting flame to Mandalore.

Satine dying because of Obi-Wan, her last words, "I love you, always."

It wasn't something he had lived, it was further into the Clone Wars than he had ever gotten.

It was an effort to remember.

Remember that here and now, Obi-Wan had failed her again.

But this time, he hadn't been in love with her. He didn't feel what he should feel for her. It made him feel guilty that her death, after the shock of it, didn't break him.

But it should have, she was fourteen, a child. He should care, he should be broken over the very idea of it.

Yet a rebellious, selfish voice inside him thought that Satine wouldn't be dead in either reality had she been a True Mandalorian.

She wouldn't have worn a dress to trip on, her first instinct of a man grabbing her by the collar wouldn't have been passiveness.

No, if Satine had been more like her sister, Mandalore wouldn't have needed The Jetiiese to help their system.

Then again, Bo-Katan had joined the Watch at some point in the non-existent future.

A part of Obi-Wan hated the Kryze sisters, hated them both for putting their pride before their people.

Bo-Katan had wanted to be the Mand'alor so badly that she had been willing to do anything to get there, be it to turn on her own sister or on her people.

Satine wasn't better, building a utopia on the ashes of war that had never been won. No, those clan wars had no winners, they had simply taken the heart and soul from Mandalore so that there was nothing left to fight for. Satine had done nothing to mend that, instead, she attempted to erase their culture with a fiction of complete Pacifism being sustainable.

They were Adonai's daughters to their cores, not fundamentally bad people, but politicians who believed the ends justified whatever means.

It's why the clan leaders had chosen Jaster over Adonai Kyrze and why Mandalore would have rejected both Satine and Bo-Katan Kyrze.

It's why he wanted to hate them and why he was disgusted with himself that any part of him could be so cruel, so cold, when it had been his duty to keep Satine safe.

Round and round his nightmares went, horror, hate, guilt, and sorrow.

He felt like crying.

Give yourself time to grow, Obi'ika.

Those were Jaster's words, and in a moment of clarity, Obi-Wan remembered he was only fourteen, going on fifteen.

Obi-Wan hung his head, Kark.

All these emotions and impulses, the anger, and the self-loathing, sure, weren't unfounded, nor did rejection of the Force help, but this?

This was puberty, and he felt suddenly that he owed Anakin an apology because even knowing that this craziness was being egged on by hormonal changes, even remembering factually all the embarrassing things he had done in his old life the first time around, didn't help.

Not at all.

In fact, he began a new spiral of an identity crisis where he wondered how much was him and how much was hormonal imbalances, then began berating himself all the same because hormones were not a good enough excuse nor the reason behind all his shortcomings.

Stars, he wondered if this was the Force's way of getting back at him.

"Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan spun as Quinlan stepped out of the shadows in his mind. Obi-Wan ran at him without question. Quin caught him in his arms, holding him close and rumbled, "I found you."

Obi-Wan hugged him tighter, "I miss you."

Quin laughed, "You say that every time. You know you can come home now, right?"

Obi-Wan pulled back, "I have responsibilities."

"Like getting kidnapped by slavers?" Quin asked with mirth and a hint of fury.

Obi-Wan frowned at him, "How do you-"

"Just tell me where you are?" Quin interrupted.

"I don't know, other than in a cell on a starship in space, which isn't helpful."

"You have to reach out to me when you know."

"I'm just going to comm my buir, Quin. You don't need to get involved."

Quin frowned at him for a moment before he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Physically?" Obi-Wan asked, "I'm fine."

"How are you?" Quin rephrased.

Obi-Wan bowed his head, "I failed someone I swore to protect."

Quin took his hand, "You can't save everyone."

"I can try, I can do better-"

Quin kissed his cheek and pulled him into another hug. "Hindsight is perfect, but not even the Force is perfect, Obi-Wan. It might not be human or a single being, but it is alive and it is made up of all living things. It is with us through our triumphs, with us through our pain. It remains with us through death and with us at our birth.

"No matter how you fight it, it will always be there, waiting for you."

Obi-Wan blinked back tears, "Quin, I saw the future. I lived it. The Jedi do not survive."

Quin cupped his cheeks, searched his face, "Have you given up hope?"

He shook his head, dislodging Quinn's hold a bit, "I wouldn't still be fighting if I had."

"Do you think the Force gave up on the Jedi?"

"I failed," Obi-Wan said, throat tight. "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I always fail, it is my destiny. The Force itself proved that to me."

Quin sighed, "Through failure, we understand our weaknesses, and to see our weaknesses is not a fault though it may be a burden. The Force showed you that future for a reason. But the future is always in motion."

"I can't have faith, Quin. I can hold onto hope that things will get better, that the worst will be avoided, but I can't trust the Force again. I won't, -I… I can't hurt like that again."

Quin sighed, "These things you feel, Obi-Wan, you will grow stronger than them in time. Remember that you are not alone, the Force will be waiting; I will wait for you."

Obi-Wan searched Quinn's expression, a boy on the cusp of being a man, a being that had always been his friend, who had once fallen to the darkness and brought himself back again.

In another life, the distance between them had not been physical, yet in this life, in which they were light years apart from each other, their fugitive bond in the Force was stronger than it had ever been.

A bond Force sensitives formed with loved ones.

Whatever expression Obi-Wan wore, Quin leaned in and Obi-Wan leaned up to cross that breath between.

In another life, they had been lovers, but those memories were distant, a picture of someone else's life.

This gentle brush of lips, even in dream, was real and innocent. A gesture made up of words too few and too precious to be spoken.

It was enough for Obi-Wan to long for home among his true people, long to put down his arms, to surrender the battlefield, to allow himself to be once more not just who he was but what he was.

He had always dreamed of becoming a Jedi Knight. So despite his choosing to be a Mandalorian, he couldn't shake that old ambition.

Dreams, after all, were harder to kill than men.

Quin came back to himself with a gasp and was immediately glad he had a darker complexion than his Master as heat rose to his cheeks.

Obi-Wan's karking father and grandfather glowered down at him, along with half the Council.

Kark, this was embarrassing, burying his emotions deep, he cleared his throat, "Obi-Wan says he's fine and he'll call Jango when he knows where they are going."

"That's it?" Jango asked.

Quin shrugged, accepting Master Tholme's proffered hand to help him, "He said he was in a cell on a ship in space. But he seemed confident about escaping."

"Great," Jango snapped, then gave several orders in Mando'a to the other Mandos that had gathered around him while Quin was in his meditation with Obi-Wan.

Force, his first kiss with Obi-Wan was essentially in front of his entire family, Quin's Master, and half the Council.

"I'm coming with you," Mace said.

"So am I," Depa chimed in.

Jango turned back to them slowly, before he asked, "Don't you have something better to do, Senator?"

"You confirmed that he has been having trouble with his abilities, we never cleared him to leave the Order, as long as he lives, he is still a Jedi."

"He's my son," Jango practically threatened.

Mace smirked, "But he needs Jedi help, unless you want to bring him to Kashyyyk-"

"No," Jaster bit out. "Bring them, Jango, we'll put them to work."

Quin opened his mouth to pronounce he was coming too, but his Master squeezed his shoulder. He looked up to meet his Master's gaze as Mace and Depa left with the Mandalorians.

Tholme smiled sadly, "We will visit your friend after he is found. You don't want to be in that mix."

"What happens if they kill each other?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Hope the surviving party doesn't say something that would cause a war," Qui-Gon Jinn said as if Master Shaak Ti had asked a legitimate question.

Quin's smile fell when he realized even Kit Fisto and Plo Koon looked worried by the possibility.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and found both Quin and his dreams were gone.

He slumped in against the wall of his cold cell. His captors had once more left him his armour.

Armour was damn near sacred to a Mandalorian, as much so as a lightsaber was to its Jedi.

Mandalorian.

Jedi.

Obi-Wan missed his buir, missed his grandfather, Micah, his clan, his aliit. If Jango was here, his path would be clear, his duty to his people would be clear.

But the Mandalore system had found peace, the war was over, Tor would be dead the moment he tried turning on the DarkSaber.

In spite of all the chaos, the war was over.

Obi-Wan wasn't sure he remembered a time before war. Would he be content on Mandalore in peace times? Would he be content travelling the galaxy as a bounty hunter? The profession he knew Jango wished to return to.

Was Obi-Wan ready for that? Ready for the war to end?

It disturbed him greatly that his answer was no. Civilian life wasn't what he had ever had envisioned for his future. Nor had he ever wished to be an assassin or bounty hunter. As much as he loved his buir, Jango wasn't a vigilante, outside of extreme cases like Malida/Daan, most Mandalorians were content to follow 'honest work', which meant ultimately, clients that could afford to pay.

That Obi-Wan was conflicted between thinking he would be more content with war than bounty hunting, should have told him that the way of the Jedi was closed to him.

You can come home now.

Obi-Wan missed home. Missed Quin. Missed the peace of the Temple, missed the peace in his own kriffing mind.

Obi-Wan didn't think Jango would believe him if he said life as a Jetii was more exciting than that of a mere bounty hunter. The stakes were higher, the resources lower, and basically, everything was trying to kill you.

People more or less respected Mandalorians, only those who were truly too stupid to live actively targeted a Mando.

Jetiiese on the other hand tended to spook people. Spook them in a way that was like the kill instinct of spotting a spider in your bathtub.

The Jetiiese used that fear to make them hesitate. Outside of that, most could be summed up by their social position; those who considered themselves rich and powerful tried to woo them, those who were just regular folk were awed, dismissive, or avoided them, while anyone from a rougher walk of life seemed to jump to homicide.

Or scamming them.

Or perhaps that was just how he had been treated as Qui-Gon's Padawan and Anakin's Master.

It had made life fun even as the Jedi in question was trying to remain calm at all times.

Chaos, yet peace.

Obi-Wan missed it, missed what he once had, what he once knew. But though he was currently more dangerous an opponent than he had ever been, he lacked all the discipline he had as a Jedi.

He had no more peace, and his inner compass was pointing him toward chaos, toward war.

He craved it, he was barely fifteen years old and he craved war.

If he truly opened himself up to the Force, he wouldn't merely see visions of a bleak future, he would fall into the Darkness.

So he shoved his wants aside, because he knew as he was, the Jedi would never take him back.

Because if it was a choice between his dreams and his aliit, he would choose his family.

His cell wasn't particularly roomy, but he wasn't drugged this time.

A week passed and he was given food and water regularly. He was also able to stretch and do a bit of training. By the time they got to the landing port, Obi-Wan felt almost like himself again.

Without the drugs in his system, it was easy enough for him to reach the Force with his shields up. Unlocking his cell was something a youngling could have done.

As was acquiring a weapon on a slaver's ship.

Except Obi-Wan didn't get to his captor before the pirates did.

Keeping his back along the wall, he turned around the corner, and he dropped two of the pirates, a twi'lek and a Rakata.

He spun, sensing a presence behind too late.

The familiar sound of a lightsaber igniting rang in his ears as red light obscured the hue through his visor.

Gold eyes glinted in that light as the Zabrak bared his teeth at him.

Obi-Wan's heart stuttered as half remembered memories flitted through his mind.

Qui-Gon's face as he was impaled.

Darth Maul sensed his fear, his anger, and purred, "Hello, Mandalorian. Would you like to make a bargain?"

Sometimes, Obi-Wan felt like the galaxy was just trying to kark with him.

AN: Thoughts, tookas, or feedback, pretty please?