Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a copy of the series.
Chapter 6
Why is this bedroom so cold?
Turned away on your side
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect runs so dry
But there's still this appeal
That we've kept through our lies
When love, love will tear us apart
Again
-Joy Division
Xanatos
Crescent loops of blood formed on Xanatos's palms from where his nails cut through his skin.
I had to put cameras in Gannen's room.
Despite his annoyance he was, in a way, glad that he did. At least he knew.
Xanatos's clenched fists shook as he watched Gannen and his Obi-Wan.
How could he do this to me?
He shut the holoscreen down a little more forcefully than necessary and began pacing.
How dare he do this? Was Tarria nothing to him?
Xanatos's steps slowed with a furious thought.
Did he use me to protect Qui-Gon, like he's using Gannen now for this mission?
Xanatos was a realist, and he knew that possibilities of Obi-Wan lying to him were much higher then the possibilities of him actually falling in love with the dark Jedi.
"Maybe it was all a game," Xanatos said aloud, drumming his hand on his lightsaber. "How he feels doesn't change how I feel, and I'm much better at games than he or his Jedi friends. We'll see who wins this one."
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Obi-Wan
It wasn't supposed to be like that.
He hadn't gone to see Gannen expecting something so overwhelming to happen. He had rushed out after their kiss, afraid of what might happen next. They'd had a little too much to drink, and he was upset. But he hadn't done anything wrong, and he had nothing to feel guilty about.
It isn't supposed to hurt like this.
I rejected Xanatos, so why am I the one crying?
Obi-Wan wiped at his cheeks with his tunic sleeve. He had only made it halfway to his quarters before he broke down. Not wanting to be seen sobbing in the Abductor's hallway he ducked into a nearby storage closet where he had spent the next thirty minutes.
"I feel like someone yanked out my insides," he mumbled.
The only consolation Obi-Wan had was Xanatos's reaction to his refusal. Obi-Wan could feel the rage rolling off him.
It's not like he doesn't deserve it.
He left the storage closet and stumbled awkwardly into his room. He wasn't completely sure what made him dizzier – the time with Gannen or the liquor.
Exhausted, he fell on his sleepcouch, wrapping the cover tightly around him.
Xanatos has no claim on me.
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Obi-Wan awoke to an insistent beeping from behind his head.
Rolling on to his stomach the young Jedi glanced in the location of the noise. All he saw was a red blinking light.
Prisoner escape.
More awake than he ever thought possible, Obi-Wan jumped to his feet, followed quickly by Siri and Bant.
"Did you see it?" Siri looked at him with her sharp blue eyes.
He nodded curtly. "We have a charade to put on."
"And prisoners to inconspicuously protect," Bant added as she pulled her helmet on over her salmon skin.
Obi-Wan grabbed his half-mask and lightsaber and quickly followed closely behind his teammates.
It was chaos outside. People were running and screaming as blaster shots pierced the duracrete around them. There was no telling who was employee and who was prisoner, everyone was just shooting at everyone else. Anarchy in the truest sense of the word.
Obi-Wan caught sight of Varn hurrying through to crowd toward them.
"I don't know what happened," he said breathlessly. "It all came so fast!"
"Where are the escapees?" Siri demanded.
Varn pointed wildly down a corridor. "They ran that way."
The supposed ex-Jedi barely touched the ground as they soared after the detainees, terrified that they would be the second group of guards to find them.
"How do you think they caused such a tussle?" Bant asked as they ran.
"It only takes one terrified person to cause a panic," Obi-Wan answered, almost absentmindedly.
Where's Xanatos?
"Do you think they're armed?" This time it was Siri who spoke. "What do we do if they are? We can't hurt them, and we can't not hurt them."
"We'll have to apprehend them as quickly and safely as possible."
Siri frowned, and Obi-Wan couldn't blame her. They were Jedi who were about to take victims back to a future of slavery. It was a bit of a dilemma.
Bant ducked her head as blaster fire seared the side of her helmet.
"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked as Siri jumped forward to deflect the fire with her lightsaber.
"Yes," Bant said breathlessly. "It was just my mask."
"I guess the weapon question has been answered," Siri's mouth lifted in sarcastic bemusement.
They continued chasing after the prisoners, who seemed reluctant to face the Jedi head-on. They weren't, however, opposed to firing weakly aimed shots.
"This is getting old," Siri said gruffly before force-leaping forward ten feet. One of the male prisoners had turned around to fire and had lost his balance in shock, falling heavily to the ground.
"Jedi?" He asked, terrified.
"Ex-Jedi," Siri said, every bit playing her frightening part.
The man then promptly passed out.
One escapee fell back, clearly intending to save her fellow captive – or die trying. Obi-Wan sped past her, knowing that Siri and Bant could handle the two amateurs. It was the third prisoner who had continued on with no regards to his fallen comrades that Obi-Wan was worried about.
The hallway pattered beneath his feet. The escapee was not hard to track; on the contrary, he didn't seem to truly know what he was doing.
"Stop and you won't be hurt!" Obi-Wan shouted hopefully.
No answer, and the man vanished around a corner.
The familiar sound of running feet filled the corridor behind Obi-Wan, but he didn't have time to see who else was following. He rounded the corner and was immediately knocked off his feet.
He hit the floor with a heavy thud, unsure of what happened. His face and mask were wet and unnaturally warm, but he couldn't bring his hand up to wipe the liquid away.
The edges of his vision darkened.
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Xanatos
Idiot.
The dark Jedi watched the rise and fall of Obi-Wan's chest with vast interest.
"That blaster barrel probably knocked out what few brain cells you had left," Xanatos spoke aloud in an exasperated voice, though he knew the boy couldn't hear him. "Who follows an armed man around a dark corner? You're lucky I came when I did."
He gently touched the bandages taped to Obi-Wan's forehead.
Despite the stitched up wound the young Jedi slept easily, his brow un-furrowed as if nothing in the galaxy could bother him. Beautiful and content, it almost made Xanatos regret the plans he made with the Sith.
Almost. Xanatos did not regret things.
Besides, he thought. I won't allow my business to hurt Obi-Wan. Not physically, at least. Everything I do is for the best, the Jedi are not what they were meant to be. Someday he'll understand that and allow me to conduct my exploits in peace.
Because Xanatos hadn't given up on Obi-Wan. In actuality, the teen's rejection of him was only seen as a challenge to the dark Jedi.
You have to love me, if you don't then everything I've spent the last year doing was in vain.
He bent down and pressed his lips against the gauze on Obi-Wan's forehead.
"Xanatos?" Obi-Wan asked, his eyes still closed and his voice raspy.
"It's me." The Jedi didn't sound upset, so Xanatos took Obi-Wan's hand in his.
"What happened?" The boy opened his eyes, then winced at the strong light.
"You got your skull knocked in by an escaping prisoner." As he spoke Xanatos knocked his fist on the front of the bed, creating a loud pang.
"I doubt it sounded like that," Obi-Wan said indignantly.
"You'd be surprised."
Obi-Wan's face reddened slightly, though why Xanatos could only guess. The young Jedi pulled his hand from the older man's grasp.
"Was the prisoner caught?"
Vexed, Xanatos raised an eyebrow. "Either way, does it really matter? Do you honestly think you have any hope of destroying Cad'ara? You?"
Obi-Wan glanced around the room sharply, but it was empty.
"Don't start this here."
"Then where? Where should I go to speak with you? Every time I try you walk away."
"And that's your fault-"
"My fault?" Xanatos's eyes narrowed. "How was your evening with Gannen?"
Obi-Wan started at the change of topic. "That's none of your business."
"Of course not. You only want me involved when it's profitable for you."
The teenager looked shocked. "That's not true."
"And I should believe that? If you don't love me at least tell me you hate me."
"Stop it Xanatos. You-"
Their argument was interrupted when the med room's door opened.
Gannen smiled widely at them when he entered. "Hello friend," he addressed Xanatos. "How's the patient?"
Xanatos scowled at Obi-Wan before sweeping out of the room, his cloak briefly brushing against Gannen.
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Qui-Gon
His boots thudded heavily along the floor as he flipped his comlink from hand to hand.
Which is worse: Breaking comm silence and risking Obi-Wan's exposure or leaving him alone with Xanatos?
"Don't do it Qui-Gon," Adi said, an edge of warning in her voice.
He hadn't even heard her enter the room.
"I understand that you're worried. Xanatos is a threat to Obi-Wan."
Qui-Gon held back his desire to scoff. Adi didn't know anything.
She paused before continuing. "But if you call him you're not only putting your apprentice in danger, but Siri and Bant as well."
Qui-Gon glanced down at his comlink. Of course exposing one would expose all of them; he hasn't considered that in his hasty apprehension.
"Just wait until they contact us," Adi said confidently. "It shouldn't be long."
It will be a lifetime.
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Darth Maul
His master's servant spoke evenly through a hologram.
"We were successful," the man said. "The boy was incapacitated. If this doesn't move Xanatos into action, nothing will."
"I'll be the judge of that," Sidious said in a scathing voice. Then his tone changed to calm. "You've performed acceptably, Varn."
Varn. Another backstabber, another faceless, useless appendage to the galaxy's already abundant surplus of cretins. The overflowing masses knew nothing but avarice. They were like children, and like children they needed someone to control them, to keep them in rank and order.
It wouldn't be long.
"I was worried that Xanatos would break when he saw his Jedi again," Sidious said to Darth Maul casually after disconnecting his contact with Varn. "It's the proper way to defeat a man like this 'dark Jedi', and it's why Qui-Gon never could. You can't beat Xanatos in a battle, or with skill. You can only beat him by being smarter, that's the only way to win against a clever man.
"In his egocentricity Xanatos will think that Obi-Wan will be safer with him and away from the Jedi. He'll move to entrench the boy more swiftly now, and the sooner that happens the sooner they'll be here and of use to me."
A wicked smile played on his lips. "No one can destroy a Jedi quite like a Jedi. That will go for the entire temple, as well. Destroying them from the inside will be easy with those two."
So easy.
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A/N: (Crawls out of hole) Hey guys, what's up? Sorry it took so long to get this out, in my defense I was on vacation in Cancun for the last week, and I found Absinth, which some of you might know is illegal in America. I had to try it! Ewan McGregor drinks it in Moulin Rouge! Anything that's good enough for him… Anyway, I hope you liked it, please review!