Should we try this again with hope?
Or is it lost, give up the ghost
And should I die all alone as I knew I would...
Then burn in hell young sinner
Hey, Hey!
If it was up to me
I would've figured you out
Way before the year clocked out
Oh, I hope you're waiting
-Coheed and Cambria
Obi-Wan
"There are other ways," Obi-Wan pleaded. "We could leave now, without killing anyone. There is no logic in their deaths."
Xanatos scoffed. "Leave now? So that Qui-Gon can hunt us for years? I prefer an easier route."
"This isn't easier for me."
"You're overreacting."
Obi-Wan stared at Xanatos in shock. "Overreacting? My friends are dying."
It was Melida/Daan all over again, only worse. He was rendered in two by separate things he wanted.
"I need to see them."
Xanatos scoffed. "Why? There's nothing you can do."
His eyes softened, but Obi-Wan could tell whether or not it was true sympathy or just the semblance of such.
"It's time to let them go."
"This is my fault," Obi-Wan raised his voice. "You're doing this because of me; they don't deserve to die!"
"Who are you to decide that?"
"Who are you?"
Xanatos stepped forward and cupped Obi-Wan's face in his hands. "Everything will be better when you wake up." He gently pushed on the side of Obi-Wan's neck.
"Wake up? What are you -"
Obi-Wan couldn't finish his sentence. In fact, he couldn't remember how to speak. A face that seemed familiar flickered in front of his eyes, and an aching feeling in his chest told him that something important was happening. He stumbled, but was balanced by something. A comforting noise vibrated in his ear, but he didn't know what it meant. He laid down on something soft, and was something very sleepy.
You can't sleep. He didn't know where the warning came from. You have to get up.
This seemed absurd to him. What in the galaxy could possibly need his immediate attention? If he took a short nap, it wasn't going to hurt anyone.
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Xanatos
He caught the boy's elbow when he stumbled forward.
"It's alright," he said reassuringly. "Everything is going to be alright. It's just a draught that I gave you while you were resting last night. You'll be fine, and soon it will all be over."
Obi-Wan didn't respond, but Xanatos didn't expect him too. He helped him lie down on the sleepcouch, which is all the young Jedi wanted at that moment anyway.
A flash in the force, a brief warning.
He's here.
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Siri
It was so cold. Or at least, she thought it was. As much a thought as she could muster. She had long since lost all feeling in her limbs, but she thought that she should be cold. As cold as Hoth. As cold as death.
If she could reason she would be afraid. Paralysis stilled all of her body except her beating heart. That would keep her alive as long as it could, which wouldn't be long. The poison that she had inhaled will soon eat through the tissue of her lungs and from there spread, devouring her inside out. Not that it would matter; with the holes in her lungs she wouldn't be able to gather oxygen anyway. Her heart will stop long before the parasites are full. They would feed on her corpse until another host, probably one of the medics, passed by. They would then transfer to fresh, living tissue, and continue there carnage until there was nothing left alive on the Abductor.
There were more painful ways to die, but they were in short quantity.
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Qui-Gon
On most missions when things were easy Qui-Gon appreciated them. Never when Xanatos was involved. When he was there, if things were simple you were probably walking into a trap. And his were always deadly.
The only way I'm finding Obi-Wan is if he lets me.
The Jedi master wasn't confident he'd be able to get his ship back out through the waste ejector. He didn't know if someone would find it. He also wasn't sure when the Abductor was scheduled to use the trash compactor to demolish its waste, thus crushing his escape vehicle. It was a chance he'd have to take.
He laboriously climbed up the garbage chute; spreading out his limbs and pushing his back and legs against opposite walls. It was a slow tread of right, left, right, left, but eventually pulled himself through the opening in the Abductor corridor.
Qui-Gon slid down the hall, wary of detection. He had a suspicion that he wasn't making it out with Obi-Wan, Bant, and Siri with out discovery, but the longer he could postpone the finale of their game of hide-and-seek the better. He still didn't know who was the hunter and who was the prey.
I don't even know where to start looking.
He stopped and bent down on to his knees, feeling through the forces for any one of the padawans. He jerked to his feet suddenly.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
None of the three were conscious; the girls were in terrible pain. Their life force was ebbing. They were dying.
I'm too late.
Qui-Gon banished the thought as quickly as he couldn't. There was no way he was too late, he wouldn't fail. Not this time. Not again.
Tarria's shadow hung over him like a heavy fog; the Abductor would not do the same.
He shook his head to clear it of suffering. Beyond the pain of the padawans the ship reeked of tragedy; there were a thousand tortured and tormented souls aboard that had lost all sense of hope, false or real.
"Welcome, I must admit you came sooner than expected."
Qui-Gon froze when he heard the voice. He had allowed himself to be distracted.
"Though you were never good at that patience you so vigorously preached," Xanatos's black cloak hung around him like the dark side of the force had made itself visible.
"Where is Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon demanded, pushing back the anger he felt at the sight of Xanatos.
Xanatos smirked. "Same old song I see. He's safe. Safer than he is with you, at any rate." The dark Jedi clicked his tongue and shook his head in mock disapproval. "I would never send him on to a ship filled with slave traders and… other dangers."
"Are you the other danger?" Qui-Gon asked, studying the corridor for an advantage.
"No," he shook his head. "You forget, Qui-Gon, that I don't endanger my belongings."
"Then you're still claiming to love him," the Jedi master rested his hand on his lightsaber. "He won't fall for it a second time."
There was humor in Xanatos's face. "Won't he?"
Dread filled Qui-Gon. "Where is he?" He repeated.
"Just so you know," Xanatos took a step forward with a fake thoughtful look on his face. "Despite what you may think, I've never pretended with him. At least not the way you mean."
"You expect me to believe that you actually care for him?" Qui-Gon demanded.
"It doesn't matter what you believe," Xanatos shrugged. "You're not leaving this ship alive anyway."
"Old promises Xanatos," Qui-Gon said, smiling at his former apprentice. "I've heard them all before from you."
Anger flashed across the ex-Jedi's face. "You've been very lucky master, but eventually luck runs out."
"There is no luck," Qui-Gon said. "Only the force."
The anger dissolved into disgust. "For a while your maxims amused me; now they can't even hold my attention."
"And yet you still want to talk," Qui-Gon shook his head. "What have you done to Siri and Bant?"
The corner of Xanatos's mouth lifted. "You sensed that, did you? I haven't touched them; what I did to that amphibian's helmet, however, is a different story."
"You poisoned them?" Qui-Gon demanded.
"Don't worry," Xanatos nodded mockingly. "They'll soon be at peace. Meanwhile," he took a few backward steps toward the door. "I have something else – or rather someone – to take care of. He'll be waking soon, and it'd be a shame for him to do so alone."
"Xanatos - " before Qui-Gon could finish there was a clatter behind him. He turned to face a patrol of about ten guards shouting at him as they waved their blasters. He glanced over his shoulder. Xanatos was gone.
He must have called them while we were talking.
Qui-Gon quickly deflected three shots with his lightsaber. They weren't well trained, and he didn't want to hurt them.
He deftly sliced through the blasters of two guards and sent a swift kick into the chest of a third, successfully knocking him out. He slammed his elbow into the nose of one disarmed man and kicked the legs out from beneath the other. He disarmed the rest as quickly as he could. Qui-Gon knelt in front of the only conscious one.
"There were two guards here," he said, making a split, painful decision to find Siri and Bant first. "They're hurt, poisoned. Where were they taken?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
"You do know," Qui-Gon said. "It will make both our lives easier if you tell me."
The man was not a soldier, he was barely a mercenary. He folded easily, directing Qui-Gon to the medbay.
"They're done for," the man said spitefully, pulling together some courage.
Qui-Gon didn't answer. He didn't know what to say.
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Sidious
Things were going to get extremely out of hand. But it wasn't Varn's place to tell him that.
"My lord," Varn quickly tried to rescue himself. "I only express concern because you placed me here to make sure that Xanatos does not prove treacherous to you and your great cause. I wouldn't want that bloodsucker to damage what a brilliant mind like yours has worked so hard to accomplish."
"Indeed," Sidious responded, his voice held no humor. "I placed you there to report on Xanatos's actions, not to interpret them. And certainly not to tell me how I should handle things."
You ignorant fool. I can't wait until you're no longer useful.
"Of course not," Varn backpedaled again. "You're far wiser than me. It was my mistake."
Sidious had grown use to sycophantic tools like Varn, but that didn't make him despise them any less. They always had grand dreams, but never the ability to bring them to fruition. The only good thing about them was that they were loyal, mostly out of fear or greed, but loyal nonetheless. If only Sidious could command that kind of loyalty in someone as useful as Xanatos, but what makes him useful is what makes him difficult to control. It was a conundrum that he would have to contemplate later.
"Go and continue to watch Xanatos," Sidious ordered, waving his hand. "Don't bother me again unless you have something important to report." He ended the transmission.
Varn was right in a way; Xanatos had long ago proven himself a betrayer. When it came down to it, Sidious had no trust in him. But he still had a purpose, and so far he hadn't done anything that broke from their plans: he'd drugged the insignificant Jedi girls and had regained Obi-Wan's trust.
Varn just wants to establish himself as the better servant, Sidious thought with bemusement. He really isn't a bad slave; it will be a shame when I have to kill him.
At the moment, all Sidious could hope is that he's able to get his hands on Obi-Wan before Xanatos outwears his usefulness. The boy was still naïve enough to be tricked into following Sidious like a kath puppy. Xanatos was too ambitious, he would be impossible to control. Obi-Wan was the real prize.
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Obi-Wan
Everything was out of focus. Obi-Wan didn't remember falling asleep. He pushed up on to his elbows and glanced around the room. It took several moments before his blurry eyes focused.
"You're awake."
"What happened?" Obi-Wan asked, looking at Xanatos. He remembered an argument, and that was all. "What did you do?"
Xanatos was silent for a minute. "Last night I injected you with a sleeping serum. The drug will be in your system for several days, it takes only a little bit of pressure for it to be enacted."
"Why?" Obi-Wan demanded angrily.
"I thought it might make things easier for you."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "You mean for you."
"That too."
"I can't do this," Obi-Wan cupped his face in his hands. "I won't go with you, not at the expense of their lives."
Xanatos strode across the room and stood next to the sleeping couch. "You can't have everything."
"I know I can't have both you and the Jedi, but that doesn't mean they have to die."
"You're so young."
"Don't give me that!" Obi-Wan snapped, throwing his feet over the edge of the sleepcouch and standing. "Just because I don't agree with you that doesn't mean I'm naïve or immature. I have a better idea."
Xanatos raised an eyebrow.
"No one has to die. Not really."
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Adi
How could he do that?
They were all worried about their padawans, but just because Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had a history with one of Cad'ara's owners doesn't give him the right to leave her and Kit Fisto behind to chase after the Abductor.
If he had just talked to us, we would have gone with him in the first place, Adi thought irritably. When they saw that Qui-Gon had gone they went to the council and were awaiting their decision on whether she and Kit should follow him and offer assistance.
"The issue," Ki-Adi-Mundi had said. "Is that he might have safely infiltrated Cad'ara and the Abductor, and in that case your arrival would only endanger him and the padawans even more."
"Better to have faith, it may be," Yoda had said with a slow nod. "Deliberate, we will."
Though a member of the council Adi chose to sit out of this decision. She had to admit, she was a little biased on the issue.
I want to follow, not just to have words with Qui-Gon, but to make sure Siri is okay.
Adi looked up at the stars, wondering what horrors her padawan had seen and been forced to endure in the short time they had been apart. Shortly before seeing the Jedi council she had stopped sensing Siri across their bond. It had frightened her, but she telling the council about it wouldn't have made a difference. If Siri was dead she would have felt it, the disappearance must be something else.
But what?
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A/N: I know it's taking me forever to update, but I'm trying my best. For those of you who have some free time, I just finished reading Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, and it was incredible. It reminded me of my version of Xanatos and Obi-Wan: Humbert was obsessed with Lolita and his obsession tore her life apart, but he loved her. It was really great; I think everyone should read it. Anyway, I'm finished with my shameless plug. I hope you guys liked the update!