Disclaimer: (sigh) If I owned Jedi Apprentice Xanatos would so not be dead.
Chapter 10I see the blood all over your hands
Does it make you feel more like a man
Was it all just a part of your plan
The pistol's shakin' in my hands
And all I hear is the sound
I love you
I hate you
I can't live around you
I breathe you
I taste you
I can't live without you
I just can't take anymore
This life of solitude
I guess that I'm out the door
And now I'm done with you
-Saliva
Qui-Gon
It was overwhelming.
He had nearly collapsed from the shock of it. The dark side bred in that wretched place.
For the life of him, Qui-Gon could not figure out why Xanatos wanted to go to the academy. It was a fitting place for their last battle – and Qui-Gon had every intention of making it their last – but was that Xanatos's only intention?
What does he want?
Qui-Gon knew Xanatos. He knew the way he thought, he knew his history, he knew everything about him. Xanatos never did anything halfway. There was a motive other then revenge at play. He knew that.
Whatever it was, Qui-Gon intended to stop it.
There will be no more killing for you, he thought bitterly. You won't cause any more pain, for my Padawan or me. It ends here.
I promise.
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Xanatos
Obi-Wan was silent as he dressed. That would have been taken as a bad sign, if Xanatos didn't already know that he was going to be rejected. Or at least, Obi-Wan was going to try to reject him. But it wasn't over yet.
Not by a long shot.
Seeming to take more time then necessary, Obi-Wan finally pulled his leather boot over his injured ankle. The swelling had gone down, but it was still a little dark. Obi-Wan paused for a second then began to slowly lace up his boots.
He was stalling.
Xanatos grabbed his hands.
"Stop," he said sternly. "Tell me. Now."
Obi-Wan stared at his boot for several moments, then finally looked up at Xanatos. His sky blue eyes looked innocent and painfully young.
"Kiss me first?"
Xanatos placed a hand on one side of Obi-Wan's face and kissed him softly. A lump formed in his throat, and when he sat back he was angry.
Obi-Wan's not rejecting me. The Jedi are. They've brainwashed him against anything that might mess up their perfect order. They're not keeping him.
A lone tear fell down Obi-Wan's cheek.
"I'm going back to the temple."
Xanatos nodded. "I know that you think you want to."
Obi-Wan looked up at him sharply. "I do want to."
"You're 17-years-old," Xanatos said, standing. "And they're manipulative."
"You said I could go home."
"I did not. I said that if you wanted to leave with me then we could be rid of Qui-Gon and the Jedi forever. I also said that if you said no, the plans would go on as if nothing has happened. I never said anything about letting you go back to the temple."
Obi-Wan stiffened. "You tricked me."
"No," Xanatos said. "You made an incorrect assumption."
Anger flashed across Obi-Wan's face. "I'm not an object, or a pet. You can't just claim me."
"You're wrong on that front as well," Xanatos said evenly. "I just did."
It was easy for Xanatos to see that Obi-Wan was shocked and upset, but he thought he caught another emotion. It almost looked like relief.
It's alright if he's angry now. Within a week we'll be far from this place, and he'll forgive me. He'll probably thank me.
"Let's go," Xanatos said softly. "And try to cooperate, I don't want to cuff you."
"Where are we going?" Obi-Wan asked, rising.
Xanatos smiled at him. "The academy. What we came here for."
He felt the boy staring at him.
Don't worry Obi-Wan. Nothing's going to hurt you. I'm not like Qui-Gon, I'll protect you. For real.
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Obi-Wan
It had finally happened
Xanatos had snapped.
He's always been a little off, but this?
Obi-Wan had thought that the jungle world, the academy, everything on this wretched planet had been an act, a ploy to scare him and Qui-Gon. Apparently he was wrong.
They had only walked for a few minutes when they came into a clearing. Obi-Wan recognized the parked speeders, and he really recognized the tanks they were unloading. However, his main focus was on the North side of the clearing.
It was massive. Built from black stone, it looked like it could outstretch the Jedi temple. It was dominating and demanding.
And scary.
"Are you sure we have to go in there?" Obi-Wan asked, stopping firmly in place.
"Relax," Xanatos said in his calm, I'm-completely-in-control voice. "You won't be hurt. I promise."
"And Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan demanded.
Xanatos ignored him, turning and walking towards the academy. He made a hand signal for Obi-Wan to follow. He did.
What choice do I have?
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Qui-Gon
Obi-Wan's force signature rang out over the darkness.
Finally.
Qui-Gon would have cried in relief if he hadn't been so preoccupied with finding an inconspicuous way of getting to his padawan. He was just outside the clearing, covered safely by the trees. He could see dots in the distance. He could see the academy.
Until he was sure that Obi-Wan was alive, he hadn't even realized that he'd feared the boy was dead.
If I can feel them, I'm sure that they know I'm here as well, Qui-Gon warned himself, watching the mercenaries move. How do I get through the soldiers?
Torn out of his contemplations, his heartbeat stopped.
They were going into the academy.
"No," He said aloud.
He ran through the trees, wishing that he had headed for the North side of the clearing in the first place. It would be easy to sneak around the edge of the academy and into it to follow them.
He had just hoped that it wouldn't be necessary to allow Obi-Wan into that place.
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Obi-Wan
The academy was scary on the inside as well. There were statues praising Sith lords mounted along the walls of the huge room. The ceiling was easily 30 meters high, and the intimidating statues weren't much smaller. Obi-Wan looked around in fearful awe.
Then his breath caught. At the far end of the room there was a round pit with a stone podium in front of it. Mercenaries surrounded the pit. It was filled with about 6 inches of red liquid. Obi-Wan gasped when he saw the stack of dead bodies, but felt even worse when he saw the mercenaries draining blood from some of them. Many of the bacta tanks still remained.
Enough to fill the pit.
He wanted to throw up.
"He's coming," Xanatos informed Obi-Wan casually, as if innocent people weren't being killed.
Obi-Wan started. "Qui-Gon? I didn't feel his signature."
"It's because of the darkside cloud. You're not strong enough to sense through it yet."
"How can you do this?" Obi-Wan demanded, his thoughts returning to the prisoners.
Instead of replying, Xanatos grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side of the grand room. In a moment they were shrouded by shadow.
Xanatos pulled Obi-Wan close, and kissed him like they had kissed the first night they made love. It didn't last for much longer then a moment, but Obi-Wan was shaking when Xanatos pulled back.
"I love you," he said firmly. Then walked out of the shadows.
"Hello Qui-Gon," he smiled at the doorway as a familiar figure entered. "You're right on schedule."
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blockofthewritingkind: (taps foot) I hope that you have a really big oven. Yes he ends up back at the temple; hmmm I wonder what that means? Only I, the writer, know, bwahahahaha. Ah don't hate Qui-Gon, he doesn't know what's going on. Of course, if he did know he'd probably try to stop it, but still!
Child of a Pineapple: Here's Tainted Love. Where's Porphyria? (glares) I don't care how busy you are, or how unmotivated. Whore. Wait, that hasn't been working for me has it? (sniff) CoP (sniff) I don't know what (sniff) I'll do (sniff) without the next (sniff) chapter. And you totally fall in love with gay guys.
Staryday: I'm glad that you liked it. There will be some more sith stuff in the next chapter, and as for the ending, nothing's set in stone.
MyFictionalAnnihilation: Yikes, the band kids at my school get it pretty hard too. I hope that this chapter made you feel better over the loss of your summer. And if not I'll share my cookies with you.
An-angel-in-hell: Ha, it'd be a good enough reason for me. Of course, if Xanatos wanted me to run away with him I'd be like "screw reason" but Obi-Wan's a Jedi afterall. As for the ending, it's like I told Staryday. Nothing's set in stone.
Whatevergirl: I'm glad that you liked it, and I'm glad that you like Every You and Every Me.
A/N: The story is reaching it's climax. I'm a little sad, there are like, four chapters left at the absolute most. Anyway, Qui-Gon has finally found them. Yay? Or not yay? Depending on how you want it to end. Anyway, in the next chapter for sure the significance of the holocron will be explained and Xanatos's bigger plan will come to light. Please review, I hope you enjoyed it!