From Darkness, I Rise

by Kurenaino

The Jedi are thrust into a war that threatens to tear the galaxy apart, and prospects are bleak when the fearsome Sith Negotiator begins to win key victories against the Republic. Sequel to From Grace, I Fall. Also, more Sith!Obi keeps the sadness away. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

65. The Student

Chapter 65: The Student

Obi-Wan sat on the floor with Satine in his lap, his arm around her shoulders and his hand brushing back her pale blond hair as she leaned shaking over a basin. She was sick, and had been for the better part of an hour. The child, from the look of it, was a frightful beast, just over a month since its conception and already with a strong, steady presence in the Force with an intention to wreck havoc upon the hapless mother. The physician hadn't done the necessary blood work yet, but Satine didn't need it to know for certain that her lover's child was planted firmly inside her. She was handling it with as much poise and grace as she could muster, but it was admittedly difficult to do so while retching. If it got any worse, she'd have to instill Bo-Katan to sit the throne while she was ill. Obi-Wan certainly couldn't do it. Between his duties to the Sith and his obligations to the Separatists, there left little room to aid in the ruling of Mandalore. Besides, he was getting sympathetically sick with her, a symptom of his powerful connection to the Mandalorian and the Forceful embryo. The child was not content to make just one parent suffer.

"Did I tell you," Obi-Wan said softly in her ear, "that I felt it in the Force when the little Sith Spawn took hold?" Satine shook her head, but said nothing, and he held her closer. "I did. The Force has been giving me visions as well. Nothing much, but I see it."

"You were too busy to warn me?" she asked, her voice shaking, but amused, and he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Really, my love, I have barely slept with all the work I have had to do. It took careful planning to secure the acquisition of your army."

Satine slowly sat up, taking in a shaky breath and stilling the tremors that ran through her. Smiling, she cupped his bearded cheek. "And for that, I am eternally grateful. Was Bo-Katan pleased?"

"For once, she didn't look like she wanted to kill me. I think she's finally starting to like me."

"She really wanted that army, Obi."

"I got it for you, Satine. Not her." The Duchess paled and grabbed hold of the edge of the basin once again, and Kenobi swept his hand through her hair, biting his tongue against the rush of nausea that he felt as well.

"How many Sith Lords are needed for the Empire?" Satine choked, leaning back against Obi-Wan and gratefully taking the glass of water he handed her. He shrugged.

"A hundred. Hundreds, maybe." He could almost feel her roll her eyes, and he gently rubbed her temples, the brush of the Force in his fingers, and he felt her relax against him, felt the soft pulse from within her calm to a smooth, even hum.

"But how many will I be required to produce?"

"You are not required to produce any, my love," he drawled as he pulled her close. "But since you asked...thirty."

"...thirty." She sighed when she could feel the Sith chuckling behind her. The nausea had nearly passed, and she braced herself against his knees and pushed herself up and smoothed out the flowing blue of the dress she wore. "Or we could just have this child and see what happens after, Emperor Kenobi."

Obi-Wan took her hand and pulled her close, kneeling before her and his arm wrapping around the small of her back as he kissed her stomach. "Best idea yet, my Queen." They didn't hear the footsteps of the intruder into Satine's room until the door hissed open and a woman in Mandalorian armor stepped inside the large, tiled room. With a groan, the woman removed her helmet and shook out her shoulder-length red hair, and if a look could kill, Obi-Wan would be slain on the spot. Satine didn't seem bothered by the intrusion. "You know..." Obi-Wan drawled when it looked as though the redhead would speak. "I have a friend like you. He doesn't knock either."

She crossed her arms and scowled. "Really. Does this friend of yours also want you dead?"

"Actually-"

"Don't answer that, I'm not here for you, Jedi." Kenobi rolled his eyes.

"If you want to insult me, I'll just take my army back."

The woman smiled back at him with immense satisfaction. "Go ahead. See how long it will take you to get between my sister's legs again."

"Bo!" Satine snapped, and the redhead bit her lip and looked away. She wasn't embarrassed, she was angry, and not with her imperious sister. Obi-Wan allowed himself to smile at the woman as he stood, taking Satine's hand and kissing it gently, but she quickly snatched it away and hissed, "Don't you suck up to me, Sith Lord, you started this!"

Kenobi shrugged sheepishly, his golden eyes drifting to the redhead, and he could feel her satisfied glare. Bo-Katan Kryze had a long, difficult, and complicated relationship with her sister. The younger Bo-Katan had always fared poorly in comparisons between herself and Satine. Where the elder Kryze had been classically beautiful with the pale blond hair, light blue eyes, and fine, elegant features that were so highly sought after on Mandalore, Bo-Katan had somehow managed to get everything wrong. Red of hair and green of eye, the younger Kryze looked like she had come from different stock entirely. She was the furthest thing from unattractive, but when placed next to her sister, the attention went to the refined beauty, not the rough and rowdy troublemaker.

With contrasting looks came contrasting personalities, and Bo-Katan was more at home in armor than the refined gowns that came with her noble birth, and where war had made Satine fervently opposed to violence, it had made Bo fervently violent, going so far as to run away to Concordia with the exiled rebels when Satine came to power and join the Death Watch that stood in opposition to her peaceful reign. And her relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi was...complicated. She blamed the Jedi he had been for installing a pacifist on the throne of Mandalore. But then, she also gave the Sith Lord he was credit for the change in Satine that transformed her from Duchess to Mand'alor. A more practical mind set had repaired the relationship between the two sisters, and Bo-Katan's fierce warrior spirit expanded to bring gentle Satine under her fierce protection.

Kenobi and the younger Kryze liked each other far, far more than they were willing to admit, mostly because Bo-Katan had felt obligated to object to the man that had taken her sister's virginity, since their father had not been around to do so, and the woman was far too enjoyable for Kenobi to tease. True, when Kenobi had stormed the Death Watch compound, he had choked her, tortured her, made her watch in horror as he brought Pre Vizsla screaming to his knees, took away everything that made him Mandalorian...but she respected that. It ended up being what was best for Mandalore.

Her green eyes darted about the room, taking in her surroundings as if she was just realizing where she was, and after a moment, she gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth in sudden realization, the implications of her surroundings and her suspicions clear. "Satine!"

"Not a word, Bo," Satine said harshly, her hand in the air to silence her, and the word was final. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What is so important that you need to barge in here like this?"

Bo-Katan stood with her head held high. "My men have caught a Jedi."

Obi-Wan felt his heart stop and his breath catch, but the Force felt...calm. Nothing was wrong or threatening, so...what was it? "Where was this Jedi caught?" Satine demanded.

"Just outside the palace. He says he was invited here."

"Invited?!" Satine stormed out of the room without another word, and Obi-Wan and Bo-Katan followed the woman side by side, falling into perfect step with each other. The Death Watch leader covertly jabbed Kenobi in the ribs with her elbow, and he gasped in pain and slowed, clutching his side. Smirking, she slowed to match his pace, grinning widely when the yellow eyes narrowed at her in anger.

"She's mad at you," she whispered, her voice a sing-song cadence that made the Sith Lord wince.

"She most certainly is not, she's mad there's a Jedi here. Have you ever killed one before?"

"No, but I suspect that may be happening very soon." The Sith next to her chuckled deeply, and she brought her elbow into his side again, this time a gentle nudge. "Did you put a child in my sister?" She frowned when the Sith Lord's chest swelled with pride, a cocky grin on his lips. "I feel like I'm obligated to be angry about this, but..." She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "You raise that child to be Mand'alor. We are finally united. We cannot lose that when Satine is too old to rule."

"...I will." Kenobi looked away from her and smiled to himself, quickening his pace to come closer to Satine as she quickly made her way down the halls. Approval from Bo-Katan was a rare thing. He doubted he'd ever have it spoken again.

Satine stormed into the throne room and furiously dropped into her seat, and every soldier in the hall snapped to attention and bowed deeply at the angry woman, and remained with their heads bowed as Obi-Wan and Bo-Katan strode to stand on either side of her throne. "What is this I hear about a Jedi?" the Mand'alor snapped, and two soldiers came forward to throw their prisoner at the base of the steps leading up to the throne. Kenobi leaned forward, golden eyes narrowed, as he looked upon the yellow band tattoo across the face of the prisoner that he knew all too well.

"Quinlan Vos..." the Sith lazily drawled as he casually left the side of the throne and walked down the steps. "I didn't think you'd actually come."

The Jedi looked up, a smirk on his lips, and he shrugged against his bindings. "I didn't think I would either..." He could feel Satine's eyes narrowing on him, and he avoided the intense gaze of Mandalore's ruler.

"You know this Jedi, Obi-Wan?" she demanded, and the Sith nodded.

"I do. And I did invite him." There was a long moment of silence and tension in the room as Satine looked the Jedi over, and she scoffed, flicking her hand in dismissal, and the guards rushed to surround the Jedi, and released him. Quinlan rubbed his wrists, looking up at the icy queen, who was clearly none too happy about having Jedi on her planet, but Kenobi just smiled at his friend, turned to the Mand'alor and bowed deeply. "Thank you, your Highness. He will remain in my custody in his time here."

"See that he does, Lord Kenobi, and see that his departure is swift." The Sith flashed a cocky grin at Quinlan, indicated with his head toward an open door on the right side of the hall, and slowly sauntered off. Groaning as he rose to his feet, Vos quickly followed the Sith until he strode slowly and silently beside him.

For a long while, they said nothing, and Quinlan was extremely uncomfortable. Now that he was here, he had no idea what to say, or how to say it, or where to begin. He couldn't just tell Obi-Wan his plans, tell him how he planned to destroy the Sith, and how he needed help to do it. It was...absurd. Why had he even come here? He looked around as the halls gave way to courtyards, peaceful expanses of gardens in the sunlight and slowly flowing streams that ran through them. It was...peaceful. Beautiful. As Kenobi had said, neutral Mandalore was free from war and the oppressive pull of darkness that burned like fire within the Force. The Dark Side was still here, but it was...restful.

They stopped, and Kenobi leaned over a rail, closing his eyes and breathing deep of the fresh air, and Quinlan couldn't help but whisper, "Teach me."

"You wanted this over a month ago, Quin," the Sith said quietly. "What took you so long to come to me?"

"...I had to think about it." Vos took a deep breath and leaned against the pillar that supported the rail, his arms crossed over his chest. "But I did. And there's so much I can do with the Dark Side. There's so much I can accomplish! This war needs to end, Obi-Wan, and the Jedi aren't able to do it."

Kenobi nodded. "I agree. And tell me, Quinlan, what have you done with this Dark Side of yours?"

"I've won battles. Countless of them, all because I've tapped into my anger. I was afraid to do it before, but now..." He laughed nervously, uncertain how to give words to the turbulent Force within him. "Now it's so easy."

Kenobi nodded. "It is. It sounds like you can touch the Dark Side at will now. Can you show me?"

"W-what, right now?" Quinlan laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, Obi-Wan, there's nothing to get angry about. I do it in battle when my clones are dying, but..." He shrugged. "It's in the moment. I let go afterwards."

"How Jedi of you," Kenobi said playfully, drumming his fingers on the rail and looking up into Quinlan's dark, trusting eyes. "Think of your Master." Obi-Wan allowed a small, wicked smile to cross his face when the Jedi tensed, the calm and gentle Force within him suddenly howling with fury as anger and rage reached its dark tendrils inside Vos. He was powerful, yes, but it was precious and fleeting, and despite its efforts, the Dark Side had little to latch on to within the Jedi. Quinlan was used to walking the line between light and dark. It would take more to make him truly fall than a simple embrace of anger, but the process had already begun. It would just be slow, gradual, like his own fall.

And then, it was gone, as suddenly as it came, the Jedi's hands clasped tightly around the rail, his arms shaking as the darkness left him, and when he looked at Obi-Wan, there was a cocky smile on his lips. "See?" the Kiffar said softly, and Kenobi scoffed.

"You think a slight show of temper means you touch the Dark Side?" Quinlan stared at his friend in confusion. It wasn't the response he had been expecting. He didn't know what to expect, but part of him had hoped that Obi-Wan would have been impressed. "Typical of you, Quinlan, to flirt with the Dark Side like that," Kenobi drawled, a casual smile on his face. "Anyone can flirt. Most Jedi do. Even your vaulted Mace Windu calls the darkness when he fights, but a passing glance will yield you nothing in the end."

Quinlan smirked and leaned in toward the Sith Lord. "I'm very good at flirting," he drawled, and Kenobi laughed, put a hand on his face and shoved him away, and for just a moment, it felt like they used to be, long before this war began, long before Obi-Wan joined the Sith he swore to destroy. It was...painful. Quinlan wanted this again, he wanted his friend back. "Obi-Wan," he said in a voice that was barely a whisper and strained in sadness. "Please, I want you to come back."

"What, to the Jedi?" he asked, genuine surprise on his face that made Vos' heart sink. "Are you mad? The Jedi would execute me in a heartbeat if I did."

"Not if you came back willingly!" the Kiffar pleaded. "It's never too late, you can turn away from the Dark Side!"

"Really," Kenobi said, his voice flat and expressionless and completely unimpressed. "Can you?" Kenobi sighed and closed his eyes. "Look, Quin, you came to me to ask for training in controlling the Dark Side because you know as well as I that there's no coming back from it. All you can do is learn how to control it, which is why you're here. You crave the Dark Side, and you want to command it. Why."

For a moment, all Quinlan could do was stare at the Sith, look at the golden eyes he remembered as brilliant blue, the harsh lines of a face that used to be warm and gentle, the forceful, commanding presence that was once unassuming and modest. He didn't feel any hatred or contempt for the Sith Lord. He just felt...kinship. He was there as Obi-Wan fell, though he did not know it at the time, had felt his emotions through his old lightsaber, and he understood. "This war must end," he said slowly. "I can end it."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

Quinlan took a deep breath. "Without Dooku, there would be no war. Every single innocent that dies because of this idiot conflict can be laid at Count Dooku's feet. He is responsible for all of them." Quinlan's face darkened as he felt rage boil within him. "He needs to die. We need to kill them. To stop this war, Dooku needs to die, and he needs to die quickly, because each day we wait brings more death to the innocent."

"You do realize I am on Dooku's side, right?" The expression on Quinlan's face said it all. There was resignation, betrayal, acceptance and anger within him, all conflicting, all warring, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for his old friend. He too had struggled with the raging emotions of the Dark Side when he began to fall. The transition was always messy. Quinlan knew what Obi-Wan was. He was just hoping it wasn't true, even after all this time.

"I thought," the Kiffar said slowly, "that the Sith were only ever out for themselves." Obi-Wan laughed at that.

"Since when have the Jedi ever known anything about the Sith?"

"Since you, Obi-Wan." The Sith was silent, carefully observing the frustrated Jedi before him. "Maybe the Council wasn't listening to you, but I was. I always was, and I always believed that you were right. You were right about the Sith, you were right about Dooku, you were right about it all. And if you and I are together again, you and I can kill Dooku and your Master and end this war!"

Was this the Jedi's plan? Were the Masters in their tower so confounded, so unable to do what they certainly knew must be done that they were content to let Sith ambition run its course? Quinlan had come on his own, that much he knew, but were his actions something that the Jedi would condone or condemn? Quinlan Vos was not like Pong Krell, who fell for a lust for power, who willingly now sat in the confines of the Negotiator, deprived of food and sleep and tenderly cared for by the gentle hands of Cody as the clone gleefully oversaw his torture. Vos cared nothing for power like Krell, had suffered no betrayals like Obi-Wan, so why was he falling? This needed a gentle hand, the right moments, the right ideas, or Vos would go no further down the darker path.

"You reach for darkness to destroy the Sith?" Kenobi ventured carefully, and Vos nodded.

"We all know how to end the war. All of us. But the Jedi are hesitant to do what needs to be done to end it. We need to kill Dooku, it's just that simple." The Kiffar growled in frustration, his hand tightening on the rail. "The Masters say such thoughts aren't the Jedi way, that it's the path to darkness, but we all know that someone will need to do it, or this war will never end. It's a bottomless pit, and if Dooku dies, the war dies with him, and the Jedi can go back to really helping people again."

"You have discussed it, then?" Quinlan nodded gravely.

"We have. But we're just...not ready to seriously consider those thoughts." Obi-Wan smiled, felt the small, thin tendril of darkness within his friend and grabbed hold of it. This is how it would begin.

"But you are." Vos looked away from his old friend, and Obi-Wan could feel the struggle within him, the endless compassion of a Jedi Master pushed to its limits as he was forced to watch, forced to feel millions upon millions of innocents suffer and die in a war that seemed to have no end. Perhaps the other Jedi Masters had not reached their limit, but Quinlan Vos was desperate. Slowly, he nodded, and Obi-Wan laid an understanding hand on his shoulder. "Shall we begin your first lesson?"

Quinlan's tense body relaxed as he sighed with relief. "Teach me."

"If you want to beat Dooku, you're going to have to abandon nearly everything it means to be a Jedi," Obi-Wan said swiftly, his easy, nonchalant manner making Quinlan recoil slightly. "Dooku is a Lord of the Sith, and he didn't become so by being weak. He is brutal, calculating, cruel, and entirely merciless. You Jedi will hesitate to kill, but Dooku will not. The Sith know that the path of hatred is the path to ultimate power, and you will need it if you are to end him." Kenobi smirked. "But you have plenty of hatred in you already, don't you?"

"I showed you, didn't I?" Quinlan scoffed, and Obi-Wan could sense the darkness within him swelling, the memory of his old Master fresh and painful within him.

"You did. You can touch the Dark Side at will, yes, but it's one thing to feel hatred and rage, and quite another thing to use them."

"But I have!" Quinlan cried, the small beat of darkness within him pulsing as his temper flared. "I've won countless victories in this war because I used the Dark Side! I beat General Grievous on Kamino, I crushed a droid army on Pantora, I-" A dismissive wave of the Sith's hand silenced Vos.

"Droids," Kenobi scoffed. "You Jedi cut through droids like it's nothing because it is nothing. They are machines, no heart beats within them, they have no blood, no life, no soul, no presence in the Force. You don't feel their destruction in the Force, you don't mourn the loss of life because there is no life to be lost."

"But Grievous-"

"Is he dead?" Quinlan's jaw tightened as he looked at the cold, uncaring face of his friend. "And you could have killed him. You could have ended the General in an instant if you hadn't let him go, if you hadn't allowed compassion to drive the darkness from you." Obi-Wan chuckled deeply. "No, Quinlan, to defeat Dooku, you're going to need something more. You will need to grab hold of the darkness and truly embrace it, or you won't have the power you need to destroy him." He smirked, tapping his finger on the railing and looking out into the garden, so bright and peaceful, and it seemed an odd place to discuss such dark things. Quinlan laughed softly, tense and nervous.

"The quick and easy path to power, right?"

"The only path to power. But you must be cautious about how far down that path you walk. Once you tap into the Dark Side, really tap into it, not the grazing touches you have been so eager to call true darkness, it can consume you."

"Like what happened to you, right?"

"Just so." He shrugged, smirking. "The trick is to master it, not allow it to master you. You want to be able to stand in the flames, not burn with it."

Quinlan grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. Vos was hopelessly naive, but it would aid in his fall. "You were consumed by it, and you came back from it."

"Did I?" The response was cold, hard, devoid of emotion, and Quinlan couldn't help but shiver. He knew Obi-Wan was drenched in darkness. He could feel it inside him, could see it blazing in his golden eyes, but...well, he didn't feel consumed. He wasn't running around uncontrollably murdering people, and he had been perfectly behaved on Coruscant, so much so that he hadn't so much as touched the Dark Side. Obi-Wan was in control. He had mastered the Dark Side, which the Jedi had said wasn't possible. Kenobi was steeped in darkness, yes, but he had been barely a Knight when he fell. Quinlan was a Jedi Master, with all the training and power that came from being one. He wouldn't be lost as Obi-Wan had.

"Teach me," Quinlan asked again. "I want to learn how to have mastery over it, teach me how to keep from getting consumed." The Sith Lord just chuckled and shook his head, and Quinlan could feel anger slowly growing inside him.

"Oh no, Quin, you aren't ready for that yet. You haven't even really grabbed hold of the Dark Side, I can't teach you to control what you have no knowledge of."

"B-but I-"

"Have used anger to fuel you, yes, yes, I know, Quin, but you haven't truly used the Dark Side." There was a sinister delight in those golden eyes, a deep, consuming hunger that the Jedi felt himself recoil from even as he was drawn in to it. "That is going to be your first challenge. Your first test, if you will, and if you can't do this thing, you better find another Jedi to kill Dooku, because you will never be able to." Quinlan felt his mouth dry just as he was about to ask what this challenge was, but he already knew, the Sith Lord smiling in grim satisfaction when he felt the Jedi realize what must be done.

"I-I need to use it on a living creature."

"Precisely." Obi-Wan sensed the Jedi's hesitation, as he knew he would. It had been difficult for him as well, when he understood exactly what it was that the darkness had required of him, but by the time Darth Sidious appeared to him, he was ready and willing to murder at a command. Quinlan Vos would be as well. If he pressed too hard, he risked driving him away, but the Dark Side was patient, and Kenobi had already planted the idea. It would grow on its own.

"It just seems so...senseless," Vos said softly, shaking his head, but the Sith simply relaxed against the railing, calm and peaceful and almost serene in the darkness he swam in.

"And that sentiment will get you killed when you face him. You are not yet ready. You need to put aside your compassion, embrace your anger and grab hold of the Dark Side. Use it to kill, really kill, and you will be ready."

"...the Jedi take their strength from others," the Kiffar said, scooting closer to his friend. "Can I do this alone?"

"...no."

Quinlan smiled brightly. "Then you will help me. We'll kill Dooku together!" The Jedi's smile faded when Kenobi began laughing, not the warm, soft one that he had grown so used to, but a cold, harsh sound that sent a chill up his spine. "Quin, I have had many chances to kill Dooku, and I haven't yet. And I won't. We have a plan to end the war, and it won't be the Jedi way."

"B-but..." Vos was beginning to panic. His whole plan rested on getting Obi-Wan to turn on the Sith, to join their strength together to accomplish that which the Sith did best. After all, there was a reason that the greatest enemy of the Sith were each other. They harnessed the power of the Dark Side to give them the strength needed to bring each other down, and they had perfected it to such an art that they had been the cause of their own extinction, had built an entire Code around the idea of murdering their Masters. But all that came out of this talk was the resolve to embrace the Dark Side in order to do what a Jedi alone could not. He wasn't expecting Sith solidarity.

"I am Sith, Quinlan," Kenobi said smoothly, his voice soft and amused. "What did you expect me to be? Did you really think I'd turn on my own kind?"

"Y-you said I need help to kill him, you said I can't do it alone."

"And you can't" Kenobi said, nodding sagely. "You do need help. Because I will be there, and I look forward to seeing who you bring with you, truly, I do."

"But you said you would help me!"

"And I most certainly will! You are welcome to come to me any time, I'm never away from Mandalore for long, and it would be my great pleasure to teach you the ways of the Dark Side." He smiled at his friend. "I wouldn't want this fight to be too easy."

Quinlan trembled, his words catching in his throat as his anger rose. He had so many questions, so many demands, but all he could manage to choke was, "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me train to kill Dooku when you clearly have no intention of seeing him dead?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "The Sith need constant testing to keep sharp. If Dooku isn't strong enough to defend himself against you and whoever you choose to bring with you, than he doesn't deserve to call himself a Lord of the Sith." Kenobi sighed deeply and looked back out toward the gardens. "At which point, I suppose the war will be over. It can't well continue without him."

"But you will defend him."

"I will." He smirked wickedly. "Though, I suppose how hard I fight will be entirely dependent on you." Kenobi laughed when confusion crossed the Jedi's face. "What? I dislike fighting against my friends, especially ones that are so...promising."

"Promising how."

The Sith Lord grinned. "Well now, that would be for you to figure out, hmm? Come, we've talked long enough about this. You know what you must do and how to do it. The choice is yours to make, not mine, and I fear if I keep you on Mandalore any longer, Satine will have us both imprisoned for espionage."

Quinlan blinked back a startled look. "She would do that? To you?"

"She very well may, the woman didn't get to where she is by bending her principles."

The matter was over, and as they walked back the way they came, they talked like old friends, laughing and joking like no time had passed between them, but Quinlan couldn't shake the feeling of unease that rested deep within him. He knew what he needed to do, what needed to happen, but Obi-Wan was living proof of what could go wrong when a Jedi pressed too far. Kenobi had even warned him about the dangers of it, so...what was it that Obi-Wan was trying to do? He was helping him to kill Dooku, only to say he would defend the other Sith, help him reach for darkness, only to tell him not to reach too far. It was...confusing, and Quinlan couldn't puzzle out if Obi-Wan was trying to make him fall, or save him from himself. He suspected it was the former, and if so, the joke would be on the Sith. Quinlan Vos had walked the line for a long time. Darkness was something he could come back from, he was sure of it.