The Sidhe – Could be good or it could get them into even more trouble than usual. It remains to be seen.
Incognito12 – Thanks so much. I love toying with AU.
sterling5842
Ch 1 – I think Xanatos has more doubts about why Qui-Gon would ask him than Obi-Wan.
I hope to build a picture through flashbacks of Qui-Gon and Xanatos to fill you in on
this turbulent past and how Obi-Wan in many ways, brought the two back together.
Ch 2 – I can't imagine seeing Xanatos comfortable with a child being brought into his life. I
think he will figure it out though. But he life is about to change.
Chapter 3
Dozens of vibrantly colored songbirds fluttered outside the open window, offering up their melodies as early morning rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon. To Xanatos, the hovering menaces sounded about as grating as metal screeching across metal and he desperately wished they would go away. Each musical chirp drove a nail into his already pounding head and the sound only seemed to get louder as more joined.
Squinting against the assault of sunlight, he cracked one eye open and with a stretch of his hand, sent the window slamming shut. His relief in the blessed silence that followed was short lived - he wasn't alone.
The woman lying next to him slept soundly. Xanatos began to say something, but no name came to mind, so he said nothing. He hesitantly reached out to shake her. She stirred and turned to look at him. The color immediately drained from her face and she quickly backed to the edge of the bed like a trapped animal, falling off the side as she scrambled to put distance between them.
Xanatos slid out of bed, snatching the remaining sheet to cover his body and hurried to where she had fallen. A rush of wild terror lunged out at his heightened senses and shredded through him like a giant claw as she backed away trying to free herself from the tangle of sheets. "I'm … so sorry, Lord Marojni. Please don't be angry," she whispered as she trembled, already closing her eyes in acceptance of some terrible fate.
The young man moved towards her cowering form as the detached memories of a drunken rage began to surface. The words, 'don't be here when I wake up,' drifted through his mind as she pressed her body against the wall – she had nowhere to go. The shadows which had hidden her from view shifted and he saw bruises in the pattern of rings he wore on his right hand. Memories continued to solidify in his mind as he flexed finders that were still stiff from the blind fury he had released on her the previous night. He was suddenly numb with confusion and dropped down to sit on the bed. It seemed he no longer knew up from down, light from dark, right from wrong.
"Go!" he snarled.
She didn't ask questions. She scrambled to get her clothes on and fled from the room, leaving only the putrid stench of fear in her wake.
Xanatos felt a wave of nausea rush over him and retreated to the refresher. He emerged after emptying his stomach, shaky and covered in sweat, and stumbled to the sink. Plunging his hands under the faucet, he splashed cool refreshing water over his heated, flushed skin and looked up at the mirror.
His own deep blue eyes stared back, but Xanatos hardly knew the man standing there anymore. His father had left him everything; he lacked nothing. He had what he had wanted – power, respect, wealth … but at what cost? His hand slid back behind his ear to where he had all but ripped the symbol of his apprenticeship from his scalp in rage, then hesitantly, he reached up and ran his finger around the fresh circular scar that now marred his pale cheek.
It mocked him, laughing at the monster he had become. He raked his fingernails down his scarred cheek in desperation, drawing fine lines of seeping blood in a feeble attempt to gouge it from his face. A chaos of bubbling emotions welled up inside, and he lashed out with all he felt. Shards of glass flew as the mirror shattered beneath his fist, slicing the skin of his knuckles. He slid to the floor, his body shuddering in convulsive sobs. Pulling his knees to his chest like a lost child, he dropped his face into his hands and began to weep, tears mingling with the blood seeping from his fresh wounds.
{Remember the height from which you have fallen, Xanatos.}
The words had come from the opposing end of a familiar green blade; from a mentor who had foolishly spared his life when he should have destroyed him. And, he had indeed fallen far. Yet … as he sat there on the cool tile, broken and without hope, he subconsciously reached for the Light. It startled him at first when it reached back. He had never expected to feel its warmth again.
Pulling himself to his knees, completely and utterly weak, he began the familiar breathing exercises that he had first learned as a boy in the crèche. After much difficultly, he was able to meditate for a short amount of time, enough to give him some measure of focus. He washed his wounds in the sink and bandaged them. Quickly dressing, he started down the corridor with determination, knowing exactly what he had to do.
"I need to see my father's personal and financial records … all of them," he ordered as he swept into his offices.
"My lord, I can't allow …"
"You can't?" Xanatos's voice took on a sneering edge. "Isn't your job to do 'whatever' I ask?"
The man cowered as Xanatos stood over him, radiating his complete power and strength.
"Right away, my lord"
Xanatos spent the remainder of the day intently pouring over records. Late into the evening, he finally dropped his face into his hands in shame. Master Qui-Gon had been right and he had refused to listen. Instead he had blindly followed, allowing his father to use him, and had spent the last months continuing in that treachery. He could taste the bitterness as it rose in his throat, and knew it didn't even compare to the pain he had caused his master.
The only thing between him and doing what was right was his pride and it was indeed a colossal obstacle. With shaking hands, he found the communications consol and entered the codes necessary to contact the Jedi Temple. Then, he waited. A small, ghostly image of Master Yoda soon appeared on the desk in front of him.
"Lord Marojni." Xanatos lowered his head in shame, the very title mocking him. "Hoped to hear from you I have."
"I am requesting a team of Jedi to come and oversee elections on Telos." Xanatos betrayed none of the emotion he was feeling, keeping his words calm and even. "I will be liquidating Crion Marojni's assets and … abdicating my title. Considering recent events, it would be best to have outside negotiation."
"Send a team immediately we will." The Master nodded his head.
"Thank you, Master Yoda."
Xanatos reached to end the communication and was stopped short by the small master's next words.
"Wonder I do what 'you' will do now."
Xanatos honestly hadn't thought that far ahead yet. It didn't matter. Of course there would be consequences for his actions. He took a deep breath.
"I will manage Master Yoda."
"Here is where you belong. A Jedi you are."
"Correct me if I'm wrong Master, but falling to the Dark side is usually a sign of utter failure as a Jedi." He uttered a pained chuckle. "I can't come back."
"Found the Light again you have," the master challenged. "Otherwise, contact me you would not."
"Master, I didn't just brush the Dark side. I embraced it. I let it overtake me, flow through me." He paused. The remnants of the darkness, as exhilarating as they were repulsive, lingered like the last drop of a fine wine remaining in a glass. It would always be there, a potent temptation. "It isn't so easy to go back."
"Know this I do. Difficult is the path you face and carry the Darkness with you always …"
"I know – 'forever will it dominate my destiny' – I know," he interrupted in a whisper.
"Guidance you need now, Young One," Yoda said gently. "Help you I can."
"Oh, Force, what have I done, Master." Xanatos dropped his head. "I drew my saber against my master. Even if I return, he will never forgive me."
"Time he will need. How much, I know not. But large is the heart of Qui-Gon Jinn."
Xanatos lay awake stretched out on the sofa staring at the ceiling. Even if there were not a multitude of questions and memories weighing on his mind, the restlessness plaguing the sleep of both his 'brother' and his new apprentice would have kept him awake. He rose and walked to Anakin's room. The boy had managed to squirm from beneath his covers and now lay shivering, curled into a ball, trying to bring warmth to his body. Xanatos straightened the covers and pulled them up around Anakin's neck, carefully tucking them around his small form. The boy was cold - of course he was cold, he was from a warm planet. Xanatos fished around in the closet until he found a spare blanket. He covered Anakin with the blanket. The shivering stopped. Xanatos rested a hand on the boy's forehead, using the Force to deepen his sleep before retreating back to the doorway.
"I knew you had a tender, compassionate bone in you somewhere."
Xanatos chuckled at the gentle teasing. "You should be sleeping."
"How can I when every time I close my eyes I see that saber going through him?" Obi-Wan murmured. "I'm trapped every time and can't get to him."
Xanatos turned, closing Anakin's door and regarded Obi-Wan with a warm smile.
"Master would have said to not live in that moment – you can't change what happened." It was disconcerting that he now found himself to be the voice of wisdom as he had always felt his own judgment flawed, but the advice felt sound. "You have to move on from there."
"That is easier said than done."
"I know," Xanatos said, drifting into earlier memories. "Believe me, I know."
"Why are you up?" Obi-Wan took a seat in one of the plush armchairs, and Xanatos sank down to the sofa.
"The combined Force noise of you and Anakin's chaotic emotions is enough to keep anyone awake." One of his first lessons would definitely have to be teaching Anakin to shield.
"Good try, but you can shield against that. What is really bothering you?"
Xanatos lowered his head and grew quiet. He really didn't want to worry Obi-Wan, but at the same time, he knew the young knight was stubborn and wouldn't rest until Xanatos had told him.
"I sensed it at the funeral."
"It?" Obi-Wan tilted his head to the side, raising a golden eyebrow.
"The other Sith Lord."
"But the masters didn't…" Obi-Wan began to protest.
"The Darkside stirred, Obi-Wan. It was well shielded. I doubt the masters sensed it." Xanatos stretched his neck, resting the back of his head on the sofa. "It was very interested in Anakin … and you."
Obi-Wan's forehead creased, brows furrowed in confusion. "I can understand Anakin – he's powerful, possibly even the Chosen One. Why me?"
"You are the first Jedi in nearly a millennium to kill a Sith. You didn't really think that went unnoticed, did you?"
"What do you think the Sith will do?"
"I don't know." Xanatos peeled his eyes off the ceiling, looking back at Obi-Wan. "I am not telling you this for you to be overly concerned, just so you will be cautious. I too will have to proceed carefully with Anakin."
Obi-Wan nodded his head, rubbing heavy eyelids.
"You really should try to get some sleep. You're exhausted."
Obi-Wan let out a dry chuckle. "Oh yes, I feel much more like sleeping now than I did before." He got up and wandered back to his room. Xanatos watched the door close behind him before once again trying to settle into his own sleep.