Testoffaith4

PART FOUR

"Xanatos!" Qui-Gon shouted. "Xanatos! I've come! Show yourself, I know this is what you want!" the Jedi Master demanded, his lightsaber clutched loosely in one hand. The Force had drawn him back to the same, deserted courtyard where he had parted from Obi-Wan what now seemed like ages ago. Dusk was falling and long purple shadows clung to the place, making it look haunted. "Xanatos!" Qui-Gon thundered again.

"My, my, my, so impatient," Xanatos' voice mocked from above.

Qui-Gon looked up and saw Xanatos standing on the top of one of the broken-down walls, leaning against another, higher wall.

"Is it possible that the un-reproachable Master Jinn is actually human after all?"

"I'm here, and there is nothing to distract us this time," Qui-Gon said coldly. "No one who's in trouble, no time-bombs waiting to explode, just you and me. Is that what you want Xanatos? You have it."

Xanatos smirked from his perch. "What I really want, Jinn, is your head." With that, he jumped down, somersaulting through the air to land behind Qui-Gon, his blade drawn.

Qui-Gon reacted quickly, spinning in time to block the blow before it could fall. Emerald and crimson clashed in the fading twilight as the two combatants battled back and forth.

Qui-Gon pushed Xanatos back, moving with a grace and skill developed over his years of experience. Xanatos seemed stronger each time Qui-Gon fought him, and this time was no exception, and yet, Qui-Gon wondered. It was almost as if his former apprentice were giving back too easily...

Then Qui-Gon remembered the last time he had let Xanatos chose their battleground, on Bandomeer. Something in the Jedi's mind screamed a warning and he jumped back. Not a moment too soon either.

Just as Qui-Gon jumped away, a deep, yawning pit opened right beneath where he had been standing. Xanatos never fought fair if he could come up with a better way to cheat.

"Still no sense of sportsmanship Xanatos?" Qui-Gon shook his head, his outward expression showing no trace of how very close he had come to falling prey to the Dark Jedi's schemes.

"It makes the game more interesting," Xanatos said, leaping over the pit to press his attack once more. "I'll give you credit at least for being quicker on your toes than that little brat of yours. He, how shall we say, "fell" for that one," Xanatos grinned wickedly at his own twisted joke, spinning around to strike at Qui-Gon from the side.

Qui-Gon blocked and parried, he knew Xanatos was trying to egg him into losing control by bringing Obi-Wan up. He was dangerously close to succeeding.

Xanatos knew he was hitting home. "Do you want to know something Jinn?" he asked, switching hands and taking a swipe at Qui-Gon's legs.

Qui-Gon jumped and turned, thrusting at Xanatos' middle, causing the younger man to have to spin away quickly.

"He was the perfect little Padawan to the end. He did not disobey you you know, that was my doing," Xanatos grinned. "But you never gave him the chance to explain did you? You never gave anyone a chance!"

The knife Xanatos verbally twisted in Qui-Gon's gut cut very deep. The Jedi's face twisted grimly. He had failed Obi-Wan.

"Did it feel good Qui-Gon, to walk out on him, the same way he walked out on you? You always did have a vindictive streak," Xanatos continued to taunt, although his breath was coming a little shorter now.

Qui-Gon felt the guilt, grief, and anger swelling inside him, starting to haze his thinking and quicken his attack. *"No,"* he reigned himself in. Giving in to anger and hate was what Xanatos wanted him to do, and he would not give his enemy that satisfaction.

********************

Obi-Wan heard it again, that familiar, terrible rustling sound; the Therdaks were coming. Force, couldn't they leave him alone?! How often did they have to eat anyway?

The young Jedi moaned softly, dreading what he knew was coming. As the agonizing tongues of fire once more reached out to drain the life from him, Obi-Wan came to a near breaking point.

"Not again!" he cried, nearly sobbing. "Oh please, not again!" he fairly screamed; only after it left him did he realize that he had screamed it through the Force, rather than aloud. The realms were beginning to mix for him as confusion replaced reality and Obi-Wan hardly knew what he was doing anymore.

To his surprise, the Therdaks stopped for an instant and drew back abruptly.

"Why?" the same deep voice which had spoken to him when he first woke up here, only this time, Obi-Wan realized that, although it sounded just like a voice, he was not hearing it with his ears, but in his head.

It was a ridiculous question, but Obi-Wan was too week to do anything but answer. "B-because it hurts," he gasped, then realized his mistake. Apparently, the Therdak could not understand, or not hear him when he spoke with his mouth, (for the very good reason that they had no ears) but when he spoke through the Force... Obi-Wan repeated himself silently.

"Pain? It causes you pain, young one?" the Therdak sounded concerned, distressed.

"Yes," Obi-Wan answered weakly. "Very much. I know you need to eat, but I'm not made to support this kind of thing, it's killing me," the young Jedi was honest.

"Then why do you let us?" the Therdak was confused.

Obi-Wan realized that the Therdaks didn't know he couldn't move had he wanted to. That must be Xanatos' doing somehow. "I cannot help it," the boy said, hating his helplessness. "I am a prisoner here, with no choice."

There was a long silence. "We too, are prisoners of the Dark One," the Therdak said softly. "We did not realize you were also here against your will."

Obi-Wan could not tell if it was one of the Therdak, or all of them together as a kind of group-mind, that he was speaking with, but whatever, it sounded incredibly sad.

"We too are dying young one. This prison is cold and empty, no nourishment, no light, no air to breathe! In our home, what the Dark One calls "Force" is the very air itself! We cannot live without it. Two of our number died before you came. The Dark One says that soon he will give us much, he will take us to a place where there are many like you and he... but we may not live that long. We do not wish to harm you young one, we want only to be released, to be allowed to go home."

Suddenly Obi-Wan understood what Xanatos wanted with the Therdak. Of course, Force-eaters, what better weapon against other Jedi? "I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said softly, and he meant it, he was sorry for the Therdaks. "I wish there was something I could do to help you..." he paused, realizing he did not know his companion's name.

"Itor," the Therdak responded.

"Itor," Obi-Wan repeated. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"We too, are sorry, Obi-Wan Kenobi," the Therdak said. "Please do not fear us, we will not harm you again, we did not know."

The sorrowful creatures retreated, their soft feet skittering quietly on the hard ground.

************************

The fight lasted several more minutes, but in the end, Qui-Gon backed Xanatos up against the wall and knocked the
weapon out of his hand.

Strangely, there was no fear in Xanatos' icy blue eyes as he gazed at Qui-Gon over the blazing green blade that hung between them, only dark, relentless hatred. "End it then," he dared. "You know you've wanted to do this for years. But think on this first, just how much is your revenge worth to you? Is it worth the boy's life? You kill me, you kill him."

Qui-Gon's eyes narrowed, on guard for trickery. "Not even your lies make sense Xanatos, Obi-Wan is already dead."

Xanatos gave a short, bitter laugh. "You really have broken your connection with him, or you could never havebeen fooled by a mere recording. Oh yes, what you saw was real, but I decided to stop short of killing him, I had... other uses that were more beneficial. Go ahead and don't believe me, if that's a chance you want to take, but think first Qui-Gon Jinn, and think hard. Don't I always have a backup plan? So here's the deal, either you kill me, and with it your hope of ever seeing your precious little Padawan again, or you don't, and I take you to him." Xanatos cocked one eyebrow. "The choice is yours."

There was no war, no struggle within Qui-Gon. His choice was quite obvious to him. This could be a trick, but that was a risk he would take. "Take me to him Xanatos," he said simply, lowering his blade, but still keeping it in readiness, just in case.

Xanatos was actually a trifle surprised at the ease with which Qui-Gon decided. "Follow then," Xanatos said briskly, starting to move away from the wall.

"Not so fast," Qui-Gon moved the blade of his lightsaber closer again. "Give me your hands."

Xanatos hesitated, and the blade inched closer to him. The look in Xanatos' eyes was a challenge. "What are you going to do if I don't?" they seemed to mock. "Kill me?"

"No, I can't afford that," Qui-Gon answered the unspoken question. "But there's nothing that says I can't just take them off," Qui-Gon threatened calmly.

For an instant, fear and disbelief flickered in Xanatos' eyes.

"Don't push me Xanatos," Qui-Gon warned quietly.

Finally deciding it wasn't worth the risk to find out if Qui-Gon were bluffing or not, the Dark Jedi thrust his hands out with a snarl of contempt and allowed Qui-Gon to bind his wrists together.

True, Qui-Gon knew this wouldn't necessarily stop the fallen Jedi if he chose to try something, but it might slow him down a little. Anyway, it was the best he could do.

"Now," Qui-Gon said, one hand on the back of Xanatos' collar, the other gripping his still ignited saber warily in the other. "Take me to Obi-Wan."

Xanatos led him through the deserted courtyard and into the crumbling ruins of the old mansion beyond. As they walked, Qui-Gon realized that he did not know the man whom he forced to walk before him, not any more. It was perhaps an obvious revelation, but it had never quite hit Qui-Gon like this before.

Certainly he knew Xanatos had changed, had chosen the path of darkness, but Qui-Gon realized that somewhere deep inside he had been unable to let go of the other images he held. Images of Xanatos as a boy, no older than Obi-Wan, so eager to impress and be thought highly of, Xanatos, with his hair cropped close and his apprentice braid flying as he guarded Qui-Gon's back in battle, all the missions they had gone on, all the situations they had survived together, all the love he had felt...

Xanatos had not always been dark. All along he had had faults that Qui-Gon now saw had disposed him towards the darkness that he had ultimately chosen, but no one is ever born evil, evil is a choice.

That was it right there, Qui-Gon realized, his whole problem. In his heart, he could not separate the Xanatos whom he remembered from the creature that his former apprentice had become. Yet the man he walked with now held no trace, showed no glimmer of the boy he had known once.

That Xanatos was dead; Qui-Gon could mourn him, but he could not bring him back, nor could he keep equating them as one and the same person.

It was a freeing discovery for Qui-Gon.

Xanatos stopped inside one of the few rooms of the run-down old house that was still usable, pausing before what looked like a dull, full-length mirror. He gestured at the glass. "There," he said simply.

Qui-Gon's brows creased in caution, not sure what exactly Xanatos was up to. Leaning a little closer, he peered into the smoky mirror, and found that it was like reflective plexi-glass. If you got close enough, you could see through it to the other side. It was almost all darkness beyond the glass, but Qui-Gon could just make out Obi-Wan's still form, lying prone on the ground, the only sign of life the uneven rising and falling of the boy's chest.

Something was wrong though. Qui-Gon reached out, but could not feel Obi-Wan, he could see him, but not find him in the Force. What manner of trickery was this?

Qui-Gon turned on Xanatos, his face dangerous.

Xanatos laughed to keep from shrinking back, which Qui-Gon's hand on his collar did not allow. "He's not in the same dimension as we are stupid," he mocked. "You want to feel him? Step through the portal."

"Very well," Qui-Gon nodded. "You first." Still keeping a firm grip on his captive, Qui-Gon pushed Xanatos forward, through the strange portal, following a step behind. The dull surface gave before them like gauzy mist and almost complete darkness swallowed them up.