Master Apprentice Archive Flooded Quick search:

Category: Angst, Drama

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Qui/Obi (implied), also implied Q/X

Archive: MA and my site (http://www.franzis-world.net). Anyone else please ask.

Feedback: Yes, please.

Summary: As Xanatos gets into a dangerous situation, he gets unwanted help from a certain Master/Padawan team.

Notes: Thanks again to Smitty for nagging me to finish this and for letting me throw my ideas at her. More thanks go to Tem-Ve for the chatty beta. This story was inspired by Jen and her swficlets Livejournal community. Unfortunately, it got several hundreds of words too long to actually go there.

Water - it was everywhere, surrounding him, pressing on his chest, sending chilling coldness into every part of his body. His limbs had gone numb long ago, his left leg was caught between two large rocks, broken at least once. He couldn't feel his fingers and toes anymore. And it was rising. The water had already reached his chin, tickling it slightly. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't move. His body was no longer obeying him.

Ever since he had arrived on this blasted planet, Xanatos had known that going there had been a bad idea. He had come to Thyor to check on one of his mines, the productivity of which had been decreasing constantly in the past months. But the first thing he had found upon arriving was that the Jedi were here too. And not just any Jedi - Qui-Gon Jinn and his new pet padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. He had no idea why they were on Thyor, and he didn't care. All he had wanted was to stay out of their way, finish his business and get back to Telos as soon as possible.

All had gone well, until a few hours ago the accident had happened. Water had burst into the mine, and it came fast. It came through one of the two exits of the room he was stuck in - the other one was closer to the ceiling, and his only chance to get out. He had managed to get all his workers into safety, but he himself was trapped, and no amount of pulling had helped. His leg was held in a crushing grip by the rocks.

He was too exhausted to use the Force to aid him, to get the heavy rocks out of the way, his legs and arms were useless and there was practically no chance that someone outside the cave would be able to get in and help him. It was no use. He was left here to drown.

He closed his eyes as water was beginning to get into his mouth and nose, filling his lungs as he breathed it. He didn't fight it, he couldn't. Coldness was ripping at him from the inside, spreading through him.

The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was weightlessness - his limp body held under water by heavy stone.

Xanatos awoke to a world of pain. His whole body hurt, his lungs burned as the violent coughs ripped through his body, his leg was pure agony. He felt something being tightly wrapped around him, while another hand was stroking his wet hair, gently, almost lovingly, while tilting his head to the side so he could vomit the dirty water. He welcomed the warmth that was now surrounding him and slid back into unconsciousness, ignoring the voices that urged him to stay awake.

The next time he came to was much more pleasant as he was now warm and lay on a bed, bacta patches the numerous small cuts and scrapes he had not even noticed in the frenzy of the rescue operation, his left leg bandaged and covered with bacta... and then there was something else, something oddly familiar - the residual tingle of a Force Healing.

Alarmed, Xanatos tried to sit up, only to find that his wrists and ankles were strapped to the bed. Further sensory observations revealed that something was wrapped around his neck. He tried to reach out for the Force... and couldn't. So it was a Force collar. Not much of a surprise.

"Wha...," he began to speak, before he got interrupted.

"Don't try to move, you are still pretty badly hurt," Xanatos heard someone say - until now he hadn't even realised someone else was in the room. Damn Force collar. It took him a while to recognise the voice. He was tired and it had been a few years since he last heard it.

Qui-Gon Jinn. Of course it would be him.

"What happened?" He asked again, his voice raspy as his throat was still very sore. He didn't remember much from the past few hours. Water and pain. Everywhere.

"We've found you, guided by your workers' yelling, in one of your mines. Your body was completely underwater, your left leg crushed between two rather large rocks." Qui-Gon sat down next to Xanatos' bed. "We have managed to revive you and to stabilise your leg. However, you will need to see the healers once we are back on Corus..."

"Wait," Xanatos interrupted him. "I'm not going back to Coruscant with you. You must be stupid to believe..."

"You don't have much of a choice, Xanatos. You can barely walk out of here, restraints or not."

"Is this how Jedi treat their patients? Restraining them and holding them hostage?" Xanatos replied, getting annoyed by Qui-Gon.

"We're not keeping you hostage, we..."

"Then what do you call this? Let me go, let me get some medical help here and then I will go back to my own business."

"I can't do that."

Xanatos briefly met Qui-Gon's gaze when he heard those words. "What are you trying to accomplish here, Master?"

"I will take you back to Coruscant where you will get the chance to defend yourself in front of the Council for what you've done in the past. That's all to it. Now sleep, you must still be very weak."

Qui-Gon's voice was a lot harsher now, the way Xanatos remembered it. The way it always became when Qui-Gon had decided he was going to have his way because he was convinced his way was the best for everyone involved.

Xanatos didn't reply to Qui-Gon's last remark, but just watched as Qui-Gon left the room, only to see his Padawan entering the room a minute later. Of course they wouldn't leave him alone for a minute. They didn't trust him any more than he trusted them. He looked at the boy. Only fifteen. Not a real challenge for him, usually, but he knew he wouldn't stand a chance, given the state he was in, never mind the restraints. His whole leg hurt and he'd probably managed to bruise his ribs as well - even breathing hurt.

Bruck. The boy was his only hope to get out of here. But would he come soon enough before Qui-Gon and his Sith-spawned Padawan would take him to Coruscant? Would Bruck even care enough about him and not take the money and leave? Bruck was still young, and while he seemed to be pretty loyal, Xanatos didn't know how much he could actually trust him.

Bruck would inherit all Xanatos had, he would become the leader of Offworld - should anything happen to Xanatos. He knew that if he were in Bruck's position, he'd take the money.

"Damn," Xanatos muttered under his breath, eyes fixed on the ceiling, before sleep pulled him under again.

He woke up again to Obi-Wan looking down at him. A bit disoriented, it took him a while to register where he was and to remember what had happened.

"What do you want?" He asked, irritation swinging in his voice.

"I thought you might want something to eat."

"No, thank you."

"Fine, then you can starve. I don't care," Obi-Wan said, before he sat down again in a chair on the opposite side of the room.

Xanatos stared at him for a while, taking in the Jedi in front of him. He was thin, limbs too long for his body, the grey eyes meeting his gaze curiously. Xanatos couldn't help but wonder what Qui-Gon had told him about their past. He doubted that he had told Obi-Wan the whole truth.

"So, does he fuck you?" He asked Obi-Wan out of the blue.

"Wha...? I don't think that's any of your business," Obi-Wan replied coldly.

"He had me, you know. He was very skilful, very good. We had our differences, sure, but the sex? The sex was always good." Xanatos smirked as he spoke. He could see Obi-Wan's face tightening and chuckled a bit at that. So the boy had probably been trying, but had been rejected. Or they were indeed sleeping with another. "I wouldn't be surprised if Qui-Gon slept with a fifteen year old. I wasn't much older either."

"I said it before, Xanatos. It is none of your business."

"What? Do you want him to touch you and he doesn't? You're jealous, aren't you? Jealous that he's more concerned about getting me back on the "right" track. That's it isn't --"

He was cut off mid-sentence by a scream - several, indeed - coming from the outside. He could see on Obi-Wan's face that he'd heard it too. And then there it was again, more screams, more urgent now, sounding like children screaming. Without giving it another thought, Obi-Wan was outside, leaving Xanatos alone.

Just a moment later, the door opened again. Xanatos lifted his head - and met the gaze of a smiling Bruck.

"Let's get you out of here," he said, before he loosened Xanatos' restraints and - with a bit help from the Force - almost carried him out of the house and into their small ship that was not far away. Bruck carefully laid Xanatos onto one of the beds and manoeuvred the ship out of the solar system before he set it to auto-pilot and came back aft to check on Xanatos.

"What happened?" Xanatos asked, still slightly confused.

"Let me check your injuries first, I will tell you while I have a look at them," Bruck replied, digging fresh bandages and some bacta out of the ship's decently-stocked medkit. Xanatos hissed as Bruck started to tend to his leg. "I knew where they brought you to, Xan, I've seen them coming from the mine when I was on my way towards it, having received the note about the accident. I'd been watching them for a few hours, and when I saw Qui-Gon leaving the house..."

"...you created a distraction," Xanatos finished the sentence.

"Exactly. So, I took advantage of the heavy rain and used the Force to change the flow of a nearby river and direct a flood to a house not far from where you and Obi-Wan were. Not seriously endangering the people in there, but enough to make him go out and want to help. In the chaos this caused, it was easy enough for me to sneak inside and get you out."

Xanatos smiled. "Very good, Bruck. Thank you. Thank you for getting me out of there."

"Well, I would have hated to see you in the hands of the Jedi," he answered while putting more bacta on Xanatos' leg. "And besides, I had to reciprocate for all the times you've rescued me. It's nice to see that you can get into trouble as well, Xan," Bruck smirked, chuckling a bit under his breath.

Xanatos gave him a look. "Now, don't go and start reminding me of that every hour of the day."

Instead of reacting to that, Bruck just injected him with a light pain killer and carefully removed the Force collar around Xanatos' neck, finally having found the right tool for opening the locks. He smiled as he heard Xanatos' breath of relief. "You will have to see a healer on Telos, Xan, but your leg should be as good as new within a week. Until then... you should sleep."

Xanatos just nodded and then watched Bruck leaving the room.

I was right about keeping him around, after all, he thought before he fell into a light sleep, finally being able to rest.

THE END