Master Apprentice 
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Archive: MA, XEB, anyone else, just ask.
Category: AU, Angst, Drama, Non Q/O, Pre-Slash
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None, pays absolutely no attention to canon
Summary: An unexpected encounter in the Temple leads the Jedi Order onto a different path.
Feedback: Very welcome.
Notes: Believe it or not, this was initially inspired by the short fic, "Encounters", by BeElleGee. Where the rest of it came from, I have no idea. I'm blaming the allergy meds.
More Notes: Again, thanks to my most excellent beta reader, Maig.
Warnings: M/M relationship. This is a very different AU. BASTARD!Council members.
Padawan Xanatos Chiyari sighed deeply, reaching for patience as he followed his master through the hallways of the Jedi Temple.
"Master, I do not understand why they pulled us from Uaavan Prime just to settle a civil dispute on Telos," he said in an obviously impatient tone. "You could have done a much better job on Uaavan than Knight Yulix."
His master sent him a half-smile. "The Council must have its reasons, my padawan," he said calmly. "Yulix will do fine. We must trust that the Councilors know what is for the best.
The apprentice tried to release his disbelieving snort to the Force before it popped out. He didn't agree with that statement at all but he confined his grumbling to the back of his mind. He sighed and tried to echo his master's serene expression.
He had almost achieved at least an outer serenity when a pack of initiates bounded around the corner, laughing and making enough noise to be a pack of wild hyines. Xanatos watched them with a disgusted look as they romped past.
"They should have more respect in the Temple, Master," the padawan noted as he watched the pack disappear around the corner.
"They're children, Xan," Qui-Gon replied with a faint smile. "They're just playing."
Xanatos' lip curled ever so slightly and he was about to respond when another initiate, perhaps four years of age, veered around the corner and bounced solidly off the young man's legs. The little one hit the floor with a surprised squeak. Slowly, the boy looked up, his mouth hanging open in surprise before he met the padawan's irritated gaze.
Green eyes, Xanatos thought absently as he glared down at the little pest. The boy shouldn't be running alone through the halls at all, much less with such clear, green eyes, so deep, so innocent. Xanatos took a long slow breath, trying to find his focus but he was completely caught by those young eyes. Had he ever been so innocent? Pure soul, pure heart, pure beauty inside and out? So clear, so beautiful, so very bright....
"Xanatos?" his master queried after a moment and the padawan instinctively glanced at him, breaking contact with the little initiate's wide gaze. His mind seemed so fuzzy that he couldn't focus on what his master was saying. Qui-Gon's lips were moving but Xanatos couldn't concentrate, didn't understand the words. Instead, he turned away and almost without thought, he knelt beside the still staring toddler and held out his hand.
"Are you all right, Obi-Wan?" he asked softly, not surprised to find the little one's name on his lips.
"Yes," the toddler replied, still wide-eyed and staring at the padawan. He took Xanatos' hand trustingly and stood as one of the Crèche Masters finally caught up with her wayward charge.
"Master Jinn!" she gasped. "Did you see...?"
Qui-Gon looked from his stunned padawan to the panting Master of Initiates.
"They went that way," he said, pointing down the hall. "We'll make sure this one is returned to the crèche."
The woman gave Qui-Gon a thankful grin and took off again after her charges. Master Jinn, however, had already turned his attention back to his padawan. Xanatos was still kneeling on the floor with the toddler. Had Xani called him Obi-Wan? The two stared at each other in silence.
Finally, the little boy stepped forward and lay his tiny palm on Xanatos' cheek. Obi-Wan's rather plain little face was transformed by a brilliant smile.
"Xani!" he said as if it was the most amazing thing on the planet. His padawan gave a delighted chuckle.
"Xanatos, little one," the young man corrected as he touched Obi-Wan's nose.
Qui-Gon stared at his padawan's open gesture of affection. And towards a child, no less! His padawan was famed far and wide throughout the Temple for his amazing ability to get out of crèche duty.
"XANtoes!" Obi-Wan replied with a clap of his hands, "XanTOES, XANTOES!" The toddler jumped up and down as he laughed happily and then he jumped right into Xanatos' arms before he snuggled against the padawan's throat. "XANtoes!" he said in a tone of supreme satisfaction.
The Jedi Master watched in amazement as his padawan hugged the boy tightly to him. The expression on Xanatos' face as he looked down into the little boy's eyes was one of surprised affection and amazement.
"My Obi-Wan," he heard Xanatos whisper as Obi-Wan's tiny hand curled around the apprentice braid that hung almost to Xanatos' waist.
Qui-Gon knelt beside his oblivious padawan and reached out to touch Xanatos' shoulder. "Padawan?" he said in a gentle tone. Xanatos didn't respond as the boy in his arms said something softly in his ear. The apprentice chuckled softly and whispered something back that delighted the toddler to no end.
Master Jinn leaned back slightly, his blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He could feel the Force moving in thick currents around his padawan and the little boy Xan held so closely. Carefully, the master reached through the training bond he shared with his apprentice and suddenly found himself overwhelmed by the affection, devotion and love that sheered off an amazingly strong bond that wound between his padawan and the little boy in Xanatos' arms.
Qui-Gon knew that there had been nothing like that bond in his padawan's mind before today so it must have formed in just the few minutes the pair had been sitting here, on the floor, in a back hall of the Temple. What amazed the Jedi Master even more than the spontaneous bond was that he could not see a shred of the anger his padawan usually held tightly in check but could never completely release to the Force. There was light, yes, and amazement, a little boy's laughter and then the almost blinding joy within Xanatos himself that Qui-Gon had never before seen.
Gently, he pulled his mind back even as Xanatos and Obi-Wan both turned to look at him with radiant eyes. The little boy precariously leaned forward in Xanatos' arms as he reached out to lay his palm on Qui-Gon's face.
"Master!" he stated and then looked quickly back at Xanatos with a questioning expression on his little face. The padawan laughed.
"That's right, Obi-Wan," Xanatos said with a smile. "And what am I?"
Obi-Wan looked thoughtful for a moment and then brightened as he yanked Xanatos' braid. "PADwan!"
The padawan yelped and Qui-Gon chuckled. Obi-Wan smiled at the master and clapped. "PADwan XANtoes!" Then he threw his arms around Xanatos' neck and squeezed.
"That is correct, Obi-Wan," the Master said in an amused tone. "But now I think we should be getting you back to the dormitories. We seem to be blocking traffic."
Xanatos nodded slowly as he rose from the floor, his arms tightly clasped around Obi-Wan. The pair was completely wrapped up in each other as Master Jinn led his padawan's steps towards the Initiate dormitories.
A spontaneous bond. Between his apprentice and an initiate.
Qui-Gon resisted the urge to sigh as he glanced towards his oblivious padawan. To say this was certainly going to cause a stir in certain quarters was the understatement of the decade.
As soon as they entered the dorms that housed the youngest initiates, a wall of sound echoing off the high ceilings hit the trio. Evidently, it was time for free-play and the children were making the most of it. Obi-Wan immediately wriggled to be put down, a laugh bubbling from his lips as he grabbed Xanatos' hand and dragged him across the room. Initiates looked up from around the room and called out cheerful greetings to Obi-Wan which he happily replied to without changing his course once. Qui-Gon followed the pair with a bemused smile on his lips as the boy towed his padawan towards the long row of beds that stretched down one wall.
Finally, Obi-Wan let go of his new bondmate's hand - for that is exactly what his padawan now was, Qui-Gon reminded himself - and ran to the cot that was obviously his. The little boy jumped on his bed, enjoying the bounce for a moment before he grabbed up the stuffed wookie that sat proudly on his pillow. He turned to Xanatos and held up the stuffed animal.
"This is Baka!" he announced loudly as he showed off the well-worn wookie.
Xanatos looked suitably impressed which impressed his master even more. "He's very handsome, Obi-Wan," the padawan said as he reached out to touch the stuffed wookie. The toddler looked immensely pleased as he crawled into Xanatos' lap once more, one hand curling around Xani's braid while the other held tightly to his wookie. The padawan's arms wrapped around the little boy without thought as Xanatos settled himself against the bed's headboard.
Qui-Gon sighed as he watched the four-year-old doze off in Xanatos' arms while the padawan watched, his dark eyes still glazed with amazement.
"Xan?" Qui-Gon said gently as he touched his apprentice's shoulder. Xanatos looked up and his master had to smile at the radiant look he found in the young man's eyes.
"Yes, Master?" he asked in a low voice despite the racket of twenty something toddlers were making across the room.
"I'm going to the Council to inform them that they will have to get another pair of Jedi to go to Telos."
Xanatos' eyebrows came together, his expression one of concern. "I'm sorry to cause this problem, Master," he said before he glanced down at the child in his lap. With an almost reverent expression, he pushed the little boy's tawny hair out of his eyes. Obi-Wan snuggled closer as he smiled in his sleep.
"Don't worry about it, padawan," Qui-Gon replied with a small smile. "The Force has its ways." The Master Jedi laid his hand on his padawan's shoulder. "I'll be back soon."
"Thank you, Master," Xanatos replied as he leaned back and closed his eyes. Qui-Gon wasn't surprised when he followed the little one into sleep. A bond like the one that had formed between these two would take quite some getting used to. The tall Jedi expected his padawan and the little one to sleep quite a bit over the next few days.
Turning away from the little bed and its occupants, Qui-Gon made his way through the crèche and into the main Temple. Absently, he pulled up his hood and folded his hands together as he moved through the hallways. Mentally, he braced himself for the upcoming scene with the Council. He knew it would not be pleasant.
"You cannot go to Telos, Qui-Gon?" Master Mace Windu asked, his brows rising slightly.
"Unfortunately not," Qui-Gon replied solemnly. "It seems my padawan has..." the man hesitated and members of the Council suddenly fixed their undivided attention on him. Qui-Gon never hesitated, never doubted his words. Had the vision concerning Xanatos already come to pass? "It seems my padawan has bonded to a young initiate of the crèche," he finally finished, his tone expressionless. "They need time to allow the bond to settle before my padawan and I are given another assignment offworld,"
"Bonded to an initiate?" Ki-Adi Mundi asked in his soft voice. Qui-Gon could hear the surprise in his voice.
"Who is the initiate?"
Qui-Gon turned to his master. "His name is Obi-Wan, my master."
There was complete silence across the room.
"You must be mistaken, Qui-Gon," Mace finally said.
"There is no mistake." Qui-Gon glanced from Councilor to Councilor. "It happened this afternoon. It took less than a moment for it to build between them but I have never seen a stronger bond." The tall jedi clasped his hands together within his sleeves as he looked to his former master. "I believe it is a soul bond."
"Impossible, it is!" Yoda snapped in a tone Qui-Gon had never heard him use before.
Qui-Gon was quiet for a moment before he bowed slightly. "Master, you have told me many times that nothing is impossible for the Force."
Yoda had nothing to say to that but Qui-Gon could feel the little Jedi's disquiet.
"We need you on Telos, Qui-Gon, you and Xanatos," Mace said into the quiet of the chamber.
"Mace, I have never before refused an assignment but I must do so now. Xanatos must be allowed time with his bondmate."
"You must go," Yarael Poof said, his quiet voice firm. "We need our most skilled negotiators there. It is vitally important that you be the one to go."
Qui-Gon glanced around the Council Chamber, mentally cursing the members to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
"Very well," he finally said, "I will go on the condition that Xanatos stays here on Coruscant and is allowed as much time with Obi-Wan as needed to develop the bond between them."
"Jedi Knights do not dictate the condition of mission acceptance, Master Jinn," Mace stated flatly.
Qui-Gon turned a cold blue gaze at the Council Member. "Jedi Knights also do not go against the Tradition of the Soul Bond, Master Windu." The tall Jedi dropped his arms and stared directly at the dark-skinned master. "I would not be questioned were I to invoke its laws."
Mace's mouth thinned to a single line as he struggled not to push the Jedi Master standing before him farther.
"Go to Telos, you will, Qui-Gon," Yoda suddenly said. "When return you do, discuss this further we will."
Master Jinn gave his former master a slight bow. "Thank you, my Master," he said before he turned and left the chamber. Silence reined after he left as the Council Members mentally discussed the ramifications of Qui-Gon's padawan bonding to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Obi-Wan slept restlessly on his solitary initiate's cot, his little mind searching for the presence of a bondmate who was not there. While Xanatos had been allowed to stay on Coruscant, once Qui-Gon was gone he had hardly been allowed to see his new bondmate for more than a few minutes at a time. The Council members found something to keep him occupied almost every moment of the first day after his Master's departure. Later that evening, the young man had staggered to his quarters and fell asleep without even changing his clothes, his mind under the powerful suggestion of exhaustion.
His bondmate had shared in that mental exhaustion but unlike Xanatos, Obi-Wan slept only lightly, his dreams restless and foreboding. He had been given a small cot in a private area of the crèche where he and Xanatos were supposed to be able to spend time together but Xani had spent little time there and it was unfamiliar to the small boy. Obi-Wan had awakened several times already and though he felt ragged with fatigue, he sighed and turned over, clutching his stuffed toy tighter to his chest. He drifted for a time until a truly nagging sense of foreboding swept over his little form and he sat up to find three figures moving towards him in the shadows.
Without a thought, the little boy was running across the floor in the opposite direction, shouting mentally for his bondmate. Xanatos, however, was so deeply beneath the Force suggestion of sleep that he couldn't respond.
Obi-Wan felt the hands grab him from behind and he struggled, screaming for Xanatos.
"Shhh, little one, be still," one voice whispered.
"No no! Dark, you're dark!" Obi-Wan screamed. "Let go, let go, XANTOES!"
"Do it, Depa," a second voice said harshly, "before he wakes up the entire building."
"He's frightened, Mace," Depa responded as she struggled to hold the child. "He knows..."
"XANtoes! XANTOES!"
"He's just a child," Mace replied.
"That's right, Mace, he is just a child and I am not going to do this," she finally said in a firm tone, holding the little boy closer.
Obi-Wan suddenly turned in her embrace and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Please please!" he whimpered. "XANtoes! Please!"
Depa pushed the boy's hair back from his face. "We'll bring Xanatos to you, child," she said softly.
"No, we won't," Mace said in a deadly flat tone as he reached out his hand and touched Obi-Wan's forehead.
"Mace! NO!" Depa screamed as Obi-Wan stiffened at the intrusion Mace forced into his mind. A moment later, Mace's mental push was followed by the third Council member present and together Mace and Plo Koon snapped the fledgling soul bond in Obi-Wan's mind.
"XANTOES!!!!"
Across the Temple, every room in the levels surrounding Qui-Gon Jinn's apartment heard the soul-tearing scream of his padawan.
"OBI-WAN!!!!"
Qui-Gon Jinn stood before the Jedi Council, his face drawn and angry as he glared at them in silence.
"Sorry, we are, for the loss of your padawan, Master Jinn," Yoda began but Qui-Gon interrupted harshly.
"I very much doubt that."
"You will moderate your tone, Master Jinn," Mace Windu said, his eyes cold. Qui-Gon turned to the man who had once been his closest friend.
"We realize you have run yourself into exhaustion tracking your former padawan but that is no excuse for such behavior," another member rebuked.
"If this Council was sorry, I would feel it and all I feel is smug satisfaction." The master glared around the hall.
"Padawan Chiyari turned, just as we thought he would," Mace continued. "He killed three knights before he fled the Temple. No doubt he would have killed Obi-Wan if he could get to him."
"Saw his destiny, I did," Master Yoda said, stamping his walking stick on the floor. "Saw his weakness, his darkness. Blinded you were!"
"His darkness?" Qui-Gon's blue eyes shone hard in the afternoon light. "Master, there was not a speck of darkness in my padawan. Anger, yes, which he was learning to control and with Obi-Wan's help, I have no doubt he would have banished that anger completely. But there was no Darkness before you and the Council, in your infinite wisdom, decided to rip out his soulbond."
The master's tone was witheringly sarcastic as the feelings flowing in the Council room turned angry. Qui-Gon didn't even acknowledge the pain that passed over his former master's face.
"Master Jinn, this Council does what is best for the Jedi and you would do well to remember that," Master Adi Gallia said sharply.
"It is you who should remember that, Master Gallia," Qui-Gon snapped back. "Where is the good in ripping a soulbond - a bond sacred to the Jedi - from the minds of a padawan and a boy?"
"Agree with the Council's actions I did not but for the best this might be," Yoda insisted as he glared at his former padawan. "A destiny has young Obi-Wan, a destiny that did not include your padawan!"
"Destiny?" Qui-Gon snarled. "Master, Obi-Wan is catatonic from the Council attentions!" He saw Master Billaba flinch and look away.
"Recover he will!" Yoda insisted. "Great Jedi Knight he will be!"
"I see nothing great about the Jedi, my Master," Qui-Gon ground out. "Not anymore."
"Qui-Gon, that is enough!" Mace shouted as he stood in the silence of the Council Chamber. The two stared at each other and then Qui-Gon slowly nodded.
"Yes, Mace, it is enough," he said quietly. The Jedi Master slid his robe from his shoulders and threw it on the floor, followed by the ring he wore, stamped with the ensignia of the Jedi. Then he unsnapped his lightsaber, opened the casing, and carefully withdrew the crystals, which he then pocketed. He glanced around the Council Chamber a final time. "I am no longer Jedi," he stated clearly. "I follow the Light and for me, the two are no longer one."
Then Master Qui-Gon Jinn tossed the empty casing of the lightsaber he had worked on thoughout his whole life to the floor.
"May the Force be with you, Councilors," Qui-Gon said in a serene tone. "May it bring on you the same as you have brought on me and mine." Then he turned and left the room, leaving the currents of the Force moving sorrowfully in his wake.
Master Yoda stood before the windows of the empty Council Chamber as he studied the never-ending traffic of Coruscant's night skies. He felt rather than heard Mace Windu's approach. The younger master stood silently beside him.
"Gone is he?" Yoda finally asked, his old voice tired.
"Yes." Mace's tone was cold.
The pair stood in silence once more, one Jedi mourning the loss of a padawan he knew he would never regain, while the other coldly set aside what feelings he had once held for his beloved yearmate. The Jedi were right in this and no one, not even Qui-Gon Jinn, had the right to deny that.
The two Councilors were still standing their silent vigil when they were joined by a third. Mace turned and gave the new arrival a nod.
"Master Billaba," he greeted. She looked at the two, her brown eyes filled with sadness.
"Master Yoda, Master Windu," she finally replied as she knelt before the elder master. "I have already spoken to the others on the Council and now only you remain." Gently, almost reverently, she slid her cloak from her shoulders and laid it at the feet of the small Jedi Master. Mace watched in shock as she repeated the motions of Master Jinn, laying first her robe, then her ring and finally, sorrowfully, her lightsaber before Yoda. "I officially resign from my seat on the Council. I am leaving the Jedi."
"Master Billaba, do this you must not!" Yoda said, his eyes wide with shock.
"I am sorry, Master, but I too feel the Council was wrong in their actions towards Padawan Chiyari and Initiate Kenobi." Her eyes shimmered with tears as she thought of the little boy. "We were very wrong to interfere and see what it has brought us. The loss of two potential knights and a proven master, the death of three proven knights."
"Chiyari would have turned regardless, Depa!" Mace insisted hotly, "And Jinn made his own choice."
But the woman slowly shook her head as she rose.
"We do not know this, Master Windu," she said as she stepped back. "Only the Force knows for sure, the same Force that brought that soulbond into being in the first place."
She took a deep breath as she looked around the room for a final time. Then she turned back to Mace and Yoda. Her face was expressionless.
"One final thing, Masters," she said as she turned to go, "Early this afternoon, Master Healer Olinkin asked me to pass along the fact that Initiate Kenobi seems to have disappeared from the infirmary."
"What!" Mace yelled as he took a step forward. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Find him we must!" Yoda said, his agitated tone echoing through the room.
"Olinkin has no idea how long he has been missing," Depa noted as she walked towards the door. "His healers can't seem to remember when the boy disappeared."
Mace took several steps and grabbed her arm. He looked into her serene face, his dark eyes hard as glass. "How could you do this, Depa?" he growled.
She looked at him a long time. "No, Mace. How could we do this? It is time for the Council to reexamine itself. I can only pray that the Force guides you to the wisdom you will need to do so."
With a final nod, Master Depa Billaba glided from the Council Chamber for the last time.
END