Long Walk to Forever

by Nightsister

Archive: M/A, all others please ask first

Category: AU, Non Q/O, Preslash

Rating: G

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of Lucasfilm or Scholastic Paperbacks. The author makes no money from this.

Summary: A prequel to The Returning Chamber - Qui-Gon is Knighted.

Feedback: sop2nd@yahoo.com

Notes: Fluff! Kurt Vonnegut and his short story of the same name shamelessly influenced this.

Thanks to: Editors/Betas Burgess (Knight Typo Killer) and majilique (Darth Poor, Sick Baby)

"You're leaving."

"Yes. Not forever."

"But you won't live here."

"No."

"Why are you leaving again?"

Qui-Gon put down his packed bag with a small sigh. He ran a hand through what felt like already growing hair, and thought that something was missing. It took a few seconds to realize that he no longer had his padawan braid. That his master had carefully clipped it off during yesterday's Knighting Ceremony. He smiled, remembering.

"Walk with me, Xan?"

The little boy looked at him suspiciously. "Where?"

His older padrin shrugged. "To the Room of a Thousand Fountains?"

"Okay."

They slowly walked out of their suite and down the hallway, hands tucked into robes, if only because Xanatos was six and his legs were far shorter than Qui-Gon's. They walked through a bustling Temple, filled with Jedi moving this way and that, busy in their own thoughts and activities. Some, with shorn hair but no braid, having just gone through the same Ceremony as Qui-Gon, were also on their way to their first missions. They were leaving their loved ones behind, too.

"I won't be gone forever," Qui-Gon said suddenly.

"It'll feel like it," Xanatos replied.

They continued walking. Qui-Gon almost offered to pick his padrin up, but something inexplicable inside him wanted this walk to continue as long as possible.

"I'll bring you presents."

The little boy looked at him, hurt. "I don't want presents if it means you'll stay."

Through the transparisteel lined Grand Hallway, past the swimming pools. The shouts of laughter coming from the pools brought another smile to Qui-Gon's face. He remembered coming here with Xanatos, when he would carry his padrin on his shoulders and take him into the deep end. Xanatos would scream, but with delight rather than fear. The little boy knew that while he had Qui-Gon, he was safe.

Qui-Gon tried again, gamely. "We all have to go away. You'll go away too, after your trials. I'll be back before you know it."

"But I'll miss you."

The lump caught in Qui-Gon's throat. "I'll miss you too." The newly made knight sighed. He really didn't know how he could leave this boy. But he had to. Everybody had to go, sometime.

"I love you, you know."

Xanatos considered those words carefully. Finally, he nodded. "I know. I love you, too. So you'll be back?"

"Yes."

Xanatos turned and offered his hand.

They kept walking.

END