Master Apprentice Archive Moments Quick search:

Categories: Angst

Homepage: http://www.sundive.co.uk/

Rating: PG

Fandom: Star Wars Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones

Pairing: Obi/Qui implied

Archive: MA, others, just ask

Spoilers: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2, DEPENDING ON HOW CLOSE TO THE TRUTH THE SPOILERS I HAVE ARE!!! BE WARNED!!!

Thanks to: My wonderful beta reader Tomy for beta reading after my usual notice!

Disclaimer: characters are beloved creations of and copyright George Lucas. I'm just playing with them.

In the heat of the moment, in the terror of the fight, time stood still for a single second.

And in that second, Obi-Wan saw the darkness that he'd only glimpsed ten years ago.

Anakin's eyes shone with it, as they had when Obi-Wan had first met him, crouched over his master in the belly of a Naboo cruiser.

"Anakin Skywalker, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Here, now, against their strongest enemy, Anakin had turned upon his own master. Their bond was shimmering with a feeling Obi-Wan didn't like. It was cold, hard.

Anakin had surprised him, had been a bright light in his mind where their training bond linked them.

But now, that light was tinged with darkness.

The other lightsaber swung away from him, and Obi-Wan took a calming breath, releasing his sudden terror to the force.

With the grace of a true Jedi, he centred himself in the moment and fought for his life.

At his side, Anakin fought for his very soul.

"What was that?" Obi-Wan demanded once they were alone in the quarters they'd shared for ten years.

Anakin threw his lightsaber onto the cushions below the tall window. "I knew you would make something of it!" he growled, shrugging his robe from his shoulders as he crossed the living area, heading for his room.

Obi-Wan caught him, grabbing at his arm as he passed by.

"You turned on me!" he stated, as calmly as he could manage. "You swung at me. And I know you meant it."

Anakin scowled. "If I'd have meant it, you'd be dead." Obi-Wan saw the regret shape his padawan's expression immediately. "I'm sorry," the boy looked away. "I... I shouldn't have said that."

Releasing the boy's arm, the Jedi Knight stepped back. "Why?" he asked, asking the rest of the question silently, through their mental link. He sent not words, but feelings, images, memories.

For a few moments, Anakin stayed quiet. But finally he spoke the thought that had been in his mind ever since he'd chosen this path. "You never wanted me." He didn't raise his head.

"What?"

Anakin planted his feet firmly, putting confidence into his poise that he didn't feel. Yet... he found that there was venom in his voice when he explained himself.

"From the very moment we met, you've disliked me, been jealous of me. Qui-Gon found me, chose me and when he rejected you to take me in your place, your hatred for me grew." He could see his master's body tense, but Obi-Wan had shielded his feelings tightly. "If he hadn't been killed by Maul on Naboo, he'd have been forced to choose and you know he would have picked me over you."

Turning back, Obi-Wan's blue eyes were as hard as ice. "You don't know anything about Qui-Gon. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know what I heard in the council chamber! He rejected you!"

A tiny, wry smile touched Obi-Wan's lips. "Yes. He always was an impulsive son-of-a-sith. He apologised later, of course. He had no choice. If he hadn't have apologised, he'd have been sleeping on the floor of the Queen's ship, and he knew it."

Anakin stared at his master for a moment, his mouth opening but his argument had vanished from his lips.

"...I don't...."

Obi-Wan smiled gently, anger dissipated into the force. "Whoever you believed Qui-Gon to be, you were wrong. He always had to be right, always had to do exactly what the council told him not to. You were a gift for him in that regard." Crossing to the window, Obi-Wan gazed out at the view he'd shared with his own master for so many years. In a quiet voice, he told his padawan, "Qui-Gon and I were lovers from the night before my sixteenth birthday."

"Lovers?" Anakin's brow creased. "You were...." He didn't know what to say, how to feel... how could his master have kept that from him? "No wonder you hated me."

"I never hated you. I took you on as my apprentice less than twelve hours after the man I loved, the man who was the other half of my soul, had died in my arms. I needed time and I didn't take it. That, at least, was my fault."

Anakin shook his head slowly. He wanted to scream and shout and make his master promise him that despite what he'd just said, Obi-Wan loved his padawan more than anything in the universe. But he knew now that it would never be.

And he couldn't throw a temper tantrum like a child.

Instead, he continued on into his room, leaving his master to consider what had happened, and just what fate held for the both of them.

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