A Thousand Lifetimes

by Susan Anthony

Title: A Thousand Lifetimes
Author: Susan Anthony (LdyGossamer@aol.com)
Pairing: Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon
Archive: Master_Apprentice, my site at http://www.geocities.com/area51/keep/8613/artists.html, anyone else, just ask
Category: AR, Drama, Angst, Deathfic, DPS
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none
Summary: A Knight and his squire confront an ages old evil.
Feedback: Very welcome.
Notes: In honor of Beta Appreciation Day (which I think was yesterday). Thank you for all the wonderful betas, Maig! A DPS fic.
Warnings: M/M relationship, major angst, very angsty, I hate angst.
Disclaimer: The Boyz aren't mine. More's the pity. This story is for the pleasure of the readers only. I don't make a thing.

The squire followed his master through the darkened hallways, his knight's armor eerily catching the light from the few torches set into the walls. The young warrior sighed to himself and rubbed the back of his neck slowly as he glanced around. The itching at the base of his skull that had always preceded the most unpleasant happenings in his life was steadily increasing.

In other words, he had a bad feeling about this.

But the young man followed his master unreservedly as he had since he took his first steps a little more than a score of years before. There was nowhere Qui-Gon could go that Obi-Wan would not follow and this dark place was no exception. The simplest novice could feel the evil in this keep and he and his lord were far from novices.

But, the squire thought in the very depths of his mind, even Knight Jinn's magic might not be strong enough to defeat Sidious though Jinn's army had all but destroyed the black sorcerer's mercenaries. So, Obi-Wan naturally had to make sure Qui-Gon got out safely. He'd had to talk fast and furiously to get Qui-Gon to let him follow into this place but following his knight was a squire's job after all and his master was NOT going in alone.

"Obi-Wan?" came his lord's low words as the pair approached the center of the evil in this place. The squire stepped closer to the tall knight.

"Master?"

"Stay close to me," Qui-Gon said as he turned and gave the young man a long look. In the shadows, it was hard to tell the exact expression but Obi-Wan caught his breath as his lord reached out and gently touched his cheek. "And look to your shields. I want nothing to happen to you after reaching so far."

The squire briefly touched the back of his master's hand as he leaned his cheek into the rough palm.

"I'll be at your side as always, my master," he said softly. "See to your own shields, as well, for I have no need of a new master."

The knight gave a small, brief smile as he ran his fingers into the younger man's hair.

"You need a haircut," he commented idly as though they weren't poised on the brink of a deadly confrontation with darkness. Obi-Wan smiled, his light eyes shining.

"I'll tend to it this evening, Master," he said.

"See that you do," the tall knight said as he returned his attention to the doorway in before them.

They could both feel the darkness emanating from behind those solid blackoak doors. And to combat it, Obi-Wan could feel the power of light surging from his master and blowing a hole in the wall the size of which four horses abreast could ride though. The young squire's eyes widened.

"I think you overdid it, Master," he noted just before the pair moved forward, prepared for battle.

They immediately strengthened their mental shields against the death and corruption that permeated the room. The black stones practically moaned with the evil seeped from the accumulated years this place had been used by the sorcerer, Sidious, and the young squire didn't look too closely at the puddles he and his master stepped in as they passed.

With all the evil rolling across the room, however, the warriors were surprised to find only a single figure in the vast hall. At least, Obi-Wan was surprised. His master seemed to expect it. Midway across the hall, Qui-Gon stopped and sheathed his weapon and then motioned for his squire to do the same. Obi-Wan growled under his breath but reluctantly followed his master's order.

The man they had come to defeat sat in an obsidian throne on the far side of the hall, watching the pair with no expression. For a moment, the man glanced behind the pair and then he smiled. Obi-Wan was certain he was going to have nightmares about that smile.

"All alone, Qui-Gon? How typical." The man's voice was smooth and as deadly as a blade. "Again you overestimate your abilities."

"It is not my army that stands defeated outside my own gates, Sidious," the knight replied calmly. "And I am never alone."

"Ah yes." The sorcerer's pale eyes moved over Obi-Wan and the squire felt his own power move within him though the man made no move to attack. He only set his elbow on one arm of his throne and propped his chin thoughtfully. "Your little Sh'Iair. How convenient that half your soul could be lost so easily, Qui-Gon."

Obi-Wan stilled at the sorcerer's words, his eyes narrowing. What the hells was a Sh'Iair? He wanted to ask badly but he wouldn't distract his master now. It would be something to discuss this evening, no doubt, after he'd cut his hair.

His confusion, however, showed and Sidious seemed delighted.

"You haven't told him, my old enemy? Now why would that be?"

Qui-Gon didn't answer. His eyes hard, he started forward. As ever, Obi-Wan followed, pressing his questions down as he mentally prepared for the battle.

Sidious leaned forward, his gaze cold and bright. "Perhaps I should kill you, instead, Qui-Gon, and take what's left of your Sh'Iair for my apprentice. Then I could rip the rest of his soul out at my leisure."

"I hope you plan to fight me, Sidious, but one way or the other, you're going to die today," the knight growled as his power coalesced between his hands. The sorcerer shook his head and stood.

"I'm not going to fight you, Qui-Gon Jinn," Sidious said, as he raised his hands. "I'm going to curse you."

The two warriors strengthened their mage shields and Qui-Gon released a burst of energy that demolished the obsidian throne. But the power of the curse was already rolling across the room, raising the liquid from the floor around them and bathing them in a solid sheet of blood. Obi-Wan screamed before he was able to smother the sound and fell to his knees as the blood burned into his skin and his mind. He wiped at the liquid frantically, trying to get it off but the dark blood clung to his skin like a leech. Beside him, Qui-Gon didn't quite fall but Obi-Wan felt his master's pain almost as greatly as his own.

"Hurt did it?" the sorcerer said gleefully. "Virgin blood works best in these kinds of spells, you know. Better even if you know the virgin. Perhaps you remember Amidalia?"

Qui-Gon's sister, Obi-Wan's friend, Coresan's queen.

Silently, Qui-Gon moved forward as Obi-Wan staggered to his feet.

"Dead dead dead dead," Obi-Wan muttered as he pulled at his power. It was muted but there. He wiped the blood from his eyes. He'd kill Sidious with his bare hands if he had to.

"But don't think that she died in vain, noble knights," Sidious hissed, moving his hands through the air in glowing black patterns. "She died so that you two might live a thousand lifetimes together. Each life finding each other, souls linked, hearts filled with passion." The sorcerer's hands finally completed their pattern and snapped forward, releasing a spell of such malevolent power that the floor shook as it rolled across the stones and engulfed the knight and his squire. "And each time losing that love, again and again, one living a long lifetime, the other losing his life defending his Sh'Iair."

"NO!" Qui-Gon roared as he pressed beyond the darkness towards Sidious, light flying from his bloody hands. If there ever had been mercy in the knight's eyes, it was long gone and the sorcerer felt a moment's fear.

"Why don't we just start the curse now," he grated out as he triggered a spell he'd prepared, knowing Qui-Gon would come to find him. Blades of black light swept from his fingertips and struck just as the knight's squire flung himself before his master, taking the arrows of black fire into his own chest.

"OBI-WAN!" The scream was ripped from Qui-Gon's throat as his soulmate slammed against him with the force of the spell, pushing the knight back a few steps. For a few moments only, Obi-Wan's agony rolled across the bond Jinn had never told his squire about as Qui-Gon held the limp form close. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Always...beside you...beloved. Obi-Wan's first words singing through the soulbond, the last words Qui-Gon Jinn would ever hear from his soulmate.

There was a moment's silence in the hall as the knight gently laid his squire on the floor.

He'd managed to throw off the blood's interference and his shields had snapped into place a moment too late. Sidious bombarded them with magics black and powerful but Qui-Gon hardly noticed as he caressed his dead soulmate's bloody cheek. Slowly he reached down and closed that light green gaze for the last time.

Then he stood and turned a new face to his enemy. There was no fear in him, no mercy, no feelings at all. All had been cut off the moment the soulbond had been severed.

For Qui-Gon, only the single sure fact remained that Sidious was now going to die.

Legends would grow on Coresan, told by the men who'd fought in the service of the light and defeated Sidious' army of darkness. Legends of the explosions of light and darkness that preceded the fall of half of his Castle and the mountain behind it.

Beyond the legends, myths would be wound about the figure of Qui-Gon Jinn appearing from the smoking rubble, carrying his dead squire close, his face holding an expression of grief that could not be looked upon. Hardened warriors melted out of his path until one man dared to come before him.

"My Lord," Merlan, the Captain of the Guard said as he knelt before the knight. "The sorcerer's army is defeated. They cry for mercy."

"No." The word dropped from his lips as a stone. "No mercy. None. They follow Sidious to their graves."

"As my lord commands," the Captain said, concealing his shock. Knight Jinn was known far across the lands of the North Continent to be compassionate and merciful. As the fighter glanced up at his lord, however, he found none of those aspects in the expression on the mage's face.

"You will also spend the time necessary to raze what's left of this castle to its foundation," Qui-Gon continued, his voice completely neutral, his eyes almost bleeding with tears he refused to shed. "And you will sow salt into the ground for ten miles in every direction. Nothing is to live here ever again."

Merlan looked up, unable to hide his shock this time. The knight merely looked at him, cradling the body of his Sh'Iair. "Is that clear, Captain?"

"Yes, my lord," the man said, bowing his head again. "As my lord commands."

Qui-Gon said nothing further as he stepped past his Captain and carried his precious burden towards the tents.

No one stood in his way.

The End

More Notes: For the Dead Padawan Society -- I killed a thousand padawans with this one fic. Do I get more points for that? <eg>