Archive: SWAL, M&A - anywhere else please let me know first
Archive Date: March 11, 2000
Category: Alternate-Universe, Angst, Non-Q/O, Drama
Feedback: Pretty, pretty please!
Notes: When I first read Kristi's story 'Dissolution', it
physically *hurt* me. I was in a royal funk for two hours, and then
I sat down to write this to 'heal' myself. I sent it to Kristi, and
she has graciously given her permission for me to post this sequel to
her story. Let it be understood that, although set in this alternate
universe that she has created, 'Sea Change' is in no way to be
considered part of Kristi's 'canon', and that any sequel she may write
in the future to 'Dissolution' will probably completely contradict
this story. Thanks for letting me play in your sandbox, Kristi! ;D
Rating: R
Series: This story won't make much sense without reading Kristi's story
first, which is archived at:
http://www.sockiipress.org/ma/a2/dissolution.html
Spoilers: So AU it's not a factor.
Summary: When Qui-Gon betrays Obi-Wan's years of love and
devotion to pursue another, a stranger appears with an intriguing offer.
Warnings: Non-Q/O, continues Kristi's story of RatBastard!Qui-Gon,
with an appearance by that other poor abused apprentice, Darth Maul.
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.
Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'
He sat in his single knight's chamber, alone in the dark. He had written in his journal, but it hadn't helped. Not really. He was still here - alone. Qui-Gon was still across the Temple at his lifebond ceremony with Master Windu. And the universe still made no sense to him anymore.
In stories this was where the hero or heroine took their life in despair, causing their beloved to come to their senses and spend the rest of their lives in penance and mourning.
But those were stories. The fact was, if he did end his life on Qui- Gon's bonding day, he doubted the Jedi Master would even be told for days. And certainly his death would be nothing but a blessing to his former master and lifebonded. It would only make Jinn's life easier. That monster - that person - wasn't capable of remorse. If he hadn't cared when he lied to his supposed bondmate while cheating on him with another, how would something as trivial as death disturb him?
And he wasn't motivated to kill himself. It seemed - wasteful. His life and independence was all he had left, and to throw it away for a man who disdained him - it was not an act worthy of a Jedi. It was not worthy of anyone.
So what to do now?
He sat quietly in the darkness, pondering the empty years ahead, when the doorchime sounded.
Who could it be? Some pitying soul wishing to offer comfort? Someone sent by the Council to ascertain that he hadn't thrust his lightsaber into his chest? Mildly curious, he called out, "Enter."
The creature that entered his chamber was no one he knew - he knew that at a glance. He would never forget this figure's appearance. It was a man, enfolded in a dark robe. Beneath the hood he saw vivid red and black lines across the being's face. He sat up sharply.
"Yes? May I help you?" he asked.
The figure nodded, and raised its hands to lower the hood. The lines on his face covered his head, which was crowned with horns. It was an odd, but rather sharply pleasing, effect.
"Yes, Knight Kenobi, I think you can," the dark figure said. "May I sit down?"
Obi-Wan nodded.
The man swirled his cloak as he sat down gracefully on the small chair across the room.
"My master is trying to get rid of me," the tattooed man said suddenly. "He thinks I do not know this, but his shields aren't as good as he thinks they are. I can sense his deception, his displeasure with me. It will only be a matter of time."
His heart sinking like a stone within him, Obi-Wan struggled to find speech. "I - I am sorry for your - pain. I know what you must be feeling...but what can I do to help you?"
The dark-robed man smiled, a caricature on his wildly painted face. "You can help me to kill him."
Obi-Wan stared at the man in horror. "You want to kill your master?! What kind of Jedi are you?"
The man shook his head, again with a smile. "Oh, I didn't say I was a Jedi. I'm a Sith." He let a moment of silence pass. "My name is Darth Maul. My master is Lord Darth Sidious. I have been his apprentice since I was nine years old - over twenty years. Perhaps you know that there are only two Sith at any given time - a master and an apprentice. I have served my master loyally, and he betrays me after years of service!"
Anger was palpable in the voice of the - Sith - before him. "I have been his servant, his catamite, his student, his lover, his everything - and he has decided that I am now dispensable, that I am of no further use to him! I will strike him down for this! Even now he is plotting my death, so he can take on another apprentice, but I will show him!"
Obi-Wan was beyond shock at this point. "And you came to me because I am a Jedi, and in a similar situation, thinking I'd help you?" Obi-Wan snorted with derision. "Do you really think I'd help you kill your master so you could become the new Sith lord? That I'd help you continue that order of Darkness?"
Maul smiled again, but sharply this time, with teeth.
"And how 'pure' are you finding the Jedi, Knight Kenobi? How sacred are the vows made by Jedi, when even those who are senior members of the High Council disregard them?"
Obi-Wan looked down, unable to meet the Sith's eyes.
"Would you treat anyone the way they have treated you? An important member of the order breaks his bonding vows with a member of the High Council, and no one bats an eyelash? No one is the least bit concerned? Surely that is Darkness!
"And answer me this: Do you feel that you will now be given choice assignments since your ex-bondmate's new mate sits on the Council? Or will not the redoubtable Master Windu do everything in his power to keep you far from Coruscant on obscure tasks that cause you to fade into oblivion as far as the Jedi are concerned?"
Obi-Wan winced at Maul's words, but did not dispute their accuracy.
"There is 'Darkness' to be found anywhere, Knight Kenobi. All of life is made up of both Darkness and Light. Any being or assembly that proclaims itself composed only of the Light would by its very nature be made up of the self-deluded or the purely Dark.
"However, I do come here with the intent of offering you Light."
The Sith sat back to watch the knight's face.
"A Sith, offering me Light?" Obi-Wan fought an urge to laugh hysterically, and lost. "Well, a Jedi gave me Darkness, so I suppose it makes some sort of sense." Composing himself slightly, he turned a wry grin to his guest. "So, Sith, what 'Light' do you offer me?"
"I offer you what you have always wanted, yet never had. I offer you completeness, a life shared with another who will never leave you, and will never betray you. Wait! Hear me out!" he said as Obi-Wan began to snarl at the very idea. "I know you have been hurt and cannot trust anyone that way again. What I offer does not require trust. I propose a Soul Bond between us."
Evidently he could> feel more shock, Obi-Wan thought absently, as he froze. He heard himself saying, from a great distance, "But Soul Bonds are forbidden by the Jedi."
"They are forbidden by the Sith, as well. It is believed that to make oneself so weak, to so voluntarily lose one's power to another, is degrading."
"To the Jedi it is a kind of death, killing two individuals to make one. And one cannot be a good Jedi while in a Soul Bond, because the other half becomes everything to you," Obi-Wan replied in wonder.
"Yes," Maul replied. "We are in similar situations, are we not? Both raised from childhood by men who ultimately spat us out as unworthy, after we knew nothing of how to continue on alone.
"Bond with me, and help me to kill my master!" Maul said intently, rising to kneel on the floor at Obi-Wan's feet. "You'll be doing the universe a great favor. And, if you wish, I'll help you wreak punishment on Jinn and Windu. Or we can simply leave them alone. Regardless, with my master dead, and I, bound to you, unable to take on another apprentice or even be a Sith anymore, the order would die out. You'll gain everything, and lose nothing. What do you say, Kenobi?"
Maul raised one hand to caress Obi-Wan's face, the black leather soothing and gentle. Obi-Wan wasn't fooled. He knew this creature was dangerous. But he was offering him all he'd ever wanted...
"Prove it to me," Obi-Wan said sharply. "Let me see into your mind!"
Maul nodded, and lowered his hand to clasp it on his knees as he bowed his head. Obi-Wan reached out, feeling the shields dropping from the mind before him, and seeing... Truth. And loneliness. And need. And desire.
In a sudden move Obi-Wan clasped the nightmare-faced Sith by the shoulders, staring deeply into the orange eyes.
"Yes!" he said.
And for the first time in almost a year, didn't feel alone.
Epilogue:
Jedi Master Yoda, senior member of the Jedi High Council, was worried. The Council was in chaos, as the galaxy reeled from the violent death of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic just the week before.
Palpatine had been struck down in his palatial abode, skewered by lightsaber blades. Beyond the obvious tie of murder weapon, a force- sensitive had to have been responsible for the Chancellor's death, since his servants had all been mind-wiped, and his security systems completely destroyed. No one knew who had been responsible, but that the perpetrator was force-trained and used a lightsaber pointed to the Jedi.
The High Council had issued a statement that they were pursuing their investigation into the theory that a rogue Jedi was responsible. In private, they had no idea who had murdered the Chancellor, and feared reprisals by the government. Every Jedi was asked to account for themselves at the hour of the Chancellor's death. But still, some negative feeling toward the Jedi was likely. Palpatine had been much beloved by the populace at large.
What worried Yoda even more that this, though, was something he had not told the Council. Days before the Chancellor's death, the morning after Obi-Wan Kenobi had mysteriously disappeared from the Temple grounds, in fact, Yoda had sensed a disturbance in the Force.
For a brief moment, the searing power of a forming Soul Bond burst into the fabric of the Force, and then dissipated. Yoda was possibly the only Jedi alive to be able to properly identify what that sensation was. But talking with his fellow Council members he realized few had even felt the occurrence. Those that had, had dismissed it as merely the death of a powerful non-trained Force user, possibly on the Outer Rim. Yoda knew that to be untrue.
He knew what a Soul Bond felt like, and this was definitely it. Yet, for some reason, he kept silent regarding his knowledge. It seemed to be the Force's guidance, and so he forbore to mention it, and the fact that it was somehow connected to Obi-Wan Kenobi. He had always felt the boy was important. Giving him to Qui-Gon had proved to be a tragic mistake, but perhaps that, too, was the will of the Force.
So the aged Jedi kept silent as the Council argued around him.
And he left the fate of Obi-Wan Kenobi to destiny.