Adumbration

Adumbration
by Alex
Part 18

Blackness.
Pain.
He stirred.
Fully awake now, and he could not see at all. He took in what information he could.
He hung from a primitive set of chains. His toes brushed against the floor but he could not support himself. His shoulders and wrists were on fire.
They'd taken his robe from him. He was cold, and yet there was a heat in the room, a heat and a stench...sulfurous, nauseating. He lifted his head.
He took a deep breath, suppressing a gasp. Oh, it hurt, and his hands were painfully swollen. He flexed his fingers, trying to encourage circulation.
How did I get here...I can't remember...
There was a noise...a scraping, bootsoles against stone.
"Obi-Wan."
He froze.
"Master?"
"Yes."
He nearly wept with relief. Oh, thank the Force...he twisted in the chains, straining to see Qui-Gon in the darkness.
"Master, hurry, they'll be back, please, my hands-" he babbled, and a hand brushed the inside of his upper arm.
"Master, please," Strained urgency in his voice now. /Master, hurry!/
There was a snap, and a sudden flickering light as a wall-torch was lit.
Qui-Gon stood in front of him, and Obi-Wan smiled, his eyes stinging, and Qui-Gon spoke.
"My apprentice." There was bitter scorn and contempt in that voice, and he shrank from it.
"Master...?"
"How easily you have succumbed to Darkness, my apprentice. You are unworthy of the rank of Jedi padawan."
"No, Master...I haven't..." His face was stricken.
"You have. Crawling after me for years like a beaten cur, slavering at my heels." Qui-Gon stepped in front of him, and there was an expression on his face that made Obi-Wan want to die. It was hatred and disgust, and he'd never seen it on Qui-Gon's face and now it was directed at him.
"Please, Master...I love you."
"I know that, Padawan," sneered Qui-Gon. "You think I haven't noticed after all these years, those looks you give me, like a bitch in heat? All these years, Obi-Wan, and at your first encounter with Darkness, you wilt and submit...you have disappointed me beyond all reckoning."
"No."
"Yes, yes, yes, Obi-Wan. You are no longer a Jedi. And neither am I. And why is that, little bitch-whelp?" he said, grabbing Obi-Wan by the hair and pulling his head back, forcing Obi-Wan to meet his eyes, like flint, like steel.
"Belial-"
"No," whispered Qui-Gon. "Even in Darkness you shirk responsibility. Had you been a true Jedi, Belial would have never set foot on Coruscant. To think of the years wasted on you, and you are the one responsible for my expulsion." The fingers tightened in his hair, and he stared into his beloved master's face.
"Qui-Gon?"
A sharp slap against his cheek, and his head snapped back.
"You dare address me so?" A hand slid down and grasped his hip. "Well...since we are no longer Jedi, Obi-Wan, I suppose I can allow it..." The hand began to move, fondling, kneading, nails digging into his ass, sharp and hurtful. Qui-Gon's head lowered to the sensitive skin of Obi-Wan's armpit. Obi-Wan gasped as a strong tongue probed deeply. A sudden burst of pain made him cry out, as Qui-Gon's teeth sank into his flesh, and he struggled desperately in the chains.
This isn't happening! he cried to himself, as he felt those hands on him, prodding and pinching, hurting him. He was barely aware that he was uttering cries of denial, and he sent a plea winging to Qui-Gon, his loving Master, the man who had guarded and protected him since he was a child. The plea went unanswered, and Obi-Wan moaned as the hands held him apart, and Qui-Gon dropped to his knees and forced his tongue inside him, oh, gods, he never wanted it like this...
/Master, please, I would have given freely, why would you do-/
/Obi-Wan?/
His head jerked upright.
There was a muffled noise of fury from beneath him.
"Careless of me."
Obi-Wan, shocked, did not move, and he felt those walls of Darkness wrapping around him again, and he knew then, he'd felt Qui-Gon again, briefly, and it was not this man beneath him, violating his body and his trust in his master.
"Sith," he whispered. Was it Belial, or the other? It hardly mattered, did it, and he felt that tongue at him again, and he fought as well as he was able, scissoring his legs and twisting madly, and the Sith lord rose, still with the face of his master, and his hips were seized and held still.
/Submit to me, Jedi./
/Never./
"Then fight me."
The mask of Qui-Gon wavered and fell away, and there was nothing but those pale colorless eyes, death-cold. They held him in their chill depths, and he was unable to look away.
/Sidious./
/Kenobi./
/Release me./
A spiraling of mirth, twisted and black.
/Jedi...your defiance is futile./
/You will fail, Sidious. I will die before I turn./
"Will you?" Quietly.
The Sith Lord moved behind him, and he felt hard fingers parting him again.
He fought.
/Taste your helplessness, Jedi. You belong to me./
The Darkness was stifling, all around him, and he was drowning.
/Call to your master, Obi-Wan. He comes./
/I will not fear/
/Call to him./
A sudden flare of agony, and he remained silent.
/No/
Hands on his hips, lifting him, and more pain, a blunt, brutal thrusting.
/At last, Obi-Wan/
Still he fought, though it went on forever, and when it was finally over, he sagged in the chains helplessly, no longer able to feel his hands. The numbness was traveling down his arms, and his shoulders were screaming for release.
/That was so sweet, Obi-Wan./ The hands touched him again, and Obi-Wan arched his body away from the touch
"You still resist me."
"I am a Jedi," whispered Obi-Wan.
"Meaningless words."
Obi-Wan shook his head.
"Oh, yes. Let me show you how meaningless..." His words trailed off as he moved away, disappearing into the blackness. Obi-Wan heard the creak and grind of a heavy door, then two sets of footsteps.
Sidious...and Belial.
Belial was stripped to the waist, wearing only tightly-fitting leather leggings. His usual supple movement was gone. He walked as though he were in pain. Obi-Wan looked into his eyes and saw the weariness there.
"He makes you suffer, Belial."
"Silence, " hissed Sidious. "My love...show our young guest the remote."
Belial reached into his waistband and withdrew a small object.
Sidious indicated the remote with a wave of his hand. "This controls the thermal detonator that my apprentice has concealed within the Jedi Council Chamber. The Council is gathered now...it is time that our plans are put into action."
"No!" cried Obi-Wan, fighting the chains once again. Not the Council, he thought, and he clamped down on the fear that assailed him.
"No? Tell me, young Jedi, what would you give for their lives?"
Belial stepped forward and turned the remote over in his hand, his eyes fixed upon Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan looked from Sidious to Belial.
He knew what answer was expected of him.
Sidious' head turned toward the door. He nodded to Belial, who tucked the remote back inside his waistband and crept toward the door.
"Their lives, Jedi...and your Master's."
Night had fallen over the Jedi Temple.
Mace Windu leaned forward in his seat, narrowly regarding the other members of the Council.
Qui-Gon, he thought. What I do for you...
It was not the first time he'd pleaded Qui-Gon's cause to the Council, though it certainly was the most challenging...but he'd done well, and the Council had finally concurred on several points: a clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi had been created; that clone had impersonated Obi-Wan, misleading even Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan was in considerable danger, and Qui-Gon had been right to go in search of him.
"We must discover why the bond between Master and Padawan was so weakened," said Ki-Adi-Mundi.
There was silence, then a soft voice.
"I have...a theory," said Depa Billaba.
Mace felt a warm rush of pride as she spoke to the silent Council.
/Well done, Padawan mine./
"It is forbidden," said Even Piell flatly.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi is a senior Padawan," said Adi Gallia. "If he were an initiate or a second or third-year apprentice, then I would be concerned. But he is past the age of consent, and so..." she shrugged eloquently.
"On what do you base your theory, Master Billaba?" said Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"On the holodisc, Master," she replied. "Is it not possible that the clone manipulated Qui-Gon, taking advantage of his feelings for his apprentice?"
"And what of the Code?" Plo Koon demanded.
"What of it?" retorted Saesee Tinn. "It is a guide to the Jedi, a source of Light and wisdom. Tell me, Master, how the Code is violated by love between two Jedi Knights."
"You forget that one is not a full Knight."
"As near as makes little difference."
"There is the issue of coercion..."
"If Padawan Kenobi had been coerced, someone...one of the soul-healers, perhaps...would have discerned it."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You doubt the abilities of the soul-healers?"
"You put words into my mouth, Master."
"This is conjecture! We do not know without doubt that Qui-Gon Jinn has these feelings for his apprentice..."
Mace stood and clapped his hands together sharply. "Masters!"
They stared at him, surprised into silence.
He lowered his voice. "If Qui-Gon Jinn fails to return with his apprentice, all these concerns will be for naught. I suggest we all meditate on this, and let the Force guide us." He looked around, dismayed. What is happening here? he thought. The Darkness is pervasive, and we are fighting amongst ourselves.
He looked at Yoda, who had remained silent during the debate. The wizened Jedi Master was gazing at him, and Mace, not for the first time, felt that Yoda knew exactly what he was thinking.
He turned back to the Council.
"Masters...there is more. You know what drew you here tonight...it is Darkness. We all feel it, and the clone is almost certainly the source. Qui-Gon told me that he saw the clone outside this chamber before he was attacked. The droid Guardian was deactivated. Something is wrong...can you not sense it?"
The Councillors nodded or muttered affirmation.
"Was the lock deactivated?" Oppo Rancisis asked.
Eeth Koth rose and walked to the doors. He knelt and placed his hand on the lock.
"The failsafe code has been altered," he announced.
The Council members looked at one another uneasily.
"We must focus," said Yaddle. "Together."
Eeth Koth locked the doors and made his way back to his seat.
There was a hush as each Jedi Master concentrated. It was difficult; the Darkness was an almost palpable presence now, shifting around them, seeming to grow and swell, fighting each of them.
But then, one, two, three...they joined each other, their separate consciousness blending, gaining in strength as each Master linked with one another, holding on firmly, and at last the Light blanketed the room and they searched the past, the trails of Darkness that became a vortex in the center of the room...
Adi Gallia rose to her feet.
"The center stone," she said.
Qui-Gon dropped the freighter out of hyperspace, ignoring the brilliant streaks of light from the stars, a sight that ordinarily never failed to amaze him. He kept his focus on the small planet on his nav-screen.
And there it was.
Its surface was unusually colored...red-streaked black, oddly familiar, and then it came to him.
It looked like the stone he had given Obi-Wan on his thirteenth birthday. He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep cleansing breath.
He slowed his approach, adjusting to the gravitational pull of the planet. It looked dead, and as he banked the freighter down, he took in the jagged terrain, the volcanic mountains with their gaping maws pocking the landscape. There was no life at all on the surface of the planet. He frowned and turned to the datascreen.
Sullustans lived underground. Life could not exist on the exterior surface of the planet, and so...principal cities: Denaali. Keis Lar'et. Piringiisi...
Piringiisi.
He reset the autopilot.
Not long now.
It was close, and Qui-Gon picked out an anomaly in the planet's rough composition. A tower, graceful and lovely, jutting out of the stone, completely incongruous.
The emanations of Darkness were overpowering.
He set the freighter down gently at the base of the tower. He throttled the engines back.
And almost cried out as he felt Obi-Wan again, pleading with him, nearly incoherent.
/Obi-Wan?/
Silence again, and Qui-Gon stepped firmly on his anger and fear.
/I am coming, Obi-Wan./
He retrieved two respirators from cargo hold, putting one on and tossing the other into a pack. The atmosphere could not be borne for long. He added more items. A medikit. A rappelling system.
Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
He left the ship, straining to see through the thick clouds. His eyes stung, and he wished he'd brought protective eyewear. He made his way to the base of the tower and circled it. Its diameter was about two hundred meters, and there was no discernible entrance. He looked upwards. No, not likely. There were no handholds; the stone was as slick as glass and the top of the tower was too high to reach even with his rappel.
Glass...
What was one of Master Yoda's favorite sayings...?
"When in doubt, direct your approach should be."
He drew and ignited his saber.
An hour later, Qui-Gon had created a hole large enough to crawl through, and small enough not to cause any structural damage.
He hoped.
He crawled inside.
It was a lift tube, with a maintenance ladder on the opposite wall. Qui-Gon clung to the wall and allowed himself to slide down until his feet hit a narrow ledge. He painstakingly made his way around the tube to the ladder and quickly descended into the blackness.
He'd gone about four hundred meters down before his feet touched solid ground. He ignited his saber again and saw a small door set into the wall. He opened it onto a long, narrow corridor.
The Darkness was so close, and he sensed Obi-Wan's presence now; hurt, weak, with a slight tinge of fear, but there was courage beneath it all and he smiled despite his worry.
/My brave Padawan./
He followed the dark path, and his saber glowed, and it lit his way as he strode unerringly through the gloom.
A turn here, another turn there, and he pulled up short as he came upon two red-robed guards armed with force pikes.
For a moment he considered simply killing them, silently and efficiently. It would be so much easier...no, he thought. There is not just cause. Yet.
/Sleep/
They dropped to the ground.
Qui-Gon stepped over them and grasped the door handle.
He flung the door open, and beheld his apprentice dangling from a set of chains. A black robed figure stood behind him holding a glowing crimson saber to his naked chest. Another flash of red caught his eye. He whirled, saber at the ready.
Belial.

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