(no title) (original) (raw)

Obi-Wan paced nervously, failing to calm his frayed nerves. Though his master was the picture of serenity, kneeling in meditation, Obi-Wan couldn't shake the growing feeling that something horrible was about to happen. He gazed through the force fields, trying to judge the distance he needed to run before the shields began another rotation. I'll never make it, he thought with a sinking heart. Immediately he tried to recall the negative thought, bringing to mind Master Yoda's constant admonitions. Though he told himself he would simply have to make the run in time, logic told him he could not muster up the speed to pass through all the fields and rejoin his master, and the thought of leaving Qui-Gon alone with that monster left him cold. He tensed, trying to put all his doubts aside as he waited for the field to lift, reaching out with the Force to feel for the opening.
When the fields began to lift he was ready, and as the thin layer before him lifted he was off like a bolt from a blaster. He could see ahead of him that his master had leapt up to renew the fight, putting all of his energy into the blows. Obi-Wan raced down the hallway, the tired weight of Qui-Gon's presence in his mind egging him on. He could sense the cycle was about to restart but he knew he no longer had the luxury of time. He pushed himself faster, oblivious to all but the swell of the Force inside him and the need to reach the other side, and for one brief, shining moment he thought he would make it. Then the portal slammed closed, only the faintest thread of warning alerting him in time to throw himself backward away from the lethal field.
A faint smell of burning rose from the front of his clothing where he'd almost touched the field, and his nose tingled unpleasantly, reddened from proximity to the barrier. Despair rose up to choke him as, trapped by the glowing plasma, he was forced to watch his weakening master battle valiantly for his life. He clenched his fists as he saw Qui-Gon take a stab at a hole in the Sith's defense, hoping that his master could end the battle now. To his horror, the Sith was unphased, and as easily as a man would swat an insect, the creature batted the older Jedi's saber aside, swinging his double saber and skewering Qui-Gon neatly on one burning red blade.

Obi-Wan stared in disbelief, heart hammering, unable to comprehend what he saw. The man who had been his protector and mentor for more than half of his life lay bleeding on the floor only a few meters away, and he was powerless to help him. While Qui-Gon had given everything he had to defeat the Sith, his apprentice could only stand looking uselessly on as the man he loved as his father took a fatal blow, an injury that wouldn't have happened if Obi-Wan had been there to protect him as was his duty as a padawan. If Obi-Wan had been faster, more attuned to the Force, perhaps he could have prevented that abomination from harming his master, could have struck a blow to end the fight; but instead he had been dangling from his fingernails over a pit, cast aside like the useless chaff he knew he was. He stared blankly out at Qui-Gon's fallen form, the older master's mind barely a featherweight against his consciousness and fading fast. The helplessness and frustration that seethed inside of him threated to boil over, and his fingernails drew bloody crescents inside his fist as he raised his gaze to the gloating Sith. A feeling that eclipsed anger bubbled up into his consciousness and threated to flood his mind. Gripped by rage, he clutched his saber with white-knuckled fingers while the emotional turmoil that shook him resolved into a single focused thought.

Drowning in his hate, Obi-Wan screamed as he leapt through the opening barrier, saber leading the way.