Chapter Text
Obi-wan bared his teeth at Xanatos, scurrying back as the former padawan stalked forwards, saber drawn and hissing in the light rain. His breaths escaped him in sharp pants as he tried to stand, falling when his legs gave way beneath him. Everything seemed to hurt, lightsaber burns singed into his skin and joints practically screaming with every jerky movement. Xanatos smirked at the effort, a cruel glint in his eye.
“So,” he drawled, teeth carving a wicked smile, “Qui-gon’s little brat , a disappointment? Color me shocked.” Obi-wan tried to back further away but was met with the edge of the platform, trapped . His breath was too weak to do anything but shutter and start with a maddening irregularity as he shook. He had survived Xanatos before, but it had always ended so horribly. He couldn't go back to the mines, he couldn't. last time he had almost-
He shook his head. He couldn't think about it, not now. Xanatos prowled closer still, dropping into a crouch just close enough to take up most of Obi-wan’s vision, and all he could feel was a phantom collar click against his throat. He couldn't, he couldn't, he-
“This might be overkill but, honestly, I don’t care. Sorry you had to get in the middle of this, kid.” There was a scathing (and not at all apologetic) expression on Xanatos’s face as he pulled something from his pocket, something Obi-wan would later wish he had been able to take closer notice of. Because the next thing Obi-wan knew, there was a cool, hard object being pressed into his chest, and Obi-wan was falling
And falling
And falling still
And the force screamed .
+*+
Somewhere far away from Bandomeer and Xanatos, from Qui-gon Jinn and the place a young Obi-wan Kenobi had once been, the Jedi Council was meeting when a sudden, resonating thud echoed through the force, followed by what felt like a wailing . It took days for the aching cry to abate, but after countless hours of debate and consultation with records and scholars across the galaxy, the council had come to a realization.
A part of the force had disappeared .
It had been ripped away, amputated , leaving a lurch, a swirling pocket in the fabric of the force that it had been slowly, mournfully patching up since it had been torn. A resonance like this had not happened in recorded memory, but what could have possibly happened? There was a part of the force missing, and it couldn’t be a coincidence that some one had gone missing at the same time.
Obi-wan Kenobi, the young padawan of Qui-gon Jinn, had last been seen on a mission mere hours before the force had been ripped away. It was supposed to have been an easy, gentle mission - something to help him begin to heal after the disaster that had been Melida-Daan. There were theories, and there was mourning, but one thing remained sure. Obi-wan was gone, a piece of the force was gone, and no one had any real idea where they might be.