darththalia (darththalia) wrote in tpm_flashback, @ 2004-08-09 23:13:00 |
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Original poster: bant
Is it Monday again, already?
Title: Alternate
Author: Trudy West
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Q/O
Summary: Qui-gon finds himself drawn to a person who is very like yet unlike Obi-wan. But is this familiar stranger a risk to the Jedi or to Qui-gon himself?
Warnings: Explicit sex, plus references to past violence, abuse, rape.
E-mail: truwest@hotmail.com
LJ id: truwest
Link to story: http://www.masterapprentice.org/arc
Reasons for recommending: Last week I did and AR, this week an AU. This is one of my favourites by Trudy. I've re-read several times and each time I find new details in it that I missed. It has everying, AU, Q/O, Angst, hurt/comfort and first time. I don't want to reveal too much.
This is a one of those rainy Saturday afternoon stories you want to immerse yourself in.
Trudy's strength is her characterization. No matter the situation, there is no doubt that these characters are an extrapolation of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan from canon. Every action, even the sex is used to develop the story.
Trudy hasn't posted any new stories recently but I'm hoping that we'll see her work in the TPM universe soon.
He allowed himself a bittersweet thought for Obi-wan, graduated from his long apprenticeship. He missed Obi-wan. The loneliness grew every day. That surprised him. He had been with Obi-wan for so many years, he had forgotten what it was like, to be a Jedi alone. He had always thought of himself as an independent man, comfortable with solitude. How wrong he was. Although he did not need many for friendship, he did need a rare few. And, he discovered, especially, he needed a one.
Obi-wan, first his student and later his friend, had been more than sufficient, a dear companion. He had never wanted more; his long-ago dreams of a full life partner had withered in the desert years after Xanatos' betrayal. He would never have a bondmate; it was enough of a miracle that he had one last padawan, a wonderful, caring young man. Now that man was halfway across the galaxy, never to return, not to the way things had been. Their life together, the mundane gems of daily shared existence, was over.
He had delayed thinking of Obi-wan's knighthood, allowing himself to live in the present, as was his inclination. He had not prepared himself for life without Obi-wan. Now the inevitable had occurred, and it hurt more than he could have anticipated.
Thank the Force that one event had been avoided: his own death. Not that he would have regretted that sacrifice, but that Obi-wan would have suffered for it. A near thing, such a near thing it had been--
That turn of fate, that knife-edge of chance, brought back to him one small mystery.
He knew all too well how close he had come to dying. When he had fought alone, within view of a trapped and desperate Obi-wan, despair had weighed him down like chains as he realized that the Sith was becoming more powerful with each stoke, while he was getting weaker. If he died, it was probable that Obi-wan would as well. No survivor left to mourn the fallen one, or to warn the Council. I regret that I led you to this, Obi-wan, he had thought, as he parried the hammering blows.
But his regret was premature.
An unexpected torrent of blaster fire had erupted from a far corner of the large room, targeting the Sith and putting the creature on a double defensive. Qui-gon half-deflected one last strike, taking the hit through his left side rather than straight into the core of his torso. A heartbeat later, Obi-wan leaped free from his confinement and drove the Sith back.
Qui-gon remembered falling heavily to the floor and lying in agony, breath whistling through his pierced lung. He had heard approaching footsteps and struggled to rise, fearing another opponent. In his blurred vision a man appeared, carrying a rifle, wearing civilian clothing but with a soldier's helmet concealing his face. The man had gently pushed his shoulder to lower him back to the ground. Qui-gon's Force sense was badly off, but it had seemed he should know this person, should recognize the man's Force signature. He had heard a noise dimly through his pain and turned his head stiffly to see Obi-wan bisect the Sith's torso. When he looked back, the rifleman was gone.
During the planning for the victory celebration, he had inquired after the man, wanting to thank him for his life, for Obi-wan's life. No one stepped forward to take credit, and the incident was dismissed in the flood of more important events. Forgotten, except by Qui-gon. He sensed there was something more, something that was escaping him--
Lost in his thoughts, he stopped to admire a fountain that foamed white in the moonlight, and became aware that he was being watched.
Jedi were often objects of curiosity, but unseen observers in an abandoned garden, late at night in the aftermath of a war, were reason for caution. Without giving any visible indication, he began to cast around for the location of the watcher. It was difficult to get a fix. The garden, while deserted of people, was filled with busy nocturnal animal intelligences, and the watcher blended with the chorus. Qui-gon could faintly detect the other's muted aura amidst the background energy.
He turned and walked in the direction of the observer. It seemed human, not animal, and felt oddly familiar. It was almost like --
"Obi-wan?" he asked into the silence.
A faint breeze stirred the leaves in answer.
"Come then, reveal yourself," he said to the breeze.
But the sensation was gone.
I wrote a beautiful rec with discussion and lost it all on Mozilla or Live Journal. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to rewrite it but I'd love to continue a discussion. This story is so worth starting all over again.