Inheritance

Intestate

"That is partly my fault," he says as he begins walking; his destination nowhere in the open grayness. Without hesitation, Obi-Wan moves to follow him, his position two steps behind and to the right. The old master releases a light chuckle.

"You have been a knight for many years, Obi-Wan, and now you are a master in your own right. Though you will always be my padawan, your place is beside me, as an equal," he says. Even in death, Obi-Wan can't help but blush at his former master's gentle rebuke. He moves to Qui-Gon's side. The two Jedi walk silently in the colorless pall for several minutes.

"Obi-Wan, what do you know about what has happened to you?"

"Nai'gia said I was infected with a force virus, one that was meant for you courtesy of Xanatos," Obi-Wan replies, then he pauses, a smirk flitting across his soft features. "At least I think that's what she said."

"Ah yes," Qui-Gon responds with an amused smile of his own. "I do recall her answers tended to favor the cryptic."

"Master Yoda is cryptic. Nai'gia is downright abstruse."

"Perhaps," Qui-Gon agrees with a grumbling laugh, but all too soon present realities cause his countenance to once again bear a frown. "But in this, as in many things, she is right. The package you received on Telos IV was a "gift" from Xanatos meant for me. I regret that his need for revenge against me has once again injured you," he pauses, lost in thought for a moment. "Still, the fact that you were vulnerable to his attack concerns me greatly."

"Why? The virus would have infected the first person it came in contact with, or in my case, whoever first opened the box would it not?"

"No, Xanatos researched and obtained this virus because of the specificity of its targets. The virus was designed to feed off repressed negative emotions. Xanatos, of course, was well aware of the deep scar his betrayal left on my heart and though I had eventually moved on I had never truly let go of the grief... or the guilt."

"So he chose to capitalize on your particular vulnerability."

"More than that, Obi-Wan, the virus's nature itself was to draw on those emotions and transform them, twist them toward the darkside all while corrupting one's connection to the Force making meditation and release impossible. Pain quickly turns to anger and anger makes its victim lash out violently."

"So the victim either goes mad or falls to the darkside before ultimately succumbing."

"Yes."

"Infecting you would have been the cruelest revenge Xanatos could have imagined. Whether you fell to the darkside or not, you would have been consumed by your own dark feelings about him," Obi-Wan finishes with a shake of his head. "An ending as tragic as it is ironic."

"Indeed. This method of revenge was tailor made for me, which is why, my apprentice," Qui-Gon says as he stops his perambulation and turns to face his fellow, "I am deeply troubled to find you infected in my stead."

Obi-Wan opens his mouth to respond, but no words he can form seem appropriate. There is no excuse to offer, no defense to give. The truth of the matter evinced in his very presence in this shadow near nothing world.

"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon continues, "the virus never could have affected you unless you were holding some deep and painful wounds in your heart. I had always hoped in this you would be a better Jedi than I and learn to let these hurts go," he says as he lightly touches Obi-Wan's bearded chin. "Holding stubbornly on to grief and guilt is not the inheritance I wished you to receive."