A/n: I really love fluffy, emotional stuff. Especially with Jedi who pretend to have no emotions.
This takes place a long time before episode 1.
"The so called 'Fleur noir' is one of the most dangerous plants in the universe. Apparently it traps it's victims in a never ending nightmare," Qui Gon explained to Mace as they both entered the hanger.
"Honestly Qui, for someone who doesn't care for the rules, you take mission debriefings awfully seriously. I already read the files; I know," Mace said.
"And for someone who's a stickler for the rules, you're awfully laid back about it," Qui Gon huffed, crossing his arms.
"I'm not 'laid back' about it, I just recognise the fact that we are two trained Jedi knights. We'll be fine; it's a simple mission." Mace hopped onto the space craft.
"So simple that it requires two Jedi knights, and no padwans," Qui Gon muttered under his breath as he hopped onto the ship aswell.
"You know aswell as I do that it's the planet, not the mission, that is 'too dangerous' for padwans." Mace sighed.
"And the 'Fleur Noir' are apart of the planet," grumbled Qui Gon.
........................................................................
Okay, so maybe this wasn't so simple, Mace thought grudgingly, as he deflected another blaster bolt with his lightsaber.
A droid was trying to kill them. How friendly.
They were in a thick jungle; the air was hanging heavily about them, sticking to their skin. It was like moving in treacle. The constant buzz of flies around their head didn't help either. Especially since the flies had a toxic mucus on their feet. Not enough to do much damage, but they did sting. A lot.
Qui Gon then cut the droid in half. "One more," he panted.
They were trying to stop all the robots before they escaped with state secrets. Secrets which could apparently endanger the entire galaxy if they got into the wrong hands.
Unfortunately, the droids had led them into the jungle. Not just any jungle. The jungle known for being the most dangerous in the universe.
The animals that lived there... most could kill a human through simple touch.
Spiders for example.
Spiders weren't scary exactly, but Mace had to admit that the huge furry ones gave him chills.
Pull yourself together, he thought. They are just creatures; creatures that scuttle in a really gross manner, and have more eyes than should be physically possible; but still, just creatures. So long as you don't touch them, everything will be fine.
Another one appeared and Mace almost yelled. Almost, but no quite. He couldn't let Qui know that a little thing like that was freaking him out. He used the force to push it out of his path, and, making sure his mental shields were securely in place, he continued to follow the directions on their tracker. The last droid wasn't far away.
"Mace..." Qui Gon said nervously.
Mace ignored him for a second. He had spotted the last droid. They could finally get out of this infernal place.
"Mace, you need to be extra careful-" Qui Gon warned.
"-It's right there, we can sneak up on it," Mace interrupted.
"There are 'Fleur Noir' around," Qui Gon intergected.
"Then we'll avoid them," Mace whispered, igniting his lightsaber.
He then sprang into action, cutting the droid in half.
"Wait!" Qui Gon called out, but it was too late.
The body of the droid sank into a patch of 'Fleur Noir'. They immediately sprayed black liquid everywhere. Mace got a face full of it.
Pulling a face, he hurriedly wiped it off.
He was making his way back to Qui Gon when his vision went blurry. He paused for a moment, disorientated.
"Mace, Mace! Can you here me?" Qui Gon asked frantically. He seemed to be swimming around in Mace's vision, going in and out of focus.
"Yeah..." Mace mumbled, before everything went black.
........................................................................
Four hours later Yoda walked into the medical wing of the Jedi temple, to find Qui Gon sitting next to a still unconscious Mace.
"Found a cure, have they?" Master Yoda asked.
Qui Gon shrugged. "There is a known cure, but they have none of it. They have sent for it... but it might arrive to late,"
Yoda nodded. "Keep him alive, the life support systems will,"
"Yes but..." Qui Gon sighed.
After a pause, Yoda asked: "Present were you not, at the battle of Raviin?"
Qui Gon nodded, "I was just a boy then, but I saw the affects of 'Fleur Noir' when it was weaponized,"
"Worried you are, about the affects on Mace?" Yoda asked.
"I saw strong warriors reduced to mere shells of themselves in an instant Master. Even with the cure... The memories of what they thought they had lived through remained. It broke many of them..." Qui gon mumbled.
"Strong Mace is, and also a Jedi," Yoda pointed out.
"Yes, but... He has been under it for hours, and will be for many more," Qui Gon pointed out.
"Then save him you must," Yoda said.
"Sorry master... how?" asked Qui Gon.
"Possible for a Jedi to wake it is, if they know what is happening to them. If enter his mind you do, help him, you can" Yoda explained.
"Enter Mace's mind? He'll kill me. You know how firmly in place he keeps his shields," Qui Gon said.
"Friends you are. Mind least, he will, if you are the one to see his greatest fears," Yoda replied. Then, as an after thought, he threw Qui Gon a holocube. "Useful that may be, watch it first you should,"
Yoda then left.
Qui Gon looked at the cube with mild interest. It seemed to have an animation in it.
He played it.
"Hello students, I am master Trin Tee, here to teach you how to perform a force hug," a middle aged man appeared. The hologram crackled and flickered. It must be very old. "The basic principle is wrap the force around your friend, and use it as a mental shield. They can then lower their own mental shields without running the risk of anyone other than yourself being able to sense their emotions. It will also make them feel safer,"
Qui Gon was amazed that something like this even existed. Jedi weren't supposed to have attachments to anything, and thence no reason to ever feel sadness. Qui Gon knew that that didn't work.
Humans needed attachments. It gave you a reason to live.
And it was easy to be upset, scared, or just plain sad, without losing something you were attached to.
Why had Yoda given this to him? Maybe he had planned to tell Qui Gon to try and enter Mace's mind all along.
He sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
........................................................................
The first problem was Mace's mental shields. He always kept them up; even when he was asleep.
Most Jedi couldn't do that.
Qui Gon tried simply... entering Mace's mind. It was like trying to walk through a brick wall. Completely impossible.
He then tried brute force. The problem with that, was that Qui Gon didn't want to hurt Mace. Entering someone's mind by pushing your way through their shields could be physically painful. It was known to even cause Migraines.
Next, Qui Gon tried to work out a way around Mace's shields. This was extremely difficult to accomplish, but it could work.
Well, theoretically it could work. Mace probably had the strongest shields of any Jedi. Ever. Which caused a slight problem.
Suddenly, Qui Gin noticed a flicker. It was quick short, and small. But it was a fault in Mace's shields.
That was bad. It meant that the Fleur Noir was trying to break his shields from the inside.
If Mace didn't wake up soon, he would have several migraines on top of dealing with the trauma.
Still, maybe he could use the slight hole in Mace's shields to his advantage.
Waiting till the right moment, Qui Gon finally, finally, was able to enter Mace's head.
What he saw was horrific.
They were in the Jedi temple. Only... not. The carpets had changed to black, and the walls were littered with dark shapes. To his horror, Qui Gon realised that they were bodies. Dead bodies.
The only light was the setting sun shining through the windows. it Illuminated the only two standing figures in the room.
Another version of himself, and Mace.
Mace ignited his lightsaber. It was red.
The false Qui Gon also ignited his lightsaber. "I hate you!" he sneared, "Now you've shown your true colours, how could anyone care about you,"
Mace said nothing, and started to swing his lightsaber.
"No wonder your parents abandoned you," The false Qui Gon didn't notice Mace preparing to throw his lightsaber.
It sliced right through his neck.
Mace paused. There were tears running down from his yellow and red eyes.
"This isn't real!" Qui Gon yelled.
Mace looked around confused.
"Mace, it's me, Qui Gon. You were hit with the flower, remember? You have to wake up!" Qui Gon ran towards him... and went right through him. Mace could neither see nor touch Qui Gon.
"Where are you?" Mace growled, in a voice that barely seemed to be his own.
Good, he could hear him at least.
"Sitting next to you, in the infirmary in the Jedi Temple! Now wake up!" Qui Gon felt his voice start to go horse. How was that possible when he wasn't even there?
Maybe it was a sign of his power fading. How much longer could he keep this up?
Mace pinched himself. "This is to real to be a dream..." he muttered.
"It's not a dream, it's a hallucination! Use the force to destroy the room, and you'll see!" cried Qui Gon.
Mace frowned, and used the force to rip the window from it's place. Instead of being Courasant outside, like it should have been, there was only dull grey light.
Immediately, the rest of the room started to disintegrate.
Qui Gon felt himself being pulled back into reality. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
........................................................................
"Mace... Are you ok?" Qui Gon asked.
Mace sat up slowly. He took a deep breath. He momentarily looked at Qui. His lip trembled slightly. He looked away.
A Jedi must be strong. A Jedi must be strong. A Jedi must be strong! Mace kept telling himself.
Qui Gon sat up onto the bed, next to him, and gave his shoulders a squeeze. Mace tried to shrug him off.
"I'm fine," Mace whispered. It barely sounded convincing, even to himself.
He felt tears start to form, and angrily wiped his eyes. A Jedi must be strong. A Jedi must be strong.
"You've just faces horrors that most men could not dream of, even in their worst nightmares. No one would be fine after that," Qui Gon said gently.
Mace intook a sharp breath. He was not going to cry. Nope. No way.
Qui Gon then pulled the force around them, creating a shield. It felt like someone had put a giant comfort blanket around them. "It's safe to let your shields down now..." he whispered. "No one will sense your emotions,"
"Apart from you," Mace mumbled. It had been so long since he had let down his shields... so long. He felt more tears rise in his eyes. He couldn't hold them back.
Oh what the heck!
He let his shields fall.
Qui Gon immediately felt all of the pain, anguish, fear, relief, guilt and one hundred other things that Mace was suppressing. Or trying to suppress. He pulled Mace into a proper hug, and this time Mace didn't protest.
Maybe, in his heart, he wanted a hug. He wanted to know for sure that Qui Gon was there, not dead like in his nightmare. He wanted to be sure that he was safe in the Jedi temple, that he was a Jedi, not a Sith.
He started to shake, as sobs racked his body.
"It's ok, you're safe, you didn't hurt anyone," Qui Gon reassured, rubbing his back.
"I'm sorry," Mace whispered, "I'm so sorry,"
A/n: thanks for reading :)