Title: Finding a Way Home by Ginger Ninja



Summary: Obi-Wan agrees to a dare. Will he survive a night of terror?



Time frame: Eight years pre-TPM (Obi is 17)



Rating: PG-13 – it is Halloween kids ;)



Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and places are property of Mr George Lucas and anyone else who
owns a bit of the Star Wars world. The story is mine...heheheheheheh…you’d be worried if George made this
into a Star Wars movie.



Author’s Note: Happy Halloween!



Warning – please take heed of the rating. There’s a reason for it.



***



There was a reason people didn’t go into this part of the Temple, Obi-Wan mused as he edged
through the shadow-entrenched corridor. There was an actual written rule to stop people from going into
this part of the Temple. Many years ago, in a time only Yoda had been alive to see, this deeply
subterranean level of the Jedi Temple had seen a massacre of horrific proportions. A group of five Jedi –
three of whom were Knights and the other two were rumoured to have been Masters – had fallen to the
Darkside and brought countless victims to the forbidden area of the Temple to torture and kill. The
Library’s official report said the Council at the time had been forced to kill the five fallen Jedi but
not before well over two hundred Jedi of every age and rank had been brutally killed. The area of the
Temple had been permanently sealed, forever tainted by the atrocities it had been host to.
Understandably, imaginative Padawans who were intent upon scaring their peers and the little Initiates had
cooked up more ghost stories than years since the incident. Everyone knew how the five fallen Jedi roamed
the dark abandoned hallways and training rooms, searching for a new victim to mutilate. And only the
little babies didn’t know and fear the fact that if one were to become caught by the wraiths of the fallen
Jedi, his or her life-force would be sucked right out of their body so that the five evildoers could rise
again.



So why Obi-Wan had agreed to prove Garen and Reeft wrong and prove he could spend the night down there on
his own was quite beyond him. The seventeen-year-old figured it was because of some stupid desire he had
to prove that those old terrifying bedtime stories did not scare his rational, nearly grown-up self.



Of course Qui-Gon would have kittens if he found out his Padawan was breaking strict rules down in the
Temple’s mysterious depths but unfortunately for the Jedi Master he had caught a nasty cold and had been
ordered by the Infirmary to get plenty of bed rest. The Master wasn’t expecting his young Padawan home
that night thanks to Garen’s timely invitation to sleepover. Of course, being a sleepover for guys it
involved a game of Truth Or Dare that got blown out of all proportion and led to Obi-Wan’s all-night
trudge through the ancient basement.



/I should’ve known he’d pull something like this/ Obi-Wan mentally grumbled. He was heading through the
dim out-of-bounds hallways without a flashlight, as per the guidelines of the dare and was guided only by
the few dim, flickering emergency bulbs that still struggled to shine. He’d been down there for what
seemed like hours already. In fact he had no idea how long he’d been down there because he also didn’t
have a chrono to measure time with. /Still, it will be fun to make both of them go through this once I’m
through. Then we’ll see who’s still afraid of the dark./



The air was stale and stank of dust. Obi-Wan sneezed and each time he did the foul taste of the aged
grime coated his tongue. He wished he had a drink to wash away the taste but this was a night for
surviving on his own without food, drink or a flashlight. After all, if there were ghosts (which there
weren’t!) they weren’t going to come out with lights flashing everywhere.



“Remind me to never do this again.”



His voice echoed, adding life to the decrepit place. The Force suddenly gave an uneasy lurch and Obi-Wan
stopped his aimless meandering. A light in front of him gave a feeble fizzle and died a meek death,
plunging the hall ahead of Obi-Wan into darkness. Fear made the teen miss a breath and pounded his heart.
He span around to face the way he’d come and witnessed the explosive extinguishing of another light. He
was plunged into absolute darkness, the only source of light far back along the way he had come.



“Very funny guys!” He forced a fake laugh. “I should’ve known you’d play dirty.”



There was no answering laugh and despite his resolve, the hairs on the back of Obi-Wan’s neck rose. /Oh
for crying out loud grow up! It’s a stupid prank and you fell for it. You should at least attempt to find
some way to save your face – like not being so gullible for a start./



Obi-Wan forced himself to walk on, facing the darkness and striding into it with a confident step his
heart wasn’t entirely behind. He hadn’t been scared of the dark since he was a toddler! /And I’m not
going to regress to that particular phase in my life at seventeen./



The Force remained unsettled. There was a constant buzz at the back of Obi-Wan’s consciousness, like a
busy chainsaw.



/‘Like a busy chainsaw’? What the hell am I thi-/



A loud sneeze rang out in the darkness and Obi-Wan’s feet rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with horror,
his mouth opened for a cry. But he forced his fear aside and again came his laugh, albeit somewhat
wobbly. “Now I DEFINITELY know you two are down here!” The Padawan couldn’t move though, his irrational
fear making him apprehensive of what was behind him.



But the Force…the Force was growing more insistent, more foreboding. If this were just a harmless prank
the Force wouldn’t feel like that. It wouldn’t change at all.



A footstep.



“R-Really guy’s you’re making this too easy!”



/Was that someone sobbing?/



Another footstep.



The relentless buzz in Obi-Wan’s mind grew more insistent.



Another footstep. And another. They were coming from behind.



Obi-Wan forced himself to step forward. There was no going back. No way. He didn’t want his idiot
friends to see him look as though he’d seen a ghost. He edged forwards, each step minute, the Force’s
shrill warning mounting with each hesitant move.



Another footstep. Another. Another. Another!



Obi-Wan risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the last light behind him blink out. He was left with
an afterimage burnt onto his eyelids – a shadowed figure coming towards him.



Obi-Wan didn’t call out again. Something kept his mouth firmly shut. He didn’t know if it was pride or
fear but either way not one more sound was to be heard from him.



Someone behind him was…crying? No, sounded more like laughter.



Was it the same someone who was walking towards him?



Another footstep. Another. Another. Another, another, another, another, anotheranotheranotheranother



The alarm bells screeching in Obi-Wan’s mind rose a decibel and the Padawan’s legs finally found the
strength to run. He ran headlong into the darkness, not even using the Force to make sure he wasn’t going
to crash into a wall. He ran and ran and ran, the footsteps behind him never growing faster but always
plodding along behind him. He ran, turning corners by instinct, aware that he was hopelessly lost.



/This is so stupid. Grow up and stop running! It’s only Garen and Reeft. You’re playing right into their
hands, you’re doing everything they want you to do. Wherever they are they are laughing themselves silly
over…ahh!/



Obi-Wan’s feet hit something unyielding and he crashed to the uneven ground. Gasping for breath, he
forced himself to get to his knees. He cried out in shock when his hands landed on something spongy yet
strong. He could see nothing in the dark, nothing but endless speckles of colour flitting around him.



Kindly enough, a light struggled to ignite itself.



Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut, the light stabbing at them mercilessly. Slowly, he opened them and
allowed his pupils to shrink with each blink.



The ground here was rusty red.



Blink.



His hands were resting on something thin and white.



Blink.



The Force was becoming harder to grasp.



Blink.



Eyes open.



Obi-Wan’s heart almost stopped beating.



Bodies. So many bodies. And the walls, the floor, the ceiling – all of it was soaked in blood. The
walls were still bleeding. But the bodies…it was the bodies that captured Obi-Wan’s helpless gaze. Some
were skeletons, turning to dust. Others still had skin, although it was lifelessly grey and clinging to
its corpse by a string. Some still wore the typical Jedi garb. All of them still had their eyes. All of
the eyes were staring at the terrified Padawan.



A singsong voice in Obi-Wan’s mind gave a hysterical giggle. /Garen and Reeft didn’t do this you know.
They couldn’t have set this up. This is all real. All real!/



The light wavered dangerously and grew dim. Obi-Wan’s breaths were sharp and harsh. He fell to his feet
and stumbled backwards.



/They’re watching me! All of them are watching me!/



There was that laugh again, and the footsteps were coming closer. Closer, closer…



There was someone standing behind him.



The eyes shifted. A yelp broke the silence. Obi-Wan’s limbs quivered and sweat broke out over his icy
skin.



There was someone standing behind him.



Someone standing behind him.



Behind him.



/…there’s someone standing behind me…/



Obi-Wan’s head turned slowly, each tiny shift of his head a tremulous movement. His eyes swivelled to
face the right way. He started to shift his feet. His body began to twist. His sweaty hands rolling and
unrolling into fists rapidly. He completed his turn.


There was no one there.



But the sensation was there.



And the sensation wasn’t a product of the Force. Oh no, the Force was coated, tainted, smeared with the
darkness that pulsated through this subterranean level of the Jedi Temple.



/That’s right. This is the Jedi Temple. This is my home. This place is safe. There’s nothing evil
here. There’s nothing here that can harm me. There aren’t any evil forces lurking down here./



But the words were hollow. Everything evil was watching him.



There was a scream.



Another scream.



An agonised sob.



A plead for mercy.



A crescendo of suffering, all coming for the observant corpses littering the ground behind Obi-Wan.



And the thing facing Obi-Wan, the thing he could not see, began to laugh. It began to laugh and laugh and
laugh like some huge joke was being played on Obi-Wan. But this was no joke. This was no amused laugh.
This was a laugh full of hidden agendas and overt maliciousness.



Obi-Wan clamped his shaking hands over his ears but the sound got through as if he wasn’t even attempting
to block it.



A dead hand clamped around his ankle, smearing blood across his boots and staining his beige trousers.
The corpse looked at him but made no sound and appeared not to move but it held him with a strength he
could not understand.



/No. NO! I don’t want to join them! I don’t want to be a part of that massacre. This was meant to be a
bad ghost story, nothing more. This wasn’t supposed to be REAL!/



Obi-Wan felt the weight of invisible hands on his chest and his dread left him speechless as two bloody
handprints oozed across his clothes. The deranged laughter turned to heavy, raspy breathing, it’s putrid
odour wafted over Obi-Wan. He tried to balance himself. He tried to use the Force to aid his footing.
He tried to escape the impending shove but he couldn’t do any of those things. The power of the shove
knocked the wind out of him and he fell backwards.



He landed on the solid ground but wasted no time flying back to his unsteady feet. He turned around, for
some stupid reason, to see the bodies one last time before he ran.



There wasn’t even one left.



The light fainted away.



Plop.



Plop.



Plop.



Something was raining in the darkness.



Obi-Wan just started running again, his imagination providing him with a paranoid answer to the rain.
/It’s all that blood!/



Tortured screams rang from everywhere. Horrific death gurgles seared into Obi-Wan’s consciousness, never
to be forgotten.



A light flashed.



Someone being beaten.



Darkness.



Obi-Wan’s ragged breathing became mingled with sobs and hot tears splashed down his face.



/This is stupid! This can’t be real!/



A light glared.



Someone dying in loud agony.



Shadows descend.



/Those stories are real!/



A light in the distance.



Death danced unchecked around him.



/This place…it isn’t haunted…it’s cursed…and I have to get out. I never should have come here./



The light expanded.



/Don’t be afraid….Don’t give in to fear….You’re gonna get out of here….You’re gonna survive this and it’ll
all be fine and safe and happy and…./



Everything was coming for him. The fallen five needed fresh blood, fresh Jedi to rise again.



The light began to reach into the dark hallway.



/It’s the way out! Yes! Run faster…/



Countless hands grabbed for him, tugging at his clothes.



The Force became clean again, allowing the Padawan to utilise it and aid in his dash to freedom.



The darkness made one last rush to get him. Five sets of feet hammered over the old ground, combing their
power and making one last desperate reach to grab the boy who was not going to escape them…not after they
had waited so long!



Shadows curled around Obi-Wan’s legs and he slammed into the ground, cracking his chin painfully. His
vision blurred and dimmed.



/No. NO!/



Four hands held his legs.



Two hands on each arm



Two hands on his back.



Two hands around his neck.



The Force withdrew again.



His head grew light.



The light remained at the end of the tunnel.



/No…No! Not when I’m so close!/



He reached out with all his power and focused on the light. He pulled it towards him, bending it to his
will.



The light danced down the hall, leaving little glowing bulbs in its wake.



Four hands on his legs dissolved into nothingness with hissing cries disappointment.



Two hands on each arm exploded into the light.



Two hands on his back fell away in shock.



Two hands around his neck clung on in desperation, but were seared off by burning light.



Obi-Wan coughed for air but he pushed himself to his feet and ran for the light, leaving behind the dying
screams and cries of tainted spirits.



Obi-Wan burst out into the open and fell against a wall, breathing heavily and shaking uncontrollably.



“Obi-Wan!”



Garen and Reeft approached him, both looking pale and nervous.



“What the hell happened in there Obi-Wan?” Garen knelt next to his friend. “The Force…something down
there just went crazy! Are you okay?”



Obi-Wan couldn’t find his voice. He remained mute and trembling. He feared he was going to faint. His
friends feared the same.



“Force, you’re covered in so much blood Obi-Wan…” Garen’s voice was quavering. “The blood…it isn’t
yours.”



“I’m sorry,” Reeft said, looking uncomfortable. “We didn’t know this place really was…you know…haunted.”



“But you did it,” Garen said in an awed voice, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You actually
spent the entire night in there.”



Obi-Wan looked at Garen, exhaustion written deep into his deep blue eyes. And then he began to laugh. He
laughed until he cried.



And then he just cried.



He cried until the entire Council came down to investigate the huge disturbance in the Force in person.
His Master, who was looking a lot healthier this morning, came running shortly after and Obi-Wan cried as
his Master hugged the terror away.



***



It took Obi-Wan a week to muster up the courage to take himself, and his Master, back to the
place. Qui-Gon’s silent support pushed Obi-Wan deep into the tragic place where the Padawan set down a
large white candle and lit it.



‘For all the lost souls, trying to find their way home’ was inscribed into the white wax.



~The End~

 

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