Mending

Chapter Three

The Jedi was utterly stunned, for a moment believing his senses were playing tricks on him. The bounty hunter, trapped against Obi-Wan's chest, was beginning to sob with a gut-wrenching severity that bordered on alarming.

Bane was actually breaking down and crying, practically like a child. The Jedi could have never imagined the bounty hunter had been so wounded by Obi-Wan's actions. To be honest, he hadn't believed Bane had the capacity to show such deep emotions.

A flash of shame heated his face. Clearly, Bane was capable of a great range of emotions, and it was Obi-Wan's own arrogance that prevented him from seeing it. If Obi-Wan had been mindful of what Bane had been trying to tell him, had paid attention to Bane's emotions and responded with understanding instead of condescension, Bane wouldn't have been pushed this far.

Cornering Obi-Wan, subduing him, immobilizing him - this had been Bane's way of trying to get Obi-Wan to listen. And he had refused to do so. He had refused to hear what the Duros was telling him until it had almost been too late.

Uncomfortable with completely immobilizing the bounty hunter while he was weeping, Obi-Wan slightly loosened his grip. He didn't think Bane was going to attack him - nothing from his radiating emotions indicated he still wanted to end Obi-Wan's life. His murderous rage had been extinguished in a black torrent of grief.

Sensing the lack of hard pressure around him, the bounty hunter immediately scrambled away from Obi-Wan - though he did not go far. He landed on the carpet and crawled less than a meter before curling in on himself. Bane wrapped his tattered, grimy attire around his thin frame, his blood-red eyes now glistened with moisture as he stared at Obi-Wan with a mixture of misery and burning hatred.

Another occurrence Obi-Wan could have never imagined - that look actually hurt.

"Bane..." Obi-Wan began, and the Duros shook his head. He trembled like a frightened animal, and while he had stopped openly sobbing, his emotions broadcast the suffering he was still experiencing so strongly that Obi-Wan could not help but feel it himself. The intensity of Bane's feelings was breaking down the Jedi's own trained defenses that kept such emotions at bay.

"Bane," the Jedi repeated gently as he moved closer to the bounty hunter's hunched form, his eyes never leaving the oval orbs as they glared at him.

"Don't," Bane warned, an urgency to his voice as it cracked harshly.

Obi-Wan ignored the unspoken threat in his voice and deliberately wrapped an arm around Bane's narrow shoulders. The Duros attempted to shove him back, snarling "Back off, Kenobi!", but Obi-Wan pulled him into an embrace, holding his trembling frame within the circle of his arms.

Bane responded by attempting to beat his fists against Obi-Wan's chest, but with the Jedi firmly pinning him in place, he could do little more than struggle ineffectually. Unable to cause him physical pain, Bane snarled, "I hate you. Do you hear me, Kenobi? I hate you!"

Obi-Wan didn't immediately respond to the venomous proclamations, but he felt his heart give a small lurch. It was not the words themselves that disturbed him, but rather the intensity in each syllable. The conviction of Bane's words could not be denied.

But then, Bane surprised the Jedi by clutching the front of his robes, pressing his face into Obi-Wan's chest with a fierce desperation, as if all hope was lost. His bony frame gave in to the embrace, and Bane stopped fighting to escape as he wept so hard that Obi-Wan was worried he would break.

"It's all right," Obi-Wan spoke with perfect calmness as he held the shaking bounty hunter. The Jedi ignored the training that mandated he set aside all emotions and attachments. Instead, he embraced the serene, peaceful qualities of the light side of the Force, and attempted to impart them onto the trembling Duros that clutched at him like a drowning man. "Everything is going to be all right."