AN: Would you look at that…? She's ALIVE! =O

No but, seriously you guys, I'm really sorry about the lack of update, it's just that… November has been a really bitchy month for me.

Allow me to paint you a picture of it: November started with my uncle, after many weeks of suffering in a hospital, found out that he was sick with cancer.
One week after that, me and my boyfriend decides to break up after a three years long relationship. The same day, my mother calls to tell me that the family cat, that we'd just orphaned off the streets and hasn't really adapted yet, has run away.

One week after this, my brother gets a bad high, trashes his apartment, smashes his fist through one of his windows, stumbles out of the building naked and covered in his own blood, falls down the stairs and collapses.

The following three days I spent wiping my baby brother's blood off the walls and the floor, while fighting my hardest not to let my father slip into depression.

So, well, yeah… you might understand it when I say that I haven't exactly been in the mood to write?

Anyway, all's well that ends well!

Me and my now ex-boyfriend are still close friends, the cat's returned home, my brother is alive and well (if a little sore), and is now also on close probation by the school – meaning that he has to take blood samples at random intervals throughout the year and if there are any signs of drugs in them even once he'll get kicked out.

And my uncle…? Well, he's still sick of course, but there's a 50/50 chance of him making it,

he's still pretty young and strong, and he's got children to live for so I… I believe he'll make it through this.

Hopefully, I'll see him and the rest of my family for Christmas. =)

Now, about the chapter!

This was a lot of fun to write, turns out that I've missed these two quite a lot when I wasn't writing!

Hopefully, it won't feel too rushed or anything. Also, there are some darker stuff coming up in this chapter than usual so just… be prepared.

Obi-Wan may feel slightly out of character, I hope you won't mind that.

He, like I was, is struggling with a lot of stuff right now.

I'd like to credit the last part of this chapter to Stilwater Rundeepo.

Warnings: Some swears, mind-probing, torture sort of?, beware of the dark side

Once the trial had ended and Ventress was gone, Obi-Wan stepped out from the shadows like the idiot he was and asked for an audience with the Hutt council.

They'd accepted with suspicious ease, the rest of the spectators (including Bane) had been forced from the hall – and to this day Cad didn't know what the Jedi had told them, wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know, but it had gotten the two of them onto the guard force assigned to escort Ventress to Tatooine.

The minute that the duros had heard the news he'd made a call to Todo2, telling him to get Ena-Rana into the air and follow them, which of course the little droid did (they'd danced this waltz before, after all).

Then, as they walked into the transport ship heading for Tatooine, Bane snuck a locator icon onto its hull.

Two weeks later, the Jedi and the bounty hunter were standing by the bars of Ventress' cell for the umpteenth time in a row, Bane felt a headache coming up, and Obi-Wan's patience seemed to finally start running thin.

They'd been assigned to the nightshift, spending the days sleeping and generally trying not to drive each other crazy (Obi-Wan's a snorer), the nights eating and, the Jedi, attempting to communicate with the prisoner.

He'd revealed his identity to her the first night, almost succeeding in giving Bane a heart-attack because reckless! That was the one and only time she'd chosen to speak with them.

She'd hardly seemed surprised at seeing Obi-Wan there, alive and well despite the rumors of his demise.

Instead, she'd smiled, and Bane would be damned if he'd forget the heat in her eyes as she looked at his client, the comfort she seemed to take from his presence.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi…" she'd purred, voice low and warm and full of humor. She'd reached her hand through the bars and touched his cheek. For half a second, the contact made the Jedi tense, but then it was as if all energy left him, he sighed and slumped and closed his eyes, looking more at peace than Bane had ever seen him. "It's been too long. I've missed you."

She was a pretty lady.

Despite the pale skin, the bald head and the sharp features; there was no mistaking that.
She had a woman's body, with soft curves and a gentle swing to her steps, a round, full mouth (made for kissing, or possibly shouting out insults) and big, beautiful blue eyes.

Bane wasn't entirely sure why that bothered him as much as it did.

"Where is she, Ventress?" Obi-Wan asked, and opened his eyes. "Where is Ahsoka?"

The prisoner pulled her hand back, shook her head and disappeared into the shadows of her cell.

She hadn't said a word since.

Now, they'd reach Tatooine in less than a day, and Bane could feel the Jedi growing desperate.

"Ventress… Ventress, please be rational about this! I need to find Ahsoka, I need to talk to her, make sure that she's okay… Can't you at LEAST tell me if she's okay?! Look there's… there's no reason why you shouldn't tell me these things! Once we've reached Tatooine, Thon knows what Jabba will do to you, or have you do for him! I could… we could help you, Ventress! We could get you out of here, we could…!" He sighed, and Bane tried to massage the steadily growing pain in his temples away. He'd heard all of this before, these last few days. There was no use, the bitch wouldn't talk. Suddenly though, he felt something.

It was a warm, dark, slithering feeling, like some invisible slug had just passed through the room, passed through his body. It was perverse, it was sickening, it made the pain escalate in his skull, made it feel like there was a rat in there; gnawing and clawing and tearing away parts of his brain, and suddenly he realized that…

He'd felt this before.

Long ago, when he'd been captured by the Jedi and one of their masters hadn't been enough to penetrate his mind, so they'd tried with three.

Suddenly, Bane felt more afraid then he had in a very, very long time.

"Ventress…" Obi-Wan said, voice dark and heavy with threats. He was staring into the darkness where she must be sitting, Bane thought that he could hear her breathing (ragged, panicked) – and that's impossible! There's no way that Obi-Wan could perform the mind-control technique on such a distance and without eye contact, there's just no way for it to be so powerful that Bane would feel it too! "You will tell me where Ahsoka is."

"I…" he heard her gasp, and felt a sudden sting of pity for her. If it was this painful for Bane, then he couldn't even begin to imagine how it must feel for her, being the direct target. "…I can't!" She screamed, sobbing now.

"WHY?!" Obi-Wan roared, and Bane felt himself fall to his knees, the sound of his voice was echoing through his head and there was pain, pain, pain…!

Then, it was gone.

Just like that, the feeling passed, the duros' head cleared, Ventress whimpered softly and Obi-Wan was just standing there, clutching the bars with a desperate, lost look on his face that made something in Bane's heart break, just a little.

"Why can't you tell me?" He whispered, sounding very, very small.

"Because…" Ventress said, once she'd regained some of her breath. "I made a promise."

~xXx~

Once they'd reached Tatooine, Bane declined the offer to bring Ventress directly to Jabba together with the Hutt guards and Obi-Wan, choosing instead to meet up with Todo2 and freshen himself up in the ship.

Once inside, he started shuffling through the drawers, completely ignoring the little techno-droids words of protest as he turned the ship upside down, searching, searching…

He'd been a fool.

Trusting Obi-Wan Kenobi, thinking that he was a somewhat good person, that he was in control of his powers and emotions, wouldn't harm a fly without a stupidly just cause - even though he knew, he knew that the Jedi hadn't been anything but glorified mercenaries, pawns of war. He'd fought them for years, fought them and fled from them and imitated their techniques, worked to refine them; he'd been struck in irons by them, treated like a dog, he'd been tortured by them.

Tortured by Obi-Wan, years ago.

And, as if the years of war weren't enough, the human had been forced to go through a fucking genocide! Of course he was screwed up in the head! Anyone in his position would be!

What was Bane thinking, working with such a man?!

Suddenly, he found what he was looking for, hidden underneath his bed, dusty and forgotten. His breathing tubes.

Picking them up from the floor, he wiped them clean from dirt with the sleeve of his jacket, ever so gently. As he attached them to his cheekbones and windpipe, felt them dig themselves into his flesh (it hurt like a bitch, but he'd been through worse) and open up his airways; a strange wave of nostalgia washed through him.

It had been years since he'd last seen the need to use these.

Though their main mission was to help him breathe freely on planets with harsh atmospheres, he'd discovered (through experience, of course) that they provided him with just enough air not to black out during force chokes.

Really, why he hadn't thought about it before was beyond him.

Once the tubes where in place, he took a long, ragged breath – and promptly choked on a cloud of dust.

Coughing hysterically, he stood up on shaky legs and tried to get it out of his system.

When the filth was out of his airways, Bane let out a cacophony of swear words and felt like an idiot for not cleaning the inside of the tubes as well as the outside.

Annoyed, he stalked up to his wardrobe and opened the doors, revealing a small mirror.

He checked himself out, made sure that the tubes were attached properly and that no blood had been spilt – and then grinned, despite himself.

"Well, well, well." He grunted. "I'd forgotten how good I look in these."