Archive of Our Own

Obi-Wan was little when he noticed the strings that connected people. There were red strings and orange strings and black strings and yellow strings and blue strings and all kinds of colors and shades. 

He never asked about them. They seemed straight forward enough. Red for those romantically inclined, yellow for friendship. Orange for family. And some colors meant negative things. He didn't see them often when he was little, except on trips outside of the Temple.

Well, Obi-Wan mentioned the strings once, when he saw a gray string that seemed to droop and fade away rather than just go further than his eyes could see. He had never seen a gray string before or something that seemed to fade. He got brushed off as being a silly kid.

He never brought it up again. It wasn't until a favorite old master of the creche died, and the strings that went from him to everyone else did the same thing, he realized that it was a sign of grieving a loved one. Sometimes they seemed to fade away over time. Sometimes they never did, though it was more common for them to fade away with Jedi than outside, with how Jedi chose to process emotions and their easy access to mind healers. 

Obi-Wan was smart, and he knew it. He figured it out on his own and watched his own strings in fascination as they shifted depending on how he felt about another person and how strongly he felt about another person or how they felt about him. Many kids seemed to have red strings but they shifted over time, and seemed to solidify when they were Knights, if not padawans, from what Obi-Wan could tell by the time he was ten. 

He never mentioned the strings to his peers and they never seemed to pay the strings any mind. He thought he had to learn to do the same. Like he had to learn how not to get overwhelmed by emotions, like he had to learn to focus, how to remember to do his little chores, and how he struggled with starting classwork sometimes if he didn't do it during class when instructed to.

He watched the strings shift over the years. The red strings seemed to jump around on who he could romantically like. Sometimes it was Quinlan, sometimes another Jedi, and sometimes it seemed to stretch off, reaching people out in the galaxy. Sometimes he had more than one, sometimes just the one.

When he was thirteen, he was still an initiate. He was doing his best to keep up with his class work, to be the best initiate he could be. But it was never good enough. He didn't have the control over himself that his peers did and it frustrated him and his teachers endlessly, though one teacher told him that if he cared so much he would fix it. 

Obi-Wan cried that time, and then lashed out at Bruck for bullying him later that day as he was still rather emotional and being bullied overwhelmed his ability to control his emotions. Of course he got in trouble. Just like he always did.

And it led to him continuing to struggle to get a master.

When he returned from the horrifying experience as a slave in the deep sea mines, as a padawan, he had a stronger hold of his emotions. But he wasn't any better at letting them go, and it often just meant he was suppressing them. He knew he had to do better, especially with the negative colors in his strings pointing towards his struggles.

He used those as starting points for meditating, though to his irritation, Qui-Gon constantly cycled from being yellow or orange to being black with resentment, or some of the other negative colors. He never felt good enough. And it was frustrating to have to meditate on his feelings for Qui-Gon every time he meditated, or at least more often than not. 

Obi-Wan just wanted to be the best Jedi he could be, so he was constantly working on it, using his strings as a guide. At least he could be confident that maybe his feelings were strong enough to affect the string... but it was actually just as likely that Qui-Gon held similar feelings because the strings were two way. They represented the relationship between the two people. It could be unbalanced, or it could be balanced, negative, or positive. Sometimes more than one feeling of the relationship shown through, creating multi colored strings. 

But that was just a small part of his life, so he never thought too deeply on it beyond being grateful he knew what to work on and be worried on.

Then he discovered that the red string of fate was a thing. That was a common experience between all species. At twenty five for human, many human like species, and for the developmental equivalent for others, they would be able to see the red string tied to their finger, usually the pinkie, connecting them to their soulmate when they closed their eyes.

And they otherwise did not see the strings before that or any other sort of strings after that. On top of it only appearing when they closed their eyes, so they could only guess at who the string attached to.

Obi-Wan was stunned to realize that he was not normal. He glanced through other ways the strings manifested for people and discovered many species could sometimes see the strings for other people. Sometimes they could only see particular types of strings. There were a few who could see like him, but they were not mentioned by name in the place he saw it and he was pretty sure he should not be able to see strings. Stewjon was mostly human with minor deviations. He even looked up Stewjoni people and found that they got the strings the same way humans did.

So Obi-Wan was strange, and he didn't like it. He didn't know what to do now that he knew he had something he shouldn't have. He didn't want to be special, he didn't want to be different.

And yet... He still liked that he could see which relationships he needed to work on. If, after being certain he let go and they remained the same, he looked deep in himself, and tried to be sure he was doing his best. And then he would do his best to break off that friendship or at least avoid that person. They didn't have a healthy relationship, and Obi-Wan didn't know how to begin to address the problems the string showed without mentioning it. But he at least was able to sometimes notice behaviors he had been ignoring and that sometimes helped when he did try to talk.

And despite all of that, Obi-Wan always had bigger problems as a Jedi Padawan with a rocky relationship with his master, difficulties understanding why he struggled where others didn't appear to, and just trying to survive classes and missions.

.

Quinlan had always seen the strings. Had seen how his parents pulled away from his mom's Clan as many of them grew negatively colored strings towards his parents and him. 

And when he was four, his parents were murdered in front of him. The murderers turned to him. He was terrified, even more so when he realized they were connected by strings. 

That was the only thing that had them get caught. It had to be someone he had strings with. 

After all, Kiffar were one of the lucky species that could see all the strings. They kept it to themselves, and it was rarely mentioned to others. They didn't want to be used for that on top of the other reasons people used them. 

Quinlan joined the Jedi Order to recover from that trauma, and never looked back. He loved his family (those that were not in on the conspiracy, and especially his dad's side of the family), but he loved the Jedi too. And he loved having a purpose, loved learning the Force. 

The little shadow he got in the form of Obi-Wan was fantastic too. And Obi-Wan was one of his potential soulmates! The red string often was on him, and sometimes off in the distance. He had never seen the red string on Kiffu; even as a youngling the chances were slim to none he would have a soulmate on Kiffu. 

Since Quinlan was brought to the Order so young, he didn't know all the secrets of the strings. He knew that not everyone could see them, and he should keep them secret, and he knew some of the details. When he was a padawan and visited his family about once a year, he learned more about the colors and what everything represented (his understandings were pretty accurate, so that was fine), but no one informed him of one very important detail.

Unlike other species where they could see all the strings, if a Kiffar had any potential soulmates that were not Kiffar... they could see the strings too. Usually it first showed up when they were first connected by the red string, which sometimes could be very late in life depending on their paths and compatibility suddenly aligning.

So Quinlan had no idea he probably should talk to Obi-Wan about them. He was interested to see that as he got older, the red string settled with Obi-Wan more and more. The other possibilities still existed, but he and Obi-Wan seemed to always be aligned. 

When he was sixteen, it went months without changing, almost looking like it had entirely settled before it jumped again, returning to Obi-Wan before long. 

Quinlan hoped it would settle with Obi-Wan. There were very few possibilities with the Jedi, and those had grown less frequent over time. Soulmates outside the Jedi were tricky. Not something he wanted to deal with.

And then things came crashing down. They were forced to talk about it.

Quinlan had started out the mission with Obi-Wan with excitement. He was nineteen, and Obi-Wan was seventeen. It wasn't often they got to work together. After all, they were training for two drastically different paths.

But the mission needed them to work together to play a part to convince some politicians of what needed to be done while their masters more openly worked on the problem and investigation.

Quinlan glanced at their strings, pleased to see that the red string was still with Obi-Wan as it had been for more than a year. He was nearly certain they were meant to be. But he didn't want to say anything until Obi-Wan was twenty five. He didn't want Obi-Wan to freak out or anything. Once Obi-Wan could see the red string... 

Obi-Wan was busy looking over the information. He sighed. "Do we really have to play the part of a couple?"

Quinlan shrugged. "We look too different to play the part of brothers and yeah we could claim adoption but that makes the story too complicated. So being a couple is better, especially since it allows us to play bait."

Obi-Wan nodded and went back to the plan, humming as he thought it all over.

"And... They'll listen to us? Neither of us exactly look like adults."

Quinlan shrugged. "No idea. But that's what you're here for. You know politicians better. I get to be the blunt idiot, you get to smooth things over. We're just concerned about all the kids our age going missing and how we can avoid that."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, thinking it over. "Might be better to be a bit more selfish about it. Only caring about a few of them as friends, and the rest doesn't matter so long as we're not victims. The average teenager doesn't care about more than what affects them."

"Oh, right, true. Okay. So we talk to them."

"Either we convince them, or we don't, and regardless we're bait after that... If we convince them, they'll help catch the culprit, if not, our masters will ensure we're safe."

"Yep."

"I don't like this. The Force is giving me warnings."

"I know... Me too. But we can't deviate from the plan. Not now that we're out of contact. If we were still in contact, sure we can change it but not now, it's too late. We just gotta be careful and maybe we can avoid what we're being warned about."

Obi-Wan let out a breath. "Alright. I trust you. You know what you're doing when it comes to undercover." He looked down again, supposedly at the notes, but he was just reassuring himself that he and Quinlan still had the red string between them, no longer stretched to its limits but comfortable between them.  It was nice to be on a mission with his best friend for once. Especially since it was looking more and more like Quinlan was actually his soulmate.

Quinlan grinned and pulled the notes away from Obi-Wan. "Come on, it's just about show time."

Obi-Wan looked up and did a double take. Quinlan had let his hair down to hide the Padawan braid and had used make up to cover up his clan tattoos.

Quinlan grinned at his surprise. "Take away the tattoos and no one suspects that I'm a Kiffar. Which is useful. Now let's hide your padawan braid."

"Uh..." Obi-Wan fingered his braid. "How do you plan to do that? I don't have nearly as much hair as you do to cover it up."

"Simple, just let me handle it."

Obi-Wan sighed and let Quinlan work. A few minutes later, Quinlan declared him done. 

Obi-Wan looked in the mirror and stared. Quinlan had pulled the braid back with the rest of his short hair and then wrapped it around the tail several time before adding a big decorative clip in the form of a butterfly that hid any sign of it. 

"You're good at that." Obi-Wan tilted his head, trying to see if he could tell what the braid was, but it was difficult to spot it at all.

"Add a hat and it really won't be noticeable," Quinlan said. "I've just got lots of practice. But Master Tholme does say I'm a natural."

"Well..." Obi-Wan stood up and stood next to Quinlan, looking in the mirror. "I guess we do look like we could belong together."

"Great! Are you ready? We do have a little time if you're not ready to go." 

Obi-Wan took in a deep breath and let it out. "I think I'm as ready as I can be. Let's do this."

Quinlan grinned and hugged him. "And this is why you're the only one anywhere near my age I'm good with working with."

"What?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised, though he returned the hug.

"Well..." Quinlan shrugged self consciously and looked away. "Most of the others would be questioning me every step of the way, you know they don't think I make a good Jedi."

"I do know they think that and I also know you ignore them. I didn't know it bothered you."

"It doesn't bother me, I'm just being realistic."

Obi-Wan didn't believe him. "Alright. So we're a couple.... most teenagers are a little more affectionate when dating, right?"

"Right." Quinlan agreed.

Obi-Wan kissed his cheek impulsively. "Like that?" He was not going to admit he had been dying to try that for months.

Quinlan nodded, grinning like an idiot. "Like that. Perfect, Obes." He kissed Obi-Wan's cheek in return, excited to get the chance to do something like that with his own soulmate. 

Obi-Wan blinked, surprised by how nice it felt. He knew they were meant to be soulmates or it was at least mostly certain as their red string hadn't budged in more than a year. But it was still a surprise to do anything near romance with Quinlan. 

He had to remind himself it was just for the mission. It wasn't real. It was just for the mission. Quinlan didn't know they were soulmates and had never showed any signs of being interested in romance with anyone let alone little Obi-Wan.

Quinlan wrapped an arm around Obi-Wan and went over the plan once more, the details they were supposed to know as random civilians, and so on.

Only then did they leave to actually try to pull it off. Quinlan pulled out all the stops, being a perfectly attentive boyfriend and making sure Obi-Wan didn't need any help at all. He was blunt when spoken to, but otherwise focused on Obi-Wan and fussing over him.

Eventually Obi-Wan got him to back off and participate a bit more in the discussion, which had been planned. They acted like selfish teens who just wanted to make sure they and theirs weren't affected by those horrible disappearances.

They were brushed off. The politicians didn't care. Didn't want to do a thing about the other kids. 

Quinlan and Obi-Wan left, disappointed, but talking about the date they had planned along the river. They both felt a prickle of warning in the Force as they talked, getting stronger until they fell silence, though they kept feeling like something was wrong. Something was going to go horribly wrong.

Neither said a word to the other about it though, just passed their trepidation between each other in the Force. They didn't act any different and continued on the planned date. It wasn't near the site of the previous disappearances, but it was set up to be similar enough to them that they were definitely bait.

They were sitting on a blanket on the river bank, eating and laughing about nothing when both heard a noise in the river. Drowning tooka.

Both went for the river and tried to get the tooka out without using the Force. It took a little bit of doing but soon they were cuddling the poor thing and trying to warm it up and get it dry. 

They returned to their picnic and resumed the meal, offering some tidbits to the recovering tooka. 

After a while, Obi-Wan blinked a bit, frowning. "You're spinning..."

Quinlan stared at him in alarm, lurching forward to catch him. Obi-Wan was out before he hit Quinlan's arms. Quinlan's vision swam and he felt woozy for just a few seconds before he followed Obi-Wan into slumber.

His last thought was that their food must have been drugged while they were rescuing that tooka.

.

Obi-Wan groaned when he woke up. His mouth was horribly dry, his head pounded and his body didn't quite see as responsive as normal. And... what was going on...?

"Obi...?" Quinlan asked hoarsely next to him as he woke up and reached for Obi-Wan blindly. 

Obi-Wan followed the strings to Quinlan. "I'm here... And here seems to be a cage."

"A perfect little couple."

Both jerked around to see who it was... the politician they had talked to?

Quinlan squinted, confused. "Wha-?"

"Oh, I just knew I had to have you after you appeared in my office. Such a perfect, dynamic couple is perfect inspiration and good for publicity."

"...inspiration for what?" Obi-Wan asked warily, drawing closer to Quinlan.

"Inspiration for my art!"

Both of them were horrified when he wheeled their cage through a gallery of paintings of terrified teenagers. Paintings on paintings of teenagers in strange situations, sometimes crying, sometimes pretending to be happy. Sometimes... Well. Those ones made Quinlan nervous as he pressed closer to Obi-Wan. 

There was one strange commonality in all of them. They all had lines of color coming from their fingers, with one red one between them, usually.

"What did we get ourselves into?" he whispered.

"I don't know..." Obi-Wan responded. 

This was not what was expected when they agreed to do this part of the mission, trying to sniff out the real culprit.  This was not what they expected of any part of this mission, and they were not prepared for what was coming.

They stopped in a room. There were other cages there. All the other missing teenagers. They looked awful. It was easy to tell who had been there the longest. They were quiet and resigned. The newest were screaming or more terrified. Begging for a way out.

"This is more than reported," Obi-Wan muttered under his breath.

"We thought that could be the case, but still..." Quinlan nodded slightly, horrified by all they had seen so far.

"Now... let's see... How to best pose my two new inspirations..."

Obi-Wan glanced around the room and did a double take when he realized that the strings he could see matched up with what was on those paintings. Well. Kriff.

Quinlan was frowning at the paintings, trying to piece together some thoughts, but he was not getting there. But he did remember seeing some of those paintings, or at least copies of them. They didn't look like the victims, or the victims weren't from around here, so they went unnoticed. And in the displays the lines... were called soul strings...

They didn't have anymore time to think on it as the politician opened the door and dragged Obi-Wan out first. Obi-Wan took in a few deep breaths, trying to remain calm.

"Oh, you're a well behaved one aren't you?" 

Obi-Wan shuddered at the finger that ran down his face but otherwise didn't respond. He let himself appear as scared as he was. It was expected and he rather thought appearing unruffled as any Jedi would either give something away, or would anger the politician/artist. He was delighting in their fear. 

"That's perfect. It means I don't need to go for extreme measures for your first from the start. I hope your boyfriend is just as cooperative. The rest of you, shut up or I won't be giving you food after I'm done."

Everyone stopped being noisy immediately. 

"Now..." He started moving Obi-Wan around. "Oh, yes, hmm wait, no.... Ah yes this is perfect." His fingers brushed the clip in Obi-Wan's hair. "Hmm, no I'll leave it this time. But another hairstyle might be perfect for your handsome face." 

It felt like it took ages, but he was finally satisfied on the pose he put Obi-Wan in. 

"Don't move."

Obi-Wan sat frozen, worried about what was coming next. Many of those in cages just gave him sympathetic looks before turning away, nursing injuries. 

Quinlan struggled a bit.

"The more you struggle, the worse this is," the politician/artist snapped. "So keep going, I'm sure you and your boyfriend will love the results either way."

Quinlan froze, eyes wide as he was put into place, sitting on Obi-Wan's lap. One arm around Obi-Wan's neck, turned towards each other, and their hands carefully position.

They held that position for what seemed like ages before Obi-Wan squirmed and tried to scratch an itch on his leg with his foot.

"Hold still!" 

Obi-Wan yelled as a nail was driven through his shoe, through his foot, and straight into the ground. He didn't dare move his foot after that happened.

"You will stay still or I will make sure you do."

Obi-Wan nodded frantically. 

"Good."

Quinlan bit his lip anxiously but quickly returned to the expression he'd been ordered into before it was noticed. His hand started going numb from the weird position his arm was in. He flexed his had to get a little feeling back.

"I said, Hold. Still."

Quinlan and Obi-Wan both yelled when another nail was driven through Quinlan's hand into Obi-Wan, sticking them together, and making it even harder for either of them to move. 

Obi-Wan whimpered. 

"Now... Don't make me do that again. I hate it when I have to do that, it ruins the picture too easily. I need smiling, at each other. Go on."

Obi-Wan smiled shakily at Quinlan. Quinlan was worried but did his best to keep to the ordered expression.

They stayed like that for hours. Whenever one of them moved, there was another nail or a limb tied up if nailing into place was impossible. 

Finally, finally... 

"Good. Perfect. Tomorrow, more color. But look at how beautiful you two look!" He pulled the nails out to allow them to move.

They looked and stared. It wasn't a bad painting, and it was clear he still had a lot of work to do, but it was them, Quinlan without his tattoos and all. 

But the most striking thing was the accurate representation of all the strings coming off of their fingers, with a single red string connected them.

Obi-Wan stared at the string. Well. That was not entirely unexpected.

The politician laughed at their dumbfounded expressions. "Yes, that is your red string. I can see all strings of the soul, and what colors they are. You two have quite a few positive ones but not many negative ones. Unusual for teenagers. But... oh this red string is so thick and vibrant compared to some others I've seen. It seems settled like an adult's. You two must really be soulmates. Perfect for each other. And therefore, perfect for me."

"H-how?" Quinlan managed, staring in disbelief at the familiar strings. 

"I know it's taught that some who are not human can see their red strings when their eyes aren't closed, that it doesn't have an age limit. Sometimes they can see other strings. Sometimes with closed eyes, sometimes with open. One of the species that can see all strings is Kiffar."

Quinlan could feel Obi-Wan's shock and studiously did not look at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan now knew that they shared a red string and could easily realize that Quinlan had not shared that knowledge with him.

"And a strange thing with Kiffar. If their red string aligns with someone who is not Kiffar for even a second, that person will gain the ability to see all strings as well, and never lose it."

Quinlan startled. Oh... Oh kark. Obi-Wan had known the whole time too. They were going to have to talk about this.

The politician wasn't really paying them much mind. "Ah, even capturing the fleeting soulmate  connection of teenage love is wonderful inspiration. You two seem like you might have the more lasting soulmate bond, steady, and settled. You two must be compatible in so many ways and been dating for a while. I've never seen anything like it."

He studied them intently.  "Well, no matter. Back in the cage with you two, and I'll go get your food."

"What?" Quinlan gaped. "That's it?"

"You're here to be my inspiration, nothing more, nothing less. It's regrettable that some have had to die, but anything for art. Oh, you two will make such lovely art." They were dragged back to their cage and left there.

Obi-Wan pulled himself up, studying the holes in his foot, in his hands. He glanced at Quinlan to check on the holes in his body. Then he studied the strings, wiggling his fingers to watch the strings move.

Quinlan adjusted himself, ignoring the holes in his body and moved over to Obi-Wan. "I didn't know," he blurted out, wrapping an arm around Obi-Wan. "I knew about me seeing them, obviously, and my family taught me some Kiffar beliefs about them but they forgot to mention that anyone the string connects to would get it too... If I'd known... I would have talked to you... Sorry, Obes."

Obi-Wan leaned in, studying the strings contemplatively. "How early do red strings appear?"

"Huh? Oh, they can appear at birth but they're really not worth noting at that age, they never stay the same. Usually they start appearing as personalities set in, like at two or so."

Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully. "I've always been able to see them... or, I have no memories where I can't. But my earliest memory is playing with you in the creche, red string between us and both of us with happy colored strings to just about everyone around us and a few beyond that... although you had the two broken grief strings still."

Quinlan stared at him. "You can't have been older than three, then. Those two strings faded when I was five, almost a full year after... well. After. I... no wonder you didn't say a word. You don't have a memory of them not being there and suddenly appearing one day. It was just something you could always do."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I thought it was something everyone had, and I just had to learn to deal with it like I struggled with emotions and other things that put me behind. They've certainly come in handy for meditating about people."

Quinlan chuckled. "Oh, yes, they certainly do. Makes it very easy to see who I need to reconsider as a friend. I really wish I'd known you could see them... I would've helped you and it would've been nice having someone who understood what I was seeing, maybe we would've reenable to describe it better together."

Obi-Wan nodded. He let out a breath. "So... the red string hasn't moved in a year."

"You want to talk about it now?" Quinlan asked nervously.

"We have all the time in the world to talk about other things. Right now I want to discuss that we're soulmates, and we know it far earlier than most would ever learn, and apparently it's probably not going to change anytime soon unlike a typical teenager's."

"Oh... that's... true." Quinlan took in a deep breath and let it out. "I like you, Obi... I don't know about love yet, we're kind of young for that. But I've wanted to date you for a while now, I just didn't know how to say something without leading with the red string which was a terrible idea.'

"...I am glad you have restraint," Obi-Wan replied, smiling slightly. "I like you too and I've wanted that too. I just... wasn't sure how to bring it up, not when I didn't understand why I could see them. There was no reason for me to be able to see them."

Quinlan cuddled him. "I understand, Obi. I wasn't sure I should explain, if at all, that I can see the string at all, let alone all of that." He hesitated.

"Can I kiss you?"

Obi-Wan blinked in surprise, then kissed him first. 

"Oh." Quinlan closed his eyes and enjoyed the kiss, then pulled away. "Wow." 

"Wow indeed." Obi-Wan leaned on him. "We're going to have to discuss it in more detail later... for now I think we should probably worry more about the situation we're in."

Quinlan nodded. "We're Jedi, not teens that will be reported missing. He's going to figure it out eventually... Maybe we should help him along? Give him something?

Obi-Wan hummed. "Smudge your make up, let the gold show through a bit, and..." He removed the clip from his hair and put it back in Quinlan's. "Subtle but he should notice next time." 

"Yeah." Quinlan nodded. He stared at the hole in our hands. "So... we just gonna ignore the wounds? I mean. Ow, bleeding... actual holes from a nail. This is painful. I don't... I don't know what we can do."

"Neither do I... We don't really have anything to bandage them with, and it's not like he's not going to do it to us again..." Obi-Wan sighed. "Maybe we should just get some rest."

"True... he said he'd be getting us food, I think." Quinlan rubbed his face, purposefully making sure the make up smudged. "How's this?"

"Looks good." Obi-Wan kissed his cheek, blushing slightly. "I like that we can do this now."

Quinlan smiled. "Me too... it's not an act anymore."

"Nope."

.

They weren't noticed when they were given food. So they got comfortable and listened to the other teenagers talk as they ate. They kept getting weird looks, but neither padawan minded. 

They were used to being in bad situations like this, and being in pain. Maybe a bit too much for their age, even for Jedi, but this was still nothing new. So they were maybe taking the whole situation too well.

The next morning, he was back. From what the teens were saying, it sounded like he focused on his newest victims for a day or two, then would start doing more with the others once again, sometimes doing big group things.

So it was not a surprise when he opened their cage and ordered them out. Quinlan crawled out first, then helped Obi-Wan out. Both took a moment to stretch before they were examined.

"What's this?"

Quinlan flinched as he removed the make up with a dawning look of realization.

"Oh? A Kiffar? That's unusual, so far from Kiffu. So you knew exactly what I was talking about and you both already know you're soulmates. No wonder you're so close. Let's get the rest of the make up off."

Quinlan fidgeted as he worked, barely able to hold still. 

"Ah, that's better. This is even better for inspiration. Now about your hair, we need to do something special... but let's start with your boyfriend."

Obi-Wan flinched, eyes wide. 

"Oh, don't be like that, I'm just going to fix your hair." 

He started undoing what Quinlan had done and then frowned. "This braid..." He turned to Quinlan and found his padawan braid. "You're Jedi."

Quinlan nodded. "Yes, we are. Does that change anything?"

"No. I doubt the adult Jedi will be able to find you and I can do far more for inspiration now."

Neither of them liked the sound of that. He finished up their hair.

He started putting them in poses and taking pictures. That wasn't so bad. Difficult and exhausting, but still not bad. Not compared to the day before.

Then he got out the canvas to sketch and paint the next pose. 

"Hmm... what would be best for you two... I need some proper fear in your eyes, and I need some good, loving poses... Ah ha!" He took out a bat and started hitting Quinlan with it, breaking bones and driving him to the floor. "Not so brave now. Not even using any of your magic. So pitiful."

Quinlan breathed, trying to just get through the pain.

"Using the Force probably wouldn't change a thing," Obi-Wan responded quietly, eyes wide as he worriedly watched Quinlan. 

"I see... Now what if I do this?" He switched from a bat to a vibroknife and stabbed Quinlan.

Quinlan let out a yell, curling around the wound as the artist drew back to stab again.

Obi-Wan moved and stood over Quinlan, glaring at the artist. "Don't touch him."

"Perfect. Stay right there. Don't worry, you'll get your turn. The more I do to one person, the less inspirational they are." He nailed Obi-Wan's feet to the floor, just to be sure. As much as he hated doing it, he believed that sometimes it was totally necessary.

Obi-Wan's widened. That was his plan all along. 

He took a longer stick and drove it into Quinlan's legs, pinning them there, then did the same to his arm, so that he would stay in one place. Pain had a tendency to make teenagers move, he knew from experience. Better to keep them in place longer.

Quinlan had tears falling from the pain, and now he was curled on his side with no way to alleviate the pain anymore. 

Obi-Wan was frozen, stuck to the ground, and he was scared to know what would happen if he moved his hands or shifted any other part of his body. 

"Perfect, stay just like that. Just what I like to see... Just one last touch." He moved Obi-Wan's Padawan braid over his shoulder and nodded. 

Then he started sketching before painting, absolutely delighted. 

"So well behaved, no issues here, no wonder, you're Jedi."

Obi-Wan glared more in response. He could feel Quinlan's pain in the Force and there was nothing he could do about it. He hurt too but Quinlan was so much worse off. 

Their best bet would be to trust their masters and the Force that they would be found. That they had figured something out when Obi-Wan and Quinlan went missing. 

.

Quinlan and Obi-Wan were curled around each other days later. They'd been nailed to the spot for a group portrait of 'teens relaxing together', just like all the teens were. Despite being well behaved, both found it hard to stay perfectly still. It was coming easier and easier, though.

They'd started to get to know the other teens better, and helped them through some of the difficulties they were having, though it was hard to deal with things when going through trauma. But any little bit helps, and building ways to cope would help once it was over.

The result was they now had strings to the other teens, making them all look more like friends. 

They were both badly injured and they only ever received enough aid to ensure they were not about to die. Nothing more than that. It made things difficult and they often wondered if the pain would ever end. But they knew their masters would find them. It was just a matter of time.

So they just held onto each other and the pose. They couldn't entirely hold the pose, so of course they were nailed into place hands on each other, and legs to the ground, but at least this time they were entirely cuddling, which made things a little easier to bear.

The artist was happily painting, cheerily talking about their strings, about how they were so special. 

The door burst open, and there was Qui-Gon and Tholme, with some officers behind them. 

Obi-Wan lifted his head. He smiled and let his head drop onto Quinlan's. "It really is them. Looks like they figured it all out."

Quinlan sighed in relief. "Finally... I can't wait to go home and have our first date."

"Me too."

Qui-Gon and Tholme took care of ensuring the artist was arrested, directing everyone in evidence. 

Tholme did a double take at the canvas, as the madman had already painted in the strings. Quinlan had not confided in him who his soulmate was, and Tholme had not wanted to push, not when he was still so young. Speaking of Quinlan... 

He frowned when he realized the two padawans had not moved. He walked over to them and had to take a deep breath when he realized just why. 

"Master!" Quinlan exclaimed, happy to see hm. He wished he could move, but he could not. 

Tholme hurried to help them get free. "Padawan... I'm sorry it took us long. I didn't think it would be so hard to convince the officers."

"He's a high ranking politician, they're always going to hesitate," Obi-Wan shrugged. "Not your fault they're all corrupt or not sure they want to face the consequences if it blows up in their faces."

Qui-Gon joined them. "That is an accurate summary of e... what did he do to you?"

"He didn't like it when we move when he's painting." Obi-Wan sighed. "So he nailed us into place. And sometimes he beat us up for whatever goal he had in mind for the painting."

Tholme picked up Quinlan. "It's a good thing we're just about done with this mission, I want to get you two back to the Temple as quickly as possible."

Quinlan clung to him. "That sounds good."

"And we need to have a talk about strings, apparently."

"Yeah. We do." Quinlan sighed, smiling at Obi-Wan. 

Obi-Wan was standing shakily, ready to go. He smiled back and wiggled the finger their red string was on to make it move. 

"How long have you know?"

"It's always come back to him, but it's stayed with him for a year now," Quinlan admitted quietly.

"And he can see the strings too."

"Yeah. Never told me, didn't even know he wasn't supposed to, and then he couldn't figure out why he could."

"So he thought it was a good idea to keep it to himself."

"Yeah. We've talked a lot about it."

"And there's going to be a lot more talking now. Especially if you two are going to date."

"Yes, Master." Quinlan smiled, and snuggled in.

.

Obi-Wan and Quinlan recovered together. Over the years, they grew closer as they dated. They followed the rules of soulmates, but that was never a problem for them. They knew their duty as Jedi, and would never put each other above that.

Obi-Wan was welcomed by Quinlan's family as his soulmate with open arms; everyone thrilled that the 'baby' had someone to make him happy. Eventually, they followed what marriage traditions they could that did not interfere with their responsibilities as Jedi. Obi-Wan received the Clan tattoos, and they also received the marriage tattoos together. It was special to them.

Around when Obi-Wan ended up with a padawan, both of them sprouted a second and sometimes even third red string that wavered and disappeared, sometimes jumping, sometimes strong, sometimes just gone for months. 

Neither could figure it out, but they accepted it. They discussed what would happen if they met other soulmates, but both agreed that they would not do anything if it put their relationship at jeopardy. 

They had no clue where these other strings were coming from, so late in life, and they had already chosen each other. They had no need for a third or fourth.

Obi-Wan knew he had solved the mystery when he arrived on Kamino and he found one of the clones at the end of his red string. He barely kept his irritation off his face when the Kaminoans declared proudly that the clones would have no soulmates. 

He carefully prodded, looking for information on what would happen if they did, and filed everything away carefully. 

The clones had networks of vibrant colors between each other, many close to each other. They did not deserve any further issues. Obi-Wan resolved to discuss it with others. 

He could tell which clones had a red string with Quinlan at some point by the way they were tracing the red string from him to the one clone. It was almost amusing.

Ultimately, he and Quinlan would face this coming storm together. It didn't matter that they had new potential soulmates. There was war, and they didn't know these clones yet. 

So he and Quinlan would focus on each other and see where the strings went after the war. Neither were ready to change the relationship dynamic that had been established so long ago as padawans. 

They were enough for each other.