[Excerpt from tomorrow's update for my current Jedi Apprentice AU fic (the rest of it is here) because I'm editing, and this part is a particular favorite of mine]
The moonlight disappeared, obscured by another passing cloud, and Obi-Wan’s form faded into a different silhouette. Qui-Gon saw the boy that he had taught with such eagerness, the boy he had wrapped in his cloak on many a cold night, and loved and cared for as his own child. The boy Qui-Gon would never see again, except in memory.
Xanatos was gone, but his face remained, a flicker of blue eyes and dark hair and an unforgettable scar in the shape of a broken circle. Qui-Gon wondered what would have happened if he had never chosen Xanatos. If he might have been sent to one of the Service Corps, and perhaps to wiser teachers and a better fate.
Obi-Wan had once hoped that Qui-Gon would choose to be his teacher, and show him the ways of the Force—but that part of Qui-Gon had gone away along with Xanatos and never returned.
The Jedi in the AgriCorps would teach Obi-Wan instead. He would be in better hands, there. He would have a chance to find a place in hearts that did not bear so many scars. The boy was easy to love. Obi-Wan did not need Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon did not need Obi-Wan.
It made no difference that Qui-Gon could feel Obi-Wan’s relief through the Force as the boy pulled the warm cloak around himself, or feel him drift quietly off into sleep at last. Obi-Wan was young. His mental shields were weaker than the more experienced Knights and Masters Qui-Gon was accustomed to interacting with. It meant nothing.
Qui-Gon stretched out on his sleep-couch and attempted to quiet his mind, pushing away the unwelcome memory of Xanatos’ icy gaze, and the knowledge that he could feel it the moment Obi-Wan began to dream.