Obi-Wan Kenobi would like it to be known that nothing about the mission going wrong was his fault.
He hadn’t decided to turn down that alleyway, in fact, he’d been the one to mention that it might be a bad idea.
He certainly hadn’t been the one to decide to act as a distraction and leave his padawan behind.
Honestly, if anyone was at fault it was probably Maul.
“I hope you know I blame you for this Kenobi.” The probably guilty party hissed from his side, clanging his restraints in the process in a way that made Obi-Wan’s growing headache throb.
“Oh, my fault, is it?” He retorted. “Which one of us decided to taunt pirates? Hmm, I wonder...”
“Shut up.” Maul snapped. “It’s not my fault you were too weak to keep up.”
“Weak!? Weak!?” He protested. “I’m sorry, were you caught up in an explosion?”
Maul made a small dismissive motion from his place chained to the wall. “Of course not.”
“Of course not.” Obi-Wan grumbled and set about fiddling with the restraints. They were nothing fancy, only half-effective at their advertised goal of Force suppression, mostly they were just annoying.
He hissed as one of them sparked in response to his meddling and slumped back against the wall in temporary defeat.
“Who do you think’s going to show up to rescue us first?” He sighed.
Maul scoffed. “We don’t need a rescue.”
“Pride is unbefitting a Jedi.” Obi-Wan said in his most annoying voice. As expected Maul did his best to shove him for that comment only to discover their restraints were just short enough to prevent his success. Maul shifted to kick him instead, it didn’t hurt but it was the principle of the matter. “Violence against the innocent!” He yelped and shuffled away. “It isn’t the Jedi way!”
Maul narrowed his eyes in response. “You are not innocent Kenobi.” He glared. “You never have been. Don’t pretend you’re some paragon of Jedi serenity. I saw you strangling Padawan Vos the last time you were both in Temple.”
“See, that is not fair.” Obi-Wan pouted, hiding a smile. “Quinlan deserved that.”
“You are no less annoying.” Maul rolled his eyes and began picking at his own restraints.
They sat in relative silence for a few moments, Maul hissed curses at the stubborn cuffs and Obi-Wan absently looked around for anything that might help them in their escape.
They both paused as a door opened and a large man walked in, unbothered by the fact that even padawans were often more dangerous than the average adult sentient.
He could almost hear Maul rolling his eyes at the sight of their lightsabers clipped to the man’s belt.
Obi-Wan had been in some truly distressing situations before and there was no telling when the situation might escalate dangerously but there was something about Maul’s steady and annoying presence that eased his anxieties.
“Jedi.” He nodded to each of them.
“Pirate scum.” Maul greeted in turn.
“Greetings!” Obi-Wan piped up, mostly because he thought it was funny. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” He dipped his head in a very polite bow.
The pirate sneered at both of them, rude. Maul was the one who’d insulted him. Obi-Wan hadn’t even done anything yet!
“We’re leaving within the hour.” He gloated, chest puffed out to make himself look bigger. “There’s an auction a few systems over. They love little force sensitives and I love credits. A win-win for everyone. There’s even talk of someone on the lookout for Jedi, someone powerful.” His smile was cruel and Obi-Wan had to fight back a shiver. These pirates might not be competent enough to keep their masters from finding them but… well, slavers in another system was a different story.
The moment they left the planet they’d been captured on things became that much more complicated.
“The end is upon you. You will die in agony, your flesh melting from your bones. Your crew will spend their last moments in...” Maul cut off with a wheeze as a heavy boot connected with his stomach. The pirate sneered and moved to punch him.
Obi-Wan wasn’t the only one to flinch and the pirate moved back with a mean smirk. He adjusted their lightsabers pointedly on his belt and sauntered away slowly, apparently satisfied with their fear.
Maul glared after him, audibly grinding his teeth in frustration.
Obi-Wan slumped for a breath before straightening up and turning to whisper.
“Got anything?” He asked.
Their connection to the Force was muted but Maul wasn’t actually radiating fear or panic. He wasn’t as angry as he appeared either.
“Fool.” He spat in answer but Obi-Wan didn’t let it bother him. It wasn’t directed at him anyway.
Maul took a few steadying breaths, calming himself as best he could, and shifted so Obi-Wan could see what he was hiding in his hands.
It was a small vibroknife, if Obi-Wan had to guess he would say one that probably spent most of its time in the pirates boot. A holdout weapon that wouldn’t actually do much good in a real fight. Faced with a set of cuffs though…
Obi-Wan matched Maul’s triumphant look with a grin of his own.
It was a frustrating process filled with cursing on Maul’s end and sympathetic noises from Obi-Wan but no cuffs could withstand Maul’s dogged persistence forever.
Maul caught them before they could hit the ground and immediately moved to get Obi-Wan’s off.
They didn’t have much time. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure how long it had been but “within the hour” was a frustratingly vague time period.
Luckily, Maul was much faster the second time. He stood carefully, stretching out a bit before offering Obi-Wan a hand up.
They made eye contact and they weren’t out of trouble yet but, there was a relief to being some of the way there. The Force was nothing but a comfort and Obi-Wan smiled.
Maul scowled and looked away.
Obi-Wan let his smile grow.
“Let’s go.” Maul took his hand and tugged him towards the door.
They crept out of the hold carefully, with all the caution that came with the knowledge of the consequences of arrogance.
The Force warned of danger and Obi-Wan pulled Maul back to hide behind some crates.
The pirate passed by without even glancing to the side.
Arrogance on their part but Obi-Wan certainly didn’t mind, not when it kept them safe.
Obi-Wan glanced at Maul and paused.
“What’s wrong?” He whispered, noticing the conflicted look on Maul’s face.
“Nothing.” Came the response. Obi-Wan waited, hoping for an actual answer. “My master was right.” He muttered after a moment.
“Masters tend to be, on occasion.” Obi-Wan hummed neutrally.
“We have to leave them.” Maul clarified. “Our lightsabers.”
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and nodded.
He didn’t want to.
The thought ached but… at any moment the ship might start to leave.
They couldn’t risk it, not with the number of pirates no doubt still around. They had been overwhelmed once already. It would be foolish to repeat their failure.
If they were lucky they would find their masters in time to return and reclaim them.
A Jedi’s lightsaber was their life. It should not be their death.
Maul muttered a comforting mantra under his breath and they moved on.
-
They’d almost made it when the ship shook.
Obi-Wan couldn’t tell if it was a clunky and unreliable engine starting up or something else.
Regardless of what it was, he felt his heart start to race.
He squeezed Maul’s hand, hoping that he found it reassuring and not the obvious sign of growing panic it was.
The ship seemed to shudder and a horrible wrenching noise sounded from the front of the ship.
Obi-Wan wasn’t particularly interested in finding out what it was and tugged his companion towards the exit.
Maul tilted his head towards the sound and narrowed his eyes.
“Maul!” Obi-Wan hissed to no avail.
“Quiet,” the boy admonished. “Don’t you hear it?”
Obi-Wan sighed, put upon but took a breath and did his best to focus.
There was… distant shouting and blasters going off and…
Oh, well, that would explain the awful wrenching sound wouldn’t it.
“Still against betting on a rescue, Padawan Maul?” He asked.
Maul only scoffed, it wasn’t a mean sound though. The tension in his frame seemed to fade in an instant.
The sounds of blaster fire and the whirring of a lightsaber got closer by the moment and the padawans were forced to hide rather than risk an unlucky hostage situation.
Obi-Wan thought Master Windu looked very impressive deflecting blaster bolts. He wasn’t even annoyed at the smug look Maul threw him at the revelation that his master was the one rescuing them.
Master Windu took a long breath once the fight was over, the pirates either gone or on the ground in various states of injury throughout the ship.
“Padawans.” He turned to their hiding place without hesitation.
“Master.” They returned.
“I’m glad to see you safe.” He gestured for them to come out of their hiding place with a small smile. “Are either of you harmed?”
“We’re fine.” Maul reported and shot Obi-Wan a warning look.
Obi-Wan tucked his arms into his sleeves primly and nodded.
“I am unharmed,” he agreed. “Though, I do seem to recall Padawan Maul taking a rather hard kick to the stomach.”
Maul hissed something that almost sounded like snitch.
Master Windu sighed, though it was fond and tugged lightly on the beads that made up Maul’s padawan braid.
“That certainly counts, padawan.”
“Yes, Master.” He grumbled.
Master Windu smiled faintly and straightened up.
“Come along, I believe Padawan Kenobi’s master is causing trouble for another pirate gang.” He gestured for them to come closer. “And you’ll be wanting these.”
Obi-Wan couldn’t help the relieved breath at the sight of their lightsabers. He felt Maul’s sigh of relief from his side.
He reached out to his crystal as he took the saber and smiled at its steady song.
They followed Master Windu out of the ship with no small amount of relief.
Maul tripped him as soon as his master stopped paying close attention.
Obi-Wan held his head high and did not respond in kind.
He was far too mature for such childish revenge.
Although, he did think of the paint still hidden in his rooms leftover from one of Quinlan’s pranks.
Maul would look nice in that horrible garish yellow, Obi-Wan thought.
Something to consider.