Chapter 7

Anakin slowly regained consciousness. Opening his eyes he could see nothing but darkness. Memories flooded him as he came up to speed with his current situation. He did not thrash against his restraints it would not serve him to do so. Fighting Maul had been a bad choice, one rashly made in distorted fervor of the moment. One that had brought him to loose his limb yet again making whatever escape might be possible a steeper challenge.

Anakin felt odd, the scope of his senses were confined to his own skin. The collar, he thought in dread. The cost of freedom for him and his friends became more arduous by the second. He furrowed his brow causing pain to lance across his scalp and the side of his face. A stream of dried and cracked blood pulled at his skin as he contorted his face from the unexpected pain. A fresh trickle of red sprung from his temple running down his jaw. He tried to quiet his mind and meditate although it proved difficult being cut off from the force. He tried to focus on his breathing and the sounds around him and noticed a second breath seeming to come from across the space.

"Obi-wan?"

"Anakin!" He was glad to hear the voice of his former padawan but, "I had hoped to see you under different conditions. Were you able to contact the council before you were captured?"

"No Master, my communications were being Jammed. By now we could be anywhere in the galaxy. I'm afraid we didn't leave a trail for anyone to follow if they came searching for us. It's going to be up to us to get out of this place. Have you overheard anything? Do you know where we are?"

"I'm afraid not. When we left the transport they blindfolded us. They took Ahsoka somewhere else and I've been stuck in this place ever since. No one has come in here except the droids who put me in here." Kenobi had a calm curiosity in his voice.

"You don't know then..." Anakin hesitated to divulge the sinister being behind their demise.

"What don't I know Anakin?" Obi-wan said insistently, sensing he would not like the answer.

"It's Maul. Maul is behind this. He is the one who baited us to bring us here. He says I'm the key... to your suffering. He wants to get revenge for what you did to him." Anakin spoke softly as if saying this would make it more true than it already was. As if breathing life to the words was casting a curse on himself and his Master.

"How can that be? I killed Maul on Naboo." Obi-wan shuddered pondering the implications of this realization.

"You maimed him but did not kill him. He is half machine from the waist down and a formidable fighter as well. I tried to fight him but he was too strong... His hatred for you fuels his dark side powers." Anakin saw himself conquered again, his arm severed as he fell back on the deck. A nausea grew in his belly as he was reminded of his defeat. He hated to feel weak and powerless like he was now, as he had been in childhood as a slave. It would take days for the council to send a search party for them and the chances of them being found diminished with each passing hour. If only he could reach out in the force to sense his surroundings and see a flaw or weakness in their captors strategy or a hole in the defenses, he could exploit it. All he needed to do was send a transmission out to let the council on to their location. Even that seemed impossible in his current set of conditions.

"I'm sorry Anakin this is all my fault." Obi-wan said dejected, wallowing in remorse.

"No Master, it's not. No one could have predicted Maul still being alive. You sliced him in half, you had every reason to believe he was no longer a threat." Anakin tried to reassure his master. Sorrow would not get them out of these binds, it would only erode their resolve to escape. Giving into dejection would prove a greater prison to escape and one they could not afford in their current situation.

"No- it is all my fault. If only I hadn't been so selfish this whole time." Obi-wan started with self directed anger in his voice. "If we had been one in the force we would have been able to sense this plot. I should have sensed Maul. I was busy distancing myself from you instead-" Kenobi's voice caught on the edge of a sob, "Now I have not only let my passion take over my senses but it has lead us to ruin as well." Obi-wan's self loathing consumed his heart, hating what he had let himself become. His love for Anakin grew into a perversion and the scope of its destruction had yet to become fully realized. Thoughts of that fleeting moment aboard the twilight tore at the edges of his mind racking him with guilt. Anakin was so desperate for his friendship that he was willing to let himself succumb to whatever whim his master pleased. It was wrong. It was the reason they were in this predicament. Obi-wan wore his shame like a cloak of iron, falling on his shoulders heavy, weighing him down; crushing him. The thought of searching out help from the council was laughable to him now. They were never going to escape this place. Maul had a loathing for Obi-wan matched only by the one he inflicted on himself for all the pain he had caused to the one he loved most. There was no way Maul was letting them escape.

"Master we cannot let ourselves fall into this pit. We need to be fully focused and level headed if we are going to get out of here. Please don't blame yourself. This regret isn't going to help us." Anakin begged his master. He was no stranger to allowing his passions to take over. He had done many things that Obi-wan was unaware of in blind fits of rage. He thought back to the slaughter of the Tusken Raiders, even fighting Maul was a poor choice made in the swells of emotion. "Please Obi-wan. The past is the past we can't do anything to change it. We can only move forward." Anakins words were a dagger cutting at his Master's heart.

The lights in the cell came alive blinding the two Jedi temporarily as they blinked and squinted against the sharp blue fluorescent rays. Obi-wan saw his former padawan hanging in binders across the cell from him, void of his mechanical limb from mid-forearm down. His face was bloodied and bruised and stared back at him begging. Anakin needed his Master to be the gentle teacher, the calm force who he had always been. Instead Obi-wan hung opposite him jaded in his misgivings drowning in a chasm of self doubt and hopelessness. The sight of his former padawan tattered and wounded sent a sharp pain stabbing through Kenobi's ribs gripping his heart. Tears welled at the corners of the elder Jedi's eyes as he fought himself not to give into the sob that was caught in his throat.

The door to their cell slid open as a hooded monster clanked across the alloy floor. It's arms were crossed and chin raised with a pleased expression written in red and black across it's face, showing a crescent of decaying teeth. It's arms released to it's sides as the demon spoke, voice aphotic and sadistic. "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Maul spoke slowly, savoring each syllable in a drawn out manner laced with a beastly growl. Kenobi met the monsters eyes with a ferocity fueled by his own growing dark side. His chest heaved with fear and hatred for the beast, face twisted in a painful grimace. His past had manifested and come back to haunt him and he was completely powerless. "How the tides have turned my old friend." The monster chided at him, taunting. Obi-wan was speechless, what could he say? He was at the mercy of this horrid monster. Usually Kenobi was bursting with sarcasm and skepticism for his enemies. He had been beaten many times before but his spirit had never been extinguished such as it was now. He once smiled wittingly at his captors after taking so many blows but this time was different. Not a bruise or scratch had scythed his skin but his will was already shattered.

Maul raised an eyebrow, curious of the unexpected disposition Obi-wan displayed. "You are already so broken." Maul sneered at Kenobi closing the distance between them. "I had hoped to break you myself but you are already just a fragment of what you once were." He said inquisitively, eyeing the Jedi from head to toe, only inches away from his face. "Show me Jedi, what has done this to you?" Maul placed a hand caressing the side of Obi-wan's face, thumb poised at the corner of his eye. Obi-wan resisted the monsters grip, straining against the bonds in futility. He could feel the cold dark force pierce his mind searching through his memories like pages in a book. It felt like knives of ice searing through his skull, sawing at his mind to unearth dark desires and shameful memories. Streams of warm red began to escape the corners of his eyes and seep from his nostrils. There was a guttural screaming resounding in his ears. It took him a few moments after the Sith withdrew the force grip from his mind to realize the cry came from his own lips. Anakin watched from across the room in horror, tears welled in his pure blue eyes.

Maul recoiled from Kenobi with a look of surprise that quickly transformed into a sinister smile that gave way to a bout of evil laughter. He couldn't believe it. Obi-wan had become transfixed by his student and it had completely derailed him. It couldn't be easier, Maul thought. The psychological warfare was done. Kenobi had delivered himself completely poised for destruction. All that was left to make him pay was violence. That was his favorite part; so many possibilities. He turned his gaze to Anakin who was still suspended in silence. Mauls eyes scanned his figure, calculating behind his malevolent gaze. Seeming to come upon a good idea the monsters expression changed from pensive to eager fascination. Maul moved towards Anakin like a predator stalking its prey. Anakins breathing quickened and he clenched his fist, glaring at the beast that held him captive.

Obi-wan writhed against his restraints "NO! Don't you dare touch him! He has nothing to do with this!" Spittle spewed from his mouth as he screamed. "Fight me! Remove my restraints and fight me! It's me you want not him!"

Maul smiled as he leaned in towards Anakin, grabbing a fist of his hair and yanking his head back to bare the flesh of his neck above the collar. Anakin resisted with no avail. Obi-wan continued to beg and plead Maul to unhand his student only to be ignored. With perfect precision Maul sank his teeth into the Jedi's flesh. Anakin grunted in surprise at the pain. A river of blood sprang from the bite drenching both him and the Sith in the sticky crimson substance, pooling below the young Jedi. Maul withdrew from him, blood dripping down his jaw matting his black robes. He drew and ignited his saber raising it to the wound, cauterizing the ruptured artery causing the river of red to quell. Anakin let out a cry as the saber seared his flesh. Kenobi looked on in horror, silent tears staining his face. Without a word, Maul left the cell. He wanted Kenobi's dread to consume him before he dealt the next blow.