Obdurate Heart – X
Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. Maul didn't offer a whole lot on his character, you know? But hey, I try. I'm actually surprised that there are such a number of people who are a fan of this couple. But then again I shouldn't be—this is Star Wars after all, there's a fanbase for anything here. :)
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."
-Margaret Thatcher
The next day, Obi Wan was hesitant to even think on what he would meet upon checking in on his prisoner this day. The previous night, he had lulled himself to sleep only with the self-assurance that Maul simply must be healing soon, and would be taken from his care never to be seen again. This morning, however, dread crept in on him. Something was bound to go awry before Maul was taken—for he would be fully healed and intact before that could take place. He was surely plotting something this very moment. Instead of worrying over it, however, Obi Wan knew that he should be determined to stop it from happening. Qui Gon had placed faith in him, and so he must place faith in himself as well.
Obi Wan groomed and dressed quickly that morning, going yet again to face his stubborn prisoner and this time confident in handling this foolish affair with dignity. When he reached the holding room again, he was instantly met by a guard who was eager to report, likely in retrospect of the night prior. "Good morning, sir." He greeted.
Obi Wan nodded. "Anything to report?"
"Nothing major, sir. The medic attempted to examine him this morning, but as could be expected, he protested this. He did allow a few moments of it, but seemed to change his mind." The guard relayed.
"Was the droid damaged?" Obi Wan asked in exasperation.
"Not severely." He answered.
"Has he been fed?"
"Ah…yes sir." The guard made a long hesitation, and Obi Wan furrowed his brow.
"What is it?" he pressed.
"It's been given to him, but he hasn't eaten it." The guard clarified.
Obi Wan shook his head, not surprised, but fed up and set to settle this once and for all. He went past the guard and came into Maul's room forcefully, staring accusingly at the figure on the bed. The tray from the night before was on a bedside table, untouched, and the new one for the day at hand still sat near Maul on the bed. It was also full and free of consumption. Obi Wan narrowed his eyes.
"Good of you to visit." Maul snarled quietly, glaring at his intruder with contempt.
"The guards tell me that you still refuse to eat. That you went against instruction and again warded away medical attention."
"What is the complaint?" Maul leaned up on his elbows. "Is that not doing their job?"
"Is it that you're indifferent to your own life, or is it that you simply wish you had been killed?" he tossed out a small shrug, despising this ridiculous bickering.
"Killing me would have been easier for you, yes." Came the answer, as though Maul had casually been waiting for their arguments to pick up again. "But I'm not about to make anything easy for you. Yes, I know you wish you had killed me. I intend on solidifying that regret."
"So that's what you've been reduced to?" Obi Wan responded in a calm tone, but his eyes betraying that tone. "You're entire purpose now is to be a spoiled child?"
"Forgive me if I'm not up to combat and cartwheels, someone delved a saber into my organs." he hissed back sardonically, and for a moment the two men stared at one another in a heated, boyish fashion. "Aside from which, if this is the only way I can fight the Jedi at the moment, then so be it."
Obi Wan quickly shook off his scowl and steadied himself before responding. "You don't understand, do you?" He said, idly brushing off a sleeve. "Look around you. Think about where you are. Your fight with the Jedi is over."
Maul curled a lip. "My battle ends with my life, and I live yet."
"Not for long if you're convinced that starving yourself is your only way of combating us." Obi Wan felt himself gaining an upper hand. Gathering his courage, he boldly came forward and leaned over the empty side of the bed, not noticing when Maul jerked back. He took a piece of fruit off of the tray and shoved it at his prisoner demandingly.
Maul looked down at the fruit for a stilling moment before he suddenly reached out and snatched the offending arm, pulling Obi Wan down closer in a gruff movement. Obi Wan froze, his courage instantly gone. His arm hurt terribly, being that it was also the same arm from which, a few days before, he had used to catch himself and his prisoner on a ledge. Maul's grip was hard and unforgiving, his eyes dark with a foreboding threat that made Obi Wan feel fully the stupidity of his actions. He only swallowed deeply.
"You'll wish that you killed me, Jedi…" Maul growled closely. He tightened his grip, and Obi Wan struggled not to cry out. "Do you understand how petty your 'hospitalities' are? That high and mighty little air of yours…look how easily it can be crushed." Again the hand tightened.
Obi Wan grit his teeth hard, trying his damndest to glare back at him. "I'm not a killer. That is not the Jedi way." he said indignantly.
"That is the quintessence of the Jedi way." Maul growled back, pulling him down closer. Once again Obi Wan felt that disturbing paranoia that Maul was going for his throat.
"We do not kill unless it is a necessity. Not even for you." Obi Wan bit his lip hard and turned his head as he felt Maul twist his arm to an agonizing point.
"Don't try and convince me that this is generosity. That this is care. That it is even mercy or compassion. This is protocol. The only reason you did not kill me is because there was a trivial rule standing in your way. You followed that rule as opposed to your own common logic, if indeed you have any left. That was a stupid mistake on your part. How many more stupid mistakes will you make?" Maul continued. "Or will this be your last…?" he smirked ominously and tightened his grip yet again.
Obi Wan's shoulders tensed as he forced back a whimper, slowly bringing his eyes back to Maul's and staring hard. "…break it…" he whispered. There was a long pause between them. "…see if it earns you anything."
Maul's eyes narrowed.
"Then let go." Obi Wan ordered with a wavering confidence.
Maul let the moment stretch, searing Obi Wan's blue eyes with his own cruel ones before sneering and wrenching his wrist one more small time, then let go.
Obi Wan did cry out this time, pulling away once released and scrambling back a ways before staring mulishly at Maul and cradling his bruised wrist against his chest. Maul looked back with a glowering satisfaction, eyes moving back and forth in a twisted dance between Obi Wan's arm and his face. "Is that pain in your eyes, Jedi? Or does a Jedi feel pain?" he crowed.
Obi Wan began to cope quickly with the throbbing in his arm, fast to harden his gaze again and unable to hide his relative anger.
Maul grunted in reply. "How pitiful you are."
Obi Wan still stared him down, shame burning in his cheeks as he knelt grasping his twisted limb.
"Stop your sulking." Maul bit at him through the silence, apparently having expected a retort at this point.
Obi Wan drew up a little, biting his tongue hard as he came forward again and fumbled his uninjured hand to grasp another piece of fruit from the tray. He again shoved it at Maul, his eyes daring and his resolve firm. Maul blinked down at Obi Wan's hand, momentary confusion and surprise passing onto him at the sheer tenacity. His eyes went back up to meet Obi Wan's, incredulous and disgusted. "Eat." Obi Wan said forcefully.
Maul took several looks between his caretaker and the hand that was thrust at him. Brusquely, he snatched the fruit out of Obi Wan's hand and tore a side of it off in his teeth.
Obi Wan pushed himself back onto a knee, one leg still hanging off the edge of the bed as he wiped a wrist across his brow.
"Do you tell me that you are really apathetic to this affair, Jedi? Are you not humiliated? Do you enjoy this responsibility now?" Maul asked, swallowing.
"No." Obi Wan answered decidedly. "You want me to admit that? Fine. I don't enjoy it. There's no rule that says I've got to like this."
"Oh and that is all you're concerned with." Maul returned with a loud rumble. "You've got to have a rule to tell you what you may feel."
Obi Wan hesitated, one brow rising as he slowly sat back on his leg. "…Jedi training is not about choosing what to feel. It is about controlling how you allow your thoughts to affect you. You do your duty despite what you might feel."
"I suppose blind slavery does have its benefits. If you're in the sovereign." Maul sank the tips of his teeth into the fruit and chuffed in reply.
"A Jedi is no slave. We have a choice." Obi Wan countered, but Maul was obviously unmoved. "Sith loyalty is slavery." He added. He looked down at the bed for a moment before drawing away from it.
"But unlike the Jedi, it does not wear a mask of divinity."
Obi Wan set his jaw tightly and shook his head. He wasn't about to be taken down to the level of debating morals with a Sith. The very definition of a Sith was the absence of morals, so to be judged based upon such by one was ludicrous to say the least. "Very well, Lord Maul." He uttered as he turned away. "In any case, I'm sending in another medic to have a look at you—with restraint if you must have it."
"So much for that word of yours, I suppose." Maul growled back, staring at his keeper with evil vehemence.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Obi Wan turned halfway to look at him again.
"I told you before that I refuse your damn medics. You thereafter gave me your word that none would bother me. I shouldn't expect a filthy Jedi to live up to his promises." Maul narrowed his gaze hatefully.
Obi Wan sighed again and stared at Maul bluntly. "I don't expect you to identify with my plight, Maul. Just as you're aware I have no intention of identifying with yours. My duty is to see that your health returns. It is not to please you. I apologize if this upsets you, but I'm not sorry." He stated curtly.
Even as Obi Wan explained this, a medic droid accompanied by four guards was entering the room. They looked to Obi Wan, who nodded in consent, and then they descended upon Maul and his treatment. Obi Wan took a few steps back and watched the scene cautiously should some reason arise that he was needed to intervene. He watched as the guards firmly and methodically took hold of each arm and pinned him to the bed by chest and shoulder, the other two taking him at the legs and seeing that his struggle was maximally impaired. The prisoner was instantly set into an instinctive fight, jerking his limbs and snarling at them through loud outbursts of protest. Obi Wan observed the hot, unbridled anger that seeped from him in tidal waves, reducing him to nothing but a feral, battling animal under those that held him. Even though the struggle was worthless and petty, and hindered by a crippling wound that he was only making worse, Maul let his pride win over all things.
Obi Wan took it all in with an attempted impartiality to the affair, but as he listened to the furious howls and watched Maul tear at his restraints so very desperately, as though everything in his world depended on preventing their actions, he couldn't help a very small, ill sensation in the pit of his stomach.