Chapter 15: Out of The Pan, Into The Fire

Ezra and Sabine continue to traverse through everything that comes with being in a relationship while dealing with the Rebellion and Ezra's slow return from the Dark side's influence.

"Ezra," Sabine complained. "I can't help if you won't tell me what all happened between you and Maul."

"Would you please just leave it be?" Ezra angrily asked as he continued to stomp away. "I've got too much going on in my head right now to make sense of anything, and you pushing me about it isn't helping right now."

He didn't stick around long enough to give Sabine a chance to continue arguing with him unless she wanted to chase after him out into the open where anyone would be able to see them. He assumed that she wouldn't risk chasing after him back out into the open and he was correct. Just following after him as she did had more than likely drawn enough attention to the two of them, and knowing her luck, it was going to take a good amount of damage control to be convincing that nothing was going on between them.

And they'd been so careful up until his little blow-up, which begged the question of why. Even though Sabine had gleaned some from what little the Zabrak chose to share with his captives about his meeting their Jedi teammates on Malachor, she didn't know just how much of an impact that was. However, judging by Ezra's angered state, things were beginning to become clear and Maul looked like he was a big piece to the puzzle. His involvement had definitely affected Ezra's state of mind, and to make matters worse, he then had to comply with the Sith's demands to ensure Maul wouldn't harm any of them, including her.

That also had her a bit frustrated. Maul had shown her just how weak she actually was against the Force user. Before, with training and sparring she always felt that she could hold her own against Kanan and come out on top against Ezra, but with how easily Maul had dispatched the Ghost crew not only initially, but also after their failed attempt to escape, she found herself uncertain as to how she would fare. With Maul holding them hostage, she'd felt virtually helpless, that that wasn't something she'd ever been accustomed to before and she didn't like it.

Another thing also bothered her about Maul, even if it was minuscule. She'd actually learned more from the Zabrak than Ezra about what happened on Malachor. Anytime the topic had been broached with Ezra before, it had always been the same reaction from him. All she could get out of him was this look of hurt on his face before he'd quickly shut down, and if anyone tried to push, he'd become angry enough to snap at them. Not even after they decided to be more than friends did Ezra open up about it. Instead, he would just point out his respecting that she didn't want to talk about what happened in her past, and ask that she give him the same respect.

Sabine knew she was being hypocritical, but she reasoned to herself at least, that Ezra's issue taking place after they'd already met meant he should be willing to share, whereas her past was before he knew her. Besides, no amount of talking would be able to do anything about her past. Ezra didn't understand Mandalorian culture but she did know about loss and defeat. She'd experienced both and her experiences might have been able to give Ezra a different perspective. And now she also had the benefit of telling him what Maul had shared. Maybe he would let her know if Maul was lying or even telling half-truths that he'd been known for in the past.

Sabine put up as much of a fight with the Zabrak as she could, and at first, she seemed to be faring well, but it turned out that he was merely toying with her. As soon as he began using his Force powers and lightsaber, she was simply overmatched. Luckily for her, the beskar managed to hold up against his lightsaber strikes, but that didn't stop him from disarming her within seconds. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor with a metal foot pressing heavily against her back.

"What do you want with us?" Sabine asked as Maul yanked her back up to her feet before shoving her in the direction of the lounge.

"I've come to understand that my apprentice is a part of this crew," Maul responded. "And I required your presence to guarantee that he will return to me along with an item we acquired on a planet called Malachor."

"Your apprentice?" Sabine parroted. "On Malachor?"

"Yes," Maul confirmed. "Ezra Bridger has already begun to become my apprentice, and you all will assist me in acquiring him."

"We'll never help you!" Sabine heatedly spat.

At her outburst, Maul turned Sabine around to face him and pushed her slowly up against a wall. She remained defiant at first but struggled to maintain eye contact with him the longer he stayed and the closer to her face he moved. His eerie, yellow eyes seemed to be looking through into her as he studied her in silence. She wondered what he was seeing when he suddenly smiled. "You have strong feelings for my apprentice," He confidently stated as he pulled back away from her. "Are you, in love with a Jedi, young Mandalorian?"

Maul became instantly entertained by Sabine's mental attempt at hiding her true feelings for his apprentice. It was already pointless though as he'd already read her thoughts. He knew how she felt better than she did, and that caused him to laugh at her pathetic attempt. "Your thoughts betray you," he said, letting her know that he was onto her intentions.

"You're delusional," Sabine tried to argue, but Maul's body language instantly told her that he didn't buy it for a second.

"I think not, my young Mandalorian," Maul said as he finally turned her back toward the lounge. "And your feelings for my apprentice will serve me well. He will be mine, and your feelings for him will only seal that fate."

Sabine's eyes widened upon hearing Maul's words. What could he possibly mean? How would he be able to use how she felt about Ezra to pull him away from the Ghost crew, and away from her? Maul seemed so confident about it too, but she knew how strongly Ezra felt about her. He thought of all of the crew as family, and she couldn't, wouldn't allow Maul to convince her that their feelings toward each other could ever cause him to follow after Maul.

Upon entering the lounge, Sabine saw that Hera, Zeb, and Chopper were all bound together around the dejarik table. She was glad to see that Maul hadn't harmed any of them yet but Mandalorian history had taught her that Maul's motives were never honorable. Once he had no more use for them, he'd be sure to have them executed. So, if they were going to survive, they would have to find some way to escape before Maul got what he wanted.

"What are you planning to do with us?" Hera asked immediately after Maul forcefully sat Sabine down next to her.

"You will serve as bait, captain," Maul explained. "I've left a trail of breadcrumbs even your master Jedi could follow. Once he and my apprentice reach the end of that trail, they will make contact. At that time, I will reveal my terms."

With that, Maul turned and began ordering his droids to watch over them until the Jedi came calling, and Sabine looked to her companions as she assessed the situation. Everyone was in binders and Zeb was still unconscious from whatever Maul had done to him. There was no indication of what was the cause but Maul didn't appear to have a blaster on him, so stunning Zeb wasn't likely. That left perhaps a strong blow to the head might have been the culprit, or maybe Maul's droids.

Hera was simply furious. "How did this happen?" Sabine asked.

"He stowed away inside the supply crates along with his droids. All he had to do then was wait until we left the cargo bay." Hera detailed. "Zeb never had a chance before one of his droids stunned him with a blaster. They shot Chop with a stun bolt too, and when I came out of the cockpit to check on the noise, they had me surrounded."

"Do you have any idea what he's after?"

"What he just said is all he's told me so far," Hera answered. "Did he say anything else to you?"

"Something about Ezra and Malachor," Sabine answered. "There wasn't much that he shared, but I got the sense that Ezra met him there."

"Kanan told me that another Sith was responsible for blinding him," Hera added. "Maybe it was Maul."

After a couple of hours, Ezra returned to the Ghost. He would've stayed away longer, but he was still nearly exhausted due to his experience with the Holocrons. Holding onto his anger was still a struggle for him too and didn't help with his energy. He was still hearing whispers in the back of his mind, telling him various things, and tempting him to continue down the path of the Dark side. He knew now though that the Dark side wasn't the path he wanted to take, but he'd already fallen so far down that it was difficult not to slip. And if he were honest with himself, the voice was a bit more than just a whisper. In fact, it was very tempting at times, and especially when it involved endangering his new family.

However, one of the few things that kept him from turning back was who he'd just left standing behind earlier. Sabine choosing to give them a chance after Kanan had taken away the Sith Holocron had given him hope that he hadn't made a mistake in letting his master take it from him so easily. But seeing Maul again made things so much more difficult for him because of his part in one of Ezra's biggest mistakes. And now his emotions brought about by the Zabrak's return forced him into what was likely yet another mistake.

Ezra was afraid that he might screw up his chance with Sabine, and storming away as he had couldn't have helped. He knew that she was only trying to help, but what happened on Malachor was something he just didn't want to rehash if at all possible. Before, there wouldn't have been anything that would make him talk about it, but before had also never included being in a relationship with Sabine. So, if opening up about Malachor would ensure that his relationship with Sabine would continue, he would force himself through it. He only hoped that she wouldn't hold his walking away against him before he could explain himself.

As soon as he reached her cabin, Ezra softly knocked on the door, not wanting to grab anyone else's attention but hers if he could help it. He stood there feeling quite awkward for a minute or so, and when she didn't answer the door, he decided to knock a second time just a little harder. He thought or hoped rather, that she just hadn't heard him the first time, but she still didn't answer that time either. He almost hoped that she was asleep rather than angry with him, and his fear of ruining things ratcheted up at the thought of her remaining angry with him. Especially since it looked like he was going to have to wait until the following day to try talking to her, but he also knew that if he were to enter her room unannounced, that would only seal his fate.

Ezra debated knocking a third time but the door to his and Zeb's room slid open behind him, causing him to jump a little. "Don't tell me you're back on that track again, kid," Zeb grumbled as he shook his head and stepped out into the hallway. "I really thought you grew out of that puppy love."

"This isn't about that," Ezra lied outright before peppering it with a bit of truth. "It's just that, Sabine was trying to help calm me down, and I kind of snapped at her. I was hoping to apologize."

"She didn't seem upset to me," Zeb said, but then a smirk grew on his face. "But that might be even worse for ya, kid. It's a good thing you don't owe me any credits, or I'd be asking to settle up now."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on kid," Zeb said in disbelief. "Haven't you heard the saying about a woman scorned?"

"Scorned?"

At that, Zeb nearly slapped himself in the face before rubbing his eyes and sighing. "Angry, ok," He said. "Top that off with her being a Mandalorian, and maybe you should think about what you'd like to have said at your funeral."

Zeb watched in amusement as the color drained from Ezra's face. He very nearly laughed a full-on belly laugh, but managed to rein it in and instead, approached the young Jedi with a friendly hand to the kid's shoulder. "Good luck, mate," he said as seriously as he could muster. "I think you're going to need it."

With that, Zeb turned and headed back into their cabin. He was able to refrain from laughing until the door slid closed, just barely. He almost wished that he would get to witness the fireworks that could very well be on display whenever Ezra did manage to find Sabine. It would surely be pure gold to see the drama unfold of Ezra trying to escape Sabine's wrath while simultaneously putting his foot in his mouth. Regardless, he figured that he would get a quiet night to himself, and that would be bonus enough for him.

However, Sabine had been towel drying her hair after just leaving the Ghost's fresher and heard the majority of the roommates' conversation. She was angrier with Zeb than Ezra as a result of what she'd heard. While it was certainly true that she was female and Mandalorian, the thought that she couldn't be talked to or reasoned with in an angered state had her nearly fuming. If he hadn't been making a point about her being hotheaded, she would've stomped right on over and given him a piece of her mind, but she wasn't about to prove him correct.

So, she waited there just outside the lounge until she heard the cabin door slide shut. She thought about turning the corner to reveal where she was, but doing so too quickly would surely bring Zeb back into the equation. If that happened, then any attempt at talking to Ezra that night would go out the airlock, and after hearing him tell Zeb that he'd cooled off, she wanted to hear Ezra's apology and anything else he wanted to say.

Trying to determine the best way to subtly get his attention, she decided to "naturally" make a little bit of noise to get Ezra to investigate, and she knew precisely what she could do to make that noise. She also figured that one last caf for the day wouldn't hurt, and so she turned back to the galley door and bumped the panel a little harder and louder than necessary.

Ezra was about to follow after Zeb and wait until morning to catch Sabine when he heard a quiet thud from the lounge area. He stood completely still and could just make out the sound of a door sliding shut too, confirming that someone was definitely in there. He headed to the galley, trying not to get his hopes up while also attempting to rule out who it could be. Zeb was already off the list and Kanan may as well be too. Ezra knew that his master had gone back out into the wilderness so that he could continue conversing with Bendu, likely about the result of today's events. There was a slim chance that it could be Hera, but it was no secret that she'd been spending nearly every waking moment ensuring that Chopper base was functioning as smoothly as possible.

As the door opened for Ezra, he saw that whoever it was had just gone into the galley area, likely for something to eat or drink, and that allowed him to rule out Chopper. There wasn't a charging port in that room for him and the last time he'd been involved with a prank, Hera had let him have it for making a mess in her ship. The droid was always up for a good prank regardless of any organic being's opinion, but even he drew that line at crossing Hera's wrath. It had to be Sabine in there. That was the only logical choice left. No one else would be aboard the Ghost at such an hour. It had to be her.

Ezra found that Sabine was waiting for him as she turned around with a second cup of caf already in hand. She extended the warm cup to him and waited quietly for him to speak up. "Sabine, I," Ezra began to say as he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find the right words.

"Loth-cat got your tongue?" She gently prodded when he didn't continue.

"I wanted to say, that I'm sorry," he blurted out. "About how I acted earlier."

"It's alright Ezra," she said in response with a small smile.

"No, it isn't," Ezra said, interrupting her acceptance of his apology. "You only wanted to help, but I didn't want to talk to anyone about it. I still don't."

Sabine wanted to push him to open up, but they'd already had that conversation and she didn't want to keep going around in circles. She needed to approach it differently if she wanted things to end differently than it had earlier. "I'd still like to help," she said as she reached for his hand and pulled him over to the galley table. "So how about we just talk about what you are willing to?"

Ezra hesitated at first, but couldn't find any reason to argue with her request. She did have a right to know at least some of what was going on around the Zabrak. He gathered himself for what was going to be the second round of an emotional conversation with a deep breath and just started to talk. "Maul is the one who blinded Kanan."

At Sabine's nod, Ezra continued. "The only reason he got close enough to do that was because he tricked us, me, into trusting him. Kanan and Ahsoka knew better and didn't want to go along with it, but I thought we could trust him. He hates the Empire, but he doesn't like the Jedi much either. The fact of the matter is If I'd just listened to Kanan, he wouldn't have lost his sight and Ahsoka would still be here."

"You can't blame yourself for that," Sabine said. "What Maul did wasn't your fault."

"But it is my fault, Sabine," Ezra responded. "You weren't there, so you don't know. I trusted him even though Kanan and Ahsoka didn't. Kanan wanted to leave as soon as he found out Maul was there. They both knew that Maul was trying to use us to get what he wanted. But when I got separated from them, Maul helped me find a Sith Holocron and showed me some ways on how to use it. He just seemed to know what I wanted to hear and tempted me into believing that I'd learn how to destroy the Sith. And that was all he needed to bait me into doing what he wanted. I convinced Kanan and Ahsoka that we should stay so that we could gain the knowledge we went there for and they were the ones who ended up paying the price for it."

"Maul has a history of manipulating others for his own gain," Sabine pointed out. "I know it isn't helping you feel better to hear it, but you are far from the first person he's fooled into getting what he wants."

"Yeah, but how much longer will others have to pay for my mistake? Ezra asked as he flicked at a nonexistent crumb on the table. "I mean what's going to be next? He blinded Kanan and then he used you all to force me into giving him what he wanted again today. I don't even know what all he put you guys through. And he's still out there."

It seemed like Maul had been gone for hours. He'd seemingly given up on trying to open Kanan's Holocron, but aside from that, they couldn't figure out just where he'd gone. Regardless, they were completely locked down, on their knees, and with droids pointing blasters at their backs. Any attempt to even get up would result in their immediate termination. Especially since Ezra and Kanan were well on their way with the Sith Holocron. Still, Sabine figured they were already lucky he hadn't killed at least one of them for attempting to escape before. Maul had been filled with a rage the likes of which Sabine had never seen before, but after he'd furiously pointed out why they were still breathing, he seemed to rein it in.

From that point, things remained quiet. Even Hera kept silent for the most part, and was especially quiet whenever the topic of trying again to escape came up. Zeb of course wanted to try again but Hera seemed to accept the fact that they'd already pushed their luck and failed. If they were to try again, then surely Maul wouldn't hold back again, and Hera wasn't willing to take such a risk with any of their lives.

Things didn't pick back up again until after they felt the ship lurch to a stop. Wherever Maul had been taking them, they had arrived, which brought him back into the lounge. The level of confidence he displayed bordered on arrogance. He just seemed to know that he was going to get what he wanted. "Your Jedi friends shall arrive momentarily," he said. "I'd advise each of you to take these last few moments to accept that your use is nearing its end."

"And then you'll dispose of us," Hera grumbled angrily.

"Yes," Maul confirmed. "And I do apologize that you won't get to speak with your Jedi love interest, but fear not. At least one of you will get to see him again in the afterlife. As for my apprentice, he will finally be mine."

"Ezra would never align himself with you," Sabine spat, causing Maul to chuckle.

"Ah, but your death will be the final string to be plucked that will ensure that he joins me," Maul said. "The deaths of both his Jedi master and his love interest will fill him with such hate that he will have no choice but to turn to the Dark side. Then he will take his rightful place as my apprentice."

"Love interest?" Zeb chimed in disbelief. "I thought it was just a harmless crush."

There was a sliver of silence as Maul's eyes darted back and forth between Sabine and the Lasat, but soon enough, he began to laugh. "You haven't seen fit to tell them," he eventually said with not a shred of doubt in his voice. "How interesting."

"There's nothing to tell," Sabine denied. "Ezra had a boyish crush on me. I didn't reciprocate. End of story."

"How much do you know of Force wielders, Mandalorian?" Maul asked as he watched his droids escort Chopper out of the lounge.

"Well, I've lived on the same ship with two for quite a while now," she pointed out. "So, I'd say a fair amount."

Maul chuckled once again before pointing his hilt in the direction of Hera. "Perhaps you'd like to enlighten the young Mandalorian."

Hera's eyes found the floor as her thoughts went back to Maul forcefully pulling memories from her mind. Of how it hurt to try resisting him. "I didn't tell him anything, Sabine," she explained. "But he still was able to get the information he wanted from me."

"Precisely," Maul confirmed. "You cannot hide your thoughts or your feelings from me, Mandalorian. Please though, do wait with me for a moment while my droids finish escorting the rest of your crew to the cargo hold."

Sabine didn't respond but did watch as Maul's droids returned and then corralled Zeb and Hera from the lounge. Maul stood there patiently waiting until the door slid shut, leaving just the two of them in the room. At that point, Maul took a seat at the dejarik table and gestured for her to sit across from him. He didn't seem concerned in the least as he set his saber hilt down on the table. Sabine didn't meet his eyes at first, but her Mandalorian upbringing once again came to the forefront, causing her to focus on his yellow eyes and that confident almost sneer, which sent a chill down her spine.

"You love him," he said after a few moments of silence. It wasn't a question or even an assumption. He was making a statement.

"Of course I do. He's family," she responded, not trying to deny her feelings, rather trying to clarify them.

"A very convincing lie," Maul said, sitting back into a more relaxed position. "I'd wager that you could convince nearly anyone that you speak the truth. Perhaps even yourself, but not me. That, however, is not why I wished to have a chat with you."

"Then why in the karking hell would you want to talk to me?" Sabine defiantly said. "You've already made your assumptions regardless of what I try to tell you."

"If you wish to keep going down this path of lies, I'll just pull the information from your mind just as I did with your captain before," Maul said. "And speaking of your captain, thanks to her, I've come to understand that my apprentice has been using the Sith Holocron since we were so abruptly separated. I must say, I was quite impressed to discover this. It seems that my limited teachings were more successful than I could have hoped, and I'd like to know how far along he's progressed in my absence."

"And you need me because I'm the one who has gone on more missions with him." Sabine surmised as she tried to determine whether or not to share and just how much. "It's not a surprise that he's physically stronger because of his training regimen along with more time with proper nourishment compared to his life before joining us. As for his other powers, I really couldn't say. Like you pointed out before, I apparently don't know much about it."

"Oh, but you've seen things," Maul pointed out, sitting forward in interest. "I can see it in your eyes. Deep down, you know that he's fallen away from the path of the Jedi, and your culture's history has intimate lessons around the Dark side as well as the Jedi. So, tell me, what has my apprentice done that you've never seen before from him or his master Jedi."

A few weeks had passed since the latest incident with Maul, things had been tenuous between Sabine and Ezra. Ever since her conversation with Maul, she'd been hesitant to be herself around Ezra. It wasn't fear that had her sometimes walking on eggshells around him, but concern that perhaps Maul hadn't been lying to her. There was too much evidence that Ezra had been learning about the Dark side.

Her memories of him doing things that she'd never seen Kanan or him do before stuck out more to her than they had before, and she also cornered Hera to try and find out what Hera knew. Unfortunately, Hera corroborated that she had known about Ezra's using the Sith Holocron after Sabine admitted to her in confidence that she had begun a relationship with Ezra. She almost wanted to speak with Kanan about it, but with Zeb already mostly in the know thanks to Maul, that was more people than she was comfortable with knowing.

Some of the time, Ezra seemed to be fine, but he could tell that she was acting differently around him and that frustrated him. He felt that he was making solid progress away from the Dark side, but opening up about Malachor had Sabine keeping a close eye on him during missions. She also wasn't teasing him as much as she used to, and he found that he missed that.

Sabine made a point to try keeping their communication as open as possible, wanting to know whenever Kanan pushed Ezra too hard or left him frustrated. Under normal circumstances, going on a mission would serve to give him time to cool off, but the latest mission had Sabine taking the lead with Ezra and Kanan as support to pull her out.

She knew when she rejoined the extraction crew with their new pilots that something was up. Ezra was trying to play it off casually that he was fine but she could tell that he was holding something back. It didn't help matters either when Wedge began subtly flirting with her once they were in hyperspace and heading back to Chopper Base.

Ezra didn't say anything, but the more Wedge flirted, the more rigid and quiet Ezra became. Eventually, Kanan ended up pulling Ezra away with the excuse of needing to talk to him, and while the rest of the crew was oblivious, Sabine knew that Ezra was on the verge of snapping, and that had Sabine greatly concerned.

When he and Kanan returned, Ezra wasn't as rigid as before but it was still there. Fortunately, Wedge had cooled his jets on pursuing Sabine by that time, but it didn't last. Had they not come out of hyperspace right after he offered to get something to drink with her, Ezra might have done something he'd regret. He was absolutely furious by that point and the ship couldn't land fast enough for him, not even waiting for the landing ramp to fully extend before jumping down.

"What in the hell got into you?" Sabine asked when she finally caught up to him.

"He was hitting on you!" Ezra fired back at her, maintaining his pace as they marched away from the landing area. "And you didn't do anything!"

"That's right!" Sabine nearly yelled as she turned Ezra to face her. "I didn't do anything. I didn't encourage him at all, and he figured out that I wasn't interested in him like that."

"Why not just tell him then?" Ezra asked. "Not doing anything is the problem, and I'm tired of having to sit back and watch all these guys hitting on you all the time. If you don't want me to say anything, then you should."

"Ezra, I can't stop random guys like Wedge from hitting on me," Sabine responded, ducking into her personal quarters and pulling him with her. "He didn't even know that I'm Mandalorian, let alone not available."

"But your armor will be a dead giveaway that you're a Mandalorian," Ezra pointed out. "Why is it so wrong for wanting something obvious like that about us too."

"I thought we agreed to keep this between us," Sabine replied. "Hera already knows and Zeb has a pretty good idea about what's going on. How many people need to know before you'll be happy?"

"No one knowing that we're a couple was your decision, not mine," Ezra clarified. "I didn't have a choice if I wanted to be with you, but that doesn't mean that you can't at least tell these guys that you're not available."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Sabine asked. "You're the one that I'm with."

"Because it's beginning to feel like you're ashamed of being with me, and that's why you want to keep it a secret." "Ezra explained. "Don't get me wrong, taking the next step with you has always been what I wanted, but we've been hiding this for almost two months now. How much longer are you planning to keep us a secret?"

Sabine opened her mouth to respond again but she didn't have an answer to his question. All this time that she'd been secretly dating Ezra had been wonderful, even with the concerns around him and the Dark side. She'd always known that the status quo couldn't last forever, and she also knew that it wouldn't ever be Ezra who would be holding back. But she just didn't feel comfortable announcing to the galaxy that she was becoming romantic with Ezra. In her opinion, it was no one else's business either.

And Sabine's contemplative silence didn't seem to be the correct response either, as Ezra became visibly more frustrated with her. "You weren't ever intending to make us public, were you?"

"That's not true," Sabine tried to argue, but it didn't come off as completely certain and she knew it.

"Are you ashamed of being with me?" Ezra asked, hurt replacing anger in his tone.

Sabine saw it too, and that made her stomach turn in knots. Ezra didn't deserve this. "No, Ezra," she said. "I've never been ashamed of you or of us. I'm just not ready to tell everyone about you and me. Not yet."

"When?"

"I don't know," Sabine answered as honestly as she could. "I'm working on it, Ezra, I promise. And it won't be forever, but I need you to be patient with me."

"I think I have been patient, Sabine," Ezra said as he turned to leave her room. "And my patience is running out.

A/N: Sabine and Ezra continue trying to grow their relationship as things continue to become complicated.