AN: Some dialogue has been taken from the Darth Maul comic.
But I don't deserve to lose my freedom in this way,
you monster
– "Home", Beauty and the Beast on Broadway
Eldra Kaitis awoke suddenly from her nightmare.
She'd seen it all again. The Republic transport in pieces around her, and all of its passengers dead. Including her master, Jedi Knight Leora Ori, her frail human form laying broken at Eldra's feet, and her snow-white hair turned crimson with her own blood.
Eldra winced at the memory of it, and struggled to release her grief into the Force. She didn't see the fairness of it. Her master had been so close to becoming a Jedi Master; she'd given everything to the Jedi, the galaxy, only to be shot down by pirates.
Her capture in the immediate aftermath of the crash had prevented her from processing her grief. Defiant in the face of Xev Xrexus, she'd scoffed at the woman's comical arrogance. She really thought she could get away with auctioning off a Jedi Padawan to the highest bidder? Without the Jedi Order hunting her down? Though that was nothing compared to finding herself face-to-face with a monster.
A monster that had until that day, only existed in stories and rumours that were over a thousand years old.
A monster that turned out to be her unlikely saviour.
He was a Sith no older than herself, who looked like he'd stepped right out of a Youngling's nightmare. She'd recognised him as a Dathomirian Zabrak, Force-sensitive by their very nature, but what gave away his identity was his anger. His hate. The dark side swirled around him like an unending black hole.
Seeing him fight, seeing him use the Force so seldomly to avoid detection, had only confirmed in her mind who and what he was.
She allowed the memory to wash over her, for it was the better part of the whole experience. The night sky turning red with the coming dawn; the Sith releasing her from her bonds and giving her back her lightsaber, allowing her to defend herself against those that were hunting them both. She knew it was because he didn't want anyone killing her before he could get the chance to, and yet she could sense something almost noble in him. He was a Sith, but he was also a warrior.
A Jedi Padawan and her most ancient enemy had fought side-by-side against their common foes, and in that moment, she'd felt something. It was like a prophecy delivered by the Force itself.
Standing with this Sith, fighting beside him… It somehow felt right. Like it was meant to be. It both frightened and excited her, even through the disappointment she'd felt at his instant rejection.
"We needn't be enemies. We don't have to fight. You don't have to give yourself over so completely to this darkness."
"If you believe that, you are not the Jedi I thought you were."
"Yeah. I thought maybe I would give you a chance to back down before you get yourself first humiliated and then killed. That's all."
She'd expected the Sith to try and use his hatred against her, to unbalance her. But as they fought, she'd sensed his hatred melting away, being replaced with… excitement. Enjoyment. Even admiration.
Fighting the Sith was unlike any fight she'd ever been in. Not even sparring with her fellow Padawans gave her the same feeling.
She shook her head. She was reminiscing over fighting a Sith, for Force's sake. The Council would be mortified.
It didn't take long for Eldra to realise that she couldn't remember how the fight had ended. She recalled causing a rockslide, burying the Sith, but after that, nothing. It took her a few moments to realise that she didn't recognise her surroundings.
The room was dark with no windows, a low light illuminating herself and what little there was around her. She was lying on a bed in the centre of the room, with a cabinet beside it; there was also a wardrobe and a small table, and then a door that led to what Eldra guessed was probably a refresher. There was a second door opposite her, which most likely led to the rest of… wherever she was.
Eldra looked down at herself. She was still dressed in her Jedi robes, meaning that whoever had taken her didn't have any unsavoury intentions. Which considering the predicament she'd found herself in over the past few weeks, was the best she could've hoped for. She'd decided in her cell that being a Twi'lek sucked, and she wished she'd been born to an uglier race.
Her lightsaber rested on the cabinet. For a moment she was bewildered; why would her captors let her keep her lightsaber? Dwelling on the matter more, she wondered why she wasn't in a cell somewhere. Even if the room was locked, it appeared easily escapable.
Appearances can be deceiving, Padawan, her master's voice echoed in her mind. And the voice was right. It was too easy. There had to be a precaution, one that wasn't immediately obvious.
And then there was the matter of her captor, or captors. Considering she'd been fighting a Sith before blacking out…
Why did he take her, when he'd had every intention of killing her?
She heard footsteps in the hallway outside her room. There was no time to set up an ambush, plus her head was still spinning from whatever had been done to her. She also noticed for the first time a small, dull pain on her left arm. A brief glance revealed a small surgical cut, and a nasty suspicion began to form in her mind.
Eldra didn't have time to question it further, though. The door opened, but instead of the Sith, a droid entered.
It was bi-pedal, old-looking. It reminded her of Professor Huyang, the droid who had taught her how to build her lightsaber. Though its design was a later model, she guessed. Which still made it pretty old, considering that Huyang had been in the service of the Jedi Order for a thousand years.
Upon seeing her, the droid paused.
"I see you're awake," it said, its voice distinctly male. "A pity. You will soon wish you never woke up."
He said it so offhandedly that it took Eldra a moment to process his words. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
The droid approached the bed before scanning her. "Let's put it this way: my master is the last person you'd wish to invite to a Youngling's birthday party."
Eldra scoffed. "Shame. I was hoping he could make me some funny balloon animals."
The scanner beeped, and the droid inspected the results. "The chip appears to be working correctly."
"Chip?" Eldra rubbed her hand against the cut etched into her blue skin as her nasty suspicion grew stronger. "What chip?"
"My apologies, I should have explained," said the droid. "My master requested that I insert a slave chip into your bloodstream, to prevent you from escaping. I would have asked for your permission, but you were slightly unconscious at the time, so…"
Eldra clenched her fists, unable to push away the wave of humiliation that washed over her. She was a prisoner, after all. Her freedom was gone, and the cage that held her was one that was not so easily escapable. Not unless she wanted to explode into tiny little pieces. And while suicide was an option, she didn't want to contemplate it unless she had no other choice.
The droid was still talking. "…Eldra Kaitis, was it? I am VN-22, and my master has programmed me to provide you with anything you need-"
"Listen, Venny," she interrupted. "I know you droids don't tend to understand emotion very well, but I've just been violated in one of the worst ways imaginable. All I want is to get out of here, and maybe impale my captor in the face on the way out. But since showing me the way out probably goes against your programming…"
"A brilliant observation," said the droid, his monotone voice dripping with sarcasm.
"…and either trying to escape or killing my captor will cause me to explode, I guess I'll have to settle for asking where my captor may be lurking," she continued. "Is he not brave enough to tell me all this to my face?"
"I was about to."
Eldra hated the way she jumped at the sound of his voice, but hated more how she wasn't able to sense his presence before he spoke.
The Sith stood in the doorway, arms behind his back. He wasn't wearing his cloak, though he'd replaced the shirt that had been ripped during their fight. And more annoyingly, he didn't look any worse for wear after she'd buried him under a ton of rocks.
Seeing him standing there brought out her anger, something she'd been supressing since the first shuttle crash. Anger at the Force for taking her master away so senselessly. Anger at Xev Xrexus for the humiliation of being captured then sold to the highest bidder. Anger at herself for even feeling the emotion.
But at least there was no fear. She'd felt it briefly, when the Sith had appeared before her cell and ignited his lightsaber, pointing it at her and slashing it against the cell's force-field. But then the fear had faded, leaving in its place morbid curiosity, something that had only grown upon seeing the Sith again in the ship of the scumbag who had purchased her.
She met his gaze. "For someone who was so intent on killing me, you're doing a pretty bad job of it. Did you get cold feet? Is butchering Jedi not everything you hoped it be?"
Mind your attitude, Padawan. She heard her master's voice again; the same words she'd repeated many times before. Leora Ori had always warned Eldra that her attitude would get her into trouble one day. But it had seemed to work in her favour before; the Sith expected her to be afraid, and her lack of fear unbalanced him. At least at first; as time went on, it was almost as if he admired her for it.
The Sith stepped into the room. "I had every intention of killing you, make no mistake of that. But then my master appeared, and suggested another option that would benefit all of us."
Eldra remembered the cold dread that had overwhelmed her moments before she'd blacked out. If that was what his master's presence felt like in the Force, then she didn't want to meet him. At all.
"I don't see how being your prisoner benefits me," she said.
"It is my destiny to kill Jedi," said the Sith. "You are here for me to use, in order to improve my training. Eldra Kaitis, you have the honour of playing a vital role in the Sith's revenge against the Jedi Order."
"Am I supposed to be flattered by that?" she snapped. She jumped off the bed and strode forwards to meet him. "Being told that I'm nothing more than your training dummy, and once you're finished with me, you'll go on to kill all of my friends?"
"No. I just thought saying it like that will sound nicer for you." He shrugged. "Doesn't really work, does it?"
"You're a piece of bantha shit, and I'm gonna enjoy destroying you again."
He had the nerve to chuckle. "Is that so?"
"If your master hadn't shown up, you'd still be buried under a big pile of rocks. I don't think he'll be around to save you again."
She saw the flash of fear in his eyes, and it added up with her earlier observations. He'd been afraid of being discovered by his master. Recalling the almost desperate fear she thought someone like him wouldn't be capable of, she reaffirmed in her mind that she definitely didn't want to meet his master.
"The counterattack I made after you were unconscious would have killed you, had my master not intervened," the Sith snarled. "You owe him your life for that."
"Now you're saying I should be grateful to the Sith who decided not to kill me because he wanted to keep me as some kind of training slave?" Eldra reached behind her and called her lightsaber to her hand, before igniting it. "I would've preferred it if he let you kill me."
She had no intention of using it. Not yet, not until she'd determined if there was any way out of her situation alive.
Regardless, the Sith reacted swiftly; he grabbed her hand and twisted it painfully. Still not herself from what had been done to her, Eldra dropped her lightsaber; the blade retracted immediately. The Sith then used the Force to toss her back onto the bed.
The droid watched the entire thing, no emotion in its eyes. Eldra had forgotten it was even there.
When she sat up again to face him, she knew not to try anything further. He reminded her of a panther; fast, sleek, strong, deadly. She wouldn't be able to take him again until she'd recovered from whatever his master had done to her.
"Know this, Eldra Kaitis," he said. "My master is the one keeping you here, not me. If you kill me, the chip will not detonate. And if you do manage to kill me, my master will want a new apprentice – and will consider you to be my replacement."
Eldra refused to let him see the spike of fear that shot through her. His master was nothing more than a ghost in her mind, and yet she already knew that the Sith standing before her was the better option.
"Go screw a nerf herder."
The Sith's eyebrows rose. "That is not the kind of language I expected from a Jedi."
"What can I say? I'm just full of surprises."
He appeared almost amused. "Indeed." He then gestured to the droid. "VN-22 will provide you with anything you need. Since I need you to be strong enough to fight, I have no intention of starving you."
"I'm so sorry you have to go out of your way to provide me with my basic needs."
"Once you have fully recovered, we will have our first training session." He turned to leave her room.
After a moment, she said, "Are you gonna at least tell me your name, since I'm gonna be stuck with you?"
He paused, but didn't turn around. "Maul. Darth Maul."
AN: Updates should come once a week.