Back with more! Rescue time!

Sabine

Sabine stared at the cat.

She was starting to question her sanity. She had been looking for Shin all night, and half of the day. She had just…disappeared. Sabine didn't know what to do about that. And now, here was this cat, bossing her around. It was the stow-away.

Sabine Wren, caretaker of the rather-beneath-me-cat, Murley, I have a decree.
As Supreme Overlord of the Universe, I, Phantom, Emperor of the Galaxy, demand you follow me, lowly human. My loyal caretaker is in dire need of assistance—the cat began through the Force.

But, naturally, Sabine interrupted his speech.

"You have the Force?" Sabine yelped.

Ugh, why is everyone so surprised by this? Fine. How about I simplify it down for your tiny human brain:
Shin took me in and fed me. I have claimed her as my human. And, since your BRILLIANT master took her light-sword thingy, when she went back to the bandits…they took her captive and enslaved her. She's being kept in a cage and beaten. You and probably at least one of your friends need to work together to get her out, since it's you morons' fault she's in that stupid cage in the first place.

Sabine's mouth hung open. "This is a trick, right? Shin's like…playing with my mind or something to get me into some horrible trap she set to torture me?"

Of course not! Phantom actually sounded offended. There is nothing I can do for her—cats have annoyingly stubby paws and can't pick locks, take off collars, or save people. If we were capable of those first two things, all cats would be free of cages and collars. Actually, that's a good way to put it—they're keeping Shin like a very, very abused animal.

Sabine stared at the cat. She followed him slowly, reaching the edge of another cliff. She looked down….and, to her horror, the cat wasn't kidding. Shin was curled on the ground. Her eyes were wide and desperate, she was bruised and bloody, and there was a long, thin cut down the side of her cheek. One of the bandits slapped her across the cheek, jeering and laughing at her.

Sabine turned to look at the cat. "Wow."

She lifted her com slowly. "Ezra? Sending coordinates now. You…need to see this. I'm going to need some help for this one."

"Ahsoka will kill me," Ezra warned, voice crackly through the com.

"And I will kill Ahsoka. Seriously. This is her fault," Sabine growled, "don't question it yet, just come. I need to check that I haven't completely lost my mind."

Ezra showed up a few minutes later, riding a howler. He walked to the edge of the cliff, where Sabine had sat down to watch.

Sabine stood slowly, looking down into the ravine. Shin was now curled in a tight ball inside a rusted cage, chained and bound. A thick metal collar was around her neck—Sabine hadn't even noticed it before.

Ezra's mouth hung open. "What…happened to her? Did you plan for this or something?" He asked.

"Of course not," Sabine huffed, "it's because she doesn't have her saber. They didn't think of her as a threat anymore, so they took her captive and enslaved her. I should've found her sooner."

"Tell me about it," Ezra muttered, "that's awful. How do we get her out?"

"We'll take out a bunch with the Force, and I still have my blasters, then you worry about covering me. I'll get to the cage and open it, try to get Shin out of there and away from them. Then regroup with us and I'll figure out what we do from there," Sabine planned.

"Okay. Fine with me. Just…be careful. I don't want us to wind up their slaves either—those bandits are nasty," Ezra said with a shudder.

Sabine nodded, sliding down the hill. The bandits noticed them quickly, and Sabine used that.

"HEY! Stupid heads! That's my friend you're keeping in a cage!" Sabine shouted, gaining their attention instantly. They let out low growls, slowly coming towards Sabine. Ezra bolted through them, using the Force to throw them in different directions. Sabine used their size against them—throwing one into another.

Sabine quickly made it to the cage, where Shin was curled up still. She was kneeling, had wrapped her arms around herself, and folded herself inwardly to make herself look as small as possible. Sabine picked the lock on the cage door easily, throwing it open and trying to get Shin to stand.

"Shin. It's me. Shin, look at me. We're getting you out of here, I promise," Sabine whispered. Shin looked up slowly, cautiously, and disbelievingly.

She locked eyes with Sabine, and let herself be pulled to her feet.

Sabine started trying to break the collar as they left the cage, to no avail. The lock was strange and foreign—Imperial, but edited from their normal designs. She was going to need to give it focus and time. Shin stopped Sabine from pulling her any farther once they got right outside the camp, where Ezra was knocking bandits over like bowling pins.

"Why are you saving me?" Shin whispered desperately. Her voice was raspy and distrustful, eyes wide with fear.

"Because someone has to. And it's Ahsoka and I's fault you ended up in this situation at all," Sabine said softly, wrapping an arm gently around Shin's shoulders, "come on."

Something about the look on the girl's face at that moment gave Sabine the sinking feeling that this small motion was completely foreign to Shin.

Having someone care about you shouldn't be foreign.

But to Shin, Sabine was starting to guess that it was.

Ezra regrouped with them as they walked. "All taken care of," he announced. "You okay?" He asked Shin, voice softening slightly.

Phantom the Loth-cat trotted up behind him, hopping onto Shin's shoulder rather ceremoniously. He nudged her cheek. Shin shrugged at Ezra's question, (and Phantom basically had to hold on for dear life) and said that she was 'fine.'

One thing to know about Shin Hati:
She's a terrible liar, and it's terribly obvious.

Sabine learned this very quickly.

"Yeah…no you aren't," Sabine said, shaking her head. They made camp after walking a while. Shin leaned against a tree as

Sabine tried to get the collar off.

"You're wasting your time," Shin whispered, voice broken, "just leave it. It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," Sabine said, leaving no room for argument.

Phantom was sharpening his claws on the tree casually.

So, he said, now what?

"Now, Sabine gets this collar off," Ezra said, "and we stay here for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we'll go back to Ahsoka and the others."

You know, Phantom said slowly, someone should probably start treating her wounds. I mean, I'm a cat—I don't know anything about that, but…I'm pretty sure wounds can get infected if you don't treat them? Yet again. Cat/Emperor of the Galaxy. I don't pay attention to things like that. It's not like I care. But I'm pretty sure blood is supposed to stay inside of humans' bodies.

Sabine glanced Shin over—she had honestly kind of forgotten that the Dark Jedi was bleeding and bruised from being slapped and whipped.

"Sorry," Sabine murmured, searching the bag on her belt for something to treat the wounds and bandage them.

"It's fine," Shin repeated, "just…please get the collar off."
Her voice was so raw and desperate, Sabine's heart sank lower and lower.

"Has this…happened before, Shin?" She asked softly. Shin practically melted away from Sabine at the words.

"It's fine. I'm fine," she repeated firmly.

Shin did not sound fine.

At all.

And Sabine wasn't going to let it slide this time.

"Answer the question, please," Sabine said.

Shin shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"What if I…command you to answer?" Sabine teased.

Shin's head snapped towards her, eyes wide.

"I mean, I did save you. Doesn't that make me your owner? You know, technically," Sabine joked. She nudged Shin playfully, and Ezra laughed at the absurdity of the notion.

But Shin's eyes widened even farther. Shin bowed her head and sank to her knees, choking out a sob, wrapping her arms around herself, clawing at the collar.

Sabine exchanged a horrified glance with Ezra. What had she done?

What the heck was wrong with her?

"Karabast. It was a joke! It was a joke. Shin, I'm sorry," Sabine whispered, bending to gently lift the shaking girl to her feet.

Then Sabine wrapped her arms around Shin, enveloping her in warmth.

Part of her was dying at the fact that she was hugging her nemesis.

The rest was still dying over the fact that she had said what she had.

"I'm sorry," Sabine soothed, "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to scare you. That was wrong of me. Please relax. You're free now. I promise. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

The collar bit into Sabine's neck where Shin was leaning against her shoulder. The cold, biting reminder of what Sabine needed to fix for her friend.

Friend.

Why am I referring to my nemesis as my friend? A tiny part of her sort of scolded.

The rest of her shoved the words away.

It didn't matter.

Not then.

Sabine focused on getting the collar off, instead. Her fingers curled around the locking mechanism thoughtfully as Shin released herself from the hug. Her eyes were still wide with mistrust and fear.

You are a jerk, Sabine Wren, Phantom growled warningly, but…perhaps slightly less of one, since you hugged my human when she was crying.

Sabine ignored him, focusing on Shin.

"Do you have any idea how to get this off?" Sabine asked softly.

Shin hesitated, then sighed like she didn't know what she had left to lose. "A lightsaber. If you try to pick the mechanism open, it'll kill me," she explained.

Sabine decided it was better not to pry at how Shin knew that.

So she let it go—for now.

Did you guys like it? Let me know!