Obi-Wan watches the sith rise from the water, sliding onto dry land like some kind of amphibious snake. Like a naga, but horned and clawed and radiating darkness in the force. His tail gives him extra height, letting the-
Letting the-
The zabrak? The dragonfish? The monster…?
Letting him loom, swaying slightly, the gills along his ribs fluttering in rhythm.
"Jediiii," he-
Him? They? It?
Force, what had the sith become?
Darth Maul croons to him with false concern, cloying and mad. "Have you not heard the dragonfish ditty?"
Obi-Wan ignores the nonsensical question. "You've won, sith. Well done. Now I've an appointment to keep this afternoon, so I'm afraid I really must be going..."
The man laughs like the sizzle of a frying pan, swaying his way closer. "Going? Going? Oh no, no, Kenobi~ you are going nowhere. Ever."
Well then. If that's how it's going to be.
Obi-Wan leaps at the creature, force fueled and bloody determined, with his fist aimed for that sharp jaw of his. The jedi's punch connects, speed and desperation lending it strength. The impact throws Maul back and away.
The sith screams, enraged, and coils in on himself before returning the spring attack with interest. Obi-Wan is dodging, rolling, trying to score another hit-
-and then he is hitting a wall, ears ringing, falling to the floor, sight spinning.
Clawed hands grab the lapel of his tunics, drawing him up and in until he is suspended before the dragonfish sith. Obi-Wan hangs there, blood dripping down the side of his face.
"Ohhhh, Kenobi," Maul hisses, "You provoke me. Yessss. To meet your end sooner rather than later, to escape my revenge."
Obi-Wan reaches up to grab the man's forearms, feet kicking as he tries to gain purchase on the slick black scales that have replaced his thighs. "Suicidal? I think not. I cut you in half once, Darth, and I'll find a way to do it again."
There's that horrible, sizzling laughter again.
A long black tongue slides from Maul's mouth, laving up the side of his face, smearing the blood. "I would like to see you try, jedi scum. Your blade is gone, your breathing tool is gone, and now you are powerless before me!"
Obi-Wan responds by kicking him in the face.
The cold grip on his tunic releases, and he drops like a tooka to land on his feet. The jedi braces, winding up another left hook-
A tail lashes at his head, wacks him, and even with strong assistance in the force he goes stumbling aside. That lithe, muscular tail whips toward him again from the other direction, and he takes it to the shoulder. The wall catches his fall. He impacts it with a slap of wet cloth and a sound of pain as his ribs creak.
Next thing Obi-Wan knows, there's a hand wound into his hair, wrenching his head back, and he's spread limbed chest-first against the stone. The sith is glued to his back, long tail separating Obi-Wan's legs, curling about and trapping them in place. He shoves backward against that heavy weight, force assisted, but it doesn't gain him enough space to act.
He reaches back to elbow the sith in the face, but he is caught, the limb pinned under the other man's arm where it's got his head. Obi-Wan's other arm is snatched as well, pinned at the wrist, leaving him with so very little range of motion.
He wrenches against the hold again, and again, but Maul has him well and truly helpless.
"Let me go!" he demands, but the sith only pulls on his hair, exposing the jedi's throat to the possibility of those jagged fangs.
"Mmno," the creature says, gleeful. "This is your tomb, Kenobi. However long I decide to make you suffer, this is where you will die."
He struggles anyway, through pain and the nausea of a mild concussion, through fear and mounting exhaustion. He fights, he fights, but it is not enough.
Heavy coils of dragonfish press to his back, sliding past in a slow and rhythmic writhe. The sith giggles, as if delighted with his new toy.
Eventually it isn't worth the energy to keep trying. Obi-Wan goes limp into the hold, panting and cold.
Chapter 1:
i am here for the monster!maul AUs. let's goooooo
----------------------------------------------------
Of all the strange and wonderful t
(next poll! if you want to be on the tag list, write 'add me to tags' in your reblog or the notes.)
uh oh! maul has obi-wan bloody and beaten in his deep sea cave. what happens next?
chapter 6: obi-wan is still alive, and still imprisoned. what happens next?
a cave in! they have to escape!
they fight... and hurt each other's feelings
they fight, physically, and it gets... strange *wink*
maul decides to do *another* sith ritual
obi-wan just wants to rest and be taken care of
maul decides to share some of his underwater world with obiwan
Voting ended onNov 17, 2023
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~King of the Dragonfish: Chapter 5~
It hurts.
Obi-Wan curls in on himself where he kneels by the back wall, deeply regretting taking his tunics off to dry. They might've protected him from the creature's tentacles. Instead, one of it's long, sucker-lined arms has lashed across the skin of his back.
Breath stealing pain is blooming over the marks, around his shoulders and half way up his neck on the other side. He can feel the circles from the octopus’s suckers like they're on him even now, a brand of fire-and-ice.
“Breathe,” demands the sith who has imprisoned him here.
Obi-Wan tries, truly he does, but his efforts to inhale are choppy at best. The hurt is so profound he can barely think.
“Breathe!” Maul orders him.
“Huu- hu-... rtss…” he manages, vision going dark near the edges.
Without warning, it lifts.
Suddenly the pain is more than halved, something like a four of ten, rather than a nine. More than enough relief for him to finally gasp, dragging in fresh air like it was all he could ever ask for.
It takes Obi-Wan a moment to reorient himself, after the suddenness of it all. He had gone from a light doze, to waking up under attack, to fighting for his life, to being in incandescent pain, and then relieved of it. All within a span measured in minutes.
When he's refocused enough to get outside of his own head, the jedi master discovers he's half on top of the bloody -literally and figuratively- sith. He cries out, feeling scales under his hands as he throws himself away-
The pain returns like a lightning strike, like an electro-whip across his shoulders. It's so sudden and intense that Obi-Wan can't help but scream, losing all his air and finding himself unable to get it back. He hits the floor, hard, but past that he can't make sense of the world.
It hurts it hurts it hurts-
It lessens.
Obi-Wan drags in lungfuls of air, shaking in place as he tries to just be.
“Witless jedi! Be still,” Maul hisses at him.
He does, but only because he can do nothing else. Minutes turn over, and Obi-Wan regathers himself again. He is still in pain, significant pain, but not enough to blind him. The left side of his chest… hurts.
‘That is a very bad sign,’ the jedi thinks wearily to himself.
When he can see straight once more, Obi-Wan dares to assess where he is and what's happening before moving this time. The results are just as uncomfortable. Actually, no, they're worse. Where he had last been laid over the sith's scaled lap, now he was up against a muscular chest, that long tail fin running between his legs.
The jedi thanks the force, twice, that he hadn't decided to put his legging out to dry as well as his tunics.
“What-” he tries to speak, coughing before he can continue, “What's happening to me?”
The creature's touch… had done something to him.
Obi-Wan suddenly realizes that Maul, that Darth kriffing Maul, is cuddling him. One hand holds the back of his neck, pinning the jedi to his breast. The other clawed hand is… petting him, is the only way Obi-Wan can describe it. Gently, rhythmically, petting him.
He legitimately wonders if he's hallucinating.
“The gorogoro is venomous, and it stung no small section of your pathetically delicate flesh,” the sith underneath him explains scornfully.
“It… hurts. It hurt more before but…” Obi-Wan trails off, thinking sluggish, “... you're doing something?”
Maul makes a disgruntled noise. “If by something you mean reinacting an ancient sith rite of pain sharing to keep you alive? Then yes.”
The jedi makes three different faces trying to acclimate to that reality. “I'm. We're. What.”
"Connected. Sharing."
Obi-Wan fails to produce words, and has to breathe for a moment and just, parse everything. Then, he tries again, “That octopus stung me… with it's suckers…”
“Yes,” Maul confirms, “the pain is meant to make you seize, unable to breathe, then you die.”
“... kark,” he decides quietly. The sith scoffs, his claws slowly gliding back and forth across Obi-Wan's upper back.
Oh. He can feel it now. Where the sith's hand passes, the pain… much of it lifts from him. But where does it go? Wait…
“You said, this is a pain sharing ritual?” He asks to clarify, immediately feeling stupid. Maul had already said so, twice, and yet it answered very little.
“Ahhh,” the other man confirms, “Sharing of pain is sacred. Surviving pain makes you stronger. Passion overcomes weakness, proof that peace is a lie.”
Maul speaks like a true believer. Obi-Wan just thinks that all sounds like cultish hogwash, but sure. Not dying of indescribable pain is… good.
"And... you're not effected by the sting?"
"Mmno, zabrak are resistant to most toxins," he replies.
Obi-Wan glances at his ear-fins pointedly. "You're not exactly a zabrak anymore..."
Maul chuckles, and it's half way to being a threat. "I am half of one, as yet. I wonder who I have to blame for that."
The sith is, of course, complicit enough in his own choices to be equally, if not more, responsible for the results.
... but that isn't a fight he wants to pick right now. “You're feeling the pain you're lifting from me?”
“Mnnnn,” Maul hums, and oh, ye gods, he does not sound unhappy about it.
“You're enjoying this!” Obi-Wan accuses him.
The sith laughs like wind whistling through rusty pipes. “Yesssss.”
The jedi closes his eyes and just… checks out for a moment. Now he knows what that bulge underneath him is. He's not going to look at it, he's not going to think about it-
Wait, if Maul is half fish now, does that mean he has a-
No. no.
He is not going to think about it, he is going to focus, and- and-
Step one is figuring out if he absolutely needs to be draped over the other man in order to have his pain lessened. Yes, he's going to ignore what's happening in favor of being… clinical.
“Is this much contact really necessary for the… rite?”
“Hmmm?” the sith asks, like he's half high on the pain, no meds required.
Obi-Wan tries again, asking what he really wants to know more directly. “Can I be on the floor while you do this?”
“Mnh,” Maul replies, “I suppose.”
The dragonfish sith rolls them over, and it is ridiculous how graceful he is about it. Obi-Wan's left leg is nudged up and over, then he is rolled face first onto the cold ground.
Loops of tail coil over him, pinning his legs to the ground. Forearms brace on his midback, and a suspicious bulge nestles between his thighs. Obi-Wan draws his arms forward, and hides his face in them. This is... not even slightly better. Worse, actually.
“Is it completely necessary for you to be laying on me while we do this?” he spits.
Fingers slide into Obi-Wan's hair, grabbing it and wrenching his head back.
“Ungrateful!” the sith hisses, “Every word out of your filthy mouth should be gratitude that I would share such a gift with you.”
This is a horrible time for Obi-Wan to be reminded that he has a hair pulling… thing.
“S-sorry, sorry. My. My apologies,” he gasps.
The tension on his scalp is released, and the jedi buries his head in his arms again, just about coming up on being too emotionally overwhelmed to be sensible. The sith leans over him, covering him, claws still gliding over the slowly bruising sucker marks.
“Thank me for sharing your pain, Kenobi,” Maul whispers in his ear, threatening.
He just… doesn't have it in him to snark back like he wants to, and deal with the repercussions, not right now. “...Thank you.”
“Good,” the sith croons, and-
Surprisingly, the weight on his legs rolls away. Maul lays on his side next to him, petting his back slow and steady.
“Thank you,” Obi-Wan says again, softer.
“Mnnn.”
“... how long will this last?” he asks, subdued.
“... I do not know. I have never seen anything survive it.”
Obi-Wan emerges from the shelter of his arms to give the sith a horrified look.
Luminous yellow-green eyes meet his gaze, and the man snorts. “Most things stung die in minutes Kenobi. There is no reason for it to be long lasting, and even if it goes much longer, you will be fine. I will endure with you.”
“Oh… okay.”
“Say it back to me,” the dragonfish sith demands airily.
“... say what back to you?” he prevaricates.
Maul gives him a look.
Obi-Wan sighs, really not interested in actually engaging in a creepy sith ritual, but, well, the man was active life support at the moment, and doing it the hard way.
Er… the… the… something besides hard. Not the figurative hard way at all, actually, the other man was clearly enjoying it enough that he…
Obi-Wan is not going to look.
The jedi masters his curiosity by gluing his chin to the forearm beneath it. “I will endure with you?” he tries, uncertain.
The sith makes a pleased hum. Then, he whispers, “So attractive…”
Alarmed, Obi-Wan side eyes the sith, “Excuse me?”
Maul is leaning in, inspecting the circular bruising that stripes his back in the same way a jeweler would appraise a new shipment of precious stones.
“Your skin purples, and- and yellows…” The sith inhales, enraptured, “it is lovely. Like a painting of the damage.”
“Er… thank… you?” What the kriff is he supposed to say to that?
Maul lays his cheek down on the bruising he so favors, and the pain in that area fades to basically nothing. They both sigh in response, for very different reasons.
Hours pass like this, with sporadic conversation and pain sharing. By the two hour mark, Obi-Wan feels fine. A bit hungry. In want of a softer place to lay, as well, but fine enough. He begins to suspect that after a certain point, Maul started taking all of the pain. The jedi isn't going to complain about it though.
He does fall asleep, however, lulled to rest by the radiant heat of the lava orb, and gentle claws that stroke his back, even still.
maul is expecting, maybe even *anticipating*, a tough fight when he returns. what does obi-wan do?
he tosses the hilt at him... but then attacks!
he hands over the lightsaber, as promised
he starts trying to negotiate to keep the saber
he attacks, ready to break his word for a chance at freedom
he hands it back, but tries underhanded tactics to get maul to let him keep it
something crazy happens before they can get to it!
Voting ended onNov 19, 2023
Want to be on the tag list? Have an idea for next chapter? Clicked the wrong option? Reblog or Comment! New? Check the very bottom for the Ao3 link. Latest chapter is down below the cut!🔥
~King of the Dragonfish Chapter 6~
Kenobi moves in his sleep. A lot. Maul knows this, because the jedi rolls to a new position approximately every twenty minutes. Primarily, the other man seeks the heat of the magma rock, curling around it until he's over heated. Then, he flops away from the heat and over onto Maul.
This provides a series of interesting discoveries.
For one, Kenobi is affectionate when unconscious, pressing his face to the sith's chest, and holding onto him wherever his flopping arm lands. The jedi's warm breath tickles the soft skin of his gills, and his legs keep trying to tangle with another pair that isn't there.
Amused, Maul winds his tail over Kenobi's restless limbs, and finds that it settles the man. The jedi only wiggles closer, like he wants the weight.
This is oddly pleasing.
Another thing is that he mumbles in his sleep, talking to various people. Someone named Ahnahkin needs to clean his room. Someone named Qwin needs to go away. Various others are complained at or dismayed over. This is the first glimpse, however removed, that Maul has heard or seen of the outside world in years. With the gungan fleeing from him on site -as is right and proper- he has simply not had opportunity.
The dragonfish sith takes note of every name and mumbled secret. He puts together stories, hungry for mental stimulation.
The third thing he learns while watching Kenobi is that he can stay unconscious for a very long time. A. Very. Long. Time. Maul waits, unwilling to sleep while exposed, for what feels like twice the time he would normally rest himself. Still the jedi sleeps.
His bruising has faded away over the course of this hibernation, colorshifting until the skin is cream toned again, and the scrapes and abrasions are nothing but faint lines. On one hand, he is disappointed to see the markings fade. On the other, a blank canvas invites new paint…
Eventually, Maul grows too bored to tolerate. Even with a selection of fresh calamari to nibble on. He shakes the other man, calling him back from his endless rest, “Kenobi. Awaken.”
The jedi groans, burrowing closer.
“Jediiii,” Maul hisses, “Wake. Up.”
Kenobi rolls away, batting at the hands which shake him, wiggling to the magma rock instead.
Squinting, Maul pins exactly one hair from his head between two claws, and yanks.
The other man makes a sad noise, ducking his head further under the rock.
He pinches another hair, and yanks-
Kenobi comes half awake with an angry noise, elbowing him, then burrowing into his own arms.
Maul grins, entertained, and gets ahold of a single beard hair, and yanks-
The jedi punches him in the side of the head, making his ear fin sting something fierce.
“RrrraaaaahH!” Maul shrieks, somewhere between rage and glee, and grabs the other man by his tunics to rattle him about.
Finally, Kenobi truly wakes, muzzily batting him off and rolling away with a groan. “Ye gods, you're a monster, and it has very little to do with your career choices.”
Maul preens. “You brought it on yourself, jedi scum. You would not wake.”
“Have you considered that, perhaps, that was because I needed more sleep?” the man snaps in a cranky rasp, kicking him.
Maul wacks him with his tail fin.
Kenobi kicks him again, harder.
It quickly escalates. The jedi yanks on his horns, making Maul gasp as a strange zing runs down his spine. He gut punches Kenobi for the trouble. Maul snaps his many sharp teeth at an offending arm, and tears a hole in his robes that makes the man cry out in dismay.
The dragonfish sith is tossed across the room with the force, and immediately shows the jedi how terrible of an idea that was by springing back at him like a compressed coil.
Both of them are bleeding a bit by the time Maul is satisfied. Not that Kenobi seemed settled, but it is hard to effectively complain with hundreds of pounds of amphibious sith on top of you.
Maul pins the jedi's shoulders as he leans over him. “We are done now.”
“Go kriff yourself, Maul,” the other man says dryly, flat on his back and trapped under the weight. “I haven't done anything, I've been nothing but compliant! Why are you beating me?”
The dragonfish sith grins, all teeth. The jedi may act disdainful, but his body shows interest in the fight. His pulse is fast, he's supressing a grin, he feels excited in the force, and his blood isn't the only thing that's up.
Good. Maul likes to fight. “You would not wake up, and, you kicked me.”
“I was tired and you woke me up by pulling out my hair.” Kenobi says defensively.
“I was bored. You slept for half a day, at least,” Maul returns, “Such weakness.”
Kenobi sighs heavily, scrubbing hands over his face. “Yes yes, weak as a babe.”
The dragonfish sith giggles like water tossed on a campfire, and licks the trail of blood running from the jedi's split lip where it drips down into his beard. He mouths at the bloodied chin, stealing away all the iron taste. Kenobi makes a choking noise, eyes going wide as he freezes in place.
Maul’s grin only grows, broad and sharp and cunning.
“Must you… do that?” the man complains, cheeks turning red and barely managing a scowl as he looks at the ceiling over Maul's shoulder.
“Yesss,” the sith affirms with a spiteful laugh, writhing his tail over the legs pinned beneath him. He moves just so, and Kenobi’s back arches up off the ground, head tilting back as he moans.
Maul's brain empties itself as he sees throat bared to him.
Pale.
Thin skin.
A pulse, a fraction away from the surface, that would font if nicked in the slightest..
His hindbrain gibbers mixed signals at him like a badly tuned radio. The dragonfish in him says ‘food’, the zabrak says ‘submission’ and ‘trust’, the sith lord and trained assassin says ‘opportunity’... and the man that is all of those things and more just stares at that enticing expanse of throat.
He makes a little noise when it goes away.
No no… he… what was that? He…
Maul roils over top of Kenobi again, hoping to elicit that same…
The jedi paws at him, blinking rapidly. He looks confused with himself. "I, ah..."
“Again!” Maul demands.
“Mngh?” the man asks, limp underneath him.
“Your throat! Show me-
Kenobi makes more choking noises, scrambling out from under him in a flail of limbs and putting his back to a wall.
The jedi swallows, but it is so dry his throat clicks loud enough to hear “...force, I am so thirsty. Very thirsty! And hungry. I'm really wasting away here. Aren't you going to feed me? I'm probably losing kidney function as we speak.”
Maul makes a face, slowly rising up and looking towards the water, considering. “You cannot drink salt water…?”
“... no,” the jedi confirms. “That will kill me in hours.”
“Mnngnngn,” the sith replies. Yes... yes he knew that. “There are… fruits I can bring?”
Kenobi perks up, “Fruit sounds wonderful.”
“Mnnn,” he decides, “Fruit it is. First, we must move you to a more secure location. If one gorogoro found you here, more could come.”
The jedi makes a face himself, glances over at the water, then rotates his neck to look around the walls. “Move… how? I don't see any other caves.”
Maul sloughs over toward the water, pulling on the jedi's arm, “Through the tunnels. Come.”
Kenobi scoots away. “Or, consider, we could… not do that.”
A growl of annoyance rolls out of him. “Kenobi.”
Blue eyes flash at him, challenging. “The water is cold. I'm not well. My robes are covered in dried octopus viscera and crunch with salt, and there's no fresh water to bathe in. I don't want to be wet again on top of all that.”
Maul sneers at him, but pulls back, fists clenching and unclenching as he tries to think through what of that was whining pathetic jedi and which parts could actually kill him.
Dehydration… deadly fast.
Cold… deadly fast.
Poor hygiene… deadly eventually.
Maul hisses in annoyance, he did not like those results.
“I will… mnnnh… I will get a new heat stone, first. I will put fruit there. Hnnn… I will make it warm enough that you do not need clothes.”
“What, no,” the man says.
The sith nods. Yes, this will work. Not cold, not unclean, not hungry, and only wet briefly.
“Maul,” Kenobi says, pained, “You're going to the surface for fruit, yes? Please, just, bring me a container of fresh water? Please do not make me walk around naked. Leave me some dignity.”
The sith thunks his fist on his forehead a few times, then discards all of the difficult thoughts in favor of action. “I will consider it, jedi. For now, I will make the safer room… better.”
“Wait!” the other man calls.
“Mnh?” He turns.
Kenobi licks his cracked lips, “What if another octopus comes while you're gone? Leave me a way to defend myself.”
Maul hisses again, leaning forward, “You think I would give you a weapon? You would use it against me!”
“Just! Just think about it,” the jedi pleads. “If one comes, I can only dodge it. One slip up, and I'll be dead on the ground and half eaten before you ever get back.”
The sith shrieks his denial at that result. “No!”
Kenobi approaches him by the water's edge, reaching out to touch fingertips to Maul's left wrist. “I solemnly swear, on the force, if you give me my lightsaber to defend myself, when you return I will relinquish it without complaint or hesitation. Please. That… that pain. I don't want to die that way.”
Maul vibrates in place with displeasure. The jedi had a point. The jedi was certainly lying. What was the worst risk? Which result was less good?
…
… he would not lose his revenge to a mollusk.
“Fine,” he snaps, “stay here.”
The sith takes to the water with no small amount of aggravation. Down and through the warren of caves, he goes quickly to the distant nook where he had buried the blade and rebreather. Quick as he can, Maul returns to the unsecure prison cave.
He emerges just enough to check that a gorogoro has not appeared in the interim minutes. Seeing nothing but a pacing Kenobi, he rises up enough to catch the man's attention, and then tosses the hilt at him before quickly diving again before he can attack.
They can fight again, later, after there is food and water and warmth waiting for his fragile prisoner. A place for the jedi to recover after he is beaten for his lies.
The dragonfish sith gathers another magma ball, rolling it up and carrying it back in the force. The new cave is a little smaller, and does not have the under-floor water ways that the original one did -which Maul had intended to use to harass the jedi- but, it is much more defensible. Two ways in and out, plenty of oxygen and bioluminescent plants, various boulders, and a relatively flat floor. Also, none of it is splattered in blue blood.
He takes a brief moment to check on the jedi, who is curled up by his heat source, before taking off for the surface. It is not a short trip to the islands with the fruit trees, so he plans to take many.
The sith also steals the laundry off the line of a fishing boat, and uses a sheet to bundle all the things together, but then he has to stop scavenging and descend. It is too bright up here, and the air feels wrong in his lungs. Too thin.
Maul dives for the depths again, eyes scanning the water for escaped jedi, or, conspicuous corpses floating upward. To his surprise, pleasure, and suspicion Kenobi is still in the cave where Maul had left him. He makes a lap to drop off his finds, and returns for their fight.
“Kenobi~” the sith sings, “I am back. Will you kneel before me and hand over your saber?”
The jedi master turns towards him, then looks down at his unlit blade.
obi-wan is now trapped in the deep sea cave. maul's body might be changed, but he's still a scheming sith bastard. what happens next?
obi-wan makes an escape attempt
obi-wan tries to surprise attack maul
maul attempts to make his prisoner comfortable
maul plays mean games with obi-wan
maul has to fight another predator off of his jedi
obi-wan gets sick and maul has to take care of him
Voting ended onNov 12, 2023
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
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(Art by Obimaulartfire! Check out the full cut on their blog, or at the end of chapter 1.)
-Chapter Three-
Maul cackles when the jedi goes limp in his hold. Weak. Defeated. Submissive. Oh, what a beautiful thing it is!
He dumps the other man onto his ass and retreats to the water's edge, nearly euphoric. "Enjoy your prison, Kenobi. I hope you find it very comfortable."
Blue eyes glare at him from the floor, but it only delights him further. Maul rolls backwards on slippery black scales, and disappears into the water.
It is time to let the jedi stew in his dwindling hope. Maul intends to find ways to give it back to him... and take it... and give it... and take it. The perfect game, endless amusement until he decides it is time to break the jedi for good.
He swims gracefully through the cave system, almost dancing through the water in his delight. Maul heads for open seas and the room to move. There is a geyser field not far off, with luminous magma flows on the sea floor which make for warm currents and good hunting. The perfect place to plan his next move.
Kenobi, Kenobi, Kenobi… how to keep a Kenobi? To keep him bloody, barely mobile? To keep him starved, begging for food? To keep him... or to kill him?
Oh, ohhhh, how good it would feel to plunge his claws into the jedi's guts, to tear his liver from him and eat it while he watches, hopeless and dying. The very idea is enough to give Maul the chills.
But only… only once. He can only kill Kenobi once.
It would not do to rush the finale, he thinks. Killing him too quickly would only rob Maul of his due, and spare him the full spread of his just desserts.
The dragonfish sith rides the thermals of the magma field, and tries to focus through his own crazed glee enough to plan. Enough to think through logistics.
How best to keep a Kenobi?
First, containment.
The caves were his home, winding tunnels with multiple air pockets, rooms as big as a cargo bay and as small as a closet. It had always been a boon that some sections went closer to the surface… but did they go too close? How far could a force user go without breathing? He isn't sure, anymore. Some knowledge from his old life is simply gone, decomposed during the process of his rebirth.
He would have to get Kenobi to admit to his own limits.
Hmmm… perhaps putting something the jedi wants into a cave not far from the empty room he was stuck in, and encouraging him to go to it? Then another thing, a little further away. He could see how much effort it took…
Yes, a test. He could design a test. That would do. Later.
What else? …food. Yes, food was important.
Maul snatches a blind eel fish from the rocks, and considers it thoughtfully before tearing it's head off with his teeth. Could Kenobi eat eel? Crab? Can jedi live off the sea as he does? Could their weak stomachs process raw fish? This knowledge is also missing, and what personal references he has to compare it with are spoiled by dint of his original species. Zabrak were obligate carnivores. He is still an obligate carnivore. Unhelpful.
But would a hungry jedi admit what he wanted to eat? Maul could even frame it as a kindness, to keep him off base. Room service in prison, what luxury!
He rolls over in the water, laughing silent bubbles that catch the green glow of his eyes and scatter it. The light attracts a school of small, clear fish. He plucks one from the stream of them and pops it in his mouth like an hors d'oeuvre.
What else, what else…
Containment, nourishment… hm. Maul struggles to think of what else a prisoner might need to survive. Perhaps more will come to him later? He will think on it again. In the meantime, he will go back to Kenobi. Watch him, and see if he tries to escape, to wander, or to get into Maul's private cave. There are weapons there, and he will not be allowed such things.
With sufficient plans for the time being, the dragonfish sith returns, drifting into the water of the prison cave slowly, stealthily. He rises up in a shadowy corner so that only his eyes and ears are above the water line.
The jedi is still there. He is pacing, holding a wristcomm up to his mouth and speaking into it.
"This is jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi. If anyone hears this message, please contact the temple on Coruscant and inform them that I am trapped underwater in a cave system off the coast of Theed. Tell them Darth Maul lives. You will be rewarded for the effort. Please."
Kenobi draws in a breath, turns to take another lap of the space, and begins again. "This is jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi…"
Maul covers his mouth with a hand, holding in the snickering that wants to escape and give his position away.
Oh how fun! The fool thinks a little wristcomm has enough signal strength to be heard through leagues of water and stone. Grinning, he sits and watches the other man uselessly call for help, making bets with himself on how long the hope would linger in those blue eyes, how many repetitions it would be before Kenobi gave up begging to empty ocean.
He gets to seventy four repeats before the jedi sits down on a rock, elbows on his knees. One hand holds up his forehead, while the other bears up the comm device to his mouth. At a hundred and sixteen loops his voice trails off, scratchy, and then he falls silent.
Maul slides through the water, going down and under, then coming back up in a pool close to the jedi's left side. He puts effort into stealth, setting his arms on the shore and putting his chin down on them.
There, he waits to be noticed.
Minutes tick by in a pleasant daze. Kenobi sits before him, bent and broken, hope for rescue leaking from him like a cracked glass. Maul watches the man, tail swishing in the water, and thinks he could do this for years. Just sit, and bear witness to Kenobi's growing misery.
The jedi coughs. The dragonfish sith frowns.
Kenobi coughs again, dragging a hand down his pale face.
He is falling ill? Already? Maul scowls ferociously. He is weak! Already he is dying? No! No!
The jedi can only die when he allows it, and not before!
His tail slaps the water in agitation, and they both freeze. The sith quickly wipes all expression from his face, relaxing back onto his forearms as Kenobi turns to look at him.
"Back again, I see," the man says grimly. "Come to kill me?"
Maul grins at him, ever cheered by the idea. The man looks at his mouth and grimaces, seemingly put off by all his excellent teeth.
"Did your allies not return your calls, jedi? What a shame... perhaps they do not want you anymore?" he says, in the tone of a sympathetic confidant. "Do not fret, I will keep you."
"Or you could not," the man suggests dryly. "What worth could I possibly have to you, except for dead?"
Maul laughs at his naivete. "Tell me Kenobi, what do you eat?"
The jedi turns on his rock to face Maul. "Are you taking special requests? Because I would trade my shirt for a shadwa club sandwich right now."
The sith snorts, "Think seafood, imbecile."
Kenobi looks at him, really looks at him, and Maul finds himself compelled to roll his tail, showing off the translucent blue fins and the pretty dots that line him.
He blinks, confused as to where that inclination had come from.
"You're intending to keep me alive then?" the jedi asks.
Maul refocuses, his grin returning as he drags himself up out of the water. He gathers the length of himself beneath his torso and sways closer. "Yesss, jedi. You are here to suffer. You may only know the privilege of death when I am satisfied with my revenge."
Kenobi looks up at him from under long, damp eyelashes, assessing. "I truly doubt you can keep me alive, sith. This cave of yours will run out of oxygen sooner rather than later. I'm already burning through energy trying to stay warm, because everything is wet and freezing cold. I am actively healing myself to handle the pressure acclimation, and I cannot continue for long without a place to rest that won't simply result in hypothermia. Besides, what am I to drink? Saltwater? Hah."
Maul leans back on his tail, brow furrowing.
The jedi stands to meet him, crossing his arms. "I'll be dead in hours at worst, days at best, so you had better decide between watching me asphyxiate, killing me yourself, or letting me go before it happens."
Maul gnashes his teeth in agitation, clawing at the force for answers. No. No! Hours? His revenge cannot end in hours! He has dreamed of it for years!
"Well?" Kenobi asks, droll, "What's it going to be, hmm? Murder or mercy?"
He hisses, "Shut up! I am thinking."
The jedi simply watches him, calm, leaning back on one hip.
Maul flexes his hands, clawed fingers clenching and unclenching. "You will not run out of air. It is always fresh here. Cold… cold. Water. Wetness. Cold. Water." He mutters to himself, thinking of solutions, then raises his chin. "What is most fatal to you, jedi? Which of these threats would steal you away from me first?"
Kenobi looks away, and for a moment it seems as if he's considering the consequences of silence… but then those blue eyes come back around. "The cold. I need to warm up, or my heart will give out."
The dragonfish sith mentally chews on that. He seems warm, to himself, but what temperature is that? Hm. The only thing also warm to him down here are the magma flows… but perhaps their gift could be borrowed?
"I will return," he says, and flips himself back into the water.
Maul swims out to the same field, sinking down and hunting until he finds a brightly lit geyser. The small mountain glows luminous and orange at the core, so hot that even the frigid seawater cannot temper it.
Cautiously, the sith reaches out with the force, pulling on a chunk of molten stone as big as he is. The magma is slippery and uncooperative, but he is determined and far more powerful than mere rock. He pulls a ball of it up and out of the geyser, pushing it through the water and away from the mount by the force.
As it rises the edges cool, becoming a black shell that belies the burning within. Once it is raised high he approaches, finding that it is too hot to touch, but pleasant to be near. Perfect.
Very pleased with himself, Maul swims back to the caves, fighting with the ball to get it through the winding corridor. At one point he has to set the black shell down and batter at an outcropping to make way. When approaching Kenobi's cave, he must also take care to keep the rock from touching the plants and burning their air-giving leaves and light shedding mosses.
He rises from the water perhaps half an hour after leaving. The jedi is in one corner, looking miserable and damp.
What a delightful thing to return to.
Maul drags the magma ball up into the room with the force, where it takes up space at the center. After a moment, steam begins to waft off the surface.
"What in the blazes is that?" asks the jedi, rising to his feet.
