Nebulous

Chapter 2 - Failed Escape

Author's Note: Warning for Obi-Wan bullying Anakin quite literally, but I think it's maybe slightly excusable? Well not really but he has no reason to be nice. O.O

~ Tirana Sorki

Maul hasn't moved to get up again, and – and –

Anakin twists around, trying in vain to free himself; stomping on the man's foot doesn't seem to help much (maybe it's because Anakin is so light for his age, everyone tells him) so he twists around, finally sinking his teeth into his arm.

The Sith jolts his arm back, muttering something under his breath, then roughly shoves him into one of the rooms on the ship, nearly hard enough to knock him to the floor.

"You're only making this more unpleasant for yourself," he warns – why does his voice sound so familiar? It's not as if Anakin's heard it before – as he pulls him over to a chair, tying him in place to it.

There's no way he'll be getting out of this when the Sith is still here; he'll have to wait for a better chance. Anakin wriggles around in the ropes anyway, the moment his back is turned. He hates this. He hates being this vulnerable and unable to run. He knows that feeling far too well, and –

All he can do now is try to stay hidden and be invisible until he finds his chance. The Sith could do anything to him, and he can't stop him. He's well used to that feeling but that doesn't make him any less terrified.

Especially not when he remembers what the Sith said.

"I came to retrieve that which is the Sith's."

What do they want with him?! What are they going to do to him?

The door clicks shut, indicating that it's locked, and moments later, he can feel the ship in motion.

He needs to get off before it makes the jump to hyperspace. Somehow. Anakin can't even move in the ropes – the helpless of it is crawling under his skin, making it hard to breathe – but he has the Force. He's a Jedi. He can still free himself. Closing his eyes, he tries to find a center of calm like Maul always teaches him.

He hasn't done this much, but he finds the knots on the ropes, slowly nudging them around a little, yanking at it until he starts getting them loose, so he can move again. Using his hands from there is easy enough, and far too long later, he finally shakes the ropes off, scrambling to his feet, heart hammering.

Now he needs to get out and find somewhere to hide until he can get off. Anakin darts over to the door, reaching out with the Force to try unlocking it.

Except trying to feel through the parts' mechanisms and figure out which one to push here and there is not nearly as easy. He tries nudging it hard, but nothing happens, and then, the next thing he knows, he can't feel the locking mechanism at all.

What?

Cautiously, he tries pushing on the door, but it doesn't budge. What....

The lock just seems gone and... Whatever happened, maybe he can try to run when the Sith comes back. Except he'll have to find a way to get past him, and –

On second thought, maybe he already has that.

***

The mission was simpler than Obi-Wan anticipated. He expected Jinn's former padawan to be at least a little more difficult to handle this time around. His lack of improvement is most unimpressive, but then again, these are Jedi.

Tracking their ship was easy enough, and when he'd landed, pirates had been all over him. Figuring out what they were really after was simple enough, and so he'd made a deal to help them. Not that he had any real intention of fulfilling it, but they just needed to think so.