No Regrets (A Star Wars AU)

8 - Matched

We sat on the main room floor together, meditating.

Hopefully we are able to go back to Crimson Dawn now, surely the Empire had either had their share with them, or gotten warded off, I thought to myself. We would get to lead the faction, and become a strong opposition to the Empire. I was excited about that.
   
Not to mention, I would get to work with Maul, and we would have authority.
   
I had to admit, he had grown on me.
   
I pulled myself out of my meditative state and looked at a Maul next to me. He seemed concentrated. I quietly got up and walked to Stinky, who laid on the floor. I scooped him up and sat on the bed.
   
He growled, and I scratched behind his ears. His growling faded out, and he relaxed onto my lap.
   
"So you do like me." I said softly, feeling him start to purr.
   
After a couple minutes he got up and saw a screw on the floor. Stinky jumped off me and pawed it around on the floor. I kicked it across the room with my foot, and he ran after it, bringing it back to me.
   
I kicked a few more times, and hit Maul with the screw. He opened his eyes and looked at me.
   
"Really?"
   
"I didn't mean to hit you." I snickered.
   
"Sure you didn't." He went back to meditating, sitting up to fix his posture.
   
Stinky walked over to him and crawled into his lap, then climbed up onto his shoulders. He sat there, like a parrot. I smiled at them. It reminded me of Hondo and his parrot-monkey hybrid. Except of course, Maul was nothing like Hondo.
   
I got up and decided to explore the fortress. I was sure that this was the place that I was made, if not that, where I was enhanced.
   
I looked through some of the rooms, some of them had things that Maul had brought, others had old texts and carvings. The Nightsisters did own this, so there were most likely spirits of them still here. I could feel the magick's presence in the structure. Everything felt familiar, but that was mostly because of my ties to the Nightsisters.
   
Their magicks were strong. I knew of the battle that happened against Dooku. The first killing of many Nightsisters. The more I thought about them, the more I felt. I could sense the pain that they went through during that fight.
   
Shaking away the feelings, I returned back to the main room.
Maul had finished meditating, and was messing with Stinky on the bed. I sat next to Maul and watched him play with the tooka.

"Went exploring?"

"Yeah, not for long though."

Maul stood up. "We will return to Crimson Dawn soon. They need guidance. Though in the meantime, I'll let you explore-" He looked at me. "With more training."
"Sure. But you've already tested me without a saber, how about with?"
He scoffed. "I've fought you with a saber before, Valin."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I know how you fight now, so it'll give you a chance to diversify."

"Hm." He thought about my offer for a moment. "Yes. We will do that. Come with me, we need to go to a larger room for this." He took the Darksaber off the table.

I got up and took my saber too.

We walked to an open room near the back of the structure. We stood at opposite ends of the room.

"Do not fight me like a Jedi." He smiled. "I know all your tricks."

"You might think you do," I said. "But I'm not as predictable as I seem."

We ignited our sabers and I ran towards him. I jumped over him and swung for his back, which he blocked from behind. He turned and pushed my blade away, coming back for some other quick attacks at me. I blocked one hit after another, on the defensive. He pushed me back towards the wall, and I turned to get on the other side of him. I fought against him, using my offense to try and best him. We went back and forth, and he finally hit my saber out of my hand. I leapt backwards to get it, but he grabbed me before I could. I twisted around to get out of his hold and swept his leg.

I ran to my saber and picked it up, turning it on again. Maul scrambled to get up and I took my chance to attack him. He shoved me back with the force and jumped up. Our blades contacted again, and we fought harder to best one another.

After constant fighting, we were both getting tired, but neither one of us refused to give up. Using up the last of my energy, I jumped over Maul and forced him back. I then ran at him and tried to hit him with an overhead blow. He blocked me and shoved me off, throwing me across the room.

I sat up. "I lasted longer than you thought, huh?"

"I was hoping you would've gotten tired easier."

I laughed, getting back up on my feet.

He looked at me. "Don't think this duel is over."

"Oh, I know it's not over."

I took a deep breath, channeling in all my emotions. I wanted to beat Maul, finally prove to him that I was worthy of working with him. I was a padawan for years, and I never got to advance in my rank. But now was my chance to become something more. I felt myself gain back some strength. I know Maul felt it too.

We struggled to defeat one another. Finally, we ended up knocking our lightsabers out of our hands again. We made eye contact, then glanced at the sabers on the ground.

"Forget those. Let's continue like this!" I was confident in being able to beat him now.

"So be it."

He grabbed me with the force and pulled me forward, grabbing my arms to try and throw me over himself. I didn't hesitate to pull him down with me while I was on the ground. We wrestled with each other and he was able to get up, pinning one of my arms on the ground with his foot. I tried to get out of his hold, but he wasn't budging.

"Your legs are quite heavy." I looked up at him.

"I know I'm not hurting you. Don't try to get my mercy." He chuckled.

"I don't need it." I said, twisting around to get my arm out.

I got up and tackled him. We went into a roll and I was finally able to pin him down. He glared up at me, clearly unhappy to be in that situation. He called his saber back to him and ignited it, holding it close to my body, being careful not to actually cut me.

"Let's call this a tie." Maul said.

I let him go, and he dropped the Darksaber. He sat up and looked at my lightsaber, which was on the other side of the room. I forced it back to me and put it on my belt.

"You really didn't want to lose to me, huh?" I smiled at him.

"No. I did not. You did quite well though." He smiled back, placing his hand on my cheek.

He leaned forward and kissed me, and I felt myself blushing as I kissed back. I looked at him when we finally parted. He stood up and pulled me up.

"We should see if Crimson Dawn is able to habit us again. I will contact them." Maul stated, checking his communication device.

I nodded and we went back into the main room. I sat on the bed and watched Stinky climb up Maul's leg.

"I know you like Stinky."

"He's... growing on me."

"I'm bringing him back to Crimson Dawn."

Maul scoffed. "That's fine." He punched some things into a holo pad, then on his com, sending out a signal to the syndicate. There was a pause, and a notification came through.

"So, are we going to go back?" I asked.

"Yes. We will depart tomorrow."

That sounded good to me. I patted next to me, and Maul sat down, sighing.

"You seem tired, Maul." I pulled him to me and let him lay his head on my lap.

I rubbed the base of his horns, and heard a purring, similar to Stinky. But it was coming from Maul.

"No wonder you get along with Stinky so well." I muttered to myself.

He fell asleep on my lap. I began to examine his tattoos, tracing some with my finger. It must have been a painful process to get. I kissed his forehead, thinking about how cute he was, laying there.

Then I let my mind wander off, and ended up wondering about how leading Crimson Dawn would be. If we got more powerful, I would finally be able to enact my revenge, or at least find some new sense of peace.

Revenge always sounded more fun to me.