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Maul glared at Deenine as the droid closed two of its pincers around his upper arm. Pain emanated from the points where the droid held onto him, but Maul kept still. Whatever reaction he had, Deenine would likely report back to Master Sidious. And he didn’t want the droid who had lied to him and broken his arm to see him in distress.
“Don’t blame me for this,” Deenine said. Maul just narrowed his eyes even further. “Your arm wouldn’t be in this state if you had cared for it properly.”
“You’re the one who broke it in the first place,” Maul snapped before he could stop himself. He fell silent immediately after he said it as a chill settled in the air. Droids couldn’t get angry. Not like sentients could. But Maul had spent his whole life around Deenine and he knew when the droid wasn’t pleased with him.
“As I already explained to you –”
“I don’t care,” Maul muttered before going quiet again.
“I broke your arm to spare you more pain,” Deenine continued, as if Maul hadn’t said a word. “Now, this will hurt.”
No sooner had the droid said the words than its pincers squeezed tighter, wrenching at Maul’s arm. Maul kept his jaw clenched, only the faintest growl of pain rising in the back of his throat. His arm throbbed as Deenine released it, but still he stayed quiet.
“I didn’t like having to do that,” Deenine said.
Liar, Maul thought.
Sharp bolts of pain shot through his arm as the droid slowly set it. His right hand curled around the edge of the table he sat on, but he forced himself to stay quiet. It wouldn’t surprise him if Deenine was making the process slow and painful on purpose.
The moment the bacta splint was secured on his arm, Maul wrenched himself away from the droid. He never wanted to look at Deenine again. He’d trusted that droid. Thought it was his friend. But all Deenine had ever done was hurt him.
As he’d wandered the surface of Mustafar, Maul had been so focused on staying alive that he had barely spared a thought for the droid. Now that he was back, the rage he’d felt when Deenine had revealed his lie was back in full force. The betrayal somehow hurt even more than the broken arm, the broken ribs, and all the painful shocks that the droid had ever subjected him to put together.
That voice in the back of Maul’s head that sounded uncannily like Master Sidious snapped at him that it was weakness. If he was hurt by something as simple as a droid telling a lie, he was no good to anyone.
A quieter part of him didn’t care whether it was weakness or not. Maul stomped that part down as quickly as he could, before Master Sidious could know what he was thinking, the way he always did. He didn’t need Deenine’s friendship. He certainly didn’t need comfort from the droid.
Master Sidious was right. He could never trust anyone. And he didn’t need to. Whether he’d realized it or not, he’d always been on his own. And he’d survived this long. Now that he understood he couldn’t trust Deenine, things would be that much easier. At least he wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Come,” Deenine said. Maul just kept up his furious glare. “Master Sidious is expecting me to bring you back to him.”
Without a word, Maul slid down off of the table. He remained silent as he followed the droid back to the wide room where Master Sidious was waiting.
He wasn’t going to trust Deenine with even one more word. Not again.