Chapter Text
A Perfectly Wrong Place
Chapter One: Where The Universe Spat Them Out
Darkness was a rarity on Tatooine, happening only a few times during the planet rotations in the star system. During the nighttime, the light of one of the suns was still lurking from behind the desert sands, locking the horizon in an permanent state of sunset.
Sometimes it looked like the world was set on fire.
Today however, it was dark.
The black skies, hanging over the desert, sucked up the head from the sands in no time, giving the world a breath of relief and then the chill that was as deadly, as was the heat of the day.
Obi-Wan watched the flames of the bonfire in front of him. He build it with utmost care, since the firewood alone swallowed a whole lot of his money. Literally burning through money like that didn't seem too smart of an idea. It was a tradition, one wrapped tight with the local culture and beliefs, something that was here long before the Hutts took over. It could be even be from the days before sapient species raised their heads up and for the first time saw a target instead of some impenetrable barrier.
Or maybe he was just sitting there, feeling the sands slipping beneath his hands and legs, because the flames were warm, filling the cool air with the aromatic smoke.
During the night like this one, Obi-Wan desperately missed what once was, letting the memories run freely in his mind just for these few hours filled with night, before shutting them away again. It felt a little bit like he was honoring the days of the past this way, almost like burning incense for the dead, letting the ghosts of the past roam just for the few hours.
Of course, the dark night happened to be also the day where the past decided to pay him a visit in the flesh.
To tell the truth, Obi-Wan wasn't sure if he felt the presence first, or it was the sound that caught his attention; steps too heavy for a human, shifting the sands in such an odd manner.
With a long stick, Obi-Wan carefully shifted some of the embers,fearing for it to die out too soon.
There was still so much time, so much time to pass before the suns would return to the skies.
"Kenobi," Darth Maul said, his voice hoarse and travelling over the empty decent like an avalanche.
He made a step forward, then another, graceful despite the age and sands slipping under his artificial feet.
Well, there was that, Obi-Wan thought then slowly, trying to not grimace at the protesting joints, stood up.
The lightsaber slipped into his hand almost unnoticed, an old friend that knew him much better than Obi-Wan even expected too.
"You're in the wrong place," he said, as the blade came up to life, filling the night with sharp, blue light.
Maul looked down at him, his yellow, blazing eyes perfectly mirroring the twin suns of Tatooine.
He was like a ghost from the past made flesh, like the seventeen years between now and the day where the Jedi ended somehow avoided him entirely.
"I am exactly where I need to be," the Sith replied, not drawing his blade yet.
It was there, Obi-Wan could see it, a rough shape reflecting some of the blue light, he could feel the red crystals resonating with the weapon in his very own hand, like they recognized each other just as their wielders did.
"I am not sure about you, though."
"Leave," Obi-Wan said yet again, trying to slip the Force into his voice without making it to noticeable for the Zabrak. "Leave, for this is not the time for this."
Surprisingly enough, Maul did stop.
He shifted his head to the side and looked at him, his expression not one of rage and hate, but something that seemed to be truly out of place there.
"This is tiring," he said. "Aren't you tired? Of it all?"
"What are you here for?"
"Just looking for something feeble and flying," Maul answered, then his mouth twisted in an unpleasant grin, baring sharp teeth on one side. "You don't look like you have seen it lately."
Completely ignoring the lightsaber, Darth Maul once more moved forward... just to nonchalantly drop near the bonfire.
Obi-Wan had no idea what to think, but standing there, with the blade ignited was starting to look rather stupid.
He turned around and turned the lightsaber off only after he had the best view on whatever the Sith was doing, just for the sake of paranoia.
“Whatever you're looking for, it is clearly not here then,” Obi-Wan replied.
Maul tilted his head to look up at him and smiled. It wasn't a menacing smirk, or a cruel grimace that was a guest on his face so often. The expression was more like the Zabrak was deeply satisfied about knowing something Obi-Wan did not.
“On the contrary,” he said.
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to ask what it was, but there was no reason to do so. The answer was already shifting in the dark sky above them, shifting and twisting with power.
He didn't need to ask what it was either; while he had no words to name what was happening, the Force gave him everything he needed.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes and accepted the greatest gift he could even receive.
xxx
The world came back to live in a mad swirl of colors and smells, wrapping itself around his skin like a cold wind. The sudden mix of sensations was almost too much after that - what it was? A split of a second? An eternity? - of feeling nothing but the Force.
Instinctively, Obi-Wan knew that he was torn away from Tatooine, knew that his body was different now, bones and muscles not aching with age and old scars. But how different?
The answer was already there, waiting for him locked in the shape of his - small - fingers with the nails chewed off to the raw flesh, in the soft, too soft, clean robe covering his arms, sleeves not ragged at all, in the lack of weight on his hip.
However grasping it, took Obi-Wan awhile. His brain just couldn't make sense of the world around him. Everything seemed to be shifting around him, going back and forth in waves, while the thundering in his ears was deafening enough that anything else couldn't get through.
What, Obi-wan thought, desperately trying to make sense of it all, to calm down enough to be able to think.
What.
Or rather... when.
Something did happened, something unexplained, something that wasn't even making any sense at all, but the Force around him was a proof enough that it happened nonetheless, simply deciding to ignore all the known laws of the universe.
For almost two decades, it was dim and quiet and now, now it was blinding, with the sources of light moving in each direction, shining like thousands stars at once.
The past. Whatever had happened, Obi-Wan was in the past, in the times where the Jedi still were, still were the Peacekeepers, still were on Coruscant, same as he did.
And he himself was almost thirteen, waiting for the day of his birthday like it was the death sentence.
Without a Master, he would be send to the AgriCorps, to a fate that seemed worse than death.
Now, with all the experience he had, Obi-Wan had no idea what was so terrifying about such fate.
By all means, it sounded more like vacations than anything else.
His senses were finally good enough to look around.
He had no idea where exactly they were, but the impossibly high buildings, reaching far into the... not sky, but the foundation of yet another floor looked definitely Coruscant.
And yes, they.
There was another one, a few feet next to him, as shook by the universe sweeping the rug from under his feet as Obi-Wan was, if not more.
The pattern of tattoos on the red skin was unmistakable, even if everything else was wrong, starting from the ragged tunic so worn out, the dye was barely there, making it look more grey than actually black. A white plasteel of collar was contrasting vividly with his skin.
Obi-Wan recognized the thing on the spot, because he remembered all too well how it felt to wear one, when all the mess with the Zygerrian slavers went in all the shapes of wrong.
The other detail that was throwing Obi-Wan off was the fact that Darth Maul was t i n y .
He was aware that there was some sort of age difference between them and he himself definitely wasn't looking all that good while prepubescent either, but still. It was so hard to connect his sworn enemy, the man Obi-Wan actually hated spite the very heart of the Jedi code, to this small child.
He seemed to be as shook at the whole thing as Obi-Wan was.
Not exactly moving, just sitting on the floor, staring somewhere with his eyes wide open-
Obi-Wan furrowed his brow, the little details that were off catching his attention.
To wide, the iris way too spread, breathing off, too fast, too shallow, backs way to stiff-
"Maul," Obi-wan said, trying to ignore the fact that his own voice sounded of in his own ears, high and childlike. "Maul!"
It was ridiculous, truly, to do this at all, but here Obi-Wan was, carefully trying to bring his sworn enemy back from whatever horrifying thing he was reliving now.
Maul did not react. His breathing was getting faster and faster, while hands reached up and began clawing at his throat with long, sharp fingernails.
Spitting out a series of vulgarities, Obi-Wan moved forward and batted the hands away, before the claws managed to cut the skin open. Just as he managed to get them away, Maul reached up again, forcing Obi-Wan to grab his wrists and pin them down.
Now he could at least look at the collar up close; trying to recall a way to pull one down without having the actual key on disposal.
It definitely was the source of the panic attack. Or rather it was the way how the collar cut the connection with the Force that send Maul into a blind panic.
It became a standard thing for ziggerian slaves long time ago and many others slave owners followed the suit, not wanting to deal with the results of awakening of a feral Force user. The blasted thing was also way too good at rendering Jedi powerless.
“Just give me a moment,” Obi-Wan said, concentrating on making his short, graceless fingers work around the lock. Wasting some time just to think about his options would be just inhumane. The fact that it was his sworn enemy, an murderer and a person who would do everything to just make Obi-Wans life just a little bit worse didn't matter at all.
Finally, the collar gave a satisfying click. Obi-Wan immediately pulled it down and then threw it against the nearest wall, while shifting away from Maul.
He had no clue how his flight or fight instincts are going to show after regaining connection to the Force and being head-butted by a Zabrak was definitely not among the best things that could happen to a person.
There was no headbutting, nor punching. Instead, there was a sudden charge in the Force as Maul presence grasped at it, just a short flash of something dark and desperate, before it all seemingly disappeared. Then Maul bended forward and retched.
It was a good thing that Obi-Wan moved away after all, because there were things he didn't want to get on his tunic, ever.
“ I assume it didn't actually go as planned,” Obi-Wan commented, patiently waiting for Maul to finish.
“Go to hell, Kenobi.”
“Oh, you're getting better?”
Maul looked at him with murder intent in his eyes, before he grimaced and spat, probably trying to get rid of the taste in his mouths.
“I didn't know that these things were used on Dathomir,” Obi-Wan said, gesturing towards the discarded collar.
“I wasn't actually forewarned about this,” Maul grunted. “And what is this about Dathomir?”
Obi-Wan blinked.
“I was under the impression that you were-” he started.
There was no real reason to finish the sentence. All Maul had to do was to raise his eyebrow and the whole thing Obi-Wan was so certain about immediately fell apart.
He wasn't raised on Dathomir. The witches didn't like to let go of the Nightbrothers, instead keeping them bound to the planet and without an access to the technology. They wouldn't let go of one of them, especially one connected by blood to Mother Talzin and so powerful in the Force.
There definitely was a story behind it all, a dark one, one that Obi-Wan was actually glad to not know.
“Nevermind,” he said. “Are you feeling better now?”
“I'm not feeling like spitting my guts out, if that's what you're asking,” Maul replied. “I also had no idea that this is how things were supposed to go.”
“Then how did you know where to go in the first place?”
“A lot of different things at one,” Maul flexed his shoulders as if he was trying to shut, but wasn't sure how to move to do so. “Magic, also.”
“Magic?” Obi-Wan blinked. “I thought only the witches were allowed to use magic.”
“Everyone was dead anyway,” Maul snickered.
Well, that definitely made it much easier to break any taboo. Though, at the same time, learning would be much harder, without a teacher and the tradition of spoken works. Script was good, but never enough.
“What now?”
“Are you going to ask me if I'm going back to my Master?”
“Something like that, I guess.”
“I'm not,” Maul said. “Wherever I was supposed to be at this moment, I'm clearly not. “
“You're making it sound like it's a reason enough to execute you.”
Maul smiled tightly.
“But it is. The secrecy, it is very important to the Sith. That and the obedience. I'm not supposed to go against his will until I'm ready to take his place,” Maul explained, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Though I'm the odd one anyways.”
“The odd one?”
“There's supposed to be only two of the Sith. They already are. And what about you?”
“Me?”
“Are you going to follow your precious Master until he accepts you?”
“I'm going to be there when I'm needed, “Obi-Wan stated, not seeing a reason to lie. “Just like you've said before; I'm tired. I want to rest, away from all that fighting.”
“You're not going to become a Jedi then?”
“ I can't be more of a Jedi than I already am. What about you? Where are you going to go, if not back? “
“ Not Dathomir,” Maul replied immediately. “Too obvious. I've made that mistake once.”
Obi-Wan nodded.
“Why not go with me then?”
“What?”
“Come with me,” Obi-Wan repeated. “No one would expect you to sneak among the AgriCorps dropouts.”
Maul looked at him like he was crazy, but the silence was an answer on its own. He was actually considering the idea.
“This is ridiculous,” he finally said.
“We have an agreement then,”Obi-Wan nodded. He wasn't sure if he was glad that he would be able to keep an eye on the Sith this way or if it was just about not being completely lonely.
He slowly shifted again then stood up, feeling that the conversation was over.
Maul shifted too, pushing himself off the ground, only to awkwardly slip and drop on the ground yet again.
Obi-Wan wanted to ask if something was wrong, but the angry expression on Mauls face stopped him. The Zabrak looked furious and annoyed and murderous, while the Force around him seemed to be boiling… and all that wasn't even because of Obi-Wan annoying him with something. No, the burning stare was locked much, much lower.
“What it is?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with, Kenobi.”
Maul looked, like he was a step away from changing his mind and running Obi-Wan with a lightsaber… or whatever he could get his hands on at the moment, since the weapon wasn’t with him.
Obi-Wan nodded carefully and made fist step back, demonstrating that he wasn’t going to press on the issue.
Maul made a disgusted noise at him, then looked down. He pushed himself up… them awkwardly dropped back on the ground.
"What is wrong?" Obi-Wan asked, furrowing his brow, suddenly worried by the possibility that there were some unexpected consequences of travelling into the past by the means of... Obi-Wan actually had no clue how the whole thing was possible. However Maul seemed to know more. Or, at the very least, he knew where and when he was supposed to show up... which was a curious thing to know in the first place.
However now this was not the time for this question.
"Go away, Kenobi!" Maul snarled angrily at him. He would look scary, if not for the fact that he did not grow up yet into his features.
"There is clearly something going on-" Obi-Wan pushed on. If there were consequences to all of it, he needed to know and he needed to know now.
Maul only made another angry sound and dragged his legs towards his torso, as if he was trying to stay as far away from Obi-Wan as it was physically possible.
Obi-Wan blinked. That was a very odd way to shift one's position. Usually it was just moving the leg itself, not grabbing it and pulling...
The changing expression on Mauls face told him that the staring definitely did not escaped his attention.
"What?"
"You can't move."
"You're delusional."
A pang of irritation made Obi-Wan feel hot.
"You're clearly unable to stand up, that means-"
"That means I had no organic legs for, oh, I don't know, it would be about thirty years now?"
Oh. Oh!
That made a lot of sense. Maul spend more than a half of his life with mechanical prosthetics. It only made sense that, once, thrown back into a body that was fully organic, he had trouble with remembering how to properly use his legs.
Suddenly, looking down at Maul started to feel strange. It him, who cut the Sith in half, wanting nothing but to kill the man and failing at doing doing so, a mistake that was repeated once more, an act of mercy bleeding together with pure sadism that led to the fall of everything that was supposed to exist forever and ever.
"I don't need your help!" Maul barked furiously, taking his expression for something entirely else. "I can manage alone perfectly fine!"
Obi-Wan nodded slowly.
"You're not alone, though."
He stepped forward, half expecting Maul to jump forward and try to bite his throat open or something equally disturbing.
"You know what?" Obi-Wan asked the anger incarnated on the floor. "You were right. This? This is tiring. I'm tired of this."
He sighed.
"I'm tired of all of this. That's why my proposal stands. Come with me."
Maul wrinkled his nose.
"What, are you crazy?!"
"I thought you were going with me to Bandomeer."
"That what I've agreed to," Maul rolled his eyes. "However going with you now? I'm not going to make a single step into the Jedi Temple!"
"...that's a fair point. You need any help up?"