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Maul and the Jedi approached the Sith tower. It was smooth, sheer rock with seemingly no way up.
"Now what?" Kanan snapped impatiently.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Maul pressed his hand to the cold stone. A section of the tower's face gave way and descended toward them.
"Wow," Ezra mused. He wasn't expecting a Sith temple elevator ride, but he made for the lift. Kanan moved to follow, but Maul intercepted him, holding up two fingers. "Only two. No more, no less."
"Yeah? Well these two come as a set," the Jedi retorted, boldly pushing Maul aside and stepping into the elevator platform.
"You okay riding with grandpa?" Kanan asked Ahsoka.
"I'll be fine," she assured him, and Maul once again lifted his hand to the stone and sent Ezra and Kanan upward, leaving him and Ahsoka alone below.
It had been years since that fateful battle far above the surface of Mandalore. The silence that spanned between them could stretch across the galaxy.
Maul was the first to break it.
"So. Still wasting your time consorting with rebels, I see."
He glanced up to make sure Kanan and Ezra had made it to the summit, then brought the platform back down.
Ahsoka didn't respond until they were rising off the ground. "Still sulking in the darkest corners of the universe, I see."
A nebula of emotions crossed Maul’s face. First came surprise, like the shock of a comet against the night sky. Secondly came anger as dark and wrenching as a black hole. These swirled together into a supernova of mirth which burst force and Maul let out a single bark of laughter.
And then the elevator was quiet.
Ahsoka looked at Maul.
Maul looked at Ahsoka.
And he let out another bark of laughter, and another, until he was actually guffawing right there on the Malachorian Sith tower elevator. His eyes filled with tears.
This was not his usual sinister snicker.
Maul was laughing.
It was so absurd, so utterly bizarre and bewildering, that Ahsoka couldn’t help but join. It was like a neutron star exploding: powerful, yet brief. Because when they reached the top and heard the distinctive sound of clashing lightsabers, the moment was over, and neither one of them would speak of it again.