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Chapter Text

Savage carefully leaned behind the column where he was hidden to check where the Jedi was. Still where he had left him. Good.

Except that it gave him an intense feeling of unease. He was supposed to be keeping a low profile, which meant he could not go on a rampage and let people know he had been there, but...

But this Jedi had come from nowhere, and he was visiting the Sith Temple like a Kriffing tourist! How was Savage supposed to look for an artefact under these conditions?!

And there was the Jedi, spreading Light all around him, walking serenely, as if he was not risking his life every minute in this Temple for which even Savage, Sith Apprentice, was not filled of enough Darkness.

A moron, the Jedi really were morons, Maul was right.

Fascinated to the point where he could not look away from the massacre to come, Savage watched with a sense of urgency as the stranger advanced towards a wall in which active weapons were hidden.

He was about to be pierced, perhaps not instantly, but he would bleed to death quickly. The Jedi certainly had the Force, but most of them were not very trained to move their bodies, which was why they were dying en masse.

When he thought back to their audacity and arrogance in going to his village to attack his people... Savage secretly dreamed that this Jedi was Kenobi or Skywalker, but he seemed too small for that, and the clothes did not match. Kenobi did not wear light brown, only beige, and Skywalker only wore black.

Whatever, just another Jedi, they were not important. In the meantime, as soon as he was dead, he would go back and search the place for his brother.

At the first flash of light, Savage turned his attention back to the scene and looked with a judgemental raised eyebrow at the figure already on the ground. Seriously? That fast?

At this level of incompetence, it was not pathetic any more, it was just sad.

As he prepared to descend to join the Jedi on the floor below, his hands already firmly planted on the column, his ears picked up a noise and he checked everything around him, alert and wary. He had already nearly died twice in less than a day, this was already too much.

When he was sure that nothing was going to come for his blood in the next few seconds, he prepared to climb down again and slipped silently into the shadows.

Shit, the corpse was gone.

Oh Kriff, the Jedi was not dead, and he was standing. Twenty steps away. Savage stood still and silent, uncertain. Had he been spotted? He had been discreet, but he had not expected the other man to get up!

The stranger dusted off his clothes and hummed softly, just loud enough for Savage to hear but not enough for him to judge whether he was injured. In any case, he did not look hurt. How had he done it? Had he dodged? Or maybe he had healed himself.

Or maybe he had been quick enough to drop to the ground to avoid being skewered. Clever.

The Jedi moved back the way he had come and soaked up the atmosphere of his the surroundings, and at that moment Savage felt a sharper edge in the energy of that little thing he had not yet been able to identify. Something a little more tough and sturdy than he had felt when he had met – and killed – most of the Jedi who had crossed his path. The Zabrak bent down and waited carefully for an interesting opportunity. He was a good hunter, he could be patient.

The most important part, now, was to determine whether he was indeed the hunter and not the prey in this situation. The most dangerous Jedi normally went into battle without a break, but you can never be too careful. For that reason, he waited another full three minutes until the other was back in the entrance of the Sith Temple before jumping out of the shadows and trying to pierce his heart neatly. A simple and effective kill, the hunters took no pleasure and had no interest in creating a disordered mess of pain and bloodshed. It was with thoughts like this that Savage frequently realised he was even more of a Night Brother than a Sith Apprentice.

He was blocked. The Jedi had reacted quickly enough to stop him safely despite his clearly unfavourable position: his back was to him, for fuck's sake!

The first thing Savage saw when the hood fell back as the Jedi backed away were horns. Horns.

A you never hurt a Brother instinct immediately kicked in and he leapt backwards, out of reach of the other who was looking at him passively, not trying to attack but not backing away either.

He shook his head and the hood came down completely. It was definitely a Zabrak. Bloody hell! Savage knew that there had to be Zabrak Jedi, it was obvious since they really did have everything in this Temple, but he had not thought he would ever come face to face with one. He had even carefully hoped not to. Maul did not respect Zabrak any more than he respected anyone else, but Savage had lived his whole life around Zabrak, there was a feeling of warmth, familiarity and security that grew inside him every time he saw horns on another being, even when they were Iridonians. Like this one.

"Well... I thought I wasn't alone here, but I hoped I was wrong."

Savage did not answer, worried, trying to sort out his panicked thoughts. What was he supposed to do? He could not run away, the other man would either call for reinforcements or go after him himself. He did not want to disappoint Maul either. He-

"Just to be sure, your name is Savage Opress, Dooku's former Temporary Apprentice, isn't it?"

"Yes."

He closed his mouth with an audible chattering of his teeth. He had meant to be perfectly fucking quiet, but this Jedi had been smart.

"And you are?" He finally fired back, knowing it was to his advantage to talk a little to keep the Jedi in an misleading feeling of safety.

"Eeth Koth."

The name rang a bell, but not to the extent that it was an almost divine revelation. It was just that mental tug of feeling that this guy might be more important than he looked.

"Knight or Master?"

"Master", the other answered with an easy, amused smile.

Jedi Master Eeth Koth... he felt there was something he should know here...

"It's not surprising if you don't know me, I've been rather discreet since my rescue at Saleucami and you yourself are a recent addition to this conflict."

The keyword, or rather the two keywords of "rescue" and "Saleucami" immediately woke him up, and Savage was already on the move.

To run.

To run very far away from this Jedi, because he was a huge threat, and Maul had explicitly told him not to take on important Jedi alone and without backup if he could avoid it. Since he did not want to hurt his brother any more than he wanted to die today, he obeyed.

The only Jedi who had recently been rescued in Saleucami was a guy who was on the Jedi High Council. Reason number one to flee. A Jedi with a reputation for being able to endure pain as if it did not exist. Reason number two. A Jedi who had survived Grievous and who, according to rumours on both sides of the war, had won his one-on-one fight where many other Jedi had died. Grievous had only survived because his droids had intervened. Reason number three. Oh, and he was a Zabrak, so if he was worthy of his Iridonian tattoos, it was because he was an accomplished hunter capable of surviving alone in difficult conditions. Reason number four? Did he need more?

No, Savage was not a stupid man, he did not need more and so he ran as fast as he could, aware that he was being pursued and that he absolutely had to find a way to lose the Jedi. To his credit, the other man did not try to convince him to stay or stop, and that was good to see: at last a Jedi who did not think he was the world's navel-gazer that everyone would listen to. He would admire him even more if he was not trying to get away from him.

He came to a corridor he knew to be booby-trapped and jumped onto the specific tiles on the floor he had identified as safe, hoping the other would step on the booby-trapped tiles, but the Jedi was clearly observant and clever as he did not even try to walk on the floor and mostly jumped from column to column to dodge the few traps that were triggered on the rare occasions he set foot on the ground. Once again, Jedi High Council, it was coherent.

Standards seemed to have dropped, he remarked to himself as he compared this to Kenobi, his brother's number 1 sworn enemy apart from his former Sith Master. In comparison, Kenobi probably would not have had the boldness to follow him, nor the perseverance to run so long behind him. Or he would have rushed in, like his blond pupil who was as conspicuous as a Rancor in a blown-glass sculpture’s shop. And he would have died. Then again, he wished it had been Kenobi or Skywalker, Maul would have been glad to be rid of them since those Jedi in particular always seemed to be trying to cause them trouble when they were just trying to survive with the crappy hand they had been given at birth.

He accelerated out of the room to jump over the chasm that had probably been formed by an earthquake and grunted at the impact with the ground, which was more painful than he had expected for his knees. He then turned towards a staircase he had already climbed and waited a few seconds to see where the Jedi was, struggling to keep his breathing steady and not panting like an asthmatic. Sure enough, Koth stepped over the precipice as if it were a small puddle, with an ease and naturalness that made him both jealous and admiring, and the Zabrak looked up directly at him. Fuck.

He moved forward, slower and above all more hesitant. He had not really visited this area yet, which seemed too empty and ruined to be of any use, he had preferred to focus on the central, more ornate part of the Temple.

From there, every step could kill him.

The problem with Sith Temples, he had quickly noticed on his arrival, was that there were traps everywhere. People spontaneously avoided the darkest places, when in fact they were often the safest. Except not all the time. Because the Sith were vicious, paranoid bastards.

Choosing where to walk was therefore tricky and extremely perilous, but after taking five steps without triggering anything he moved forward a little faster, trying to feel the energies in the huge room to sense the links of darkness between the floor and the walls where he suspected there were other deadly and active weapons.

If it had not been for his brother, his recently found twin brother and now only brother since Feral was gone, he would have tell everyone to fuck off, really. But he could not, because Maul was the pack.

A click of sound froze him, both his hearts beating so fast his ears were paralysed by a murky, dangerous sizzle as a multitude of beams revealed even more weapons loaded in the wall to his right. Crap. Maybe Maul would not even find his body...

Suddenly, a dead weight fell from the sky and brutally crushed him to the ground, briefly stunned before the reason for his fall became clear when a hand firmly grasped one of his horns to hold his face down as he tried to stand up.

"No. You're going to get speared."

Fuck, the Jedi had saved him. He had saved him! Why had he saved him? It was obvious they were here for the same artefact, letting Savage die, killed by his own incompetence was the best possible end for a Jedi of that rank, he did not even have to get his hands dirty!

He tried to look to his right where the sound was coming from rather than the useless left that his current position forced him to look to when the Jedi's grip tightened.

"Stop it."

Oh for fuck's sake. A... growl? What the hell was he doing? Why... oh Kriff, was he...?

Savage struggled to just put it into words: this Jedi wanted to make him his own? Savage was not stupid, he knew he was big, now even more muscular and already as a teenager everyone in the village said he would be an attractive young man just by his horns and his stubbornness. Being determined to survive and be respected was highly valued by them and he had had his fair share of partners among the Night Brothers, but now... he had never imagined this!

Ears burning, Savage cleared his throat to keep steady. He was flattered, but until he knew if he could decline the attention, he would feel nothing but the anguish and apprehension he felt every time the Night Sisters chose him.

"I just wanted to turn my head, not get up", he murmured softly.

The other hummed but eventually released him and stepped back, making Savage realise that the other had still been partially on him all along.

The firing was still going on when he very carefully turned his head to meet the Jedi's neutral gaze once again.

"You haven't been through here yet, have you? You didn't activate the previous traps."

"I stopped at the stairs, it didn't seem like the best place to search."

"Hmm... Do you know anything about the Sith Temples?"

"Dark, dilapidated, dangerous", he muttered between his teeth, flinching with annoyance as a small piece of stone fell on his cheekbone.

"Ahah, you remind me of a friend of mine, very grumpy", the Iridonian laughed before moving his hand to free the object from Savage. "Obviously we don't have any extremely detailed lessons on Sith Temples, but in theory they're a bit like Jedi Temples, since they're ancient cultures that were once one".

"Fascinating", Savage said in his dullest voice, his gaze impassive. "Is this going to help get us out of here?"

"A little gratitude would be appreciated, you'd be dead without my intervention."

"I wouldn't have come here without your intervention."

"Fair enough, but if we go back that far... well, we're not done."

"Indeed."

"Are you working for Dooku again?"

"No, I never wanted to be with him anyway."

"You didn't? Then why-"

"Ventress and the Night Sisters wanted revenge, I was just a tool for that, it's not like I had a choice."

The Jedi's face softened without falling into pity and he nodded.

"I see."

"You see nothing", Savage retorted immediately.

"I know what it's like to do whatever it takes to survive. Not all Jedi are born on silk sheets. Try to guess where I was born and raised."

Savage rolled his eyes. Not growing up in luxury did not mean he was not privileged.

"A colony on Iridonia?"

"Nar Shadda. I knew nothing but a huge slum before I was taken by a Jedi."

It was said with such a lack of emotion that Savage initially felt he had misunderstood.

"A slum?"

"Yeah... so, as glorious as you'd expect?"

"Well, there's slum and there's slum", he pointed out.

"I was living on the street in a field of rubble, tents and shacks that collapsed and burnt down every month. I slept under the rain and not a day went by without me collapsing from hunger or exhaustion. Several times I almost got kidnapped by slavers, like all children like me. If I hadn't been a Zabrak and therefore developed more quickly, I wouldn't have escaped. I know many others who were born into slavery or were destined for it by unscrupulous families, I'm no exception."

"I didn't know that."

"Few people outside the Order know, and even less care."

They rose to their feet at the example of the Jedi who turned back, carefully following the path Savage had traced in the dust. There were no second footprints.

"How on earth did you get there without leaving any tracks?" he finally asked.

"I jumped."

Jumped. Bloody Jedi and bloody Force. He really was not up to it.

"So, lets move on", the Jedi said calmly but his smile was less pleasant. "You're no longer an ally of Dooku, so you're probably at least someone he wants dead. Why do you want this artefact?"

Savage remained carefully silent and kept his mouth sealed. He would not betray his brother.

"Please answer."

"I can't say anything, sorry."

"Could this be a danger to us?"

"Define "us"."

"Jedi, Republic, civilians, that sort of thing."

Hmm... in theory, Maul was planning to become the leader of a powerful and influential criminal cartel, so it probably fell into those categories, did not it?

"Maybe?" He tried.

He did not see the blow coming. He was knocked out before he even hit the ground.

Bloody Jedi.

Chapter Text

When he woke up, he was carefully tied up and lying on a high bunk. He was completely tied up from his shoulders to his knees, it was ridiculously tight and dramatic.

"Is this for real?" He groaned as he wriggled on the spot, swearing as he fell off the bunk, anticipating an impact that did not come.

"Phew! Beware!"

"Untie me and I'll be careful", he grumbled under his breath, glowering at the Jedi who had barely caught him.

"It's going to take more than a pretty look to convince me, sorry."

He was put on the bottom bunk when he was too busy blushing to react and only looked up again when he heard a "Hng, this guy keeps trying to reach you".

Because obviously he had hacked his ship and its communications and snooped without remorse. Bastard.

"That's my private life."

"Yeah, I know, and I really don't like prying into people's personal lives but hey, when a Zabrak has someone called "'Maul" in his address book and calls him "brother" in said written conversations, it's kind of my duty to investigate, you know, Jedi, enemy of the Sith and that sort of thing. Has he messed with your head?"

"Nah, he's really my brother but Mother Talzin split us up at birth, leaving me with the Night Brothers and giving Maul to his Master."

"Hmm, his Master... By any chance, is he still alive or did Maul kill him?"

Savage raised an eyebrow to let him know where he could shove that question for all he cared and ostentatiously turned away.

"Oh, I see, so Maul is still working with his Master."

"Of course not, he hates him", Savage blurted out before swearing at the satisfied look on the Jedi's face.

He had said that to bait him, and it had worked.

"So your brother, who I assume was a Sith Apprentice, hates his Master? Was Dooku his Master before you?"

"Dooku? Dooku is the one who replaced Maul as Apprentice, and both are nowhere near the Master's level."

"Oh. I'd understood that there couldn't be two Sith Apprentices to one person, but I suppose if he thought Maul was dead more than ten years ago then it's-"

"If Mother Talzin knew Maul was alive and never saw him again after leaving him as a baby, then he knew Maul was alive and just left him to rot."

"Oh. That's... really sad for him. I mean, you've two killed enough people for me to know you've hurt a lot of people yourself, especially Jedi, but I still think it's sad the way you've both been... forced onto the Dark Side."

A "ding" diverted the Jedi's attention and Savage tried to untie himself by forcing on his bonds but achieved he nothing. He knew he had to be careful though, he was an enemy and the fact that he was a Zabrak like himself was not going to make him any sweeter when he handed him over to the army of the Republic.

"Wonderful, your brother's coming."

"What."

"I said that there was a Jedi and that you'd been spotted, which is true, by the way", the Jedi explained with an airy, casual tone. "He replied, after a flurry of really amusing insults about me and my people, that he was coming straight away. And look, he's even asking you not to move, so behave!"

Savage tried to punch him, but his legs were still tied up to his knees and he fell with the movement, landing hard on the floor.

"Sorry, I forgot you weren't listening to anything", the Jedi Master apologised in a sincere tone on top of that, the bastard, before he straightened him up. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself".

"Don't you fucking touch my brother!" Savage growled as he struggled.

"So tell me who Dooku's Master is", the Iridonian demanded urgently. "What's his name, his specie, his age, everything you know".

"I know nothing!" he shouted in despair. "Maul never told me!"

Maul hated talking about his past and the one who had abandoned him, he even refused to talk about his own training or his childhood, or rather what should have been his childhood but had been transformed into training. From what he understood, his whole life had been much more like that of the clones in the Republic army, conditioned, coached and trained relentlessly, rather than his own youth which, although far from easy, had still been relatively peaceful. Maul had a lot of scars, and several times he had blurted out remarks about the fact that his prosthetic legs did not hurt when they were broken, but Savage was not a total moron, Maul was referring to a real accident from his youth. Accident or... punishment.

Maul did not really punish him when he made mistakes or failed, nor did he punish him when Savage talked back or got angry. On several occasions he had made sudden gestures when his temper flared and had come close to hitting him, but he had always restrained himself.

"I'm not him", he mumbled under his breath every time, sometimes walking away for days after the accident.

He did not know if he deserved so much gentleness, he did not think he needed it, but he was grateful for all his efforts. Maul had been brought up not to be like that, to willingly hurt, not to care, to have nothing and be content with that. Even when Savage had gone to find him, he had welcomed him and taken him under his wing. He could have chosen not to care, blood was nothing in this world for many people who easily abandoned those ties for more profitable ones, but Maul had wanted to get to know him and had suggested that they stay together.

"I have a brother, it's obvious I have to protect him, isn't it?"

Savage did not answer, he did not really know what to say to the stranger that was his twin at the time, but being someone's brother again was something he really needed at the time, so even though the Dark Side reminded him of the worst moments of his life, Savage stayed.

He had stayed because he wanted the best for Maul, he did not want him caught by a Jedi, who knew what they would do to someone as strong in the Dark Side as he was? Savage was a good fighter but he was not very involved, he was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but to the Jedi, Maul was far more valuable.

"Please don't do anything to him", he asked again, this time trying a more pleading tone.

The Jedi responded well to weakness and vulnerability, did not they?

"Then he'll answer my questions."

"He won't answer, let alone to a Jedi."

"He'll have to, if he wants you back alive."

"Uh?"

But again, before he had time to worry, he was knocked unconscious.

"You have to stop doing that", he groaned, rolling onto his stomach to hide his face in a soft pillow as he woke up, a headache pounding at his temples.

"Yes, sorry that wasn't very proper or nice, I assure you I usually have better manners than that but I wanted to prepare for Maul's arrival and knowing how recalcitrant, stubborn and elusive you are I didn't want to take any risk."

"It's not much of an excuse if you explain to me afterwards that you think you were right to do it", he snapped without trying to face the Jedi.

"It's... actually it's true, I'm not at all sorry I knocked you out, it was necessary, but it wasn't very polite."

"Who cares about being polite to a Sith?"

"You have to set an example when you preach values, but if you spend all your time trampling them underfoot then what's the point?"

Savage rolled his eyes as he remembered who he was talking to. Jedi. Stupid idealists.

Wait a second...

"You fucking hypocrite, you dare say that when you're threatening my life to force my brother to surrender after luring him into a trap like a coward?!"

"Sometimes the end justifies the means, doesn't it?" The Zabrak asked, sounding so painfully sincere that Savage's eyes hurt. "I really don't like it, but it will benefit the most, and frankly, if he doesn't resist, everything will be fine".

"It's Maul, of course he'll resist, and of course it won't go well."

The older man nodded seriously and looked out thoughtfully.

"So he's going to be one of those, is he? I'll think of something."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm sorry, I'm going to knock you out again."

"Hey, no, I don’t-"

This time he held on for about ten seconds, trying to fend him off with his legs, but as soon as the Iridonian had managed to bend over him, he struck.

The little shit was laughing at him.

When he woke up, it was to the sound of his brother's voice. Maul's hysterical screams were like a symphony to his ears.

"Let him go IMMEDIATELY!!!"

"Keep your voice down, I don't think you want me to flinch in surprise."

At that moment, Savage noticed the lightsaber balanced in front of his neck. It actually took a while for the warm sensation to reach him, as did the strong grip on one of his horns that kept his head tilted back and his neck vulnerable.

"Oh, fuck", he sighed. "Sorry about that, brother".

"Don't fucking apologise, it's that bastard-"

"Jedi Master Eeth Koth", his kidnapper said serenely.

"I don't give a fuck, if you think being a Zabrak is going to work in your favour, you're wrong! Unlike Savage, I have no particular sympathy for my species, and it's not some incompetent deemed unfit for service on the real fronts that's going to worry me!"

"You could try to kill me, but you won't."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, unless you want to go over his dead body, of course."

Even though he could not see it, Savage heard Maul's furious stomping stop as he moved away from his ship and towards them.

The silence that followed was... significant, to say the least. Savage sincerely had no doubt about Maul's desire to protect him, that said, he could not rule out an aggressive move on his part. If he saw an opening, he would not risk his life and would try to free him.

He himself did not know what he wanted. Well, no, he knew very well that he wanted to return to his brother's side but... well, he did not hate the Jedi, even if he was theoretically his enemy. This Master Eeth Koth had been a decent individual, had been cunning and shown a remarkable ability to adapt as well as being a hell of a fighter.

Either that or his partiality towards the Zabrak made him really stupid, he would have to think about it.

In the meantime, anyone who thought Maul was incapable of an entirely rational conversation would be surprised by his acuity and his ability to be subtle, just like now, he could feel that the soft answer was a surprise to the Jedi with how much the change of pace was marked.

"And what do you want?"

"Answers."

"What kind of answers?" His brother continued without missing a beat, demanding.

"The kind about a certain hidden and particularly discreet Sith Master."

"Information has a price, especially this kind of intelligence. What do I get in return?"

And just like that Maul had reversed the distribution of power in the conversation. For all the brothers they were, he had just subtly pointed out Savage's objectively lesser value to remind the Jedi who was the one who had every interest in staying in the other's good graces. Smart.

"Your brother, of course."

"And you'd just let us go?"

"You're not our priority", the Jedi declared sincerely. "I swear I'll let him go and I'll let you go together without trying to stop you or follow you if you give me all the information you have on your former Master that would make it easier to identify him".

Maul said nothing for a few – long – minutes and Savage tried to stretch as best he could, his neck ached. Seeming to understand, the Jedi let him move his head for a moment without lowering his vigilance; Savage appreciated that.

"What about his name?"

"If he's an easy person to find, that's all I ask."

"You're not going to believe me."

"Of course I’ll believe you."

"I mean it. You won't believe me."

And now, even without knowing who it was, Savage began to worry. If Maul's old Master – but could he still be his "old" Master if he was still the only one and had not been replaced by Maul? – had hidden himself so well that Jedi would refuse to believe it, then what about the agreement? Maul's good faith was always worth questioning, he was a prickly, cold bastard from whom every scrap of information had to be extracted by dragging him through hours of relentless interrogation, even on a special occasion, several days in a row... however his sincerity meant nothing if he was not believed.

"That bad?"

"Yeah."

The Iridonian's grip on him became tighter: this was really not a good sign for him. In the same way, this was really a shitty day.

"Living or Unifying Force?" Maul finally asked, looking frustrated.

"Living, obviously."

"Hm."

Even to Savage, that sounded approving. Probably because the people Maul hated most were linked to the Unifying Force rather than out of disgust with that aspect of the Force itself.

Then he realised the implication: the other person could see the truth in his words. Empathy was heightened for these particular people, their listening to the Force was just naturally better for it.

Maul seemed willing to take the risk anyway.

"My Sith Master is called Sidious, but you know him as Sheev Palpatine... Chancellor of the Republic and former Senator of Naboo."

"Oh."

"Is that all?" Maul asked mockingly, the little shit.

"Oh shit. Shit."

Then the Jedi pulled out a com without further holding Savage in a painful position and called for someone, eyes still on Maul, looking as if he was wavering between panic and disbelief.

Panic was stronger.

He believed him.

For his part, Savage was just shocked by the revelation but thought nothing of it, apart from the fact that he was worried that such an old man still scared his brother so much. He must have been such a monster.

"Hng?"

"You know, Palpatine?"

"What did that fucking bastard do now? And why does this concern me in the middle of the night?" A hoarse, sleepy voice asked.

"He is the Sith Master."

The silence that fell was unearthly; they may have been outside, but there was not a sound, it was as if the universe was holding its breath.

"... You mean I can kill him?"

Even Maul blinked in surprise at that one. They had not seen it coming. Wait a second, was that really a Jedi on the other end of the line?

"If you can get him to reveal himself by attacking you, I think so."

"... wonderful news, then. I can be a real pain in the ass when I want to be."

"Believe me, I know."

"But wait a second, where the hell did you get this information?"

"From his old Apprentice, the one before Dooku, you know, that Zabrak on Naboo?"

"Well, if I could I'd kiss him."

"I don't think he'd like it."

"You have no idea how little I care. Anyway, I'll go, I've got more important things to do."

"Stopping Palpatine?"

"No, I don't think so. First, I have to go back to sleep, then, when I'm fully operational, I'm going to kill the bastard. Fortunately, Master Yoda is returning to Coruscant later tonight, so I'll tell Koon and Mundi to delay their departure."

"Oh, well, wouldn't it be better to-"

"Good night and thank you again!"

"... Mace? Mace! Never mind. Thank you very much for your cooperation, both of you, but I'd advise you to be discreet while we treat the parasite."

Meanwhile Savage was untied, lifted up and had several patches of Bacta applied to the top of his aching head before he was gently pushed towards his brother who received his lightsaber, generously returned by the Jedi.

They stepped back without turning their backs on him but the Jedi had no such doubt and returned to his ship without hesitation.

"Hey, Koth."

"What is it?"

"Make sure you prevent him communicating with clones while you neutralise him, they're part of his plan to destroy the Jedi."

"How's that?"

But Maul did not answer, so the Iridonian left with a grateful nod, his eyes meeting Savage's one last time.

The next few days were anxious until finally, at the same time as the entire Republic, they learned of the death of Chancellor Palpatine, killed by Jedi Master Mace Windu after battling and defeating other Jedi who had somehow all survived.

"If they were numerous or powerful enough, that makes sense", Maul commented. "They probably managed to get one of them to intervene each time to save the defeated before he had time to finish them off, and Windu's reputation is beyond reproach".

They then lost all interest in official world affairs, apart from Savage's keen interest in a certain Zabrak who had regained his place on the Jedi High Council after his fellow Zabrak, who had replaced him "after Saleucami", resigned. Or so he thought. Because apparently, thinking all the time about a handsome, older, competent Jedi with a subtle sense of humour and a great gentleness was not normal or at least desirable.

Savage did not care, he was quite happy as he was, thank you very much. What exactly was wrong with pining?

Then, on their first anniversary since their fraternal reunion, Maul gave him an exceptional present for his twenty-eighth birthday.

A Jedi, trussed up from his shoulders to his knees – and clearly struggling through it all, given the state of his face, hair and clothes – who was glowering at them.

"There, now sort it out, I'm breaking away from that mess."

A few days later – after Savage released him and let him go home with his contact details, it was worth pointing out – they started dating. A few months later, they were boyfriends. A few years later, they were married and living among Jedi, he and his brother having become a "new generation" of Jedi after a new but welcome rehabilitation programme for them. They were not even the only couple, many other Jedi had pushed for change like this Kiffar who had once been close to Dooku and even had a baby and this Tusken-Twi'lek Jedi couple who actually spent more time doing their own thing than really serving the Republic but eh... the Republic deserved nothing more. Especially as they seemed to be having such a good time making Tatooine their own by hunting down the Hutts. When a political organisation or institution does not deserve devotion, it should come as no surprise that idealistic young people do not devote themselves to it.

Sure, Maul and Kenobi still could not get along because of the old "You killed my Master!" story and the eternal "You cut me in half!" response, but with a Master like Windu as his personal teacher, really, there was nothing to fear for his brother. Savage had got Koon. It was cool, he was nice.

The coolest and nicest of them all was obviously his husband, but as Maul said, there was no need to be unnecessarily sappy.