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You sighed and slumped down the wall of the underground passage. Every part of you ached and you wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right there, but as you closed your eyes the red blades of a double sided lightsaber appeared. It yowled at you in a language you couldn't understand and slammed down right on top of you. Gasping you stood to attention, hand on your blaster even if you couldn't sense anything harmful.
You hadn't been able to sense anything harmful that day either, why start taking chances again?
"Easy. It's just me." Quinlan's voice echoed through the hallway and you relaxed. "Are you alright?"
"Just a recurring vision." You brush off his worry and pull him into a hug which he readily returned. "They've all made it?"
"All of them are on the ship now headed towards Mapuzo. They'll be alright thanks to you." He reassures you but it does little to soothe the unending ache in your heart. You pull away from him and nod frantically.
"Right, I'll go out and find more then. You have my comm and it's encrypted, but I'll change the frequency again in a few hours. Don't respond if—" Quinlan grabs your shoulders and shakes you lightly, stopping a rant that he's heard countless times before over the last year.
"You need a break." You scoff at the insinuation and roll your eyes at your fellow Jedi. Quinlan's hard stare doesn't falter as you do so.
"I don't deserve one." You say plainly. Your expression is blank but you feel a twinge of regret when you watch the man's face fall. It was true though. You hadn't done nearly enough to consider stopping now.
When Quinlan had appeared in your life and told you about the Hidden Path, you had done everything in your power to collect any youngling or force sensitive you could find and guided them all to him. But on days like this, the loss of life that you had let slip through you fingers seemed so much greater than that which you had saved.
During your moping, he reaches to grab your hand and pries the comlink out of it. You barely move.
"Rest. You're wearing yourself thin."But as he speaks he can tell his words don't get through to you. He sighs deeply and reaches up to cup your face, brushing his thumb over your cheek. "With you this tired you wont be any use to anyone, especially yourself."
You nod again, tears falling down your face freely now. With a remorseful look Quinlan sweeps you into a warm embrace and lets you cry quietly for as long as you need.
The cantina was fine as far as cantinas went. It was filled with its usual seedy characters and had seen better days—though that might have been a stretch now that you thought about it—but it provided you with a warm meal and a bed for the night, so you wouldn't complain. You pulled your hood down tighter over your face and nestled farther into the booth, trying to avoid any unwanted attention.
The door of the bar swung open. It was a fairly quiet noise that was easily misplaced in the ruckus within the room, but after months of being on the run you had attuned yourself to little sounds like that. You could never be too aware of your surroundings. But this time you don't even have to look at who walks in, you can feel it.
It was as if the air had been punched out from your lungs, your blood running cold at just the sensation alone. The dark side was suffocating and it grew to envelop the entire room as the cloaked figure entered. The bar grew eerily quieter as they pushed through the crowd.
You raised your spoon to your lips and pretended to eat, even if now the food felt had turned to sand in your mouth. Sitting in the booth your confusion brewed inside you as you tried to better understand their presence.
This was no Inquisitor. With your few encounters with them, you remember the overwhelming fear you felt when dealing with them. Fear for your own life, but also the fear they had for their own. Like caged dogs being forced to fight. There was no fear here, only a sickly hot sense of rage.
Still, it was clear that there was a dark side user here and they were, to put it lightly, pissed. You would take your chances elsewhere tonight. Shutting your eyes you waited for their Force signature to slink away from you while doing your best to conceal your own. When it was far enough away from you, you opened your eyes and readied yourself to leave.
What you hadn't been expecting was for them to be sitting right across from you. Unable to still the terror that flooded your senses your eyes widened as you stared at the man. You couldn't see much of his face but you could make out the red and black lines of his skin and felt your heart stop. No, he was dead, wasn't he?
"Oh, I assure you I'm very much alive." His voice is cool as he speaks to you. It feels like warm water running down your back but you still shiver. You look down hastily and push away from the table, trying to run. Before you can even see it, he reaches over the table and grabs your wrist with a bruising force. The sudden pain shocks you so much you can't move, nor do you dare. He has you now.
"Do you know who I am?" He asks and you let out a shaky breath. However, when you go to speak his name he shushes you.
'Speak.' He says, his words rattling in your skull. Your stomach lurches at just how easily he managed to make his way inside.
'Darth Maul.' It unnerves you how quickly he let you in his own mind and you are not unaware of the connection it now forges between you both.
"Good. Very good. Now, you're going to help me." He releases his grip on your mind but not on your hand. You know that you must be imagining it but it feels like it burns the longer he touches you. Despite your fear, you scoff.
"Why would I do that?"
"It's simple. I'll kill you if you don't." A sense of relief spills over you.
"You think I value my life much more than I do." You yank your hand away from him and he scowls at you. "Kill me, fine. All you'll do is reunite me with the Force faster than I'd anticipated. You on the other hand, lose whatever you need in me and have to waste even more time searching for it again."
Standing to leave you can feel him following close behind you. Good. It was partially true what you had said. There was no death, only the Force. Your own demise meant very little to you but that did not mean that you wanted others to suffer. You didn't know Darth Maul well enough to predict what he would do. Getting him away from the public was your best bet at limiting causalities.
Weaving your way through the streets and crowds you eventually settle on an alleyway that's empty enough for you to stop walking.
"Alright. What do you want?" You rest your hands on your hips, trying to seem bigger than you were. It's also conveniently where your blaster and vibroblade were settled, though you weren't really sure what help they would be in a fight against the Sith Lord.
"You." He responds simply and you frown.
"What?"
"The Force has guided me to you. You are angrier than you let on." He stalks towards you now and you feel your breath hitch in your throat. "Everything taken from you in a single day, wouldn't you like to know who's responsible for your suffering? For their suffering?"
"I'm guessing you know then?" You slide a foot back to try and make room between you both but he just as quickly covets it.
"Oh, yes. He was my master after all." You actually begin to feel sick at his admission.
"Lovely. What a darling little pair the two of you must have made." You joke but the words feel thick in your mouth and there's no humor behind them. Maul hums, seemingly amused and begins to circle you. "I still don't understand how I'm involved in this."
"I will train you. Together we will grow strong enough to defeat him and avenge those who has wrongfully slaughtered. Imagine the peace it would give you. No one would ever bear than pain you and I share ever again." His voice is like silk and you find yourself biting the inside of your cheek to keep yourself focused.
"I don't need a master Maul and there's no way in hell I'd ever be your fucked up version of a Padawan. I'm too old for that kind of manipulation. You should really know your audience better." You glare at him when he passes in front of you again.
"Perhaps not. But do not deny your rage, Jedi. Though, how long has it been since you could last call yourself that?"
It's clearly an attempt to taunt you, really he couldn't have made it more obvious if he tried. You still find yourself regulating your breathing until you've calmed down. Well, as calm as you could be in the proximity of a man who seemed to kill for fun.
"Alright. I'll give you something Maul. You're right. I'm angry." As soon as you finish speaking you flip the vibroblade from your hip into your hands and lunge at him.
He deflects easily, blocking you with a swift sweeping motion of his arm. The sound of his lightsaber activating makes you duck as he swings at you. You feel the heat of the blade just above your head. You twist on your side and kick one of your legs out, making contact with the metal portion of his torso. He stumbles back but isn't winded like you had hoped.
"Force above, how much of you is machine?" You grumble while flipping your vibroblade in your hand. You knew the blade wouldn't stand up to a single hit from the lightsaber so you had to be smart about how you utilized it.
Maul straightens up and enters a stance that you recognize but can hardly remember the name for. Was that one defensive or offensive? Suddenly, the world seems to shift around you as you feel him pull you closer, the instant vertigo making it hard to focus. What you do know is that if you don't act now, you'll be speared on the end of his sword.
Breaking from his hold is hard but you manage to do it with just enough time to dodge. His lightsaber sheers through your cloak and cuts into your side but you pay it no mind. Using the momentum of his pull, you reel back your fist and aim straight for his face. By only a split second is he able to avoid your punch.
The concrete of the wall splinters around your hand and a large crack appears in the foundation of the building. You pull back and shake out the stinging sensation from your now bleeding knuckles. It's quickly replaced by the pulsating, searing pain that emenates from your torso. Gasping you press your uninjured hand to the burn.
Maul stares unblinkingly up at the wall and huffs.
"Finally, something impressive." With a deep roar he charges towards you again. You push your back to the wall and brace yourself. This time when he slashes down at you, you reach up and catch the top hilt of his lightsaber. It helped that it was a ridiculously long build.
You pull the saber closer to you, trying to adjust your own vibroblade in your hand as you did. Maul growls and pushes harder against you. The metal of one of his legs digs painfully into your hip and you hiss.
"Surrender," his calming tone of voice is raspy now, "surrender and I won't kill you here. Together—"
You cut his speech off with a guttural scream of your own. He doesn't flinch but he's clearly surprised by the action the way lessens the pressure against you. It's finally the opening you'd been looking for.
Hooking a leg behind his own, you risk raising your hand that's wrapped around your vibroblade and stab it into his shoulder. He shouts in pain and you twist the blade deeper, knocking him off balance. You fully turn both of your bodies and slam him up against the wall.
"I'd shut off that lightsaber if you enjoy having both arms, Maul." You can barely recognize the words as yourself. He scowls, baring his teeth at you, but does as you say. With the blade between you gone, you shove all of your body weight on top of the knife now and feel him writhe against you.
You pull away and watch him grab for the knife but he's unable to do anything. His body must be too exhausted and he has to be fighting back shock to even stay aware right now. You didn't blame him, you were in a similar state. The muscles in your arms cramped and it hurt to get a full breath in with your side like this, but you couldn't stay here. You weren't going to kid yourself and act like you were a better duelist than Darth Maul of all people, so you ran.
Maybe it was a coward's move. You didn't care. Honor meant little to you nowadays.
There wasn't a single available comlink anywhere for you to contact Quinlan again. You groaned. Really it was your own fault, you shouldn't have let him take yours. When he had earlier you'd just been so exhausted that you hadn't thought anything better of it.
You could probably easily pilfer one from a random passerby but it felt wrong and in all actuality wouldn't get you very far. Too many of them were now programed to work in tandem with the user's chain code and the last thing you needed now was to be arrested for something as minor as petty theft.
No, you would just have to make your way to a past meet up spot and wait. That you could manage at least. You hadn't felt Maul's presence since the alleyway but remained on high alert anyways. If he had managed to get in your head so effortlessly then it wasn't a stretch to believe that he could now search specifically for your Force signature. You weren't sure if you believed him when he said that the Force had guided him to you, but in all fairness you had been focused on not dying at the time so you excused your lack of investigation.
The gaggles of people thinned as you wandered further into the depths of the city and you cloaked yourself well enough to avoid any particularly rough looking individuals. There, underneath a small overpass, you finally sat down. It was too out in the open to risk sleeping but you could meditate to pass the time. Crossing your legs, you began to recite the Jedi Code in your mind, giving yourself into the whims of the Force.
A searing pain shot through you.
If you hadn't been sitting you were sure you would have doubled over from the shock alone. Where was it coming from? You grabbed at your shoulder where the pain seemingly emanated from but there was no sign of injury, nor could you remember anything having happened to you.
Wait. No. It hadn't happened to you per say, but you had definitely been there for a shoulder injury, hadn't you? You shake your head and the pain dissipates but the unease—and also a fair bit of annoyance—does not go away.
"What a vindictive bitch." You mutter as you roll your arm out. Well that was no good. You still couldn't sense him nearby but if he had managed to pull of a stunt like that then you couldn't imagine him to be far away either. Pulling yourself back up again was a struggle but you had to move. If not to be caught by him, then to not reveal a meeting place of the Hidden Path.
A ripple of movement from the corner of your vision caught your attention. You wouldn't have paid it any mind if two stormtroopers weren't chasing after it. You tuck yourself against the wall and cover your face as they grow nearer. Only when the rattling of their plastiod armor was far enough away from you did you even think about breathing again.
"They'll be fine." You whisper to yourself. "You can't save everyone. Let it go."
Before you can stop yourself, you're rushing towards the squabble without a single plan. What you would do when you got there, you weren't quite sure. Killing them seemed a bit dramatic and you weren't a good enough liar to make up an excuse for both you and their target on the spot. You're choices were basically nonexistent, but you kept running anyways.
Something was wrong the second you threw yourself down that alleyway and you knew it.
For starters, the troopers nor their target are here. You pant and try to catch your breath and find it harder to breathe with each inhale. When had it gotten so cold? Why did the air feel like static? And then, there it is. That fear that you had prattled on about earlier fills each and everyone one of your senses.
"Found you." The modulated voice grates on the underside of your skin as it somehow worms its way inside you. You twist your body and grab for your vibroblade—but it's missing. The slip up gives the Inquisitor enough time to unsheathe their lightsaber and swing down. You dodge but you know its ultimately useless. It was a dead end. Grappling with your blaster you aim and fire a few shots, which they deflect with ease.
They throw out a hand you feel the will of the Force shift as it tightens around your neck. You gasp and scratch at your throat, feeling your feet slowly lift off of the ground.
"So, which one are you then? There's like…twenty of you, right? Does that make you Inquisitor number seven?" You wheeze out the words, just able to make out the mask that they were wearing as your vision flickered.
"So funny. So kind. It will almost be a shame to watch you die here." They respond to your barb clearly unbothered.
A swath of red light cuts over you and they drop to the ground, releasing their grip on you. Your body crumples to the ground as you sputter, unable to adjust to the now overabundance of air.
You hear the familiar crash of lightsaber blades against one another and—you hear the what?
Looking up you can't believe what you're seeing. The Inquisitor was now fighting a different Inquisitor, or at least that's what you thought. The malevolent glow from the double sided lightsaber would have been hard to mistake as anyone else. Great, now there was two homicidal maniacs instead of one. Still it gives you an opening to escape and you take it.
Rushing past them both you sprint to the opening of the alley and hide behind the wall, unable to look away from the battle as much as you wanted to. It was like watching a speeder crash.
The Inquisitor that had cornered you before was struggling to keep up with their opponents movements now. Their adversary dealt their blows with such grace that it hardly surprised you when they gained the upper hand. They swung the blade out and a screaming shriek of the plasma against plasma jolted you from your trance.
A sinking feeling grew in your stomach as you watched the blades clash against each other again. You shut your eyes and listened. That sound was too familiar.
You hadn't put much thought into your vision, brushing it off as a nightmare. There were much more pressing things to worry about then your constant fear of being killed by the Empire's dogs. But as the cloaked figure parried again with their lightsaber you could hear the weapon itself scream in a horrifyingly poignant way. A way that you could trace all to easily to your dreams as of late.
You felt your hands grow heavy and your feet became rooted in place. It couldn't be true. There was a million reasons and explanations for how Maul had gotten in to your head and a million more for why he would choose to lie to you. Unfortunately, you didn't have the luxury of weighing out each of those options now. You raise your blaster and fire.
The Inquisitor dropped dead.
"So, you weren't kidding?" You walked closer to him, blaster still raised. Maul pulled down the hood of his cloak and clearly regret the movement, teeth gritting together in pain as soon as he did.
"You will learn I have a very poor sense of humor." He says, shutting off his lightsaber. You don't pay him the same courtesy of disabling your weapon.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Look I haven't decided what I'm gonna do with you yet but we have to get out of here now. With them dead, troopers will be swarming this place in minutes and neither of us are in the proper shape to deal with that."
So what if you two had alleged Force visions about each other? Big deal. There was no time to think about that currently if you wanted to stay alive which—in direct contradiction to your previous statement—you really did.
"By all means, lead the way." Maul bowed slightly.
"There's a space port nearby, come on." You wouldn't be able to tell Quinlan where you had gone but that would be fine. As soon as you got rid of Maul at whatever planet the two of you landed on you'd find a way to contact him.
"You have a ship?" He asks.
"Not exactly."
Hiding behind a wall of shipping crates the two of you watch the band of Stormtroopers walk past. Clearly you had been too generous with your original estimate of when they would arrive. It looked like a whole Star Destroyer fleet had been deployed in the time it took from you to get from the backstreets to here.
"There's too many. We can't get through them without being seen." You murmured, trying to look for a opening as they made their rounds but having no such luck deciphering one.
"So we will forge our own path." Maul moves to stand and your already hastily pulling him down by his collar.
"Are you insane?" You hiss and his bares his teeth at you in a perfect mirror of your own disgruntled expression. "You're injured and I only have a blaster! There is no galaxy in which we survive a 'guns blazing' approach."
"You are wrong."
"Really? I fail to—"
"You have more than a blaster, Jedi."
His words shock you into silence. Brushing your hand over your hip, you feel the sturdy hilt of your own lightsaber resting dutifully against it.
"I…" The longer you hesitate to speak the more shame fills you. Maul's gaze burns as he looks at you with barely concealed contempt.
"Hiding has made you craven. You've already allowed them to take from you what is most important."
"Oh and what would that be? Please, enlighten me." The words come out with no lack of acerbity.
"Your own identity." He lays out the truth too easily. It's nearly too much and you weren't sure when you started breathing so hard or when your throat had become so tight. Shaking your head you unsheathe your lightsaber and stand.
"You know nothing about me. Don't talk to me like you do. Unless you'd prefer another wound on your shoulder to match." Maul says nothing at your threat but you can feel the flicker of triumph from him through the Force and you shudder.
Staring out into the veritable field of ships, you point at one of them and nod.
"The EML 850?" Maul moves closer to see what exactly you were looking at. You frown and shrug.
"Is that the one that looks like a really shiny box? If so, yes."
"You don't know the classifications of ships?" He sounds appalled when he asks. You honestly had never paid much mind to that sort of thing when you had been employed by the temple but suddenly you were starting to wish you had, if only to avoid his further judgment of your character.
"I can't fly them either." You admit sheepishly. Well, okay you probably could figure it out but not without severely damaging the integrity of the hull. "Still glad you sought me out?"
"You deem me to be dishonest." Maul replies in a hushed voice now. If it had been anyone else you might have felt guilty for the doubt you regarded him with but one look into those golden eyes and it was quickly forgotten.
"Of course I do. You know, if you really want this to work you should stop expecting me to be an idiot." Sighing, you lean against the crate and shut your eyes. The vision doesn't appear but the unintelligible howls return all the same and you gasp. Looking back at him you saw the very blade that had been haunting you now alight.
"Say what you wish. In fact, believe what you wish just as well. The truth always has a way of making itself known." He stalks towards you and you steel yourself, readying yourself for a fight. He doesn't even spare you a glance as he throws himself into the ship yard.
The sound of blaster fire is instantaneous and it has you fumbling for the ignition switch of your lightsaber. A pang goes through you. Something that used to be so second nature, discarded as soon as it was of no use to you. The body of a stormtrooper crumpling to the ground frightens you out of your self disgust.
Blocking a barrage of blaster fire you push yourself through the tarmac, following Maul's lead. Truth be told you hadn't really kept up with your lightsaber training after the fall of the order and it was painfully apparent when you compared your forms to his. Alright, well if they had already seen your lightsabers it wasn't far off that they knew what you were or suspected at least which meant that using the Force wasn't off the table.
Using the Force to jump back, you throw out your hands and imagine grabbing two of the ships on the runway. The phantom touch of cold metal glides under your palms. Slamming your hands together the creaking sound of them breaking off of their supports is deafening. Their hulls grind into the pavement and you have to strain your arms to pull them together. A few of the troopers manage to avoid your temporary blockade either by way of rushing forward or staying behind but you can feel the loss of life from the unfortunate few that don't make it through.
Slumping over you realize too late that you over estimated your abilities. Those behind the ships wouldn't be able to get through but for the ones that had, you were now too exhausted to fight back against properly. A whirlwind of red appears in front of you, blocking any of the attacks that the stormtroopers try to carry out.
Gawking up at Maul—who honestly, despite everything that had happened in the last few minutes, you had forgotten about entirely—you watch him deflect their fire with ease. This was now the second time tonight he had saved your life and you did not like how much you were starting to owe him.
'Get to the ship and start it. I will meet you there.' Maul spoke in your mind without looking back. You were also starting to hate that. There was a lot to dislike about Maul apparently, who could have guessed?
The access panel to remove the supports from the EML 850 was locked and was requesting some sort of access code from you. There was no time for that. With your lightsaber you sheered the panel from its podium and watched the ship's doors open. In the back of your mind you hoped that the owner had insurance. Then you thought even further back to the two ships you had just forcibly made into a barricade and settled on hoping everyone had insurance and felt a little guilty for the insurance broker who would have to deal with all of this in the morning.
Luckily the layout of the ship is straight forward enough and you're able to find the cockpit with ease. You grimace when you see the control panel full of blinking buttons and switches. Would it be a gross misuse of the Force to call upon it to tell which one of these damn things actually turned the ship on? Probably. You did so anyway since you preferred the idea of not dying tonight.
Slamming down your hand on a few of the flashing lights the ship whirred to life and you let out a startled laugh. Glancing out of the windows you saw Maul, still engaged in combat. You could technically leave now. Inputting coordinates to a safe house wouldn't be hard and this thing had to have autopilot on it somewhere. There was no reason to stay.
Throwing yourself into the pilot's seat you navigate through screens trying to find the controls for the laser turret you had seen mounted atop the ship. A small holo pannel lights up with schematics. You yank the yoke of the ship to the side and aim in what you hope is the proper direction.
The explosion is instantaneous. Shielding your eyes from the blast you can't see what happens to Maul. As soon as the smoke subsides you press yourself to the glass trying to see what your little stunt had managed and you gape when you see the sizable crater in the runway.
"That was a poor attempt at killing me." Maul's voice emanates from behind you and you jump, slamming your head into the roof of the cockpit.
"I wasn't trying to kill you!" You groan, rubbing the top of your head. "I was trying to save you!"
He regards with a look of disbelief and rolls his eyes, shoving you out of the way and taking your spot in the pilot's seat. He begins to press buttons and pull levers you weren't aware of on the ship's control pannel and it begins to sway as it takes off from the ground. Scrambling for purchase along the walls you throw yourself into the co-pilot's chair and strap yourself in.
"Do you even have a destination in mind?" You shout over the roaring engines of the ship.
"One that's away from here."
"Maker help us."
The ship keens under the attacks from the heavy artillery that the Imperials have now taken aim at you with. You really hoped this thing wasn't here for maintenance and was in top working order, or at least that it's shields were fully in tact.
It's a surprisingly fast ship for its size—or maybe it was just your adrenaline that was making everything move by so quickly—and Maul manages to pull you out of the atmosphere and into the stars in what must be a record time for some pilots. It makes you a little dizzy but you refuse to show any sign of discomfort around him.
He punches in some coordinates into the nav computer and the blinding lights of stars blur past you as you enter hyperspace. You unclench your hands from the straps of your seat and your fingers ache from how tightly you'd been holding on. There was of course some palpable relief from escaping Imperial clutches, but now you were trapped inside a very small metal box with a man who practiced the same ideology as your sworn enemies. You really knew how to pick your battles.
"You did wait for me. Why?" Maul's voice wakes you up only slightly from your post-adrenaline slump. Sighing, you rub at your temples and rest your head in your palms.
"Couldn't fly the ship without you."
"I do not believe in your claims of inadequacy when it comes to—" Maul is cut off by you hitting the wall of the ship with your fist.
"Ugh, fine! It would have been rude!" Standing now you leave the cockpit in search of the crew's quarters. Much to your dismay you hear Maul follow after you.
"You were worried about appearing rude?"
"Yes."
"Even though earlier tonight you stabbed me in the shoulder and left me pinned to wall with your blade?" Your ears grow hot at the clear contradiction in your values and you spin on your heel to yell some obscenity at him, only stopping when you see him holding your vibroblade out to you. Tilting his head he gestures for you to take it when you hesitate and it only amplifies your embarrassment. If Maul notices he does not say anything and that only makes it worse. Mumbling a quiet 'thank you' you continue your search.
You never thought you would be so happy to see a military grade bunk in your life. You lie down on the plastic sheets and drag your hands down your face, some part of you hoping this was just a really elaborate alcohol induced dream never mind the fact that you hadn't had a single drop earlier at the cantina. You peak at Maul through your fingers and wince.
A really, really elaborate dream.