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Maul had not forgotten the glaring heat of Tatooine, how it burned his skin and made his throat parched more than ever before. But he liked it, it gave him a challenge, a challenge of survival which he knew all too well how to win.
He remembered when he first stepped on the planet, hunting down the Queen and Jedi to help his masters plan, only to be defeated by a mere padawan, and despite the joy of killing his Master before his eyes, Maul will always remember how Kenobi swung his sabre and his body falling down the shoot – only to be found years later.
So much has happened yet Maul continued to strive and survive, he was once at the top of power, and now look at him, dragging himself across the forsaken desert to finally bring demise to his old enemy.
It’s what kept him going through the steep and hot sand, the sun glaring on every part of his body, ignoring his parched throat, and when the sun started to go down a part of him was thankful – a weakness he needed to get rid of.
More animals roamed at night, snaking through the sand like water and silent like a mouse, if not for his enhanced hearing and instincts he would have been killed hours ago. He fought them off easily despite his fatigue and carried on. The metal of his legs beginning to spasms from the grains of salt seeping in the joints that had not be cared for in a long time. He could feel them ache and his body was shouting for rest, but he couldn’t, not until he finally killed Kenobi.
The night carried on as the sun disappeared for the dark hours, and Maul allowed himself to be thankful for the cold air that didn’t burn his skin through his clothing, but he kept walking. He won’t allow himself to rest until Kenobi is finally gone by his hands.
He grunts as he trudges along the piles of sand, his metal legs slowing down from the small damage. He doesn’t have anything to fix them, and he scowls at his stupidity. Using his saber to help drag him along, Maul only gets a little far before his head starts to feel light.
No, he can’t stop here, not when he’s so close!
He pushes against his body’s wishes and continues on, but it only gets worse, and in within a few moments his body collapses.
He tries to fight it but his body has made its choice. His eyes begin twitching, his vision fading softly.
He screams in his mind as his world fades to black.
There’s something cold and damp on his forehead when he gains consciousness, the fabric giving relief to his body’s hot temperature and hurting head. There’s also a breeze on his chest, only for him to realise that his clothing has been removed. He waits until he’s fully conscious to open his eyes and see’s rock high above him and recognises that his body is on something soft.
Someone’s here – he had been found and taken to this person’s place. He doesn’t believe that he is they’re captive as there are no bounds on his body, but he reaches out in the Force to get a sense of them.
They have the Force – so, a challenger. He reaches further and is confused that he is being let in, if he did not sense the power within them, he would think of them as foolish.
But they’re signature…it’s familiar-
“Awake yet?”
His eyes widen – they’re signature in the Force, and that voice…
He sits up far too quickly, his vision hazing for a couple of seconds before it cleared again.
“Careful. I only found you a couple of hours ago knocked out. You need food and water to help,”
There was no mistaking that voice. He doesn’t need to reach into the Force anymore to know who took him.
“You’re still alive then, Lady Tano.”
He turns to her – yes there’s no mistaking that appearance; the blue eyes, orange skin with white markings, her long blue and white montrals. It’s like she transported from Malachor to here within seconds.
The corner of her lips tug. “Can’t say I’m surprise those are the first words to come out of your mouth, especially after I saved your life.”
“I was fine!” He hisses at her. Talking as if his life was in peril, she would love that.
“If you count as wearing full on black clothing in the sun which caused you to faint, with also the lack of food, water and rest then yes Maul, you were fine. The peak of health actually.”
His lips grimace, out of all the people to find him, why did it have to be someone like Tano.
She turns her back to him, annoying him even further that she is taking advantage of his state to show him that she isn’t bothered by him in the slightest. She reaches into a bag and pulls out a bottle, unscrews the lid and hands it to him. “Here, drink. You need it.”
“Do not tell me what I need.” But he takes it anyway, snatching it out of her hand and looking away as he drinks. The water is cold and fresh, and his body is crying with joy as he drinks it. He doesn’t bother to be courteous, drinking as much as he wanted. It was basically her fault, if she wants to help him then she has to deal with him drinking all of her water.
It was practically empty when he hands it back to her.
“Looks like you needed that.” He can hear her smirk and the rustling of her putting it away.
“Enough of this.” He pushes himself up to stand, but too quickly his body falters, and he’s falling again.
Strong hands stop his fall. “Hey, take it easy Maul. Your body still needs rest.”
He growls and pushes her hands off as if they were something horrid. “Do not touch me.”
“Fine, I won’t.” She stands above up, once again showing her advantage of the situation. “But I’ll give you food to eat.”
“My body is half metal remember.” His voice snaps back – honestly, he’s positive she’s saying these things to rub in they’re differences.
She comes back into view before he could turn away, the object in her hand shocks him.
“A shake?”
“Can’t find a lot of good food around here,” Tano shrugs, her lips still tugged. “But you can have this, right?”
Maul stares at it, his immediate response to slap it away now gone. So long he had trudged in the sand without food and water, and even if it is an enemy offering, he can’t say no and deny his needs any longer.
He snatches it out of her hands, rips it open and quickly drinks it. Before he knows it it’s all gone, but Tano gives him another one and he devours it the same. It continues until the fifth shake and Maul once again doesn’t feel guilty of consuming Tano’s needs for survival in this wasteland.
He expects her to say something, another quip or sarcastic comment, but to his surprise she is silent.
Oh well, better for him.
It’s only then he notices the fire before them, bright and very warm. Not far is a pack of logs ready to fuel it once it begins to deflate. He’s forgotten how long it’s been since he’s been warm, he had been trained not to seek such comforts from a young age.
He doesn’t listen to the old man’s teachings anymore – screw him.
The silent is long before Tano speaks again.
“I know why you’re here,”
Ah, of course. “Let me guess, you came here to stop me,”
“No,” She shakes her head, “I was here before you even stepped foot on Tatooine” and pokes the fire with the stick, increasing the flames. “I wanted to talk,”
“Talk? You came out here to me to talk?” Maul scoffs “Useless. You will not change my mind, Lady Tano,”
“And why’s that?”
He turns to her angrily. “You know why.”
“Ah,” She signs. “Because you are too stubborn to listen to reason, like a little child.”
“Insolent brat!” He goes for her, but Tano easily swats his arm and pushes him back - not hard, just enough to make him go back on his hands. He growls at her. “Your ignorance knows no bounds!”
“Looks like we have that in common as well,” She comments, eyes downcast at the fire, and Maul takes a moment. He can see much more than the flames that mirror in her eyes, just as he clearly noticed the low tremble in her voice when she spoke just now. He takes her in; the slouch posture she shits in before the fire, the bags under her tired eyes and the tatters and rips in her clothing – she doesn’t stop him from diving deep into her signature where he feels enormous amounts of guilt and shame.
“Well, would you look at that. The mighty Lady Tano has lowered herself to a rat.”
He liked it indeed and he won’t bother hiding it. Why should he? He told all the years back on Mandalore what would happen, she chose not to listen to him and put the galaxy in the state where it was today.
She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “It’s sweet that you think of me as mighty, Maul.”
“You used to be. You used to hold such power, a worthy opponent for many, including myself. Now look at you – scrabbling in the dessert, hiding from people you could have easily defeated, alone because everyone you had known is now dead, and it’s your fault,”
Tano stayed silent, taking his words in, most likely believing in them and feeling guilty even more.
But Maul wouldn’t stop there. “If you had joined me then none of this would have happened. Skywalker wouldn’t have joined the dark side, my Master would have been dead while all of yours would have lived. The galaxy would have been in peace, instead it’s in one of its worst states ever. You and others are in hiding when you could have been safe out in the open.”
He pushes himself closer to her, his breath hitting her montrals. “It is all your fault Ahsoka Tano, and now you must live with that fact, until your dying breath.”
And he waits – he waits for her to yell at him, to say that he’s wrong. He waits for the tears and for her to launch herself, eager to harm him. He may not be in his best state, but he can do some harm. Besides, she still holds her irritative Jedi ways despite being casted out.
“Thank you, Maul.”
He blanks. Where are her screams and tears? She doesn’t look at him in anger or wanting to strangle him – no, instead she looks at him with –
Relief?
He doesn’t say anything – he can’t because – dare he say it, he’s shocked.
“Surprised?” Her smirk is small and her eyes are not as bright as they used to be, from what he can remember. “Truth be told, I’ve always blamed myself. Ever since you went off and Rex and I managed to escape, I always knew that if things had gone differently – if I had done things differently, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. The galaxy wouldn’t be what it is now, the Jedi could still alive…and Anakin might not have turned to the Dark side.” Her voice was quiet and still, her eyes casted somewhere in the fire. “People told me so many times that It wasn’t my fault, that I shouldn’t blame myself. Even those who I was closes to, who I told them what you told me, they still said that I shouldn’t blame myself and move on…But I never could. So,” Then she turns to him, a small smile on her plum lips and a small light in her eyes. “Thank you Maul, for finally proving that it was my fault. I feel like now I can move on and start something new.”
This…This is not what he imagined, what he pictured –
What he wanted.
He laughs bitterly. “I was foolish to think that after all these years, you would have gotten a little stronger, but I see you’ve become a fool and weak, just like your precious Jedi.”
“It is not weak to know you’ve made mistakes, to accept and live with them. It’s part of life and doing so makes you stronger.” Tano looks at him like one would approaching a Rancor; slowly and carefully to not scare it. “Perhaps it is something you should to.”
“Me?” Maul is taken back by her words. “What can you possible mean by that?”
Tano sighs, shoulders tense. “I mean, Maul, that maybe it’s time to look back and realise that this whole thing between you and Obi-Wan… it wasn’t just him. You started it and you’re putting all the blame on Obi-Wan instead of yourself.”
It was if time had frozen; it was still night, the fire still burning and Tano having the same expression, but in the distant the sand swayed with the wind, birds screeched and there was the faint sound of ship engines flying in the sky.
“How dare you…” Blood rushed through his veins hot, his hearts beating so loudly it was almost deafening. “You excuse him!”
Tano signs again, tiredly, but Maul doesn’t care. “He tried to kill me, Lady Tano. Your precious Master Kenobi. It is because of him that I was left, alone and discarded by my Master!”
“Maul-“
“Silence!” He snarls, teeth bared ready to attack. Tano knows he will, he can see it in her eyes. “I should be by my Master’s side, taking in all the glory of what we accomplished. Instead he left me and got that fool Dooku, and now he was Skywalker – the place he stands is rightfully mine!” He stands, ignoring all the pain and dizziness. “I should be in the form of luxury, waiting on and respected. Now look at me…wandering around this-“He kicks the sand. “-pitiful dessert, dragging myself in this sand to crush my old enemy, fifteen years later…”
He breaths heavily, shoulders tense and hands clenched into fists. His anger so hot that it’s burning, but the affect has faded, and when the pain shoots up again, Maul crumples to his knees. He breaths deeply, trying to use the pain to his advantage – to let it fuel him like he has so many times before.
But it never comes. Instead it’s Tano’s hands on him, steadying him again. He doesn’t even have the strength to bat her away.
Silently she gives him another shake which he takes without a thanks. This time he sips it slowly, his breathing slowly down.
“You see Maul?” Her voice is quiet – soft even. “It’s not just Obi-wan that hurt you, it’s Sidious as well,”
“I know that,” He snaps back, his voice was quieter this time. “I tried to kill him but he was too powerful, I thought I had risen in my ranks of power…but I miscalculated, and because of that Savage died.”
“I’m sorry,” She says with sorrow, and Maul looks up at to find her looking upset. “I know what it’s like to lose someone to love because of him,”
Ah – Skywalker.
It doesn’t take a genius to know – the way she talked about him, the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice – the way she fiercely defended him back on Mandalore.
She cared about him greatly.
“We’re you lovers, Lady Tano? You and Skywalker?”
She makes the most disgusted face he had ever seen, and he was so tempted to laugh.
“Force no, the amount of people who actually thought that…” She shakes her head. “He was my brother,”
“That is why you were so protective of him, back on Mandalore?”
“Yes,” She nods her head. “Anakin – the one I knew, would never do the things you said for him to do, and the things I found out later on.”
Maul hums. “People change, Lady Tano. Especially when the Dark side is involved,”
She scoffs. “Oh I know that personally,”
Maul lifts a brow, his voice full of curiosity. “Care to tell?”
The corner of her lips tug, and he’s reminded of their little reunion on Mandalore, the way she smirked at him as she stood on those steps before him, before that Caleb threw him off a cliff. “That’s a story for another time.”
“You assume we will meet again? Even after I slay Kenobi?” Maul then grins. “Would you come to me for revenge for him?”
“That’s if you kill him,” She quips as she stands, dusting off her clothes before reaching into her bag and pulling out a blanket and chucks it at him. “Here, it gets cold at night. Luckily this cave blocks out the sandstorms and doesn’t get as cold, but you still need to cover up,”
Maul stares at the blanket in distaste. “I do not need such a thing,”
“Suit yourself,” Tano shrugs. “Just don’t cuddle up to me when you need some warmth,”
Maul scoffs. “Do not be idiotic Lady Tano, my body produces more warmth than most species. If anything it will be you who will be cuddling up to me,”
“You’d like that too much,” She smirks.
He scoffs again and rolls his eyes, such foolishness she has. “And what makes you think I’m staying here? I am fully rested now and can survive another night out there,”
“Because you aren’t fully rested and because it’s almost night and I’m very tired, so I don’t want to drag myself out of bed to find you and patch you up again,”
Maul snarls because he knows that she’s right, if he went out there now and encountered something…he probably won’t survive and might pass pit again. “Fine,” He grits out. “But only this one night,”
“Of course,” She smirks at him, her eyes lit up with amusement.
As soon as he gets his strength back, he’s gonna wipe it off her.
He watches as she lays on the flimsy fabric on the ground, a useless attempt to make the ground a bit softer to sleep on and pulls a blanket over her. Her arms tucked under her face that gets a golden hue from the fire, her eyes closed.
“Are you really going to sleep while I’m awake, knowing I could kill you so easily?”
Tano sighs. “Goodnight, Maul.”
He gave a hiss and glares at her – how utterly foolish to sleep while he’s there, wide awake and knowing he could kill her.
He watches her, the way her body relaxes and her breathing evens. How her signature in the Force slumbers but is still warm and bright – such a thing is abstract to him. He had has met Jedi and felt their bright signatures in the Force but none, not even Kenobi’s came even close to Tano’s.
Maul shrugged it off. He didn’t care, as soon as he was rested, he would set off and find Kenobi and kill him. He’ll torture him before however, about his beloved Satine and his apprentice – how he failed them both and make him as miserable as possible. Perhaps he should bring up Tano, yes, maybe kill her and deepen the pain and sorrow – make Kenobi as pitiful as he can be before delivering the final blow.
He looks back on Tano’s sleeping form, and now that he thinks about it, has he really ever thought of killing her before? On Mandalore he wanted her by his side, on the Republic cruiser he left her to die, then on Malachor…he didn’t know. Tano was strange, he couldn’t really point her on being his enemy for some reason, her whole presence confused him.
It’s the first time he’s seen her calm, no tense shoulders or hands waiting for their lightsabers, no furrow between her brows. But her tiredness showed easily, and not just because of the soft snores.
Maul signs and lays down, his mind chaotic as always so sleep didn’t come easy.
He slowly drifts, his eyes never leaving Tano’s form.
It’s early when he wakes, the suns just rising, filling the sky with shades of red and orange. Tano is already up, her sleeping essentials put away, in her bag he assumes.
“Morning sleeping beauty,” She grins at him, and he really wants to wipe it off. “Had a good sleep?”
Why do you care He wants to bite back, but he just gives her a mumble and sits up, letting the blanket roll down his body.
Fuck, it’s warm already.
“This is the last of the water,” She hands him a bottle which he shakes. There’s not a lot left. “I’m going to head out and get some more, along with food.”
“The nearest town is miles out, Tano. Are you really going to go that far and leave me here?”
“I’m going hunting silly,” She rolls her eyes. “If you want to be in my company that badly then come with me, unless you want to brood all by yourself,”
Maul snarls, he much more preferred her silent and quiet voice more than her grins and teasing. “I am not a child,”
“Then you’ll be alright by yourself?”
“I asked because of what I can do once you leave me.”
“And what will that be?” She asks, putting a hand on her hip.
“Destroying your things, taking your ship and leaving you stranded here. Maybe the Tusken’s will find you,”
There’s a flash in her eyes at the mention of the locals, but she speaks before he can think on it.
“You’ll only prove yourself more of a child. I don’t have a ship here so feel free to look around, don’t wait up for me if you find one.” She walks out of the cave, her steps heavy and voice bitter.
So she gets angry at the Tusken’s then? Interesting. Maul wonders what could cause her to have anger with them, even if they looted her, she wouldn’t hold a grudge over it, so something big mist have happened.
But what?
Glancing over where she slept, he saw her bag not even tied up.
He grins.
“Foolish once more, Tano,” He says as he crawls over and opens her bag – really, if she didn’t want him snooping through her things then she shouldn’t have left it behind, unclosed none the less. He pulls out everything, even shaking it upside down to make sure that it’s empty. He pushes the fabrics she used to sleep on the night before aside, there’s two more shakes which he places by his side to use later.
A pack of bacta patches which will be very useful and puts them with the shakes.
There are two books but they look different from the other. One is leather bound, a bit wider with a strap around it. The other a small brown with tattered pages at the side, looking very much used.
Maul opens the leather bound one first and is confused by what he sees.
“Drawings…” The pages he flicks through has a drawing on, or small pieces on one single page. There are some people he easily identifies, such as the Clones, a few Jedi Masters he has seen on the holopics, and of course her Masters, Kenobi and Skywalker. However, there is something about them that is all the same.
All of them are happy.
Maul snarls, even seeing a drawing of his enemy makes his blood boil, especially with that smile, and having people around him who like him. Even Skywalker, who has fallen to the Dark had so many people around him with smiles and happiness.
Ironic, Maul thinks, that Skywalker becomes the thing they fear the most.
He turns more pages to find less of the Jedi and the Clones, it turns into scenery – all kinds of flowers and planets, even some animals, the most common a Convor. But this Convor is different from the ones he’s seen, it’s more elegant looking especially with its green and white colour scheme. It tells Maul that it isn’t an ordinary Convor, but something more. When he turns onto the page he sees a Gargoyle – black with red markings – he’s seen it before.
The Fanged God.
The incarnation of the Dark side, so why does Tano have a drawing of him?
Maul stares at it confused, he doesn’t sense the Dark side in Tano. Maybe she’s covering it up? A powerful move to make, but he wouldn’t put it past her to be able to do it.
Maul puts the book down, staying open of the drawing of the Fanged God and moves onto the other book.
As soon as he opens it, he see’s writing, it’s a little messy but still easy to read. The first page contains of Tatooine, the uses of Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan surprise him, the passage of writing a decade and more yet still in good condition.
It mentions a Mother and Maul refrains of thinking of his own and continues. The writer is a slave on Tatooine with his Mother, and Qui-Gon Jinn and Kenobi had come to them for help. Maul eyes dance over the page, looking for any sort of important information.
‘Master Qui-Gonn told me that I was The Chosen One, I didn’t know what that meant till they told me. Apparently, I’m supposed to bring balance to the Force, they said that I’m supposed to destroy the Sith for that to happen, but I don’t believe in it. How can I be The Chosen One?’
Maul’s blood stills.
The author was with Qui-Gon Jinn and Kenobi on Tatooine, the young boy he almost ran over.
This was Skywalker’s journal.
Maul couldn’t help but laugh. It made sense that Tano had it with her, but she made a mistake leaving it with him. Now he’ll know everything about her previous Master that she loved so dearly.
And he learns so much; about how Skywalker never felt like he fitted it with the Temple and his disagreements with precious Kenobi. There’s more of his younger times in the Jedi Temple that bored the Zabrak, so he skims the pages for anything interesting.
‘I’ve been having dreams about my Mother, terrible dreams. I feel her in pain and crying out my name. I’ve told Master Obi-Wan numerous times so we can go and see her, but Master forbids me to, saying my duty is to the Jedi now. I know I made a commitment to the Jedi, but my Mother comes first, I want to help her but I can’t. I’m not supposed to hate, but I hate that I can’t do anything except sit here.’
‘I told Senator Amidala about the dreams I have of my Mother, she wanted me to go so sued my mission of protecting her to travel to Tatooine. Watto had sold Mother to a farmer, but when we travelled, she wasn’t there, they told me she was taken by Tusken Raiders.’
“Oh?” Now it was starting to get interesting.
‘I sped there as fast as I could…but I was too late…I had her in my arms, she said she called for me and knew I would come. It was then I knew that it wasn’t dreams I was having, but visions. Mother dies in my arms, not be able to finish saying she loved me.
I got angry, my Mother was an innocent woman and the Tusken Raiders took her and killed her, she didn’t deserve any of this. There was so much anger that I killed every Tusken Raiser there – all of them. I just felt so much anger that I couldn’t stop myself.’
“Very interesting,” Maul grins. So Skywalker showed promise to the Dark side all those years ago, Maul wondered if Tano ever saw him angry, but their previous conversation proved to him that she must have never seen him like this. Perhaps Skywalker had gotten better at handling his emotions around her, or maybe she did see things and didn’t want to admit it.
‘I never told anyone other than Senator Amidala, if Master Obi-Wan knew then he would tell the Council and I would be expelled. I can’t leave the Jedi Order, I owe it to Master Qui-Gon and my Mother to stay here, they had given up their lives for me to be a Jedi. I can’t leave, where else would I go? Chancelor Palpatine found out but promised to keep it a secret. I can always trust him to help me, he’s never let me down.’
Maul frowns, in Skywalker’s earlier texts he talks about having time with Palpatine, even taking him to a bar at a young age, but Maul isn’t surprised by that. It seems like Skywalker had a close relationship with his old Master where he would find comfort in him, instead of Kenobi and the Jedi.
It doesn’t surprise Maul that Sidious had been manipulating Skywalker from a young age, he was too.
A sense of familiarity came to Maul when reading through Skywalker’s journal, the two of them haven’t had much of a different life.
No – he will not think of such things. Him and Skywalker the same? Maul barks a laugh.
“Find something funny?” Tano’s voice echoes through the cave. Maul didn’t even sense her, too occupied with his findings.
Maul turns to her, Skywalkers journal obvious in his hands. “Very,” He grins.
Tano frowns. “I expect you to find such a thing when reading something full of sorrow,”
She’s not angry at him going through her things – but he knows how to make her.
“You don’t like the Tusken Raiders because with what happened to Skywalker’s mother, do you?”
Tano’s body tenses, her hand that holds a bag over her shoulder clenches and there’s that same flash in her eyes that he saw before.
Anger.
But Tano signs and her body relaxes, she walks towards him and sets the bag down, revealing bare meat. She says nothing as she makes the fire and sticks the pieces of meat on a two sticks and places them above the fire, letting them cook.
“It was years ago,” She says as she sits down, her eyes on the fire. “I wasn’t even there, but I feel angry for him. His Mother was innocent, and they did that to her…” Ahsoka shakes her head. “It seems no matter what, innocent lives are always taken somewhere,”
Savage comes to his mind, the man who did nothing wrong – but perhaps following him was the mistake Savage made, for it got him killed.
“Anything else interesting you found?” Her voice is more neutral now, no feelings sensed when she spoke.
“Why do you have a drawing of the Fanged God?” He asks. He forgets his plan to make her angry to fulfil his own curiosity.
Tano clicks her tongue. “Well, because I met him.”
Mauls eyes widen. “You met the Fanged God himself?”
“And the Father and Daughter, which you might know as the Winged Goddess. I met them on Mortis during the Clone Wars. It was all so weird.”
“What happened?”
“A lot of things.” Her eyes drift off, a longing inside that was so clear and transparent. It seems with all her training, Tano still couldn’t mask her feelings.” But like I said before,” Her trance now gone and she gives him a short smile “a story for another time.”
It was obvious something happened on Mortis, but it doesn’t seem like Tano will tell him any time soon. A shame really, but he could try and get it out of her later if he played his cards right.
Tano reaches inside her bag and pulls out a little white box, that once opened Maul sees was a sewing kit. He watches as she picks up his black shirt with an attached hood. “You need to take care of your clothes as well, look at all the holes in this thing.”
Maul raises a brow. “I am not one for fashion, Lady Tano,”
“Clearly,” She scoffs. “I don’t know what you were thinking back on Mandalore showing your chest, it wasn’t safe.”
Maul rolls his eyes. “Spare me your advice Tano, apply it to yourself,”
Tano looks at him, a look of disbelief in her eyes. “Are you calling me ugly, Maul?”
“I never said that,”
“So I’m pretty?”
Maul groans. “You definitely have Kenobi’s annoyance.”
“I thought I had his arrogance,”
Maul glares. “Is his linage destined to annoy me?”
Tano hums. “I’ll probably end with me since I don’t have anyone to train, so I guess you’re stuck with me for a long time.”
Maul grimaces. Spending more time with Tano – with all of her annoyance, arrogance and insolence? He rather fight a Rancor.
A silence hung over them, the breeze that brushed against the sand and the threading of Tano’s sewing that only noise in the cave. It was rather…. comfortable, which Maul found strange.
“Why do you call me Lady Tano?” Tano broke the silence. He looks at her – her eyes filled with curiosity and eagerly wating for an answer. “You’ve always called me that and I’ll like to know why,”
He could lie and say it’s a taunt, to let her know that she’s not a Jedi anymore, but that wouldn’t get a rile out of her – nothing would except from the Tusken Raiders, but that had no link.
He also felt himself not wanting to lie about it, again – strange. Before he knew it, the truth came out. “It is a sign of respect.”
Tano blinks. “But you hate me.”
“That does not mean that I cannot respect you. You proved yourself a worthy fighter in the times we have duelled. We may not be allies, Lady Tano, but in some ways, you will have my respect – something not many people have and won’t. You are more than them.”
Fuck – he blabbered on. He never meant to say anything beyond giving the title of respect, but his mouth had to say more, like always.
Tano is stunned, her eyes slightly wide, and lips just apart. There seems to be a bit of darkness to her cheeks – but then she smiles, one much different to the others he has seen. It looks more…
Happier?
“Thank you,” She says after a moment. “I also respect you as well Maul, but I’m not calling you Lord,”
Maul hums. “Now that would be nice.”
Tano scoffs but the smile stays, Maul finds it strange to see her lips that way – a smirk was normal, a snarl and a bit of the lip of anger – those were the norm, but this happy smile? It’s very strange, he can’t even recall seeing someone with that look on their face.
Even Savage.
“There, all done!” Tano’s voice is cheerful as she drops her sewing needle and holding up Maul’s jacket. “All the holes are all stitched up good,” She hands it to him as she packs her equipment away.
Maul looks for and traces the now stitched up holes, brushing his fingers against them. Tano has stitched them well he’ll give her that, without light it wouldn’t have looked like it had been stitched up at all. “When did you learn how to sew?”
“During the Clone Wars,” Tano replies. “Master Plo had a hobby for it so he taught me a few thing, along with some others,”
Maul blinks. “Are you talking about Jedi Master Plo Koon?”
Tano nods. “Yes, did you do some research on him?”
“I did actually. I watched many of his battles and analysed them when I was my Master’s apprentice. He was a good fighter, I wanted to duel him.”
“He was a good fighter,” Tano admitted. “But he was also very kind and gentle, he didn’t like killing and respected the ways of life.”
“I heard that he could do Force Lightning, not very Jedi-like and gentle, is it?” Maul smirks, once again trying to get under her skin. Tano just sighs.
“It was different than that, it was yellow and it had no light or dark to it. The Council called it ‘Electric Judgement’.”
Maul rolls his eyes. “Of course they would, they fear everything from the dark side and try to sway it onto the light of their own personal gain,”
Tano hums a tone of agreement and continues. “But it never changed him, he hardly used it in fact, I only saw it once, but that was because I begged him to let me see him do it,” She chuckles at the memory.
Maul can sense a hint of sadness in her eyes and he can hardly stop himself from asking. “You were close to him?”
“Master Plo was the one who found me as a child and took me to the Jedi Temple, we remained close ever since.”
Maul hums, and then asks. “Do you ever think what your life would have been like if he hadn’t found you? You could have stayed with your family, with your parents and maybe the siblings you could have had. You could have lived a peaceful life and never fought in a war like you have done now. When you think of it deeply Tano, Master Plo Koon took that away from you – do you not harbour any resentment towards that?”
Another attempt at getting under her skin, Tano could call him out but she’d knew that he’d own up to it. He just wanted to see some anger, something other than that stupid smile she was wearing a few minutes ago.
But Tano just looked at him, his word having no effect on her, proven by the light smile on her dark lips. “I know exactly what would have happened if he didn’t come for me because he almost didn’t come in time. Someone came disguised as a Jedi and almost toom me from my home planet, they would have either sold me or make me their slave. Either way, with my species and Force abilities, I would have been a slave.”
“Yet, you still became slave, just by the Jedi Council.”
Tano’s blues eyes flash and Maul gets a glint of glee – was she finally going to explode?
“I suppose I was,” Tano’s voice as tight, and she goes back to the fire, turning over the meat and deemed it good enough to take it off and take a bite out if it. “Since you like going through my things, your shakes are in the bag the meat came in.”
Oh, pettiness? So he is getting under her skin. Maul smirks and takes the shakes out the bag before using one. It was a different flavour this time, fruitier and fresher which Maul liked.
Damn her.
“You know,” Tano starts, the meat on her stick halfway gone, she must have been very hungry. “In another world maybe Master Plo may have found you and brought you to the Jedi Temple, saving you from Sidious.”
The world has stopped and is silent again.
“Save me?” Maul’s fists tightens on the shake hard, but before it could burst, he throws it away and stands. “Save me?!” Tano immedtly looks at him but can’t stand as he looms over her, glaring. “Do you know how many times I slept as a child hoping that the Jedi would save me? After every training and torture I endured? I dreamed of being found by one and taken away from that monster. He took me to different planets, ones that the Jedi could have easily come to and ended his life – every single time I wished my dreams would come true. But dreams never come true, so I was stuck with that monster. I stopped dreaming at fifteen Tano, that’s when I accepted that I would never be saved from Sidious.”
Tano holds up her hands in surrender. “I was just-“
“-Just making me remember of those nights,” Maul sneers. “Letting me know that I was never good enough, and it that in another universe – that me would have been good enough to have been saved.”
“That’s not-“ Tano started to back away, still on the ground.
“Silence?!” His anger has blinded him that he doesn’t notice walking to Tano every time she tries to back away from him, only when she bumps into a rock behind her does he see it.
The way Tano is looking at him – backing away with her hands up and eyes wide.
Fear.
She’s afraid of him.
He wanted her to be angry, but being afraid is much better.
“Are you scared, Lady Tano?”
Tano stares at him, her chest heavy in it’s breathing from her rapid heartbeat. The world is still silent as they stare at each other.
“I’m not afraid of you Maul,” Tano finally says. The look in her eyes not gone, fear replaced by- “I’m afraid for you,”
- Pity.
Maul roars and Tano quickly moves out of the way, his leg breaking the stone she was resting at seconds ago. He moves quickly, turning around to try and get her again, but Tano is just as quick an doges him once more and jumps on her feet.
“I’m sorry I upset you Maul, I wasn’t trying- “
“Silence!” He’s angry, maybe more than he’s ever been. He can feel it rise and course through his body, his blood boiling and his heart beating faster from it all. “I have had enough of all of this!” With a simple call to the Force his lightsaber comes to his hands which he quickly ignites, he can feel the energy of his weapon vibrating at his hands. Mixing it with the anger that flowed through his body felt ever so powerful.
Tano does the same, the familiar white igniting from her own. Maul can’t recall another Force user who has white sabers the same as her, but that will only make his revenge sweeter. “I wasn’t planning on killing you Tano, but you’ve put yourself in that hole now.”
“It’s your anger and refusal to accept things that make you think that way Maul, I’m only in that spot because of you,”
Maul growls. Why is she so infuriating? Even Kenobi didn’t make him feel like this? Whatever, all he has to do it kill Tano then Kenobi.
Easy.
With a growl Maul launches himself at Tano, his striking red saber clashing with her blinding white ones.
He doesn’t know what he’s doing, not registering his own and Tano’s moves, the only thought in his mind was to just kill her. He doesn’t know how many moves or how long it takes, his anger and rage keep him going.
He doesn’t even see Tano is only using defensive moves until she uses the Force to push him away, allowing him to look at her wholly.
“Fight me!” He screams and launches back at her, sabers clashing once again. He can see Tano’s mouth moving, most likely telling him to stop and calm down.
He’ll do the opposite.
Then he does something that leads to their sabers flying out of their hands, but that doesn’t stop him. He jumps on Tano, knocking her to the ground, their arms locked around each other.
“Maul!” He can hear her now, her voice deep in desperation. Good.
He grunts as they simply wrestle each other on the ground and he is determined to stay on top, to show who really has power between the two.
“You should have left me alone, Lady Tano,” He grunts again, seething as he can’t get the upper hand in his position. “Your motive of hope is foolish, it sent you here to try and change me – you hoped it would, and it has only made you naïve.”
Tano grunts at him, he can see her struggling to hold him back, but she is determined to do. He can tell by the look in her eyes, the same that looked at him on Mandalore and ever other meeting they have had. Only on Malachor did they soften, perhaps it was the Jedi in her, or maybe the realisation of his words being true that she became so trusting of him that day.
“Ah, maybe it’s not hope that brought you here to see me, perhaps it was guilt. You said it your self Tano, you know it’s your fault, you know I was right all those years ago. The thought of joining me and the galaxy being in a better place has plagued your mind, has it not? And because of that, your guilt had ridden you to come to me to seek something, but what?”
Tano grunts again, and she looks at him. “You’re right, I did come to you from my guilt, but not to save myself…but you.”
Maul freezes, but neither of them moves. Tano continues to speak.
“After my duel with Vader I thought about the past, about Anakin, Sidious, and you. When I realised what you said back on Malachor was true I felt ashamed. I wasn’t a Jedi back then but I forgot one of they’re most important teachings, to never allow attachments, and it was my own to Anakin that refused to let me see the truth in your words.” Tano then looks at him, a different look in her eyes that soften. “But that wasn’t all. I remembered how you talked about Sidious, your facial expressions and the tone of your voice…you were his previous apprentice of Dooku, and he treated you horribly-“
“Don’t!” Tano lets at a small scream as he pins her arms above her head, Maul sneers down at her, his eyes glowing. “You know nothing! You don’t know how he treated me! How he locked up, trained me painfully and forced to kill since I was young. How quickly he abandoned and replaced me. All you know is the Jedi, how good they treated you, how you had a wonderful and caring Master. You know nothing of the pains I have suffered!”
He throat ached and his breathing was heavy, Maul can’t recall when he had ever been this angry and yelled so loud. It blinded him, only letting him see Tano’s expression after a few deep breaths.
Her eyes were wide and he could feel her body shaking beneath him, even when he loosened his hold, Tano stayed exactly the same and didn’t move.
Now she was afraid, at his own expense.
He stands and calls his lightsaber back to him, her eyes are kept on him. He can feel them as he makes his way over to her bag, emptying her things out and replacing it with the things he needs, and hauling it over his shoulder when he was done. Tano has sat up when he turns back to her, but her expression hasn’t changed.
“You’ve hunted before to survive Tano, it shouldn’t matter for you to do it again.”
“Maul?” Her voice is quiet as she calls out for him with only taking a few steps away. “I’m-“
“Don’t even fucking say it Tano,” His voice drips with venom. “Or else I’ll change my mind about letting you live.”
Tano stays quiet, and Maul carries on walking.
He doesn’t care she might starve or pass out from lack of water. He doesn’t care how she might shiver at night without a blanket. He doesn’t care that she might have to beg or steal without her credits.
He doesn’t care about the small weight in his chest as he hears her crying as he walks away.
All he does care about is killing Kenobi, and that’s exactly what he going to do.
He finds the small shard of the Sith Holocron in his pocket, Tano too naïve to take it from it when she had the chance, and fiddles with it. Without Tano it will be harder to find Kenobi and he certainly didn’t want to pass out in the sand again.
The shard of the Sith Holocron hums at his touch and Maul can feel it beating, he can feel it’s power around him. If only he had the full thing –
That was in the hands of Ezra Bridger.
Maul grins.