When Ezra's eyes opened, he found himself surrounded by darkness. He was sitting up, leaning back against something hard - a wall maybe? - with his hands bound behind his back. He could barely move his hands, but he could feel that there were heavy durasteel cuffs around his wrists with a short chain attached to them, the other end bolted into the stone behind him.

As Ezra's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, he realized that he was in a cave. A cave that he quickly recognized.

Dathomir.

Ezra began to struggle against his bonds, his heart hammering as his eyes darted around, watching for any sign of the glowing green mist that signaled the presence of the Nightsisters. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, his breath caught in his throat as he saw that it was the altar that he was chained to.

Now that he knew where he was, the memory came flooding back to him. He remembered the dark presence that had crept up on him on Atollon. He remembered the hand around his neck and the hypospray injecting something into his arm. He remembered…

"Good. You're finally awake," a cold voice said.

Maul emerged from the shadows surrounding Ezra, towering over him as he approached.

"Stay away from me," Ezra hissed. "I mean it. One more step and I'll -"

"You'll what?" Maul asked, sounding almost amused by Ezra's empty threat. "You are unarmed, restrained, and alone with no backup. I doubt your friends have even realized you're gone yet."

"What do you want from me?" Ezra asked. His hands were beginning to shake as he realized Maul was probably right. He hadn't even checked in before he left the base, thinking he wouldn't be gone that long. It would take hours before the rest of the crew realized he was missing, and even more before they concluded that he wasn't on the planet. By the time they figured out what had happened, if they were able to figure it out at all, it would be too late.

"You know exactly what I want, apprentice," Maul said, his eyes seeming to glow even brighter in the darkness.

"You won't get it," Ezra said, cursing the small tremor in his voice as he glared up at Maul in a weak display of defiance.

Maul leaned down, grabbing Ezra's chin and forcing his head back.

"I will," he said. "And this time, the Jedi won't be a factor."

His grip tightened as he reached over Ezra's shoulder toward something resting on the altar. Ezra fought to pull away, but he couldn't break free before something was pressed to his lips; a cup filled with bright green liquid, so similar to what Maul had made him drink before. Ezra coughed and shuddered as it slid down his throat.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Ezra dared to let himself hope that nothing would. But within seconds, his head began to ache. A heavy fog seemed to roll into his mind, clouding his thoughts and cutting him off from his senses as Maul released his face and knelt down in front of him.

"What did you do to me?" Ezra asked, his words slurred.

"I simply opened your mind," Maul said. "Lowered your defenses. It will make this so much easier."

"Make what -"

Before Ezra could finish the question, something reached into his mind, shadows spilling into his head and stretching out into every corner. He tried to push them back, but he just…couldn't. His mental defenses were gone, as if they'd just dissolved into nothing.

"No," Ezra gasped as the shadows twisted inside his head, sending a dull pain radiating through his skull. "No, stop! What are you doing?"

Maul gave no response out loud, but his presence in Ezra's mind wrapped around a recent memory and pulled it to the surface. He was sparring with Kanan, disarming him and knocking him to the ground. A warm rush spread through him at the proud smile on Kanan's face.

That dull pain began pulsing in his head, almost burning. Ezra didn't know what he had just been thinking about. Something to do with Kanan…

Maul's presence swiftly moved to a memory from much farther back. Ezra was hanging over a ledge, Kanan's hand around his ankle, trying to pull him back up as the Inquisitors advanced on them.

Another surge of pain, this one so strong Ezra felt bile rising up in his throat. He felt as if a small hole had been burned in his mind, though he had no idea what had been there before. Inquisitors? Kanan…

Those shadows moved on to another memory. Ezra, burying his face in Kanan's shoulder, the holocron clutched in one hand; Kanan's arms around him; Kanan's voice; "It's over."

And Ezra realized what Maul was doing.

He tried to hold onto the memory, but the fog in his head was overwhelming him, and Maul pulled it away from him easily.

Ezra pushed back, trying to fight Maul off as the shadows moved swiftly through his mind, tearing away memory after memory. But his struggles didn't do him any good. It was as if all of his abilities to defend himself had been stripped away by whatever Maul had forced him to drink.

"No!" Ezra screamed. His voice seemed to be the only thing working the way it should be. "Get out of my head!"

The pain in his head grew stronger, pounding inside his skull. He screamed and pulled at his restraints so hard that he felt his skin going slick with blood.

"Stop!" he shouted, his voice breaking. He tasted saltwater on his lips, not even knowing when he'd started crying. "Please!"

Maul ignored his cries, still tearing through Ezra's mind until there was nothing left of Kanan. Who's Kanan? Ezra knew he had just been wondering…something…who someone was? But the question had vanished from his mind almost immediately, drowned out by the pounding headache.

Something tugged at a distant memory, gently pulling it to the surface of his mind. Mom was tucking him into bed, one hand gently stroking his hair as she kissed his forehead.

"No!" Ezra cried, his voice weak and shaking. "Not them. Please, not them."

"Don't worry, apprentice," a voice said. "You can keep this."

The memory was shoved downward, buried deeply in Ezra's mind until he could just barely remember that he had even been thinking about something a moment ago. The memories of…someone…someone important were just out of his reach. He knew they were there, but he couldn't get to them.

The shadows in his mind pulled back slightly and the pounding in Ezra's head began to ease. Something was nudging at him inside his head, almost like it was…pushing something into place? Things were shifting around, rearranging themselves. A word was pulled to the surface of his mind. Master. The word meant something to him. It was attaching itself to a memory…to a person…to the man kneeling in front of him.

The fog in Ezra's mind grew thicker until he couldn't form a single coherent thought. His eyelids were suddenly heavier than he thought possible and they quickly slid shut as darkness closed in around him.