Hey guys! NightwingNinja17 here! And this time it is with a Star Wars Rebels One Shot. This is based on something that I saw happen in the Season 3 trailer for the series. The scene that flashes briefly is one of Maul using the force to what I assume is to give information that Maul wants to know. But I plan on changing that up just a bit, but play right into the rift that Maul represents and how desperately Maul wants Kanan dead so that he could have full access to Ezra.
This will be a two-part one shot. I couldn't write it all and fit it into one long chapter, so I decided to make it into two parts to make it easier on me. This is hopefully to leave you guys also wanting more. Hopefully you guys get the idea.
Also this will be a bit of a tide over story as I fight writer's block to get more of Revenge is Best Served Cold written. I know that you guys loved the idea of a sequel and also really want me to update, but I've hit a dry spot so hopefully I can pull through and write more in the near future.
But anyway..I hope that you have fun reading this story and let me know what you think in your reviews.
Inside the Ghost, all was quiet, except for the occasional sound of a spray can going off in the resident Madalorian's room and the snoring that came from Zeb, who was splayed out on the couch in the main room.
The only one who seemed to not be making a sound was Hera who was gazing out at the vast array of people who made up the larger Rebel cell that she had come to know and love. They were busy prepping ships for whatever Commander Sato has planned for the various teams.
This was helping her take her mind off of the scarier moments of her life that happened about two months ago.
But then worry seemed to arise in her mind as she quickly found herself back in the place in her mind that she wanted to avoid.
Her boys… her two Jedi boys…..that's what her mind continued to go back to. The reasons why she never heard anything from either Ezra or Kanan was because Ezra was too busy with the holocron to even leave the room. And with Kanan becoming blind, he could hardly moved about without help. But she often found him in the seat of the canon on the top of the ship. Hera could only guess what was going on in her love's head.
"Hey Kanan would you come down here for a second?" Hera looked up, standing at the base of the ladder that separated the canon on the top with the one on the bottom.
"I'm going to need some help," Kanan stopped what he was going and gazed blankly in my direction.
"Alright, I'll place my hand on one of your shoulders when you're level with the floor," She looked back up, tapping the ladder to let the blind Jedi know where she was at.
And that tap was all Kanan needed before making the slow journey down the ladder. Without his eyesight, Kanan had grown meticulous of his movements as if each one would send him plummeting towards the earth. Hera just shook her head, trying to contain laughter, as Kanan slipped just slightly to where he was hanging by his legs from the ladder and was now moving his head around trying to get his bearings.
"Hey you're not supposed to do that," Hera strode towards the man that has stolen her heart, chuckling in the process. She placed her hands on either side of Kanan's head and moved it to where he was now facing her. It was a strange, yet terrifying sight to see how the scar, that was starting to form, stretching from temple to temple, taking away the eyes in the process. His eyes, once a beautiful blue-green color, was now clouded over and looked almost white, because of the scar tissue. The wound had healed, but it still seemed like yesterday that her boy came home with injuries.
"But I want to make you worry about me," Kanan's usual self came out as locked on to me like a missile is to its target, "It's one of the things that made me fall in love with you."
Hera smiled and planted kiss on the Jedi's forehead.
About the time Hera had managed to help Kanan get back on his feet, Ezra sauntered in looking tired but seeming to be better than the last time anyone had seen him.
Seeing the two heads of the Ghost crew smiling broadly and embraced in a side hug., Ezra became confused and looked at his superiors that way.
"What's going on?" Ezra slowly drew closer to the two people he deemed as his adopted parents.
They both laughed.
"Nothing," Hera ended the hug with Kanan, "But I'm glad that you showed up. I have some supplies that need to be picked up on a nearby moon. Thought you two could use some fresh air away from Attoton and others we know for a change."
Hera watched as the two resident Jedi, exchanged glances, although one was more just in the general direction, as they decided whether or not to accept the proposal.
"We'll take it!" Kanan and Ezra said simultaneously.
"Just don't let me slow you down, Grandpa," Ezra punched his master in the shoulder playfully and then guided him in the direction of the Phantom.
"Who are you calling Grandpa?" Kanan pushed against the hold, almost knocking Ezra over.
They just settled into a small fit of laughter before disappearing all together.
Hera then proceeded to leave her ship as well and began to find a quiet place that she could collect her thoughts at. As she wandered the hallways of the Rebel Base, she thought about the events over the last three months.
She had a lot on her mind since her boys returned from that dreadful planet. With Kanan now blind, who was qualified to lead the team on missions Kanan couldn't go on? She wasn't sure Ezra was up to the task yet as he still had a lot to learn.
Kanan's blindness was also heavy on her mind. She hated that he couldn't look on her with those blue-green eyes she always admired.
Why did that dreadful, so called friend, have to destroy her love in ways that could never be recovered. Kanan had told her all about Maul and who he was. He recounted all of what he knew about the beast to her. He even went back as far as the Clone Wars.
She though back to the day where her and Kanan saw the medic on base to see if there could be anything that could be done. Hera found herself feeling deflated after that visit, when it was confirmed that Kanan would never gain his sight back. The wound was too deep and the burns had ruined the nerve endings that made it possible for sight to be restored.
She reminisced about Kanan's reaction to the news. He seemed to take it well, but then again, he was really good at hiding his emotions. Especially from people who didn't use the Force as he did. But every now and then, she would catch him blindly staring off into the distance with a look of sadness upon his face and occasionally she would glance and find a tear falling down his face. She knew he wasn't coping well with it. That's why she sent Ezra and him on a mission.
That way they could take their minds off of things.
Hera finally found the room that she was looking for. It was a room made for observing Attoton at it's finest. That is if you could call a desert like wasteland fine. She opened the door to the observatory and found it to be empty, devoid of any of the lifeforms that made up the current rebellion. Hera slowly walked up to the window and gazed upon the sandy clifftops and canyons that made up the base. Occasionally, I would see a ship or groups of ships leaving or returning from their many missions that Sato obviously sent them on. But for the most part, it was just as quiet visually as it was audibly. No sound came in or out as the soundproofed walls and glass muffled any noise from the outside world.
"Whoo! I thought you'd never come," A sinister sounding voice emanated from the shadows, revealing to Hera that she wasn't as alone as she thought she was.
The Twi-lek zipped her head around to find a bare-chested, red with black tattoos covering his exposed skin, man standing before me with a look of sheer determination. He blocked Hera's exit out of the place.
She remained silent, but tried to find a way to put herself on the other side of him that way she could escape if she wanted to.
He must have anticipated her ideas as he rushed Hera and turned her around to where he now had her in a choke hold of sorts.
She struggled for a minute more and then stopped, knowing full well that she wasn't going to get free of this one this time.
"Very good! You learn quickly!" The man released the hold on Hera's neck and the moved his hands to hers.
Hera felt a large metal clamp wrap itself around her wrists and then clamp shut preventing her from using either hands efficiently.
"What do you want?" Hera spun around to face the intruder, but quickly found herself slammed to her knees. He then knelt down to her level, matching her gaze with such determination, that if looks could kill, Hera would have been dead on the spot.
"What I want, my dear, isn't of your concern," He waved a hand around as if trying to swat a bug out of the air, "But what is your concern, is how you cooperate."
Hera just continued to glare at the invader.
"I won't cooperate with you if it's the last thing I do," Hera gritted her teeth out of madness.
"Pity, though I hoped that you would say that," the man rose to his full height and then began backing up, "I plan on then blinding both of your Jedi friends now."
It became evident to Hera at that moment, that she wasn't just faced with a threat. She was faced with the man, the Zabarak, who had blinded her lover forever. When the man noticed that she now recognized who he was, he smiled maliciously, looking her over as if she was a tasty treat.
"No you couldn't be him! You can't be Maul!" Hera started to try and back up away from the man, but he only force pushed her to the glass window and pinned her there to it. With no way of moving her hands to where they were if front of her, Hera had no choice but to cry out in pain as they were eating into her back. She tried to wiggle, attempting to get free of the vice grip that had a hold on her.
"Now, now, we won't be having any form of escaping. Otherwise, I will have to make this clearly more painful than it is already." He released the hold once he was convinced that his prisoner would cooperate and Hera came crashing down. She had no means of breaking her fall so she ended up face planting into the ground beneath her.
"Now here's what I really want," Maul grabbed Hera's face and forced her to look him square in his yellow eyes, "is to ask you a few questions pertaining a certain Jedi interest I know you have acquaintances with. I want to know his weaknesses as well as strengths. Anything that I can use to knock him down. "
"I won't talk about him," she spat in Maul's face, realizing that he wanted her to talk about Kanan. He released his hold on Hera's face and swung his hand back hard and then slammed the same fist into the floor.
"Very well," gritted teeth became visible, "Then I will have to do this the hard way."
This was one time where she didn't wish to know what the force felt like. Maul raised his right hand and hovered it in front of her face for a few seconds before sending the force through to the Twi-Lek's mind.
Hera squeezed her eyes shut and then let out a soft cry of pain.
Maul seemed to be enjoying the pain he was causing his enemy. He reveled in the information that he was receiving, because Hera, not being a force wielder, couldn't block her memories from his mind. This allowed him access to all Hera's knowledge about Kanan and Ezra.
"You will call them here right now!" Maul clenched his fist tight in the midst of his rage, "I will force you to do it whether you like it or not."
"Or….what?" Hera forced herself to look at her opponent before quickly clamping them shut again as the force hit her hard again. This time, the force push against her mind was so tough that she tensed so hard she felt something painfully shift inside the right side of her chest, "If you kill… me, you…. lose all… leverage with… them."
Maul's eyes rose in consideration, and then released his hold on the force.
Hera sighed in relief as the presence of the mystic, invisible force, left her mind for a few seconds. She held her side, careful to keep in\t protected from any forces that may injure it further.
But then she froze and her blood ran cold through her body, as the look on Maul's face betrayed that he had more in store for the Twi-Lek.
"What is your relationship, with….Kanan? Wasn't that the Master Jedi's name is?"
Hera looked skeptically at him. Trying to determine his intentions before she voice the answer to the question held so tightly in the air. She felt her heart race and mind buzz with millions of answers. She was scared. For the first time in a long time she was scared.
If Maul found out that her and Kanan were in a relationship, than things could end badly for not only her, but for her lover. Hera wasn't about to let some red and black skinned creature hurt Kanan again.
"Yes his name is Kanan and we're just friends, that's all," Hera skirted around the subject by saying her answer fast. She even went as far to turn her back on the Zabarak. Little did she know, that the very thing she did, betrayed her true intentions towards Kanan.
Maul just smiled more maliciously than he did before.
"Hah, I knew it!" Maul pumped his fists in the air, "The bond exists!"
"…..The bond?" Hera finally drew the courage to ask the Sith as she slowly turned back around. All the while, continuing her efforts to try and escape by leaving the room.
"Every force user has a bond. First and foremost, to the master that trained them, second to their own apprentices, and lastly, to the people that they love," Maul began to circle her, studying her from the top of her head downwards, "That bond can be used for a multitude of things, but the thing it's commonly know to do is to allow the Jedi at one end to sense…"
Before Maul even finished his sentence, he punched Hera right where she had been holding her side, causing an even louder pop than before to ring out and echo throughout the room. Hera all but collapsed to the ground as the sharp pain from the broken ribs rattled her to her core. She let out a shrill and loud cry. But to both Maul and Hera's surprise, she let out a loud cry for help.
"It helps them sense pain!" Maul began to pace back and for the in front of a crouched Hera who was still trying to call out for help to the numerous people she knew were right outside the door.
"No one can hear you," Maul crouched low to the Twi-lek on the floor and gestured to the sound proofing on the walls and ceiling, "The only one who will save you now, will be your friends."
This time, Maul reeled back to stomp hard on Hera's exposed legs. With a force guided and force empowered stomp, he broke both of them with one clean movement of his own feet. At this point, Hera was crying. The pain was more than she ever felt before and she wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to hold on.
"You're pain will feed through your bond, and go directly to Kanan," Maul began to circle the crippled Twi-lek, "And then he will come and attempts to save you, I will kill him in front of you and Ezra!"
He continued to beat on Hera as she cried out for him to stop. Little did she know that her lover and his apprentice were close to becoming aware of her plight.