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Sacrifices Must Be Made

An unmanned lightsaber sizzles through the air before clanking down near the edge of a steep pit. A Jedi padawan goes flying over the edge, barely catching himself on a small protrusion in the wall. A raging killer nudges the lightsaber into the pit and slashes at the Jedi who remains just out of reach, his red lightsaber kicking up a dazzling shower of sparks.

The recording turns everything a misty blue color, but the watcher knows the true hue of the warrior who now menaces the helpless padawan. He can see the deep red and black markings as clearly as though the creature stood before him in this small chamber. As it so happens, the Jedi is not helpless, and the observer feels the Dark Side bellow in hatred as he beholds the young man leaping out of the pit and severing his dark foe in two.

Lord Maul will never stand before him again. Darth Sidious watches through the guise of a fascinated Supreme Chancellor as the two halves tumble out of sight of the recording device. Outwardly, he shows a hint of horrified disgust and shudders; inwardly, he seethes.

The future is an ever changing horizon: he knows this better than most. However, when he immersed himself in the currents of the Dark Side, this particular future had seemed so unlikely, so ridiculous. A Jedi padawan destroying a mature Sith warrior?

To lose Lord Maul is to lose valuable talent and anger. Yes, the warrior can and will be replaced; the replacement is already in his grasp, but Maul was something that he will miss. Maul was the hands and feet of the Sith, the violent and unconstrained half of his dark plans for the galaxy. The lost old Jedi will never give him unfailing loyalty as Maul did. The Jedi will never comprehend the Dark Side as Maul did.

But Maul is dead.

An unfortunate loss.

He freezes the recording as it begins to play again, eyes narrowing on the determined snarl of his apprentice – determined to carry out his master's orders. The expression tugs at the ragged ends where the bond between them once festered, now severed and gaping like a fresh wound. The expression gives him pause, because he has seen it countless times before…

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm trying, Master!" Maul snapped, his voice guttural with frustration as he dangled upside down on the thorny vine. He hung there, too exhausted to move any higher, too afraid to drop down in defeat.

"Trying doesn't keep you alive," Sidious informed the Zabrak before breaking the vine with a thought and sending his young apprentice plunging to the ground. Maul growled in pain and struggled free of the tangled vine, blood dripping into his glowing eyes.

Sidious looked down at him thoughtfully. "And if all you can do is try, then perhaps I should finish you here and now before you end up embarrassing the entire galaxy with your foolishness."

Maul was instantly on his knees before him. "My Master, I will not embarrass you or any other, but I have not eaten for nine days. I am weak because of this."

Sidious reached down and hauled the thin boy up by his collar, bringing their faces close. "Weak? Mere lack of sustenance does not weaken a true warrior. But you may eat, when you have accomplished this task."

The task was a small one in his eyes, entirely too simple once the boy learned to utilize his mind. Maul tended to rely on his physical strength, which was currently failing him. He had been instructed to kill a large male Veermok, imported from the swamps of Naboo. The slavering primate was perched on a chain at the narrow top of a steep cliff, howling and thrusting its claws into Maul every time he drew close.

Maul was determined. So he kept scaling the wall, thorns poking into him with every new grip and tug. Sometimes it was hard to tell where his red skin ended and the blood began. Sidious watched him stubbornly cling to the wall and plunge to the forest floor, time after time. The child's anger grew with each thump against the dirt.

Now it was boiling just under the surface, but Sidious wanted it to erupt. He released Maul's collar and shoved him back toward the wall. Maul hesitated, and then hung his horned head.

"I can't do it."

A training lightsaber swept his legs out from under him, burning his already battered skin. Maul yelped and stared up at Sidious. The Sith glared back. "There is no room for failure here, Maul. I chose you as my apprentice because I saw your potential. You have been trained in combat by the droids on Mustafar until recently. You are capable and skilled."

Maul's eyes widened with a pleased and muted joy. He staggered to his feet to stand before Sidious. "Thank you, my - "

Crack!

Sidious's manicured hand snaked out and caught Maul across the cheek, sending the small Zabrak back into the dust. "Skilled only in body. Your mind, on the other hand, has been woefully neglected. To be successful in your duties, you must use both mind and body."

"But, Master," Maul gasped out. "I don't know how! The droids could not teach me."

Sidious regarded his desperate plea. The boy was nearly as unmotivated as the moment Sidious had arrived on Mustafar to take personal control of his training. Maul was strong with the Force, but he was not pushing it forward. He was holding back, cowering under the Sith's blows and refusing to shape his anger into a weapon.

Was it simple weakness? Maul had been so strong as an infant… But now he was helpless before the Master, unable and unwilling to fight back. In fact, on consideration, Maul had never struck back against him. He had always eagerly awaited his master, every morning leaping to follow him like a loyal narglatch. Sidious had thought little of it at first, seeing only a weakness that would eventually require eradication.

But now, he wondered…could Maul's fierce desire to please be of use? Threats certainly were not having the desired effect; if he had carried out half his threats, Maul would be long dead.

Sidious looked. Maul was still waiting with head down and eyes half closed with exhaustion. Finally, he offered, "Droids cannot teach you to use your mind. That is why I am here. I will teach you, young Maul, and you will learn."

"Yes, my Master," and for the first time in the few weeks they had been together, Sidious sensed a dark hope in his apprentice. He turned the boy around and led him close to the steep cliff.

"The strength in your arms pales in comparison to the strength of your hatred," Sidious leaned down and spoke into his ear, quiet, deadly. "And the hatred you summon is capable of destruction from a distance." He raised the boy's arms into the air and held them steady.

"Take the frustration you have building within you, and let it turn to anger. And when you are sufficiently angry, cool it in your mind to hate. Dissect it, hold it, feel it flowing from your mind into your hands. Do you feel the strength growing?"

Maul was trembling, but he nodded eagerly. "Yes, Master, I do."

"Good… Hatred is your true weapon. Forget that you have a body, if you can. You are only an extension of your will. Feel for the will of the Veermok."

When Maul recoiled under his hands, Sidious knew the Zabrak had encountered the creature's chaotic mind. A quick learner, this boy, once he was properly motivated. He smiled. "Now feel the body of the Veermok, and let it also become your will. Feel the muscles tensing, feel its heart pounding with fear."

"I do…" Maul breathed, overcome with the power of his own mind.

"Breathe in the fear. You can control it. Slow the heart. Stop the breathing."

Maul's eyes bulged. "I can kill it? With just my mind?"

"Not just your mind," and Sidious sent a wave of dark displeasure into the child's head. Maul quailed under the onslaught. "Your mind is everything. Do it."

"What if – what if I can't?"

"You will not fail," Sidious intoned.

Baleful eyes stared up. How do you know?

"Because I wish it so, and I will not tolerate failure."

Maul's brow pinched in a determined snarl, and he nodded tightly. Raising his bloody hands high, the young Zabrak focused his fear and hatred on the whooping primate far above. The Veermok screamed with pain as the Dark Side clenched it in shadow. Sidious grinned at the creature's abrupt consternation.

The Force convulsed, and the Veermok at last expired with a raspy screech. Sidious reached out with his own mind and severed the chain holding it in place, and it plunged down the side of the cliff to land at their feet.

Maul stared down at the still creature in amazement. "I killed it," he whispered. "I did it, Master."

"I expected nothing less," his Master calmly replied, and stepped around him to kneel beside the dead primate. Sidious pulled out his real lightsaber and stabbed into the chest cavity. Then he rolled up his sleeve and drove his hand down, catching up the heart and tearing it free. Standing, he dropped the quivering muscle into Maul's hands.

"You have finished the task. You may now eat."

Maul radiated pride and pleasure, and Sidious felt a bit of pride as well as Maul bit into the heart. The Dark Lord reached out and lightly stroked the Zabrak's head as he fed, sending some of his own savage satisfaction into the boy. We shall go far together, you and I, my little myrmidon.

Someday he would have to take this attachment and twist it until Maul wanted to kill him like the Veermok at their feet, but right now he was content to let the bond form. Loyalty too had its uses.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The impatient shifting of the Jedi next to him pulls him back to the present.

Maul is dead.

The proof is irrefutable, and now he is left to salvage the situation. At least Master Jinn is dead as well, the only bright spot in an otherwise depressing day. Sidious has taken the measure of Obi-Wan Kenobi and judged him unworthy of the Darkness. Anakin Skywalker is another matter entirely; the small boy's presence screams into the shadows of the Dark Side, the countless futures swirling around him in a kaleidoscope of pain and anger.

The sudden separation from his mother, the death of the old Jedi, the wariness of his new master: all these factors have conspired to push the boy into an uncertain and terrifying limbo. The Chosen One: so young and already being groomed for his dark manipulations. Chancellor Palpatine turns away from the replaying footage and nods to the dark-skinned Jedi at his side.

"I am relieved that he is no longer a danger to the Republic. Knight Kenobi did well."

"Yes, Supreme Chancellor," Mace Windu nods back as they return to the main palace hall. "But the threat of the Sith may still be with us. This was only one."

Palpatine regards him with a mild melancholy. "You tell me there are two, but that there might be another Sith is a terrible thought. It seems to me that one alone can do damage enough for all of us."

"And that is why the Jedi will continue to remain vigilant until this threat is past," Windu promises.

Of course, of course.

Maul's death is regrettable. The single-minded Sith was…unique, even special. He was the unquestioning extension of the Dark Lord's will. Still, he will have served his purpose in the long run by killing Jinn and by pushing Anakin Skywalker into an ill-fitting relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Maul is dead, but sacrifices must be made, and he will not be the last.

This is yet another one-shot that just would not leave me alone. I would love to see someone write a story of Sidious and Maul in their early days. Except for the stressful time on Hypori, Maul seemed more than content to follow/worship Sidious, and I think that relationship could be so very interesting to explore.

Don't forget to review! I'll give you a Veermok steak. :)