Hey guys! This is based off a theory/prediction I have. I know the odds of it happening are very slim but I want to see it happen in the show so badly!
This story is rated T for violence, injuries, and Ezra's mouth.
"Specter-2, are you sure the supplies are in here?" Ezra asked, his flashlight sweeping the cavern walls. "I've searched through most of this cave and there's nothing."
"Keep looking," Hera replied. "They're in there somewhere."
The Phantom 2.0 had landed on a cavernous moon in order to collect some much needed supplies. However, the tunnels were narrow. Ezra may not have been the smallest anymore, but Sabine was back on Atollon helping with repairs, leaving Ezra to navigate the caverns alone.
Suddenly, Ezra felt cold, as if a darksider was near by. Ezra zipped up the jacket Hera had gotten him for cold weather missions after she found out he was frigophobic and tried to keep it together.
"I sense someone," Ezra said into the comlink. "Someone who's probably not friendly."
"Karabast!" Kanan replied. "I sense it too. Ezra, you need to g-"
Suddenly, the comlink cut off and Ezra's flashlight flickered off. "Specter-1? Do you copy?"
No response.
"Specter-6 to Ghost! Come in!"
Still no response. The comlink was jammed.
"Karabast!" Ezra yelled. He turned and bolted in the opposite direction, running as fast as he could out of the cave. Someone had found them and Ezra couldn't let the visitor hurt his friends.
"Specter-6?" Kanan asked into the comlink. The mask did nothing to conceal his panic. "Specter-6, come in!"
"Kanan," Hera cut him off as she began powering up the Phantom 2.0. "The comlinks are jammed."
"We can't just leave him!" Kanan protested as he heard the Phantom 2.0 warm up.
"We're not leaving him," Hera replied. "We're just taking necessary precautions."
"What are we gonna do?" Zeb asked.
Kanan stood. "Come on, Zeb. We're going out there."
As Ezra entered a large room, an explosion rocked the cave and sent the ceiling crashing down. Ezra yelped as he dashed away. He tripped while running and wound up flat on his face, and blood began dripping from his now broken nose. When the rocks finally stopped falling, Ezra propped himself up on shaky arms. He rolled over and looked up, trying to catch his breath. The ceiling of the cavern was gone, leaving a large gaping hole.
"Karabast..." Ezra muttered. "That was close..." After taking a moment to catch his breath, Ezra tried to stand up when a hand grabbed his collar.
When Kanan and Zeb stepped out of the Phantom, Kanan heard a loud rumble, the shockwave throwing them to the ground.
"Karabast..." Zeb grumbled.
"What happened?" Kanan asked, panicked. "What was that?"
"I don't know, but I think the cave just collapsed."
Kanan and Zeb took off. "We can't go into the cave because it might come crashing down on top of us," Zeb said.
"We'll climb the rocks then," Kanan replied. "Let's go!"
Ezra cried out as the hand lifted him up like a ragdoll. "Well hello there, Apprentice," Maul snarled.
In a desperate attempt to get free, Ezra slammed his foot into Maul's knee.
A sickening crack rang out through the room and Ezra screamed.
"That wasn't very smart," Maul sneered, obviously amused. "I'm half droid, remember."
Ezra glared at the monster holding him and spat in his face. "Kriff you," he snapped.
Maul glared at him and struck him across the face. "You'll learn to respect me," he growled.
"How about no?" Ezra retorted. He wrenched himself out of Maul's grasp and reached for his lightsaber but Maul grabbed it and flung it away.
"Why do you resist?" Maul asked. "It's obvious where your true calling is. It's too late for you. You cannot stop the inevitable."
"Go kiss a bantha," Ezra snapped. "You are like all the guys who came after me. You just can't take no for an answer can you?"
Maul tightened his fist and Ezra found himself dangling in the air. The Zabrak flicked his wrist and Ezra cried out at the walls began a blur around him. The blur came to a sudden stop as Ezra felt his head and back slam into the cavern wall. He felt ribs crack and break as he tumbled to the ground. Ezra tried to drag himself away but Maul held him in place with the Force.
Ezra tried to break free but to no avail as Maul approached him.
"Get the hell away from me!" Ezra yelled, fear suddenly sweeping over him as the cold and pain grew more and more intense.
"You're coming with me," Maul replied. "I'm tired of your games. You will be my apprentice whether you like it or not."
"Stay away…" Ezra whimpered. "Stay away from me…"
"Don't tell me you're scared. Just a minute ago you were acting very differently. If this is the way you're going to be after taking a beating, then you won't last long under my training."
Ezra once learned about Sith training. It was brutal and very painful. Ezra knew he had an iron will, but he hadn't been captured and continuously tortured before like the way some rebels, including Kanan, had. And this was a former Sith Lord who knew him too well for his liking. How long would he last?
"Stay away from me…" Ezra growled, tears of fear forming. "Stay. Away."
Maul ignored the warning. He reached up to knock Ezra unconscious when something snapped.
"GET BACK!"
Ezra somehow broke free of Maul's grip and adrenaline coursed through him, muddling his mind and triggering an animalistic instinct to survive. As he dropped to the ground, his hands shot forward. Lightning shot from Ezra's hands. They began to blister and burn but Ezra didn't feel it. Maul screamed in pain, but Ezra didn't hear it. He heard someone shout his name, but once again, Ezra couldn't hear over the adrenaline and sound of electricity.
Thrusting his burning hands forward, Ezra slammed a now unconscious Maul into the cavern wall.
A pair of hands clamped down on Ezra's shoulders. "Ezra, stop!"
The lightning stopped, leaving Maul steaming and out cold. Ezra squirmed in Kanan's grip, the adrenaline still going. "Ezra, calm down! It's me!"
"Stay away!"
"Ezra, it's me!" a hand gently grabbed Ezra's face and pointed it. Ezra blinked and saw Kanan. "It's me."
Tears streamed down Ezra's face as the adrenaline wore off. The pain from his injuries returned tenfold as he stared at Kanan's masked face. His gaze turned to Maul's unconscious form on the other side of the cave. "What did I just do?" Ezra whispered weakly.
"Ezra," Kanan replied. "Ezra, it's okay."
Suddenly, Ezra scooted away, hissing as his injuries were forced to move. "Ezra!" Kanan said. "Calm down!"
"Stay away!" Ezra screamed, tears dripping down his face. "I'm dangerous!"
Kanan maneuvered way to where he sensed Ezra move and placed his hands on Ezra's shoulders. "No," Kanan replied softly. "You're not dangerous."
Ezra allowed Kanan to pull him into a hug, his eyes never leaving the carnage he left behind. Kanan placed his hand on Ezra's head and gently turned it away from Maul. When the adrenaline finally wore off, Ezra burst into tears.
Enemy or not, Ezra did not mean for this to happen. He just used Force Lightning! Was Maul right? Was it really too late for him? Was he doomed to turned to the dark side? Was he doomed to become the enemy? Why did it even happen? The holocron never mentioned anything about lightning! How did he do that?
"Deep breaths," Kanan said, pulling Ezra from his thoughts. "You're mind's literally a mess right now. Are you okay?"
Ezra didn't answer. He just continued to weep. He vaguely heard him tell Zeb to call Hera. He felt the Force curl around him, easing him towards sleep. Probably Kanan's doing. His injuries weren't exactly helping. The last thing Ezra remembered before blacking out was the sound of the Phantom 2.0's engines.
Kanan sighed in relief as Ezra stopped crying and his breathing evened out. As the Phantom 2.0 landed, Hera came rushing out. "Is he okay?"
"I…" Kanan breathed. "I don't know."
"He's definitely hurt," Hera replied. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Kanan replied. "I heard lightning and a lot of energy ."
Hera gasped. "Do you think…"
Kanan nodded. "Most likely, yes." He carefully slid Ezra over his shoulder, careful not to upset his ribs and muttered an unheard apology as Ezra hissed in pain. He ran towards the ship silently, leaving Maul behind.
The ship remained silent once the Phantom 2.0 took off. For good measure, Hera turned Maul's ship into scrap with a few shots from the cannons. Once they were in hyperspace, Hera immediately started tending to Ezra's wounds.
As Kanan sat next to Ezra's bed, he took note of the uneasy silence between them. Ever since Kanan had been blinded, long periods of silence like this outside of meditation was uncomfortable. Even though Ezra had woken up hours before after spending a few hours in a bacta tank to fix his wounds. His injuries were pretty much healed (except for his broken foot, which would take time, as well as his burned hands, which Kanan assumed was from the fact that he summoned lightning and was unable to control it properly) and the padawan had been just discharged. Ezra was sentenced to bedrest for the time being and Kanan saw the perfect opportunity to speak to Ezra. After a while, Ezra, much to Kanan's relief, broke the silence. However, his words were not what Kanan expected.
"I know what you're thinking." Ezra sounded drained, which was perhaps the most worrying of all. "I used the dark side again didn't I?"
Kanan sighed. "I don't know."
"What do you mean? Kanan, I shot lightning at Maul! Does that mean I really am going to fall? Is there no saving me?"
"Ezra," Kanan said gently.
"But what if-"
"Ezra." Ezra stopped talking and looked up at his master. "Ezra, you need to calm down."
"Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down? Lightning's a dark side thing, right? How can you be so calm about this?"
"Ezra," Kanan replied more firmly. "Calm down."
Ezra stopped talking and took a deep breath. Once Ezra had calmed down, Kanan spoke. "The lightning. Did the Sith Holocron teach that?"
"No," Ezra replied. "I still don't know why it happened. Isn't lightning a dark side power?"
"Not necessarily," Kanan replied. "There's this thing called Electric Judgement. However, the Jedi Order wasn't too keen on it because of how similar it is to Force Lightning. I honestly can't tell which one it was but the fact that you have the ability to even create lightning is pretty rare. You just need to learn to control it. If it was Force Lightning, we'll need to keep it from haplening again, but learning Electric Judgement shouldn't be that hard for you."
"Kanan…" Ezra breathed. "Maul may not have known the difference. He saw what happened. He knows I can do it. You saw what happened when he wanted the holocrons. What if he comes after you again? What are we going to do?"
For once, Kanan had no idea. He sighed and pulled Ezra into a hug. "I don't know what we're going to do, but everything is going to be okay. I promise."
Ezra closed his eyes, for once finding Kanan's words hard to believe.
Maul groaned as consciousness slowly returned to him. He felt like every cell in his body burned. As he eyed the Lichtenberg figures on his arm, he sighed internally. Being half droid had resulted in really bad memories associated with electricity…
Maul's eyes widened as the memories came rushing back to him. His apprentice could summon lightning. He had blacked out before he could determine what kind of lightning it was, whether it was Force Lightning or the cheap knockoff the Jedi Order used once in a blue moon, but either way, it was a rare ability, one Maul could harness.
Maul stood up with a renewed determination. As he painfully leapt out of the cave, he growled upon seeing the smoldering remains of his ship. That was okay though. He could always obtain another ship here. He would track down the apprentice and take him if it was the last thing he did.
Ezra Bridger's powers were too great to be censored by the Jedi teachings.
Hope you enjoyed this!
