Author's note: Thanks to RebelGirl221, eye of sparta, guest, and Rose Eclipse for all of your reviews and comments. You guys have really boosted my motivation during this difficult time of year, and I sincerely thank you for that! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and may the Force be with you. (You're going to need it).

*Mild Language Warning

A few moments earlier…

The fear, the anger this boy possesses without even knowing it. There is a way to make him turn, I just need to find the right, motivation.

Maul held the boy's fist in his hand, who was now both weaponless and powerless. His lightsaber lay a good distance away, and his Force push denied, again.

Poor boy, did the Jedi teach you nothing?

He looked at Ezra, and saw his fear quickly growing. He looked powerless, he looked scared. No, he looked, unknowingly formed a smile, which would have already been his intention. It would confuse the child, make him more, reckless.

"Your attempt to defeat me failed, young one. Why try to kill your own master?"

Maul started adding pressure onto the boy's hand, purposely inflicting pain. He didn't want to break the boy's hand, completely, but he wanted the boy to feel pain, to let it ignite his anger.

Ezra peered into his eyes, they were full of anguish. "...Y..You're..not...my...master!"

It worked. He gave a confused look to the boy, trying to irritate him. "Are you so sure of that?"

He kicked one of the boy's legs back and let go of his hand. Maul placed his lightsaber in front of Ezra's neck, who now towered over the kneeling boy. He already held an advantage, being the more experienced Force user, but he wanted the Jedi to know who the true master of the Force was.

"You have embraced the darkness before. Using it, you became more powerful than you could ever become as a Jedi."

He was the master, and Ezra would soon stand by his side, a loyal apprentice. Ezra, a boy shrouded in darkness, with a history of pain and suffering. A boy with great potential, one the Jedi never saw fitting.

Pity.

Maul's confidence grew when he felt the soft winds pick up, the Dark side was calling to him. He watched Ezra, his body seemed uneasy, appearing to be in a state of discomfort. It was taking hold of him.

Ezra picked his head up. His voice sounded strained, but strong. "I'll never give in!"

The Dark side had taken hold. He laughed out of joy, cold joy. The boy had taken hold of it without even knowing. Maul could feel the darkness radiating off of him, a spark building into a raging fire. He sighed and eyed Ezra.

There is one thing that may just tip him over the edge. A Jedi's greatest weakness; compassion.

He looked sadly upon the boy.

"Then your friends will surely die."

"No!"

Ezra peered at the former Sith, his insides burning like an inferno. Like a raging wildfire in the tall, dry, grassy plains of Lothal. The soft nighttime breeze was starting to pick up, growing stronger, more powerful…

"Ezra…"

Wait, who's there? Who are you?

The faded voice sounded familiar, but it was too faint to tell. Someone, or something, was calling to him, but it was hard to tell through all the pain, the anger…

"Ezra!"

Was that… I could swear that sounded like…*Gasp.

"Kanan!"

Ezra's heart skipped a beat and his anger subsided. He felt a wave of comfort recognizing the presence of his own master.

"Kanan, I'm so sorry. How'd you… I just wanted to… I'm... I couldn't…"

He had trouble finding the words he wanted to say, his mind overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions. Ezra was so overjoyed just to hear his master's voice again. He began communicating with Kanan through the Force.

"Kanan, I was stupid, I'm sorry. I should've listened to…"

"Ezra, stop! Listen to me! Maul is taking advantage of you. Whatever you do, don't let him…"

Ezra couldn't hear him finish, his mind was frozen in shock. There was another voice, and it was dominating Kanan's words. He could hear the voice so clearly, the man might as well just said it outloud. After all, he was standing right in front of him.

"Saying goodbye to your friends, I see."

Oh no. This couldn't get any worse.

Maul had noticed Ezra's head shifting back and forth aimlessly as he was mouthing breathless words. He knew the boy was up to something, and the fact that Maul was now inside his head didn't make Ezra feel any better.

Kanan's tone grew loud and threatening. "If you lay one finger on him…"

"Oh Jedi, don't be so modest. The boy and I have just been practicing our... dueling abilities."

Wait, Kanan could hear him too? What the heck is going on?

Maul lifted an eyebrow towards the boy, his tone turning curious. A dark curiosity at that.

"Let's see if you can duel better with your mind than with your lightsaber."

Maul reached his hand out towards Ezra, his fingers only inches away from the Jedi's face. That's when Ezra felt it. The Dark side entering his mind, trying to break down his Force barriers. He groaned, desperately trying to hold back the darkness Maul was inflicting, Maul's mind trying to reach his own. He could feel Maul searching deep through his memories. Memories of pain, loss, loneliness. Old nightmares that would keep him up at night; yelling, screaming for comfort. Memories of fear, suffering, anguish.

Kanan could tell that something was happening, and it didn't feel good.

"Ezra, what's going on?"

Ezra could barely hear Kanan, he was struggling under the pressure of the Dark Side. Feelings and emotions were converging as one. His heart felt like it was nearing its physical peak, threatening to shatter into a million pieces. Voices from the past returning to him, haunting him.

"Ezra!"

A man in black, crushing his throat and depleting him of air. A child: crying through the night, screaming for his parents to return home, even though they never would.

"No."

Screaming, yelling, crying, pain; "...Come back!" more screaming, more crying, anguish, and rage. "...Mom! ...Dad! ...No!"

"Ezra!..."

Kanan's cries of concern were now just white noise, trailing off into nothingness.

Hot tears formed on the teen's eyes and were streaming down his face.

"No! No!"

Screams from the past, and screams from the re-emergence of his memories. He was breaking down in tears. His screaming now and his screams from his memories converging as one, indistinguishable from each other. He was breaking from the inside, out.

"Get out! Get the Hell out of my head!"

He couldn't even hear Kanan as he roared through the Force.

"Get your filthy hands off my padawan!"

Maul paused, and pondered at the threat. He turned towards Kanan's voice from inside Ezra's mind, a sick thought ran through his head.

"You mean, my apprentice."

Maul now focused his mind on Kanan's force signature, and latched onto it. Delving through Ezra's mind to reach Kanan's, he locked onto the Jedi Knight's mind and began to delve through his memories, searching for just the right one. He would have never forgotten it.

Ezra ceased to feel pain focused on his mind, but now he was sharing a part of the pain that Kanan was dealing with. He could hear Kanan's screaming through the Force, feeling useless to stop it. He was trying to block Maul's hold, trying to cut him off from his master's mind. But Maul was too strong, and he was too weak. He felt like a helpless child caught in the middle of a raging war.

He was hearing distant blaster fire; faded, but impactful. Ezra started thinking that he heard Captain Rex talking to him. He was hearing that same voice but coming from different people. Platoons and armies of droids and men were heard marching in sync, the hum of multiple lightsabers blocking and clashing at incoming trajectory. Everything was so confusing, he couldn't focus, not with the yelling, the screaming, the agony. Not with… Kanan's past returning to him.

"Master, wait!... No!... They killed her!" "Stop! Agh!"

There was more pain, more agony. He couldn't fight Maul with his mind, not like this. There was a second option, but it would require focus, and a risky approach. At this point, it was the only option he had. Ezra reached out, trying to locate the Force signature of his Kyber crystal, but he kept getting pushed back into his own mind.

C'mon Ezra. Focus!

He reached out in small bursts through the Force, desperately calling out, trying to pinpoint where it may be.

Don't try, do.

He gathered his strength and used his pain to his advantage. Ezra started to feel a pull and reached towards it. He had to keep reaching farther, and farther. He was closer, so close he could almost taste…

Found it.

It was fuzzy, but it would have to do. He stretched out his hand, struggling to summon it, Maul still impressing on his mind and his master screaming in pain.

Focus!

His gut was blazing like an inferno, and his fear was still ever present. He reached out and, within a few moments, heard the clattering of metal against dirt. Kanan was still being impressed upon, but he could feel a shift in the Force, and it wasn't the kind he wanted to feel.

"E… Ezra!... W... Wait!..."

Ezra stopped, and listened to his master's voice. He wanted to end Maul's pain right then and there. He didn't want anymore suffering, for both of them.

"...But ...K-Kanan…."

Kanan moaned, pushing back whatever memory that was going through his head. He was trying to tell his padawan something, forcefully grunting his words out.

"...To...geth...er."

He understood his master's command. They both focused their will on Maul, and were simultaneously using the Force to try and push Maul out of their minds. Hopefully, it would not be in vain.

Maul felt their shift in the Force and impressed harder upon their minds, the palm of his hand now upon Ezra's forehead, desperately looking for the one glimpse in the Force, the one memory he was looking for. If he could find the Jedi's darkest fear, his most devastating memory, then he would know how to recognize his signature, and even use it to his advantage.

The Jedi was protecting it well, too well. He could sense the last barrier he needed to break, but now both Jedi turned their focus on him in an attempt to block him out. It would be of no trouble, the only problem was finding that last straw, to have the Jedi let his guard down for even a moment would be more than enough time to retrieve his gut-wrenching memory.

Ezra, still within Maul's grasp and Force hold, gathered his strength and spoke out against the former Sith.

"D… Do what you want with me… Agh!… But leave my master alone!"

Maul felt a slight shift within the connection, the Jedi Knight wasn't expecting Ezra to say that. He let his guard down. There you are.

Maul smirked in accomplishment. "As you wish."

With one last push in the Force, Maul retrieved the memory from Kanan, but not before the Jedi Knight wailed in pain one last time and his connection was lost.

He pulled his hand back from Bridger and stumbled back, the boy collapsing from exhaustion and falling to the desert floor. Maul looked out and saw the Jedi's lightsaber; a smile formed on his face. Despite his own exhaustion, he was not as mentally torn as the boy, and he now held an advantage over both Jedi. When to use that advantage was now his top priority. If he could manipulate their minds, he would soon find his time to exact his revenge on Kenobi; the padawan still being the key to his ultimate goal.

Ezra would awake in a few moments, but the effects of entering one's mind would not wear off quickly, especially for a Force user. A clouded mind, as the boy would have now, could be the birthplace for a powerful storm of emotions. These emotions, combined with the power of the Force, could grant one strength beyond compare. Maul eyed Ezra's face, even though the padawan could not see him.

Let's see how you fair now, apprentice.