Word Count: 118

Rating: K+

Genre: Almost a drabble/AU

Characters/Pairings: Darth Maul

Distortion III: Phantom Sage

Morlok is a peaceful world. It is small, comparable to the fourth moon of Yavin, and alone. Covered with jungle, it boasts a varied ecosystem of miniature life forms.

A man sits in a cabin on this planet. Nestled in his voluminous cloak, he touches a faded, patterned hand to his chin. Light ekes in through the cracks in the hovel's ceiling, enough to see that stubble has come in black.

Sidious never expected him to survive Naboo. He had never expected himself to survive the crash the autopilot forced him into afterwards. If the impact did not take him, his own lightsaber would—

But in some buried, intrinsic part of his mind, the Force had whispered peace.