"Come, sit," Yoda beckoned them both. Maul looked at him suspiciously, but complied. The two of them sat in front of Yoda, the blue lights dancing around them before disappearing into the swamp. Yoda's eyes opened, and he looked sternly at Maul.
"Severed this bond must be," he explained.
"We should learn what it means first, shouldn't we?" Ahsoka asked.
"Only enough to sever it," Yoda replied. Ahsoka wasn't so sure if she wanted to sever it completely.
"What if it can help us in some way, in destroying Sidious or saving Anakin-"
"No. Severed only, or you both must leave."
"For once I agree with the old man," Maul growled. For his own selfish reasons, he knew this bond was growing stronger by the minute, and the thought of Ahsoka dipping into his most private thoughts- especially his private feelings towards the Togruta. Most of all, he feared that she would look into his past. Firstly, the nitty gritty of the atrocities he committed, and secondly, what happened to himself after his fateful duel with Obi-Wan. After Savage passed, I was certain this knowledge and the stain on my dignity would die with me… Now, I am not so certain, he thought uneasily.
"Maul, what if this meant the difference between victory and defeat? You'd throw everything away? Why?" Ahsoka asked incredulously. Maul's eyes squinted into a sharp glare towards her, and Yoda eyed them both coolly.
"No hope for victory in defeating Sidious or Skywalker. Sever this bond only I can attempt," Yoda said. He sensed a deep pang of frustration and hopelessness in Ahsoka. "Fear not, young Lady Tano. Hope there is, but suicide is confronting Skywalker. Dangerous to be meddling with a Sith Lord."
"Ex Sith Lord," Maul grumbled.
"Ex Sith Lord, but strong with the dark side you are still. Forgotten I have not Qui Gon Jinn you murdered," Yoda said sharply.
"And if I had the pleasurable option of killing Obi-Wan as well that day, I'd take it now!" Maul snarled, pain and hatred dripping from his tongue. Yoda's fingertips gripped his lightsaber, and the air grew tense around them.
"Stop, Maul. This is our only hope right now to find some answers" Ahsoka snapped at him. She felt the rage prickle inside him. You know nothing, he snarled through the Force. She ignored him.
"Master, please show us what to do," Ahsoka asked, bowing her head respectfully. Yoda turned to Maul.
"Your word I must have. Comply with what is asked. Lie to me, do not, for I shall know."
"You have my word," Maul answered honestly.
"Good. Know not what this bond is. Know not what will happen, or how to sever it- if it is to be severed. Strong with the Force Dagobah is. Sit, meditate, hand in hand. Listen to what the Force wants from this bond you must," Yoda explained. Ahsoka and Maul looked at each other awkwardly, but sat in a lotus position facing each other. They reached for each other's hands, Ahsoka's small dainty ones in Maul's large rough ones.
"Good. Listen now. Let your thoughts float away like clouds, let the Force enter you," he murmured. Slowly, Yoda's voice faded, and Ahsoka felt a great quiet calm flow through her. It had been the first time in months since the light side of the Force had connected with her, and the beauty of it made her eyes well with tears. For several minutes she let the peace flow through her, until she felt a searing pain slice across her thighs. Ahsoka screamed and opened her eyes, only to find Obi-Wan looking above her.
"Master?" she asked confusedly through the pain, but he seemed not to hear her. Her body gave out from under her, and she began to fall. Where am I? She thought, by the looks of it some kind of imperial ship. This is strange, she thought. The pain was unbearable. Her body smacked the sides of the imperial tunnel violently, her bones cracking underneath her. Ahsoka's head smacked the wall, leaving her in a few second daze. She noticed a black lump floating above her. My robe… legs… my legs, she realized with horror. Ahsoka looked down, and realized her body now ended at her thighs. No, no, no… she thought in a panic.
After several minutes of falling, she saw the floor growing rapidly closer. Soon she would hit, and her death would be imminent.
"No, no!" she screamed, as if it would help. The remains of her body slammed into the ground, and everything went black.
Ahsoka awoke with a groggy jolt. Her body was wracked, broken and crumpled like a tissue. The floor reeked, with a sickly smell and stickiness that coated her body like a film. It was dark with bits of light penetrating through, and a heavy weight pinned down on her chest. She was thirsty, her lips crusty and bleeding. I've been unconscious for days, she thought suddenly. A crunching sound followed shortly after, and something crashed above her, crushing her body more. She moaned in pain to no avail. Ahsoka noticed the junk around her was trash. I'm in a trash chute, oh god. She passed out again, the darkness sweeping over her.
When she'd come back to her senses, Ahsoka felt that the weight upon her was lifted. The trash had somehow moved around her, and she felt herself laying in a broken heap on top. I'm moving, she noted. Several minutes passed of feeling as though in a small ship or vehicle, and then all hell broke loose. The trash creaked around her, along with a heavy groan of metal. Ahsoka felt herself fall, and with it her nerves screamed out in agony. Trash fell around her, and suddenly she noticed she was in mid-air. Oh no, oh no, she thought. The fall was high, and she plummeted faster and faster. The ground got closer with every second until there were no more seconds to be had. Her body fell to the earth upon a pile of trash with a violent thud, and everything went black.
"No!" Ahsoka screamed when she awoke this time. She was sweating heavily, her heart pounding. Her body ached violently, and she let out an agonizing moan of pain. Her legs oozed blood gently as her heart rate beat faster, and she felt her consciousness walking a fine line.
"Help, someone!" she cried, but nobody answered. Several seconds passed, and she once again called out for help. Only this time, she heard a crinkling of trash.
"Help!" she called, and the sound grew closer. Ahsoka turned her head to find one of her legs laying nearby, stinking of putrid flesh and blood. The sight of its mangled decay made her throw up, which wracked her body with searing pain. When she looked back, she noticed the rustling of trash behind where the leg had landed. A large serpent crawled from one of the tunnels and began sniffing the leg.
"No, no…" she muttered incoherently. The snake did not notice her, and began to devour her leg. Ahsoka screamed, and suddenly the serpent cocked its head towards her. In curiosity it slithered forward. Ahsoka tried to shuffle away, but the pain was too immense, too many broken bones barred her from it.
"Don't eat me, please," she begged.
"Eat you? No, you're far too large for me. I'm Morley. I could help you. We've got everything here. I can get you what you want. For the right amount of course."
"Anything, anything you want," she begged.
"Anything?" Morley pondered, a wicked smile forming across his face. "Leftovers" he settled with a laugh.
"You ate my legs," she sobbed.
"My apologies. We must build you some new ones, don't you think?" Ahsoka only nodded, and felt herself growing delirious.
"I'll take care of you," the serpent hissed, and she felt herself passing out once again.
Ahsoka awoke with a jolt. She frantically checked her surroundings to find herself still in the tunnels of trash. She looked down at her legs only to find that they were there- intact, unbroken, attached to her body. A deep sigh of relief flooded from her lungs, but was replaced quickly with confusion. What the hell was that all about, she thought curiously. Nonetheless, she was immensely grateful for it to all be a dream. Yet I'm still in this trash pile.
A noise startled her- the clanking of metal, followed by the sound of whispers. Someone is down here, she thought. Ahsoka followed the noise, the clanking growing louder. From the end of the dark tunnel, she noticed a large spider-like figure hunched over. Its teeth gnashing together, eating something that was squealing. She felt herself growing nauseous again, but came closer. What she saw shocked her.
Maul's emaciated body tore apart at a womprat like an animal, hungrily tearing the flesh from it. His torso ended with eight metal makeshift legs, put together crudely with trash that had been laying around. Ahsoka screamed, but no sound came out. She began to hyperventilate, but Maul paid no attention. I'm having a bad vision. This can't be real. This didn't happen, this has to be a nightmare, she told herself. Another noise of footsteps echoed in the distance, and Maul's head perked up immediately. His metal legs scrambled towards the sound, and Ahsoka tried desperately to keep up. Whatever this vision meant, Yoda would certainly be able to decipher it.
She followed until the sound of a lightsaber caught her attention. Someone's here to kill him, she thought frantically. Ahsoka ran faster until two figures came into sight: two Zabraks, interestingly enough. She couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but she heard the much larger yellow Zabrak call Maul "brother". This is Savage, she thought. The thought struck her that Maul had been missing for over a decade, and her heart suddenly filled with sorrow. He'd been down here all this time, she thought with horror.
Maul muttered incoherently and ran from Savage. When he came by Ahsoka, she reached a hand out to him- when her hand collided with him, he whirled around in a fury.
"Don't touch me!," he seethed. Images of him laying on the trash heap for days on end flashed in her mind. Memories of him crying out for his mother, for Sidious, for anyone. Memories. Oh God, these are memories. The horror overwhelmed her, and Ahsoka screamed.
"No!" Ahsoka screeched in a panic, pushing herself away from Maul. His eyes snapped open worriedly, and Yoda likewise seemed alarmed. She was back in the peaceful forest of Dagobah, but her mind was anything but peaceful.
"My lady?" Maul asked alarmingly, while Ahsoka began to hyperventilate.
"M-Maul..." she began, but passed out for the final time. Maul leapt forward to catch her, his eyebrows knitted with worry as she fell unconscious.
"What did you do to her?!" Maul roared at Yoda, still cradling her limp body in his arms.
"Nothing I did. The Force-"
"What did she see? Is she alright, dammit!" Maul seethed.
"Saw she did what the Force willed. Alright she is. Intense her journey was is all," Yoda replied stoically. "Know not what she has seen until she wakes." Maul looked down at her worriedly, and picked her up in his arms. It felt good to hold her again, but his concern overrode everything.
"Felt nothing in the Force you did?"
"No," Maul snapped.
"Care for her you do?" Yoda asked suspiciously, eyeing him curiously. Maul's eyes squinted as he glared daggers at Yoda.
"I'm taking her to my quarters until she comes to her senses, then we will be leaving," he snapped. Yoda shook his head and returned to his hut, while Maul quickly put Ahsoka down on the bed in their camp. He worried she saw the atrocities he'd committed, he worried she would leave him when she woke. Maul laid next to her, anxiously awaiting her to wake up.
Hope you are enjoying this story. Heads up: will get intimate eventually. I know it's a slow burn but bear with me :) thanks for reading!