Ahsoka awoke with a gasp, looking for Maul around the trash tunnel in a panic- only, there was no trash anymore, and Maul sat beside her. His legs were there, and albeit still metal, she was thankful they were not those of a spider. Maul looked her over anxiously, but tried to compose himself as much as possible. Meanwhile, Ahsoka avoided his gaze. I was not supposed to see that, she thought. But why would the Force want me to? What did it mean?

"Are you alright, Lady Tano?" Maul asked gently. His words made her jump; she noticed she was filled with apprehension on how to approach the subject of what she saw.

"Y-yes."

"You're lying. I can sense it," he growled quietly. Shit, so much for hiding it from him, she thought. She felt her eyes begin to well with tears. The mere fact of what Maul endured made her deeply sad and ashamed at how she'd treated him in the last few months. I called him a monster.

"What did you see?" he asked tensely, then noticed that she had begun to cry. "My lady… Look at me..." he said much more softly.

Ahsoka only sniffled in response, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Lady Tano…"

"No," she mewled.

"Look at me, please," he beckoned. She did so reluctantly. His golden eyes were filled with concern, but also fear and longing to reach out and console her. Yet, he restrained himself. She would rather die than be touched by the likes of me, he thought. Yet Ahsoka thought much differently, and like Maul, carefully shielded her thoughts.

He'd kill me if I hugged him, let alone told him what I saw, she thought. The Force willed her to see what had happened to him, but she was hesitant to share that with Maul.

"I saw something I shouldn't have seen, and I don't want to talk about it," she murmured. Maul exhaled deeply.

"I shall make arrangements for a ship for you when we arrive at our next destination. We shall depart today, and I will not speak to you until we part if you so wish," he said robotically. Ahsoka's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You want to leave," he half asked, half stated in confusion.

"N-no! No, I don't," she replied hastily. A wave of relief washed over him, but his confusion only spiked. If she had seen the atrocities I've committed in their full glory, surely she'd leave? He wondered. Yes, something else is distressing her then.

"You are certain you wish not to speak of it?"

"Certain, for now. I must speak with Master Yoda about it first." Maul's brow furrowed, and anger prickled off of him.

"You will discuss this with that old toad but you won't share why we're bonded with the one whom you're bonded to?" he snapped. The closeness of his words in 'we're' made her heart beat uncomfortably.

"I don't know why we're bonded! Master Yoda will know why I saw-" she cut herself short, and stopped talking.

"Fine, do as you wish," he sighed irritably.

"You didn't see anything?" she asked.

"No."

Lucky bastard, she thought frustratedly. She left shortly after and made her way cautiously towards Yoda's hut. He waited for her inside, meditating on a large stone.

"Troubled you are, young Ahsoka," Yoda noted. She immediately began to tear up.

"Master Yoda, I saw something awful in the vision… about Maul. Before he disappeared, what did you know of him?"

"Know nothing we did. Only that he was a Sith Lord. Murdered many innocents it was known, and battled Qui Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan he did. Killed Qui Gon Jinn, slain by Kenobi we believed, wrongfully so."

"Did you ever wonder why Maul disappeared for over a decade? I saw…" she murmured, her words failing her at the images of Maul in her head.

"Odd it was for him to resurface. What did you see?"

"H-he fell down into the trash chute, and dumped in a landfill," she croaked, her voice choking with emotion. "He laid there like trash, for ten years, calling out in agony for Sidious and his mother to rescue him. He was abandoned down there until Savage Opress found him. Master, it was horrible," she finished, leaving the parts out about him surviving on rats and creating makeshift spider legs or going completely insane. Ahsoka knew she shouldn't be sharing this information with Yoda, but saved whatever dignity she could of his torment.

"New information this is," Yoda murmured.

"Did this happen? Why did the Force want me to see him like this? He's asking what I saw, and angry I won't tell him right away..." she asked anxiously.

"Know not if it did or why, but if it is true, Maul will not take to this well" Yoda explained.

"I know, I don't know what to do." Half of Ahsoka wanted to avoid the subject altogether, although she knew the Force had not willed it for her to ignore what she saw. The other half of her was broken in two at the reality of Maul's miserable life. She wondered if he'd ever had any peace or happiness in his entire existence, figuring not.

"Use it to sever the bond we must. If Maul knows you've seen him in such a pitiful state, leave you alone he may. Pride is strong with the dark side," said Yoda.

"M-maybe," Ahsoka murmured, uncomfortable at the fact that Maul may leave. She could sense his irritability and franticness in the Force even now. How could she cut all ties with him after learning of such an existence? How could he cut all ties after everything they'd been through together? Without this shared goal, what would the meaning of their lives be? Ahsoka thought it unlikely that Maul would ditch her entirely, but it was a concern. Something in her shouted 'no, he wouldn't leave', but she wasn't so sure.

"Master Yoda, why would the Force bond us in the first place? Why would it want me to see his innermost secret only to tear us apart to never see each other again? It doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't…" Yoda sighed. "Again we must meditate to learn more."

Seeing Maul like that terrified her. She disliked that the vision had involuntarily invaded his privacy. What she'd seen was not for her to see in the first place. "I-I do not want to see anything else of his personal life, that is a secret that was not supposed to be shared with me."

"Mistake you think the Force has made?"

"I don't know, it has to be!"

"No. Mistakes the Force does not make. A reason you were shown there is. You must speak with Maul, and meditate further we must."

"Alright, I'll speak with him." Ahsoka thanked Yoda and left his hut, returning to their camp where Maul paced impatiently back and forth until her return. He glared at her in anticipation of what she had to say.

"Maul, Master Yoda said we should meditate again together…"

"He said nothing of your vision? I refuse to allow such useless 'meditation' if the knowledge cannot even be shared. In a single session, you managed to panic and fall ill immediately. What would come of another? I refuse," he finished with a defiant huff.

"For once, I agree with you," she said uncomfortably, which surprised Maul. His eyes grew into suspicious golden slits.

"Why?"

"I saw something that I should not have seen, and I am afraid of what else I will see if we continue."

"What did you see?"

"You have to promise me you won't be angry," she pleaded.

"I will make no such promise, and the vexation of your secrecy towards myself along with your openness with Yoda has already surpassed anger," Maul muttered, but she sensed little anger in him. She knew his bluff would soon become true. Ahsoka looked at him reluctantly, as if to beg please don't make me tell you. She fought hard to keep her tears back, worried at Maul's reaction.

"I saw… Your battle with Obi-Wan," she started hesitantly. Maul immediately felt his stomach drop, and white hot anger and horror flow through his veins.

"I-I saw what happened afterwards…" she whispered, and with the confirmation Maul's rage flared.

"What?" he snapped in hostile disbelief.

"I saw up until Savage found you…"

"How fucking dare you!" he seethed.

"I didn't mean to, or want to! The Force willed it-"

"The Force? Your precious Force wanted you to see what Obi-Wan did to me? And for what! What possible use for defeating our masters has this information brought you? That was supposed to die with me and Savage, and you, Yoda, and your wretched Force have taken that from me!"

"I-I don't know why the Force wanted me to see it! I don't know what use it is… Maul, I didn't ask for this, I'm so sorry-"

"Sorry? You dare pity me now? You sneak into my mind like a filthy rat and violate my privacy only to return it with pity? Pity for me? I should have left you to your fate to rot in the sands of Tatooine where you belong!" he screamed at her. Ahsoka flinched. He would not take pity from anyone, but especially not her.

"No! Maul, stop! I-I…" Ahsoka began to break down, and while Maul's chest heaved and the rage radiated off of him like the sun, he knew he had gone too far. He was taken aback by her tears and stopped himself, waiting for her to answer.

"I'm sorry…"

"Stop," he commanded. Ahsoka did so, but her tears began to flow freely.

"If I had known you were there-"

"Stop, Lady Tano."

"I would have come for you-" she choked out before being interrupted.

"Stop!" he half snarled, half wailed. Maul waved his arms as he did so, the campsite flying to pieces in every direction from the force of his rage. His body rippled, and Ahsoka wiped her eyes before him. When she looked up at him, she noticed tears welling in his own eyes. She could feel the tornado of emotion swirling around him- anger, fear, embarrassment, loathing, and an immense amount of pain.

The reality of Maul's life had reared its ugly head. In the hours before Order 66, Maul was nothing but a monster to Ahsoka. Now, standing before her, she saw a child taken from his mother and brothers. She saw a child beaten, tortured, and molded into a fierce warrior against his will. She saw an adolescent gaining his master's support as he grew stronger, and the pride he felt as a Sith Lord. She saw a man trained to do what he had been forced to do, the price of which gave him a decade of misery and madness. She saw a man who begged her to restore the galaxy, who begged her to let him perish. She saw a broken man, a misunderstood man, and a man who deserved more.

Let me help you, she thought to him openly.

I've heard that from you once before, he thought back viciously. Ahsoka flinched once again; it was true she'd promised to help him and had gone back on her word. Ahsoka bowed her head in shame. A long silence passed between them, interrupted only by an occasional sniffle from Ahsoka. Maul turned and grabbed his saber, stalking off towards the swamps.

"Maul?"

"Do not seek me out, or it will be the last thing you do," he growled, before turning off into the woods.