(A/N)- Aaaaaaand here's the final chapter my dears. There's more in the series still coming, but for now please do enjoy the closing part of this leg of the journey. It's been a wonderful time here with you and I appreciate all the wonderful feedback and comments you guys have shared with me.

This is for you, my dear readers.

Disclaimer: Leeeet's dooo the tiiiiime warp agaaaaaaaain, and remind you that I don't own Star Wars. Phooey.

It Ends Where It Began

Ezra shifted restlessly in the top bunk. The fresh bandages pulled slightly, awkward under his clothes. He stared up at the ceiling, listening to the thousand anxious thoughts that buzzed through his head. Yavin's humid temperature seeped in even through the cycling temperature regulation of the Ghost's life support systems.

It was a bit uncomfortable. Maybe he was too used to Ilum's biting chill. But... the sticky heat was also... comforting somehow.

It felt... safe.

Ezra inhaled slowly, quieting his mind and listening. The Ghost's familiar hum filled him, a gentle, soothing noise, low and murmuring. His body relaxed, muscles unwinding from their tensed state. Ezra felt his lids dropping, his mind drifting off...

-SWR-

Hours later he awoke, some noise at the door startling him out of his surprisingly sound and dreamless sleep.

He raised his face from the bed, blinking, faint light from the hallway spilling in through the opened door and a silhouetted figure standing there, wringing her hands.

Ezra blinked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up slightly.

"Sabine?" His face showed his confusion. What was she doing up?

A soft exhale shuddered out of her, and her bangs fell in front of her nose as she ducked her head.

"Sorry, I—" she babbled. "—I just had to check that you were..."

She trailed off, inhaling shakily now, eyes pinched, some unspoken emotion pulling at her features.

She glanced up, expression oddly vulnerable.

"Can—can I climb up?" she asked, hesitantly.

Concerned, Ezra took only a moment to process her words. "Yeah," he told her, shifting back at once and making room for her on the bunk. "Sure, go ahead."

Sabine gratefully crossed the room and put hands and boots on the ladder, ascending lightly, stepping softly so as not to wake Zeb.

She slipped into the bunk, settling down next to him as he lay back down. Face to face, as the nights before. Her wrists wound around behind his neck and his arm dropped over her waist and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Ezra was already relaxing again, her scent and the welcome warmth of her small body close to his pulling him back to the time before everything with Maul had happened, when all he had to worry about were bad dreams and unpleasant memories. Their soft breaths rose together, her features shadowed in the darkened room.

She wouldn't look at him, staring down at his collar. Ezra could feel a small tremble in the arms holding him. His quiet concern grew.

"You okay?" he asked her.

She squeezed her eyes closed, head jerking a bit as if berating herself. "Just a stupid nightmare," she spat. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder and held on even more tightly. "I saw Maul—saw him—take you again and I just—" she stammered, her voice straining.

He pulled her closer to stop her words, sliding his other arm underneath her. "Hey," he said, voice firm but gentle. "It's over now. I'm all right, Sabine," he assured her. He rubbed her back softly, whispering. "I'm all right," he said again.

All he could see was the top of her head, but it felt like she relaxed slightly at his reassurance. She still clung to him, fingers mashing the back of his shirt between them, arms stiff and tensed.

"All I could think about—" she told him, "—all that was running through my head was—" Her breath hitched slightly. "—was him hurting you, how afraid you must have been."

"I was afraid," Ezra confessed, serious and quiet. "Almost every minute."

She gave a breathless sound like she was holding back tears.

His arms gripped around her firmly. "But it's okay. I'm okay. I got out," he reminded her. "I beat him."

She finally pulled her nose up from his collar, looking at him with misting eyes. "I missed you so much..." she whispered.

It was his turn to squeeze his eyes closed and tighten his embrace around her. "I'm not going anywhere, Sabine," he said firmly. "I promise."

They held each other until they both fell asleep.

-SWR-

A cool mist was draped over the landing pad, curtaining the morning sunlight with a soft sheen. Ezra made his way down the Ghost's ramp, breathing deeply, his senses clearing with the fresh organic scent of the jungle and the clean air.

He followed the sound of lightsaber buzzing to where Kanan was running through his forms, blue blade flashing gracefully in swoops and lunges.

Kanan alerted to him quickly, deactivating his blade.

"Hey," he said, tone laced with concern. "You're up early. Couldn't sleep?" he guessed, reaching out a hand for his shoulder.

Ezra shrugged. "Wasn't as bad as some nights," he told Kanan.

"Any nightmares?"

"Yeah. Well, not me," Ezra quickly corrected, touching the side of his neck. "Sabine. She woke up and had to check on me to make sure I was still..." He waved vaguely. "...you know. Here."

"I can relate," Kanan muttered. The hand on Ezra's shoulder shifted, urging the boy into him. "C'mere."

Ezra let himself be enveloped in Kanan's arms, the sense of safety and security settling over his head again. The static in his mind was so quiet now, the ever-present anxieties that tingled on his spine a faint murmur. It wouldn't go away entirely, he knew, at least not for a long time, maybe never, but for now he was grateful for the comforting silence.

Kanan tucked his hand behind Ezra's head, holding him a little closer. "I hated myself for leaving you alone," he said. "After I promised you'd be safe."

"You couldn't have known what would happen," Ezra muttered, lingering in the hug a moment longer before gently pushing back. "How... how did you find me?" he asked.

"Maul's mess of the Ord Mantell checkpoint made some ripples," Kanan summarized. "We were able to follow them to him. Hondo's contacts actually gave us the biggest lead," he said, a light quip in his tone. A smile pulled at his lips. "We're lucky Maul was offworld to be spotted," he said.

"I..." Ezra glanced down. "I made him leave. Indirectly."

Kanan raised a curious eyebrow behind the mask, one that Ezra couldn't see, but could still sense.

His eyes drifted evasively as he stumbled through an explanation. "It was after... after things got really bad. I almost wanted to give up but..." He bit his lip, the static in his head whispering a little louder as he recounted the incident, his body recalling the aches, the hurt, the gloom that had physically settled into his body. "...but I didn't want him to win." He scratched a hand up through his hair. "I don't... know what I was thinking exactly I just—I wanted to piss him off. I wanted to make him angry even—" He stumbled over his next words, shivering. "—even if he was going to hurt me. I didn't care."

As he was talking, a burning sense of guilt began to gnaw on his chest. His mind flicked through all the moments where his anger, fear, and hatred of Maul slipped too close to the edge, all the times he heard the Dark Side's silken whisper in his ears and wanted so badly to give in. He was terrified of saying it, of confessing what he needed to confess, but he knew he had to be honest with his master, or the secret shame and guilt would drown him.

"There's something I need to tell you," he said in a hurried stream.

Then he had to stop, had to focus on the next breath, teetering on the edge of raw, trembling emotions that he had to remind himself to release.

Kanan could sense him struggling, and hovered closer, extending reassurance through their bond. "You don't have to talk about it," he told Ezra softly.

"I do," Ezra insisted, shaking his head. He took another slow, deep breath. "I channeled the Dark Side. Maul backed me into a corner until I hit back. I snapped out of it right away but..." He blinked at the sudden heat stinging his eyes. "...I was so ashamed I'd done it. I knew you'd be so disappointed in me." His hand flashed up, smearing under his eyes. "The whole time I was with him it was just... a constant voice in my head. I came so close to falling." He ducked his head. "I'm sorry."

Kanan was silent a moment. Then, he collected himself, carefully choosing his words.

"I'm not disappointed, Ezra," he told the boy, softly. "I'm... sad that you had to go through that. That Maul hurt you enough to make you so angry and afraid. I'm furious that it happened to you." He fixed his head steady, expression beaming. "And I'm proud of you for resisting. There aren't many people who can go through what you've gone through and come out without turning."

Ezra smiled faintly. "Wasn't easy," he quipped.

His gaze grew distant, and he stared past Kanan towards the Massassi temples.

At his silence, Kanan stepped closer, touching his arm gently.

"Ezra?"

Ezra pulled himself out of his thoughts, gaze dropping. "I'm all right," he said.

"Are you?" Kanan asked flatly. "Are you really? Maul's still out there you know," he pointed out.

Ezra shook his head. "He won't come back for me."

"You're sure this time?" Kanan pressed, skepticism etched on his face.

The boy nodded. "I'm sure."

Kanan puffed out a breath. Ezra's certainty was a firm note on his senses. He supposed he would just have to trust his padawan.

Changing the subject, Kanan piped up, "So how did you escape?"

"Huh? Oh." Ezra rolled his shoulders in a half-shrug. "I pulled a screw loose from his knee joint in our last duel, unbalanced him. He spilled on the ground, I pointed my saber at him and..." Ezra reached across, quietly grabbing one wrist with his other hand. "...he let me go," he finished, still in some disbelief about it.

Kanan shook his head. "That's the part that's still tripping me," he said.

Ezra sobered, looking down. "I think... I think he saw himself in me and... wanted to prove in the end that... he wasn't like his master." He'd been cycling it through in his head and it was the only thing that made sense.

"And... you?" Kanan prompted.

The hand on his wrist moved up to clutch his bicep, and Ezra gripped his arms around his elbows, his face twisting. "I wanted to kill him," he admitted. "But I couldn't. I just... I felt sorry for him," he said, his tone laced with disgust at himself. "Even after everything he..." He stopped a moment, hands tightening. "He was just so pathetic and miserable it wasn't worth it. And he'd been hurt by someone the same way I'd been hurt and—"

He forced himself to simmer down, let the calm of the Force breathe through him.

"It was like looking at a twisted mirror of myself." His eyes tightened, closing, remembering the bald fear on Maul's face and how much it echoed his own. "So... in the end I just... I couldn't strike him down." His chin lowered, his face trickling with a hot flush.

"You don't have to be ashamed for having empathy, Ezra," Kanan assured him, voice warm and gentle. "Even for an enemy. Showing mercy, having compassion... those are essential virtues for Jedi."

He leaned back a bit, seeming to quietly marvel at Ezra.

Ezra shifted under the probing gaze. "What?" he asked.

Kanan shook himself. "Nothing, it's just... You constantly amaze me with just how much Jedi you have in you."

The boy grinned, wide smile cracking his cheeks. "I have a good teacher," he said. "The best teacher."

Warmth pulsed in the Force between them for a heartbeat, as they shared the moment.

"I didn't teach you how to dismantle prosthetics," Kanan chuckled. "Where did you learn that trick?" he quipped.

Ezra's face squinched. "That's... kind of a long story," he said. "I had this crazy Force vision and talked to your master Depa Bilaba and fought a vision of myself and faced my past on the Chimaera and this old bald Jedi master taught me this new Force technique and..." He paused his rambling a split second, curling a hand behind his head. "...I think I got knighted?" he finished uncertainly.

Kanan stared in bewilderment, slightly dazed. He'd been wondering about the subtle change in Ezra's bearing in the Force, how much steadier and brighter he'd seemed, even despite everything he'd been through. Another proud flush filled him.

"As I said," he laughed softly. He reached his arm around Ezra's shoulders, hugging his padawan affectionately to his side. "You constantly amaze me, kid."

Ezra smiled, filling with warmth.

Kanan turned them around, nudging them towards the Ghost.

"So I'm on breakfast duty this morning," Kanan commented lightly. "Could use some extra hands. You in?" he asked.

"In," Ezra nodded.

He walked with Kanan across the landing pad and up the ramp into home.

-SWR-

Smoke drifted up from the wound in his chest, a clean fatal slash cleaving him in two. His eyes softened, widening in recognition and quiet acceptance. His hands lowered slowly, and the broken pieces of his saber dropped to the sandy ground.

Before his body followed, soft hands caught him, turning him up to look at the vast, endless starry sky.

The face of his once-enemy hovered over him, still so maddeningly serene and full of peace, the kind eyes he'd hated for so long gazing down on him with pity.

Maul felt his breath failing, reached up and clutched weakly towards Obi-Wan's robes.

"Tell me..." he whispered, his voice choking slightly, wheezing. "...is it the Chosen One?"

Obi-Wan nodded softly. Some great, deep sorrow was in his eyes, but his voice was solid with conviction as he confirmed, "He is."

Maul tilted his head back, a strange sense of relief filling him as cold began to take his senses. His body settled, as he accepted his absolute end.

This... was a good death. Yes. He could be content with this.

His eyes fixated on the moons, high above. He could feel his tired lungs failing. A clarity of vision passed through his mind and his thoughts drifted, not to Kenobi's mysterious Chosen One, but to a boy, dark-haired and filled with light, and a spirit he could not break. He almost... envied his apprentice. The boy's choices had continually steered him away from the path that Maul had followed determinedly to this last, bitter end. Ezra had found the Dark Side wanting again and again, and had turned away every time.

He wished... he could have done the same.

Goodbye Ezra, he bade farewell in his head.

With the last of his strength, he strained out one final, prophetic, sentence.

"He..." It was Ezra's face still in his mind's eye, imposed against the glowing moons. "...will... avenge... us."

His body stilled as the lifebreath left him, the admonition in his mind directed at the young Jedi Knight flickering away like a burning flame, fading into the cool night.

Avenge us.

(A/N)- *whispers* Booooooookeeeeeeeeeeeends.

One final time for now, your chapter notes.

1. "It's like poetry, it rhymes," I quote Lucas sagely, as I make deliberate callbacks to the first two chapters of "Splinters" and the first two chapters of this fic.

2. A nice heavy dollop of Sabezra shiptease for my thirsty shippers. You guys were so patient, you earned it. (Hey I warned you it was a slowburn, you can't blame me for being accurate.)

3. More hugging because Ezra deserves it, and also a nice long lovely talk with Kanan. Because you gotta have the comfort after all the hurt.

4. I toyed with the idea of an alternate death for Maul (and I'll be honest him getting shot to pieces by Stormtroopers while cackling made for a rather nice chilling, visceral image) but in the end I could really think of no better end for him than the one we got in canon. So I kept it; I felt it more thematically appropriate and tonally matched to the rest of the work and sue me I just really love the scene it's just... beautiful. Maul's life is a perfect tragedy, and it seemed fitting to end the journey as I started it—with him in the desert of Tatooine, thoughts turning to Ezra. Because I'm all about them bookends.

And with that, this story is finished! Thank you all again for reading, and do be on the lookout for more Rebels stories from me in the future.