Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, etc. belong to Lucasfilm and Disney. I'm just playing in their sandbox. Some dialog in this prologue has been taken from the Darth Maul comic.

AN: This is a story I've been planning for years, and the Clone Wars finale finally gave me the motivation to write it. Strap yourselves in; it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

(Quick note: Maul is the same age as Eldra.)

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.

It did not end well.

– "Daughter of Smoke and Bone", Laini Taylor

"Tell me, my apprentice. Do you understand now why I warned you to keep your distance from the Jedi?"

Maul fell to his knees before his master. He knew that begging for forgiveness would earn him no mercy, and only hoped that his punishment would be swift.

The rockslide had taken him off-guard, but had not killed him like the Padawan intended it to. He'd used the Force to push the rocks aside and leap in a final counterattack, but instead of impaling the Jedi on the end of his lightsaber, he'd found her instead lying unconscious on the ground by the feet of his master.

His eyes were drawn to her helpless form. Eldra Kaitis, seventeen galactic years old, a Padawan of the Jedi Order. He'd underestimated her, and it had almost cost him his life.

"Forgive me, my master," he said. "I have deceived you."

"There was no deception here." Darth Sidious's yellow, bloodshot eyes glowed beneath his dark hood. "After all, it was I who set you on this path. Did you believe you would uncover a secret to which I was not already privy?"

Maul tried not to flinch as realisation sunk in. "A trial. You were testing my loyalty. And I have failed."

"Have you? The Sith were born in defiance," said Sidious. "You have embraced the very nature of our Order. Rise, Darth Maul."

The Zabrak did as he was told. "But I have still failed you. I was bested by the Padawan. Unless you mean for me to kill her now." He looked down at Eldra, still unconscious.

The thought of striking her down when she was helpless sat uncomfortably with him. All the Jedi deserved to die, but they deserved to go down fighting. Killing a Jedi in battle was a sacred rite, and one he wished to honour. He would strike her down as she was if his master asked it of him, but he wouldn't be happy about it.

Darth Sidious also looked down at the Rutian Twi'lek girl. "This exercise in defiance has been useful, indeed. In order to prepare yourself against the Jedi, you must learn to fight against one. To kill such a fine specimen now would be useless."

Maul frowned. "Master?"

"We will take her," said Sidious. "You will keep her and use her for training purposes."

The younger Sith looked between his master and the Padawan on the ground. The prospect of fighting her again, over and over, was thrilling. It would be a risk to keep her, since they lived on the same planet as the Jedi, but then if the Jedi hadn't been able to detect them by now…

But she had come so close to killing him. And if she escaped…

"She will be killed once we are ready to reveal ourselves." His master's words responded to his thoughts. "I trust you will be able to keep her under control until then."

Maul looked at Eldra again, and nodded. "Yes, my master."

AN: The Darth Maul comic is set sometime before the Battle of Naboo, but it never says when. The only official date I could find was circa. 32BBY, so basically anytime before that within reason. For the purpose of this story, I'm saying it happened five years before Naboo.