AN: Some lines borrowed from the Darth Maul comic and a couple from the Clone Wars episode "The Lawless".

No pain could be deeper,

no life could be cheaper

– "If I Can't Love Her", Josh Groban

Eldra sighed whilst throwing and catching her lightsaber impatiently. The training room was set up, and Maul was late.

She'd quickly discovered, in the weeks that had followed her capture and first sparring session, that there were limits to how much her Jedi training could help her cope with her situation.

Patience was never a virtue she'd been fully acquainted with outside of lightsaber combat, and what little she had of it was being tested. Time was crawling along slower than she thought possible, with the days feeling like weeks and the weeks feeling like months. Being faced with the same walls every day felt like a tedious torture; they were slowly crushing her from all angles with no means of escape. She was turning into a caged animal, and often found herself pacing in her quarters when she had nothing else to do. Meditation could only entertain her for so long.

In a way, her training sessions with Maul were the only exciting parts of each day. She'd gotten to the point of actually looking forwards to sparring with a monster of the dark side, and she hated it.

Controlling her hate, her anger and her fear was growing harder. She would use calming techniques and tell herself that things could be worse; she wasn't locked up in some cell and covered in chains, nor was she being physically or mentally tortured on a daily basis. But the fact remained – one she couldn't ignore no matter how hard she tried – that she had no idea what the next day would bring, especially when her life was in someone else's hands.

Eldra didn't even know how much of what Maul had told her was true. For the time being, all he seemed to want was a sparring partner; someone he could use to better himself. If that was true, then the lack of torture made sense from a pragmatic point of view. It was in his best interests to keep her at top form, so torturing her would be counterproductive.

Most days, she managed to keep calm with this mindset; telling herself that her situation could be worse. But some days, the stress would get to her and she would come close to giving into her panic.

She was constantly suspicious as to why Maul hadn't interrogated her for information about the Jedi, which led her to suspect all sorts of horrible theories as to why he wouldn't need the information. Theories ranging from his Sith master being a former Jedi or even currently pretending to be a Jedi. That last theory was terrifying to contemplate, especially since it instantly made any of the Jedi Masters (the only ones who would be strong enough to hide in plain sight) suspects, even Master Yoda.

In the face of something like that, the thought of Maul eventually deeming her useless and slaughtering her was nothing in comparison. At least then she would be free.

All the horrific possibilities that haunted her, added to just how much she didn't know about what the Sith had planned for her… On those bad days, she was almost swept up in the urgency of what she had to do. She was desperate to escape and tell the Jedi that the Sith had returned, that they were planning something, that they could have already infiltrated the Order…

But the only plan she had required patience – which, aforementioned, she didn't have much of to begin with. In this case, though, she would have to listen to her inner voice that sounded like her master, and push herself to her limits. Because Eldra knew that waiting for the right moment was crucial.

If she acted too soon, or even gave Maul too much sympathy all at once, he'd lash out and there'd be little to no chance of it working again. And he'd already rejected an attempt to reason with him, right before their first battle on the moon.

"We needn't be enemies. We don't have to fight. You don't have to give yourself over so completely to this darkness."

"If you believe that, you are not the Jedi I thought you were."

But in that moment, she'd been 99% certain it wouldn't work. Now, if she waited for the right opportunity, and showed sympathy gradually, little moments at a time…

There was no guarantee it would work. But she had to try. At the very least, he could get so mad at her that he'd strike her down in anger.

Eldra had already started to be somewhat nice, in order to "soften" him up before the reasonings and sympathies began. She's cooperated, eaten when she was told to and trained with him when requested. She still snarked at him constantly, because she had her limits, but since he found her snarking amusing instead of irritating, this worked in her favour.

She looked down at her lightsaber and recalled all the times they had fought. Either he would win, or she would, or it would end in a stalemate. A few times, she'd intentionally slipped so he would kill her accidentally, but he always stopped before he could.

The thought of him killing her didn't scare her. But whenever she thought about igniting her own lightsaber and striking herself down… She couldn't do it. Did that make her cowardly, or brave? She hadn't decided, but liked to think it was the latter. So long as she was alive, there was a chance she could escape and warn the Jedi.

Eldra pushed that thought away and began to entertain herself by balancing her lightsaber horizontally on her forehead.

This was how the droid found her when he walked into the training room. "My master has returned from his mission, but he will not be training today."

"You couldn't have told me that sooner, Venny?" Eldra lifted the lightsaber up with the Force before snatching it out of the air.

"Must you insist on calling me that?"

"VN-22 is a mouthful, so yes."

Venny let out the droid equivalent of a sigh. "Master Maul does not wish to be disturbed."

"Is he sulking because he still hasn't killed any Jedi? Forgive me for not caring."

The droid looked around, as if expecting someone to be hiding in the shadows, before moving closer to Eldra. "His master is most displeased with him."

Eldra's eyebrows rose. "Why? Did he not meet the Sith's maiming quota, or something?"

"I do not know what his mission entailed, but he failed," said Venny. "And his master punished him for it. I am advising you not to go anywhere near Master Maul until he has recovered. The last time this happened, I went to ask him a question and he cut me in half. It was a week before he could repair me. Do you know how many holodramas I missed during that time?"

"Not enough. You're obsessed." She sighed. "I guess training won't be happening anytime soon. What am I supposed to do until then?"

"I hear holodramas are splendid time killers."

"You're hilarious."

"Ha-ha." Venny began to walk towards the door. "I would ask you to help me clean the apartment, but I already know what your answer will be. I thought Jedi were supposed to help those less fortunate…" He left the training room without a backwards glance.

Eldra jumped down from her seat on the platform, and was about to make her way back to her room when a thought occurred to her. Venny had implied rather strongly that Maul was hurt. She guessed that he wasn't the type of person to ask for help; that would show weakness. But if she offered to help?

This could be the moment she needed to begin her plan.

She retrieved some bacta patches from the medical unit before making her way towards Maul's quarters. She'd never been inside them, and wondered what they'd be like.

When she reached the door, she took a moment to debate how to approach the situation. She could dive straight into the sympathetic angle, but that would make him suspicious immediately. A cautious approach would give him the idea that she was afraid of him, which she wasn't. Striding in like she owned the place with her attitude turned up to eleven would probably get her head bitten off (or decapitated off, more likely).

In the end, she decided on the "I don't care about you" approach. And thought it best not to enter the room right away.

She knocked on his door and opened it without waiting for a response. Neither did she wait for him to talk first. "Venny said you were back, and implied you were hurt. So, I thought you'd want these." She used the Force to levitate the bacta patches, and floated them into his room before letting them drop to the floor. "I'm bored when we don't fight, so hurry up and get better."

"Leave." It was all he said. He was resting on his bed, and his yellow eyes glowed in the darkness of his quarters.

Yet in the dim light, she could see the pain in his posture, despite his efforts to hide it. And she could see the extent of his injuries. It looked like he'd been struck by lightning, more than once. She recalled suddenly that the Sith were rumoured to have the ability to create lightning with the Force, and weaponize it.

His master had punished him by torturing him with blasts of lightning. At this realisation, Eldra softened her demeanour.

"Why would you choose the dark side if this is what you have to endure on a regular basis?" she couldn't help but ask.

He chuckled, but darkly. "The promise of power outweighs the pain I must endure in order to earn it."

"So, what? You just woke up one day and decided you wanted to be a powerful egomaniac? Is getting electrocuted all the time even worth it?"

"Yes." She swore he didn't sound so certain, but he pressed on before she could contemplate it. "And it was not a decision on my part. I was chosen by my master."

Some things started to add up. "How old were you?"

"I don't think that's any of your concern."

Eldra leaned against the threshold, arms crossed. "I'm bored. Humour me."

He was silent for a moment, before telling her, "I was young. Three, perhaps. I do not remember, but my master said that he found me on the streets of Iridonia, begging for scraps. He saw my potential and took me to become his apprentice. He saved me from the squanders; enlightened me of my true destiny."

She frowned. "Iridonia? No, you can't be from there."

Maul snarled. "You cannot presume to know me better than my master does!"

"Then your master lied to you," she said, not caring how he'd react. "Being a Sith, I imagine lying should come easily to you. And I know what I'm talking about, because I've seen those tattoos before. My master and I once met a Zabrak from Dathomir who grew up in the Clan of the Nightbrothers, and escaped. The Nightbrothers are enslaved to Dathomir's ruling Clan: the Nightsisters. I learned all about them in my history lessons back at the Temple."

The Sith before her was silent as he listened, but she could sense his impatience and his rising anger. His yellow eyes narrowed when she finished. "It does not matter where I came from. What matters is what I have become; the power that I now wield, thanks to my master and the dark side of the Force."

But Eldra couldn't help filling in the gaps in his past. Like she told him, she knew of the Dathomirian cult; she knew that the women were dominant and had enslaved the Zabrak males that shared their planet. And she knew that most Dathomirians, if not all of them, were Force-sensitive.

The planet was a hotspot for the dark side of the Force. It would be an ideal world for a Sith Lord to visit in order to seek an apprentice. The Nightsisters would never offer up one of their own, but would happily part with a Nightbrother. And a Sith Lord would want someone young; someone he could corrupt from an early age, and groom into an apprentice who would never betray him. A child raised on the dark side wouldn't understand any other way of living; wouldn't know that their life could be better.

And if all that was true, then Maul didn't ask the Nightsisters to hand him over. Maul didn't choose to be taken by his master. Maul didn't ask to be trained in the dark side of the Force. And she doubted that he was free to leave his life as a Sith. He didn't know it, or even understand it, but he was as much a captive of his master as she was.

And just like that, the sympathy towards him became genuine. There was no need to force it.

Eldra stepped into his room. "If you were really that young… then the decision to join the dark side wasn't yours. Your master made it for you – and the Nightsisters, if that is where you came from. But your master made you this way. Don't you want to make your own choices? Be who you make yourself to be?"

"Silence!" he snarled. "You think you know me?!"

"I only know the monster your master has turned you into," she said. "But I'm trying to look past that and see if there's anyone underneath worth knowing." A part of her knew she was moving too fast, but the words kept coming. "You're a prisoner here, just like me. The only difference is you've been conditioned to think this is your only purpose in life, when there's so much more out there."

Maul leapt to his feet, ignoring his injuries in his anger. "This is my purpose in life! This is what I was born to do! And I won't have some Jedi… infecting me with their light!"

He reached out with his hand, calling on the Force. Eldra suddenly felt his dark presence against her mind, trying to break in, and the pressure caused her to instinctively strengthen her mental shields. Finding herself frozen in place, she quickly weighed her options. She could let him tire himself out trying to break in, but then she didn't really know how strong he was. If he managed to force his way into her mind, the pain would be unbearable.

Her other option was risky, but it was something her master had taught her. And it followed the military belief that the best defence was a swift offence.

"In order to look into another's mind, you must lower your own mental defences,"Master Ori had told her. "So, to save yourself from a mental attack, you must first let your attacker into your mind; let them believe they have won. This way, it spares you the pain it would cause if your attacker were to force their way in. But before you do this, remember to lock away any secrets you do not wish for them to see, in the deepest depths of your mind. Then, the moment you feel them inside, follow them back into their own mind in a counterattack. This will catch them off-guard and force them to retreat from your mind immediately."

Resolved in what she needed to do, Eldra took a moment to lock away anything she didn't want Maul to see; the secrets of the Jedi, and some personal memories that were dear to her. Then, when she was ready, she lowered her defences and let him slip inside.

She fought against the wave of discomfort it caused, letting such a dark presence into her mind. When she knew he was inside, she lifted her hand up and mimicked him, following his presence back to his own mind and slipped in with ridiculous ease.

The two-way connection lasted only moments.

And in those moments, the darkness in Maul's mind almost overwhelmed her. She grounded herself so she wouldn't be swallowed up completely, before the Force burst around them with power she'd never felt before. Eldra was thrown backwards, flying out of Maul's room and hitting the wall of the hallway.

She didn't get up right away. It had all happened so fast, and she was trying to process what she'd experienced. Because in the short time she was connected to Maul, she felt everything he was feeling. All of his emotions, all at once, which were just as overwhelming as the darkness.

His anger was the loudest. And with anger came hate; irrational, directed at everything, even himself. The fear was more subtle, but there. If that was all she found, she would've said his mind was like an untamed animal's.

But the anger, the hate, and the fear all came together to form something she didn't expect. She would've thought that with all those emotions raging within him, his mind would be loud and violent. It wasn't.

Instead, those emotions combined created a deep, soul-crushing emptiness.

Alongside her master, she'd visited the vast deserts of Jakku and the frozen wastelands of Hoth. And while there was life, that didn't mean they weren't basically empty; both were deprived of community or any meaningful connections. Yet neither of those compared to the shattering loneliness she felt in Maul's mind.

And if that was how she felt just touching his mind for only a few moments, she couldn't even begin to imagine living with a mind like his.

When Maul reached out to her with the Force, he didn't really know what he was trying to do. All he knew was that he was hurt, he was being cornered by his enemy, and she needed to both leave and suffer for the Jedi lies that were leaving her mouth.

Sidious would look into the mind of his victims and force them to relive their most painful memory. Maul decided on this course of action as he attempted to enter her mind. He was met with resistance, which was expected, and he kept pushing against her until she relented.

She did so quicker than he expected. Maul didn't think this was suspicious, but in hindsight, he should have.

Though perhaps this mishap could be excused due to being almost blinded by the sheer amount of light in Eldra's mind.

When the initial shock wore off, he found that he could feel all of her emotions. The only one that was familiar to him was anger, and that was buried under other emotions that were foreign; happiness, compassion… They were constantly at the forefront of her mind, keeping her sane, giving her things to live for in the face of her imprisonment…

Her mind shone with a radiance he'd never seen. It was strong. It was warm. It was comforting. It was peaceful. It was full.

It was too much.

Then he felt her presence entering his mind, and suddenly he realised that was why she'd let him in so easily: so he could drop his defences and leave him vulnerable to attack. He could feel the Force swirling around him in the moments when they were tied to one another, and the sensation was almost frightening.

Maul quickly retreated from her mind, kicked her out of his, and the connection broke with a snap.

The swirling Force exploded around them, sending Maul flying back onto his bed. He was content to stay there and let himself recover, but then the emptiness and loneliness he'd smothered with anger and hate resurfaced, seeming stronger when compared to the light he had touched.

It made him want to do the unthinkable – reach out and touch her mind again. Reach out towards the light.

Maul looked towards her. She was on the floor outside his doorway, and staring at him with wide eyes. He wondered what she'd seen; what she'd felt. Then, without saying a word, she turned and hurried back to her own quarters.

Something deep within him wanted to scream and beg for her to come back to him, but he restrained himself. He was a Sith; the apprentice to Darth Sidious. He would not beg, and he knew that if he wanted to continue on the path towards his destiny, it would be wise for him to forget this ever happened. He would need to bury the sensation he'd felt at touching her mind; touching the light. It was what Sidious would want.

But he didn't want to.

"Don't you want to make your own choices?"

He clutched his head and shook it violently. "No! Your words hold no power over me! Far above, far below, we don't know where we'll fall. Far above, far below, what once was great is rendered small. Far above…"

Maul repeated the mantra over and over. The darkness within him that came with those words attempted to smother out his desire to touch the light again, but a deeper part of him latched onto the lingering feelings left over from the connection and refused to let go.

"Don't you want to make your own choices?"

"No!" He banged his fists against his injuries, using the pain to fuel his hatred. "There is no choice, there is only destiny!" He screwed his eyes shut. "Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken. The Force shall free me."

The path of the Sith was the true path to freedom; to becoming the master of his fate. Her words were meaningless.

And yet…

The emptiness that constantly ate away at him had felt… less empty, when he'd touched her light.

He was distracted from unravelling what that revelation could mean by the beeping of his commlink. Maul sighed. What had occurred would need to be ignored for the time being, for he had more important matters to attend to.

His master was summoning him.

AN: Sorry this is late. I've decided to keep going with this story, and for that, I want to thank my new beta reader, Artemis Arrow. This story is already in a much better place thanks to their helpful advice and comments. :)