The pair descended from the decaying splendor of the palace's throne room. The whole palace reeked of a false sense of serenity, in fact. The glittering walls of glass, art that lined their path, and spotless floors hid the death and destruction happening just outside. In its heyday, under the purview of Duchess Satine's leadership, it had been a beautiful place. Ahsoka hadn't always agreed with the older woman's ideals of pacifism, as she recognized that violence was an unfortunate necessity in times such as these. But she had respected Satine's dedication to her beliefs, a rare thing in this galaxy of greed and endless lies. Though Ahsoka hadn't known her well, she had felt sadness at the news of her passing. She knew what Satine had meant to Obi-Wan, and even Bo, as well. She tried to squash the guilt she felt that the man who had murdered the Duchess was trailing right behind her.

Maul hadn't spoken at all in the past few minutes and neither had she. It wasn't a companionable silence. Ahsoka could feel Maul's eyes boring into the back of her head. He felt like a Loth cat waiting to pounce. What he was sizing her up for she couldn't say, but it made her feel intensely uncomfortable. She needed to break the awkward atmosphere, or she felt she would go crazy. Halting her descent, Ahsoka glanced over her shoulder to see Maul looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite describe. He looked both wistful and apprehensive, his eyes both looking at her and not. "What?" she asked.

"Hm?" Maul halted his steps as well, and his eyes locked on hers.

"You've been staring at back of my head for the past five minutes. It's kind of creepy," she said as she fully turned around to face him. She crossed her arms and waited for his reply. He simply stood, almost as if he were unsure of what to say. Ahsoka huffed and tried to not roll her eyes. "Well, if you're not going to tell me why you're staring at me, can you at least give me anything of use regarding Sidious' plans? We're going to need to plan."

At this, Maul looked as though he had been caught. "My master never kept me informed of the finer workings of his plans. I had hoped he would eventually inform me before I eventually outgrew my need for him, but he never did," Maul muttered, his face twisting into a bitter mask. His nose wrinkled in distaste at his apparent status as a mere pawn. Though Maul's apparent anger was the farthest thing from Ahsoka's mind right then.

She froze as this information sank in. Turn back. No good will come from this. The little voice in the back of her mind was coming back with a vengeance. How could Maul have no information on Sidious' plans? The only reason she even agreed to this insane idea in the first place was because of her belief that Maul would know what Sidious was up to. How could he help her now? "How can you not know anything?" she hissed, as she uncrossed her arms. Her hands curled into fists at her side.

Maul simply smiled at this display of her anger. The smarmy look made her blood boil. "Come now, we know all we need to. Sidious intends to replace the current order with a new one. The finer workings of how are irrelevant. We simply need to find him."

"And do what, exactly? Nicely ask for a lovely afternoon tea party? We don't know where he is, and even if we do find him, he's bound to be protected. We need a plan. I can't just take your word for it."

Maul narrowed his eyes at this, clearly displeased Ahsoka wasn't willing to blindly follow his direction. Frankly, she couldn't care less what he thought about her. "I have resources we can use to plan our approach," he stated coolly. He was clearly trying to sound less frustrated than he truthfully was. Now it was Ahsoka who wanted to wrinkle her nose in displeasure. The thought of working with Maul's criminal network was revolting to her. They had been involved in everything from murder to slavery. And combined with the monster standing in front of her, it all made her skin prickle with a strong sense of wanting to wash off how unclean she felt.

And yet, she had little other choice. Who else could she turn to? Anakin was in danger, and Obi-Wan was out of reach. The Jedi Council wouldn't listen. Bo was a helpful ally, but Ahsoka knew she wouldn't listen either. Not after Maul had murdered her sister. As utterly useless as his current information was and repugnant as the thought of working with him was, it was true that Maul was the only one who could offer her any sort of help. Unless….

Ahsoka couldn't believe she was thinking of this. It wasn't like Rex would offer any additional help. He was just one man, and she had no guarantees he would even listen. Nor that Maul wouldn't kill him. But Maul hadn't killed Jesse, a move that surprised her. Darth Maul wasn't known for his mercy, as she knew he had killed a whole village of civilians just to lure Obi-Wan. Ahsoka had been expecting Maul to strangle Jesse or impale him or kill him in some other gruesome fashion when she, Bo, and Rex had walked into the throne room and saw him kneeling across the way. And yet, Maul had spared Jesse's life when he easily could have ended it.

Ahsoka knew there hadn't been any empathy in the act. A man like Maul was incapable of such a thing. It had obviously just a move to get on her good side, to get her to listen. But it had worked. And maybe, Maul would extend the same logic to Rex. She knew that involving Rex in this would be putting him in terrible danger. He would be at the mercy of Maul's discretion. But Ahsoka also knew she was selfish, that she couldn't live with the oldest friend she had in her reach possibly hating her for what she was doing. So, she ignored the little voice in her head, her voice of reason telling her involving Rex would just get him killed. Finally, she broke the silence.

"There's someone I need to talk to, before we leave."

"Who?" Maul raised an eyebrow. "We have all the resources we need at our disposal."

"A friend. I'm not leaving without him." Ahsoka placed her hands on her hips.

"You mean the clone. He is of no use to our goals." Maul waved his hand at her dismissively, as if she a mere child. Her eye twitched.

"I said I'm not leaving without him. If you want my help, he comes with." Ahsoka would not budge on this. Rex meant too much to her. Maul looked at her like a snake waiting to strike. He clearly was not expecting her to have been so spirited, so defiant. If he wanted a blind lackey, he had been looking in the wrong place.

After a moment of silence, Maul pursed his lips slightly, as if he were thinking. Finally, he spoke. "Very well, can meet with your dear friend. If nothing else, it will prove to you the futileness of it." Ahsoka didn't respond to the jab.

"You won't kill him if he doesn't listen. If you do, you won't have my help going forward. Understand?" Ahsoka said. Maul simply grinned in response. The man's moods seemed to fluctuate faster than a summer rainstorm. It was deeply unsettling. But with Maul's agreement, she slowly lifted one arm in front of her and brought her other hand to hover above her comlink. She ignored the way Maul's eyes bored into her, silently mocking her hesitance. She resisted the urge to punch him. Despite her earlier resolve, she was still having second thoughts. But then, an image came to her of Rex wondering what happened to her. Or worse, hating her because she hadn't talked to him. Without another word, she made her comlink was set to Rex's frequency and pressed her finger to the button.

"Rex, are you there?"

"Commander? It's been a while. Are you alright? Have you captured Maul?" Rex asked, his gruff voice emanating from the device on her wrist. Rex's tone was formal, as it always was. Captain Rex was a man who stuck to protocol like his life depended on it. He had even insisted on still calling Ahsoka "Commander", despite her insistence it was okay for him to address her by name. For Rex, showing protocol to a superior, to an old friend, was the deepest sign of respect. But he wasn't a robot either. A sense of concern was evident as well, for her wellbeing. Ahsoka would be touched if not for the circumstances.

"I'm fine, Rex. I need to talk to you. Alone. There's an abandoned hospital not too far from the palace. Sundari Memorial, I think. Do you remember? The 501st helped evacuate it. It's about two blocks east."

"I remember. Commander, what's going on?" A sense of skepticism had entered his tone now.

"Rex, please. I need you to trust me," Ahsoka pleaded. Please trust me. A beat followed, and for a second Ahsoka was sure Rex would send a squad of clones or Mandalorians after her.

"Okay, Commander. I'll meet you where you asked. But I don't like this," Rex said finally, a tone of apprehension evident.

"Thanks, Rexter." Ahsoka heaved a sigh of relief. She gazed up from her comlink to see Maul staring at her again. "Can you please stop doing that? It's weirding me out."

Maul shrugged. "Your need to plea with someone lesser than you is… intriguing," he simply said in response. Ahsoka rolled her eyes, and simply gestured for him to follow her.

"Come on, let's get going. We need to get moving before people start wonder where I am."

"After you, then." A part of her still told her this was a terrible idea. But she had to ignore it. For Rex and for the greater good.

So, this chapter is shorter than I originally intended. The stress of upcoming finals and writer's block forced me to chop the first chapter into two. As such, this chapter is on the shorter side. It's also been a while, and I wanted to get something out to tide you guys over. Next chapter will include the meeting with Rex. Also, that finale, you guys. That was some of the best storytelling the show and Star Wars in general has ever done. When Jesse's helmet came into view like that, I welled up. Which is a first for me regarding this franchise. And Vader. Hoo boy, I got chills. I'm sad to see such a formative part of my childhood finally come to an end, but I'm glad the show got the end it deserved after so many years.