Usually, when the insignificant people of the Galaxy saw Darth Maul's face, there were only two possible emotions the Zabrak knew he could expect to see: fear or disgust. No matter how many layers they hid it behind, Maul saw what they were feeling – though not always with his eyes. If they were afraid, it was because they had no way to protect themselves from the terrifying creature that had stalked like a nightmare into their lives; if they were disgusted, it was because a piece of galactic trash had stumbled into their view, distorting their perfect world.
Maul – to be blunt – couldn't care less what anyone thought of him. They could hate him, dread him or love him, as long as they did what he wanted – and looked as if they would keep doing what he wanted – he had absolutely no interest in their feelings towards him. It was one of the lessons his brother and master, Savage Oppress – the Dark Lord of the Sith before Maul – had taught him.
"Never waste your time trying to win the love of those you command." He had said. "They will come and go as you please; they are insignificant in the course of history. Only we matter. Keep their loyalty, and you will keep their talents. Seek their love, and you will always be trapped in the mire."
That had been advice Maul had taken to heart. Ever since he had left his older brother's bisected corpse behind and assumed his mantle of the Master in the Rule of Two, he had never sought to win the hearts of the Galactic criminals he employed in his Shadow Collective – only keeping their minds focused on what they could gain by serving him. They did not know of his true nature as a Sith Lord, only that he was a master who rewarded success, skill, and steadfastness… and who punished disappointment, dull-wits, and disobedience. Over time, his reputation in the Galactic Underworld spread so far that no criminal who come to work under him held any illusions about what kind of master they now served.
Maul had stopped looking for any smiles that weren't forced, any compliments that weren't empty and any true trust. He understood hate, he understood envy, he understood fear!
This was why the look on the infant's face baffled the Dark Lord in a way he hadn't been in years.
Below the untidy mop of red hair, the six-month old infant grinned with a toothless mouth at the red-and-black tattooed alien standing over his crib. His little arms and even littler fingers stretching upwards and his bright blue eyes sparkling with something Maul hadn't seen in a long, long time.
Considering that the baby was currently in an environment he had never been in before – a sleek cabin on Maul's personal ship – with a being he had most likely only ever seen once or twice (if he could remember those times at all), Maul had expected the baby human to be a little more… absolutely, utterly and completely terrified.
Instead, lying on his back in his bright blue footie pyjamas with the aforementioned look that was firmly not one of fear, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the boy was back at home with his mother and father.
Perhaps it is the Force Maul mused as he studied the child. He would not have taken the risk of cancelling House Palaptine's deep debt to the Shadow Collective unless he was certain it would yield great fruits.
A powerful apprentice would be the greatest fruit of all – and if the amount of potential the Sith Lord had sensed inside the infant was accurate, then this would be a powerful apprentice indeed.
He can sense it inside of me and recognise it as the same power he possesses Maul's train of thought continued as the infant Palpatine gurgled happily. It reassures him.
Well…
Well, that wouldn't do. The Sith were not the Jedi: constantly reassuring, coddling and babying their younglings until they were so naïve they couldn't tell black from white. They were broken down piece by piece: their greatest joys were denied to them; their greatest fears were driven to them and their greatest strengths were peeled away. All to forge them into worthy members of the Order whom would one day enact the Grand Plan – the Revenge of the Sith.
And so Darth Maul stretched out with the Force, surrounding the child with the power of the Dark Side. He watched as the bright light in the child's eyes and happy expression cracked and faded like a painting giving way to the ravages of time.
The happy gurgling was quickly replaced by the high pitched sounds of screaming as the infant's face crumpled, turning as red as his hair. His blue eyes were sparkling again but this time, it was with emotions that Maul understood and the liquid that stemmed from those emotions.
Satisfied, the Dark Lord of the Sith turned and strode out of the cabin. The door slamming shut behind him, cutting any sound of the infant's wails of fear short like a lightsaber cutting an insignificant life short.