Chapter V: Façade of a Monster

Iyleesi woke to a deafening pain. Her body burned. Glancing down at herself, she shook with realization.

She was wounded.

Tossing her head back, she suppressed a tortured cry.

"Coruscant is near," spoke a voice beside her calmly.

With a jolt of surprise, Iyleesi turned her attention to the figure hovering near her.

It was him. Her assailant, her captor, her...

Savior?

"Am I going to," she gasped suddenly at her stinging flesh, "die?"

"Quite possibly," he answered without pause.

Her death was on the horizon. The young Sith could feel each increment of life as it slipped from her body.

"We're here."

With haste, he swooped the young woman up into his arms and carried her out of the ship.

Small cries of protest escaped her at the movement of her body. Her wounds were sensitive, and the slight motion set them on fire. Maul all but ignored her objections as he entered Palpatine's residence. He had an idea. Sidious had an in the house medical bay built for Maul's personal use years ago. It was small, but functional.

"Droid!" Seeing Maul enter the room, the med droid quickly approached. "Prepare a bacta tank."

He swiftly placed the young woman, not all too gently, onto the medial table before turning to leave.

"Wait," she managed to whisper.

Pausing, he matched her gaze momentarily before turning and fading through the doorway.

"Forgive me master. I've failed you."

Sidious smiled, offering a hand to his young apprentice.

"Fret not, Darth Maul. You will meet the Jedi again."

The Zabrak took his master's hand.

"And next time," The man's pale wrinkled fingers tightened almost painfully. "You will not fail."

"I will not disappoint you again."

Sidious released Maul's hand and relaxed back into the depths of his chair.

"I see a great rage in you."

"I feel a great rage within me master."

A smile touched his wrinkled lips, reaching the blueness of his eyes.

"Speak of it."

"The Jedi. The one that got away from me."

"Qui-Gon Jinn," Sidious cut in.

Qui-Gon, Maul's mind seethed.

"I want to make him suffer."

"And you will, my apprentice. In fact, you already have. News of the Sith's reappearance has reached the Jedi council already. The mere thought of our existence brings them great suffering. More is only to follow."

The thought was comforting to Maul, but not comforting enough. He wanted to inflict more than mental suffering on the Jedi.

"What of your whore?"

The word caught the Zabrak by surprise. His yellow eyes widened momentarily.

"She is in the medical bay master."

"Oh?"

"She attempted to escape from me and was punished," he lied. "That is why my presence on Tatooine was longer than expected."

"Why not let her die? There are plenty of little whores to spare here."

"Yes, but none of them please me. I have great interest in her," he lied again.

Sidious mused for a moment, raking his fingers through his white hair.

"Very well. Dismissed, my apprentice."

Maul bowed deeply before exiting the chamber.

As he stalked through the long corridors, a grin threatened his visage.

"My whore," Maul repeated aloud, laughing to himself at the audacity.

While the Zabrak revered Sidious immensely, he could not help but find his practices regarding women repugnant. His habit was a result of none other than weakness in Maul's eyes, a thought he would never dare reveal to his master.

Maul paused for a moment in the center of the hallway.

Weakness.

What of his own weakness, he mused.

His mission had gone awry. The Queen escaped, and her two Jedi companions were yet alive. Maul's gloved fingers clenched as he brooded over his defeat.

Qui-Gon Jinn.

The named burned.

It was a name he would not forget.

A fortnight had passed since he left the woman at the medical bay. The Zabrak learned from TC-13 that she had lived, and as of this moment was in full recovery. Part of him was irritated at this revelation. The other half of him reasoned that, as a commodity, her existence was valuable.

Still, his mind hissed as he reached the mouth of her holding chambers, her behavior on Tatooine will not go unchecked.

As he entered the room, he found her sitting on the medical table facing the wall opposite of him.

She was wearing an ashen blue dress with sleeves, a garment provided by one of Palpatine's women. It fit her loosely and cut just below her knee. The lightness of the color contrasted with her dark, sun-kissed skin. The result of living beneath the twin suns of Tatooine through the entirety of her life. Currently she was engrossed with plaiting her hair into a long braid. She made quick work of the wavy locks, securing them neatly before twisting them into a large bun. Finishing, she rose from the table and turned to the entrance.

As her eyes met Maul's, a smile threatened her lips.

It was not exactly the reaction Iyleesi expected upon encountering her captor again. She had not seen him since the day she arrived on Coruscant nearly dead. As she studied his familiar features, relief rose in her chest. His face was composed in its usual stoic manner. Yellow eyes, fierce as ever, watched her solemnly against his crimson-coal countenance. She wasn't entirely sure why, but the contrast of his golden eyes against his dark complexion was almost...

"Follow me," echoed his voice, interrupting her brief reprieve.

She nodded, trailing behind him silently.

Walking amongst the vast corridors of the estate, Iyleesi soon found herself at the familiar entrance of Maul's quarters. The two figures entered and the door shut quietly behind them. Maul turned, taking a purposeful step towards her.

"Sir, I," she paused for a moment, unsure of how to phrase the gratitude she felt for his rescue.

The Zabrak continued to approach as she gathered her thoughts, silently diminishing the distance between them. With each step forward, she countered with her own step back. An innate instinct she was nearly unconscious of executing. In the dim light of his empty room, his menacing aura seemed to intensify before her eyes. Frightened, her back eventually hit the wall.

"Are you going to hurt me?" She whispered breathlessly as his body came into contact with hers.

"Yes," his silky voice echoed. "I am going to hurt you." His fingers wrapped painfully around her slender arm. "And I am going to enjoy it."

Violently, he jerked her forward and twisted one of her arms round her back. The sudden jolt of pain caused her to cry out.

"Did you think your attempt to escape would go unpunished?"

Iyleesi's breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, he wrenched her arm again.

This time, she screamed.

"Master," she begged, alarm apparent in her tone. "Please, forgive me, I -"

"I should have killed you on Tatooine. Consider this mercy."

Again, he bent her arm further behind her back with more force than before.

He's going to break it, she thought in panic.

Out of instinct Iyleesi began to struggle. She fought wildly at first. The fear of the ensuing pain numbed her better judgement. The result of her exertion, however, proved fruitless. His strength surpassed hers. The arm that held her was more akin to steel than flesh and bone. Her efforts had only proved to excite him further, much the way a feline is enticed by the movements of a captured rodent.

Just as she felt him prepare to wrench her arm in two, she cried out, "You saved my life!"

Trembling, Iyleesi felt the grip on her arm soften incrementally.

"You saved me. No one has ever defended me. Not once in my life." She turned in his grasp, capturing his eyes with her own. "My parents sold me into slavery to pay off a debt. My friends are all cheats and liars. But you, you have so little to gain from my existence, and yet you protected me."

Maul released his grip almost entirely. His fingers limply held her forearm in his grasp. Although she tried searching his amber eyes for some sign of thought, his face betrayed no feeling.

"I have nothing left. Everything I know of is dead and gone. I cannot even return to my home planet because of the bounty on my head." A sad laugh escaped her lips. "I won't try to run away again. I have nowhere left to run."

She broke her gaze with him suddenly, a melancholy look coloring her features. The truth of her own words stung.

A strange sensation across her abdomen caused her to abandon her sullen thoughts. Glancing down, she found, to her suprise, his fingers caressing her skin through the thin fabric of her dress. She looked up at him with curiosity. His bright yellow eyes were fixed on her on her stomach. He was searching for something. As his fingers transversed over the right side of her abdomen she winced slightly. This caught his attention.

"I thought you were healed."

"I-I am," she answered, startled. "It's just this one wound."

Memories trickled through the Zabrak's mind. He recalled her attempt to shield him from the blaster bolt on Tatooine.

"Why," he began, the smoothness of his voice a near whisper. "Did you do this?"

His eyes were still fixated on the wound on her abdomen. She grasped his meaning immediately.

"I didn't want you to die."

Almost as if in surprise, his fierce eyes shot up to hers. There was a look in the Zabrak's aspect she'd never seen before. A look that made her feel several indistinguishable things at once. She noticed suddenly, gazing up at him now, how close he was to her. His powerful body was mere inches from her slender figure. His face so close to her own that she could distinguish every detail of his tattooed visage. The warm scent of his body, spice and earth mixed together into a heady aroma, intoxicated her senses.

Their bodies shifted, and suddenly he was closer. The full strength of his muscled frame arrested her svelte body softly against the wall. She felt a sense of helplessness against his hard, well-built physique. A helplessness that intensified under his blazing yellow stare. Her breathing deepened, and she shifted with restlessness against him. Her gaze fell to Maul's crimson lips, tinged too with the black markings of his tattoos. As they did, their faces seemed to gravitate closer until the warmth of his breath was noticeable upon her lips.

Then, something changed.

Maul drew himself away.

Turning from her, he walked several feet into the center of the room. The space was quiet. Darkness pervaded most of the empty chamber, save for the neon lights of the city which dimly lit the area through the glass of his balcony doors.

"Your parents' betrayal," he began evenly. "The loss of your home planet. These facts are insignificant to me." He turned back towards her suddenly, his features more rigid than she ever remembered. "I saved you because you are worth far more credits alive than dead."

Anger rose suddenly in her chest.

"I don't believe that for a second," she challenged, her voice a near whisper.

"You are a fool to believe anything otherwise."

"I can't accept it!" She cried out suddenly, startling herself and the Zabrak. "I can't accept that you don't care at all. I've seen you murder dozens of people. You're cruel and violent, but," She turned from him, unconsciously caressing the part of her jaw he had nearly fractured days ago. "You didn't let me die on Tatooine."

Iyleesi tried to decipher her feelings, but could not come to a clear conclusion. He was a monster. A violent animal concealed in the body of a man. But then, was he really? Why would a monster rescue her? Why would a monster spare the life of a feeble, weak sentient like herself? And most of all, and most troubling, why did a monster make her pulse race with something other than fear when he was near her?

"Let me make something clear," he uttered, the deepness of his voice laced with an icy edge. "I am hate. I am rage, fear – I am darkness."

Each word fell sharply from his lips as he approached her from the center of room. The blackness of his chamber, coupled with his dark robes, made his bright eyes nearly glow in the dimness.

He looked like a walking shadow.

"Make no mistake," he advanced past her, hovering at the entrance of the room. "Dare to cross me again and your fate will be darker than death."

Iyleesi's fists clenched then relaxed. She felt defeated.

"Yes, master," she answered coldly.

"And be weary to watch your tongue from now on, slave," he exited the chamber, murmuring as he left, "I will make use of you yet."