Sorry this is really late getting to you guys! I had trouble getting to real interwebs in order to upload this. I'll be breaking my chapter idea here, as both Leia and Luke's side will also be present during this chapter.
No sooner had Ezra and his Master stepped into the Temple, then they were summoned to the Council room. "We have just received word from Master Luminara that Leia has contacted them. Obi-Wan and Luke are headed to the Mustafar system even as we speak." Depa informed them. "Go, you must, help them, you will." Yoda stated. "Luke has a theory that Maul is still holding a personal grudge against Obi-Wan. We feel it would be wise to have as much backup as we can afford to give them." Plo Koon added, "If they can get away from their current mission, Ahsoka and Anakin will join you there as well."
"Otherwise it's just us four, right?" asked Caleb, to which all the other Masters nodded. "Unfortunately yes." Replied Aayla, who along with over half of the Council members was only able to be there via hologram. "Understood, we will do our best, Masters." Caleb said, as he and Ezra bowed. As they left the room, Caleb radioed Hera to see if she was available and once she informed him that she was, he asked her to have the Ghost ready for take-off as soon as possible.
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Luke and Obi-Wan exited hyperspace above Mustafar. Looking down upon it, Luke could see the glowing, red planet had bright trails of lava visible from space. He shuddered, hoping that his twin was fine. "Can you feel her Luke?" asked Obi-Wan. Luke reached out to his twin through their bond, his eyes closed in concentration. It was a moment before he replied, "Yes, but she is hard to read, like darkness is cloaking her." "Maul must have found her. Is she on the ship or the planet?" Obi-Wan questioned.
Another moment passed before Luke spoke again, his voice filled with assurance as he answered "The ship." "Well this will be fun then." Obi-Wan said, more thinking out loud then actually talking to Luke as he continued, "Now how are we going to get on that ship." Suddenly the ship gave a jolt and Luke said, "I think we just found our way on. They latched onto us with their tracker beam." "We'll need to split up when we get on board. You go and look for your sister, I will go and shut down the tracker beam."
"Do you think we'll get that chance? I mean won't the Dark Forces be waiting for us to exit?" asked Luke. "Oh I'm sure they will, but Maul is, well Maul. He'll want to take us down himself, especially me, if your theory is correct." Obi-Wan stated. "Is he insane?! I mean yes his Dark Forces are giving us a run for our credits, but…" "Oh do not be mistake Luke, Maul is mad. Only his brother seemed to calm him a bit, but since we haven't seen him, its safe to say he is dead." Obi-Wan interrupted, "He is also devious and deceitful; he learned those lessons well from his Master."
Seeing that they were almost within the ship, Obi-Wan turned to his Padawan and said "Now, lets see if we can find some place to hide in and even the odds, shall we?"
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After they had somehow successfully fooled the Dark Forces into thinking that they were not on the ship, Luke and his Master had gone off on their separate missions. Luke hid his lightsaber and tried to act like he belonged. Really though he was in awe, this was the closest he had ever been to the Dark Forces ship called the Star Destroyer, let alone been in one. Thankfully the Dark Forces had no set uniform and once he shed his Jedi robe and hid his Padawan braid, he was able to easily blend in.
He got turned around a few times, but eventually found the brigs. It was surprisingly unguarded, which caused Luke to feel a little unsure that this was the right plan. Maul had to have known they were coming, he must have heard Leia! Obi-Wan needed to be alerted, but when Luke tried the coms, he found that they were being blocked. "I've got to get Leia and get out of here." Looking at the list of who was where, Luke soon found his sister's name and headed down the row of cells to the one that was said to be housing her.
Luke opened it to find her facing the wall, her Jedi cloak's hood pulled up over her head, with chains leading out of sight. "Leia" he said softly, causing her to stir and look at him. "Luke?" she said, though her voice sounded odd. But it had been months since they had seen each other, so maybe he wasn't correctly remembering how she sounded. "Obi-Wan and I have come to get you out." Leia struggled to a sitting position, and it was then that Luke noticed she was bound with Force Inhibitor Chains.
He pulled out his lightsaber and made short work of them and Leia immediately started rubbing her wrist. "Obi-Wan is taking care of the tractor beam, come on, we have to hurry and meet him at the ship." Luke said, motioning for his twin to follow him. "No, Luke wait! Maul overheard me, he knows I sent for Obi-Wan. He probably guessed that Obi-Wan headed to the tractor beams, we have to help him!"
"Okay, breathe Leia, we will find and help Obi-Wan." The fifteen year old said, trying to calm his sister. Leia nodded, relief evident in the way she was holding herself. Luke and Leia hurried to the data screen Luke had used to find her and pulled up a map of the ship, since neither was familiar enough with a Star Destroyer to know where to go. Once they found the plans they were looking for they memorized the directions and headed out, hoping to reach Obi-Wan before it was too late.
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Obi-Wan had just finished shutting down the last of the tractor beam, when he heard Luke yell, "Master!" Turning he asked "Luke, what are you doing here, you were supposed to head to the ship once you found Leia." "Leia told me that Maul overheard her call us in, we had to get to you…" Luke started. "Why? To warn me he would come for me? We already knew that was a possibility when we came here Luke." Obi-Wan said gently, pointing out that he was already aware of the danger.
"Oh… I hadn't thought of that, Leia got so freaked out that I guess I got blindsided by it." Luke replied. Obi-Wan raised his brow and asked "Leia got freaked out?" "Oh I wouldn't say that." Leia broke in, pushing back her hood. Master and Padawan gasped, for her eyes… they were no longer brown, but rather yellow. "Leia?" Luke questioned softly. Leia suddenly force pushed her brother backwards, causing him to hit his head and fall to the floor, unconscious.
"You don't have to do this Leia." Obi-Wan said, trying to reason with her. "Oh but I do. Maul has showed me how no one wants me, how you all just want to cast aside Luke and I." she said, bitterness in her voice. "That's not true Leia, you are like a niece to me!" Obi-Wan exclaimed. "Liar! All the Jedi either don't trust us or dislike us, just because our father broke the rule about attachments." Hot, angry tears spilled down her cheeks as she told Obi-Wan exactly how she felt.
"Maul has promised me he wants me, that he will help me get back at those who have shunned me, have hated me for something I cannot help. He already took care of Mace didn't he?" the last part was said with a bit of pride in it, as if this was a good thing. "Leia, listen to yourself, this isn't you." Obi-Wan pleaded. "It is now." Leia whispered, before drawing out her lightsaber and charging at Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan was barely able to ignite his in time to block her attack, his blue one flashing on in the nick of time to stop her now red blade. Seeing that color on her lightsaber made Obi-Wan just want to sob. How had the order let this happen to Leia? How had they failed her so badly? From the shadows to his right, he heard an all too familiar chuckle, followed by Maul's face as he stepped into the light. "That's right my Apprentice, take down the bane of my existence!" he shouted at Leia.
Leia responded with several swift blows at Obi-Wan, blow after blow landing on his blade until she saw her opening. Seconds later, Obi-Wan felt the greatest pain he had felt since his battle with Count Doku, the one where Anakin lost his hand. Looking down he saw he now matched his old Padawan in this way. Just as Leia was lowering her blade to finish him, a green blade stopped her from doing so. Luke, having regained consciousness, had leapt to his Master's defense, and just in the nick of time.
Leia let out a low, growl like sound as she saw that her twin stood in her way. "Get out of my way Luke." She demanded. Tears were streaming down his cheek as he replied, "I can't do that Leia." "Then I will make you." She declared, before attacking her sibling with all she had. It wasn't enough to beat him, for even with her unrestrained power, her twin knew her well enough to know how to counteract her moves.
Back and forth their blades went, sometimes they were on the defense and sometimes on the offense. Meanwhile, since they had moved away from both Maul and Obi-Wan as they dueled, Maul walked over to where Obi-Wan sat against a wall, holding his arm as spears of pain shot up it. "Oh Obi-Wan it does my heart good to see you this way." "Why are you doing this Maul?" Obi-Wan questioned, sweat beading on his brow.
"You know very well why. The anger towards you is the only thing that kept me going for years. Then my brother came for me and we were going to rule the galaxy together. But because you had to meddle with our leadership on Mandalore, you brought Palpatine to us. He killed Savage and so its because of you that my brother died. Once again my anger towards you is what's keeping me going, only this time, this time I am going to make you feel some pain before I kill you!" Maul had started his reply in his soft voice, but by the end of it he was yelling and spit was flying from his mouth along with his words.
Suddenly from behind him he heard a voice say "Get away from him!" Maul jumped back in time to avoid two lightsabers that were aimed at him. The green and blue blades of Ezra and Kanan missed Maul by inches and they both stepped in front of Obi-Wan to protect their fallen comrade. "Oh good, a couple of Jedi I can have some fun with before disposing of them." Maul said, laughing softly, but manically, before igniting his own, double bladed lightsaber.
Meanwhile Luke pleaded with his sister, "Leia this isn't you, come back with me, don't let Maul deceived you!" Leia laughed mirthlessly before responding "You think he is lying to me? The Jedi are lying to you, to everyone! They talk about being peace keepers and doing good, but all they do is turn up their noses at those who do not meet their standards. You can't deny that you don't think that is true, I can sense it through our bond."
"Not all the Jedi are that way! What about Obi-Wan and Ahsoka? They have treated us like family, they let us visit our parents and they helped us to see each other as often as they could." Luke debated, to which Leia responded with "They did it for themselves, so they could see each other and Dad. And what about the Jedi did to dad?! They made him give up the thing the loved most!" "No Leia, mom, you and I are what he loves most." "They still made him choose, it wasn't fair!" Leia spat back at him, before once again making a growl type sound. Her attacks came harder, though not much swifter, and Luke was forced to concentrate on that rather than trying to reach her for the moment.
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Ezra and Caleb faced Maul, determined to protect Obi-Wan and to get out of there alive. "Be careful Ezra, remember what happened the first time we met him." Caleb said. Ezra reached up and touched his scars as he said "I remember." "Ah yes, the Jedi who stopped me from killing the bounty hunter." Maul said, looking smug as he continued "Here to get matching scars for your other cheek boy?"
"We're here to end this Maul." Ezra said, frowning as he stared at the Sith. Maul chuckled and said "Oh foolish boy. You shall join your friend over there on the ground, only you won't be as lucky as him." With that, he sprang at the two Jedi, who started blocking and dodging his lightsaber, leading him away from Obi-Wan before engaging him themselves. No matter if they split to opposite sides of him, neither could land a blow on Maul, who expertly wielded his dual blade to the best of his advantage.
The crackle of lightsabers meeting lightsabers seemed to be not stop, as the five force wielders battled it out. Ezra couldn't believe that Leia had turned, he never thought that someone he was close to would ever give in to the call of the Dark Side, but there was his friend since childhood battling her own brother in front of his eyes. He hadn't really realized that his thoughts had started to wander, when he heard his Master shout, "Ezra, watch out!" followed by a shove.
He felt great pain from his master a few seconds later, and looked up to see him grab his face as Maul force pushed him away, causing Caleb to land next to Obi-Wan. Maul was about to resume his attack on Ezra when he stopped and stood stock still as if listening to something. Then suddenly yelled, "Apprentice, we must go now." Leia frowned at him, before turning back to Luke and force pushing him away as Maul did the same to Ezra.
Both boys managed to stay on their feet, but by the time they had recovered, Maul had left and Leia along with him. Both boys sank to their knees in exhaustion before the groans of both of their Masters had them on their feet again. They rushed over and knelt by them, Luke picking up his Masters lightsaber and clipping it onto his own belt. Ezra gently said "Caleb let me see how bad it is."
Caleb reluctantly lowered his hand and Ezra couldn't help but shudder. Caleb's right eye and part of the bridge of his nose had the worst of the slice. It smelled like burnt flesh and Ezra could tell that Caleb would never see from his right eye again. Thankfully, because he had turned, he saved his left eye from meeting a similar fate, though the pain in it caused Ezra to feel guilty that his wandering thoughts had brought this on his Master.
Just as they were about to help their Masters up, they heard the sound of running feet and they immediately drew their weapons, ready to face whoever was coming. Just before whoever it was rounded the corner, Ezra saw Luke relax out of the corner of his eyes. The reason why followed seconds later as Ahsoka and Anakin came running around it. They stopped at the sight of the boys standing there with their weapons pointed at them.
Ezra and Luke realized at that moment that they were still ignited and they quickly shut them off, clipping them back by their sides, before Luke ran to his father and hugged him, burying his face in his shoulder before a sob escaped from his lips. "I can't feel her anymore, father, she terminated our bond." Luke sobbed, and Ezra couldn't begin to fathom the pain his friend was in. Not only had he not been able to bring his sister back to the light, but she had cut off the connection they had had since birth, the final push away.
Anakin, after a moment of surprise at the unexpected hug and not fully understanding what his son was aying, returned it and whispered, "It's okay Luke, we'll get her back." "No we won't, she joined Maul." Luke said, looking up at him with tears in his eyes. Ahsoka gasped and stuttered, "I thought I just wasn't sensing her anymore because Maul had her cloaked or something, but now I realize she has severed our bond too."
Ezra didn't want to say what he said next, but he needed to get some help, "I'm sorry about Leia and Maul, but we have to help Master Obi-Wan and Caleb." Ahsoka was the first to react, moving over to swiftly take in the injuries. Anakin gave his son one last squeeze, before going to Obi-Wan's side. Luke joined his father and, with Ezra joining Ahsoka by his own master, they all made their way to the hanger.
They hadn't gotten very far, when an explosion somewhere in the ship caused them to almost lose their balance. "What was that?" asked Ezra. "I think Maul set this whole place to blow. Come, we must hurry!" Ahsoka replied. All four started to run as they carried the two fallen Masters, who did their best not to groan, knowing it wasn't their friends fault that they couldn't be gentle with them. The Ghost was waiting just outside the hanger for them, so they crowded into the ship that Anakin had tinkered with ever since he had met Ahsoka and radioed the Hera that they would meet them further out, since the Ghost had the better medical facility.
As they pulled out of the hanger, they barely beat the explosion, fire shooting out and surrounding them. Once they had done a small jump, they hooked up with the Ghost and transferred Obi-Wan and Caleb to it, where they were immediately set up in the med bay that Zeb and Sabine had prepared. They decided to stay locked the rest of the way so that the Jedi could all be with their fallen comrades. Caleb had passed out from the pain, but Obi-Wan was still awake, as he joked to Anakin "Looks like we are a matching pair now."
Anakin smirked as he replied "I see I still have to save your butt." Obi-Wan chuckled before Ahsoka asked "Why did Maul try to blow up the ship? I mean from what you, Ezra and Luke have all told us, Maul practically admitted to you that he was still holding a grudge and that he is trying to take out those closest to you." "At the end of the battle, Ezra said that Maul seemed to be listening to something. He probably felt Anakin coming and knew that meant you were probably with him, as I am sure Leia told him who her Master was. At that moment, he realized that all those closest to me were there, minus a few, and probably thought why not take advantage of this."
Luke nodded and said "I thought it felt like a small amount of troops for such a big ship. I had no problems reaching Leia and thinking back on it, after I got her I don't recall seeing anyone. He probably brought enough to make a good show of it and then sent them away once their job was done." "So what do we do now?" asked Ezra, "How can we find Leia if she has cut off all bonds?" Anakin sighed and said "We'll just have to wait and see where she and Maul pop up next, though I doubt Maul will bring her to a fight until he is sure she won't turn."
"Why did he risk this fight then?" asked Luke. "He probably saw it as a test of her loyalty. He had to see which bond was stronger with her, his or yours." Obi-Wan replied. Luke looked down at that and mumbled "Guess we know which one that was." Ezra had never seen Luke so lost. Yes they hadn't been able to see much of each other since the war started five years ago, but Luke and Leia had always had that bond to fall back on, to know that at least one other person was alive could bring comfort in the hardest times. Now that comfort was gone.
Well let me just say a few things here. Yep I know that Kanan is blind in both eyes in Rebels, but hey this is my storyline and I think he would look good with a pirate type eye patch XD And oooh Obi-Wan lost a hand O.o I hope the lightsaber battles were satisfactory. Also, after this Luke will be getting his own chapter/is no longer sharing one with Leia. Leia will sometimes have her own chapter, if the moment requires it, but more often will be placed at points in the other characters' chapters where her side of the story, or a short update about her, is necessary. I want to keep her side kind of quiet to keep events that Maul will plan, etc a secret, so if you don't see nothing about her for a while pretend she is being trained/brainwashed by Maul.
In case any of you are like this was too sudden/how did Maul get her to turn so fast, I tried to show her slipping without giving it away entirely that that was what she was doing (I hope I succeeded in this) with things like her being mad or annoyed, just putting it in terms that were different from either Luke or Ezra's point of view. As for how did Maul get her to turn so fast, he could sense her being on the edge, that's one of the reasons why he took her alive, and did things to both break her and mold her in the path that he wanted her to take, like telling her lies about her family, the Jedi, etc that an already upset/annoyed teenaged Jedi was all too willing to listen to. I may do flash backs or something to show exactly what I mean, but I don't know if I will since I have so much I want to do with this story and we aren't even halfway there yet (at least not in my planned timeline, whether or not in actual chapters, I don't know yet).