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"Calm, you must remain, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan loosened her grip on her Padawan braid, where she had unconsciously tugged it in frustration. A bad habit, Qui-Gon would admonish her. She took a deep breath and moved her hands back to her knees. There is only the Force. There is peace.
"No failure will you find here, young one. You will see, or you will not. Learning, this is for. Nothing more."
There was no pressure. No emotion. Only the Force. One with the Force.
The seat under her was warm and just soft enough to take the edge off the cool stone floor. The sound of the fountains droned on.
Obi-Wan let herself drift; the void coming easier this time. There was the Force, everywhere, surrounding her, flowing through her.
Hot, brilliant red light flashed before her.
Images flooded her mind; screams echoed through the universe. Pain. Agony. Death and destruction. She wanted to look away, to stop the visions, but she was swept up in the torrential power of the Force. She let go, trying to let the pain wash over her. There would be an end.
Red light flashed. Master Qui-Gon falling to his knees. Pure agony ripped through her. Her own rage flooded through and then was gone, brief but palpable.
A little boy, alone and cold. Younglings died in another flash of red. Millions of voices screaming in terror and then silence. The temple burning. Hundreds of moments of unimaginable pain.
Another flash of red. Yellow, sunken eyes filled with hate. So much hate.
Burning alive. Screaming hate.
A flash of red.
Her own death, after so much agony.
A glimmer of hope in a young boy's face wiped out as she fell.
Amber eyes glinted in a flash of red.
A red lightsaber with two blades.
They saw her.
"Jedi," growled a voice filled with hate.
"Obi-Wan!"
Her eyes snapped open. Master Yoda filled her vision, his brows furrowed.
"Lost for a time, you were. A great disturbance in the Force, there was. The vision you have. Stronger than I have seen. Tell me what you saw."
Obi-Wan blinked the tears out of her eyes, and tried to recount the jumble of feelings and sights without letting the pain overtake her.
Yoda listened, his frown deepening.
"Is this the future we must face, Master?" she said, unable to keep her voice steady.
Yoda shook his head slowly. "Always in motion is the future. Change it, you could, but danger there is in such a path. Ensure this future you may in an attempt to avoid it. The first time a dark prediction of the future was made, this was not. Speak with the Council I must. Prepared to recount your vision again, you must be."
"How will I know what to do?"
"Guide you, the Force will. Clever, you are, Obi-Wan." Master Yoda smirked.
Obi-Wan shivered. She would do whatever it took to avoid the future she saw. There was nothing worth that much pain and suffering.
"Caution, Obi-Wan. Fear of a future you cannot change, the Jedi way is not."
"Yes, Master."
"Like this, I do not."
"Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are a formidable team. They can handle these negotiations. Obi-Wan has a level head and will soon be a knight herself." Master Windu chimed in; another wise voice of reason.
"Doubt their capabilities, I do not. A trap, this could be."
"I will stay behind if you believe I will endanger the mission," Obi-Wan said quietly. She did not want to stay behind, but she knew that she had not yet learned to completely separate her visions from the present.
"Admirable, your deference is. Learn from it, some could." Yoda smirked, with a glance at her master.
"I wish to do what is right," she said firmly.
"Very well, go to Naboo, you and Qui-Gon will."
"Take off. Over there. Fly low." Obi-Wan pointed, feeling her Master's presence. He was in danger, somehow. A black shape fought with him. A flash of red. "Hurry," she said, her voice tight. Something nudged the back of her mind, but she forced it down. Be in the present, Obi-Wan. She ran to the open ramp as they sped closer.
Qui-Gon leapt up to the ramp, but was closely followed by the dark cloaked figure wielding a red lightsaber.
Obi-Wan froze; so did Qui-Gon's assailant. Her eyes locked onto his and she knew what he was going to do. She could feel him reaching out. She jumped forward, meaning to shove him off the platform. She pushed with all of her might, and mustered all the Force training she had into the push. She saw him slide, but too late noticed his grip on her arm. She pitched forward, tumbling over the edge, propelled by her own force push. She wrenched on her arm as they fell, but only managed to pull him into her. They fell in a tangle of limbs and Obi-Wan heard the crack before she registered the pain.
She stumbled to her feet, her lightsaber in her right hand. Pain screamed up her left arm, it was going to be useless in this fight. Her hope that she would even survive was fleeting as she squared up with the mysterious Force user, but she was not going to give him an easy time.
They traded blows over and over again. A flurry of blue and red. Obi-Wan tried to ignore the pain in her arm that blew through with every stroke. The sith was favoring his left side as well, perhaps he had not come away from the fall unscathed. She took heart and pressed her advantage, trying to gain ground on the left. She struck out when the opportunity was right, but he matched her, and they froze, blades at each other's throats. The heat of the saber singed her braid, but did not sear her skin.
The sith strained against something. The Force? They were surrounded by it, but neither seemed in control.
"What trick is this, Jedi?" he snarled.
"I am doing nothing," she responded through clenched teeth. She could not move to strike him. Her muscles simply would not obey her. She paused to take a breath. To center herself. They were both affected by whatever this was. She could not strike at him, but perhaps she could pull away. She did so and took a relieved breath, confused, but glad she could move again.
Confusion. Anger. Relief. Hatred. Emotions swirled through her. Some familiar and others foreign. She knew they belonged to the being in front of her. Or, some did; some were hers. She felt them all so clearly, they were almost indistinguishable from her own. She felt a long-forgotten discontent surface; something she had let go as a child. She was happy now; she had accepted the Jedi way. Peace.
She stared at her opponent and lowered her lightsaber. He made no such move and instead attempted to strike her again. Again, he was stopped mid-swing. She could feel his rage, but pushed it aside. It seemed he could not kill her. She sheathed her lightsaber and sat down in the sand, panting, nursing her arm.
She touched it and winced. Broken.
"This is not your doing. You are not so powerful, Obi-Wan."
"So it would seem," she grunted in reply. He knew her name. "You have me at a disadvantage, I'm afraid. You know who I am, but I—" she cut off. She did know. "Maul."
He looked as surprised as she felt. The Force did not just hand out information like a database. Even her visions were never as clear as knowing the Sith's name. And what an odd name it was.
"You are laughing at me, Jedi," he growled, "just say it."
Her childish remark took form as she said, "Was that the name your Mother gave you, or did you choose it yourself? Either way, it's a bit on the nose, isn't it?"
He grunted in reply. "I am sure my Mother gave me a name, but I have long since forgotten it," he said, almost absently.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan felt herself being lifted off the hot sand. Being up in the air wasn't really that much more comfortable. Everywhere on this blasted planet was too hot.
"Hey! Put me down, Maul."
"So I can touch you—" he mused.
He threw up a hand, and she felt some pressure around her throat, but it was no more than those silly necklaces that were currently popular on Coruscant.
The Sith growled in frustration when his Force choke failed as quietly as his lightsaber strike.
"You're going to have to try harder than that, it seems."
Maul snarled and then smirked, pushing out with the Force enough to flip her upside down.
"Don't be a sore loser, Maul," she chided.
"What kind of protections do you have? This is not possible."
"Is it possible you are just bad at killing people?" she quipped, annoyed at being held in such an uncomfortable position. "You seem to harbor a lot of resentment for your mother, perhaps I remind you of her." Again, another nugget about her companion that she couldn't know so easily.
He laughed darkly, his eyes glinting out from behind his hood in the midday sun. "You are nothing like my mother. Are you always so flippant?"
"Not always. On occasion I find myself actually facing death." She could feel his irritation, and it gave her some sense of satisfaction. "Either way, aside from my arm, neither of us seem to be able to kill the other. We may as well call this a draw. My Master won't be long in retrieving me."
Maul glared at her and dropped her. Pain shot up her arm and she snarled, wiping sand from her face as she stood, catching the barest grimace of pain on his face.
"If you frown any harder, your face will stick that way," she said, "Though perhaps it is already too late for you. It's a pity, you might've been handsome."
Obi-Wan paused, she had not meant her remark to be so biting, but she was so angry. She tried to center herself, to find her peace, but the anger continued to flow through her.
Maul straightened suddenly, turning sharply to the East.
"Another time, Jedi," he said with a nod; and was gone.
Obi-Wan stood alone, the sun beating down on her and knew she was in trouble. She hoped her communicator was still working; otherwise, she was not as certain Qui-Gon would come back for her as she had made Maul believe. Their mission was too important.
She awkwardly fished for her communicator with her good arm, hissing in pain when her left arm got in the way.
"Master?" she asked into what she hoped was not the void.
"Obi-Wan, are you alright?"
"I've a sunburn and a broken arm, but otherwise in good health. The Sith fled west. Apparently, I was tougher to kill than he anticipated," she said.
"We will be there shortly."
"I appreciate it greatly, Master. It is hot out here."
She sat, her back to a rock as she waited, trying to meditate. There was a hint of fear that kept getting in the way as she tried to clear her mind. Were she and the Sith— she and Maul really connected in such a strange way? How had they known each other's names? Why did she feel his emotions so strongly? He seemed to feel hers strongly as well.
And how in the Force were they unable to kill each other?
A/N: The plunny muse has struck. I have written 10k words of this already. I also have some art posted on my Tumblr for it; the link is in my profile.