It was windy on Atollon as Hera, Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, Ezra, Mira, Ephraim, Rex and Markus were standing around the holotable on Chopper base with their fellow Phoenix Squadron rebel pilots as the holotable was projecting a hologram of Lothal from its holoprojector with all four Mandalorians having their helmets under their arms.
"Even though we still have preparation to do before we strike the Empire's factory on Lothal," Hera told everyone around the holotable.
"Ezra," Ezra heard a familiar masculine voice say his name before he went to look for the person calling his name before dismissing it as he couldn't see them.
"I want to do a thorough recon trip to update our intel," Hera went on, "There's no need for the full squadron. A small unit should be able to handle this."
"Ezra," Ezra heard the voice call his name again as he looked around before narrowing his eyes as he saw a very familiar Zabrak standing behind two rebel troopers in the distance.
"I'm signing you the mission, Ezra," Hera told the Mandalorian.
"Ezra," Ezra heard the voice call his name yet again.
"Ezra?" Hera said, calling out to the Mandalorian, causing him to snap back to reality as he gasped and looked up at the Twi'lek, "Care to join the briefing?"
"Sorry," Ezra apologized, "Yeah. No, it's just I… I thought I saw something."
"This is your mission, Ezra," Hera reminded him, "I need you at your full attention."
"Yeah, you've got it," Ezra told the Twi'lek, "Sorry."
"All right. So first, with the help of your parents, you'll slip into the system and study the Empire's orbital defenses," Hera said as she began to tell Ezra the plan to him and the others.
"Ezra," the Mandalorian heard the voice call his name again as he looked away from Hera to the direction of where the voice was coming from.
"We'll keep our distance, but gather all the data we can," Hera went on, I want Destroyer positions, TIE patrol routes, transport schedules…"
"Ezra," Ezra heard the voice call his name yet again as he saw Maul walking behind a rebel trooper nearby, causing him to gasp before he blinked, only to see that he had somehow vanished without a trace.
"Something wrong?" Kanan asked Ezra as he walked up to him and placed his right hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor, snapping him back to reality again.
"Yeah, are you alright, son?" Ephraim said, agreeing with the Jedi Knight.
"No, I… I just… I thought I saw something, or someone," Ezra answered.
"The Recon Team leaves as soon as we're loaded up," Hera finished before she placed her hands over her hips, "Questions?"
"Is Admiral Thrawn there?" Sabine asked her.
"We have reports of an increase in capital ships, but no confirmation as to whether…" Hera said as she began to answer Sabine's question.
"Ezra," Ezra heard Maul call his name again as he saw him walking in the distance again.
"Ezra, what is it?" Kanan asked him as he saw him back into him as the Mandalorian saw Maul standing behind Rex, Mira and Markus.
"Kanan's right, what's bothering you, Ezra?" Ephraim said, agreeing with Kanan as Ezra was about to point at the direction that he saw Maul before backing into Zeb.
"Hey, kid. You feeling all right?" Zeb asked Ezra as the Mandalorian saw that Maul was now standing behind him at the communications center with his arms behind his back.
"There! Look!" Ezra shoulder as he pointed in the direction of Maul at the communications center with his right hand's index finger.
"What am I looking at?" Zeb asked him as when he looked at the communications center, Maul had vanished again.
"You don't look very good," Hera told Ezra as she looked at him.
"Yeah, she's right, you don't look so well, Ez'ika," Sabine said, agreeing with Hera as she looked at her husband with worry.
"They're right, what's the matter with you, Ezra?" Mira asked her son, agreeing with them.
"Ezra, what do you see?" Kanan asked Ezra.
"Ezra!" Ezra heard Maul yell his name from behind as he gasped as he saw the Zabrak standing behind him, causing him to drop his helmet as he fell unconscious and fell on his back on top of the holotable as everyone looked at him with worry on their faces.
"Ezra!" Kanan said, calling out to Ezra as the projection of Lothal vanished from the holotable's holoprojector.
"Kanan, what's going on?" Hera asked the Jedi Knight.
"Yeah, what happened?" Ephraim said, agreeing with the Twi'lek as he looked at him.
"Ezra, just fell unconscious," Mira stated with confusion in her voice, "As far as I'm aware this has never happened to him like this before."
"I don't know, Hera," Kanan answered, "I don't know!"
"Ezra, can you hear me? Ezra?" Zeb said, calling out to Ezra.
"Cyar'ika?" Sabine called out to her husband with worry in her voice, "Can you hear us?"
A while later in Ezra and Sabine's cabin on the Ghost, Ezra slowly regained consciousness as he laid on his wife's bunk of their bend with his helmet on the drawer next to the bed as he closed his eyes again as he drifted back to sleep as Kanan stood next to him, while Hera stood behind him with Chopper standing in front of her as Sabine, Mira and Ephraim stood across from her with their helmets under their arms, while Zeb stood behind them in front of the room's doorway.
"Wake up," Kanan said, causing the Mandalorian to gasp as he woke up before the Jedi Knight placed his right hand over the Mandalorian's right left and his left hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor, "Whoa, Ezra. It's okay. You're safe."
"You wanna tell us what's going on?" Hera asked Ezra as he moved his body to the edge of his wife's bunk and placed his feet on the floor.
"Yeah, what caused you to pass out like that, son?" Mira said, agreeing with the Twi'lek.
"It was Maul," Ezra answered as he looked up at his wife, parents and the others.
"You mean, at the briefing?" Sabine asked him.
"I saw him. He said my name," Ezra confirmed, "He was right behind me. I mean, he was right there."
"Kid, I was standing next to you," Zeb reminded him, "There was nobody there."
"And we all would've seen him," Ephraim added.
"Your father's right, Ezra, and he would've been captured," Mira said, agreeing with her husband.
"Maybe it was some kind of, uh, Force vision," Hera surmised.
"I suspect that you're right, Hera," Sabine said, agreeing with Hera.
"Hmm, maybe," Kanan muttered to himself.
"It could be one of your Force things," Ephraim said, agreeing with them.
"Ah. if you ask me, the kid's just been working too hard," Zeb said before he left the room as the door slid back open before Chopper grunted a response as he began to leave the room as well.
"Chopper, stop it," Hera told her astromech droid as she turned towards him as he left the room as he grunted another response before the door slid back shut.
"No, Chop's right. Nap time's over," Ezra said, agreeing with the astromech droid, "I should get back to work."
"You sure you're all right?" Hera asked him.
"Hera, I feel fine. I just had a bad something," Ezra assured her as he stood back up, "No reason to stop the Rebellion, right?" He then grabbed his helmet from the drawer before he began to leave his and Sabine's cabin, "Come on, Sabine, you too, Mom and Dad. We gotta get ready for our mission."
With that said, all four Mandalorians left the room as the door to Ezra and Sabine's cabin slid back open for a second before sliding back shut, leaving Kanan and Hera by themselves in Ezra and Sabine's cabin as Hera placed her right hand over her hip.
"Tell me what you're thinking, Kanan," Hera requested the Jedi Knight as she knew he had something on his mind as she removed her right hand from her hip and placed it over his left shoulder for a second.
"I'm thinking that whatever Ezra went through with Maul, it's not over yet," Kanan answered as he looked at her before he left the room as well.
A while later outside the Ghost, Sabine was transporting crates containing proton torpedoes on a loading dolly with Ezra walking with her as AP-5 walked down the Ghost's ramp with Chopper.
"Stop. We have all the proton torpedoes we need for this mission," AP-5 protested as he approached the front of the loading dolly as he stopped her from transporting the extra proton torpedoes onto the Ghost.
"Well, not according to the weapons expert, which is me," Sabine told the protocol droid as she let go of the loading dolly's handle and placed her left hand over her hip, "I want two more cases of 'em loaded up."
"Why am I the last one to know about supply changes?" AP-5 asked himself as he began transporting the loading dolly with the extra proton torpedoes up the Ghost's ramp as he grabbed onto the loading dolly's handle, "I cannot work under these conditions."
"Ugh, it's like AP-5 and Chopper were made on the same assembly line," Sabine muttered as she crossed her arms, causing Chopper to turn around towards her as he pulled both of his metal arms out of his dome as he grunted at her, "Oh, I'm the one who needs an attitude adjustment?"
As Sabine and Chopper began arguing, Ezra narrowed his eyes as he looked in the distance and saw Maul walking among their fellow rebel troopers.
"It's him. I… It's Maul," Ezra told his wife and Chopper before he began running towards Maul as he bumped into a rebel trooper that was walking past him.
"Ezra?" Sabine said, calling out to her husband, "Hey, Ezra! Ezra?" She then looked at Chopper, "Chop, go get Kanan." Chopper then grunted a response as Sabine went to chase after her husband.
"Out of the way!" Ezra ordered two Phoenix Squadron pilots with one of them wearing a red rebel pilot's flight suit, while the other one was wearing a green one with their helmet under their arm as he ran past them, "There he is!" He then ran past another rebel trooper, "I see him."
The Mandalorian then stopped running as he couldn't find the darksider before hearing Maul laughing sinisterly, but his laughing was faint in volume as he couldn't see him as he looked around for the source of where Maul's sinister laughter came from.
"Ezra, stop!" Sabine ordered her husband as she continued to chase him before he continued to search for Maul before he stopped at a group of A-wings and walked down the aisle of A-wings before looking below one of the A-wings as he heard Maul laughing sinisterly again and saw his cybernetic legs walking on the other side of the starfighter.
"I knew it!" Ezra said as he jumped onto the front of the A-wing before leaping towards Maul and kicking him away, causing him to grunt, but the grunt sounded different than normal as if it had someone else's voice rather than his own before he extended both of his arms out towards him as he used the Force to push him back towards a group of crates behind him.
"Ezra!" Sabine said, calling out to her husband as she walked with Kanan before they began rushing towards him as she placed both of her hands over the pauldrons of her husband's armor, while Kanan placed his right hand over the breastplate of his armor as they stood in front of him before Ezra grabbed his lightsaber from his armor's belt, "Ezra, wait!"
"Let me go!" Ezra demanded with anger in his voice before breaking free from their grasp and ignited one of his saber's blades as he rushed towards Maul to strike him down, only for Kanan and Sabine to extend their right arms forwards as they used the Force to stop him from moving his arms and saw what his wife and Kanan were doing with the corner of his eyes, "Sabine, Kanan! What are you both doing?"
"Ezra! It's not Maul! Look at him!" Kanan snapped at him.
"He's right, Ezra. Look at him, it's not Maul," Sabine said, agreeing with their master before Ezra looked at Maul again, only to see that it was actually a rebel trooper that he assaulted.
"You're out of your mind, kid!" The rebel trooper snapped at Ezra as he was completely terrified of him as he ran away from the Mandalorian.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ezra apologized to the rebel trooper as he deactivated his saber before he bent down to the ground in distress and anxiety as Kanan and Sabine hovered over from behind to comfort him, "What's happening to me?"
"Maybe I should postpone the mission, stay with him," Hera suggested to Kanan as she walked with him as they approached the Ghost with her arms crossed.
"Ezra will be fine. I've got a plan," he assured her.
"Be careful, Kanan," Hera sighed as she walked up the Ghost's ramp.
"We will," Kanan assured her as the Ghost's ramp raised up with Sabine walking towards him from behind as the VCX-100 light freighter began to leave the planet's atmosphere.
"I'm surprised she got on the ship," Sabine told him.
"I told her I had a plan," Kanan explained.
"Really? And she left you anyway?" Sabine asked him, sarcastically.
"Very funny," he muttered as he began walking towards the Phantom II, "Come on." He then walked up the Sheathipede-class shuttle's ramp and entered the shuttle for a second before exiting it with Ezra's wrist communicator in his left hand.
"My husband's wrist comm?" Sabine said with confusion in her voice.
"I need you to put a tracker on it without him knowing," Kanan explained before showing it into her hands.
A while later, Kanan was riding on his speeder bike with Ezra on the back of his speeder bike into the wilderness of Atollon before he removed it as the Jedi stopped his speeder bike as they got off the speeder bike as they arrived at the area where the Bendu hides out at as they saw him before they began to approach him.
"Bendu. You knew we were coming," Kanan surmised as the Bendu rose up from the ground.
"Yes," the Bendu confirmed, "You're not exactly quiet creatures, mm? But if I may ask, where is your other apprentice?"
"She's busy at the moment as why we came mainly involves Ezra," Kanan answered before placing his left hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor, "Tell him what's happening."
"The dark side wielder me and my wife told you about, the one who wanted to join the holocrons together. I've seen him here on Atollon," Ezra told the Bendu as he placed his helmet under his arm.
"I warned you, joining the holocrons together could bring both great wisdom and great danger," the Bendu reminded him.
"I know. I felt their power," Ezra told him, "And I did see things, but my vision was incomplete."
"Incomplete?" The Bendu asked him.
"Yeah, I let go before either of us got the answers we wanted, and then the holocrons were destroyed," Ezra explained.
"Aha. I see," The Bendu muttered as he placed his right hand over his chin for a second before removing it from his chin, "Well, that's not good."
"What do you mean, 'That's not good?'" Kanan asked him, "What can we do?"
"What do you want to do, hmm?" The Bendu inquired.
"I want to stop seeing Maul," Ezra answered.
"Then don't turn around," the Bendu told the Mandalorian before both Kanan and Ezra turned around and saw Maul standing on top of the hill with his arms behind his back before the Zabrak began walking down the hill.
"Bendu, what do we do?" Kanan asked the Bendu as he turned around towards him ,only to see that the mysterious Force-wielder had vanished as he had suddenly disappeared from his hiding spot.
"This is a strange place," Maul said as he began to walk towards them, "So remote. Oh, yes, the Empire will have a difficult time finding you here." Ezra and Kanan then grabbed their lightsabers from their belts with Ezra igniting one of his saber's blades, while Kanan ignited his lightsaber's blades as well and entered a lightsaber combat battle stance as they held their sabers with both of their hands, "Y-You think I came here to fight? I came here to speak with my apprentice."
"He's not your apprentice," Kanan reminded him.
"Yet," Maul told him.
"How did you find me?" Ezra asked him as he deactivated his lightsaber.
"When you abruptly severed our connection with the holocron, you mixed up the information. You learned a bit of what I want to know, and I learned a bit of what you wanted to know," Maul said as he began explaining to him how he found him before he turned around, "But there were fragments and memories in my mind."
"Like the location of our base," Ezra realized.
"Yes. Very good and that I've learned that you and your wife both share Jedi ancestors," Maul said as he chuckled before he turned back around towards him, "Oh, you do learn fast, apprentice, even for a Mandalorian such as yourself."
"Look, I can't make sense of what I saw," Ezra told him, "I couldn't even describe it if I wanted to."
"And that is why you need to come with me, so I can retrieve the answers which are just out of reach," Maul stated as he placed his left hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor.
"So you get your answers, but what do we get out of it?" Ezra asked him as he swiped his left arm away from him with his right hand as he backed away from him and crossed his arms.
"I will keep your rebel base secret," Maul bargained.
"No deal," Kanan told the SIth as he aimed his saber near the Zabrak's neck, "You're not walking off this rock in one piece."
"I have planted a beacon nearby," Maul said as he chuckled and took out a device with his right hand, "Strike me down, and it will activate, revealing your presence to the Empire. You have knowledge that is rightfully mine. I have knowledge that you want. The key to defeating the Sith. What I propose will satisfy us both."
"All right," Ezra relented, causing Kanan to deactivate his lightsaber and pulled him aside with his right hand as he placed it over the Mandalorian's left pauldron for a second.
"Ezra, you're not doing this," Kanan stated as he crossed his arms.
"He's gonna expose Chopper Base," Ezra reminded him.
"We'll move, build a new base," Kanan told him.
"Maul won't hurt me, Kanan," Ezra assured him as he sighed, "He needs me. Besides, this might be our last chance to learn the secret of how we can destroy the Sith."
"I do not like this," Kanan sighed as he relented, "But we don't really have a choice, do we? I'm gonna trust you on this."
"All right," Ezra said as he turned around towards Maul as he handed his helmet to Kanan before he began to approach the Zabrak, "We have a deal." As he said that, Maul's Gauntlet fighter, the Nightbrother flew towards them before hovering behind them and above the top of the hill with its ramp lowering down towards them.
"After you, my apprentice," Maul told Ezra as he gestured him towards his ship before he walked onto the Nightbrother's ramp with Maul following him before its ramp rose back up as it flew away as it left Atollon with Kanan watching before he walked away and back towards his speeder bike.
Kanan soon returned to Chopper Base on his speeder bike before he stopped the speeder bike as he approached the Phantom II, where Sabine was working on the shuttle from one side of it and repairing it with a cylinder-shaped tool in her right hand before she jumped down from the shuttle's hull.
"I'm tracking Ezra's signal," Sabine told him as she walked towards him, "They just made the jump to Hyperspace."
"Let's get going. I don't want to lose 'em," Kanan told her as he ran into the shuttle followed by Sabine as the Sheathipede-class shuttle's rear entrance slid back shut before its ramp inserted back inside the shuttle as the shuttle lifted off from the ground Atollon as it began to follow the Nightbrother.
"Where are we?" Ezra asked Maul as he sat on the co-pilot's seat of the Nightbrother, while the Zabrak sat on the ship's pilot seat as it jumped out of Hyperspace near a planet with a blood-red colored surface and atmosphere as they began to approach the planet.
"That is Dathomir, my home," Maul answered as the gauntlet fighter flew down towards the planet below with the wings rotating upwards as the ship rotated around as the gauntlet landed on the surface and wastelands of Dathomir.
"If this is your home, where are your people?" Ezra asked him as they walked down the Nightbrother's ramp as he saw that the area was deserted, "Where is everybody?"
"I am the last survivor," Maul explained, "My family, the Nightsisters, were killed. Masterful witches they were. A threat to the Empire. I know that you can relate."
"These witches, they use the Force?" Ezra asked him.
"Some aspect, yes," Maul confirmed as he looked up at a doorway above them that was shaped like a Nightsister above, "But it was their connection to this planet that made them strong. That is why we are here, to perform…" he then chuckled for a second before continuing, "some old magick." The Mandalorian and Zabrak then began to walk through the planet's ruins, "Yes. Yes, everything that we need lies within the cave."
"I'm not going any further until you tell me how this works," Ezra told him as he stopped walking and crossed his arms.
"The only way to access the knowledge we seek is to merge our minds again. The effect will only last a moment. Just enough time for each of us to find the answers to our questions," Maul explained as he turned around towards him, "Trust me, Ezra." He then sighed as he said that, "I only want the answers I deserve, nothing more."
"What do we have to do?" Ezra asked him as he lowered his arms.
"Come," Maul told him as he turned back around as he began to enter the cave into what once was the Nightsister village with Ezra following him.
"I have gathered many things, secrets to help restore our memory," Maul told Ezra as they entered a room within the Nightsister village that was littered with objects.
"Look at all this junk," Ezra said as he looked at the objects that the room was littered with.
"Don't touch anything," Maul warned him, "These are artifacts from my past, from a time when my power was almost absolute, even from when I ruled your people."
"Is that who I think it is?" Ezra asked as he saw a painting of a young woman with light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair on one of the walls as he walked towards it, but was heavily vandalized with the eyes and throat of the woman being scratched out with the artwork also being in poor condition as the woman was ghostly white instead of light skinned as below the painting was an altar with a type of lightsaber with its hilt being made from Beskar and was colored black and was cylinder shaped.
"Yes, it is. That is a painting of the former ruler of Mandalore, Duchess Satine Kryze," Maul confirmed as he continued searching for what he needed to perform a ritual to access their memories.
"Why do you have it?" Ezra asked him.
"To put it simply, it is a reminder to remind me of what should have happened," Maul answered before the Mandalorian went to grab the lightsaber, only for Maul to notice and looked at him before he walked up behind Ezra, "Get away from there!"
"That's the Darksaber," Ezra told him, "You shouldn't have it. It belongs to the Mandalorians alone, it's not some trophy."
"Well, I won it in combat," Maul told him, "Isn't that ownership enough for you?"
"No, actually," Ezra answered, "Because it's a symbol of leadership for Manda'lor. So it should be returned to me so me, my wife and parents could hand it back to our people whenever we reunite with our people back in Mandalore Space."
"Fine, if you're so determined for me to hand it back to your people, then I'll hand it to you after we conclude our business here," Maul relented.
"Thank you," Ezra said, gratefully as he really wanted to return the Darksaber back to his people.
"Why is Ezra so willing to trust Maul again and again?" Sabine asked kanan as she piloted the Phantom II towards Dathomir, "After he betrayed us and Ahsoka on Malachor when I received my scar from him and when he ruled over our home planet and people near the end of the Clone Wars, which in turn led to the Siege of Mandalore and Imperial rule on our home planet and people."
"He isn't," Kanan told her, "Remember what he told us on Malachor after we rode that lift at that Sith temple when we split up from him and Ahsoka, he was seeing what he was planning. I just hope he's doing the same thing like he did before on Malachor."
"Me too, Kanan," Sabine sighed, agreeing with her master, "Me too."
"I have studied the ways of the Nightsisters, and found a spell that suits our needs," Maul told Ezra as they stood in front of an alter within the Nightsister village as the Mandalorian handed him two goblets as three glasses of potion where the Nightsisters' potion for their magick was stored within before he picked up the glass on the left with his left hand, "This… This altar is the focus of their ancient power."
He then poured the potions from the left glass into the middle glass before he set it back down as he picked up the glass on the right with his right hand and poured it into the middle glass as well before he picked up the middle glass and poured the potion into both goblets,
"Now, to initiate the merge, we… we must each drink this potion," Maul explained to him as he handed Ezra one of the goblets.
"Mmm, you first," Ezra told him before Maul clanged the mouth of his goblet against the Mandalorian's before he drank the potion from his goblet.
"Mmm. To complete the spell. You must drink it all. Just like me, all of it," Maul stated as he finished drinking the potion from his goblet before Ezra did the same as Maul chuckled, "It's working." He then placed his hands over his eyes before Ezra coughed as they closed their eyes for a second before the Zabrak removed his hands from his eyes as they reopened their as they began to glow a radiant green.
The Phantom II soon landed on Dathomir outside the cave and near the Nightbrother as it rotated around before its ramp entrance slid back open and its ramp lowering before Kanan and Sabine immediately ran out of the shuttle as the control pad on Sabine's armor beeped.
"They should be this way. Come on," Sabine said as she and Kanan began running into the cave.
"Where is he?" Maul asked as the radiant green beams of light were shot out from both his and Ezra's eyes as they merged together and formed a spherical circular shape.
"I want to know how to destroy the Sith," Ezra said as he looked up at the spherical circular that the radiant green energy from his and Maul's eyes formed.
"I see," Maul muttered as he began to see an image of a very familiar person to him that he knew from a very long time ago from before the Empire took over, "I understand."
"Who is that?" Ezra asked himself as he saw the same person that Maul was seeing, "I know him."
The cloud of magick began forming a planet with binary stars that the planet orbits around before vanishing completely with both Maul and Ezra collapsing from exertions from the magick.
"Of course," Maul gasped as he leaned over the altar, "It ends where it began. A desert planet with twin suns."
"He's alive," Ezra muttered to himself with shock and disbelief in his voice, "I-I can't believe he's alive."
"It is time to pay our debt," Maul said as the lights around the altar suddenly went out as they stood back up before the glasses that contained the magick they used fell onto their sides of the altar.
"Wait, wait, wait! What's happening?" Ezra asked him as two green colored spirits rose up from the altar as they began swimming around them in the air as they growled, "What is that?"
"Pay our due," a feminine voice from one of the spirits demanded.
"The spirits of the Nightsisters must be compensated for the use of their magick," Maul explained.
"So, pay 'em, and let's get out of here!" Ezra told him as one of the Nightsister spirits flew past them.
"The price is our flesh and blood!" Maul explained, "Don't let them touch you!"
"Now you tell me?!" Ezra said with anger when Kanan and Sabine suddenly entered the room.
"Ezra!" Kanan said, calling out to the Mandalorian.
"Pay our due," one of the spirits of the Nightsisters muttered, repeating themselves.
"Kanan, Sabine, stay back!" Ezra warned his wife and their master as Sabine pulled out both of her WESTAR-35s out of their holsters and began firing them at the spirits as Kanan pulled out his DL-18 blaster pistol as well, only for the blaster bolts from their blasters to just phase through the spirits.
The spirits then laughed sinisterly as one of them phased through Sabine as they began to possess her, causing her to scream as she closed her eyes and blacked out as she began falling to the ground before Kanan grabbed her as he stopped her falling to the ground, but as he did this, the other Nightsister spirit phased through him as well, causing him to close his eyes as well and gasped as they also possessed him before they both stood up and walked forward and sat on the floor in front of the altar with their legs folded.
"Ezra! Stay back," Maul warned the Mandalorian as he began to approach his possessed wife and master as they stood back up.
"Kanan? Sabine?" Ezra called out to his wife and their master as he approached them before Kanan reopened his eyes, revealing the same shade of radiant green that he and Maul had in their eyes moments earlier.
Kanan then reached for his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it, which Maul saw and grabbed his lightsaber from his robe's belt and ignited one of its blades as well as they began to duel as Ezra looked at Sabine as she opened her eyes as well, revealing the same shade of radiant green replacing her eyes and smirked as Ezra looked at her with fear and worry as she punched Ezra back a bit with her left fist before the possessed Sabine grabbed her lightsaber from her armor's belt and ignited its blue blade.
This caused Ezra to grab his lightsaber from his armor's belt in retaliation and ignited one of its blades as they clashed their sabers against each other.
"Sabine! It's your husband, Ezra!" Ezra reminded her as the possessed Kanan and Maul continued to clash their sabers against each other as Ezra sis the same with the possessed Sabine's saber as they backed against each other's back, "You better not hurt him!"
"We cannot defeat the spirits of the Nightsisters!" Maul told him, "Follow me. I will show you a way to save your wife and friend." As he said that, they began running out of the room with both the possessed Kanan and Sabine chasing them, "Faster! We must reach the cave entrance."
Soon Maul and Ezra began to reach the cave's entrance as the possessed Kanan went to strike Ezra with his saber, only for the Mandalorian to turn around and black the attack with his lightsaber before his saber's blade sent him flying out of the cave as his lightsaber deactivated before he crawled back towards Maul with fear as the Zabrak deactivated his saber before the possessed Kanan and Sabine did the same with theirs as they stopped chasing them.
"Wait. Why aren't they coming after us?" Ezra asked Maul with surprise and confusion in his voice as he stood back up.
"The altar is the source of their power. They cannot venture beyond the cave," Maul explained as the possessed Kanan and Sabine began backing away back into the cave, "It is unfortunate about your wife and friend, Ezra. But this… this is your opportunity to embrace your destiny, as my apprentice." Maul then placed his right hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor.
"I told you, that is never going to happen!" Ezra reminded him with anger in his voice as he looked at him with the corner of his eyes.
"Forget your past! Forget your memories!" Maul snapped at him before speaking calmly to him, "Forget your attachments. Our futures converge on a planet with two suns. We can walk that path together, as friends, as brothers."
"My wife and master are trapped in there because of us," Ezra told him, "I can't just leave them."
"You disappoint me, Ezra Bridger," Maul muttered as he laughed to himself as he walked back to his Gauntlet fighter with his arms behind his back before he walked back up his ship's ramp as he entered the ship before its engines powered back up as its ramp slid back upwards as its wings rotated downwards as Ezra looked back at the ship with anger on his face before the Nightbrother lifted off of the ground and flew away as it left Dathomir and the planet's atmosphere as he turned back around and breathed deeply as he began to walk back into the cave.
"Okay. The altar is where their power comes from. So, they can't leave the cave, which means I just have to get Kanan and Sabine outside," Ezra recalled as he reentered the cave as the possessed Sabine crawled and climbed the wall behind him, "How hard can that be?" Just as he said that, his possessed wife snuck up behind him with her lightsaber in her right hand and the Darksaber in her left hand.
"You're unwise to reenter our sanctum," the Nightsister possessing Sabine stated as she looked at the Mandalorian before she ignited her lightsaber's blue blade as well as the Darksaber's black blade and went to strike him with them, only two miss as Ezra twisted his lightsaber's hilts into two separate blades and ignited them as the lightsaber blades clashed against each other multiple times before they went into a saberlock.
"That doesn't belong to you," Ezra told the spirit possessing his wife, "It belongs to the Mandalorian people."
"Then take it from me, Mando!" The spirit taunted him as he saw that the entrance of the cave was behind the possessed Sabine and ran from her and towards the cave's entrance with his possessed wife chasing him as she swung the Darksaber and her lightsaber at him, only to miss as Ezra deactivate both hilts of his split saber and reconnected them into a single lightsaber and clipped it back onto his armor's belt.
He then slid underneath what could've been a pillar long ago as the spirit possessing Sabine used the Force to leap towards him, only for Ezra to extend his arms out towards her as he used the Force to levitate her away as both Sabine's lightsaber and the Darksaber deactivated with the spirit possessing Sabine groaning.
Ezra then stood back up and extended his arms out towards her again as he began to use the Force to push her towards the cave's entrance as the spirit possessing Sabine began shrieking as she tried back inside the cave, but to avail.
"No! No! No!" The spirit possessing Sabine yelled as she stood back up as Sabine's body reached the edge of the cave's entrance before the spirit flew out of Sabine's body, "You cannot destroy us! You'll never save your wife and friend!" The voice of the spirit then laughed as Ezra avoided the spirit as it flew back into the cave.
"Ezra?" Sabine said as she coughed and regained control over her body as she grabbed her lightsaber with her right hand and clipped it back onto her armor's belt as she sat on the ground as Ezra walked up to her and picked up the Darksaber with his left hand, "Whatever you got out of Maul, I hope it was worth it."
"Do not go back in there," Ezra warned her, "They'll possess you again."
"What… What about you?" Sabine asked her husband as Ezra began running back into the cave, "Won't they possess you, too?"
"I'm counting on it!" Ezra answered as he continued running back into the cave.
"Kanan?" Ezra called out to his possessed master as he reentered the room containing the altar as he saw him sitting on the altar with his legs folded as the green colored cloud-like mist surrounded him.
"Maul promised us flesh and blood. With it, we can begin again and rebuild the great clan of the Nightsisters," the spirit possessing Kanan told him as he looked up at him.
"If Maul made you that promise, then it's my debt as well," Ezra stated, "I will pay it. Just let my friend go."
"Perhaps, if you prove to be stronger, like the Mandalorian warrior you are," the spirit said, accepting his offer, but wanted to see if he was stronger first as the spirit grabbed Kanan's lightsaber from his belt with his left hand as he stood back up before igniting its blade as he walked up to him as Ezra ignited one of his saber's blades as well before both sabers clashed with each other as he backed away before the spirit used the Force to leap towards him as their sabers clashed against each other again.
"I know you're in there! I'm not losing you to these monsters!" Ezra told Kanan as he wasn't gonna give him up to the Nightsister spirit that was possessing him.
"Our due must be paid!" The Spirit reminded him as he clashed his saber with Ezra's saber again, causing him to let go of his lightsaber and the Darksaber as he fell on his back a few feet away before he sat up and extended his right arm out as he used the Force to push Kanan onto his back as the Nightsister possessing him growled.
"Spirit, I am the one you want!" Ezra told the spirit that was possessing Kanan as he got back onto his feet, "Let him go!" The spirit that was possessing Kanan then flew out of his body and reentered the altar as he ran towards him as the Nightsister spirits from the altar began flying around the altar.
"Ezra!" Kanan called out to him, coughing as he helped him up.
"You belong to us, boy!" The spirit reminded Ezra.
"Kanan, get out of here!" Ezra told Kanan as he turned back around to face the spirits as he ignited one of his lightsaber's blades and the Darksaber.
"You belong to us, boy," the spirit reminded him again, "The debt must be paid."
"Now, you will pay the price!" One of the spirits added.
"I'm gonna have to owe you one," Ezra told the spirits before slashing the altar with both his lightsaber and the Darksaber against the altar, destroying it on impact.
"No!" One of the Nightsister spirits yelled with anger in their voice as every single one of the Nightsister spirits shrieked as they were all knocked backwards by a shockwave that he created from destroying the altar before the spirits vanished.
Ezra then stood back up and clipped his lightsaber back onto his armor's belt along with the Darksaber as he panted as he rushed over to his master, who was sitting in front of a statue.
"Kanan? Are you all right?" Ezra asked his master as he kneeled in front of the Jedi Knight.
"This is the last time we're working with Maul," Kanan stated as he looked at him.
"I sure hope so," Sabine said, agreeing with him as she reentered the room as she walked towards them.
"Sabine, I told you to stay outside," Ezra reminded her.
"Hey, I've never listened to you on missions before, Ez'ika. Why start now?" Sabine asked him with a smirk on her face, "Besides, I figured you were gonna need some help."
"Well, was it worth it?" Kanan asked Ezra as he helped him up, "Did you find out what you wanted to know?"
"Yes," Ezra sighed, "The answer to my question of how to destroy the Sith is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"You think he's still alive?" Kanan asked him.
"He must be," Ezra answered, "But, Kanan, Maul's also looking for him."
"So, he knows where he is now?" Kanan asked him.
"The holocron didn't tell us that," Ezra told him, "It just told us a planet with two suns."
"Well, that hardly narrows it down," Sabine remarked.
"Well, we're gonna have to figure it out, because if we don't find Master Kenobi before Maul…" Kanan began to say.
"There won't be any way to stop the Sith," Ezra finished for him, "Kanan, you go, I want to speak to Sabine for a second."
"Will do," Kanan replied as he began to leave the room and the cave, "Meet you both back at the Phantom II."
"What do you want to talk about, Ezra?" Sabine asked him before Ezra unclipped the Darksaber from his armor's belt with his right hand as he showed it to her, causing Sabine to gasp, "Is that?"
"It is, Sabine," Ezra answered, "This is indeed the Darksaber. Maul had it here for a long time, possibly sometime after he defeated Pre Vizsla on Mandalore when we were toddlers."
"So, why are you showing me it?" Sabine asked her husband with confusion in her voice.
"Because Sabine, if Kanan, Rau or my parents wants us to lead our people to rally them against the Empire, I'd rather have you be the one to lead them as I don't think I'm leadership material to lead an entire army yet," Ezra explained, "I also have a split saber, so having that and the Darksaber will also make it hard to use both my lightsaber and the Darksaber."
"Okay, Ez'ika, if any of them ever wants us to lead our people against the Empire, I'll probably do it instead," Sabine said as she took the Darksaber from him with her right hand before she clipped it onto her armor's belt as they followed their master out of the cave.