Anabeth: Darkness Rising

Chapter 20 - Forgiveness Is Always An Answer

Upon her return Ana found the halls of the Temple empty. Knowing most would be asleep at this hour and the Temple on minimum personell she decided that it would be the best time to make the most of the fact that she didn't feel like sleeping and head over to the cells to see Maul.

When she reached him he was sitting in the corner of his cell, staring at the wall with empty eyes that for once almost made him look peaceful and like someone who should be pitied. There were only two guards in the room in front of his cell, but six more were standing in the main area outside the door incase something happened.

"Would you give us the room?" Ana asked the guards, making Maul snap out of his trance and look towards her. The guards nodded respectfully and left the room to wait outside. Maul got to his feet and moved towards the force field of his cell.

"Nice of you to stop by, I almost thought you weren't coming" he greeted her. "It would have been rude of me not to" Ana replied. "What are you here for this time?" Maul asked curiously. "You tell me" Ana just shrugged. "I don't believe you. You want something or you wouldn't be here".

"There are a lot of things I could want from you Maul. An apology, the name of the Sith Lord or some information that could help us to know what to look for, just to name a few. But I didn't come here for that, I came to check on you" Ana explained.

Her eyes met those of Maul and Ana was sure there was something in them that she had never seen before. Perhaps a feeling of guilt and remorse rising to the surface. It was like he was contemplating something that was far beyond her understanding so she held his gaze for a moment, hoping to help whatever was going on his brain along. It was Maul that broke the eye contact shortly after, turning to the side with a sigh.

"Why are you still awake? Shouldn't you be sleeping already?" he suddenly asked, sounding a bit like he actually cared. "I was out on a mission" Ana gently replied. "So your Master...". "Doesn't know I'm here, yes" Ana finished the sentence. "I see. Do they value you here?" Maul blurted out. "What?" Ana was confused.

"Do these people know how special you are and appreciate you for what you can do?" Maul rephrased his question. "They do". "Then I appreciate you putting your relationship with them on the line to bring me here" Maul responded, rendering Ana speechless. She didn't know how to respond, just looking at Maul a little stunned.

"Off to bed with you now, we can't have your Master worrying where you are, can we" Maul send her out of the room, Ana complying as if in a trance. "I'll stop by tomorrow" she promised before disappearing out the door and making her way back to her quaters.

As Ana had anticipated, Windu was still awake by the time she got back to their quaters, forcing her to gather herself back up from her encounter with Maul before she entered. "There you are, are you okay? Did everything go to plan or did Ventress cause trouble?" Windu asked as soon as she got through the door.

"Everything went smoothly. I gave her the lightsabers back and then we parted ways, no trouble at all" Ana explained while she took off her cloak and stored it away. "How was the council meeting?". "You know, normal. we brought Obi-Wan up to speed on what's been happening and decided to start removing the clone's inhibitor chips off the records"

"But that means we only have the medical bays in our ships to do it, not to mention the even smaller number of qualified personell. Do you know how much that will slow everything down?" Ana asked. "We know, but we can't use Republic resources for this. At least this way we are making some progress" Windu commented.

"I guess that'll have to do for now" Ana agreed "I'm pretty tired, I'm going to head off to bed if that's alright". "Go ahead, I'll do the same" Windu replied before both of them went their separate ways into their rooms.