What if?: One Death

Finally

Maul could feel his hearts pounding in his chest. Obi-wan had lowered the ship onto the red planet. He could see the bright green mist roll out of the red treed forest. Obi wan had circled the entire planet silently and it had made Maul nervous. Where they on the right planet? Was his master just teasing him at being so close yet so far away from finding his family? Was his master nervous that Maul would want to leave him after he found his family? Maul would never want to leave his master. Never. Maul was ready show him, if needed, that he would choose his master over any anyone that claimed to be his family.
Maul was desperate to find his family yet he could feel a part of him laughing about how crazy everything was. Than Maul felt the ship land.
"Alright Maul, there are many clans here. This is the clan of the Singing Mountain, this is one of many clans that has Zabrak males in it. If you don't belong to this one don't let your hopes down. There are plenty of other clans out there." Obi-wan said and walked off of the ship with Maul close behind.

The sun was setting on Dathomir and Obi-wan was getting tired. Obi-wan could feel Maul's irritation. They had been to all, but five clans on the entire planet and they all hadn't exactly been nice them to him. A good handful of the clans they visited had chased them away with domesticated Rancors. Obi-wan looked over at Maul as they sat in there slightly damaged ship. Obi-wan could feel that Maul was just itching for a fight now.
"Maybe we should orbit Dathomir and get some rest before we continue." Obi-wan suggested about to take their ship into orbit of the planet.
"No! We are so close! They have to be somewhere here!" Maul snarled at Obi-wan. Their clothes were all dirty from being chased by Rancors. Obi-wan was certain that if Maul's family wasn't here on Dathomir, that they were probably dead. Inhabitants of neutral planets barely left their planets unless they were being invaded, but the people of this planet would rather die than surrender their home to some stranger.
"Maul," Obi-wan used a soft voice and it seemed to of caught Maul off guard. The ex-Sith looked at the ex-Jedi he seemed to have a pained look on his face as if he already knows what Obi-wan was going to say. "I hate to say this, but since Dathomir is a neutral planet, if your family's not here,"
"Than their dead." Maul finished with a snarl. "I wouldn't be surprised."
"What do you mean?" Obi-wan curious about Maul's statement
"It would surprise me if my old master killed them to keep me from returning to them." Maul's voice softened. Obi-wan knew he needed rest desperately, Maul was constantly shifting and Oni-wan sure he and whoever else was Force sensitive and near the planet was getting a headache.
"Come on Maul, we should get some rest." Obi-wan placed his hand on Maul's shoulder "We'll continue in the morning."
"Please Obi-wan." Maul whined as he looked into Obi-wan's eyes with sad ones. Obi-wan felt as if he didn't continue the search Maul would continue to give him the sad eyes. Obi-wan could tell that he was just playing right into Maul's hand. Also that this was just the beginning of Maul exploring his new advantages of not being the apprentice, but an equal. Obi-wan tried to resist Maul's begging eyes and pleas, but Obi-wan gave in.
"Fine. Alright. One more clan." Obi-wan sighed he just wanted Maul's constant shifting to stop giving him a headache. Maul smirked as Obi-wan set the course to the Night Clans. Obi-wan knew they were separated by males and females, but which one to go to first? Warriors and witches. Obi-wan would rather sleep right now and think about it later, but he knew Maul would keep pushing. The females were dominant, yet Obi-wan knew the Jedi Council's constant push on the Nightsisters to get them to join the Republic. Those Nightsister probably knew they were there and on their way. Obi-wan personally wanted to make this clan the last clan they visited in hope these powerful witches would understand that they come in peace.
Obi-wan decided to land near the Nightbrothers and ask them about what they knew.
"So which clan now master?" Maul asked looking curiously out of the window like a youngling.
"The Nightbrother side of the Night Clan." Obi-wan answered him tiredly. After a quick moment of silence, Maul looked over at Obi-wan with hurt in his eyes and Obi-wan only needed to see a glance of Maul from the corner of his eyes.
"Don't you think that Maul. Just because this clan is separated doesn't mean a single bit that I'm going to leave you there." Obi-wan said in a soft voice shifting his gaze so he can pay attention to where he was going and look at Maul.
"I know Master, it's just-"
"And I told you Maul, we're together now. I'm not your master anymore and you're not my apprentice. Obi-wan or Kenobi. Which ever one you want. You have to learn to make decisions on your own now." Obi-wan said and looked out the window to see the Nightbrother settlement. Once they landed Obi-wan blocked Maul's path off the ship.
"Now Maul, I want you to give me the lightsaber." Obi-wan held out his hand to Maul. Maul was confused by this. Why did Obi-wan want his lightsaber and why did he make it sound so demanding? Maul opened his mouth to say 'Of course Master,' but he stopped himself and just handed over the lightsaber. Maul watched Obi-wan as he shifted to his other foot. Obi-wan had looked uncomfortably around the ship before making eye contact again with Maul.
"Now Maul, I know what I said earlier, but listen to this one order. Do not hurt the Nightbrothers." Obi-wan simply said and Maul still was confused at why Obi-wan would give such a broad order. Why would Maul want to hurt them? What reason would the Nightbrothers give to hurt him and Obi-wan?
"Do you understand Maul? Use your skills to sense them, we've been surrounded since we've landed." Obi-wan states and Maul had nearly forgot about his powers. He could sense about 30 men in the nearby proximity, but only 10 of them had surrounded the ship. Parts of Maul growled, but he was able to repress them.
"Yes, Kenobi, I understand." Maul said with little thought almost saying master.
"Good. Now let's go." Obi-wan opened the ships door and the both walked off of the ship. They look around trying to see the warriors that they sensed to only be greeted with landscape. Maul follows Obi-wan towards the settlement he got quickly glances of the warriors as they gathered up and followed them. Maul counted that once there was 20 of them surrounding him and Obi-wan is was when the group of men ambushed them.
The Nightbrothers charged at them and Maul kicked one of them away. Using a Force push he push other Nightbrothers away from Obi-wan. Maul snarled at them as the constant fight of kicking and pushing them away continued. Obi-wan could sense that Maul was on a verge of a possibly dangerous shift. Obi-wan was sure with a few more charges at Maul he would undoubtedly shift.
Just as Obi-wan sensed that Maul was about to shift a large bang had echoed from the entrance of the village. The Nightbrothers had ceased their attack and to Obi-wan's surprise, it had somehow caused Maul to relax. A Nightbrother, far older than the ones that attacked them started to approach Obi-wan and Maul.
"Feral! Savage!" The oldest Nightbrother called and the two quickly joined him. Obi-wan could help but spit out subtle similarities between the three. The two seemed like they were barely making it out of their youngling years. They held their weapons at a ready point to attack until the oldest held up his hand with a closed fist.
"Do not attack them." The older Nightbrother declared to Feral and Savage looked confused at each other than relaxed their weapons and stayed at either side of the older Nightbrother, that Obi-wan easily concluded was the village leader.
"Jedi, I thought Mother Talzin made it clear that you were no longer welcomed on Dathomir." The Elder stated
"Yes, she did and I apologize for the intrusion, but I came here with my.." Obi-wan was at a sudden loss for words. What should he call Maul without alarming the Nightbrothers to think this was somehow a Jedi invasion? "With my close friend," Obi-wan began to gesture to Maul when the Elder cut him off.
"Maul?" The Elder questioned looking over at Maul squinting his eyes as he walked closer to Obi-wan and Maul. Obi-wan looked at Maul to see that he was on the complete defensive with a sudden look of surprise on his face as he realize it was the Nightbrother that said his name and not Obi-wan.
"Is it really you Maul?" The Elder asked circling Maul.
"How do you know my name? My m- old master gave me that name." Maul's snarl was repeatedly cut short than continued. He was clueless if he should be happy or angry that this Nightbrother knew his name. Maul could hear the voice of Sidious in his head whisper for him to attack and kill the Elder. Maul tried to repress the voice, but it wouldn't faded away.
"All the lies that you were told." The Elder spoke
"Brother Viscous, who is this stranger?" A deep voice that either belonged Savage or Feral demanded to know. Maul couldn't tell which it belonged to since he could only pay attention to silencing the voice and the Elder.
"You're markings are darker than they should be, no doubt that old fool changed them." Viscous commented and for a strange reason Maul felt compelled to defend his dead master. The touch of Obi-wan's hand made Maul's skin jump with surprise. Maul looked at Obi-wan with a confused and slightly panicked look in his eyes. The panic in Maul had confused Obi-wan and it had made Obi-wan keep his hand on Maul's shoulder. If Maul shifts at anytime Obi-wan knew that he was the only one who knew how to deal with it.
"Father!" A more rough voice called out to the Elder.
"Feral, Savage." Viscous said placing his own hand on Maul's other shoulder. "You're brother has returned home." Maul stood there in just shock than
"Father, you can't be serious. You said an old man of the dark side took him." The rough voice spoke again and Maul saw that it came from the smaller of the two younglings.
"I would not lie about who your brother is Feral." Viscous turned snapping at Feral. The larger of the two younglings, Savage huffed and crossed his arm.
"I'll wait until Mother Talzin confirms this stranger as my brother." Savage spoke and turned. "Come Feral we still have training to do." With those last words the two younglings headed deeper into the village until Feral stopped and jogged back over to Viscous and Maul.
"You must excuse Savage, Maul, he takes things too seriously sometimes." Feral said with a soft smile. "It is nice to finally meet you brother."
Maul's body froze when Feral hugged him. The hug to Maul personally just made him feel uncomfortable. He barely hugged anyone in his life and Feral was still so much shorter than he was. Maul could tell that Feral and Savage only had a few years difference between them by how Savage was nearly a head size taller than Feral. Maul didn't know that he was holding his breath until Feral had released him from his hug.
Maul was still trying process everything that had just happened. He had found his family! He should be happy right? Than why is he paying attention to the voice in his head. Kill them. They don't want you. If they did, why didn't they come looking for you? The voice in his head interrogated Maul with questions he didn't know the answers to.
Feral took off quickly into the village when he heard Savage calling for him. Maul was still trying to sort things out in his head as he tried to ignore the voice.
"Come Maul, night fall is upon us let me find you and your friend a place to rest and in the morning, we shall bring you to Mother Talzin." Viscous spoke leading Maul and Obi-wan into the village.
"My mother?" Maul followed Viscous into a hut along with Obi-wan
"Yes, my son. Finally after years of being very parted we are finally reunited and you can take your place as a son of Dathomir once more." Viscous nodded to Maul. "Now you and your friend shall sleep in here for the night. Be up early to make the trip to the Nightsisters they do not like it when they have to wait longer than they should."
"Yes, father." Maul quietly spoke and watched as Viscous stood in the door way.
"Get some sleep now Maul, I shall see you in the morning." With that Viscous left the hut. Maul walked over to one of the beds and sat down with his head in his hands.
"Maul, what's wrong?" Obi-wan finally asked the question he was dying to ask when Brother Viscous first approached them.
"It's my old master. I hear him in my head." Maul choked out trying to hold tears back as he looks at the floor.
"Maul," Obi-wan kneeled down on the floor in front of Maul getting as closer as he can. He took Maul's hands away from his face and held them. "Look in my eyes Maul."
Maul took a few deep breaths before looking up into Obi-wan's eyes. Obi-wan stayed silent for a moment looking into Maul's dark side stained eyes that were yellow rimmed with red.
"Everything you see and feel here today, that is real. Nothing here on this planet is a lie. That voice of Sidious in your head is only a memory. You are no longer an apprentice of an evil creature. you have a family and you have me now." Obi-wan took on of Maul's hands and put it against his cheek.
"Mas-, Kenobi... his voice is telling me to kill them." Maul whispered his hand against Obi-wan's cheek began to shake. "I don't want to kill them."
"And you don't have to Maul. Listen Mother Talzin is a powerful witch and your mother, if you just ask her, perhaps she can make the voice of Sidious go away." Obi-wan kissed Maul's shaky hand.
"What if she can't?" Maul whispered tears of doubt filling his eyes.
"Oh Maul," Obi-wan sighs softly and rubs Maul's eyes free from the tears. "No matter what they can do and what they can't, they still are your family and will want to help."
"I understand..." Maul sighed closing his eyes than whispered as if he was afraid of someone hearing him . "Obi-wan... can you, sleep with tonight? I, don't want to have a nightmare tonight..."
"Nightmare? You never told me you had nightmares Maul." Obi-wan said moving to sit on the bed with Maul.
"I've always had them, but in the recent nights that I've been around you, I haven't had any nightmares." Maul's eyes were on the floor again.
"Alright than Maul, it's ok, now let's get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow and I'm sure your mother won't want to see you all sleepy." Obi-wan said laying down on the bed. Maul slowly laid down next to him.
"Good night Maul." Obi-wan yawned
"Good night Obi-wan." Maul watched as Obi-wan fell asleep, before he could began feeling sleep take over him. He only hoped that in the morning the voice of Sidious in his head would be silent long enough for him to enjoy finally having a family.