Verily, a New Hope (SI) part 2

As some other fics the first chp of this one is too long for webnovel to accept posting so this is the part 2

The next day I received a holo-call from Qui-Gonn, revealing things had gone pretty much exactly as I had expected. The Senate wouldn't act, the Order was still skeptic about his claims of being hunted by Sith and once Padme decided to take matters into her own hands and travel to Naboo blockade be damned, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were ordered to tag along. However, this time around there hadn't been a conversation about Anakin in the Council, Qui-Gon keeping his mouth shut and interestingly enough Palpatine hadn't pushed Padme into calling for a Vote of No Confidence, which worried me for several reasons.

If he wasn't pushing to become Supreme Chancellor himself then he either a) wasn't actually Darth Sideous, which I hoped for but found unlikely, or b) his plans didn't require him to wield a higher position of power within the Republic than he already possessed, which worried me far, far more.

Dammit, when was the last time I went over which political actions he involved himself in again? Or the last time I checked Plageuis' communications? It must have been months, caught up as I've been in training Anakin. I need to get into contact with my agents ASAP, I need to be ready for whatever fuckery that bastard of a Muun has managed to cook-up in the shadows.

I took care to hide these feelings from Anakin, but I allowed Dooku to catch on to them and the aged human shone with determination in return. I could trust that on Serenno at least, the Sith's machinations wouldn't expand unchecked. The moment Qui-Gon ended the holo-call, Dooku had already notified spaceport control and cleared his personal shuttle for take-off. Theross of course was already standing at the ready to guide us to the proper flight deck and in less than half an hour Anakin and I had entered Hyperspace, traveling towards Naboo at speeds that defied physics.

The plan was very simple: we'd land on one of Naboo's moons, which fell outside of the Trade Federation's blockade as it was solely centered on the planet itself, hopefully managing to disguise ourselves well enough from their long-range scanners. There, Padme's ship would meet us and Anakin and I would board the ship after which we would attempt to break the blockade.

While the trip towards Naboo's system took a couple of hours, our waiting time was surprisingly short, the Queen's ship touching down a mere twenty minutes after we had.

Seems the Force is eager then.

Anakin and I quickly thanked our pilot before switching ships, the Serennian taking off not moments later, eager to put as much distance between its own unshielded and unarmed self and the Trade Federations hulking behemoths. The reunion with the rest of the group was short but heartfelt (though I tried my absolute best to subtly and not-so-subtly avoid Jar Jar at all costs), though we quickly turned to the task at hand.

It was too dangerous to jump to hyperspace from the moon to the planet so we would be approaching with our regular subluminal engines, which in turn meant that we would be in the Trade Federation's sights for longer which of course meant more time for them to try and turn us into a hot fiery ball of plasma.

Something that most doctors would recommend avoiding as much as possible for health-related reasons.

Padme was almost continuously in conference with her security detail, trying to form a strategy to retake the palace and kick Nute off their planet. This saddened Anakin for a bit, until I not-so-subtly steered him to meet R2, and the two immediately struck up a strong friendship.

Currently, Anakin was trying to teach the droid how to play Sabbac, completely disregarding the fact that the astromech didn't have any arms with which to play the game with (I blame our time on Nar Shaddaa for the child's worryingly in-depth knowledge of the poker game).

Obi-Wan was simply meditating, reaching an impressive level of focus for one who had yet to pass his Knight Trials.

Qui-Gon and I… well, we simply sat and drunk tea, reminiscing of our younger days and exchanging news and stories. There really wasn't much else for us to do: we knew that a cloaked enemy would try to oppose us, but given that he was, well, cloaked there wasn't much we could do other than speculate and that would bring us nowhere.

Of course, I knew perfectly well who he was, but since I only had a name and cursory description to give Qui-Gon and we were currently in hyperspace, there wasn't much we could do with that information. I suppose if I had managed to approach Mother Talzin shortly after Maul's birth, I could've tried to convince her not to sell Kycina's son to Sideous, but that seemed highly unlikely at the time. Well over thirty years ago, the Witches of Dathomir and I had a… falling-out, after I brutally slew Talzin's predecessor Mother Zalem on Ova, preventing her from messing about with a Kwa Star Chamber and thus destroying the very planet.

I had tried to explain the necessity of my actions to the Witches, but the Dark Side users had been… less than understanding. The newly appointed Talzin had made it very clear that the next time I set foot on Dathomir, either they would perish, or I.

Yeah, Dark Side users really did tend to deal in absolutes, even those that weren't strictly Sith.

Still, while Ova was saved, the consequences of my actions there had still meant I couldn't prevent Maul from being taken by Darth Sideous, if that event had even happened. My previous knowledge of this universe had shown me much, but after multiple centuries a lot of it was fading and my own Force sight was just as badly affected by the Dark Side as any other Jedi, if somewhat to a lesser extent due to my power. Not to mention the fact that my enemies was just proficient in the skill of foresight as I (or in Sidesous' case, completely unchallenged in it) and they were hardly inactive in trying to counter the changes that I was trying to make.

Still, the fact that the group was pursued by a powerful opponent expertly hidden by the Dark Side was a strong indication that Sideous had still managed to raise his little attack dog in secret, but until we touched down on Naboo there was very little we could do about it.

There was also very little use to us sitting in with the frantic meetings regarding what we actually would do once we had touched down. Padme and Panaka could plan all they wanted, but we were Jedi. We would go where we were meant to go, trusting in the Force. Other than maps with the lay-out of the palace and a rough estimate of the number of enemy forces, there wasn't much else of use that they could provide for us.

Even if they did try to include us in their battle plans, our nature as Jedi meant that we would probably be used in a similar manner to commandos, moving away from the group to secure important objectives and eliminate the most powerful opposition, meaning we would have to rely on our own wits anyways.

Not that we minded secluding ourselves in one of the more spacious rooms aboard the ship: the company was good, the tea was excellent and the brief moment of rest was appreciated.

Of course, the moment I thought that, the Force decided to show its twisted sense of humor once again as Panaka's voice suddenly burst from the speakers in the room as a subtle shudder traveled through the entire ship.

"We have begun our approach for Naboo. Prepare for evasive maneuvers and hopefully atmospheric entry. And hope we don't get blown up."

'Showtime.' I thought to myself with a grin as Panaka shut off the comm.

'Showtime indeed.' I wryly thought to myself, nudging the severed head of a B1 battle droid with my three-toed foot.

Standing in the hangar of the Naboo palace, I lazily glanced around at the multitude of mangled artificial bodies scattered around me, many of them still glowing at some points where their limbs had violently been removed from the rest of them.

"You could have aided us." Obi-Wan's voice intrudes on my casual examination of the bloodless carnage at my feet, causing me to glance in his direction.

The young Jedi's tone was carefully controlled in order to make sure it wasn't accusing, since the strict Kenobi wouldn't even dream of talking down to his superior like that. Still, the youth couldn't help but shoot me a questioning look, to which I simply replied with a grin and a shrug.

"Clearly, you did not require it to deal with this particular brand of opposition." I state dryly.

Before Kenobi can ask what I mean by that, the large double doors on the other end of the hangar slowly open, allowing a figure in all black to purposely stride through. The moment he throws back the hood covering his head, exposing his yellowed eyes, red-black skin and horned scalp, the need for stealth is apparently gone as the veil of Dark Side is similarly pulled back, confronting us with the full extent of the Zabrak's rage.

Both Jedi respond by falling in a tense stance, raising their lightsabers in reflex, causing Maul to slowly extend his own perpendicular to the floor, a blood red blade bursting forth with a snap-hiss! before he sinks into a deeper stance, arm extended and eyes focused and a second blade bursts forth as well, visibly taking the Jedi off guard.

… I swear I'm hearing Duel of the Fates right now.

"That particular brand of opposition, however…" I calmly muse, drawing a somewhat disbelieving look from Obi-Wan at my apparent nonchalance, which I ignore in favor of turning towards my young charge.

"Anakin." I simply say, my voice calm but serious, immediately catching the attention of the young boy who swiftly drops the droid head he had been fiddling with and he makes his way over to my side.

"Master?"

"Why don't you hide in one of those fighters for now? This opponent is very dangerous: if he comes back here again and you see him approaching you, take the fighter and leave this place as fast as possible. Understood?"

He's clearly reluctant at the idea leaving me after I told him the red-skinned warrior might defeat me, but years of following me from planet to planet at the drop of a hat has made him accustomed to scenarios like this (after all, sometimes we had to leave a place not because of the mysterious ways of the force, but simply because I had severely pissed someone off, be it in politics or in the underworld).

"Yes Master… be safe."

"Thank you Anakin, I shall definitely try." I reply with an assuring smile, one he bravely tries to reciprocate before he quickly scurries away.

The exchange only took a few moments, but Maul seems impatient (a bad trait for an assassin, but a common one for Sith) as he starts stalking forwards, causing the Jedi to tense even further and move closer to one another.

"Let's take this elsewhere shall we?" I call out, my gravelly voice breaking the sudden tension.

Maul grins at my apparent challenge, whirling his double-bladed staff around in anticipation as a hunger creeps into his look, stalking forwards even further. Right before I lift every single blaster that had been laying in the hangar (courtesy of the freshly minced droids Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had so graciously provided), point their muzzles at him and simply unload.

Other than a snarl of frustration, Maul is not deterred, spinning his staff even faster while deftly stepping away with sure and supernaturally quick strides, the screaming blasterbolts either streaking past his nimble form or being deflected by his flurry of strikes. Still, they are too numerous for him to try anything more than simply deflect, leaving him unable to hit them back towards us and the focus needed to keep himself from being turned into a sieve means he's no longer advancing.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are quick to catch up on my impromptu plan and start hurling droid parts at the Sith as well. The Zabrak's yellow eyes briefly widen, before he desperately bobs and weaves while also trying to keep defending himself from my onslaught of blaster fire. He could cut the droid parts in half, but that would still leave him with two (now superheated) chunks of metal on a direct collision course with his body, and hemmed in as he was by a veritable wall of plasma, he couldn't reliable dodge those as well.

Still, he was very well trained (one does not take down a Jedi of Qui-Gon's caliber without even suffering a single wound themselves if they aren't significantly powerful after all) and though we had him contained for the moment, we had yet to harm him and eventually, the Jedi would run out of artificial bodyparts to throw.

Which is where the next stage of my plan came in. While I had used part of my focus on keeping the two dozen or so blasters aloft and firing, I had simultaneously used the majority of my power to subtly drag the noses of the nearest four fighters to point in Maul's direction. Focused as he was on defending himself from our earlier combined attacks, the Sith had failed to notice their labored movement, even as they slowly turned into position inch by inch.

Right until their turbo-lasers fired of course.

Still, I couldn't really aim their weaponry, just point their hulls in his general direction, but that was sufficient. The nearest two were near enough that their powerful blasterfire impacted close to where Maul was standing, meaning that the resulting explosions in the floor battered his body, which in turn allowed a few bolts to slip past his defense, grazing his legs and arms.

Soon, the torrent of starship-grade weaponry slamming into his end of the hall caused a cloud of dust to form as the heavy lasers turned the previous ornate marble into rubble. I allowed this to continue for several moments before releasing my hold on their firing sticks. A quick wave of my hand and the dust was quickly swept away revealing-

"Shit."

-nothing, other than an empty crater and some torn black fabric. The sound of swift footsteps and a trail of dark blood leading back to where the Zabrak had first entered the hangar clued us in on Maul's attempt at running away from battle.

"After him! Swiftly!" Qui-Gon roared, already moving with Obi-Wan and I on his heels.

The humans might be taller than me, but such things meant little to the Force, allowing me to easily keep up with their hurried strides. We arrived the chamber with the thin walkways and electrified towers easily, and I spotted Maul limping along one of said walkways around fifty meters in front of us. With a frown on my face of concentration, I raised both my hands and with a grunt pulled them back, causing the walkway underneath Maul to buckle, break free from its brethren and fly towards us, flipping end over end.

The Sith had quickly fallen off, losing his footing, but he still had the presence of mind to push off at the last moment, ensuring that he crashed into one of the lower platforms instead of falling to his death in the endless chasm below us. A negligent wave of my hand caused the torn walkway to alter its course, harmlessly sailing past me and my Jedi allies.

Obi-Wan had briefly frozen when the walkway sailed towards us, but Qui-Gon's instincts were more battle-hardened than his apprentice. He barely paid the flying hunk of metal any attention, keeping his eyes on his opponent and gracefully jumping down towards Maul's platform mere moments after the Sith painfully smacked into it.

Still, Maul was fueled by the Dark Side, and his desperation at seeing the descending Jedi gave him unnatural strength. Ignoring the pains of his body, the Sith managed to work himself to a knee, raising his lightsaber just as Qui-Gon descended upon him. Green met red in a brilliant clash, the force of the blow pushing Maul even further down, the lightsabers pushed so close to him that his arms were trembling and the heat of the plasma blades caused his upper robe to start smoking (the parts of it that weren't burnt already, that is).

Still, the Zabrak grit his teeth as he locked eyes with the determined Qui-Gon, before he pushed on his hilt, sliding his lightsaber against Jin's with the furious crackle of Force and plasma, even as the move caused the blades to inch even closer to his face. However, the move was a clever one, as he managed to point the bottom of his hilt straight at the Jedi's stomach.

Obi-Wan and I saw the move for what it was, and I was already preparing to leap into battle as Kenobi cried out for his master, but Qui-Gon showed he had earned the rank of Master as he pivoted away right as Maul's second blade burst forth, barely missing his midsection by just a hair. Impressively, Qui-Gon managed to keep his and Maul's blades locked even during the spin, pressing down as he had better leverage now that Maul was overextended and holding back his green blade at an awkward angle.

Something that was proven when Maul tried to dodge away, hugging the floor as he tried to let Qui-Gon's blade slide off his own, trying to disentangle them. It worked up to a point, but Jin easily moved with the motion, freeing his blade as he spun counter to Maul's movement, bringing his green blade around in a graceful arc straight towards the Sith's approaching torso.

Only the greatest of reflexes and the unnatural strength of the Dark Side allowed Maul to pull up his blade into a guard, but even that was insufficient to protect against the full momentum of Qui-Gon's swing, as he was enhanced by the Light Side of the Force. The impact of lightsaber on lightsaber was masterful and Maul was thrown back several feet, though he immediately turned his fall into a backwards roll and handspring, narrowly avoiding the flurry of Qui-Gon's follow-up attacks.

He tried moving backwards, but in the scant few seconds their altercation had taken place, Obi-Wan and I hadn't been idle. Maul tensed when he heard the sound of soft leather boots striking the metal grating behind him, sparing a brief glance over his shoulder as he locked eyes with the tense Jedi padawan, blue saber raised in challenge.

Before he could move, however, his entire body locked up and he sank to his knees with a pained grunt, almost as if a immense invisible weight was suddenly placed on his shoulders. Looking up with blazing eyes filled with pure hatred, Maul identified the sudden source of his latest predicament as he stared up at where I stood on the walkway above him, both hands outstretched at his kneeling form.

"Cease, Sith! There is no hope for victory here!" Qui-Gon called out, though he kept his blade at the ready, Obi-Wan following his master's example.

During the trip to Naboo, I had told my Jedi friend that it would be better in the long run if we could capture Maul so we could extract answers from him and present him as proof to the High Council and the Senate. That being said, Maul was still Sith and therefore automatically amongst the most dangerous individuals in the galaxy: should he prove to be too violent to safely approach or contain, neither Qui-Gon nor Obi-Wan should hesitate for even the slightest moment, but strike him down then and there.

To do otherwise is to risk death.

Having taken my cautionary words to heart, neither Jedi approaches the contained Sith, keeping a wary eye on the blazing red saber still held in his clenched fists and the almost mad look in his hate filled eyes.

"Give up, Maul. The Dark Side shall not set you free this day." I intoned through gritted teeth, struggling to keep my hold on the raging Zabrak who gave his everything trying to break free, as shown by the way his entire body trembled.

"Drop your blade, Sith! We do not seek any further conflict! We merely wish to have our questions answered!" Qui-Gon tried again, switching to a different tactic, but the promise of peaceful resolution is wasted on Sith with a battle high.

At Jin's softer words, Maul lurched in his direction, snarling like an animal and bearing his teeth, arms trembling as he tried lifting his lightsaber. Obi-Wan was startled at the sudden movement, taking a half-step forwards and gripping the hilt of his cobalt blade even tighter, but Qui-Gon was unyielding in the face of the Zabrak's sheer rage. He moved neither backwards nor forwards, holding his position and staring down the raging Sith with a calm expression of his own.

Maul's eyes slid away from Qui-Gon's steely gaze, swinging towards Obi-Wan's more nervous yet equally determined one, before slowly travelling towards my own. Briefly I wondered what he would see in mine. I meant what I had said to Anakin, back on Cerea before we left. Just as the Jedi can fall, the Sith can be redeemed. I knew this for a fact. History had shown it to be the case, and my own knowledge of the future centered around it. If at all possible, I would try to give Maul the chance to abandon the Dark Side and return to sanity.

However, should there even be the slightest inclination of him suddenly going for my allies, or if he proved to be a danger to innocents, I would not hesitate one bit to strike him down in a heartbeat.

I think he saw that conviction within my eyes as he suddenly grinned, looking as if he had come to some sort of decision. It quickly became apparent what that was when he let out a deafening roar (enhanced by the Force, most likely) before he surged to his feet, bringing both arms high above his head despite the heavy toll it put on his body, the sounds of muscles tearing audible even in the cacophony of our surroundings.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were already moving in with their blades, trying to strike the Sith down before he could complete his motions, but they were too late. With a pained cry in which Maul poured all of his hatred and desperation, he slammed his lightsaber down at the grating below his feet, causing the entire walkway to buckle before it shattered, the Zabrak falling away as gravity took hold.

It was only their enhanced reflexes that allowed Qui-Gon and his apprentice to move away from the rapidly crumbling walkway in time, both managing to jump to another one at the very last second. This all happened so fast that Maul couldn't have fallen more than a dozen meters since ripping apart the walkway and I narrowed my eyes as I allowed the Force to wholly suffuse my body.

'Oh no you don't!'

Moving smoothly at a pace that would make me a blur to the untrained eye, I shot forwards low against the ground towards the edge of the walkway. Gripping the raised metal sides with both hands, my huge momentum caused me to tumble all the way over it as I used a move more commonly seen on the trapeze in a circus. The turn ended when my feet slammed into the underside of the walkway, my arms outstretched behind me still gripping the ledge.

Maul had fallen another couple meters. I flexed my body, building up pure Force and Power as I narrowed my eyes.

I pushed off.

The walkway exploded upwards in my wake, metal groaning and buckling underneath the might of my take-off.

I rocketed past Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, their eyes barely capable of tracking me as I absently noticed their baffled expressions.

Air whistled around me as I closed in on the surprised looking Zabrak. His shock at my sudden impersonation of a missile caused him to be too slow in trying to right himself in mid-air and bring up his lightsaber in defense.

I slammed into his chest, my proximity allowing me to hear the squelching of ruptured tissue and the snapping of broken bones in perfect clarity as my velocity changed our combined trajectory from straight downwards to an acute angle.

We crashed into one of the lowest walkways, the metal deforming under Maul's back as all air left his lungs in a single explosive moment. As he was briefly disoriented, I straightened, standing over the downed body of the Zabrak.

Around us, the debris of the destroyed walkways kept tumbling down into the abyss below us.

"Do not try anything Maul. I will know if you do, and the results will be most… unpleasant." I warned him, my posture still tense and my claws at the ready.

My only response was a pitiful coughing and rattling, wheezing breaths.

Twin sounds of leather hitting metal alerted me to the Jedi's arriva, as did the steady humming of their lightsabers as its plasma edge cut through the air around us.

"Is it done then, Master?" Qui-Gon asked cautiously, and I shoot him a glance over my shoulder.

"This whole affair is far from done, young Qui-Gon. What we faced here goes far deeper than you know. But yes, this battle is fini-"

"MASTER!"

Obi-Wan's panicked cry rings throughout the cavernous room as a snap-hiss! resounds behind me. I barely have enough time to turn before Maul, having worked himself to his elbows, thrusts his crimson blade towards my chest at breakneck speeds with a hateful snarl, satisfaction and glee filling his maddened yellow eyes.

I'm shoved back by the powerful blow, the soles of my feet struggling to find purchase on the smooth grating underneath us as I can hear the Jedi give panicked shouts. Qui-Gon is already rushing forwards, lightsaber held high to deliver a killing blow, and judging by Maul's grimly smiling expression, he's perfectly fine with that as long as he gets to take me with him.

Unfortunately for him, I'll have to deny him that pleasure.

"Hold!" my voice slams through the chaos surrounding us, the authority in it sufficient to halt both Jedi immediately in their tracks.

Their widened eyes swing towards me, only to widen further as I slowly straighten from my hunched position, showing a feat not seen since Satele Shan last faced Darth Malgus on Alderaan. Even Maul's rage is briefly replaced by pure shock as his eyes slowly travel from his hilt, down the blade, towards the tip… which is struggling against a visible, light blue distortion pooling in my hands, halting the weapon in its tracks.

In that split-second when he launched his surprise attack, I had managed to raise my hands in front of my chest, cupped together, catching the lightsaber on a thick veil of Force. The technique was both extremely difficult (manifesting something as ethereal as the Force into something as tangible as this is no easy feat) and extremely draining. As it was, I couldn't hope to hold back Maul's blade, weakened as the Sith was, for more than a minute or so and his strike had been powerful enough it had still nearly sent me flying off my feet.

Not that it mattered now, since most importantly, it hadn't. Maul's last-ditch effort had failed (spectacularly so) and as I locked eyes with him, both my hands still wrapped tightly around the burning crimson tip of his lightsaber, he knew it.

Ifs and maybes didn't matter in the end: I had won, he had lost. No matter what he managed to do to free his blade and attack once more, he had lost the element of surprise and I still had two fresh Jedi close by and very much on edge.

This was the end for him.

"It is over Maul. This is where it ends." I said gravely, my voice steady even as beads of sweat started to form on my craggy brow.

The words spark life in the stunned Zabrak's eyes which flash towards mine. Without warning, a savage smile splits his face as he gives a cruel bark of laughter, which is quickly cut short by a heavy coughing fit, phlegm and blood spilling past his trembling lips and pointed teeth.

He's struggling to even keep himself pushed up on his elbows like this and judging by the fact his legs haven't even so much as twitched so far, I probably broke his spine when I crashed us into this walkway. Still Maul draws on the unholy power of the Dark Side as he manages to sit up a little further, completely disregarding the tearing sound of flesh and of bone grating against bone, a mad gleam in his eye.

"No…" he growls out lowly, his voice a wet rattle as his lungs are steadily filling up with something other than air.

"This is where it ends!"

And with that triumphant roar, he gives a sudden vicious jerk on the lightsaber trapped between us. Thinking he wants to tear it free to have one last swing at me, I merely tighten my grip on the tip of the burning plasma, but I realize my mistake too late.

With my hold at the outer end of his blade, Maul still has the freedom of movement to position the hilt of his weapon… right over his heart. His eyes are locked with mine as his smile widens further, but even as I release the lightsaber as I jump towards him, I know I am too late.

snap-hiss!

Maul's second blade bursts forwards…. and straight through his heart.

"NO!"

The Sith's eyes widen briefly in shock and surprise, before they meet with my wide ones. One last gust of air softly passes over his stained lips. And then all strength fades from him as he falls limp against the grating, eyes still wide and unseeing, that same bewildered look plastered over his face.

Gone is the rictus of hate from before, those maddened features twisted by mindless rage and the darkest of thoughts.

As always, the Dark Side had abandoned her toy in its final moments, leaving nothing but a ravaged wreck in her wake. It was something I had seen far too often. So many times I had been left with the consequences of the actions of those who had fallen to her seductive whispers. So many times had I been present when the monster was vanquished, and the mortal remained. It was a lesson that I had seen enforced upon those misguided unfortunates countless times.

It was a lesson they only got to experience once.

"Master?"

It's Qui-Gon who shakes me from my morose thoughts and I briefly close my eyes. As much as I've tried to fight the Dark Side to the best of my abilities, tooth and nail, lightsaber and telekinesis, I always tried to remember the same values that I was trying to instill in Anakin. I needed to believe that redemption was possible, always. If not, then not only was there the danger of me turning into a Templar like figure, one who hunted without remorse or question, but even worse than that...

If I stopped believing in redemption… what would become of Anakin?

Would I decide to strike him down now, while he was still undeveloped? Would I start rationalizing the act, loudly proclaim that such a horrific deed was completed solely in the name of some lofty, unknowable Greater Good? If so, could I truly claim that I was a more honest, more "pure" servant of the Light Side than my unyielding brethren amongst the High Council, with their absolute code and inane rules?

No. As hard as it was, I had to be able to feel pity and remorse for my enemies, even a dangerous beast like Maul had been. I had to, if only so that I could pass on this worldview to Anakin.

"It is alright, Qui-Gon. It is always a sad day when the Dark Side forces her victim to pay the ultimate price of serving her. Whenever a conflict has to be solved with the might of our weapons, instead of the truth in our words, a Jedi should always seek further contemplation and knowledge, for he should realize in what ways he failed, perhaps not his duty, but his ideals. Perhaps Maul was beyond all redemption. It would honestly not surprise me if it turned out to be so. But now, that shall always remain a question without an answer. Such is the nature of our conflict with the Dark Side, I suppose." I softly muse, before shaking my head again, before looking at the two silent Jedi with a smile.

"Ah, forgive an old man for his rumbling words, please. Death like this… it always causes me some deal of melancholy. Please do not concern yourselves about my wellbeing: I shall meditate on our conflict of today, searching through all possible answers, feelings and contemplations before surrendering those notions to the all-encompassing knowledge of the Force. You are free to join me if you wish to do so?"

Qui-Gon briefly spares a glance towards his young padawan, who has gone back to staring at the still form of Maul, before he looks towards me again, giving me a firm nod.

"Thank you Master. I think it would be wise for us to do so. Obi-Wan hasn't had much experience with death, not so closely at least and I… I must confess, the rage and hatred of our opponent, as well as his skill in the Dark Side has left me… rattled, also."

"What should we do with the-... with the body?" Obi-Wan asks haltingly.

His reaction is understandable. Slicing up droids is a rather different affair than the bloody mess that remained of Maul after my clash with him (speaking of, I only now noticed how my outer robe was liberally covered in the Zabrak's blood, with more covering my face and hands).

I briefly glance at the body in question, before I give a long suffering sigh, before with a snap-hiss! and a flash of crimson, Maul's head is separated from his body, both it and his lightsaber floating to rest in my hands.

"Was that truly necessary, Master?" Qui-Gon asks with a slight frown, while behind him Obi-Wan turns slightly green.

'Considering he managed to come back to life after being sliced in half and falling down a several kilometer long shaft…'

"Sadly, yes, young Qui-Gon. Brutal, I agree, but necessary nonetheless. The Dark Side is a pathway to abilities many would find unnatural. Battered as Maul's body was, his Master would likely have been able to resurrect it in some fashion nonetheless, turning his apprentice into an even greater danger. Sith creations such as that inevitably carve a path of death and destruction across the galaxy, and a revived Maul would be no different. Many an innocent and Jedi alike would fall to his endless hatred should that come to pass. So, again, brutal, but necessary nonetheless." I caution, before turning away and steadily making my way down the walkway.

Not hearing any footsteps in my wake, I shoot them a glance over my shoulder as I raise an impatient eyebrow.

"Well? Come on then! Pick up his body and follow me. It is high time we returned to the main palace. No doubt the day is won and they are simply waiting to hand out well-deserved praises and have prepared plenty of sweets!"

And with those words, I continued walking. This time, it only took a few moments before a twin pair of footsteps fell in behind me.

"What's next, Old Wanderer?"

"Coruscant."

"The High Council will see you now." the young Twi'lek padawan stated in a high-pitched voice, adorably trying (and utterly failing) to not stare too obviously at me.

Giving the child a nod of thanks, I glance at the tall human besides me.

"Well, go on then. I think it is best if you walked in first."

Qui-Gon merely looks down at me with an amused expression on his face.

"You're merely saying that in the hope they focus their ire on me first."

"Partly. The other part is that, in the case of a lightsaber swinging out the moment we open that door, I would much rather stand behind you." I remark dryly, getting a chuckle out of Qui-Gon.

"Surely Master, things aren't that bad now…"

He slowly trails off as I give him a look.

"Surely not?" he asks with a nervous chuckle, though I simply raise my eyebrow higher.

"If you truly believe in the level-headedness and overall meganominity of our glorious leaders… then why have you not yet entered already?" I ask with a smirk as I narrow my eyes.

Qui-Gon looks away from me with an embarrassed cough, though he can't hide the sudden slight sheen of sweat on his brow.

Our brief mental spar is broken by the annoyed voice of Anakin, who's standing next to a baffled Obi-Wan as they're watching us.

"Man, this waiting around is getting boring! We were invited in, so let's go already!"

And with those words, the child swiftly marches past us, pushing open the heavy doors leading to the Council Chambers, throwing them wide open and boldly striding inside… for about five steps, before he fully registers the heavy gazes of nearly a dozen Jedi Masters as they instantly lock onto his form.

"Uhhh…. hi?" he asks in a small voice and a hesitant little wave.

Seeing very little reaction at that (other than a slight twitch in Master Shaak Ti's lips which he completely misses), Anakin goes red as a tomato, before clearing his throat, his nervousness evident.

"Right! You wanted to see my Master right? He's right here! Go stare- I mean talk to him!"

And with that, Anakin swiftly turns around, grabs me by my sleeve and bodily drags me inside, swiftly placing me in the center of the room so that he's placed securely at my back.

'The little traitor!' I grouse goodnaturedly to myself. After all, if I had really wanted to stop him, he wouldn't have been able to even nudge me from my spot. Still, I had to face the music sometime even if it was on the insistence of my young padawan because he didn't like being stared at by a bunch of very powerful, very dour looking strangers.

I briefly scan over the Council members present, recognizing most of them, though there are some new faces since my last visit, now a few decades ago. Ultimately, I brush past them, focusing solely on the diminutive figure sitting at the centre of the half-circle, his gnarled hands gripping the thick top of a short walking stick, white tufts of hair on his nearly bald head illuminated from behind by the setting Coruscanti sun, long ears flattened against his small skull.

And wide eyes narrowed to slits as nostrils flare and a wide mouth is set in a deep frown. When the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order speaks, his voice is cold and dry, void of the paternal warmth he has been known for for these past eight hundred years or so.

"Yondu."

All in all, it's like looking at my own face staring back at me, and I can't help but let out a wide, cheeky grin as I lock eyes with Yoda himself.

"Hello there… little brother."

Fun Fact: N'Sync nearly had a cameo in Attack of the Clones. They were added in at the request of George Lucas' daughter. Thankfully, they were removed during the final cut.

AN: Be honest: when did you realize who exactly the SI was? Let me know!

AN2: So this was an idea that I had even before my car accident, but when I sat down a few days ago, I realized that I wasn't in the right headspace to continue writing on 12 Steps. Perhaps because some of the coming chapters in that story can get quite dark. Instead, I had a Star Wars fic rattling around in my brain because I recently got back into playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. I had a wild variety of things that I maybe wanted to do, ranging from a Gen'Dai SI during the Cold War, or a Dashade some decades before the sequels and, get this, even as a Rancor SI that would either befriend a young Anakin or Luke on Tatooine (somewhat out of necessity, because as far as Rancors who find themselves in society are concerned, it's either bonding to a Force sensitive or it's straight to the gladiator pits with you). While these ideas were fun, they didn't really inspire a story or a setting, before I settled on becoming Yoda's twin (Yondu's comment of "little brother" is mostly needling, he was born three minutes earlier, which when compared to over 900 years means… absolutely nothing, really). Not only did it feel unique (as far as I know, it hadn't been done before), but I immediately knew where to take such a character. In large part this is due to having read How not to raise a Sith Lord by WillyDJ since I really enjoyed the way his SI handled Anakin (laid back and very open-minded, leaning away from the more traditional and strict Jedi teachings without just saying "fuck it" and going rogue or something). For my own story, I wanted Yondu to hit a note somewhere between Shifu from Kung Fu Panda, combined with the more trolling Yoda on Dagobah and in the Last Jedi (puppet Yoda being one of the very, very few things that movie genuinely got right). I also wanted him to truly feel old as well, so that you can really feel those 900 years of running around the galaxy trying to keep it together long enough for the Chosen One to arrive. Going by Kung Fu Panda parallels (what? It's a great movie, don't judge me) again, I suppose I went for a more Oogway feel, especially when he's giving Po or Shifu a pep talk, while not losing any humor. So yeah, let me know how I did on that front!

As always, I wish to thank my lovely patrons, Shaman95, IronmanMarkIV, justlovereadin, Daniel Dorfman, Sam, CJ Elsen, Thordur Hrafn, Carn Krauss, DavidJP, ReaperScythe, CrankyD, Devon, Yan R. Bernier, RC Oprea, Kyle Reese, Kahn, RLStrained, Roman Krupkin and Vu for their continued support, it truly does mean a lot to me Thank you so much!