deercountry | (no subject)

While Luke was very excited, to the point where his energy was bubbling out through the Force enough to be felt for miles, the moment the lesson is clearly starting the energy becomes laser focused and intense. He immediately settles into his ready stance, whipping out his lightsaber with none of the flourish and flash of the Jedi of old. One moment he was standing there, the next he was ready to throw down like Maul was out for his blood.

If nothing else, it really drove home the fact that he grew up in the middle of war.

His feet were firmly planted at least, and it was clear he had picked up some variation of his father's form, even if he didn't know the names of the different forms. There was definitely a feel of being self taught, despite how sure he was in his stance.

Before he ever drew his own weapon, Maul circled Luke on silent feet, studying his stance, the way he was holding his weapon, and the way he was carrying his body.

After a few moments, he nodded, satisfied with his assessment. "I've seen worse," he proclaimed. He supposed Luke was working with the best he could do in an era where there was no proper Force-users to teach him how to wield such an elegant weapon.

"Let us begin the first lesson," He said as he draw out his saberstaff and ignited both blades again. Placing both hands on the long hilt, without another word, he attacked Luke as he swiped at Luke's midsection with the top blade. While he wasn't aiming to kill, he wasn't going to be going easy on the young Jedi either.

Luke tossed Maul a wry, amused smirk at his comment, but was immediately serious again as the other man drew that saberstaff. He allowed himself a breath, already feeling where the strike was going to be going, and he let the Force flow through him.

The Force may have been failing him in regards to telekinesis, but when it came to precognition, he was thriving more than he ever imagined he could. He could almost feel the possible movements Maul could make before they happened, before the other man could even think of them. It was a little startling, and almost threw him off at first, but he hid it by putting himself on the defensive, moving backward as he blocked Maul's attacks. It worked in his favor regardless, allowing him to see for himself just how a saberstaff was used, and potentially see how he could fight back against it.

As Maul fought Luke, he saw that the young Jedi seemed to be able to know what he was going to do before he even did it. Ah, the power of precognition. He recognized it because Maul himself had honed that power through long hours fighting with his master. It didn't always work perfectly for the Sith Lord, but when it did as it had when he'd been blinded for a lengthy period of time, it was invaluable. A good reminder to Maul that just because this Jedi hadn't been given the usual education of a Jedi in Maul's era didn't make him any less of one.

Maul had two advantages fighting with his double-bladed lightsaber: one was that he was using it as a staff against a weapon wielded more like a katana, which made it more difficult to counter, and the other was the fact his dominant hand was his left one, causing his opponents to fight a reverse-mirror image. He fought aggressively, favoring Juyo in terms of which lightsaber discipline he used most. There was no talking from him right now, his mindset having slipped into that of his old assassin persona. All that mattered was the fight.

Just when it seemed his moves were getting predictable, Maul flipped right over Luke's head, landing at his back. He sent up the saberstaff again, watching to see what the Jedi would do to counteract the move.

Maul was a fierce fighter, Luke would never be able to deny that. He definitely was far more trained and far more experienced than he was -- he could feel it every strike and every movement, whether it was the ones that were possible or the ones that actually happened. He kept up with him, of course, but he couldn't help but compare him to Vader -- Maul was quick where Vader was slow, would get in multiple blows to one of Vader's strong strikes. If it had been Maul that remained the Emperor's right hand man, it definitely would have been a lot harder to stop them.

He felt it when Maul was going to jump over him, saw where he was going to land, and decided that he had seen enough of how he fought. Luke let his foot slide as he ducked under him, shifting his stance and bringing his lightsaber up to where Maul was going to strike just as he landed. Both blades sparked loudly as they met, and Luke allows himself a small twitch up of his lip; a faint little smirk, as if he were asking, "Was that a good warm up?"

Luke shifted onto the attack at the next moment, green blade flashing with quick, brutal strikes, definitely indicative of him being used to fighting someone taller and stronger than Maul was. With having observed the other man's fighting style at first, he knew he favored his left, knew that he would take advantage of both blades, and he met the pace and rhythm of both of them as they traded blows.

Though Luke didn't know the names of the forms, or that there even were different saber forms, for someone with Maul's experience it was easy to see what he knew. What he was clearly trained in was the beginnings of Soresu -- not too surprising, considering he was more likely to encounter a blaster than a lightsaber while out in the galaxy, and the fact that Obi-Wan had been one of his masters. The other was Djem So, something he clearly had more training in, and must have come from the stormtrooper he mentioned, in addition to constantly fighting against his father.

Mixed in there was a third style though, a style that was coming from instinct, rather than actual instruction. The quick movements and strong hits spoke to Ataru, and it was clearly something he had never been taught, so much as absorbed. And yet he was striking out and blending it together with the other two as if he had been instructed in it his whole life, lending to the fact that his natural aptitude with a lightsaber was likely far beyond what anyone had expected in his time period.

Maul was taking notes as he traded blows with Luke. The young Jedi clearly had a piecemeal education, which wasn't surprising given the era he'd come from. He saw little glimpses of different styles as Luke matched him blow for blow. The ghost of Soresu in there definitely gave him mental pause and he knew on an instinctive level that was a result of Obi-Wan's teaching. He'd fought the man too many times not to be able to tell.

It looked like Luke and himself were both enjoying this bout. What the boy lacked in technical style he made up for in natural aptitude. He was beginning to see why his master might have taken an interest in the next generation of Skywalkers upon seeing Luke. Between the strength he had in the Force and the natural way he wielded it in all aspects, of course that power would have been like catnip to Sidious. He'd just clearly underestimated the amount of goodness in the boy. He'd apparently forgotten the lesson he'd learned with both Maul and Anakin: you had to start manipulating them young or they'd never would have obeyed him.

Maul could tell Luke was getting better at predicting his movements, so it was time to change things up again. He backed up, far enough out of the distance of Luke's lightsaber. One side of the saberstaff got turned off and Maul choked up his grip on it, clasping closer to the edge of the blade than before. He then drew out the Darksaber. Now with two lightsaber blades in his hands, he reengaged Luke again to see how he would fare against this new style of fighting. He went back into the fray with a literal leap.

His movements now were quick and his thrusts more aggressive, though the movements were still flowing from one to another like a graceful dance. Though Luke had never seen the Emperor use a lightsaber, there was still the clear ghost of Sidious in the Jar'Kai style that Maul was using. Though Sidious disdained using lightsabers for the most part, he hadn't been about to let his apprentice go out to do his bidding without being the best killer possible. To that end, he'd gotten Maul to imitate and learn his own favorite personal style of combat in using two lightsabers. Maul went from favoring his left hand with this style to going to being functionally ambidextrous, again something long years of training had taught him.

Luke really was enjoying himself. Master Yoda definitely would not have approved, and he could almost picture Ben showing up and folding his arms over his chest, shaking his head in disapproval from the sidelines, but he couldn’t help himself. Every fight he ever had with another person was a life or death thing — even training with Kreel had been for the sake of surviving in a coliseum fight with a massive creature in the end. Something like this, though, where they were not fighting to the death and could just go all out without having to worry about any massive stakes made this… fun.

He backed off as Maul did the same, sensing that things were about to change. Instead of pursuing him, he paced just out of range, giving his lightsaber an absent minded spin as he watched Maul pull out the Darksaber. He had tried Jar’Kai style once, using the lightsaber of a Rodian Jedi as well as his father’s, but he had been fairly certain that the only reason he survived was less because of his own skill and more because the weapons he had were very well made.

Now that he had more experience himself, he was fairly more confident in matching someone utilizing that style, and when the fight was re-engaged he again met Maul blow for blow, seemingly unbothered by the shift to being ambidextrous. As they fought though, there was a… feeling, almost like a familiarity that he couldn’t put his finger on. He never saw someone fight specifically like Maul was right now, but he still felt like he knew where this was coming from.

Luke had a lot of innate talent on his side and whatever skills he'd picked up. Maul had a lifetime of the knowledge that came with learning how to wield lightsabers and the innate fury that came from deep within. He and Luke kept circling around one another, fighting across the acre of land that surrounded Maul's home.

Maul kept the fight going long enough until he could see Skywalker's stamina begin to flag. This was just where Maul wanted him. Sidious had always taught him to wait for a Jedi to get tired and to the point where they might make a stupid mistake. All it took was a split second and then he could end their lives.

He saw his opportunity as soon as it presented itself. Nearby, Maul's warg Slicer was curled up like a giant fuzzy boulder, sleeping soundly despite the fight going on around him. Maul waited until they got close to his pet and then he whistled loudly. Slicer woke up with a snort and then with a loud snarl he went after Luke. As soon as Maul saw that he had an opening with the distraction, he kicked out at Luke's chest, holding back a little as he always did. His prosthetics were powerful enough that he could have crushed all the bones in someone's chest performing a move like that and he didn't need Anakin turning up on doorstep in a fury thinking he'd deliberately killed his son in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match.

To his credit, Luke took the kick like a champ, letting out a grunt and falling back on impact. He hit the ground and rolled, something slipping out from some pocket in his clothes and thumping on the ground as he came around, looking for a moment like he was going to charge forward and keep the fight going.

He allowed himself a breath, realizing this was Maul’s way of ending the fight and grinning broadly. Instead of springing back up, Luke flopped over onto his back, landing splayed out on the ground with an exhausted, but exhilarated, laugh.

“I-I… I haven’t fought like that…” Luke began, trying to think, before he tossed his arms up and let them fall back to the ground like limp noodles. “Ever.”

"You did well for your first time against me," Maul said as he deactivated his sabers and clipped them back to his waist. He was smiling in a satisfied manner at how much fun the sparring match had been He didn't give out compliments lightly, so it showed how much respect Luke had garnered from him during their match.

Slicer nudged his head under Maul's arm until Maul gave him a vigorous rub across the top of his broad head. The warg looked pleased he'd done well in following Maul's orders, though he did keep casting a disdainful eye at the downed Jedi, never easy at letting people onto Maul's property for long.

"You have a lot of raw talent and an innate grasp of the weapon," Maul said, holding out his hand to help Luke up. He continued once Skywalker was back on his feet. "But that will only take you so far. To become a true master of the blade you will need to learn the different forms. Practice them until the styles become instinctive."

Luke accepted the hand up gratefully, bouncing up to his feet with a surprising amount of energy, given how spent he was. The exhaustion was clear on his face, but that didn’t keep him from being a bright beacon of sunshine and rainbows as he grinned up at him.

“Will you teach me?” he asked, betraying his eagerness to learn by continuing quickly, “If you’re worried about my father and Obi-Wan, I’ll talk to them, but I think they would both agree being able to learn from someone with your skill would be wise.”

And if they didn’t, he would talk them into it. It would be fine.

Maul nodded at the question, smiling a little. "I would be happy to." He found great satisfaction in teaching others, something that he had never thought possible when he first came to Deerington. But he had a natural aptitude for teaching pupils and enjoyed giving lessons. It helped that he also did everything completely opposite to what his own master had done in teaching him.

"Obi-Wan will be easier than your father. He knows well enough that you can make your own decisions. Anakin is another story. I don't want him coming here with lightsaber in hand snarling at me to leave his son alone." Maul could just picture it in his mind, the look of fury on his face as Skywalker was completely convinced he only wanted to manipulate or harm Luke. "But I have hope you can convince them."

“Don’t worry, I will,” Luke assured him, confident that if his father took issue with it, he could talk him down. Besides, it was his decision; his father was just going to have to understand that he was a grown man now, and not the child he was anticipating.

“When do you want to do this?” he asked eagerly, like they hadn’t just gone at each other like they were seriously fighting.

"Whenever you'd like. We'll start with some of the basic lightsaber katas. You've got a good base but it needs to be built upon. And I can see a few bad habits that you should be broken out of before they become too ingrained." His stamina could definitely be improved on given the young Jedi seemed to favor more aggressive movements as he fought.

As Maul moved, his prosthetic foot hit something there on the ground. "It appears you dropped something," Maul said as he knelt down. He realized it was another lightsaber. Did Luke wield two on a regular basis? He had mentioned about using two lightsabers before, so Maul wondered why he hadn't pulled it out during their sparring session.

When he picked up it up, the expression on his face changed for a moment. He didn't possess the rare gift of psychometry that some Jedi were capable of, but there was an echo in the Force when he touched the weapon nonetheless, a miasma that actually seemed to permeate right through the thick hilt. It reminded him of his own lightsaber, used so many times to cut down innocent victims and warriors alike. This one....it had been used by someone steeped very deep on the Dark Side.

Maul shivered for a moment before handing it back over to Luke. "Who did that lightsaber belong to?"

Luke paused when he heard the sound of metal hitting metal, only for his eyes to widen as Maul picked up the dropped lightsaber. He peered down at his boot where he had been hiding it, as if he couldn't believe it had fallen out, looked back up in time to give Maul a guilty look.

"It... was my father's," he answered softly, gingerly accepting the weapon back. It didn't bother him so much, so used to the feeling of Vader's presence that feeling it echo from his lightsaber didn't phase him. He stared down at the weapon, a faint, pained expression coming to his face, before he peered back up at Maul. "I... probably shouldn't have, but I grabbed it before..."

He let out a breath, shrugging helplessly. There needed to be a time when he actually talked to someone about what happened on the Death Star, but... he wasn't sure if he would ever be ready for that.

"He doesn't do things by halves, that one," Maul said softly. Powerful a Jedi as Anakin was, it was clear he would make just as powerful a Sith, especially with Sidious guiding him further down that path. For the first time, Maul was realizing just what a close thing it had been when Anakin fell here in Trench. Darth Vader could have massacred half the city before the remaining Force-users could have stopped him.

Still, Maul thought there might have been a good reason for Luke to hold onto his father's weapon. He nodded slowly at the Jedi's words. "I'd keep it. Balance out what your father did with what good you yourself might do with the lightsaber," he said. If anyone could disperse the feeling in the Force of all those Vader had cut down in his evilness, it would be his son.

"Has he ever done anything by halves?" Luke replied wryly, but still his hands curled around the saber, holding it close to himself. As used to the darkness that came from the weapon as he was -- so much like the looming presence of the man it once belonged to -- there was a different feeling there as well. It wasn't as strong, of course, and it didn't echo as repeatedly as the many deaths attached to the weapon, but it was there, and easily recognizable for what it was, if only because it had been specifically directed toward him.

"It's... not just my presence that can balance this out," he finally continued softly. "There's already some good attached to this weapon."

He hesitated a moment, clutching the lightsaber tighter as his eyes met Maul's.

"I think... I can show you," he offered. "If you want to see."

The implication that if Maul was okay with seeing it hung in his words, as if he were telling him without directly saying so that the Emperor would be involved with whatever he would see.

"No, I suppose not. He's dramatic like that," Maul said with a bit of snark. Really, Anakin seemed to thrive off of drama. Maul wondered if he'd ever been normal or always been this way.

The Zabrak thought hard about his answer. Anything to do with his master was always going to trigger him. That's just the way it was. Some mental scars could never be healed and that was one of them. But at the same time, he knew what Luke was going to show him couldn't hurt him. Palpatine was dead by everything he'd been told by people in the future. He couldn't hurt him.

A mere memory couldn't come after him, terrorize his adopted son like he'd done for so much of Maul's life. Perhaps facing this could help bring him some closure and remind him that Sidious could never touch him here in his new life in the city. He finally nodded to Luke. "Alright. I'll do it. Just don't mind my fear." Luke had already gotten a very small taste of it just from the brief flash of memory, the visceral reaction it had produced in Maul. This time he could control it better given he knew what was coming. The Sith Lord sat back down on the ground. This seemed best like something to be done when he wasn't standing up.

Luke nodded, completely understanding Maul's initial reluctance, and his response once he decided to go through with it. He took a deep breath, sitting down before him, setting down the lightsaber between them, before resting his hands on his knees.

He peered up at Maul, nodding to him, as if to assure him he would do his best to make sure everything would be okay, before he closed his eyes and reached out to the Force. It wrapped around them both, drawing their minds together with the same kind of ease as if he had reached out to hold his hand, before reaching down to the lightsaber.

Images flashed by as Luke worked to control what they were seeing -- images of people being killed again and again, both Jedi and normal sentients alike. Luke's voice started cutting through the images after a moment -- "You killed my father!" "You need to be more specific, I've killed many fathers." -- before settling for a moment on a long, brightly lit hallway from Luke's point of view. Outside, brilliant green trees rose from far below, and on either side were stormtroopers, escorting Luke.

And at the end of the hallway...

Suddenly, the way Luke had been fighting was made clear by the monstrosity that appeared in the boy's sight. The man was massive, much taller than the both of them, wearing a fearsome death's mask. It clearly served more than for needs of intimidation, as his hissing breath could be heard echoing through the hallway. The man's boots were heavy on the floor as he approached, and yet even as intimidating and overwhelming the man's presence was, Luke himself was calm as could be.

And the sensations coming from the man, echoed in the lightsaber -- excitement, determination and... grief, reluctance, and so much longing. It was clear through emotions alone that the crybaby that was currently at this place and the monstrosity before them was Anakin Skywalker.

Maul braced himself as the memories were sorted through and settled upon. Luke, for being a greenhorn, still had an innate talent for using the Force that Maul had rarely seen. But he already knew the Force had a genetic component to it, his own family lineage proved that well enough. Possibly being the Chosen One himself might have also had something to do with Luke's skill.

He watched as a scene began to play out before him. The emotions he could feel made him realize with a start who it was. Maul could only wonder what had happened to turn Anakin Skywalker into the hulking monstrosity of a Sith Lord that stood before his son. Now he was as ugly on the outside as his fall to the Dark Side had made him inside. Maul's interest and curiosity was peaked and could be felt through the current connection he had with Luke. What was going to happen?

People around Luke started talking, their voices muffled -- Luke hadn't been paying attention to what they were saying, his focus on his father. Something was... skipped, like a broken record, and suddenly the two of them were walking down the hall. Only now the world was tinted red, and Luke was visible -- they were seeing through Vader's eyes now, through the memories tied to the lightsaber.

Emotions swarmed through Vader like a storm in the resulting conversation: pleasure, at being referred to as "father," annoyance at being called "Anakin," pride as giant mechanical hands turned over a lightsaber that looked painfully similar to Kenobi's -- my son is so strong he came this far virtually on his own.

"Come with me."

Luke's words had ripped through Vader in that moment, and Maul would be able to feel the struggle, the urge to just listen. A memory flashed for a brief moment -- an old, flickering recording of Padmé on the birthing table that became her death bed, pleading with Obi-Wan. "There... is still good in him..." -- replaced quickly with seething anger -- he doesn't understand. My Master is too strong. The Dark Side is too strong.

"I feel the conflict within you, let go of your hate!"

Regret. The regret was so strong because he knew -- My Master will kill him -- and his son just kept clinging to hope.

"It is too late for me, son."

Another skip of a recording, and then... darkness and the Dark, still tinted red, still from Vader's eyes: a massive throne away from home, staring out at a star field with a green moon glowing softly in the darkness outside.

"Welcome, young Skywalker. I have been expecting you."

The emotions were tightly controlled, the focus entirely on a cloaked, black Shadow. A simple robe with an elaborate clasp, hateful, yellow eyes focused on the small figure beside him -- he is just meeting his gaze, not a bit of fear in him. My son... -- deep, wrinkled recesses giving way to a rotten toothed sneer at the young beacon of light that stood there like he was the one in control of the situation, not the one to be tested.

This was the most insight Maul had ever had into Anakin Skywalker. They had never gotten along since Skywalker had arrived in Deerington and things had just gotten worse in Trench for them. This showed a lot more going on in Skywalker's head than Maul ever would have wanted. But it was interesting. For all he'd fallen, Maul observed there was one similarity he and this new Sith Lord had in common: their capacity for love. He clearly loved and cared about Luke even if that wasn't enough to break the Dark Side's hold on him.

There was a difference there. Darth Vader felt a conflict between the pull the Dark Side had on him and the feelings he held for Luke. Maul never felt like he had to choose between one or the other. Granted, in his own world this had been because those he loved were on the Dark Side as well. Here, he'd still managed to find a way to care about people and still stay in the darkness as well. He wondered if the conflict from Vader came mostly from the fact that Luke was such a beacon of light. It would have been hard to reconcile those two differences, being on the Dark while his son was firmly on the Light.

When the memory skipped forward again, there was some emotion and thoughts that bled over from Maul when he saw Palpatine. First off just a cry full of fright. 'Master! Even in a memory, the sight of Darth Sidious could make Maul want to flinch away and hide, the stark terror of his childhood mixing in with the more complicated fear as an adult. Then there was a whole other cascade of thoughts. '--What happened to him? He'd never looked like that before. The Dark Side finally caught up with him and made his insides match his outside--'

But then the thoughts were cut off as he saw how Luke managed to remain unflinching and calm before the sight of the old monster. Truly, the boy had courage beyond measure, given the sheer vile, evil nature that radiated off his master.

A soft reassurance reached out to Maul the moment emotions started to bleed, and Luke's light met his fear with gentle calm, just as the memory Luke verbally sparred with the Emperor, refusing that Palpatine would be completing his training, but it wasn't until the Emperor had taken Luke's lightsaber from Vader's hands that his father seemed to take real notice of what was going on in Luke's head.

"You're wrong. Soon I'll be dead, and you with me."

You're not going to die here, son; have you gone mad? Why are you resisting? was running through Vader's head, as if the answer wasn't obvious, as if he didn't already know said answer. But while Vader was responding in disbelief, the Emperor wasn't taking Luke seriously, taunting him.

"Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet," his master sneered, and Vader could feel he had his son's attention without even looking. "Yes... I assure you, we are quite safe from your Rebel friends here."

And his son -- stupid, brave, impossible boy -- did the one thing that no one had dared to do to his master in over twenty years: call him out.

"Your overconfidence is your weakness."

The red tinted gaze snapped immediately to the young man, a mix of admiration and pride and fear and annoyance and genuine worry just barely kept in check, watching as Luke didn't even flinch when Palpatine shot back -- "Your faith in your friends is yours." -- with as much venom dripping from his words as he could summon, the Dark lashing out in retaliation, and -- stupid and brave -- Luke didn't flinch as he continued to resist his master. But there was a crack there, a barest hint of just how hard this was on him.

"It is pointless to resist, my son," Vader reminded him, almost sounding like he was doing him a kindness with the verbal nudge. He watched as Luke's shoulders sagged slightly, suddenly looking small and fragile, and an unpleasant lurch made itself present in Vader's thoughts, something he quickly shoved away.

The images skipped again, though it seemed mostly because Vader's focus was solely on Luke, watching him as the Emperor taunted him with the view from the throne, letting him watch as ships -- clearly belonging to the Rebellion -- were being cornered not only by Star Destroyers, but by the fully functional battle station they were in. Anger and helplessness were welling up in Luke, the calm he had shown before cracking even more, until it suddenly exploded and --

They were fighting.

Luke had Vader's entire focus as he intercepted the lightsaber that first went swinging toward his master and then straight for him. The pride was there as they fought, but also concern... and then fear as the image of the fight skipped over to Luke fighting like he was possessed, like he was almost feral as he struck out at Vader again and again and -- he may actually kill me. My son may actually kill me and not care...

And then a sharp burst of electronic pain as Vader's dominant hand was cut off, as a pulsing green blade was at his throat, breath wheezing as he found himself holding up a hand, not realizing until that moment just how much he didn't want his son to be the one responsible for his death.

"Good," the Dark hissed from the throne, and the sneering voice, the insistence that he kill him and take his place. He had seen this moment before in visions, and it always ended with his vision fading, the last thing he saw was his son presenting himself on one knee to his new master--

...but instead there was a loud thud as his son threw away his lightsaber.

"Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness; I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

Like my father before me. The words echoed in Vader's head, emotion carving through the black shell of his armor. He didn't deserve to have something like that said of him, to have the faith that his son held in him... and yet...

Edited 2022-06-03 01:54 (UTC)

Maul watched Luke defy the Emperor. The courage of his friend was astounding to watch. Most everyone held a healthy fear for the Sith Lord but Luke seemed t have none at all. Stupid, brave boy, just as his father thought he was. Maul waited to see just what would happen next.

Watching Luke fight his father, Maul saw a different side to the young Jedi. He had a temper on him that reminded Maul very distinctly of Anakin's and he could see exactly where Luke had gotten it from. There was darkness there, the same that had run through Anakin, but Maul saw that Luke was not just his father's son when he hesitated and did what Anakin never could: he refused to give into the darkness, turned his back on it and instead embraced the light. It was impressive to say the least for Maul to watch. There was much there that reminded Maul far more of Obi-Wan, that Jedi way of being able not to fall into the temptation of darkness even when it would have been the easiest path.

Maul saw a look on Palpatine's face he hadn't seen for a very, very long time when Luke refused the Dark Side of the Force. It was the expression he wore when things had not gone to plan, when an outcome occurred he had neither expected or wanted. So brilliant a chessmaster was he that it produced great anger and frustration in the Sith Lord when things didn't go his way. Much as he never would have admitted it, he was just as likely to throw a temper tantrum as his adoptive son was when this happened and his were just as deadly as Maul's were. It wasn't often but it had happened before and a chill ran through Maul upon hearing what the Emperor said next.

"So be it.....Jedi." Maul could understand both what his master was and wasn't saying. He was acknowledging Luke as a Jedi, and really, with no other Jedi now around to complete the ceremony it really took the order's oldest foe to acknowledge when a person had completed enough trials to become one. Luke refused to give into the darkness and so he had earned the title. In a strange way, it was something approaching a compliment.

Unfortunately, Maul knew what that also meant, especially with that look on Palpatine's face. If he bestowed the title of Jedi on Luke, that meant he was no longer looking to turn the young man into his next apprentice. Instead, it meant that Luke was now an enemy and there was only one way Palpatine would deal with one of the last Jedi in the galaxy. He was going to kill him, and knowing that Palpatine was upset with this unforeseen outcome, he wasn't going to make it a quick death either.

Maul mentally flinched back as soon as the first bolts of Force Lightning struck Luke, his PTSD coming to the front of his mind as he flashed back to one of the many times this had happened to him as a child. He'd had this done to him countless times in his youth and knew the ins and outs of the power well enough to know that Palpatine wasn't giving Luke a full voltage. He fully intended to torture the Jedi before he ultimately killed him. This didn't surprise Maul but it made him worried as to what the next few minutes were going to hold for Skywalker.

Edited 2022-07-05 08:51 (UTC)

To his credit, Luke tried to keep back the feeling of the torture, but his own trauma got the better of him before very long. The memory of the pain, watching himself writhe on the floor, the glare of the lightning cutting through the red glare of his father's mask, made him tremble, drawing a faint whimper from him. He wasn't sure if he begged for his father to help him in the memory or in real life; he couldn't tell over the feel of the lightning coursing through him, biting into his skin and--

I can't...

His father's thoughts cut through the pain, reminding him that he wasn't actually there, wasn't actually experiencing this again.

My son... I'm watching my son die... just like...

Vader paused, his view turning to the Emperor as he hissed those words that Luke could just barely remember hearing over the ringing in his ears and the pain in his body.

"And now, young Skywalker... you will die."

His scream of pain echoed in his father's ears, and every scream brought actual pain from his father, like he was being ripped apart, piece by piece, until all that was Vader was just fragments on the floor, leaving only who he really, truly was behind.

Not again. Not my family. Never again...!

It was the first, conscious thought Anakin had in over two decades, and the light burned in his chest, warm and bright, as he turned to the Emperor and grabbed him, lifting him up over his head despite the fact he was missing a hand. The Emperor screamed, lightning splattering everywhere, hitting Anakin as he staggered toward the edge of the platform, nearly dropping him as blast after blast of lightning caused a new error to come up in the mask's view. Anakin ignored it, focused on getting one foot in front of the other, getting to the railing, and...

With a mighty heave, he tossed the Emperor over the edge, before collapsing against the railing, watching as his former master fell down, down into the reactor core, sparking lightning the whole time, until an explosion of Darkness suddenly ripped through the whole room, buffeting Anakin before sucking back down into the core, leaving everything deathly quiet...

...save for the painful, wheezing noises coming from his respirator. That... that was it; for a moment, Anakin debated following after his master, dying on his own terms, before he felt a trembling hand on what little of his arm was left. He was pulled away from the railing in the next moment, his son coming into view, in pain, gasping for breath, but... still alive. His son was still alive.

His son would live.

Anakin cleared out the errors in his mask -- it didn't matter now, not right now. He just... wanted to see his son.

Luke let out a shuddering breath as he finally pulled the both of them out of the memory, letting his father's lightsaber drop into his lap. It took him a moment to bring himself back to the present, to remember where he was and why he was there, before he finally looked up at Maul, a shaky smile coming to his face.

"Y-you okay?"