Chapter Text
And yes, ObiWan was back to back with Maul on the same planet again. Only this time it wasn't for the dying clones and the dying Sith Padawan. They had found a cure, Ahsoka had found them a cure. Some plants in the environment, water and patience. The troops began to improve and the Padawan did as well.
The scowl on Maul's face was gone. It had hurt Kenobi to see the Sith Lord watch his Padawan die agonizingly and disgustingly slowly. He hated Maul to the last inch of his cells, but it hurt to see a master crouching over a Padawan gasping in pain, delirious from the destructively high fever, convulsing frantically every few minutes, writhing on his own skin and fighting for breathe. It was horrible to see Ni'ls beg his master to kill him, to end his pain because after three days of sheer suffering and wakefulness he was exhausted and he couldn't take it anymore. It was strangely painful the way he saw humanity in the eyes of Maul, who he had thought he was a monster. It hurt that he could see himself in that situation, deliberately and ineffectively trying to calm his poor Padawan, small and innocent somehow. And this disease was horrible to see. Ni'ls's lips were azure blue every moment, a reminder that he was constantly suffocating, not enough to kill him but enough to be a cruel torture. But it didn't end there. He had constant nosebleeds, which at times didn't seem to stop. His eyes clouded cruelly with fever and pain. The seizures had him twisting in himself, arching his back painfully, clawing at his own skin trying to rip out the pain and choking on his own saliva and blood as he accidentally bit his tongue in an extremely violent convulsion. It was horrible and ObiWan didn't know what he would have done if it had been Anakin instead of Ni'ls.
It was the first time he heard Maul speak more than two words, the first time he saw him be gentle and soft. And the last night before they find the cure. As Ni'ls fiercely clung to a handful of his master's black robes and convulsed gently, almost in a spasmodic tremor, crying out loud as he begged him to end his pain, he seemed to see the sith cry. . He seemed to see silent tears slide down his red-skinned cheeks as he smoothed his sweat-damp hair from his Padawan and whispered words of comfort.
He saw hopelessness in his yellow eyes. He saw anger and helplessness. He saw pain. A pain like no other. Like a father losing a son.
ObiWan wondered if he felt worse than himself when he lost Qui-Gon. The idea of losing Anakin like this, slowly, like torture for both of them, crossed his mind and he knew the answer. It does.
Then at noon the next day, when he could see Maul doubting, thinking that perhaps it was selfish to keep his Padawan alive after all. Ahsoka communicated them with the priest. And he let out a sigh that he didn't realize was contained.
They set off without waiting any longer, and within hours the agonizing pain faded from the few clones standing and the young Sith. Still convalescing and with some fever but it left.
The planet continued to isolate them from the outside, but at least now they knew that those who had not yet fallen were immune to the toxicity of the seemingly breathable atmosphere and that those who had survived the agony were now immune thanks to the cure as well. The days passed again and now they were able to set up a better camp. The sick were still recovering but they were stable enough to help. Ni'ls had gotten up on the second day trying to pretend that nothing had happened, that his hands weren't shaking, and that his face didn't lose all color when he got up too fast. Once Anakin grabbed his arm within seconds of him collapsing to the ground. It was cruel to think of this, but ObiWan knew that after this they would have trouble killing the boy if they ever found it necessary to do so. It was awful, it was weird.
Now. On the fifth day after finding the cure. They had walked away from the makeshift camp, looking for a better source of water and some more food than scant small-sized wild fruits that Ahsoka had confirmed they could safely eat. Then everything went to hell. The apparently uninhabited planet was not devoid of intelligent life. A green-skinned humanoid species, taller than most of them and with horns similar to a bull's and tusks similar to those of a small wild boar, had ambushed them. They knew quickly that they had possibly been watched since their arrival, because all the natives' movements were meticulously premeditated.
In this way they ended up being sprayed by a strange gas that made their eyes and throats burn and finally caused them to collapse on the ground between choked coughs. They started to be grabbed before they were totally unconscious and it was strange because Kenobi swore he could see in slow motion how Anakin and Ni'ls's young bodies seemed to resist the gas better and how they fought weakly, but tooth and nail, against their captors. .
The next thing he knew he was tied to a chair, with Anakin on his left side and on his back, Maul right behind him and Ni'ls on the left of him. He did not need to see to know that they were all tied up and he did not need to ask to know that they had all been drugged, stripped of the constant presence of force by that strange drug that somehow forced him to want to talk.
"Truth serum" Anakin said as if he had read his mind even when he couldn't see him from his place behind him. ObiWan smiled because Anakin seemed to maintain that connection with him and it was comforting.
"They left to wait for it to take effect." He adds and seems too calm, perhaps because he is still quite high. "It does" There is a voice next to Kenobi's left and he looks at Ni'ls who has his head down for some reason. He has to focus his drug-affected eyes to see the blood drip from his nose.
"You're bleeding" he says the obvious. He assumes that he is the truth serum. He feels Maul tense on his back.
"It has happened since the cure," Ni'ls begins, unable to keep his mouth shut even though he doesn't want to say this. "Every so often my nose starts to bleed. I just hid it ..." he adds and then lets out an annoyed growl because he obviously didn't want to reveal this.
"That's bad, brat" Anakin whispers too sincerely, there is something in his voice that indicates that he did not mean that either. Damn drug.
"Anything else you're hiding?" Now it's Maul. And while he doesn't seem upset that he asked ObiWan he knows that under normal circumstances he wouldn't have asked, at least not now. The Jedi Master sees Ni'ls nod gently and waits for his response, which takes several seconds to arrive.
"The right side of my head hurts and at the same time it feels like thick cotton" he begins in a low voice and the others keep silent listening while he spits out the forced truth. "My heart too" he ends. And the last sentence takes long seconds to settle.
"Your heart?" ObviWan asks and there is genuine concern in his voice.
Ni'ls nods heavily again. "I don't know when it started. Before the cure it was hard to tell what hurt and what didn't. But afterwards ... it never stopped hurting." He says and seems too calm about it, or maybe it's the drug in his system. "Neither does my head."
"Why did not you tell me?!" Maul complains, there is almost anger in his voice. Ni'ls shrinks behind Anakin and he becomes more attached to him trying to comfort the kid.
"I didn't mean to be a burden" he responds with such sincerity that it is painful. And before Maul can answer ObiWan is speaking truth serum product.
"Your Padawan is too good to be a Sith. You know that as well as I do. You're just breaking a big heart by leading him to the dark side, you take advantage of the situation. You take advantage of his love for you." He says. The words settle heavily and there is something in the environment that looks like pain. Maybe he hit Maul at a low point.
"He doesn't" Ni'ls defends his master from him too sincerely and ObiWan thinks he is blinded by his loyalty, however the boy keeps talking. "I am not part of the dark side, nor of the light. I am simply a force wielder. Maul didn't drag me into anything." He says. ObiWan doesn't get it and can tell Anakin doesn't either by the way he sees him move out of the corner of his eye.
"Did you ever see his eyes yellow?" Maul asks too calmly. Kenovi analyzes the question and finds that the only time he did it was that time on Naboo on the cliff and in the pouring rain of the night, when he encouraged him to leave his place with Maul. Somehow his silence answers for him and the Sith Lord continues.
"He's not like us" he sighs, as if this has brought trouble. "I just let the force flow, I don't choose a path, I let it be there with me and I use it as a resource, to defend my life and to protect Maul. There is no dark side or light, I simply do what I think is necessary to survive, to protect." Now it is Ni'ls and ObiWan had never considered force like this.
"It's like an animal using its teeth to defend itself. They are his resources and there is no evil or good in that" Maul adds and the information falls heavy and strangely logical between them. Silence is made for a few minutes.
"The Sith council? They must have noticed about that" It is Anakin who breaks the curious silence.
"They think I'm a waste" Ni'ls responds pausing before continuing there is a touch of insecurity in that. "They think Maul wastes his time with me" he adds. Anakin nods and ObiWan remains silent assimilating the information.
"They couldn't be more wrong. Ni'ls is the true one with the force. None of us are because we choose. He doesn't. He is a carrier, he is one with the force." The Sith adds and seems proud of his Padawan. Maybe in this way he doesn't have the greatest potential of the force and it took Maul a while and many violent discussions with Ni'ls to understand it, but then he saw it. It was the force in the most natural state of it.
Everyone knows they wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for the truth serum however it is proving interesting, it gives everyone a new vision of the force and for a moment ObiWan concentrates through the drug and to his left he can feel Ni'ls, full of life, full of force, of the force in harmony, the light side and the dark side firmly balanced, as if they are holding hands as opposites completely in love. It was strangely beautiful, strangely fitting.
"Someday they will kill me" Ni'ls breaks the silence that had been reinstated. "I am not responding to the dark side as they want, nor do I want to. Someday they will kill me" he adds and there is a cold sliding through everyone's bones because of the certainty and acceptance that there is in those words.
"I wont allow it!" Maul raises his voice and ObiWan can see his menacing fangs even when his back is to him. "They won't hurt you while I'm here. No one will." There is so much assurance in his voice that the atmosphere feels heavier. Ni'ls don't say anything, nobody does.
"Even if it means I have to spend the rest of my days in the shadows, the rest of my nights fighting. I won't let them hurt you. I won't let them take you away from me" The Zabrak finished and left no room for more.
The Jedi had never expected the Sith to care so much about their Padawan that they considered them more than tools. However, even without the truth serum, Maul's words were sincere. He didn't know what to say. The deathly silence fell again and this time it lasted minutes.
"I have not forgotten your pain. We will fix that back on the ship." It is the last thing that is said. The truth serum has already revealed enough.