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+ All comments except fills should be posted anonymously.
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+ One prompt per comment please.
+ You can request both kink and non-kink content
+ Crossovers, characters from the other media are allowed, but must relate to the 2015 movie in some way.
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Maul demonstrated a series of flowing moves with his saberstaff. Rey adjusted her grip on her own staff and copied Maul’s stance. Her staff was really just a branch that Maul had cut from one of the trees. The ends had been burned with his saberstaff to indicate where the ‘blades’ were. He’d been very firm about not letting them brush her skin when she practised, to avoid getting into bad habits.

‘Now you,’ Maul said. He deactivated his saberstaff and picked up the second stick he’d cut. For a moment Rey thought he wanted to spar, but instead he just leaned some of his weight on it. His hip was probably still giving him trouble.

Rey took a deep breath and moved through the first couple of patterns. Her third strike was just a little off-centre and the back end of her staff grazed just below her ribs. Sudden pain slammed into her side. She yelped and spun around to face Maul. Her staff was levelled at him before she’d made the conscious choice. The bastard had just hit her. He looked unconcerned and gestured for her to continue with the exercise.

‘What? No! You just hit me.’

‘And if you had been using a live weapon, you would have been burned. Lucky for you, bruises heal quicker than burns,’ Maul said, as if this was the most reasonable idea in the galaxy.

‘Are you going to hit me every time I accidently touch the end of the staff?’ Rey asked incredulously.

‘Of course. And sometimes to correct your grip or stance. Pain is a better teacher than I.’

‘I think a lot of things would be better teachers than you,’ Rey muttered.

Maul smirked. ‘This is light training. Your stick will not burn you. Real Sith training is much more brutal.’

Rey blinked. ‘You’re a Sith?’

Maul shrugged and looked away. ‘I was as an assassin for my Sith master. He gave me the name Darth Maul, but not much lore. I use the Force. I survive.’

‘If you’re a Sith, why are hanging around an old Jedi temple?’ Rey asked.

Maul shrugged. ‘Sith temples are not good places to rest. They are dangerous and seek to challenge disciples. They whisper to me about seizing power and fulfilling the Sith legacy. Jedi temples are much more soothing. All they whisper of is inaction.’

Rey cocked her head. ‘I don’t hear anything.’

Maul smiled. ‘I don’t think any temple would be loud enough to speak inaction to the young. Come, it is time to get back to your katas.’

Rey narrowed her eyes. ‘Do I get to hit you too?’ she asked.

Maul’s smile sharpened. ‘When we spar, yes. For now, you train as I trained. Be thankful that I do not correct you with my saberstaff.’

Rey gave Maul a long look. ‘That was how you were “corrected” during your training? With a live weapon?’

‘Yes,’ Maul said simply. ‘It is how I learned to harness pain and anger. For you, you will only learn not to burn yourself. I do not wish for my apprentice to lose a limb when we switch to live weapons training.’

‘I’m not your apprentice. And if you hit me, I will pay you back for every strike when we spar, no matter how old you are,’ Rey growled.

Maul nodded. ‘I look forward to when you have improved that much, apprentice.’

Rey scowled, but got into position to restart the drill.

///

The next evening, Rey gathered up the old Jedi data chips she’d collected in the temple and started running them through her datapad. A lot of them were corrupted and the text was hard to decipher, but eventually she found one that was readable. It seemed to be about old apprentice customs, which wasn’t that interesting to her, but she had to start somewhere if she wanted to learn more about the Jedi.

She settled back and began to read. It was a slow process because she’d only recently learned the skill. Seeing the speeds other people read at seemed unreal most of the time, but her teachers all said nice things about how quickly she’d been picking it up. Rey suspected that they were just being polite about it.

After struggling through the first three paragraphs, Rey looked up and noticed Maul watching her. Usually he meditated whenever there were no other pressing tasks and Rey liked that he left her alone so often. She still wasn’t used to long stretches of interaction with other people after Jakku.

‘Yes?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Maul’s eyes flicked toward her datapad. ‘What are you reading?’

‘Jedi lore. That’s what I’m actually supposed to be doing here.’

Maul snorted. ‘You do not use text to speech?’

Rey scowled at him. ‘I know I’m slow at it, but I’m getting better. Besides, sometimes you need to read in situations where making noise or being distracted by noise is dangerous,’ she added. That was Master Skywaker’s favourite argument for why she’d had to learn.

Maul looked away. ‘I did not mean to offend.’ He paused for a long moment. ‘I never learned the skill.’

Rey blinked. ‘Oh. I suppose it’s not that relevant to combat training.’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you… want to learn?’ Rey asked after a while. She told herself it wasn’t putting off her reading if she was helping someone else learn.

‘I. Yes,’ Maul said. 'Thank you.'

Rey patted the space beside her on her bedroll and switched to some of the early learning programs she still had on her datapad. They all seemed patronising to her, but Master Skywalker had assured her that was because most people learned as children. Rey wasn’t sure she believed him. Reading seemed a bit too challenging for children.

Maul rose and stretched before padding around their fire and settling beside her. He peered intently at her screen.

‘Okay, these are the basic letters of the Standard alphabet,’ she said, bringing up the relevant screen. Maul nodded and quietly absorbed all the information she gave. He made the same sort of mistakes she had when she’d first started. Rey felt better equipped to recognise them than her teachers had.

Maul tended to tense slightly whenever he made a mistake and stared fixedly at his work. Rey probably wouldn’t have noticed it if they hadn’t been sitting close enough to share a screen. After his third or fourth mistake he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She just corrected him like usual and explained the logic. He stopped tensing after that and neither of them mentioned it.

///

‘You need to focus your connection to the Force,’ Maul said. ‘You let it spread out from all around you. It means you can be sensed, which is dangerous. It also means you lack focus, which is inefficient.’

Rey scowled at him. He’d been trying to teach her a different style of meditating for half the morning. Instead of dismissing thought and emotion, like Master Skywalker’s style did, it involved paying close attention to her internal world. That was hard enough for her, but worse was the arrhythmic breathing. She’d never realised how hard it was to deliberately not breath in a pattern.

The sun wasn’t hot enough and sitting on the ground was uncomfortable. Rey closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She fidgeted. After a pause she opened one eye.

‘Something wrong?’ Maul asked.

Rey opened both eyes and shifted position to stretch out her legs. ‘Were you using the Force when we fought that first time?’ she asked.

Maul’s brow furrowed, further emphasising his wrinkles. ‘Yes? As I do with every heartbeat. As you do,’ he said.

‘What? No, I mean, like,’ Rey made a vague gesture, ‘pulling and throwing and putting me off balance.’

Maul snorted. ‘No. I like a physical victory. I only use Force tricks when it’s necessary.’

‘So what do you mean by that “every heartbeat” stuff?’ Rey asked.

Maul sighed. ‘Have you ever worn Force-dampeners?’

Rey shook her head.

‘I have, as part of training. It is like being deaf and blind. One is clumsy, like being drunk on many nights without sleep. We use the Force to tell us about the world and warn us. It makes us fast and strong. Through the Force we survive.’ Maul shot her look. ‘It is part of why you are so loud.’

Rey glared. ‘Maybe you’re just weak in the Force,’ she said. ‘That’s why you’re able to be so “quiet”’.

Maul gave her a smile that bared his teeth. ‘You should use that frustrated anger, instead of letting it go to waste. Pay attention now. I will you show you shielding.’ His eyes slid closed and he breathed in the arrhythmic fashion he’d been trying to teach her. The atmosphere changed as Maul stopped hiding his Force signature. His presence swept out like an oily fire. Here was the dark presence that she’d caught flashes of whenever he used the Force.

The intensity of it stole Rey’s breath, but mere seconds later Maul re-established his shields and opened his eyes. ‘That is what you feel like most of the time,’ he said. ‘You are just as strong, maybe more so. It is hard to tell when you let your power leak everywhere.’

‘I don’t feel dark like that,’ Rey blurted.

Maul stared at her for a long time. ‘No. But it is not good to cut yourself off from half of the Force, apprentice.’

‘I’m not your apprentice,’ Rey said, ignoring the sceptical look Maul levelled at her. ‘Besides, the dark side eats you, if you give into it.’ Every source of Jedi information had said as much. So had one of the Sith texts she’d read.

To her surprise Maul nodded. ‘It wants to, yes. That is why control is important. The Jedi cut themselves off from it and tell themselves that is control. They never understand that walking the edge of the blade, channelling the dark without letting it win, is true control.’

Maul stared into the middle distance. When he spoke again, his voice held an odd note. ‘I have felt a Jedi touch the dark side when I killed his master.’ Maul waved a hand in a vague, dismissive gesture. ‘He recoiled as soon as he realised, but that was not control, only absolute denial.’

‘I think you’re wrong,’ Rey said.

Maul shrugged. ‘Yet here I sit, unconsumed. A Sith who still lives. Your Jedi master also lives. Who can say who is right anymore? With the orders long dead, only the individuals matter now. Only surviving matters.’

‘I know how to survive.’

‘I don’t doubt you could live on most planets. Surviving the strain of the Force and the threat of its users is another matter. I see in you something that struggles to live. I want to help.’

‘Why?’ Rey asked.

Maul was silent for a moment. ‘When you have lived as long as I, you learn to trust instincts.’

Rey gave him a long look, but Maul waved it away. ‘It is not time for philosophy now. You need to learn to hide your Force signature. Close your eyes, breath, and concentrate.’

Rey huffed, but she did close her eyes. She wondered at the fact that she no longer worried about dropping her guard like that around Maul.

///

Gradually Rey’s abilities improved under Maul’s tutelage. She could keep her shields up most of the time to hide her signature. It was still impossible to sneak up on him, but he’d made a remark about frail humans lacking the predator instincts of real carnivores, and she suspected it didn’t have much to do with the Force.

More importantly, as far as Rey was concerned, her saberstaff katas improved to the point where she and Maul could spar with the sticks. The first time she managed to land a strike, he’d grinned at her. She’d grinned back and set about trying to repay him for all the training. They spent that entire morning trading blows before they broke off for lunch.

‘I didn’t graze myself once,’ Rey said between mouthfuls.

Maul nodded. ‘I think you are ready.’

Rey raised an eyebrow, but that was all he’d say on the matter. The sun was an hour or two below its zenith when Maul rose and beckoned for her to follow. He hadn’t been so uncommunicative since their first meeting and Rey felt uneasy.

They ended up in the usual training spot and Maul turned to face her. He drew his saberstaff, but he didn’t engage the blades. Instead, he held it out to her. Rey drew in a quick breath.

‘Take it, apprentice,’ Maul said. ‘I want to see your katas with a live weapon.’

Rey reached out, but pulled back at the last second. ‘You’re sure?’

Maul snorted. ‘Yes.’

Rey gripped the twin hilts and felt the weight of it. She engaged the blades. The balance wasn’t that much different than a staff, but it was incredibly light compared to anything other than her own lightsaber.

‘Yes,’ Maul said, reading the hesitation in her face. ‘All lightsabers are different and the weight of them comes not from mass, but from resistance.’

Rey ran through a couple of very simple moves to test it. Having two blades gave the weapon a very different arc, but it still felt more familiar and more right than her lightsaber had.

‘Begin,’ Maul said.

Rey let out a breath and moved through her first kata. She didn’t burn herself once.

///

The next morning Rey rose with the sun and was surprised that Maul wasn’t up and meditating yet. She went over to his sleeping pallet with, half-formed notions about teasing him for sleeping in. Those thoughts fled when she arrived at his side. Maul was showing his years in a way he hadn’t since she’d arrived. Even that time he’d thrown his hip hadn’t made him look this old, just angry.

Rey knelt by his side. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

Maul gave a weak chuckle. ‘Age. I have been tired for a long time now.’

‘But that’s ridiculous! You’ve survived so long.’

‘Yes, with willpower, the dark side will cater to most desires, including a very long life. But it has been enough. Even the dark side cannot completely halt aging.’

‘But you can’t just...! Why now?’ Rey demanded.

‘Maybe I wanted company. Maybe some brash, impetuous child reminded me that couldn’t keep up anymore.’

Rey punched him in the arm, somewhat gently. ‘That’s a stupid reason.’

Maul laughed again. The sound was even weaker this time. Rey took his hand in her own. It was still hot and dry, like sun-warmed sand. ‘Perhaps, but it is a very Sith reason too,’ Maul said. He looked her in the eyes. His gaze wasn’t as sharp as it usual was. ‘My saberstaff is yours, my apprentice.’

Rey managed to smile past the lump that was rising in her throat. ‘I’m not your apprentice,’ she said, giving the familiar reply.

Maul returned her smile and squeezed her fingers weakly. ‘No. You are right. Your training with me is complete. Go, go and live, child. Survive. That is what matters.’

Maul’s eyes slid closed and his grip slackened. Rey felt his passing as a sense of darkness and power that flared against the Force and dissipated. Before her eyes, the corpse disappeared, leaving behind only empty robes. Rey blinked back tears. The saberstaff he’d bequeathed was lying beside his pallet. He must have left it there last night.

Rey stared at it for a long time. As right as the saberstaff felt, it was still a Sith weapon. The four synth-crystals exuded dark side energies that only waxed stronger with Maul’s passing. Synth-crystals weren’t inherently dark, of course. Master Skywalker’s lightsaber used a green one, but Maul’s red crystals had been fashioned through his own hate and pain.

Rey picked up the lightsaber and turned it around in her hands. The design was elegant and appealed to her sense of clever mechanics. Perhaps she could strip it, make her own crystals, and refit the blades. A Jedi should make her own weapon, after all. She clipped it onto her belt.

She wasn’t sure what colour she’d make her crystals, yet. The traditional blue and green didn’t feel quite right any more, but she was no Sith and she wouldn’t make red ones, even through light side meditation. She absently tapped her fingers against the hilt at her side. Then again, that whisper of intuition, that both Master Skywalker and Maul had said was the Force, told her that whatever crystals she ended up making for this weapon, they would probably have a hint of red. For remembrance.

This is a really sweet, interesting story. I'm fond of Darth Maul and I like how Rey takes to his training here, how his form is a fit for her and how their philosophies and experiences contrast.

Thanks heaps! I'm also fond of Maul and I’m delighted you enjoyed the story. I tried to play up the mutual survivalists angle and I’m really glad the similarities and contrasts came through.

This is gorgeous!

Thank you!

This was lovely, and kinda funny, and calm, and a little sad, and I love it. I hope OP enjoys it, too.

Thanks so much! That was exactly the tone I was going for.

That was a very fun story to read. I love how Maul basically has the "seen everything, done everything" mentality. The ending was very bittersweet and a fitting end to the last Sith from a bygone age.

Thank you! I’m glad you liked Maul’s portrayal here. I may have been exorcising some of my own feelings about the likely end of the Sith in the new canon.

OP ANON HERE FEELING SUPER FOOLISH FOR NOT CHECKING BACK ON THIS PROMPT SOONER BECAUSE THIS IS SUCH A GLORIOUS FILL SWEET MERCIFUL EWOK GODS THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING I LOVE COCKROACH MAUL AND STUBBORN REY AND EVERYTHING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OH MY GOD

Thank you so much for your touching comment and for the gorgeous prompt, OP! I am so pleased that you enjoyed the fill and characterisation. I was a little worried about hitting the right tone for this, so I really appreciate your enthusiasm.

Such beautiful art! I love it.

Writer’s editor here: A!A was confused until I explained because it just didn’t occur to her that her writing could be art. When I pointed out what you meant, she cooed for a while. It was very out of character. Thank you.

Brilliant. XD

Thanks!

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PROMPT POST #5 - CLOSED

This post is closed to new prompts!

Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)

Re: Fill: Darth Maul & Rey, Gen - “Not Your Apprentice” (2/2)