You Came (You Called)
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Maul can never doubt your loyalty to him again, and it just so happens, that now you can never doubt his own either.
cw. Darth Maul speaks Mando’a, for REAL this time, minor character death, unnamed inquisitors, bc I don’t gaf about them, that’s not how the force works, competent reader insert, kidnapping, matching nicknames, Darth Maul is bad at communicating, miscommunication, Jealous Darth Maul, decapitation, self-amputation, blood and gore, angst with a hopeful ending, force healing, Jedi!Reader, GN!Reader, post order 66
wc. 5.9k
an. Hello NEW YORK !!! No ao3 curse has claimed me but I fear Elden Ring has. Fear not as my pc EXPLODED the other day and I had to buy a new one so more time for fanfiction again, yay! Tags have been updated but just in case MASSIVE trigger warning for graphic depictions of violence and descriptions of personal bodily harm. If you would like a spoiler for what happens in this fic I will leave it in the end note at this chapter, just in case <3
brief Mando'a translations at the end of the work !
Chapter 2: Love Me To Death
You twist your body to block the inquisitor's oncoming attack.
"I really don't have time for this." You grumble through gritted teeth. Pressing your back to the door, you allow for their blade to nearly cut into your body. Before it reaches you, you slip your hand from your lightsaber and grab the hilt of their own.
Your grip startles them and you use the surprise to push them back, tossing your own lightsaber to the floor. Both of you now struggle for the dual blade, but you have the advantage over them like this. Using the Force, you cement yourself to the ground. Each step you take towards them further pins them into a corner and they quickly realize that pushing back against you is like fighting a brick wall. Smartly, they yield and drop the weapon
Jumping back, they summon your lightsaber to their hands and ready themself in a defensive stance. You glance over at them, hold the dual blade in both your hands, and squeeze. The sound of shattering crystal and warping metal echoes throughout the small enclosed room. You toss the now destroyed lightsaber to the ground without ever taking your eyes off them.
A simple flick of your hand calls your lightsaber back to you. You toss it aside with such a force, that it embeds itself inside one of the walls.
"You could leave now. Look what I've done to your weapon. You think you won't suffer a similar fate?" Your voice is the coldest you've ever heard it.
"Big talk for a disgraced Jedi." Their voice is clearly modulated by the mask, but it does little to hide the sound of their uneven breathing from you. Your body sinks into a striking stance comfortably and you offer them a small, forbearing smile.
"You misunderstand the Jedi code. In no doctrine does it say I must lie down and let you kill me simply because of your refusal to surrender. No, that is not why I am about to be disgraceful." Without so much as a warning, you pull them towards you via the Force and land two consecutive punches on their mask. It dazes them enough for you to spin backwards and land a kick directly against their throat.
They sputter and collapse to the ground. You waste no time raising and slamming your leg down where they've fallen. Fortunately for them, they manage to roll out of the way in time. You right yourself back into your previous stance, now being mindful of the dent you'd made in the steel floor.
"I'm going to be disgraceful," you continue quietly, "because it is very frowned upon in any doctrine, to make your enemy eat their still beating heart while you check their stomach to make sure they've swallowed."
You lunge at them with a scream and wrap your arms around their torso, pulling you both to the floor. Holding them down by the throat with one arm, you use the other to pry off their chest plate, intending to make good on your threat. You're only interrupted by the searing pain in your left forearm as they dig their fingers into the burnt flesh. With a yowl, you lift them by the throat and slam their head into the floor.
It disorients them, but not before they get a particularly good jab at your ribs. It has you doubling over in pain. They use this as a chance to kick you off of them. You fall to the floor in a heap but reach out your hand and feel the phantom touch of their armor through the Force. You throw them against the wall hard and hear the sound of plastiod cracking.
You push of the ground and nearly collapse again with your arm. It was bleeding profusely now, but the adrenaline in your system allowed you to pay no mind to it. Gritting your teeth, you make your way to the inquisitor and grab at their sides. With very little effort, you pick them up and swing them into the door headfirst. This time, you hear bone crack.
"How long would you like to keep going?!" You yell, lumbering over to them again. You pick them up by the throat and can hear inarticulate little gasps of breath over the broken modulator and the bottom half of their jaw now hangs slack. Your eyes catch on a certain set of buttons built into their vambrace and you reach for it with a twitching hand. Ripping it off, something darker than the Force alone guides you to the correct dial.
The door slides open only slightly and you shove their legs through. You see nothing but red as you shut the door. It slices right through their armor, their flesh, and their bone, without stopping. A cry of agony rings through the room but that wasn't good enough. If they could still scream, they could still feel. You shove more of them through.
"You believed yourself to be infallible. That my kindness is what made me weaker than you and because of this you underestimated just what I would be willing to do. Know that when you die, it is because of your own cowardice, not my cruelty which you forced me to use." You feel utterly empty as they writhe in your arms.
You go to shut the door. At the very last second—in an honestly impressive final display of strength—the inquisitor grips your left arm and pulls it against their chest. Again, the door cuts through their armor, their flesh, and bone all before it reaches you and begins to do the same. Instinctively, you reach out and try to stop the door but it's too late.
The noise ripped from you is not one that you could ever replicate, nor could you even begin to describe the pain. Your vision switches between burst of blinding white and oppressive blackness. You gag and choke on your spit, only managing to get a glimpse of your now mangled arm still stuck in the door. Your other hand slams down on the vambrace but to no avail; the door is jammed.
Tears roll down your face even if you aren't aware of yourself crying. There's no way to calm yourself but you have to try. With each intake of breath, you feel yourself grow more nauseated. There was no saving your arm, you knew that. Glancing over at what you can see, the rended muscle and glistening white of your bone tells you there's no other option. It still didn't make it any easier.
You place your right hand on the crook of your left elbow and stare directly down at the floor, watching tears, sweat, and spit all collect there. Then, with a deep breath, you slam down.
Luckily, you can barely heard the sickening noise of tendons and bones being torn and broken alike, because the scream that leaves your throat blocks out all other noise. You vomit immediately after and despite telling yourself to repeatedly, you can't breathe. Your whole body shakes with the shock and blood loss. It takes everything in you to reach up and call your lightsaber to you.
The metal hilt touches your hand and without looking, you activate it and slam it down on your arm. The smell of burning flesh has you heaving over the floor again.
You can't tell if the blaring noise in your head is the sound of an alarm or your own pulse battering against your skull. You stare up at the ceiling with glassy eyes and can barely feel yourself in your own body. There was too much and too little all happening at once. You wanted to fall asleep, you just wanted all of this to be over now.
Your leg twitches involuntarily and you whine as you feel metal poke into the side of it. Sliding your right hand down, you try to pry the offending piece away from you but only succeed in tugging on your belt. With shaking fingers, you run them along the hilt of Maul's lightsaber and feel the exhaustion in you momentarily dissipate.
It's hard to get up and every part of your body now screeches in protest, but you do anyways. You feel more off balance than usual, something that probably had to do with your missing forearm rather than a head injury. Hopefully.
You glare down at the vambrace and slam your foot atop it. The doors on both sides open simultaneously. The one containing the inquisitor's body and your arm struggles a bit, but after a horrible squelching noise you hope your brain will forget for you, it manages.
"Now you open. Of course." Despite your bitterness, you trudge forward through the hallway. Unable to read any cell numbers like this, you go purely off of the light of the talisman. When it's glow hurts to look at with your eyes, you lean against the wall and press the buttons on the panel outside of it. The door opens with a pressurized hiss.
"Maul?" You call out weakly. The sound of footsteps rushing towards you has you activating your lightsaber on principle.
"Laandur'ad!" You nearly sob in relief at the stupid nickname. "Laandur'ad it's me."
Your blade clatters to the floor as you collapse into the Zabrak and he catches you. Instantly, his hand is on your throat and checking for your pulse.
"I thought you were dead." He admits in a hushed voice, holding you tighter now. "Your Force signature snapped and I feared—"
"Did they hurt you?" You ask, unable to lift your head and check him for injuries. Maul stills.
"You're worried about me?"
"Well I didn't stage a whole rescue mission for anyone else did I?" You snap. "Now are you alright—"
"I'm fine! You're the one who looks like they've been to the Sith Hells and back! How did you even get in?" He pushes you away only slightly, just so that he can cradle your face.
"Speederbike. Came in through the window. I don't know which one it was. Up high." You mumble into his hands, not caring enough to use full sentences. The warmth of his palms nearly puts you to sleep.
"You crashed a speederbike through a window?" He asks aghast. You frown.
"I crashed nothing. It was completely intentional." He looks at you with clear doubt in his eyes and you smile. "What can I say? Living with you has made me partial to theatrical entrances."
"My entrances are not theatrical." You roll your eyes at his claim and immediately regret it, the pain in your head doubling at the movement.
"You once woke me up to spar by standing in the hallway of our ship and igniting your lightsaber while saying nothing. Let me have this you bastard." You lift your hand now to feel his pulse and slide them over the bite mark on his neck. He lets you with no complaint.
"I've got your lightsaber. Kept it beside me the whole time." You tell him and you watch as his eyes soften a fraction. "I'd hand it to you but then I'd have to let go."
Maul's brow furrows and he glances down towards your hip where the blade rests. His eyes immediately widen in horror at the sight.
"Where is your arm?!" You shut your eyes when he yells, the noise nearly too much for your fried senses.
"Lost it in a bad game of sabbac. Imperials are the sore loser type." Maul's gaze is still horrified even after your poor attempt at humor. "Listen, don't worry I feel—"
A wave of dizziness crashes over you in a way you've never felt before. You'd gotten your ass handed to you plenty of times before in the past and you'd pushed past your limit more times than you could count, but this was new. And new in this regard, terrified you.
You feel yourself grow heavier and have to lean on Maul for more support. Dread fills you but you push it back down before he can sense it. Frantically, you grab at his face and look at him.
"Maul, I…I'm…" You stare into his eyes, filled with worry and fear, and trace the tattoo that crosses his cheek. You try to drink in every detail of him, like it's the last time you'll ever see him. You lean in closer and your lips nearly brush his own. "Maul I'm in…so much pain right now. We have to leave. I know a way out."
"Right." He straightens up, unclipping his lightsaber from your belt and summoning your dropped one into his hand. "Right, you lead, I'll follow."
Then, without warning, he scoops you into his arms and begins running. It's so jarring you nearly go into shock again.
"Maul? What are you doing?" You ask, plainly confused and staring up at him now.
"You cannot have seriously thought you were able to move in that state, or at least believed you could move fast enough to outrun a group of stormtroopers. You will direct me where to go and I will get us both there. Do not think me carrying you is an excuse to rest. You need to stay awake until we are back at the ship. Understood?"
For a moment you feel scolded by Maul, like you'd done something wrong in saving his life. Then, as you find yourself resting against him, watching the endless twisting hallways of the prison blur any sense of direction you have, you realize the merit in his words. The relief you had felt from getting him back had slowed the adrenaline in your system and you were beginning to crash now. It wasn't an outcome you could afford.
"We have to go up." The worlds slur out of your mouth and you feel an unbidden panic rise in your chest at your lack of control in the situation.
"By how much?" If Maul notices your slip, he doesn't say anything, choosing instead to keep running.
"Just two floors. They have a hanger bay. We can leave through there." Your plan relied heavily on Maul being able to hot wire whatever they had available in said hanger but most of this plan was already lucked based, so what was one more variable?
Maul nods and then presses his fingers harshly into your side, jolting you back into awareness.
"None of that." He places on your feet and helps you rest against the wall while he activates his lightsaber and begins to cut into the metal beside you.
"What are you doing?" You mumble, biting the inside of your cheek. The dull pain does little to keep you focused.
"This isn't the first prison I've escaped." Alright, odd, but not a topic to worry about now. Maul continues, "Taking the elevator makes it too easy for them to find us. However, this doesn't mean using the elevator shaft is entirely out of the question."
The partially melted hunk of wall collapses by your feet and you look inside to see the vertical drop into nothingness.
"Maul, I can't climb." You were loathe to admit it, but it was true and also now glaringly obvious with your missing forearm. Maul didn't even acknowledge you with a response, he just picked you up again.
"You'll need to wrap your legs around my hips." As he spoke he helped move you into place. Suddenly you were grateful for the blood loss because otherwise the new position would have caused a more aware you to short circuit. "I need you to also wrap your arm around my neck. Can you do that for me?"
You nodded, not trusting yourself to speak. With the two of you now secured chest to chest, Maul moved inside the hole he created and began to climb up.
It was a slow going process but you could hardly blame him. Resting your chin on his shoulder you gave out a little huff of breath, trying to focus on anything else besides the warmth of his body pressed against your own.
"Stay awake." He reminds you, straining slightly as he brings you both up past the first floor.
"I'm trying!" You whinge. Despite carrying both you and himself, Maul still seemingly has the energy to roll his eyes at you.
"Recite something to me. It will keep your mind busy." He orders.
"Fine, but you won't like it." You take another breath and watch the words fall into place in your mind, as if they'd never abandoned you in the first place.
"There is no emotion—"
"You're joking." Maul cuts you off and you have the very misplaced urge to bite him in retaliation.
"I am not. Now, would you like me to recite something or would you like to have dragged my dead body up here for nothing?" Maul goes quiet and you feel his grip falter on the next handhold. Well, that hadn't been the reaction you were hoping for, but clearly Maul was not in the mood to banter. You accepted this and continued.
"There is no emotion, there is peace."
Well, you'd failed that one today. This entire excursion was motivated today purely on emotion. If you knew what was good for you, you would have left with Quinlan. You didn't even consider it an option.
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."
What had you learned today? That if left to your own devices you would be willing to go to unspeakable depths to retrieve the one you were loyal to? That you were more loyal to him than that of the code you had sworn to follow your entire life? There may be no ignorance, but you felt pretty fucking stupid.
"There is no passion, there is serenity."
There was only passion! That's the only reason you acted! You hadn't known a single moments serenity since you met Maul and that blame was equally shared.
"There is no chaos, there is harmony."
Another one wrong! It seemed like your life had been an unending catastrophe of chaotic events that were handcrafted and chosen by the Force just to see how much you could take. The only harmony that existed was the collaboration in the events that had all lead you to this moment.
You pause, hesitating at the last line of the Jedi code.
"There is no death, there is the Force."
It was the only line of the code that had ever made sense to you growing up. If the Force surrounded us all, gave life to us and guided us, then it would make sense for someone to exist even after the death of the body. But now, here in this moment you weren't sure.
It wasn't the first time you had been close to death. It wasn't even the first time that you had wished to die. But somehow this was different from every other time you'd experienced it. You realize with horror why it's so different this time. For once, your life mattered to someone.
The sound of Maul's lightsaber shearing through the metal of the wall does little to suppress your newfound terror, but it does keep you awake. In some ways he'd been right after all, reciting the code had helped. Not that you'd ever tell him, his ego was fine as it was.
"There's a speederbike off in that corner." He tells you, while gently setting you down on the stone floor of the hanger.
"Oh lovely, my favorite." You give a half grin and try to stand up. His hand on your shoulder stalls you.
"I'll get it. You stay put."
"What if there's stormtroopers? Actually not what if, there's bound to be. You'll need help." Maul eyes you incredulously and you glare right back at him.
"Once again, you cannot seriously believe yourself to be in a proper state to consider fighting. We do not have time for me to humor your altruistic nature. You will remain here as I have instructed you." He hands you your lightsaber and spins on his heel as soon as you take it from him. The second you had both arms again you were absolutely going to attack that man.
You debate reciting the Jedi Code once more while he's separated from you, but you'd rather avoid anymore unfortunate realizations. Calming your unease you seek out his Force signature and feel yourself fall into step with each of his movements. You hear the familiar sound of shots being fired and the deflection of plasma but force yourself to remain seated.
Maul would be fine. He'd survived without you and he could handle this. In fact, you could even argue he was more in his element than ever now. Still, you kept a tight grip on your saber and wait for any indication in his heart rate that would tell you to move. It never even peaked above that of his regular resting one.
At the sound of an engine revving, you forced yourself to stand. Maul came around the corner and gave you a very displeased look, hopping off before the bike was even fully parked to be by your side.
"I told you—" You wave him off with a hand and limp your way to the speeder. He walks uncomfortably close beside you, standing ready to catch you if anything should happen. You really hoped this overbearing nature of his was temporary.
"I'm alright Maul. Let's just go home please. Together."
His eyes soften and any retort he had dies on his lips.
"Of course."
Your hand touches the seat of the bike and you feel the room shift around you. In a moment, all ambient noise is silenced and any sense of life disappears. You sputter and instinctively clutch at your throat, which would have caused you to topple over the bike had it not been for someone lifting you up with the Force. It's too much at once for your mind to handle and you feel your vision completely black out.
Then there's screaming. It's animalistic but you don't know where it's coming from. It seems to surround you. You can't breathe. Maker, you can't breathe. You feel your fingers weakly claw at your throat and you try to cry out but you can't make a single noise. With no warning, your body is slammed to the floor and pain spreads out to consume your torso. With what little awareness you have left, you realize that the ache now stems from the vibroblade, your vibroblade, lodged securely in your waist.
Each wave of pain lulled you in and out of consciousness as color seemed to fade from the world around you. It takes everything in you to remember where you are and what you had been doing. Maul was here, you realized. He was fighting someone—no not someone, he was fighting another inquisitor. In your pain addled mind you remembered with a hiss that there had been two of them originally. You had to do something, he'd need your help. But you couldn't move, no matter how much you willed it.
A voice speaks and it's one you're not sure you've ever heard. The tone is cruel and unforgiving in a way that makes you wince and back away from it, even if you aren't fully aware enough to understand what they're saying. You press your ear into the stone and cover your other with your hand, trying to drown it out, but it's no use. It fills every part of you now, instilling you with a fear that would have paralyzed you had you not already been unable to move.
Your mind screams at you to run. Whoever owned that voice, whoever was capable of making such a noise, was going to kill you. They were going to kill you and they were getting nearer. You can't move, you can't blink, you can hardly feel anything but terror anymore. Each thought seems to be solely dedicated to the impending doom coming your way now.
Metal scrapes against the ground and the sound makes your body jolt, your eyes being forced to focus on the masked face of the inquisitor beside you now. They don't speak, they don't even seem alive. But if they were silent, then why was this noise still persisting? With what little energy you could muster, you turned your eyes to the figure above you.
Maul.
But it was not the man you had come to know. This was not the man you had pledged yourself to, this was not the man you shared your bed with. Over you now stood an evil you had only ever heard tale of.
His face was obscured by shadow, the only indication of his existence behind it was two crimson glowing eyes that managed to make themselves known from behind the mist. The way his body moved was unnatural and uncanny, each joint seeming to work against each other. It forced his body to exist in what seemed like constant agony. You could barely comprehend what you were seeing. Then you heard it.
The sound of the inquisitor's head being torn from their body. Each vertebrae of their spine popped one by one, as it was separated and ripped from inside them. Blood pooled from their neck and flooded the ground, offering you a comfortless warmth as it spilled onto you.
It felt as if you were being puppeted as you were lifted up and cradled against something. You couldn't take your eyes off of the now lifeless body below you.
"—aandu…"
"—ok at me…"
"Please! Look at me!" A voice cries out beside you and it feels like you've been dredged up from water after nearly drowning. You feel yourself hyperventilating now and the pain in your side is near unbearable. You cry out and clutch at the spot where it's emanating from, only to find a hand already there.
"Maul!" You gasp in short breaths, looking up into the terrified eyes of the Zabrak. "Maul. You're okay. It hurts Maul, oh Maker, it hurts so bad!"
You can't even be sure what is causing your predicament anymore, each nerve of yours is so expended at this point that the ache seems to echo from within your soul.
"I'm so sorry. It's alright, it's alright. We're leaving now. I promise. We're going." Wind whips past your face and you aren't sure when or how he'd gotten you both onto the speeder. You try to muffle your cries by hiding against his chest but you can do nothing to stop the whimpers that keep escaping your throat.
You were scared. You couldn't remember the last time you'd been so afraid. But seeing Maul like that had terrified you, even if you were ashamed to admit it to yourself. Had he always been like that? Had you just not noticed? Or, you think to yourself with a sinking feeling in your chest, had you made him like this?
"Maul…" you whisper weakly and he shushes you immediately.
"Quiet. It's alright, you'll be okay. We'll be okay. Almost there. Just a little while longer." The strain in his voice was obvious and you felt a wave of nausea wash over you when the speeder made a particularly sharp turn. Another whine spilled from your throat, unbidden.
"Maul…" You repeat quietly. You say his name over and over again, clinging to it as a means to keep you awake. A constant reminder of just who you needed to stay alive for, if just a little while longer.
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The ships floor is cold and you lament when he rests you on top of it. Your clothes are stuck to you and you understand now that your blood is what's binding it against you. Maul has the first aid kit in hand in record time, but as he begins to cut away the fabric of your shirt, you know it's too late for you.
"Maul." You try again and he shushes you harsher this time. You ignore him.
"Maul, listen to me please." You plead with him gently and feel his hands shake, but they never stop their busy work. "I'm going to die."
"No!" He slams a fist onto the floor of the ship but you're too drained to even flinch at the noise. "Stop talking. You don't get to die here!"
And despite everything, you smile.
"It's okay. It's okay. Listen, you'll be okay." Lifting your arm, you reach up to cradle his face. Both his hands leave your stomach to clutch at your own and he presses your fingers to his lips.
"You're going to be alright. You're so much stronger than you think you are. You shouldn't have to be, I'm sorry." Maul stares at you with a vacant expression, unblinking and despondent. "You deserve every softness and kindness given to you. They'll try to tell you that you don't. They'll try to rip away your person hood and make you into a weapon and you can't let them. You can't. You have to be more than what they want you to be."
You gently tug him down towards you and he lets you guide him to rest his head right above your heart. It's an uncomfortable position to say the least. He's bent down at an awkward angle and his horns press into the exposed skin of your chest, but neither of you complain. The closeness it offers you two far makes up for any inconvenience.
"I don't regret a single choice that I made when I was with you and I refuse to let you regret them for me. If my loyalty has lead me here, to die beside my closest companion, my partner in all of this, then I should be so lucky. Maul, you can't avenge me. Do not avenge me."
"You can't ask that of me." He murmurs, his hand sliding back down to the wound on your stomach. You know that he's applying pressure there but all it does is spread a chill throughout your body. Even besides Maul, who ran hotter than the twin suns of Tatooine themselves, you still felt so cold.
"Which is exactly why I am." You tell him, wrapping your arm around him, trying futility to tuck him closer to you.
"You are cruel." You laugh and feel Maul's grip tighten on you when you do.
"Only because I care."
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You don't remember falling asleep. Nor do you remember really waking up. You lie there for a moment and try to gain a sense of your surroundings.
With a flash the entire last day of your life spills into your mind and it sends you reeling. You're thankful that you aren't upright or surely you would have fallen due to the shock alone.
It was odd. You knew you had been in pain, so much so that you could hardly even begin to go about describing just how you felt, but now there was a complete absence of it. No, now you were warm and safe.
What puzzled you the most however, was that death didn't feel much different from living.
"Kua?" You call out meekly and are shocked by the raspy quality of your own voice. If you had been dead, surely you old master would have come to collect you, right?
The sound of fast approaching footsteps hardly gives you time to prepare for the body that launches itself on top of you. You know who it is before they even touch you.
"Maul!? Why are you—"
"You are awake. How are your wounds?" He cuts you off, straddling your waist and pawing at the blankets laid atop you to check your torso. Your completely healed torso at that.
"Uh, fine? I'm alright." Maul wastes no time in grabbing your face with both of his hands and rubbing his forehead against your own. Instantly, like your body expected the action, your hand flies up to hold the back of his head and press him closer to you still. You can't help but hum in baffled amusement.
"I'm alright, I'm alright. It's okay. Maul, why is it okay? Why—How am I alive?" You try to reassure the Zabrak, who now has his face buried in the crook of your neck. One hand slides under you to press you tighter to him while the other slinks down to your torso. Had you not been so adamant on getting an answer for your current condition you gladly would have went along with the distraction. Instead you're forced to pry him away from you, which you learn is much harder to do with on one hand.
"I healed you." He snaps, grabbing at your face and pressing your forehead to his again. You don't think you'd ever seen a man look so angry and so peaceful all at once.
"Yes, I get that. But how? I should be very dead by now and we didn't have nearly enough on board to save me. In fact, I'm not sure it should have even been possible by standard medical means to save me." You stroke his cheek thoughtfully and watch as his brow furrows in annoyance.
"The Force, obviously kar'nau." He rolls his eyes at you but you hardly take offense at the action. If anything, you're overjoyed with his admission.
"You used the Force to heal me?"
"Yes."
"As in, you used Force healing?"
"Yes…"
"As in, you used a light side technique to save my life and it worked?"
"I do not know how many more times I have it in me to agree with you."
Laughing you press a chaste kiss to the side of his face and he chases after your mouth, hardly content with just the one. You oblige him, of course.
"Wow," You whisper against his lips, unable to stop yourself from grinning, "I can't believe you like me."
"I am loathe to admit there are some aspects of you I find agreeable." He concedes, moving his affections to the underside of your jaw now.
"You like me and want to keep me around!" You tease, leaning your head back and making it all the more easy for him to mark the column of your throat.
"It is more efficient to have you around than to lose you." He runs his tongue over the indented bite mark on your neck and a barely repressed shiver wracks your body.
"You thought about not having me around and did everything to keep me." Your voice is breathy now and a tinge more desperate than you intend it but you can't bring yourself to care. Maul however, cares very much, as is evident by him groaning and hiding his face in your neck once more.
You hum and hold him contentedly, pressing a kiss to his head.
"Thank you, Maul." You tell him as earnestly as you can. He shifts to lie beside you now and tucks you under his chin.
"It's only what was to be expected of me, kar'nau."
There are many things you note in this moment. One, that the Empire was going to be after you two now in bigger numbers. You couldn't do what you two had done today and get off with just a slapped wrist. Two, that he has to be using another nickname for you now and you still haven't even figured out the first two he'd given you. And three, that despite almost dying and being on the run for what was most likely the rest of your life, you'd never felt safer than you did now held in both his arms.
an. this work includes: -descriptions of cutting someone in half repeatedly -loss of the reader's left forearm, in which they are forced to amputate it themselves -atlanto-occipital dislocation aka removing someone's head and taking their spinal cord with it
wow. rough way to start an end of work note huh. ANYWAYS AWEEE SO CUTE THEY'RE IN LOVE AWEEEEE. Maul and the reader are constantly just "I could fix him." vs "I could make them so much worse" they kill me I love them so much. I can't even lie to you I've been planning on removing the reader's arm for such a long time now and when I told @tarnishedheart she was like. Cool! Make THEM rip it off themselves. And I was like, OH. So everyone say thank you @tarnishedheart for giving us the world's gnarliest thing I've ever written CHRIST...no but I had so much fun writing this and I hope you enjoyed <3 Very big turning point in this chapter and an EVEN bigger one in the next !! See you then !
kar'nau = starlight/sunlight (kar can either be a word used for star or sun, which is why you see both options displayed here! I think it's very fitting because no matter what time it is, you are always the light in Maul's life <3)
dividers by @angeliicide and @somebitchprobably-graphicdump !!!
tag list: @bexeris @ashes-136667 @aninnai @maulsdear @thelittlebats @the-reas0n-is-y0u @moldy-bread-slice @stormfire6
i have been so busy lately that i didn't notice you shared this 😭😭 but here we are
this was so incredible and mindblowing that i am still processing this. i feel like that meme with a cat with a loading icon on its forehead because i am still there in those cells. like what do you mean they lost ripped their arm and what do you mean you were planning this
and they found each other again!!! i am so glad that maul is safe, but at what cost... him instantly checking their pulse, after thinking that they were gone, was so sad but at the same time i can't believe that it took him that long to notice his lover was missing a limb 😔 like baby they are dying in front of you !!! please read the vibe
i love this darkish? turn that they are going through, because it's clear that they are making each other worse in some ways but also not ? maul will always be an overly complicated man to deal with, given all his past and wrong decisions, but now he used force healing to save them. and they have killed many people to get where they are (which is understandable when we think of the empire), but always with more violence than it's expected of a jedi (or an ex-jedi at this point).
and i love the new nickname!!! it's as symbolic as the luminary one, but it's better because it was chosen by maul 😭😭
