Just a little scene from a longer work. Maul and Fox have me by the balls. I might turn this into something for Maul week
Fox's heartbeat goes silent.
The annoyingly persistent presence at the back of Maul's mind is snuffed out. He hadn't realized how much noise the clone made just by existing. The smugness Maul could sense from him when he got his way with the Mandalorians, the dark satisfaction when when they fought together. Or the quiet warmth in the small moments between fighting and planning, when it had just been the two of them, sharing tea and protected memories. That silence had been comfortable. It had been the personification of everything between them. This silence is absence.
"How far you have fallen, my old apprentice." Sidious is still laughing under his breath, lightning still dancing at his fingertips. "I was right to abandon you when I did."
Rage burns under Maul's skin, familiar and eager as a lover's touch. Not only has Sidious taken something from him, but now he dares to mock him with it. Maul spent the majority of his life trying to impress this man -to prove himself worthy in his Master's eyes- and all it has brought him is misery and loss.
He lost his childhood.
He lost Savage.
He lost his legs.
Well, he has had enough of losing. He will not lose Fox. He will not lose this fight. The gossamer thin bond he still has with Fox is frayed, fading with every moment that the man isn't breathing. Maul grits his teeth and imagines he can feel his control grind to ash between his molars. He looks inward, feels his own hearts beating in his chest and allows himself to reach for something other than hatred. Devon constantly brought up her principles, the desires of a dying order. Lawson spoke of hope with every breath, the thing at the heart of every rebellion, even their own broken little cabal. Fox talked about faith, in his brothers, and in Maul's strength.
Trust.
The Force has not been so clear to him as it is in this moment. There is no grand moment of realization, or turning point in his mind where he decides that he's been wrong. He's not wrong. But maybe his actions have been based on a fallacious belief from the start. Everything Sidious taught him is suspect. His old Master made him strong -there is no denying that- but Maul had clawed himself out of the gutter on his own, with his own power.
"You made yourself who you are. Don't let him have an ounce of credit for what you've turned yourself into."
Fox's words from what feels like so long ago ring true.
Maul snarls and bares his teeth. He shoves power down through the withering bond, forcing Fox's heart to beat and hoping it will be enough, putting his trust in something other than himself. Fox will have to do the rest on his own, to fight where Maul cannot. Maul has his own battle to return to, and he doesn't intend to lose.
"For most of my life," Maul straightens, shoulders back, head held high. "I have wanted to watch you suffer." He puts himself between Fox's body and Sidious. "Today I will settle for watching you die quickly. I have more important matters to attend to."
One of my favorite flavors of early SithGuard is they knew eachother from before the CW, but while it's a core memory for little Fox, Maul doesn't remembers it.
Imagine it: Apprentice Maul, early 20's, visiting Kamino for some checking on the plan because Sidious ordered and is just bored out of his mind having to listen to the kaminoans explain and explain things while on tour through the facility and while checking an auditorium full of little clone cadets, he notices one staring at him.
Somehow, the cadet follows them for the rest of the tour, still staring at Maul from down there at what might be his highest right now the whole time.
Maul doesn't realize it but anyone passing by can see that that little clone is clearly having his first crush, probably not the only clone hypnotized due to the fact Maul is unlike anyone that they ever seen on Kamino before, but Fox is starstruck.
He's looking and looking at each one of Maul's tattoos as if he wants to memorize them, Maul's red skin is his new favorite shade of red, he wants to touch his horns to see if they are as sharps as they look, whenever he hears gold now Maul's eyes will be the first thing that appears in his mind. He's in love.
At some point he manages to blurt out a "Are you a mage?" Still with the same look and barely registering his question, because "mages" became the clones cadets equivalent of amazing due to the history of the olders clones about the jedi and the Force. Which leads to Maul arching an eyebrow because he was expecting some sort of offensive question, not because he couldn't understand the clone cadets not knowing a lot about others species, but because after 5 hours dealing with his tour guides, he's 99% sure the kaminoans are racist.
After getting out of his surprise, he just answers with an "No, just the son of a witch." And Fox locks that in his head for years to come. At this point someone finally notices the little untrained cadet talking with the very important guest checking their quality and yanks Fox away, Maul doesn't really care and Fox remembers that interaction with maximum prescription pink glasses for the rest of his life.
Years later when they found out about the sith situation he has to trust all of his brothers won't say anything to their jedi generals about his life long crush in the sith apprentice that's dead anyway now, Fox already had his mourning period before the war anyway.
When Savage first appeared and the rumours of a dathomiri zabrak sith apprentice started he marched to see that footage and could have screamed of frustation and disappointment and then Maul comes back during the war and hes crashing out on the good way, there's no need to mention the massacre hes made that's not the point shut up. He sees his brothers getting dools and promotive material of their generals and goes down to some lower levels to get customized action figures and cups of Maul that he keeps hidden on his room and office. He's personally waiting when he hears about Ashoka having captured Maul and bringing him to Coruscant, and after the whole order 66 situation hes unreasonably and silently angry with the fact that apparently he worked closely to nearly every sith lord with the exception of the one he wanted to work with.
Jedi!Maul as liaison to the guard, Maul/Fox, in Fox's office ooooh scandalous????? alternately, Fives/Maul/Echo spitroasting because that's always nice
ASLDKJFL;SDKLF CHEERS MATE!
“so what’s the one conclusion i can bring this number to?”
Maul and Fox co-parenting Devon. Maul is all about power through anger. Fox thinks anger is good, sure, but what's the point when you can't control it.
He knows Maul is basically a storm shoved into a vaguely human shape. And mad respect, but that's not for everyone. So he starts helping Devon meditate, helping her direct her anger and hatred into something that's just for her. Because he understands why she's angry, and she deserves to feel a little hatred.
When Maul finds out, Fox expects him to be pissed that Fox had overstepped, but instead he gets approval. "I hadn't thought the source of her improvement would be you, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
Fox raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms defensively. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Peace, Commander. I meant it as a compliment."
"Forgive me for not believing you."
"What you do or not believe is of no consequence to me. I simply wanted to pass along my thanks."
Fox grins, all teeth, like his namesake. "Now I know you're full of shit. Are you sure you're not being controlled by something?"
Maul scrunches up his nose in that way that Fox privately thinks of as adorable. "Goodnight, Commander."
Imagine Maul and Fox's first kiss. It has to happen during, or after a fight, because there is no way either of these idiots are making that move without being on an adrenaline high.
Fox gets a hand fisted in Maul's tunic and yanks him in close. Maul lets him. They stand there, breathing each other's air as the smoke settles, but Fox can't take that last step. He's never taken anything for himself. Maul, on the other hand, is very good at taking what he wants. He surges forward and devours Fox with a possessive growl. Fox gives as good as he gets, and once he gets a hand on Maul's horns it is over.
Later, Fox puts Maul on his back and gets to be a little selfish.
