Before - Legends Swimming in the Flood (Maul - one post)

This was written for a challenge on another site. The challenge was to write a vig in which a canon character gets rejected. Thanks to Yodan for betaing this.


Swimming in the Flood


?What?re you doing there, boy? Close the door. It?s freezing!?

The boy at whom the words were addressed jumped, but stepped over the threshold and closed the door. He glanced into the small living room and saw Kiso, his stepfather, sitting there, watching some series on the holonet. As quietly as possible, he tiptoed past the room and slipped into the even smaller kitchen. He sat down at the table and stared at the whirling snow flakes outside. He would?ve liked to stay out longer, but he knew that the man in the next room wouldn?t have let him back in.

Suddenly the door flew open and his stepfather came in, glancing only fleetingly at him before taking a bottle of jissia beer out of the cupboard. ?Can?t you do something useful? Just sitting there dreaming. Typical. I really wonder where you get that kind of thing from. Must be from your worthless father.?

The boy didn?t look up, clenching his teeth in anger at the hurtful words, but he knew he would only make matters worse if he said something. The man behind him snorted. ?Should?ve known. You?re just as worthless as he was.?

Hands curling into fists the boy remained where he was. He didn?t want to see the ugly sneer on Kiso?s face, the red and black markings making it appear even scarier. Finally he heard the door slide shut and exhaled slowly, his fists unclenching. Focusing his eyes on his reflection in the window, he wondered if he would one day look like Kiso. His pale face stared back at him, as of yet free of the markings decorating the adults of his species. Maybe he wouldn?t use them. He didn?t care what everyone else would say. A few days ago he had seen several outlanders in town with dark faces and long flowing dark hair. He reached up to his own bald head, feeling the small horns that had only just begun forming there. It was just another source of amusement to his classmates, besides his ragged clothes and the old datapad he carried. At eight years of age, most other boys? bodies were already further developed than his own. Maybe one day he would be someone else, far away from this place, maybe on Coruscant with just his mother and Juna.

____________________________________________________________

His mother came home a few hours later and found him sitting in the kitchen, still staring out the window. She looked hassled, Juna on her arm and a bag of groceries in her other hand.

?Brel. There you are. Here, take Juna and change her, will you. I have to make dinner.?

Brel got up from his chair and made to take the little girl, but his mother hesitated and looked at him closely. ?Did you fight with your father??

He frowned. Why did she always ask that? It wasn?t as if he started the fights. ?No, I didn?t do anything.?

His mother nodded and handed the baby over. Brel cradled her to his chest and went into the fresher. Laying her on the small table he took a fresh diaper from the cupboard and started undoing Juna?s pajama. Once he had finished he stroked carefully over her soft head, speaking in a low voice to not let his mother hear. ?You know I wouldn?t hurt you, do you? It?s not your fault after all that he likes you better than me.? He sighed. He knew that his mother didn?t entirely trust him and that Kiso downright loathed him, but those two times he?d lost control really hadn?t been his fault. He knew that he was different of course. There were others who felt it apart from him, but the strange power inside him usually didn?t come out like that. It only happened when he was really angry and it was Kiso?s own fault for getting him so mad. He hadn?t meant to hurt him. Frowning down at his younger half-sister he picked her up and left the fresher.

______________________________________________________________

The light of two of Iridonia?s four moons shone down on his blanket as he lay in the otherwise dark living room, try

 

Wow.

I don't think I took a single breath while reading that. It was so very intense.
What an outstanding vignette. You've really crafted a believable backstory for Maul.

There was just enough hints and foreshadowing about Force sensitivity and other incidents to make you wonder. Brilliant character study.

 

*huggles pre-Maulie*

Great job, Indra!! I loved reading this before, and I still love it!

 

Wow! This really blew me away! And I mean that in the best possible way! Bravo!

 

I loved it when I read it first, and it hasn't lost its charm for me.

And with a terrible jolt Brel realized what was going on. Panicked, he looked at Kiso. ?No. No, you can?t do that. I didn?t mean to hurt her. It was a mistake. I didn?t want to hurt her!?

Poor little Brel.

Beautiful viggie, Indra.

 

This was just fantastic. I do feel bad for the little kid, and I could completely feel and sympathize with his frustration at his stepfather and his anguish as being sent away.

Brilliant!

 

Running towards the living room he could see his mother gathering Juna up in her arms and crying hysterically. He didn?t understand why at first, but then saw Juna?s face. It was almost blue and she was gasping.

He was that upset? That's the part that really got me, because even though he didn't mean to hurt her, it seemed like a part of him really hated Juna for being the one his mother and Kiso loved. And then with the little hints of how his anger brought out his Force powers! Very nice.

Amazing vig, Indra!

 

Chilling and well-written.

 

oqidaun Thank you! Wow, I don't know what to say. Your review absolutely made my day. Thank you so much for your kind words.

Healer_Leona Same as to oqidaun. Thank you so much. I'm very glad you like it that much.

Miana Kenobi Thanks! I'm very glad he came across as believable.

VaderLVR64 Thank you. That means a lot.

Princess_Arulmozhi That's what I was thinking the whole time while writing it. I felt so sorry for him, but something must have happened to him while he was small and since I haven't read the book, I invented it myself. Thank you for reviewing!

DarthMousche Mousche! So glad to see you here. Thanks a lot for your praise.

JadeSolo I was so hoping the little hints would make sense. I wasn't sure at first about how much to put in there. I'm glad it worked. Thanks for reading, Jade!

DarthIshtar Thank you!

 

That was great, Indra!!!

Poor Maul, he didn't have much of a chance, it seems. Interesting look into his backgound and what may have happened to him.

 

Poor little Maul - I really felt for him. All that bottled up anger isn't a good thing.

 

Kma Thanks a lot. I'm always wondering about the reasons for the way the villains are and I'm glad this was an interesting take.

Noi I have to admit that I felt really sorry for him while writing it and really wanted to change things for him at the end, but then it wouldn't have been a very good explanation for his character, would it?