Author's Note: I do NOT own Star Wars or the characters...only those I made up myself, which, needless to say, happen to be most of the main characters in the story.

I have to apologize. This story is very difficult to write because of the circumstances. The request was that Darth Maul fell in love. Given that Darth Maul has the capability of feeling anything BUT love, you can see my challenge.

I know the summary sucks...and I apologize for that too. There's only so much you can say in 200 or so words. If I were allowed more room, the plot would explain more.

I apologize for the terseness of my chapters. I'm not very good at making them lengthy. It's just not my style...

Sigh...I have a lot of things to apologize for. So...without further ado...Enjoy Internal Beings

Prologue

Flames. The city was burning. Smoke rose from the palace, covering the sky with a black veil. Screams echoed through the night…screams of terror and suffering. The city smelled of death. Everything was in ruins, most buildings still entirely engulfed in fire. Some had already dwindled down to ashes.

The princess screamed as a pillar crumbled and fell, narrowly missing her. She could see nothing through the smoke, making it impossible to know where she was going. Blindly, she grabbed for anything that would help as she stumbled through the haze. She winced as her hand felt something sharp. Broken glass. Suddenly, she felt warmth envelope her wounded hand. A man was bandaging her hand. She was unable to see his face but she noticed the gloved hands and deduced that it must have been one of her guards.

She bit her lip as he pulled rather harshly at the bandages to tie them off. When he had finished, he grabbed her arm and began running.

She had no idea where he was taking her, since she couldn't see more than five inches in front of her. Countless times, he had to push her out of the way of falling pieces of ceiling, leaving her alone and frightened, but never for more than a minute. Always, he would return to her side and continue leading her. At one point, they reached some sort of intersection. The smoke wasn't so thick here and she saw that the man leading her was wearing a black hooded cloak. He was about to take the left path but stopped suddenly, pushing her back against the wall. She peeked around the corner and saw why. Numerous battle droids were standing there, firing their blasters at unseen palace guards or servants. She covered her mouth, knowing that screaming wouldn't help anyone. Her guide suddenly grabbed her and pulled her against him while raising a hand toward the droids. All of them fell backwards suddenly by some unseen force. The princess was too confused by the smoke to even ponder about what happened.

But she did start to wonder if this really was one of her guards. He grabbed her arm and again, they were running down long corridors. He hadn't spoken once. The smoke began to become thick again. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe. She could no longer see anything. Finally, he had to stop and carry her…the rest of the way. She coughed and closed her eyes. No air.

The next thing she knew, she was aboard her ship, laying on one of the medical beds. At first, she was confused. She didn't know what had happened, why she was here, or how she even got here for that matter. Then, her eyes widened and she sat up suddenly. One of the medical droids urged her to lie back down but she pushed it away.

She raced towards the bridge of the ship. Keith grabbed one of her arms, stopping her, "Milady, you must calm down."

The princess shook her head and tried desperately to escape his grip, "Where is he? We have to go back! They'll kill him!"

He kept a firm hold on her arm and spoke in a frustrated voice, "We can't! We've already left the atmosphere! Milady, please calm down. Who are you talking about?"

"The man who brought me here!"

A look of confusion fell upon his face. Her heart sank. Apparently, her pilot hadn't seen the man at all. She stopped struggling and gently pulled away. His grip loosened and, finally, he let go.

The world seemed to fall on her all at once, as if the reality of the terrible event had suddenly hit her. She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. 'All my people…gone. Why didn't I see it coming? Why couldn't I stop it? Now my home is destroyed, and it's because I didn't do anything…because I was weak.'

She laid her face in her hands and cried, "Where were my father and mother? Did they survive?"

Keith's eyebrows furrowed, "Milady, surely you haven't forgotten?"

She wiped the tears from her face and looked up at Keith, questioningly. Forgotten?

"Milady, your father and mother were assassinated three days ago."