"I'm sure you're eager to get out of those clothes," said a Jedi, appearing from behind her. She was burying the dead bodies of the guards and security chief that were present during the attack on the prison that was holding him.
She smiled in response- wearing this humiliating slave outfit was beneath her- but it only became more faint the more she looked at who she was talking to. What about you? Why haven't you removed that mask yet?
The man who she was talking to, who she had come to free, was not the same man who she fought beside and followed like a father years prior to this chaos. Losing his memories had a dramatic impact on him, but fortunately the crimson, war-ravaged mask that he wore for the first time in years had restored those memories. Yet, something about him seemed different. He wasn't that much of a Revanchist anymore, and considering his name spawned from that name, no longer following it would be the equivalent of losing his identity. Of course that was just her opinion, much had changed since her exile and his return from this accursed planet.
"I assume that getting onto the planet was no trouble," he added, realising from the lack of reply that she was a bit alarmed at something. Perhaps it was seeing him again after so long. But, then again, it was he who seemed to be filled with some level of remorse, and awkwardness, more than her. Maybe it was because now he was married and felt like talking to a female whom he had such a close bond with accounted to betrayal, or maybe it was just that...the main reason, anyway, was he had taken what Atris said to him, when he was attempting to find any information regarding her, to heart. She accused him of abandoning his former subordinate, leaving her for dead at the mercy of the Jedi Council, because she was no longer of any use to him. He didn't know what he was thinking when he decided to declare her Killed in Action, but she was so close to the appending blast that the only logical suggestion of why him and Malak could no longer feel her presence in the force, was that she was dead.
"Getting here was the easy part, it's getting back that I'm worried about," she finally spoke, still slightly anxious.
"I don't plan on leaving without accomplishing the task I came here to fulfil," declared the Jedi, displaying the same determined tone he did when he declared he would not remove his mask until the Mandalorians have been defeated. And he didn't. In fact, he wore it even after, when darkness took over. "With the planet in turmoil, it's either now or never. But I don't plan on dragging you down with me...not again".
"Likewise, I'm not leaving without accomplishing the task I came here to fulfil, getting you back to your wife safely...and stopping the Sith mainly," declared the female Jedi. He nodded, and he could only guess why.
Revan, as he called himself, was a young Jedi once, decrying his peers refusal to intervene in a conflict that was killing millions across the galaxy. So he decided to go rogue and do it himself. Allying with his friend Malak, the Jedi Crusader movement spawned thousands of followers, and this female, Meetra Surik, was one of the first to rush to his side. And she had proven herself time and time again. Revan and Malak noted her as a brilliant tactician, and gave her command of a third of the fleet, another thing they had come to see about her was her determination. No matter how much men she had, no matter how much were killed she would not stop pushing until either the battle was won or lost, and usually this would crush their enemies morale; they had ACTUALLY begun to fear her. Unfortunately for Surik, Mandalore wasn't the only one who noted her great involvement in this war, the Jedi condemned her for her actions and when she returned, no longer having a connection to the force, they exiled her to deep space, and from then on Meetra Surik was dead, only the "Exile" remained.
The mention of his wife triggered some kind of emotion in Revan, it had been three years since she told him she was pregnant. The child had to have been born by now, and he didn't even know if it was a he or a she. His head sank in despair.
"We have something to show you first. T3" Meetra called to the small droid, who rolled up beside them and projected a 30cm tall image of Bastila, cooing over a small toddler: Revan's son.
While Revan watched the hologram in peace, Meetra had retreated to a dark corner of the cave to change back into her Jedi robes. Clipping her blue lightsaber to her belt, she realised that, once again, she was following the lead of Revan, not the Darth Revan everyone on the land she was exiled to feared, but the Jedi Knight who she willingly followed into war.
She couldn't help but to hear Bastila say "I love you, Revan" as the recording came to an end, and Revan responding with the same phrase. The acoustics of the cave making his voice unnaturally loud. Meetra shifted her feet uncomfortably at this exchange. She wasn't jealous of Bastila. Meetra didn't love Revan in a romantic way, she regarded him with his deep admiration and devotion. At this moment, however, she was aware that Revan's and Bastila's relationship was far deeper than what she shared with him.
As she felt that her reunion with Revan was being preempted by a holo recording, the chants of a Sith Lord droned on in her head. "All hail Snoke! "Long live our Supreme Leader!"
Just then, the spirit once again returned to her, dominating her mind. It was the same Dark Lord whom she had destroyed along with the entire Sith Triumvirate. The two fought together under Revan during the Battle of Malachor V, both were caught in the blast from the Mass Shadow Generator, and became "wounds in the force", instead of deafening the cries and screams of the thousands killed on Malachor V by cutting her connection to the force, this Sith Lord resorted to satisfying his endless need for energy by literally consuming the force from any living thing. Now it seemed like their final battle forced the two "wounds in the force" to be connected. Darth Nihilus, the Lord of Hunger, was in her mind, trying to constantly take control and exact his will upon her, but Meetra's mental strength was greater and had managed to keep him at bay. He had hoped Revan would be able to fix him, and was waiting for Meetra to bring up the issue.
The force spirit lingered out of her.
"You forget I hear your very thoughts and jealousy is a weakness I find," he cringed, his dark and deep voice no longer as intimidating as it was when he was alive- to her anyway, considering she was the one who cut him down. When she refused to reply, he pressed the matter of when she was going to implore Revan to free him from her.
"I'm not asking him anything, he's been through enough, and I know what your gonna do when you do get free," refused Meetra, stubbornly.
"Funny, a couple days ago you were going on about how much you hate me, what changed?" demanded Nihilus.
"I've come to realise that, my own life is futile now that I am no longer connected to the force, once the Sith are defeated, the only thing I have left is keeping you at bay, so I might as well continue that," she explained to him, bitterly.
"So let me get this straight. Instead of trying to separate us, you insist on continuing this never-ending mental battle until you die, and hence I become one with the force as well?" the outraged Sith recapped.
"Simply put," shrugged Meetra, smugly.
"And I have come to realise I need you," agreed Nihilus.
"Exactly. Wait, what?"
"These past few days, seeing this damned planet, I've come to see this is not the same Sith order I came into, I intend to reorganise the Dark Side, so that it will concur with the Light. United we stand, as they say. Besides, the two of us stand a better chance against the Coming Darkness".
"The Coming what?!" grimaced Meetra.
"I don't know, my former master Traya refereed to a being called Snoke, whom I am unaware of, but it has become apparent that the Dark and the Light have been manipulated by him in order to achieve...something, I just don't know what. But his strength in the force surpasses this present emperor and any that came before him, he must die in order to safeguard the galaxy" explained Nihilus.
Revan finally came over to them, to Meetra's relief, he didn't have his mask on. His tearing eyes looked into Surik's, and to the hovering spirit.
"You don't need a tissue, do you?" it sarcastically commented.
"Thank you for this," he said. "And for saving me".
"It was nothing," Meetra lightly replied.
"Yeah, I don't care about you, so don't bother thanking me, glorious leader," Nihilus retorted, loudly.
"Who is this adult man in a Halloween mask again?" snickered Revan, agitating the dark lord. He forgot me already.
"Nothing I did was possible if it were not for your training," added Meetra.
Revan shook his head. "No, do not underestimate all you've accomplished. Nobody else could've found me across an entire galaxy, nobody else could've evaded the heart of the most evilest man to ever live". He studied her for a moment, his guilt returning. "Meetra...I'm...I'm very sorry that I left you behind..abandoned you is more what I did, you were my proudest disciple and...of all people, you were the last I would've thought would come all this way for me, after what I did".
Meetra didn't reply. When she awoke in the aftermath of the blast, she had looked around at the other Jedi, Nihilus included. Whereas as he went to the Dark Side as a means of destroying the pain he felt, she was the closest to the blast and where was her help? Where was those who she had sacrificed her reputation, her Jedi life and everything for? Gone, without a trace. They would've sensed her. And yet no one. So when the pain and echoing of the hundreds killed under her command plagued her mind became unbearable, she cut herself off from the force completely. To her it was a fate worse than death, there was nothing left but to return and except whatever punishment the Jedi had in stall for her. Yet, she never once blamed Revan for this, she made her choice to follow her so death was something she was prepared for.
"Where is my apology, look at me, what I have become because of you! Both of us are cut of from the force, sure my host regained hers and I will soon be one with the force, but you owe me everything, and once I return I will eliminate you" vowed Nihilus, although Meetra tried to stop his outburst, this time the spirit wouldn't have it and assumed control.
"Well then that's a very good incentive not to bring you back," smiled Revan, a bit of humour in his voice. "Besides, you wouldn't stand a chance".
Darth Nihilus didn't care much for Revan anymore, he thought of him as a parasite now not a mentor. In his opinion, he was greater than Darth Revan in all shape and form, he longed for the two to be able to duel so he may prove that point, but by now he had his own mission.
"You cannot, I know that now, but there is someone else who can: the emperor. If I absorb his power than perhaps I can defeat him," revealed the spirit. "I might die, but at least I will take that puppet of Snoke with me, Snoke it the one who is at fault for all of this, he alone must suffer".
"Who is this Snoke?" demanded Revan. "You drone on about him as if he's a god".
"No but it's what he is trying to become...I don't know who or what he is. He could be a manifestation of evil, such as the emperor, maybe he is Snoke"
Revan sighed. In the years before the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi refereed to the ancient Sith as a "Snoke in the force". Snoke had became a saying, as another word for evil. Really, there was no such thing as a Snoke, and Revan tried explaining this to the spirit of his old follower, who began to believe that the Emperor himself is a manifestation of the Snoke.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking...I don't know if it was necessary even to this day, but...it should've been me who was in your place, I can never forgive myself for having led you to your demise, for a Jedi losing the Force is worse than death," apologised Revan (again), paraphrasing what Atris yelled at him.
"I'm honoured, the mighty Darth Revan said sorry to me," the bitter Sith Lord retaliated, before Meetra finally shut him up, making him vanish. Nihilus had always been bitter about the fact that he was in Revan's shadow. He even chose to wore a mask to conceal his face as Revan did.
Revan sat beside Meetra, beginning to realise that reminding her of her past was painful for her. Both of them were branded war criminals, and although the two galactic savours had more than made amends for their actions, what Darth Revan did and she did on Malachor continued to haunt them; they were still looking for some sort of redemption. Anything.
"I was told you had been cut of from the force," said Revan after a while. "But I can sense it's power in you, I always knew you had great potential, but you have become far greater than I had ever imagined. Few would've done what you did, they would be filled with rage and bitterness, like this Darth Nih...whatever his name is".
"I'm just...following in your footsteps," Meetra replied, slightly turning red at this praise.
"Not anymore," Revan cut her off. "You have blazed your own trail, I can sense you have walked a path even I would not dare to follow. I owe you everything, Meetra, it is a debt I will never be able to repay."
"No," Meetra said with a warm smile. "Without your teaching, I would never have become what I am today. I am the one who owes a debt she can never repay".
"Then why don't we call it even?" decided Revan.
"A wise and just solution...as always," Meetra replied.
"I don't wish to scar you any further, if you'd like, I can try to get you out of here first and foremost," offered the former Sith.
Meetra refused to leave his side, and Revan begin to know why. Judging from the anger he felt from this Dark Lord, he knew he wasn't alone. He sensed a massive rift in the force during the 3 years he was locked up. The Jedi Order was all but extinct at the hands of the Sith Triumvirate, former remnants of his Sith empire. The other Sith, especially Darth Nyriss had sensed it to, and they had spoken of an "Exile" laying waste to the Sith, a broken force user, as they refereed to her. As she slowly fixed her wound, they had begun to pick up the Jedi returning, so Meetra was safe from their knowledge for the time being. But if they felt it, the Emperor clearly did as well. He would realise that now is the best time to invade, while the Jedi are weak.
Both their tragic pasts had been the result of the Emperor, he manipulated the Mandalorian wars, he corrupted Revan, Nihilus himself is hovering around the Exile due to his actions. He must be destroyed no matter the cost. Both of them had come to far to not confront him, surely he had picked them up.
"I have something for you, Canderous gave it to me, I think it may come in handy," Meetra took out a smaller lightsaber that's carvings was different. Revan ignited it to reveal a black blade; the Darksaber.
"This may well come in use to defeat the Emperor," Revan agreed. This would be the greatest threat he had ever faced, and he could say the same for Meetra, and to some extent, this Dark Lord surrounding her.
"Would you like to see the recording of Bastila and my son?" he asked, offering his friend his hand. "It would mean more to watch it with a friend at my side."
"Of course," Meetra gladly agreed, a lump forming in her throat. She had seen them both in person, but she had no objections to his offer. "It would be my honour".
When Scourge returned, he pointed out the unrest and chaos in the city. Dromund Kaas was in flames, for once a light colour had joined the dark, stormy clouds. The Sith empire, dragged on by hate and anger, were growing for thousands of years on this planet. And now, while the Emperor eliminated his Dark Council, was the time to strike. Revan and Meetra already discussed the strategy they would employ to defeat the emperor, it required her following his lead...as always. This Vitiate was a powerful being and it would take everything the three force users had to defeat him.
As the flames erupted and the sirens and screams grew louder, Scourge addressed his comrades. Fear took over the city as fears of civil war arose. The Emperor declared martial law, while the Imperial Guard enforced his law, with their usual ruthlessness.
"He's quarantined the entire planet," realised Revan.
"You told me he was mad," Meetra muttered. "But this is outrageous! There had to be a better way for him to handle this. Thousands of his own people will die!"
"You saw Nathema, thousands of lives are nothing to him," rebuked Scourge. "You've seen the void, you know what he's capable of".
Revan concurred, he had previously peered into the depths of the Emperor's sick mind and knew what Scourge said to be true.
The three exited the cave with T3 beside them, glaring at the storm. With half the guard in the city, recovering from their patrols, they knew what they had to do. Together they could do it, Revan was sure of it. With a Sith, a Jedi who he had a close bond with, a droid and even the spirit of Darth Nihilus, determined to kill the Emperor, at his side they could do it. He knew Nihilus deep down wanted to destroy the emperor as much as he did, and as much as he tried to hide it, he too knew the consequences of his victory. Waiting until dawn, in the process getting some rest. And neither one of them, not Nihilus, not Meetra, not T3 saw the next night.
The storm is coming and you cannot escape...but Revan had managed to slow it.