Chapter Twenty-Six

Disclaimer: I do not own KotOR2.

When the Exile had come out of stasis, she, Revan, and Bastila headed back to the Ebon Hawk.

The Exile was taking it pretty well all things considered.

"This can't be happening," she moaned. "The Council picked a terrible time to retire."

Bastila glanced at Revan who stared blankly back at her. It looked like it would be up to her to comfort the Exile then, at least until they got back to the ship. She had actually expected, from what she had seen of the Exile, that she would be practically comatose at this betrayal by both the Jedi Masters she had so admired (and, in Kavar's case, befriended) and by her brand new mentor who she had evidently been defending for months but no, she wasn't quite that far. Bastila wasn't very sure about what to do as it was and had even less of an idea of what she would have done if the Exile had taken the news poorly.

"I'm sure that this difficult decision was a long time in the planning and never would have been done if they didn't all have absolute faith in us," Bastila lied, hoping the Exile wouldn't notice that that wasn't at all what had just happened.

"Yes, but the Sith are headed for Telos…I think," the Exile looked confused for a moment but shook it off. "And Kreia turned out to be a Sith all along and is going after Atris now!"

"I'm sure Atris can take care of herself until we get there," Bastila assured her. "They don't have much of a head start."

"I can't believe Kreia the former Sith turned out to be Kreia the active Sith," the Exile said helplessly, shaking her head.

Bastila couldn't stop the surprise from flashing across her face for a moment and Revan shot her a knowing look. She had only met Kreia briefly but it had been rather obvious that she was evil.

"Really?" she asked finally. Maybe it wasn't the most helpful thing to say but it was the best she could do under the circumstances.

The Exile nodded miserably. "I trusted her completely! She was my mentor! Revan convinced me that she was mistaken about our life bond being lethal but nobody's right all of the time. If Kreia of all people is evil then how can I trust anyone ever again?"

"I…think the odds of running into anyone else like Kreia is very unlikely," Bastila said faintly.

The Exile nodded and sniffed. "I hope so." Her eyes widened suddenly. "Force!" she cursed.

"What?" Bastila asked, alarmed. She immediately began to scan for danger.

"Brianna and Kreia would need to get their things from the Ebon Hawk," the Exile explained. "What if they hurt someone?"

Privately, Bastila felt that it was rather more likely that if Kreia did stop by the ship it would be to do something to keep them from following too quickly. "We should hurry up then."

When they returned to the ship, it at first appeared to be devoid of life but eventually they found everyone they expected to – save Atton – in the cargo hold arguing loudly about a Pazaak match that Goto and T3 were supposedly playing despite the fact that they had no cards nor hands to hold them in .

Revan wanted to stay and watch (and figure out what in the world was happening) until Bastila suggested that they make sure that Atton was okay and then lock themselves in one of the many empty rooms on the ship.

They found Atton on the floor of the cockpit and slipped quietly away.

"Atton!" the Exile cried out, horrified.

Atton stirred. "Exile."

She dropped to her knees. "What happened?"

Atton tried to sit up and, with the Exile's assistance, eventually managed it, wincing a little.

"Kreia attacked me," Atton explained.

The Exile's face clouded. "I was afraid of that."

"I guess she's finally showing her true colors," Atton said with not a trace of satisfaction in his voice. "I'm sorry."

"So am I," the Exile said resolutely. "But we'll deal with her. Atton?"

"Yes?" Atton tilted his head her way.

"You've been saying that she was a Sith from the beginning and I never believed you but it turned out that you were right and I was wrong," the Exile said quietly. "So I just want to know...how did you know? How could I not?"

Atton hesitated and decided he couldn't possibly be honest with her. "It…er, I'm an ex-Sith as you know and once you're a Sith you just sort of know these things about people forever. I'm sure Revan knew as well."

The Exile frowned. "Well, he didn't seem very surprised, no. And neither did Bastila and I heard she was a Sith for about five minutes once." She brightened a bit. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Atton replied. "You know, Brianna was here as well and she seemed to think you were dead. I think she was going through your things and taking mementos. I would have stopped her but I was a little distracted by Kreia."

The Exile shrugged. "Some people just aren't very observant I guess. Are you okay?"

Atton nodded. "I'm fine. What about the others?"

The Exile considered her words carefully. "They're fine, too."

Atton peered closely at her. "Are you alright?"

"I…No, I'm not," she confessed.

"What's wrong?" Atton asked instantly. He paused. "Well…aside from the obvious, I mean."

"Yes," she answered his unspoken question. Her eyes were shining. "Bastila already helped me out there. She is such a wise and noble Jedi! She and Revan are truly a wonderful couple!"

Atton wisely chose not to comment.

"But…" the Exile looked down. "Before the Council suddenly and abruptly decided to retire, they told me that I'm accidentally controlling everyone around me."

Atton laughed; he couldn't help it.

The Exile's face flushed. "It's not funny."

"Sorry," Atton apologized. "It's just that anyone who has ever done anything with you and who disagrees with many of the things you do – which, trust me, is everyone no matter what they're like – knows that that's completely ridiculous."

"But you still travel with me," the Exile pointed out, trying and failing to hide the desperation in her voice. "You all do."

"Well, some of us have nothing better to do, some of us like killing things and know that this journey will lead to massive death and destruction, Revan likes the ship and doesn't like expending the effort necessary to kick people out, and I'm in love with you," Atton said earnestly.

Even with all she had learned, the Exile couldn't help but smile at that.

When they landed at the arctic academy, the Exile gathered them all together.

"I don't know what I'm going to find here but I'm sure it's going to be dangerous so I'm going to have to go it alone," the Exile said bravely. She looked suddenly hopeful. "Unless, of course, Revan wants to-"

"Pass," Revan said, bored. "I'm going to stay here and, uh…"

"Continue making up for lost time with Bastila?" Mira asked innocently.

"No," Revan lied. "You know, the last time we were here, the Handmaidens stole our ship so I must stay here to guard it."

"There are a lot of other people on the ship to do that," Canderous said innocently.

Revan decided that the best response was to feign sleep again.

"I'll be back," the Exile told them and left the ship.

She walked around for awhile until she came across Brianna lying at Atris' feet.

"The Exile doesn't love you!" Atris was yelling. "She doesn't love anyone! And you know what else, she's dead! She died at Malachor and just hasn't noticed yet! She is the walking dead!"

"That's not nice," the Exile said, frowning. "Not true, either."

"Exile!" Brianna cried out, overjoyed. She made no move to get up. "You're alive!"

"You really should have gotten your facts straight before charging here with Kreia," the Exile told her.

Brianna grimaced. "You're right. I'm sorry."

The Exile looked around. "Where is she, anyway?"

"I don't know," Brianna admitted. "She met with Atris and left and when I asked her about Kreia being permitted to leave when she was an admitted Sith, my half-sisters attacked me and I was forced to kill them all."

The Exile's hand flew to her mouth. "That's awful!"

"I never liked them anyway," Brianna said, unconcerned. "Between us, they were kind of bitches."

"I know where she is!" Atris practically shouted. "But I'm not telling! Stop ignoring me!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the Exile apologized. "I guess it was a little rude."

"I guess the Exile coming here looking for Kreia proves that she is capable of love after all and that, furthermore, she loves you, Brianna," Atris declared dramatically and a bit bitterly, heedless of the fact that the conversation had moved on.

Brianna's face lit up. "Oh, I'm so happy!"

The Exile coughed awkwardly. "I'm glad that you've realized that I am, in fact, capable of love but I don't love Brianna."

Brianna's face crumpled.

"I…" the Exile trailed off, uncertain of what to say to make this better. She turned to Atris. "So you said you know where Kreia is?"

Atris nodded. "I did. I'm not going to tell you, though, and I suspect this will end in a fight so let's go somewhere with a little less carnage." She spun on her hell and walked away.

The Exile hurried after her.

"Don't mind me," Brianna called after them forlornly. "I'm just heartbroken and I'm fine with lying here amidst all the bodies until one of you returns."

"Sounds good," the Exile said absently.

Atris suddenly stopped in a room that the Exile had never been in. There were hundreds of holocrons lining the walls, hissing intermittently in a strange tongue.

"Atris, what-" the Exile began, startled.

"I'm not Atris anymore," Atris announced. "I haven't been for quite some time, I think."

The Exile stopped. "I…did you change your name or something?"

Atris shook her head. "No, but I suppose I really need to. If I'm not going to be Atris then I need something for people to call me. It's really too bad that 'Darth Traya' is taken because I rather like that."

"Darth Traya?" the Exile was growing more alarmed by the second. "Atris, that's a Sith name."

"I know it is," Atris said calmly. "It's fitting since I'm a Sith."

"When did that happen?" the Exile demanded. "You weren't a Sith last time I was here – but you seemed pretty sure that I was one – and I doubt that you've left the academy up here since then. With only you and the Force-blind late Handmaiden sisters I don't see how you could have possibly fallen."

"I was probably a Sith then, too," Atris admitted freely.

"I think I'd have noticed if you were a Sith," the Exile said stubbornly.

"Like you noticed that Kreia was?" Atris challenged.

The Exile's eyes flashed. "I've been assured by a reliable source that that won't happen again!"

"And maybe it won't after me," Atris replied. "But that's twice it's happened so far."

"What makes you think you're a Sith?" the Exile challenged.

"Kreia told me I was and that she was Darth Traya and she made a very persuasive argument," Atris answered.

The Exile actually rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! Someone can't just tell you that you're a Sith now! That has to be a decision you make for yourself. And Kreia's a Sith anyway so you really shouldn't trust that she has your best interests at heart."

"I think it was a decision that I made for myself long ago," Atris said softly. "Just not a conscious one. My actions have made it starkly apparent to me of late."

The Exile's eyes lit up."Oh, actions! That's a good one. Sith do all sorts of terrible things. You can believe all of the Sith tenets but as long as you don't go out committing heinous crimes then I wouldn't call you a Sith."

"Exile, I leaked the secret Jedi meeting place on Katarr which led to the deaths of thousands of Jedi and the death of the entire native population of Miraluka as well as announcing to the galaxy that you were returning to the galaxy and thus putting a giant target on your back," Atris confessed. "I mean, I never actually expected you to come back and I wasn't even sure that you were even still alive but the point still stands."

That rocked the Exile for a moment. "That…why in the world would you do that? I mean Katarr, not me. If you really never expected me to come back then I was in no danger from you telling people that I existed."

"They were both done for the same reason," Atris responded. "I needed to draw the Sith out in order to deal with them. Unfortunately, Katarr snuffed out without anyone being any closer to finding out what had happened or who had done it and that was the final straw for the Jedi. The survivors all went their separate ways and have been picked off one by one over the years by either this Sith threat or opportunistic bounty hunter scum."

"I think that…while your actions were very, very wrong and certainly didn't help matters, if this Sith threat can track Jedi through the Force and kill them en masse then the people on Katarr would have died without your interference," the Exile said carefully. "Their deaths aren't all on you."

"It doesn't even matter because I was willing to sacrifice them and then you and I don't know how much else," Atris said bitterly. "I am a Sith, Exile, just accept it."

"I never accept that sort of thing," the Exile declared. "You should remember that, Atris."

"Then I shall simply have to make you," Atris said, her voice oddly devoid of emotion. She ignited her lightsaber.

The Exile stared uncomprehendingly at it for a moment. "Is that…my lightsaber?"

"It hasn't been yours in years," Atris scoffed. "And it certainly doesn't suit you anymore."

"Maybe but just the same I'm rather attached to it and would really like it back," the Exile said, igniting her own lightsaber. "And why are you even using mine in the first place?"

"To remind me of your betrayal," Atris hissed before swinging said lightsaber at the Exile's head.

"Weren't you the one who thinks you betrayed everything?" the Exile wondered, neatly blocking the attack and launching one of her own.

Both of their blades were doubles but Atris' stolen lightsaber was a brilliant cyan while the Exile's was a vibrant purple. Atris' own lightsaber had been a single-blade and she had never had much opportunity to use it in her role as Jedi historian while these past few months had sometimes seemed to be one constant lightsaber battle for the Exile and it was clear from the beginning which one of them would be the victor.

Still, Atris put up a valiant effort before she finally fell to her knees, defeated and breathing hard. She switched off her lightsaber and threw it vaguely in the direction of the Exile.

"Fine, take it then," she spat. "For all the good attempting to reclaim the past will do you."

"I'm not trying to reclaim the past," the Exile corrected gently as she reached out a hand to catch it. "I just don't want to forget."

"What will you do with me?" Atris asked, not looking at her. "Are you going to kill me?"

"A Jedi does not kill her prisoners, no matter what their crimes," the Exile recited. "And honestly, I'm not particularly sold on yours."

"Am I your prisoner now?" Atris asked idly.

"You did surrender your weapon to me," the Exile said reasonably.

"Then what is your plan? I am a Sith, you know, and you can't just let me leave," Atris told her.

"That's debatable," the Exile said dryly. "But I think that I-"

The Exile was interrupted by loud hissing from the holocrons.

She winced. "Can you turn that off?"

"Sorry," Atris said, making no move to silence or even quiet the holocrons. "They disapprove of all this talk of redemption."

The Exile blinked. "I never said anything about redemption."

"Perhaps not," Atris allowed. "But everyone knows you were about to."

"True," the Exile conceded. "Still, Atris holocrons are just recordings. They can't possibly object to or approve of anything going on now even if the person recording them would have because they aren't sentient."

Atris got a far away look on her face. "I rather think they are."

"See, I'm betting that's part of your problem," the Exile said triumphantly. "You've been cooped up here for so very long with no one but your disturbing Echani clones and all these holocrons you never stop listening to and no wonder you went a little crazy!"

"I'm not crazy," Atris said furiously.

"No, just a Sith. My mistake," the Exile said sarcastically.

"If you're not going to kill me, what will you do?" Atris asked again.

"I…don't know. I really don't," the Exile admitted. "And frankly, I don't have the time to figure this out right now. Telos is under attack, after all. Probably. I'm actually not quite sure why I think that."

"Oh, it is. I told the Sith that you were going to be here." As an afterthought, Atris added, "Sorry."

"Well that's that then, I guess," the Exile said, shrugging. "You've got to stop doning that. But in the meantime, I really need to go deal with that. It would be horrible if I couldn't save Telos no matter what but not being able to save it while I'm on the planet is just inexcusable."

"So you're just putting me off?" Atris demanded indignantly.

"I'm sorry but yes," the Exile said apologetically. "Someone will come back and get you the minute that things have settled down again and it can't be more than a few weeks, tops. Just stay here and try not to go any crazier since now you're still surrounded by Sith holocrons – seriously, maybe you could turn those off? – and the corpses of your Handmaidens."

"I could make an effort," Atris said grudgingly. "You should probably also be aware that Kreia is off on Malachor V threatening to murder herself and thus you if you don't come to her."

The Exile sighed. "That's inconvenient. I hope she'll give me enough time to save Telos and get there before killing herself. I'll survive, of course, but I really don't want to have her die when there's a chance that I could talk her down."

"If she truly has a Force bond with you I'm sure she'll be able to tell whether you're coming or not," Atris assured her.

"That's good," the Exile said, relieved.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I guess I'll just-"

"I'm sorry I called you a Sith," Atris interrupted. "I suppose that I always knew it wasn't true. I mean, virtually anyone else in the entire galaxy might be one but not you."

"But if you always knew that then why did you accuse me of being one?" The Exile didn't get it.

Atris shrugged. "I think that I might have been projecting. I wished that I could have gone off to war and defended the galaxy as you did but I missed my chance and so I needed to convince myself that it was the wrong one. And also, I'm in love with you."

The Exile got a deer in the headlights look. "What does this keep happening?"

"I think I always have," Atris continued obliviously.

"I'm really really sorry but Atton told me first," the Exile said quickly, before turning and practically running out of the room. "We'll come back for you!"

Brianna was, as she had promised, still lying on the floor when the Exile returned.

"Um…you can get up now," the Exile told her.

Brianna nodded and climbed to her feet. "Is Atris dead?"

The Exile shook her head. "She submitted herself to my judgment and I didn't have any ideas and we're kind of in a hurry so I told her that I – or someone else, maybe – would be back later to deal with her."

"Pity," Brianna said coolly.

The Exile frowned at her. "Okay, first murdering all of your half-sisters and now this. What is with you today?"

Brianna shrugged. "Did you know that Kreia is my mother?"

The Exile's eyes widened in shock. "What? She is? I mean, um, remember that being a Sith is not genetic so do not feel like her unfortunate life choices have to dictate your life choices."

"Oh, I won't," Brianna assured her. "I'm just feeling weird and liberated and just a little bit sick. I had missed my home but things are just so different outside of Atris' domain. I started having flashbacks the minute I got close and my sisters, predictably, weren't helping matters."

The Exile was growing more concerned by the minute. "We should probably get you out of here."

She began to walk back to the ship and Brianna fell into step beside her.

"What are you going to tell the others?"

The Exile hesitated, torn between her desire to be honest and her desire to protect her friend.

"Nothing," she finally settled on.

"Nothing?" Brianna repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing unless they ask and they won't," the Exile said, sounding more confident of her decision.

Brianna bowed her head. "If that's what you feel is best. I don't think I turned into a Sith but it's kind of hard to notice sometimes," she admitted.

The Exile threw back her head and groaned. "Oh, not you, too! I refuse to believe it's possible to be a Sith and to not notice it. You have to do so pretty Sith-y things to qualify."

"Would multiple sororicide count?" Brianna wondered.

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