Was it strange to be nervous about meeting someone who should be so well known to me? True, most of my memory was gone, huge swaths of my power and abilities. I wasn't the same person, and we both knew it. That was reason enough to be uneasy.

But I hesitated, pretending to myself that I needed to catch my breath. Malak might be inside already, waiting impatiently. Or he could appear at any moment and come up behind me.

Revan is not indecisive. He takes action without hesitation.

I strode to the door, which slid open at my approach. Malak did not wait within. I sat down on my footlocker, waiting blindly. I couldn't sense him approaching, possibly never would again. Emptiness tried to drag me down. Though I resisted, its pull seemed to grow stronger minute by minute.

Revan is not weak.

I stood, pacing the small chamber. It wasn't much, just another regulation-issue Sith warship living quarters. But it was the closest thing to private we could expect on a ship this size. Closets were monitored, corridors recorded, and with so many people always present on the bridge you could expect a whisper to be propagated throughout the crew by morning.

Where are you, Malak!

The mental shout didn't leave my own mind.

I fought the emptiness, held myself together, but it was no easier.

I paced faster, vibroblades banging against my legs as I strode back and forth. I crossed to where I'd left the datapad, checked the time: Malak was late. I tried not to feel betrayed, tried not to panic, tried to hold steady.

I had to remember, even if I was the last fragment remaining of Revan, I was not all of Revan. I couldn't expect the same level of respect. I couldn't demand the same concessions.

I was powerless, no longer the greatest Jedi and Sith of all time, only a fragment within a shell, a mockery of my former greatness.

The door opened. Malak entered. I spun to face him properly, somehow caught off guard.

His voice is low, grating through his metallic jaw. "You asked to see me."

"Yes. I have decided to take up Revan's legacy. I reject the Republic, I reject Melar Serav, and I seek only to prove myself at your side once again."

"You are not Revan."

"I am all that remains of him. Of everyone in the galaxy, I hold the most right to the name. I will not claim the title Darth, nor Jedi, for those things I am no longer. But the name Revan, that I will reclaim."

"I do not accept it. You are a Republic drone. Even if this is not a lie within a trap, even if you truly have rejected their weak ways and seek to join the true victors, I do not accept your use of his name for yourself. You are not worthy."

"I'm not, but I can be."

Malak laughed. "How? You are such a tiny, empty thing, I can barely sense that you exist within the Force. You've barely the presence of a gizka. How can such a creature as you claim even a fraction of Revan's potential?"

"My mind, my memories. Even without the Force, I can learn to think again as I once did."

"As he did."

"When Revan disconnected himself from everyone and everything within the Force, there was one tie he could not break for he had not created it. The tie to the Jedi Bastila, made with her Battle Meditation. When his ship and body were destroyed that day, the tie was not broken. Not by his disconnecting. Not by his death. His spirit, what survived of it - me - remained tied to her, though she knew it not and he - I - had retreated. Confused and overwhelmed, I waited deep within myself until I awakened as you see me now. Revan no longer in form nor strength. Only in spirit."

"Your spirit is weak."

"Yes. I've never denied it. I'm broken, Malak. Shattered and splintered and torn apart. Broken again and again. That's why I sought you out. That's why I went to such lengths to find you. Because only together can we regain who I once was. Who I'm meant to be. Only with your help can I regain the right to stand proudly at your side."

"I cannot fault your ambitions, at least." Malak sounded skeptical.

I clenched my hands around my vibroblades, wishing for my lightsabers. "I want nothing less. I refuse to accept anything less. If I'm all that remains of Revan, then I'll become as wise and as cunning and as knowledgeable as I possibly can. And if I can never surpass who I once was, so be it. But I won't sit around waiting any longer. Revan didn't become who he was without action. Neither can I."

"Bringing me here is part of that action?"

"Yes. I'm asking you, as one who considers you a friend." I drew my blades, less dramatically than I'd have preferred, with them tangled untidily. But I completed the action smoothly, kneeling and placing the blades, crossed, before Malak's feet. "And I also ask, as one I know you cannot accept as I am. I once taught you. We once crossed the galaxy together in search of its deepest secrets. And now the circle comes to its close. Will you teach me now? Will you allow me to travel with you, talk with you as we once did, and seek the power of the galaxy together?"

I knelt there, steady, waiting.

"A shadow of an echo," Malak said softly. "Madness."

I did not speak. I knew he needed time, he didn't make decisions as quickly as I. He considered, and I didn't look up.

Perhaps there is hope for you yet, even if you are weaker than a gizka.

I started violently, nearly falling over. My heart raced within my artificial chest; I could almost feel it skittering against the metal plating which sheathed it.

Malak?!

And there he was, as though he'd never left. A quiet, deep red thread, tentatively brushing against my soul. I mentally embraced it, welcomed it in, seized it as though to never let it go. I'll never let you go again.

I have missed you, old friend. And yet, I feel as though I mourn you now more than before. His sadness echoed, quiet and subdued like all Malak's gentler emotions, but tangible nonetheless.

This will be harder for you, I agreed. You haven't changed much, apart from growing stronger and more serious. I hope you still know how to laugh.

Malak scowled. I laugh often.

I know. It's not the same.

It wasn't, and he knew it. And I knew he knew it, and he knew that I knew that.

In the same moment, we burst into laughter. And if it was more restrained than in former years, if there was hesitance and uncertainty within it, that did not make it any less true.

I've missed you, I told him, still mentally clinging to our new fledgling bond. But you know that. I've no shields to keep you out, nor anyone, any longer.

As good as. Your mind is foreign and untraceable. Only your emotions and direct thoughts hold any meaning. The rest may as well be source code.

I quieted at that. We both understood that to be true. Neither of us was happy about it, but neither of us could offer a solution.

Not yet. Malak's voice had an iron resolve behind it, a promise as unbreakable as our friendship.

Hope thrilled within me. No one else had discovered the Star Forge. No one else had deciphered the deepest secrets of Korriban. No one else had traversed the Unknown Regions and returned alive and sane.

Not yet, I echoed.

If anyone could find a solution to the unique problem of my stunted existence, it would be us. Revan and Malak. Together, and more than together.

United, as we always ought to have been. And as we would be forever hence.

Author's Note:

This is the final actual chapter of Double Blind. Next month's chapter will be an epilogue to tie up other characters' loose ends, but the main heart of the story was always Revan's attempts to reunite with Malak, and with this he has accomplished that goal. I have considered writing a sequel, Force Blind, which would detail their search for a way to correct his current condition, but things are crazy busy for me irl at the moment so I can't promise it'll happen soon.

I've really enjoyed this alternate version of reality, and I do hope I have the time to return to it soon. Until then, as always, thanks for reading!

P.S. If you have any loose end, character, plotline, etc from this story which you'd particularly like to see wrapped up in the epilogue, drop me a comment. I will be rereading the whole thing to try and catch as many as I can, but don't hesitate to add your input in case I miss anything.