A/N: Whoa! This one came out pretty fast, eh?
Chapter nineteen:
Pain, breathtaking, suffering
stop.
What the hell...?
Hello, apprentice...
Master? You are alive?
Indeed. As are you... this is a welcome turn of events...
Where are you?
I am nowhere.
... I see.
I am surprised that you are well.
I am not.
Then you are alive. I was concerned that you had succumbed to Queen Shegorad's inquisition.
My lord?
You are of no use to me dead, apprentice.
Of course, master. You are unhurt?
This was all just a game...
Yes.
Then you will return to the city?
He knew.
Reveal to me your location, and I shall retrieve you as well.
This is not wise, my lord.
You have no dominance over my decisions, apprentice.
He knew all along.
I do.
He knew the truth.
Are you challenging my authority?
And he lied.
I am not returning to the city. I am not returning to your ideals. I have my own now.
Your ideals are simplistic, and childish. You are not worth the energy it would take to destroy!
But I am worth the price of freedom.
You have been corrupted!
Corrupted by myself?! It is you who is corrupted!
You... You are among the enemy... They have splintered your mind! They want to destroy you when you give yourself to them!!!
Splintered... No. If anything, I have been repaired!
By the Jedi... you are a weak-minded fool. How many broken promises have they made? How many will they make before you realize this?
They care for me.
No, apprentice... I have cared for you. Care is the only thing that I have ever shown you. They are deceivers. They will lure you to their circle like a lamprey to the minnow, and they will kill you.
Care...? Care by making my whole life a lie?! By tearing out every memory I ever had, and replacing them with falsities?! YOU ARE A LIAR!!!
Because if you had known the truth, you would have killed yourself. I did not tear out your memories. They were always there. Did you not realize this as they were piqued by the images you witnessed on Gattaca? Is this not care?
You destroyed me. You broke me, and falsified my very existence!
If only to make you stronger, my apprentice. If I had not, would you have survived a night on Gattaca? Would you have withstood Shegorad's wrath? Is this not care as well?
You... you forced me to kill innocent children! You forced me to kill those who did not deserve to die!
The spawn of the enemy. If you had not killed them, they would have grown in but a few years to young men, and do you think that they would have wasted a second to kill you?
You forced me to commit heinous crimes that even lords of the artdared not speak of...
But without reason?
I... Anamaria... cares for me...
But for how long? Did she not just allow you to rot in your prison cell? Was it not you who saved her? Did she not abandon you to wallow in her own emotions while the oaf Jedi friend of hers nearly killed you? Her care is merely an act. She will destroy you in the end.
No...
I am the only one who will ever truly care for you.
Return to your real home with me, my apprentice. Come with me, and I shall always know you as my own son.
Your... son...?
On this quiet, misty morning
Have I not always? You are the son I never had. Come home with me.
When the moon lays down her head
Home...?
As the sparrows start their singing
Home. We are our own family. We have always been.
Family...?
I'll be homeward bound again...
Home.
Family.
Ana...
NOOOOO!!!!!
Apprentice?!
LIAR!!! YOU BASTARD!!!! HOW DARE YOU DECEIVE ME IN SUCH A WAY!!!
Fool! You are worthless!
LIKE HELL I AM!!!! I WILL NEVER BE WHO YOU ARE!!!! YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ME!!!
So you finally see...
I resign from my title as your apprentice...
Your eyes...
What...?
You have told me many a tale with those eyes... I should very well enjoy having them...
You're mad...
Am I?
You will profit from nothing upon me!
Oh yes I will!!!
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!
HAHAHAHA!!! WE'LL SEE HOW YOU FARE WITHOUT YOUR GREATEST WEAPON!!!
The pain...
SUFFER IN HELL, DARTH KALASKEIN!!!
The laughter...
Help me...
A/N: Okay, REALLY sloppy one right here. I hope no one's confused. They were talking telepathically, hence the blackout in the previous chapter.Some questions will be answered in the next installment, but we'll just wait. A lot of you may think that the argument between Sidious and Maul was not very convincing, but let's remember that pookie-wookie sith has rarely experienced any emotion besides apathy, anger, and angst. Hehe... alliteration... yummy... ANYWAY, though I realize Sidious is completely out of character, and my writing skills aren't worth the price of the bullets it would take to shoot them, I have tried my best to capture this lovely moment within the three hours it took to write it.