A/N: I do not own Star Wars or Halo.

Chapter 12: Bad Dreams

Ehren stood in a dark throne room. It had been beautiful, once, before the man in the chair, which was currently turned away from him, had come to power. Fine cloth and tapestries had once ordained the now bare obsidian durasteel. Lavish carpets and rugs had made the bare floor comfortable. It had once been a bright and welcoming room, but now evil had settled in and the only thing of beauty now was the large window overlooking the Coruscant cityscape.

"I see you noticed the makeover," a croaking voice wafted from behind the chair.

"Yes, my master," Ehren acknowledged, hating himself immediately for saying those words.

"So the one who supposedly turned his back on the dark side now finds himself unable to turn his back on the master of it," now the chair turned, revealing the cloaked man sitting in it, a smug look on his grotesque face.

"Only a remembered master," countered Ehren. "Haven't you forgotten? You're dead."

The ghost of Palpatine didn't like that. His already hideous face became even more so with barely contained anger. "Death cannot contain me! Ever since you left me I have been the whispering in your ear. I have been the image you see in the mirror. I have been the source of your power. Without me your nothing!"

Ehren could not help but laugh at the twisted soul of a man who had been stomped so far into the ground that all he could do was be an unpleasant memory.

"Darth Sidious, ever since I left you I have done nothing but GAIN power. It was I, not you, who united the Mandalorians. It was I, not you, who conquered a planet and began a nation. And it was I, not you, who has brought prosperity to that same nation," Ehren said. "You are nothing, you grasp onto false truths in vain hope someone will respect you again. I remember the time I spent as your apprentice as a time of deception and cruelty. I will have nothing to do with you anymore."

The Mandalorian Jedi turned his back on the spectre and made his way to the door.

"If you have truly turned your back on me, why do you use a Sith blade?"

Ehren halted, not turning.

"You still follow the Sith teachings."

He stiffened.

"Yet you say you have turned your back on the night, you have moved on and been reclaimed. You charge me with deluding myself, saying that I'm no more than a bad memory, but you are truly the one lying to yourself. I know that you have no qualms about the lives of those around you as long as you achieve your goal."

"I changed the name of the blade—"

"However the purpose is still the same, that sword has a memory, Darth Emlyn, it knows what it was made for."

Now Ehren turned, his good eye blazing. "Don't, EVER, call me by that name again."

"Why not? It is your name—and it states your purpose, to kill, to kill, and to kill again. Well, at least until you breathe your final breath."

"My purpose is what I chose it to be—"

"You never got a choice," Palpatine said caustically. "First off, you were born a Mandalorian. You were raised to be a warrior, and then a Jedi, and then a Sith. Every single one of those steps required that you learn and do combat. Only when you bowed out from being what you were meant to be, you were given a second to choose whether to return to bounty hunting or to retire and be peaceful. You choose the first because you had always known that life and you were afraid to try any other. You are a coward."

Ehren's face became a mask. An impenetrable silence fell upon the room. The two men stared into each other's eyes. Seconds ticked by as the stare-down continued.

Finally Ehren spoke, "You will come to regret those words."

Palpatine simply smiled, "Undoubtedly so, my apprentice."

"Then if you will excuse me, my allies are waiting, Master."

"Go to them, Darth Emlyn, and may your rage be your foe's bane."

"I will not fail, Master."

"I know you won't."