EDIT: Reposting the epilogue...

Author's notes: This took very, very long, but I decided to skip to the end and write somewhat of an epilogue. This story is hereby over… I'd have to get an idea for a KotOR fic to write a new one. Anyway, here you go, hope you like it!

Cheers!

Arachne

Dark Phoenix 13X – sorry it took so long, here you go!

Ryumasa the Ryuhaitou – Indeed, very rare. Here is the chapter, enjoy!

Samurai Demon-God Sekikage – yes, Deon is one of the in-game Exiles. Well, the romance thing is tough, but there's bits of both in this one.

X X X

Epilogue – The Second Hunt

X X X X

Girl
you lived your life like a sleepin' swan
Your time has come to go deeper
Girl
your final journey has just begun
Your destiny chose the reaper

No fear
Destination darkness
No fear
Destination darkness
No fear

Girl
rain falls down from the northern skies
Like poisoned knives with no mercy
Girl
close your eyes for the one last
Sleepless nights from here to eternity

the Rasmus, No Fear

X X X X

Deon Emory sat aboard the Ebon Hawk, gazing at his lightsaber with only remote interest. His thoughts were far away from the ship, or its destination. The feeling of leaving some important part of him back on Malachor V just didn't vanish, no matter how he tried to convince himself that the galaxy was better off without one psychotic Sith, especially one who wanted to kill the Force itself.

But why didn't he die there with Kreia? If that was even her name… upon remembering that Atris had laughed in his face and gave him a negative answer to that question, he dismissed searching for the true identity of the old woman. Her words, however, were harder to forget. She had lied to them all, told some really disgusting but well-crafted lies to everyone around her. Hell, she had fooled them all.

Anyone with a connection to Revan was valuable to the Exile, however. From what Kreia (or Traya) had told him, Revan left the known galaxy in search of "true Sith". He snorted. If the Sith he had encountered were cheap copies of the true ones, he would rather have the cheap copies. Most of them weren't bright enough to tell one end of the lightsaber from the other.

His thoughts traveled back to Revan. It had been over a decade since he had last encountered her, but he still cherished the memory of probably the most famous war hero of the current age. They were never exactly close – Revan always kept a fine distance from anyone. And now, Deon felt he understood at least a tiny bit why. A plan so thought out, with such wide-spreading effects, detailed to the very end, could have crumbled easily if anyone else knew about it. the illusion of a Sith invasion was a good masquerade for Revan´s real intentions.

He sighed. His knowledge of Revan wasn't as limited as that of the rest of the galaxy. Knowing that she was in fact a female was already treasured knowledge, but seeing her face was a privilege only the highest ranking in the army could boast they had been given. To his luck, he was one of them. the few times he had met Revan left a deeper imprint on his way of thinking and his thoughts than he would have suspected years ago. Often, he found himself thinking where Revan might be… though wandering through the galaxy aimlessly for years, he was aware of the news of her death.

Incomprehensible as it might be to others, the Exile never truly believed it. that hunch proved true when Revan reappeared, even stronger. Though he could not feel the Force anymore, there was always something in his mind that told him that Revan was alive. The news of her return didn't come unexpected. Weeks later, the galaxy was celebrating Malak´s demise. He, Deon, frowned upon that. he had known Malak as a strong warrior (though he thought Revan did well to see to that his tactics were supervised at all times) and, more importantly, a close friend of Revan´s. it had been Kreia, five years later, who cleared things up for him.

After saying that Revan had departed from Trayus Academy long ago, she spoke of how he, Deon, had to leave as well, leaving all loved ones behind him. "It was the choice Revan made… to follow a goal without hesitation, even if it meant the utter sacrifice."

"You mean killing Malak?" the Exile inquired.

The dying Sith frowned, "From a certain point of view. Killing someone so close to her was a very personal sacrifice." The old woman observed him, despite her sightless eyes. "Revan had loved him for a long time, but abandoned personal interests for the sake of others. After the betrayal, she was left with no choice. It was a lesson of strength, of breaking what limits us… and she was never meant for settling down. Revan was born to fight and to win. In the end, I suppose, Malak realized that and made the same sacrifice."

The frown on Deon´s face deepened. The same sacrifice… and now Kreia was asking that same thing of him, to follow Revan… but if he only had a trace, some clue to where she had gone…

"May I join you?" a deep female voice suddenly asked.

Deon looked up sharply, smiled and nodded, moving a bit further up the medical bed he had been sitting on to make some room. Visas sat down next to him, glancing at her lap. "I sense something is troubling you. The encounter with the Sith Lords left you marked… I feel it, and the others surely do as well."

The Exile sighed. "You cannot help me with this, Visas."

"I pledged myself to you." the Miraluka said, ignoring the fact Deon shook his head no – meaning he didn't need and didn't want servants, "I wish to help you on whatever quest you take on. Malachor has been a hard experience for all of us. Tell me what is troubling you."

The human sighed, but said nothing. He felt like under and x-ray when Visas looked at him like that, knowing that the Miralukas saw in a very different way than most other creatures. It didn't help when he felt some curiosity and surprise from her – she had evidently found something strange. He didn't bother blocking her, so he couldn't know what she had seen.

"There is a woman in your mind." Visas said, slightly timidly, "A human. She is very beautiful… but saddened, hardened by many battles." The Exile didn't need any explanations this time. "Who is she?"

"Revan." he noted quietly, without hesitation. It was surprising that Visas wasn't able to tell, but perhaps she was testing if he would be willing to tell her anything.

She chose not to comment, but simply nodded slightly. "I see. And… you wish to follow her?"

Deon sighed. "I must." He proceeded to quickly retell what Kreia had told him back in Trayus Core, but didn't delve into details. Visas was listening carefully, sitting almost without any trace of movement, and the Exile knew she was able to understand his wish not to remember too much of the horrors, and accept that.

She spoke up only when he had finished his narrative. "I will come with you."

"No!" He thought she understood that he was meant to go alone. "I can't take anyone with me – and I don't want to endanger any of you."

Before the Miraluka had a chance to open her mouth to object, the medbay door opened again, revealing another, this time slightly shorter and human, woman, dressed almost completely in green leather. Fiery red hair dropped into her bright eyes and she folded her arms almost immediately.

"As much as I hate to interrupt the newest session of playing doctor, we've found something." the petite bounty hunter noted briskly, but not that snappishly this time. She also went through a lot on Malachor.

"What is it?" Deon quickly asked, getting to his feet.

"Bao-Dur said T3´s acting strangely again – you know, buzzing and beeping at the wrong time?" Mira rolled her eyes, "Keeps saying something about some kinda mission, not sure what it means… Brianna was just saying something about Atris searching for something in the droid. Anyway, we found some old holo there, but it won't access, ´n´ so they sent me to get you."

The Exile went straight into the main hold, the two women following him closely. It seemed that the whole crew had assembled there, since the ship was currently on autopilot, and everyone was watching Bao-Dur´s attempts to get something done on the astromech droid, T3-M4.

It seemed, however, that no one was willing or able to help him.

HK-47´s red eyes were watching the scene with amusement, but that may have been because he had gotten rid of the malicious G0-T0 droid effectively, Atton was leaning against the wall, Mandalore was sitting in one of the chairs, almost casually, and Brianna, the last of the five Echani Handmaidens, was conversing with Mical, a Republic agent, both now turned Jedi Knights.

Everyone turned to look at the newly arrived Exile and stopped looking bored or concerned for a moment. Bao-Dur withdrew the hydrospanner and stood up with a sigh. "I can't do more, General." he told Deon, "It keeps requesting some sort of ID or code to access the holo… maybe you'll have more luck."

"I just hope it isn't voice-locked like everything else on this damned heap of junk." Deon muttered as he headed towards the astromech droid. He crouched and looked at the small droid carefully, touching a panel gently. the astromech beeped almost cheerfully, showing no sign of concern.

Surprisingly, though, as if it reacted to the impulse of touch, the droid backed away slightly, then began projecting a life-sized image. Deon dropped unceremoniously to the ground, but picked himself up quite easily, ignoring what seemed to be a snigger from Mandalore´s side of the room.

Everyone else was looking at the holo, however, though it appeared that nobody, with the exception of him and now, Visas, recognized the person. It was a woman, tall and young-looking, with a pale face, finely carved features, sleek golden hair pulled back in a simple fashion and penetrating blue eyes that seemed to have a life of their own. Her clothing, however, they recognized. Every sentient being in the galaxy knew Revan´s preferred choice of clothing.

"This message is intended for the former Jedi Master Arren Kae." The holo-Revan said in a calm, almost soothing voice, with little of any emotion they would have expected to hear in it.

"Your ingenious idea of an escape from the galaxy intrigues me, but do not think that all are so blind to ignore your distinct presence in the galaxy, Arren." Brianna paled distinctly after those words – after all they had been through, the crew knew most of each other's backstories, and the fact that the Handmaiden's mother had been a Jedi killed at Malachor was somewhat common knowledge by now.

"I don't know how long it'll take for T3 to find you, but I need to ask you for one last favor." Revan straightened up even more. "I am leaving known space in search of the true Sith we have discussed when we met last time. It might take me years, but I can only achieve my goals using stealth and secrecy – I am leaving all I have gained thus far behind. But I'm not leaving to be forgotten.

I need you to seek out several specific people, as soon as possible, no matter how long I will be gone. They have each been given instructions before my departure, if you tell them your name and that I have sent you, they will know what to do. I expect them all to be still known throughout the galaxy, thus your search shouldn't be that hard.

The first of these people is Canderous, of the Mandalorian clan Ordo. He might prove harder to find than the others, since I assume he wouldn't want to stay in Republic space. I can only suggest Dxun as a place to start the search – we have discussed that before I left, so there is a chance he might have returned there. If my faith in him was well-placed, and I have no doubt that it was, you should encounter remnants of the clans there… so I would search for Mandalore."

By now, almost everyone was looking at Mandalore, some curious, some surprised that he knew Revan, others frowning. He showed no sign of noticing… then again, it was hard to see what he was thinking, since he wore the mask at all times.

"Second on the list is Carth Onasi, another old acquaintance of mine. While he isn't honor-bound to help, I don't think he has forgotten what I asked of him or the journey we went through together. Knowing him, I would say he has returned to Telos, being a native of that planet. Citadel Station would be a good place to start.

Third is Bastila Shan, of whom you have surely heard, even in your isolation. I don't know how strong the bond between us is, but I made her promise not to follow me… tell her she can break the promise now. I will need the Jedi's help this time, because even I cannot fight an army on my own.

Last of these might prove impossible, but you must try – Deon Emory, one of the former generals of the Mandalorian Wars."

The Exile raised his eyebrows, highly surprised by this.

"You will understand why once you encounter him. What matters is that his presence would aid matters tremendously." Revan paused for a moment, smiling faintly, "I regret that I am unable to speak to you in person, though I much desire to do so. Yet if anyone understands why I must haste, it's you. Take care…" the following word seemed to have some difficulty getting out of her mouth without sounding ironic. "master. And… I am sorry about what happened at Malachor. I hope that one day, you will understand. May the Force Be With You."

The hologram flickered and disappeared after a second, but left behind it probably the loudest silence that the Ebon Hawk had ever heard. Not one crewmember dared speak up, until finally, Atton seemed unable to take it anymore, and glanced at Mandalore.

"So she was talking about you?" he asked, trying hard to sound casual. "I mean, I don't know how many clans there are or how to tell them apart, but she seemed quite certain."

After a moment of silence, Mandalore nodded curtly. "And she had a right to be. She was talking about me. And yeah, I know both Onasi and Shan, so don't bother asking." He said before any sound managed to come out of Atton´s already opened mouth.

Instead, Mira posed a question. "How d´you know them? They're quite big in the Republic, an´ you sound like you're on good terms with both of them."

"On civil terms, I'd say." Mandalore corrected her, "Neither of them are immune to the usual prejudice… but we traveled together, out of necessity. That was way back, during the war with Malak. Revan always had a talent for attracting people she could use, so we were quite a bunch of various races and personalities."

"Amendment: the Master's companions were a group of whining meatbags with psychological issues of various levels." HK-47 jumped in, somewhat gleefully.

T3 beeped reproachfully, but the assassin droid ignored it. Atton looked surprised for a moment. "You're Revan´s? Figures." He added, glancing at HK.

Mandalore seemed to smirk under the helmet. "Yeah, the astromech was bought on Taris so we could get into a Sith base­… the assassin is custom made by Revan personally."

"No wonder someone would want to steal the designs and create their own copies." Bao-Dur interjected, clearly trying to think of someone who would have access to such things.

"Who else was with you?" Deon asked before the crew would start discussing possible thieves.

After a moment of thought, Mandalore answered: "Onasi was with Revan before I joined up, then a Twi´lek kid, Mission Vao, and a Wookiee," Mira winced slightly, "called Zaalbar, me, Shan, the droids, a Cathar Jedi named Juhani and the old Jedi hermit Jolee Bindo."

He shook his head, "I haven't seen most of them in years, so I can only guarantee what you know – Shan and Onasi are big in the Republic, and the droids are here. I'd say the kid and her Wookiee went to Kashyyyk, Zaalbar was some sort of prince there. As for the two Jedi – no idea, they might be dead."

"And what was your task? All I know is that you destroyed some sort of space station and killed Malak." Mandalore briefly explained about their quest for the Star Maps and how they visited several planets.

Another silence followed, this time broken by Brianna. "And… did the droid… did it… find my mother?" she asked quietly, looking at T3. The astromech gave off a series of beeps that were easily translated as a yes. The former Handmaiden paled.

The droid then proceeded to explain the true identity of Kreia, and this time, it was the Exile who paled. As far as he was concerned, most of the people around him didn't understand what the beeping meant, and the droid was pretty quiet, so only he heard. He felt sick, however. So this was why Kreia didn't want her trained… but she wanted her around. for more reasons than he would have anticipated, it seems.

He decided it would be best not to tell anyone of this, but he glanced at Brianna for a moment. Fortunately, she was gazing at the ground, so she didn't notice, but he felt a sudden pity for the Echani warrior then. After having to kill her sisters in self-defense, she didn't deserve to be tortured by the knowledge of who her mother had become.

"We should return to Telos." Mical suddenly suggested, startling everyone, not only because of speaking up, but because he sounded very convinced that it was the right thing to do. "We should return to Citadel and alert the Admiral and Bastila of this matter. After all, Revan wanted that… and I don't think Master Kae managed to get to them, otherwise we would have known."

There was a murmur of agreement in the main hold, since none of them was all too keen to rush into battle straight after the horrors of Malachor. But the Exile knew better. Admiral Onasi had wished him a safe journey for a reason… there was no return for him now. He would have to go search for Revan… even if he would have to go alone.

"No." Deon noted clearly, stepping forward.

"Why not?" Atton asked with a frown. "It's about the only place in the galaxy where we're still welcome, and not because of the gigantic bounty on your head, pal."

"I know… we can stop there for a moment, so you can get to Citadel, but I have to leave."

"Why? Where do you need to go all of a sudden?" Mira asked sharply, frowning deeply at the Exile. Deon opened his mouth to explain, but Visas spared him the effort of reliving the horrors of the last few hours by retelling the tale herself. Suddenly, he was glad he had told someone.

Mira, however, still looked at him as if he had just fallen out of the sky. "You're nuts, D!" she exclaimed when Visas fell silent. "You've just wiped out one pretty festering Sith den – and you're off to look for another one?"

"I promised."

"Hasn't it occurred to you that that old hag might have tricked you again?" Atton joined in the conversation. "She was good at tricking trusting people, you know – falling for the same old trick twice isn't good."

Deon shook his head. "She was telling the truth this time. I just… know."

The five other freshly trained Jedi in the room looked at him with curiosity and some skepticism, but said nothing. It seemed, however, that it was Mandalore who understood his way of thinking best. Almost as if bored, he stood up. "Drop me off at Dxun, will you, Emory? I have a promise to keep."

"What are we supposed to do when you're gone?" Brianna asked in a small voice, and Deon had to turn away, because she seemed utterly grief-stricken. "Where do we go?"

"If Kreia had ever said anything honest, it was that the future depends on you guys. She said you were the Lost Jedi… the true Jedi, who will rebuild the Order."

"So those old Masters we sought out weren't any good? Well, not that they are of any use to us dead, but… they weren't any good alive?" Atton asked, slightly puzzled.

Deon shook his head. "The Order's teachings were flawed in some way. I don't know. But the point is, each of you has seen life outside the dogmas of the Order. You know the galaxy… you see it differently than any Jedi. I suggest you seek out Bastila – she might be able to help you somewhat – as a start. The Order must be rebuilt."

Mira laughed shakily. "The "noble and wise" Jedi Order that has lasted for millennia, to be rebuilt by us?"

"Our pasts are not relevant in this matter." Mical noted, "We know each other, our strengths and weaknesses."

"I think we could do it." Visas added quietly, "It would be a difficult task… but someone has to do it. And… it would give us all a chance for a fresh start." Everyone knew she was referring to her Sith days.

The new Jedi shifted a bit – they were an odd bunch: a bounty hunter, a former Sith assassin turned gambler, a Republic agent, a Sith apprentice, a servant forbidden to become a Jedi, a tech specialist… all introduced to the ways of the Force, one by one, turned Jedi.

Though still slightly skeptical, they agreed. The Jedi would head for Telos and hail the Admiral and Bastila, Mandalore would return to Dxun, and Deon and the droids would head for the unknown.

The journey to the Mandalorian moon was long, and then they had to return somewhat, since Telos was on the other side of the Perlemian Trade Route, since it was a part of the Hydian Way. Before they arrived there, most of the crew had talked with Deon for some time, saying their farewells, wishing good luck and – some for the first time – the traditional Jedi "May the Force Be With You."

Brianna came last – the enmity between her and Visas had lessened somewhat, but she still didn't stick around the Miraluka when she could avoid it. The Exile welcomed her warmly, but was worried about how she would react. Personally, he had no time for any kind of romance on his journey, and was aware that the Handmaiden held an admiring affection for him, as did Visas. Mira had told enough hints about him hooking up a power coupling with either of them, though they were untrue.

Contrary to what he thought she would say, however, she didn't try to talk him out of it, only wished him good luck, like the others. "I will take up my former mistress´ role, and study the history of the Jedi." she told him, smiling a bit sadly, "We must learn from the past if we are to better the Jedi Order… and I will make sure no one forgets about the tales of the Jedi, or about you."

"You and Mical seem to be getting along pretty well now – you could team up, if you want to go further with this task." Deon suggested. Brianna had been suspicious of Mical – like pretty much everyone had been of each other – but they became quite good friends, since their interests were similar.

The Handmaiden nodded, "Yes, I have spoken to him about this. He knows a lot about Jedi – far more than I – but he didn't know some things about the holocrons I have told him." She then said that they might go down to the Polar Academy later, to see if they could find something. She didn't mention Atris at all, but it was clear that the memory of Atris attacking her in a jealous rage was still fresh. Somehow, Deon felt calmer to know Mical would go with her.

She didn't speak of her feelings, but decided to ignore formalities for a moment – after all, after dueling in their undergarments several times, it wasn't that embarrassing – and chose to embrace Deon for a moment before leaving, looking much more at peace with herself than before.

Once on Telos, the Exile chose not to leave the ship. He knew that they would ask him to stay… but he had a task ahead of him. With a final goodbye, he left his friends behind and left for the Unknown Regions, though he had only a vague idea of where to search.

"This has to top even the Star Map search, huh, T3?" he asked the astromech droid from the pilot seat. The T3 unit beeped chirpily.

The Ebon Hawk soared through the starry sky for a moment until it disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the planet, the station, and all else behind. No one knew, however, that from the planet surface, a pair of somehow warmer ice blue eyes was watching the vessel.

"Safe journey… Deon…" After speaking the name at long last after years, with a soft swishing of white robes, the figure retreated back into the ice academy, no longer so cool at heart.