A dying darkness is confronted with an uneasy ray of light.

Exegol

29 ABY

"Father, it's time to get up." The sleeping hells of dreams returned, not every time he had to be tranquilized to sleep, but enough to make him dread it. Who would be the face this time? He looked and saw an Iridonian with red skin and black tattoos.

It was Maul this time, but he was dead, perhaps finally died, he did not care to sense him after Naboo. He was a tool, he was expendable, he served his purpose and then became a threat. 'Wasn't that the point, you raised him and he became a true Sith after all when he opposed you. He was no longer loyal like some domesticated animal but ambitious like a true sentient.' He hated these thoughts, and did not understand why they had to come to him after Endor.

"No, stop this!" The man shouted out, but no one seemed to hear him, and his body kept moving. He and his 'son' began to move down an ornate and familiar hallway. A body that died twenty five years ago began to move down hall he wished at times were either truly alien or perhaps still existed depending on his mood. He was led into a grand ornate hallway with a door with a familiar scarlet crest of animals making a trinity. A Veermok standing proudly resenting solitary fierceness was on the lef, an Aiwha to symbolize majesty was on the right, and a Zalaaca to symbolize strength and steadfast loyalty was placed in the top center. These felt like mockery, but what is mockery from one's own mind. [1]

The doors opened themselves to reveal more ghosts, they were dead. He killed them so long ago, he was only seventeen then. But here they were drinking Alderaanian wine, he could recall the smell, the taste, and even those times he had snuck some with them when he shouldn't have. Now that he thought of Alderaan, perhaps Tarkin was a fool for not recognizing fear could only get you so far, perhaps so was he.

"Son, how are you, and what about my dear grandchildren?" The voice felt unnatural, not from any Force perception, but it was a warm tone that almost alien to man who was his father, except for that one time they went hunting. They hated each other otherwise. Was this some cruel joke his mind was playing on him, to show him pasts that can now never be, that maybe they were better than the present. Although even death was better the present.[2]

"Shut up! this isn't you, I hate you. You always hated me, because I could never be 'obedient'. I was an embarrassment to the family." The man looked into a mirror he saw his features from when he was seventeen so long ago red hair but eyes no longer blue but yellow with rage, his hands covered in blood.

"Father." the voice was different, it wasn't Maul. It was It. 'It is him.' The man could not believe what he was thinking. He looked and saw the figured of a male pre-teen almost sixteen years of age it's eyes were blue as his once were.

"You, The Abomination." He wanted to lose himself in his hatred against it, just as he did with his father.

"Did you always hate me because I was an embarrassment to the family?"

"Yes, and because you were disobedient! You dared to betray me like others!"

However it did not flinch. Instead it moved closer, it's eyes glowed yellow and glared at him, but it couldn't use the Force last the man could remember. The man looked back to a mirror and saw instead of his own reflection just his father's.

The man bolted awake, thankful it was over. An attendant came over towards him.

"My Lord, you are awake. Your vitals flared again, was it another dream?" Her eyes, an almost ethereal light blue were familiarly downcast, as they always seem to be when she looked at him. She was an Umbaran, or at least half one but no one could tell at first glance, she had the telltale signs of being Umbaran, a gaunt face and pale skin, but her eyes were different and her hair, while mostly black had occasional hints of a subdued red.

Sympathy and pity were vile things. That she dare-. He stopped himself, considering who she was and who her mother was. The unnaturally aged features of the man only sighed in defeat. He had better things to worry about, he hoped.

"That I am, Mahakal ." He almost swore she smiled at her name escaping his lips, it was his mother's name. Was it a final insult by her mother, that he could never escape his past with all three of them. [3]

"We have good news Ochi from a second trip on Jakku, he has found a survivor and she could be force-sensitive."

"Very well bring her to me." The old man ordered impatiently, as he was lowered onto a throne. It wasn't ornate, he almost came to hate the damned thing. It felt like a cruel irony. Here he was Sheev Cosigna Palpatine, Senator, Supreme Chancellor, Galactic Emperor, Dark Lord of the Sith, and perhaps most important and greatest of all, a failure. [4]

To have so much and be reduced to so little, was that the way of the Sith? Naga Sadow became heir to the Legacy of Marka Ragnos, and he ended up defeated and in hiding on Yavin 4. Darth Vitiate had saved the Sith from near extinction, and yet his Empire faded too. Darth Bane saved the Sith from weakness and equality, and it is through his legacy, through me that we achieved our vengeance not just for Ruusan, Korriban, but for the Dark Jedi Exiles and Corbos. [5]

'I should be proud, but what of it? I had my Empire. And look what I did with it, I grew lazy, bored, and threw it away, not caring for what I would leave behind. Why should I have cared, I would not die so what should have worry about? Did I ever really change from my youth? Now this empire is ashes, or was almost ashes. I suppose I can thank the so-called Warlords selfishness for that.'

Palpatine's chamber doors opened, and Mahakal entered with a young girl with black hair and hazel eyes. She was dressed in dirty rags and had goggles around her neck.

'This is what I am left with, it is no different from every other thing' "What is your name child?" The former emperor rasped out.

"Rey." The girl's voice was unsure, her eyes seemed to dart around.

'Rey, a ray of hope, named Rey?' Palpatine almost felt like throwing up. "I am your grandfather." The emperor's words only seemed to shock the young woman.

"Kark." It was a vile swear word, but it felt so fresh every few people swore here. "What do you want with me?"

"To be my successor."

"What, do you expect me to believe any of this? Like this is some children's story? Some poor girl on some backwater world world actually gets whisked away to her 'kindly' grandfather, on some dark disturbing world." Mahakal seemed mortified, Palpatine felt almost nostalgic, no one argued with him either.

'Of Course, she would be concerned for the girl.' "If this was some fairytale, you would magically end up in a better place. Instead you are here on this miserable rock. You are to be my successor."

"To what?"

'An excellent question, I will not live long. I cannot train her as a Sith. She has the anger, but she is too willful.' Sheev had stopped for a moment, it began as a few chuckles turned quickly into an almost disturbingly gleeful fit of laughter. 'What would that foolish green imp 'Master' Yoda think if he could see this?'

"You are to be an Empress." Palpatine answered after composing himself

"You're the Emperor? The one who did all of those awful things I read about from data banks on Jakku? But he was dead, the Imperials on Jakku fought for Gallus Rax, or at least most of them." [6]

"I had died then I came back."

"Then why didn't you stop him? Or anything else the Empire did?" Palpatine felt a growing annoyance at the girl's questioning.

He could not kill her or torture her, because he needed her. She was a ray of light defiant against his darkness, and he had to accept it. 'Perhaps I misjudged the Abomina- Dathan. It seems he was useful after all, she at least had a force of will along with a connection to the Force.' [7]

"Because I had made mistakes. Many mistakes" 'Where to begin, trusting Tarkin, training Vader, becoming a Sith?' Palpatine's thoughts drifted to a gnawing question. "Who raised you?"

"I had to raise myself since I was six." It was short to the point, and bitter

"It explains your appearance, and your manners." The young girl glared at the Emperor, and he almost felt like smiling. "What happened to your parents?" 'All Ochi told me was that they managed to escape his ship on an escape pod, after he suffered a bout of madness. He did hope to interrogate them.' [8]

"They abandoned me, they sold me for drinking money, at least that is what Blob Fi-, Unkar told me. I almost hate them."

"If you were on Jakku this entire time, your parents tried to hide you." He did know not why he seemed so quick to respond.

"From what?"

"Me." Palpatine was plain with no intent to reassure his granddaughter

"Am I supposed to believe they left me with that cruel thug on Jakku to go protect me? And then they either died or went away for nothing!" Rey's anger could be felt by the others.

"Does it truly matter if they are dead?" The wizened old man was still unfazed by the young girls growing anger even as her eyes started to glow yellow. "What would you do if you saw them here and now, kill them? As you seem poised to do now?" Rey froze, her eyes returning back to brown.

"No, no, I." The girl could not finish her sentence, Palpatine noticed the Umbaran place her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why would I want to kill them?"

"If you do not know, then your anger is worthless. Anger can be a tool if used properly, but against against the dead it is of no use." Rey became angry but it more controlled.

"Why could you come back, and not them! Why couldn't you stay dead and they come back." The young girl was almost crying.

"They could not, because are not like us. We can access powers that many would consider unnatural."

"So is this what you want to be?" His granddaughter sharply pointed at him.

"I will not tolerate further insolence." A threatening aura of darkness chilled the other two present, but it quickly receded. "But to answer to your question, no. I was never too good with planning ahead. You are to be my successor, not to be me."

"My Lord, Shall I take her to her chambers?" Mahakal asked hoping to break the tension.

"Very Well."

"I'm keeping my speeder." Palpatine had almost perked up.

"May I see this speeder of yours?" The question shocked both women but they soon left.

They came back with what the former emperor could only generously call a heap of scrap and he was not in a generous mood. His eyes looking on at with a mix of horror and disgust.

"What's wrong with 'my baby'? Should someone of noble blood not ride on a speeder." Her second sentence with exaggerated haughtiness to no else's amusement.

"Does that junker even go past seventy kilometers per hour?" A look of annoyance crossed Rey's face.

"It goes up past four hundred." Palpatine almost felt like gaging at his granddaughter's words.

"What are you some cheap podracer? Not that I like podracers 'vehicle' or rider." Mahakal felt awkwardly out of place, as the emperor's mood soured, not out of anger but annoyed disgust.

"I'm a scavenger and this 'junker' is custom built for speed and to carry salvage." Rey huffed, but soon felt confused remembering her grandfather's other remarks "And what's wrong with podracers?

"What is right with them? A podracer has no respect for a proper vehicle, you should feel the acceleration through your hands from the whole vehicle, not because you separated two fighter engines and put them on a glorified swoop bike. At least that 'thing' is fast, and mostly together. I suppose I would be lucky if I managed to teach you how to survive in your new situation, even I cannot teach the you value of a proper vehicle."

"What happens now?"

"You are to settle down in your new quarters. I will speak with you later, to discuss the future."

Rey walked towards the doors, Mahakal was about to join her.

"Mahakal." The old man's voice was low but sharp.

"Yes, Fa-" She stopped. "My." Palpatine stopped and glared at her.

"Say that word." It didn't matter if it might as well be an empty word.

"Yes, Father."

"What, do you think of her?"

"She must be brave to have survived so long, but I do not know if she is right for all of this, her attitude might not be the best."

"You care for her." Palpatine grumbled. "I hope you have put similar care into your own training."

"Father, I am not a Sith."

"You are not to be one, yet you train yourself as an assassin, and commune with the Force. I've sensed it, you are to help me in training her."

"Can she become a Sith?" The question was more curious than skeptical.

"No. There is not enough time, and you are right, she is not suitable. I wasn't much older than when I met my Master so long ago, but I was under his tutelage for at least two decades." Weariness crossed the old man's face. 'It was almost one hundred years ago, and what of it.'

"Are you to be the last Sith?" Worried eyes betrayed a calm face. However that face soon turned to shock in the face of the Emperor's laughter.

"No, the Legacy of Darth Bane may die with me, but I have achieved the 'Grand Plan'. Palpatine almost wanted to say those last words with a sneer. 'What kind of so-called plan changes from Master to Apprentice?' "And even if I did not, there will always be other Sith, even if they are heretics. Although I would be heretical even to the Sith that came before me. Now, see my granddaughter to her quarters."

Mahakal nodded and returned towards her niece. They left and took that eyesore of a speeder with them.

The day just began, and already Palpatine felt tired, but at least these last days wouldn't feel so directionless.

[1] These are the animals that adorn the Crest of House Palpatine. The symbolism for them is something that I have made up for the Veermok and Aiwha, but not for the Zalaaca.

[2] The Legends Novel Darth Plagueis to me for Palpatine, like Star Wars Bounty Hunter is for Jango Fett, is of a something gospel for me in terms of it being the definitive story of not just Darth Plagueis but who Palpatine is especially before he was a Sith. He was a rebellious adrenaline junkie of elder son from a noble family who had a father he never really got along with, brothers, sisters, and a mother who he was distant from. There may have been only one time he and his father got along, and it have have been with hunting. Also I wanted to re-contextualize that in relationship to his own son from current canon as well, as well as his relationships with Maul and Anakin.

[3] Palpatine's mother's name isn't given, but I wanted to give a named inspired by Hinduism, as was Sheev was based of Shiva. Mahakal in this case is based off Mahakali, Hindu deity of time and death.

[4] I'm reconciling Palpatine's canon name, with a theory raised in Darth Plagueis, about what Palpatine's name could have been. Cosinga is the name of Palpatine's father and I think it was implied to be Legends Palpatine's first name.

[5] This is a generalized history of the Sith in Legends, Corbos is in reference to the Battle of Corbos where the Legends Dark Jedi were defeated and eventually sent into exile, where they eventually conquered the Sith species.

[6] Considering I've kept the Imperial Warlords, but also Jakku, the Battle of Jakku also saw participation by some Warlords at least looking to stop Gallus Rax as well. How Cinder plays out if at all I'm not too settled on yet.

[7] Dathan is the name given for Rey's father's in the Book Shadow of the Sith

[8] I was never really all that big on the whole Force Dyad thing so instead of at least ordering Rey's parent's dead then and there, Palpatine wanted to go interrogate them. Since Wayfinders aren't a thing for this story either Ochi wasn't inflicted with murderous rage, but Rey's parents managed to escape anyway.

I hope I'm not writing up serious heresy here. Especially with a Palpatine that's depressive, and in his own twisted sense of it, has guilt and regret. I'm straight up not going with an Evil Rey here, I actually liked her as the younger, slightly more rugged equivalent to Luke, but just as adventurous. I have wanted to explore her having a dynamic of stubborn granddaughter against stubborn grandfather, who morality aside might as well be from another world, in situation neither are really prepared for. Even the one thing they could bond on, they have different views on. Also I bizarrely enough like the idea Sly Moore/Palpatine ship.

Plot wise Rey, Luke, Palpatine, have their roles to play, and I do want to come back to them. Kylo and Vowrawn I am coming back to next chapter, but they are one bit of a larger whole.