Seven Months after Naboo...
Cutting the bike off a short walk to the cave, he approached cautiously. He had not seen nor felt her in the time since their last encounter. While he hoped this meeting would have the pleasant results Naboo had, and he knew there wasn't a dark cell in Fay's body, he had no doubt she had some friends willing to get their hands dirty if they knew she was meeting him in the middle of the war. He felt nothing amiss as he entered the mouth of the cave, and he saw Fay facing away from him in the back cleaning up a dish.
The cave was set up much like the small hut he had convelessed in at their first meeting. She had been there some time, perhaps even since their first meeting. "Hello, young man." Fay said putting her dish away and turning to him with a small smile. "Ooooh black robes, in the desert? That has to be a big downfall to the whole dark side of the force. Uncomfortable colors overly hot climates."
Palpatine smirked, "I wore it just for you, Fay." he approached her, fingering his lightsaber beneath his heavy robe, in case she attacked him. "Did you bring me to Jakku in the middle of the war for lively banter?"
When Fay turned and he saw her stomach was swollen with child. Unlike the women in the past who lied and claimed they were carrying his heir, he knew without her saying that the child in her womb was his. The look on his face must have betrayed his thoughts and she spoke, "He will not be a rival, Sheev. He is not Force sensitive." She took his hand and placed it on her stomach, "Search your feelings."
He closed his eyes, she was correct. It skipped generations from time to time, even so the child or the child's child may prove to be of some use later.
"I thought you deserved to know."
"It gives me a perverse pleasure to see such goodness and purity swollen with my seed." He said caressing her stomach. Seeing her, and feeling the Force lick at him through her roused desire from him causing him to soften slightly, "It irritates me that you aren't at my side at all times." he said moving closer to her.
"Next time get a more competent apprentice to abduct me."
He smiled, "Oh, I'm working on that." He bent and kissed her neck, "Just as you worked on putting down the coup on Ithor I planned, among other things."
"I did do that."
"I knew it. I should imprison you." he growled, pressing himself against her, rumbling when her body relaxed into his.
"You could try." She said opening her neck to him.
"What's stopping me from killing you?" He growled as he picked her up.
"You need me, you want me, and you find it satisfying that I love you." She wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I would have been angry about being brought here today, were it not for that need and want." He laid her down on her bed and stood straight to begin stripping off his black robes. "You warned me things would change, you did not tell me that every lover I try to take repulses me." He paused undoing his buttons, "Is that your lightside force trickery?"
"Not at all, it's that you have finally developed a discerning palate."
"It's damned inconvenient, Fay. You won't take your place at my side, and yet here we are."
"You should think it perfect, it seems to anger you and as a Sith don't you use anger as power?"
He took off his shirt and climbed on top of her, "I also use that anger to get what I want."
"That won't work with me." She ran her hands up his chest to his face.
The adoration he saw in her silver eyes, no matter how incomprehensible it was, silenced him for now. He would sate his hunger and then later discuss the finer points of his will.
111
He stayed with her five days, and when he left Fay left on her ship, her heading would take her to some scrap dealers who she had befriended generations ago. She had saved their forefather's lives when she was much younger and they had passed the story down through their generations. They were good and noble people, just the kind that she would want to help raise the son in her womb.
Absently, she touched her stomach. She felt the miracle of life blossoming in her body. A small content smile spread over her face. She would leave a child to the universe, and from that line would come a great warrior of the Force that could do what she and the father could not-be balance.
With this conception, she also knew her time in the physical realm was drawing to a close. With the new beginning growing inside her it meant she must die. That was the nature of the Force and the beginning of balance, but it did not mean her end-she knew that-just a change in form. She was ready, but now she had to prepare for her son's future. For the first time in her long life, time was now short, but as it had always been the Force guided her.
111
It had only taken a dozen months after his second encounter with Fay to realize what price he still paid. He had taken all of his concubines and lovers to bed in turn, an act that usually empowered him, but found that it all left him in want. The hollowness of their power grabbing sycophantish touch only managed to bore him at worst and enrage him at best. They no longer proved to be satisfactory in the way they used to be so he focused his energies on manipulating the clone war until something grew within him that even that was not enough. His restlessness demanded him to see Fay again.
He threw everyone out of his chamber, and went into meditation. Reaching out with the Force he pulled at the strings like a spider coaxing a fly into it's web calling for Fay across space.
Palpatine felt Fay accept him and the meditation became a vision. He could not see where she was, but she was as clear as if she were in the room with him. "What good is it to have this bond we share without you at my side." he hissed out, not hiding his irritation.
She smiled, "And yet, here I am, young man. Together and never truly parted."
He threaded his fingers through her hair, pulling her close to him by the head-firmly but not to harm her, "I could force you to be at my side, Fay."
She kissed his long slender nose, "You could not. We've been through this before. If you could, it would have already happened." With a sigh she touched his face, "We will not see each other, in this flesh, again. I have but a few short years left in my life. A measure you and your apprentice have devised will cease my physical existence." Sliding into him she smiled, "That said, in a way, I will be, as you wish I was now, always at your side.
Palpatine frowned, "Tell me what kills you, Fay, and how you can be with me when you're dead." He wanted to know this immortality secret.
"It cannot be stopped now, unless of course you renounce your power, and turn to the light or submit yourself as you are to the will of the Force." she wrapped her arms around him, "And we both know that won't happen." She held him against her, allowing him to feel the joy and peace she had in her heart, "I do love you, Sheev, as only the sun can love the moon, or life love the release of death. Let me tell you a secret…" she whispered pulling back to look him full in the face, "As many evil things as you have done, as many lives are lost to your plans...nothing ever truly dies, nothing is ever truly lost." she kissed him softly as she pulled away from the vision, "Not even you. Goodbye, my love. Until we meet again."
Palpatine opened his eyes, the normal blue color replaced by the Sith yellow. Anger and hate filled his heart that he could not control her, control death, change the winds of destiny to his whim. The only solution was to gain more power, and keep gaining more power until life and the force bended to his will and his will alone.
111
Near the end of the clone war….
Fay looked at her son playing with the other children of the scrap traders. "Bon-boto," she said turning to her friend and handing him a thick volume, "This is for my son. Read it to him every night until he can read it for himself. It will give him all the rest of the instructions and guidance I cannot."
"Has the time come you spoke of when you joined us?" Bon-boto asked looking down at the ground to hide his welling tears.
"It has my old and dear friend." She placed her hand on his shoulder, "I must speak with my son and then depart as the Force will it." Moving to her son she beckoned him over. He ran and jumped into her arms, squeezing her tight, "Momma!" Fay held him close kissing his cheek. "Do you know how much I love you?" He nodded, "Wif all da light in da galaxy."
"Exactly." She smoothed out his reddish blond hair and lifted his chin to look into his blue eyes, "Do you remember what I have said about there coming a time when Bon-boto would take you and raise you as his own?"
The little boy nodded that he did, "Is that time now, momma?"
"Yes, little one. I have left you a book that he will read to you until you can read it yourself. I will always be near you, so you must not give in to fear or anger." She brushed back his hair again.
"Will my father come to find me, Momma, as you said?" He said wide eyed, trying to be brave.
"Yes, but he will not harm you." she said kissing his forehead, "Go and play, my son. Have a good life, and remember I will never be far from you."
"I love you too, Momma. Be one wif da Force." he gave fay a sloppy little boy kiss on the cheek and did as he was told, returning to the games the other children were still playing.
Fay turned away from the scene quickly. The Force had asked much of her in her long life, but nothing so hard as what she did now. She had faced armies to bring peace without a single weapon and she would rather do that a thousand times again than to leave behind her son. Yet, in obedience, she found herself moving to her ship knowing only two things. She knew that she would die and that her sacrifice would save millions of lives, now and in the future. Fay would not change that, not even for the love of her son. It was her final gift to the Force and the final lesson her flesh needed to learn, to love with all that you are but to hold onto nothing.
111
Fay approached the Jedi huddled together on the volcanic planet of Quetya. Some of the Masters she had encountered on her travels, as they were more nomadic than the ones who strictly served the council. "Masters." she said as she approached. They turned to her, the youngest of them, the one who appeared to be leading openly gasped and took a knee, "Master Fay, my master Qui Gon spoke of you."
"Stand, young Master, and tell me why the Force has drawn me here." She nodded in greeting to the other masters.
"I am Obi-wan Kenobi, Master Fay." He said introducing himself, and then went on to explain that the separistist army had developed a chemical weapon that would kill millions, if they did not obtain the antidote in the factory.
Fay looked at him as he explained the problem and the plan to infiltrate the chemical factory to find the antidote. Another Master, Ven'nari, openly berated Kenobi for not arriving earlier to the planet. "We are wasting time, and I am needed elsewhere! Let us make haste!" The Bothan Jedi growled and moved away from the group to prepare their attack.
Fay saw the pain in Kenobi's eyes, the depth of the losses he had already endured. He was nearly hopeless. She approached him with a gentle smile, and placed her hand on his forehead, "Be at peace young master." She whispered, giving of herself to fill him with hope and energy. He had a long journey ahead of him, and a lot of life yet to endure, she hoped her gift would give him the strength he needed to complete his life's mission. "I will be at your side, Master Kenobi, lead on."
Lava exploded in a cascade to the left of them, and the other Masters moved toward the ancient bounty hunter causing the chaos. Fay threw up a shield around Kenobi and herself, "Press on, Master Kenobi, the others will deal with him." she reached out with the Force, "There is another here, one who is trying to escape under the distraction of the bounty hunter." She motioned for Kenobi to follow her deeper into the factory.
Kenobi frowned, "There are no battle droids."
"You sound disappointed." Fay said with a smile.
"I won't get to show off my skill in front of you, Master Fay."
Fay laughed, "I think you'll have ample opportunity."
Just then an explosion rocked the factory, and Fay felt the other Jedi one, by one, fall. She pointed out Ventress, "She's escaping with the antidote."
"What can we do?"
"This." Fay reached out her hands and metal scraps raised from the ground flying at Ventress, knocking her to the ground and dragging her back to them.
Ventress saw the woman that dared pull her back and focused her force around the blond's heart, attempting to crush it.
Fay sighed, "You are no Jedi, girl. You are bile and anger stitched together with hate. But not even you are beyond redemption." She cleared Ventress's mind of all the pain in her life and filled her with the hope of the light. Ventress screamed and then fainted. "Gather the antidote, Master Kenobi."
"What did you do?" Kenobi asked running to gather the pack.
"I gave her...hope."
Another explosion sent Obi-won hurdling backward, and turned Fay's attention to the bounty hunter, Durge. She squeezed her hand, bending the metal that surrounded his gigantic body, freezing him in place, but the time it took to stop him gave Ventress an opening. Lighting both of her sabers she impaled Fay to the hilt into her chest, "I will have your heart one way or another." Turning her sabers off she let Fay fall to the ground and walked over to where Obi-won was hanging by his fingers over a river of lava. "Next time, Kenobi, I will kill you against my master's orders or not." She kicked dirt into Kenobi's face as she turned to leave.
Obi-won was hanging on by one hand and gripped the antidote in the other. He was losing strength. He was either going to lose the antidote or die, or perhaps both. Closing his eyes and tried to figure some way out of this with both his life and the antidote. Just then he felt Fay's presence above him, "I have you." She said and grabbed his arm and shirt dragging him up and away from the lava. The ground sunk in that moment, leaving them both trapped.
"You cannot make the jump to safety with the pack." Fay said gauging his remaining strength and the Force required to make the giant leap. She turned to him and smiled, "But with my strength, you can."
"Master Fay, NO!" Kenobi cried out, seeing that her chest wounds were already healing, that she could make it, but then she touched him. For one beautiful moment, Obi-won Kenobi felt the true power of the lightside of the Force. For a split second, he knew all the hidden things and saw the universe in perfect harmony.
"Too late, it's already...done." She laid back on the rock ground, closed her eyes, "At last, at last, I rejoin our brothers and sisters."
Kenobi stood, shouldering the pack, and picking up the fallen Fay. Barely needing to flex his legs he leapt to the high ground and then ran for his ship. He was the only Jedi to live, and Fay's sacrifice already haunted him.
888
Palpatine was eating at a state dinner making casual conversation with Senator Amidalla, about the trade embargos proposed against a neutral planet they had discovered aiding seperatist interests. Taking a sip of his wine, he suddenly choked violently spraying the wine and blood running from his nose onto the table before him. He stood abruptly, but fell back into his chair.
Senator Amidalla and a guard rushed to his aid, "Chancellor." Amidalla called out to him, taking her napkin and wiping away the wine and blood, "Someone get a medical droid." she pleaded as she shook him gently, calling out to him.
A medical droid and team entered, lifting the unconscious chancellor into a medical pod ushering him out with great haste.
888
Kenobi had given his report to the council, who tried to assuage him that because of her sacrifice millions would live. It happened as she would have wanted. Still, Kenobi felt the better Jedi to have lived would have been Master Fay. He went to the temple, where she was laying in state before the funeral, to say his goodbye. At the gate of the temple he saw Chancellor Palpatine. "Chancellor?"
"Ah, Master Kenobi." He said, in the best faux cheerful way he could manage.
"I was told you were at the medical center."
He nodded, "I was, a dreadful assassination attempt. Poison." he lied, it wasn't poison at all. The truth was Fay's death had struck him through the Force, " When I heard that Master Fay had died, I wished to pay respects."
The memory came to Kenobi that the first time he met the chancellor had been on a mission to rescue him from a planet where Master Fay had saved his life. "Of course, but the temple will not open to the public until the funeral tomorrow at nightfall."
"I know, I was just hopeful to be able to say a private goodbye. Without her, I'd have died." He gave Kenobi an almost pitiful look.
"Come, follow me." Kenobi wasn't above bending the rules, just a little, and for this he could think of no reason not to grant the chancellor this kindness.
"Oh thank you, Master Kenobi." Palpatine said following him. "What happened?"
"She saved my life twice. In doing so, she lost focus on Ventress, who she had pinned down and unconscious. Ventress came to and impaled her on her lightsaber blades." Kenobi paused trying not to get emotional.
"That's when she was killed?"
Obi-won scoffed, "No, Chancellor, she survived that, and would have recovered. By the time she got to my position I saw that her wounds were healing. We were stuck at the bottom of a large chasm, surrounded by lava. The only way to get to safety was to make a jump, one I wasn't strong enough to make on my own with the antidote pack. I begged her not to do it, Chancellor, but she surrendered all of the strength she had so I could make it out." His normally smooth voice cracked, "She died so millions could live."
Palpatine was frowning, "That was so very much like her." He said, remembering that she has warned him that things of his own creation would be her death. She was not wrong.
"It's my fault Chancellor. Had she not gotten distracted by saving me from the bounty hunter, Ventress wouldn't have stabbed her in the back. Had I not fallen, we'd both have made the jump."
"There, there my boy." Palpatine, said thinly, trying to find a way to manipulate this to his advantage, but seeing her body laying in state on the altar even he couldn't do anything but go silent. "May I have, just a few minutes?
"Of course, I will be just outside." Kenobi avoided looking at her body and bowed out of the room.
Palpatine walked over and stood beside her prone form. Even in death, she looked vital and alive. He could see where she had been stabbed, and also where the stab wounds were healing. She had the secrets of life.
"Don't tell me YOU are grieving me, young man." a voice from the other side of the room spoke.
Palpatine stepped backward, unable to hide his shock. "Fay…"
A white light took form before him, translucent but very much her, "Of course. I do think I told you that I'd be with you always." she reached out her hand touching his face and he jumped back.
"How can this be?"
She smiled looking at her body which vanished as she did.
"Master Kenobi!" Palpatine cried out, "Her body has vanished!"
Kenobi entered with Yoda who spoke first, "One with the Force she has become. Powerful and old she was. A sign it is, when vanish the body does. More powerful now she is." He giggled strangely, "Her destiny complete it was. Saved millions she has." he nodded and continued on his way through the funeral court.
Kenobi followed Yoda leaving palpatine alone with the pile of clothes on the altar. He looked down and saw the button on a string laying where it would have been on her neck. Snatching it up he stalked out of the temple to his private car. Tapping on his communication the holoimage of Dooku appeared before him.
"Yes, my master," Dooku said on bended knee.
"I want you to kill Ventress."
"Master?" Dooku said daring to look up, "But she has become a useful tool."
"Yes, a little too powerful as well. Do you dare question my order?"
He bowed his head, "No, Master, y-your will be done."