The end of the Clone war….
Darth Sideous had stood, now disfigured to all, proclaiming the Jedi had attempted to kill him which left him deeply scarred. He had crowned himself Emperor and now, standing alone in his private chamber, listened through the Force as the lights were snuffed out, one by one. It was music to him.
"You've only made them more powerful, young man." Fay said softly, appearing behind him in a glow of gentle white.
He rounded on her, his face in full view. She had shown herself to him several times over the course of the war, but rarely spoke until tonight. "Master Fay." he approached her, "Have you come to beg for the lives of your brothers and sisters?"
"No." She said with a soft sad smile, "I've come to be with you in what seems to be your hour of triumph."
His yellow eyes narrowed, "Now you see me as I truly am." he spread his arms out theatrically.
"You always have and always will look the same to me, in my eyes, Sheev." She reached out and touched his face.
When he felt her hand, with the same heat, the same feel of the Force licking at him with desire, but even more power than when she was alive he startled.
"I know you think you've gotten what you want, but I'm afraid you will find you've only created a very elaborate and boring prison for yourself, and death still looms for you...as I believe you once said ages ago."
His jaws clenched, "I thought you'd come to see me in my triumph, Fay."
"A good and devoted mate always does tell her beloved the truth. You aren't used to that, those you keep around you say only what you want to hear. In time, even they will fade out of fear for what you are becoming."
"This is something you never understood, I don't care. I care only for gaining power, and reigning immortal over my empire. They are all just a means to an end, as you would have been had you joined me. As you WERE." he hissed.
"Ah, yes, the book you gave your Master. The one that drove him mad, made him a recluse. His experiments inadvertently created the boy you call apprentice now. You see through a mirror darkly, Sheev." she approached him again, "But if you join me, you will see clearly. If you surrender to the will of the Force."
Sideous laughed, "I have told that lie before."
"I cannot lie, Sheev. Join me, and we both will be as we should. I would not harm you. It is not in my nature." She held out her hand to him, and he refused to take it.
It was then the door of his chamber opened and his protege and lover, Sly entered, "Master," she began, and he looked at her, then back to where Fay had been. She was gone, but her scent lingered in the air like perfume.
888
Just after the first Death Star was destroyed.
Palpatine turned away from the chastised Vader in his throne. Once his apprentice was gone he dismissed everyone else in the room until he was completely alone. He was full of rage and yet looked completely still as he focused the power of his rage into one effort.
"This is a first." Fay said softly from behind him, 'You have called for me."
The dark man stood from his throne and approached her. Reaching out he attempted to touch her cheek, but his hand passed through her. "How is it you can touch me but I cannot touch you."
"You can touch me, if I allow it."
He reached his hand up a second time and touched her face. It was as warm and soft as it had been in life. "What is it like, coming here and being as I see you now?"
"It is disorienting, as you it feels as you are unplugging from pure ecstasy, falling into a specific point in a long string of time, and regaining some sense of self. As before you are one and many, and then you become one in yourself." She answered honestly, leaning into his hand so he felt the lick of silver and white strands of the force pulling at him in want that he should join them.
He listened to her every word, studying her face committing it to memory, "Is there something like this for me, for Sith?"
She shook her head no. "All who do not accept the will of the Force as their own, scatter into the universal Force, never to form as themselves again, but to one day return to the personal force as what we see here as alive. Sith spend their existence bending the Force to their will, and as that is how they live, they can never become one with the Force."
He dropped his hand, and considered her words, "You claim you are bonded to me, and I see enough evidence of this to believe you...so when I die what will happen to you.'
Fay smiled, "That will be up to you and how you choose to die."
"You appear to already know the outcome." He said stalking around her.
"When you are truly one with the Force you exist outside of time, past, present, future...It's all the same to me. Think of how you see visions of the future, only with much greater clarity."
He shook his head, "Then you truly have become more powerful. Why haven't other Jedi ghosts come to claim revenge or change the tide of this existance?"
"As I said, we are one with the will of the Force. If the Force does not will it, then we do not do it. The Force cares nothing for revenge, nor does it see that outcomes require changing. Though, others do reach out to people they have connections with, to aid them in times of need."
"You are here. Being here is the will of the Force?" Palpatine asked once again approaching her.
"Very much so." she said tilting her head, "All these years later and you are finally asking the right questions. When you called to me, I felt your pain and rage. I see the Empire has a loose thread that some are pulling at to unravel the whole. You fear you are losing all you have gained…" She stared directly at him, "And since you have become a recluse, much like your Master before you, other than it being an affront to your ego, you question if it is a bad thing to let go."
His wizened lips pursed, "You know I do not love you." He said looking up into her eyes.
"Of course, you keep people who you need, but I dare say my love of you is what you need."
Palpatine's realization that even for all his power, he was still human frustrated him. He had grown used to her presence in his existence, and even in her current state found a measure of something he did not have words for in knowing she was never far.
She took him in her arms, "All of the people you trusted died and your apprentice fails you, even as he seeks a way to end your life. The cycle of the Sith continues. I told you long ago, that you were creating an elaborate prison for yourself, and so you have."
He closed his eyes basking in the feel of the raw power of the Force through her. It licked at him, pining as it always did when he touched her. "Why have you never been repelled by me? Why do I feel the unbridled desire for me?"
"I have always seen a bigger picture, Sheev. Remember the story I told you long ago. I should not be praised for my purity for I am simply what I am as a tree is what it is. I fought your evil as you fight my good. We are playing our parts so that others may come and fulfill their parts as well."
He had been a fool until now. He had a creature in his arms that could help him, and already had helped him learn about the dynamics of the afterlife and the Force itself, "If I am playing my part, if my darkness is needed then why do I feel the desire of the Force through you to come to submit to it?"
"Because, it does not wish you to be lost, Sheev." She held him tighter, "It is hard to explain, but I have seen other realities. In several, you are a good man, a powerful man, a force for healing in the galaxy. You are emperor and grand master of the Jedi order, and that Jedi order is true. You bring balance."
Palpatine did not hesitate, "If I am as you say am I how do I bring balance without destroying?"
She pulled away, "Evil is easy and cheap. You've been to the bottom of Coruscant, you know how worthless a life is there. If you were struck down today, tomorrow there would be a half dozen warlords taking your place, fighting for control. The cycle would continue. There will always be darkness, always be people trying to bend things to their very specific will, just as you have."
He listened intently to her words, she made some valid points. Not that he planned on changing his path, but he saw more clearly than before his place in this universal struggle. "In this other universe, do you love me?" It seemed like a sentimental question on the surface, but he had a much deeper reasoning for asking.
"In the other universe, you love me and I am your adversary."
"I would like to see this universe." he said hinting that she might show him this.
Fay laughed, "You'd want to bring the other me back with you, and then we would fight to the death. The ancient Sith Darth Bane knew this, he saw that more than two of you could not focus on a common goal without stepping on each other's throats. In truth, more than one of you cannot do that. You waited until your master was at a weakness and killed him, even as your apprentice does the same." She closed her eyes, "One day, if you have the courage to submit to the Force, you will know all and see all. Until then, you must live here and now."
He returned to his throne to sit and contemplate the new knowledge, absently he said, "Our son has a wife."
"A beautiful woman with a kind heart. A good partner for him. Soon they will give us a grandchild." she said beaming with pride. "You have a measure of immortality already, Sheev. Your line lives on, just as Skywalker."
"That is not enough for me, Fay."
"I know." she replied with a peaceful sigh, "I know." with the last breath she vanished from the throne room, leaving Sidious to this thoughts and plans.