The Stone
The planet of Korriban is a place of arid weather and red sand. The terrain is harsh and the winds intense. It's possible to hear the howls of Tuk'ata and all around there are ancient statues and engravings. After searching for the rightful place Palpatine lands the ship near the ruins of a Sith burial temple. Baldo told him this was the house of the Oracle stone, right in the middle of the Valley of the Dark Lord. That he had sent a team down there to search for the item, but they never returned.
The backside of the ship opens, letting Palpatine into his world. He extends his arms embracing the sandy air and the orange sunlight. Breathing in, his eyes turn momentarily red when feeling the environment. After him, Marilla steps out of the ship holding on to her robes because of the wind. As soon as she steps the sand something weakens her, her legs start to tremble and the dark Force hits her like a punch. She stumbles kneeling on the ground.
This planet represents the home of the Sith, the home of the dark Force, a Jedi does not belong here. Marilla's head starts spinning and her vision is blurred. Palpatine notices the fallen Jedi, and he too feels a strange tingling to his stomach. But he doesn't cave; the dark force is stronger than it has ever been.
"Let's go." He claims coldly.
She looks up at Palpatine, scared by his raging look. With effort she pushes herself up, fighting the dizziness. Palpatine starts walking towards the entrance of the temple, Marilla follows him pushing the wind and the sand. They make for the entrance of the temple, high above them ancient Sith engravings dictate what's inside. Marilla tries to keep up with Palpatine who thrives forward not looking back.
They walk in the darkness, Marilla shaking the darkness away from her thoughts, tumbling on every little stone and Palpatine embracing the power, breathing his ancient roots. A few minutes into the temple they reach an open room, the red light of the sun coming from above. There's a single square tomb in the center of it, and a small stone carefully placed above it. The Oracle Stone is perfectly round and colored of a dark red; it fits on a single hand.
Reaching the tomb, Palpatine nears it.
"Has he told you how to proceed?" Marilla's voice trembles.
No, Baldo didn't tell Palpatine what to do. But something draws him to it, like he's hypnotized. His legs keep on moving and his mind clears. His hand reaches it, but there's a scream.
"PALPATINE!" it's Marilla.
His gaze shuts down and he turns quickly grabbing and lighting up his saber. Behind her there's a vicious beast grabbing her by the neck. Two big horns come out of his mouth, his hands crush her with giant claws and on his back there are several spines growing out. It's a Terentatek.
The animal growls as Marilla grunts in pain. She's weak from the planet, from the Dark side of the Force and now she's on the verge of death by this hungry beast. She thinks of Palpatine and her hope fades, this is Sith territory his senses are strong, he'd never help her, but she's wrong.
"LEAVE HER!" He screams, saber in hand.
The Terentatek faces him.
"Leave her now, beast!"
The animal drops Marilla violently and jumps towards Palpatine. The Sith strikes him several times as he growls and runs around him angrily. As Palpatine fights it, Marilla tries to assist him and she reaches for the saber, but it isn't there. 'Where did it go?' she wonders. It must have fallen when she was under Palpatine's influence in Baldo's shop. 'Damn it!' She thinks of a solution.
"Hey Beast! Come here!" the Terentatek turns to a very weak Marilla.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Palpatine screams, sweating from all the strikes.
"I'm distracting him." She says as the animal runs forward in mad rage.
Watching this, Palpatine lets his thoughts wonder. 'She could die, right now and all my problems would be solved. There would be no clues that it was a Sith, just an animal she couldn't fight when searching for the stone.' But then again his thoughts of darkness are invaded by pity, sympathy and a tingling feeling in stomach. 'I can't… let her…'
"DIE!" he screams launching his saber forward as a spear. The red light pierces the Terentatek in the back and the beast squeals in pain falling right before he reaches Marilla.
When the animal stumps the floor and the dust is set, Marilla looks upon a scared Palpatine, his hands shaking and his stare blank. Trying to not show it, the Sith approaches the carcass and removes the light saber. Turning it off he focuses on grabbing the Orcale Stone. Slowly he approaches it.
Meanwhile Marilla observes the dead Terentatek, there's something daunting about it, such a huge beast killed by a single strike. Palpatine would never do that unless there was something else, now she is sure he does love her indeed. Lost in her thoughts Marilla is awaken by a big stump. She turns to see Palpatine by the tomb, the stone on the floor.
"What happened?" she asks approaching it. As she reaches the tomb her dizziness increases.
"Nothing." he says quickly, picking it up with the sleeve of his dark vests.
"Why did you drop it?"
Palpatine sighs.
"I didn't."
"Can you work with it?"
"Yes. I just have to touch it."
"Alright." Marilla tries to touch it herself. But Palpatine takes his hands away from her.
"No, not you! Only a Sith should touch it. That's why you came to me, am I right?"
"You know why I came to you Palpatine." She sights turns around and sits by the tomb on a little step.
"I'm sorry." He says and then, places his hand carefully on the cold stone.
It's smooth and so are his thoughts. There are dark clouds and unknown places; they come from his imagination, dark and mysterious. He sees the past, the murder of his family and then his thoughts aren't so light. He remembers his father's limbs cut and burnt, the smell, the screams and the dark power coming to him. And he tries to shake them off, those horrible thoughts only to land on Marilla. Her skin, her eyes, the crown shaped lekku… In front of him there are memories of a moment he never lived, a future time as they roll together in dust. She smiles, a tender expression he hasn't seen for a long time. It reminds him of a river and fireflies at night.
"I hope we do it right." Her voice echoes in these distant thoughts. She's naked facing him with her sweet eyes.
There's another Dark cloud, pulling him away from this vision. His mind is taken far from the scene. A sorrowful cry spreads through his head. It's a baby. He can't see it clearly in his mind, he sees the baby's fat and brownish feet, and he sees Marilla holding it in her arms a blanket covering the face.
"What should we call-" she's stopped by a voice. There's darkness while Palpatine wrestles to get back to that happy moment. Before he can do it, the dreadful face of Darth Plagueis screams at him. The Master has fire in his eyes, his long face daunting. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SIDIOUS? WHERE'S YOUR STRENGHT, WHY AREN'T YOU FIGHTING THE ENEMY, WHY ARE YOU WORKING WITH IT?"
Suddenly, everything turns dark once again, but there are no clouds just a void, a black void. Palpatine looks at his hands, the stone isn't there, but his clothing and his saber are. Turning around there's nothing.
"Darth Sidious!" A strong male voice echoes through the void.
Palpatine searches for a living form around him, there's no one.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"I'm the Sith's guide to clairvoyance…"
"The Stone?" he asks.
"I'm here to answer your dark hopeful questions."
Palpatine looks once again at his hands confused. "What should I do?"
"Ask your questions and I shall help you."
He takes a moment to think, there're so many questions he wishes answered. Will he ever reach the Senate? Will he ever be a powerful Sith? But his propose today is a different one.
"Why am I weak around her? Why can't I kill her?"
The voice is omnipotent, a stronger but invisible being. "Padawan Marilla you mean? I'm afraid what she's told you is the absolute truth. Your love for her is destined."
"BUT I DON'T LOVE HER!" He screams, veins popping out from his neck.
"But it's not your fault, it's destiny's, the way the universe works. You're a Sith aren't you, Darth Sidious? Falling in love is not in your plans, yet here you are. Not because you're helping yourself, you've had many opportunities to get rid of the Jedi, but you're helping her. Because you are meant to be here right now."
"Why?"
"For the baby of course. It needs to exist, it shall help a lot of people, and mainly it shall help you."
"A baby? With her? No."
"Darth Sidious, your destiny depends on the love you once had for this Jedi. You will not recover your full powers until you fulfill this destiny."
"Why not?"
"Because you won't be able to kill and because what you ought to do together will help you in the future, you and the entire Dark Side."
"How?"
"I'm afraid that's an issue for another time, wouldn't you agree?"
"You're supposed to clear the path."
"Oh, trust me. I have."
Palpatine embraces the confidence the stone rewards him, to clear another question. "Who's the blonde boy?"
"The blond boy?"
"When I grabbed you, just after I killed the Terentatek. I saw the face of a blonde boy. Is that the baby?"
"I'm afraid this question is out of my reach."
"PALPATINE!"
Like the turn off of a lightsaber, the void lights up. Above him there's the open sky in the temple and taken by the light there's Marilla, the Jedi.
"Palpatine, are you okay? What happened?"
She leans in his face in her hands. Palpatine thinks of the Stone's words, his explanation of his destiny, of the Dark Force's destiny. 'The baby it will help me recover the powers, it will influence my future.' He takes Marilla in his arms and puts his lips on her, both lying on the red dust, inside the temple. He murmurs in her ear: "To fix it, we must be one." And she replies sweetly "I hope we do this the right way". Here and now, the first future of Darth Sidious is about to be fulfilled and a baby is conceived.
Please leave me your thoughts on the first Part of my story :)