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IV: The Sith Way

"I am not a man of words. But I respect the power of words, for that is what transformed me. The words of the Sith Code. Others had heard them, contemplated them, and so on. But I understood them, and they changed me. For what was I before I heard those words? Nothing."

– Darth Bane

Weiss looked down with slight discomfort as she hesitated, eyebrows raised slightly. She had stringently measured out, to the smallest amount, all of the ingredients she had thrown into the arm deep bowl in front of her. Now it was time to mix them.

The wooden spoon on her left side was a joke next to the bowl and the mass of material within. Even if she could use it at first, the dough would quickly become too thick and she would have to use her hands anyway.

With her lips pressed together in disapproval, she pushed her bare arms into the piled ingredients. Her hands squeezed as they made contact, beginning the process of converting the components, layered according to how she had thrown them in, into a single mass. She hated this initial part, because the early dough was sticky and didn't clump. It got under her fingernails, and covered her hands in a buttery smother.

She pushed herself through it, kneading the mass until it became a worthy dough. It no longer stuck to her hands or sought out crevices anymore, instead forming a coherent clod that kept itself together when pulled away from her hands or the sides of the bowl. After a good twenty minutes of work, Weiss pulled her arms out. They were oily almost up to her elbows. She had proportioned the ingredients correctly; the dough only stuck to itself. It would make more than a dozen large loaves of bread, enough for the week.

Weiss had never cooked before her new life, outside of minor experiments. That work was the realm of the Schnee manor's compliment of chefs and food artisans, who produced masterful meals for every occasion and request. She appreciated their work much more now.

She was responsible for preparing most of the food for the two Force users – she still couldn't cook meat without burning it. Like many of her chores, it was a task a droid could do faster and more efficiently. It fell to her because such work was her place as the apprentice and because Phage saw the rote labor as a form of meditation in and of itself.

She had to admit he was right. Squeezing her fingers, again and again, through the gooey dough was relaxing, and she could drift away in the peaceful doldrums.

But a passive mind was not always an empty one. It could wander. Most of the time, Weiss would go over her training, letting it sink into her head as the light exercise eased her sore muscles. Other times, she ended up thinking about Remnant.

She didn't feel homesick, but she did miss it. It was hard to describe.

She was lonely. She had no one to talk to. Phage was always open, but he wasn't a friend. It was hard to have a personal conservation in a structured hierarchy. Yet, she had tried, by necessity. She had shared herself with him before, and he had listened patiently, before asking clever questions that turned whatever was on her mind into a teaching moment. It was his way of helping, but it wasn't what she needed.

Being alone was not new, but it was never this complete before. At Beacon she had Team RWBY; they didn't understand her but they would listen and try to emphasize on a personal level. Before, she had her mother and her sister. She rarely saw Willow, but she always looked forward to it. Her mother was warm and never judgmental. Winter was somewhat different. She could be as cold and harsh as Jacquees, but there was affection behind it. Her network was never large or perfect, but at least there was always someone there.

There wasn't now.

Weiss pushed her mind away from that sobering line of thought as she washed her arms and prepared the oven.

Darth Phage veered his speeder bike around, pausing to wait for Weiss to catch up. From a near stop, she lurched between trees towards him, still in the habit of accelerating too fast and then having to overcorrect.

"Having fun?"

Very slowly, she glided her bike over him. "Actually, somewhat. The controls are just so sensitive."

"They have to reflect the full scope of what it can do."

She slumped back to look around at the forest. "Why not go somewhere we could go fast?"

"Would you rather hike?"

She didn't respond. Point was taken.

"There's a clearing nearby," he said, pointing. "Get there as fast as you can."

He raced away, adjusting his center of gravity to veer around trees rather than steering around them. This would be reckless, if not daredevil, for even experienced riders, but Phage had more than experience. He had the Force.

He raced into the clearing, lifting the bike's nose into the air to assist the repulsorlift as he braked. He pulled the bike back with the Force as well, ensuring he stopped before crashing into the other side of the clearing. It would be a challenge, perhaps, to disallow the Force and rely solely on one's own skill, but Phage found that boring. The Force was to be used.

He repositioned on the side and dismounted. Weiss was nowhere to be seen. After a stretch, he sat down on the ground in the middle.

The clearing was a bed of stones, mostly pebbles but some larger ones. Phage absent mindedly swirled some around with the Force, forming them into spirals and streams.

In the space of less than a second, he watched Weiss race into the clearing, fly past him, clumsily start to turn, and careen into the trees on the other side. Her bike hit a tree, flipped, and sent her spinning to the ground.

Phage continued to play with the pebbles.

Coughing, Weiss pushed herself up, retrieved her sword, and walked over.

"I'm fine, thanks. I raised my aura. Well..." she looked over some cuts.

"Mmm."

"Should we, check the speeder? Make sure its ok?"

"Later." He motioned for her to sit.

She sat down, rubbing the injuries. Phage turned his hand, raising a dozen pebbles he had been playing with in the air.

"Ready?"

Weiss adjusted herself and raised her hands. "Okay. One at a time."

He allowed one of the pebbles to wobble and start to fall. He slowly pulled back, as he felt Weiss support it through the Force, eventually taking over. They repeated the process, until she held all of them up herself.

"Now, spin them. As they are, like like a galaxy spinning around its core."

She struggled. "It's, I-"

The pebbles shook, and then fell all at once.

Unfazed, Phage immediately levitated three pebbles and brought them over, arranging them in a triangle.

"Take it."

With the Force, she took them, keeping them in the same position and shape.

"Now. Rotate it."

Focusing through her hands, Weiss rotated the three rocks around a central axis, spinning the triangle in mid air.

"Good. Now, more."

He lifted a fourth pebble and held it next to the shape. She slowly rearranged the triangle into a square to accept it, and then took it from them.

A fifth, a sixth, a seventh. At eight, they fell down.

She let out a deep breath, taking the opportunity to rest.

"You say on Remnant," Phage blurted out, "they do not distinguish between the light and dark side?"

"Uh." She shook her head, somewhat surprised. "No. We have the Force, well…aura, the energy of the soul. It's the same thing; I know it is because I feel it when I use the Force. But it's much stronger there." She paused. "I mean, I think it is. The things you've taught me to do, the things I've learned about others doing…I've never heard of anyone on Remnant doing things like that. Maybe it's just that no one ever tried."

"Hmm."

"I don't understand it. But no, we didn't make any distinction about aura, at least not based on the emotions involved. Strong emotions in general can be useful. Some people have semblances that can calm teammates or protect others when they focus; others have semblances that rely on rage and fury. It's all the same to us."

Phage slowly scanned the tree line.

"And you're still sure these Force abilities – semblances, as you say – are not divided along which emotions one chooses to draw on?"

She shook her head. "No, each person has one semblance they can use. You can't learn another, even if it's similar to your own."

He caught her shyly glancing at him, trying to gauge a reaction.

"I don't mistrust you, it's just that-"

"I know, I know, believe me I would feel the same way. Everything I've learned about this galaxy, I can't find anything like it here. I wish I could show you my semblance, but, it's, I just…" Her voiced faded away and she shrugged her shoulders. This wasn't the first time this conversation had come up.

"In any case, perhaps your culture's philosophy is wiser than most," Phage said. "The idea of a real duality in the Force is the most common, but not universal. Some have proposed that the Force merely balances itself like water sloshed in a cup, and the correcting movements are misconstrued as a permanent light side and a dark. Others say the Force is calm and monotone, and the experience of light and dark are just a Force user's own perceptions, based on which emotions they choose to call on it with. For a Sith, the distinction matters not."

They were quiet for a time. "On Remnant, my semblance was-"

"Yes, you told me. Your home planet is a magical place of fantastical abilities and very dysfunctional families."

"If only I could show you…" She looked away. "You can't survive at Beacon without being the best."

He hummed a bit. "Speaking of Beacon, have you ever considered that perhaps your headmaster was thinking like a Sith?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

Phage wasn't really serious, but it was an interesting direction regardless. "Perhaps he did know you were the best to lead your team, and even saw far greater potential in you than that. And so he purposely subjugated you to inferiors in order to test you."

"I don't understand."

"You told me that your 'team' was...inappropriately led."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Well, it was. Ruby Rose was just a kid, and she had no social skills. She was literally the worst possible candidate. I should have been team leader. Just, objectively speaking. For the good of everyone."

Phage thought to criticize her clumsy attempt to play humble, but ignored it. "Perhaps the rest of your team was always meaningless to him, and he merely intended to use them as a vehicle to teach you discipline and humility."

"I…never thought of that."

He was of course speculating wildly, but it wasn't idle. From how Weiss recounted her past, she liked to see herself as the center of every story. The idea that her school had somehow done everything with her in mind all along would be appealing. It might not be realistic to a neutral observer, but she wasn't neutral.

"But, Ozpin wasn't thinking like that," she asserted. "It wasn't like the old Sith academies you're probably comparing it to. Beacon wasn't about producing a few great students and weeding out the rest, it was about training as many capable huntsman and huntresses as possible. There are never enough."

"Some of the training you've described to me, though, is rather…"

"Brutal, I know. For our first 'assignment' we were literally thrown into a forest full of Grimm, and the first people we ran into would be our teammates. Everyone who gets into Beacon was supposed to be strong enough to survive a few of them, but there were some very powerful Grimm there. The point was to force us to work together, but someone could have died. What if someone didn't find a team in time? Or a team just wasn't able to work together perfectly right after they met? And it's not the first time people have died in training."

"Hmm." He scratched his neck. "The type of instruction favored in your culture, from your sister's impromptu assistance to state sanctioned academies...to teach by merit of necessity and survival; to force learning by threat of death. It is a very Sith mindset."

"I know. But the atmosphere wasn't like that at all. It was much more…benevolent, I guess. It was dangerous but no one was supposed to die or get hurt. My sister was always serious, but for…personal reasons. But Beacon was just like a normal school outside of the combat. There were dances, celebrations, parties…it was so casual."

"But then things changed, you say."

"Yeah. Everything changed. And now I'm here."

She glanced around aimlessly, then settled for looking at the floor.

Acknowledging she wanted to end the topic, Phage quickly rose to his feet. He walked to the side of the clearing. "I trust you had a good warm up."

She grunted in understanding, standing and drawing her sword. "My aura is still broken."

"Unfortunate." Phage clasped his hands as rocks levitated around the clearing.

The first ones came slowly. She easily deflected them. The next set was faster, but still no failures.

Phage narrowed his brow. "Recite the code of the Jedi."

Weiss shifted, rearranging her body on the floor without changing her pose.

"There is no emotion, there is peace."

She squirmed as a rock grazed her ear, fast enough to cut.

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."

A jaded piece of gravel flew along her neck, leaving a superficial red line.

"There is no passion, there is serenity."

She almost stumbled, trying to shrink from a near miss.

"There is no chaos, there is harmony."

A hurled stone brushed across her cheek.

"There is no death, there is the Force."

A rock struck her jaw, hard enough to turn her head.

"Aaaauurrrgh," she muttered, flustered.

Phage looked on intently. "You may wonder why I make you learn about some cult you've never heard of. But the Jedi code is but one of many similar ways to view the Force, to view life itself. It is a code of rules and restrictions, self-imposed madness and futility. There have been many others like it, but the Jedi have been the most represented."

Another rock grazed her jaw as she swung impotently.

"The Sith are free. We have no bounds, no limits. We only restrict ourselves according to our interests and whims, ensuring our own ultimate self-actualization. This is why I make you understand the Jedi. Their code has good examples of the many lies and rubbish that you will encounter elsewhere – propaganda that seeks to trick to, to chain you."

Another rock, another gash. It was amusing.

"The Jedi seek contentment, but they will never find it – nor will any others who think to find satisfaction by resigning themselves to their fates, instead of trying to change them. The greatest 'truisms' of the wise are often little more than senile admissions of surrender – appeals to accept reality and one's low place in it, to abandon any hope of achieving your dreams and ambitions.

To find peace in defeat.

Yet, for many their words ring true. Many do indeed find comfort in subjugation. They exist to kneel, and the Sith exist to rule. The Sith are worthy to rule the weak; the Sith have the will. The Sith alone can prove themselves on the burning anvil of a savage galaxy."

After another graze, she swung at the air with such force she nearly threw her sword on the ground. She was angry.

"Now tell me the code of the Sith."

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion." Her voice came through gritted teeth.

The next projectile found itself harmlessly intercepted.

"Through passion, I gain strength."

Steel rung against stone, as a rock was reversed by her blade.

"Through strength, I gain power."

She swung downwards, driving a large pebble directly into the ground.

"Through power, I gain victory."

A rock careened into the trees, roughly parried.

"Through victory, my chains are broken."

Phage's eyes widened, the spectacle so enchanting, so enthralling.

"The Force shall free me."

She swung so violently the incoming stone was cut in half, the pieces flying past her.

"And what does that mean?"

She sighed and let her sword hang by her side, tired as the high went away. "I don't know. I think it's stupid." She quickly looked up, searching to see if she had overstepped.

Phage smiled. "Sit."

They sat across from each other.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You think it's stupid. How so?"

She looked around. "It's just...angsty? It's teenage. Childish. Like, you're supposed to gain power through your emotions and the Force. Okay? How is that meaningful? Really," she continued, still checking his reaction, "this entire Sith thing is stupid. You just do whatever you want? The strong are supposed to dominate the weak, just because they can? It doesn't make any sense."

"Why not?"

"Because it's silly. You're not the only person in the world. You have to think about others too."

"If you have power, why not use it? Why not take what you want?"

"It's not right. You shouldn't dominate others just because you can."

"Yet you do. You dominate the world around you constantly. For example, you kill animals to eat them."

She tilted her head. "Okay, but some people don't. You don't have to."

"Then you dominate and kill plants to eat them, or clear them away to build. Do they not grow and live? Is the Force not within every living thing?"

"It's different."

"Says who? Some species in the galaxy would consider humans hardly sentient, barely above plants."

"People have to eat. Or change the world around them to live."

Phage raised an eyebrow. "So because you exist, you have a right to dominate the world around you?"

"There's a difference between doing what you need to do to survive and being cruel and self-centered."

"Where's the line between them? Who invented the difference?"

She shook her head in frustration. "Look, people have to live together in a civilization. People need to work together. You can't just do whatever you want. If everyone did that, nothing would work. Everyone would be out to get each other, and everything would break down."

"To quote Plagueis; beings may elect their rulers, but the Force has elected us."

"'Plagueis?' All I know is that there's no way society could work if everyone just wanted to ruthlessly climb to the top."

"And the Force is meaningless? We should ignore differences in ability?"

She looked away. "There are differences in ability. But that doesn't mean anything. At Beacon, I took a class on ethics and history. There was a time when huntsmen tried to rule the world. They believed they had a right to, and it would be better for everyone, just because they could do things normal people couldn't, and fight the Grimm off. I used to think like that too. That people like me should be in charge, when I was little. But people fought back, and the Grimm went crazy, and it didn't work. Everyone was weaker and easier prey for the Grimm. So, you should treat everyone equally. That way they can work together."

"...they were weak, and they lost, and then the victors taught you they were wrong all along? That is the source of your ethics? What if they had won? Would you parrot a different song?"

"I just-, I just, know it's not right. You can't just do whatever you want."

"But you always put yourself first, from what you've told me. You did what you needed to do, perhaps with some thought for the people you, in particular, cared about. You ignored or fought boundaries in your way, regardless of who or where they came from. You never did what others wanted just to keep the peace, never obeyed just to keep your social group functioning smoothly."

"I...okay." She paused. "I have put myself first sometimes. I admit it. I've thought a lot about how things turned out. I'm sure that, maybe, sometimes, I'm probably not a paragon of virtue. But I'm aware of that. That doesn't mean I should just base my entire worldview on doing whatever I want, or sink into my own flaws. I know it's wrong."

"Do you now? Yet your justifications break at the slightest question. You claw and scratch for the morality you were taught, but you barely bothered to learn it. If the Sith truly didn't appeal, you would be able say so, without falling on hypotheticals and scenarios and 'what society might possibly do if everyone did this.'"

"What are you saying? Just because I'm not prepared to discuss something so absurd as-"

"I'm saying you're not trying to convince me. You're trying to convince yourself. You can't even fathom that maybe you weren't the best choice to led your combat squad; no, it had to be a mistake."

"It was a mistake! They all made terrible mistakes! So many people died because of them. I really was the best choice! My semblance is much stronger; I'm a better fighter. And she was two years younger; not even an adult! I was better than all of them! And-"

"Wasn't your older sister much better than you, however? Is that why she annoyed you so much? Why you disliked her? Were you jealous?"

"No!" Her face was red.

"Hmm. I believe you. You've told me she would upset you by boasting about her achievements, and how you felt so meager in comparison. Perhaps you weren't jealous of her. Were you just angry there was someone so clearly superior to you around?"

Her jaw dropped, but she composed herself. "What does any of this have to do with-"

"The dissonance here is that you say you shouldn't be self-centered, you shouldn't put yourself first in all situations, but you only do the opposite. You're spoiled. Entitled. You apparently had significant wealth and status, and yet ran away because it wasn't enough. Your entire self-history is complaining, a series of 'I deserved more' along with 'I wanted this, but I didn't get it.'

But you were taught that's wrong. You were told a good person is selfless. So you have to cling to this silly morality, so you can tell yourself you know you're wrong, you know you're a hypocrite. Because everyone makes mistakes, of course. So you think as long as you're 'self-aware,' you can tell yourself you're a good person and keep doing whatever you want to do."

"I...I legitimately don't know what you're talking about."

"Still playing stupid? Why do you think I chose you? Runaways are easy to find, and Force ability is not as rare as you may think, especially if one knows how to look. The Force was not the only thing I felt in you."

He lowered his head, though his eyes never left hers. They were like daggers now; a hint of something grim spearing out of them.

"And the Force alone is not enough to make a Sith. I felt your lust for power, a desire so deep it could not be blocked out by your confusion and fear." He paused for effect.

"You've wanted power since the first time your father hit you."

Weiss was stunned for several seconds. Then, she was angry.

"I…I…" The words didn't come out. "I will have you know that –"

"But that wasn't really where it started, was it?" he interrupted. "It didn't start the first time he hit you. Your hatred started the first time he defied you. You were angry Weiss Schnee couldn't get her way."

After a few moments of shuddering, she rose to her feet.

She clenched her teeth and tightly squeezed her fists, letting her fingernails cut into her palms. "How dare you! I-"

"Can you feel it?"

"...what?"

"The Force. The Dark Side. The Sith Code. You have so much hatred. So much rage."

She looked down at her shuddering hands.

"You think the Sith Code is stupid, for the same reason a non-Force user would think it's stupid. You intellectualize it. Try to read it. But you're not meant to read the Sith Code.

You're meant to feel it, to experience it, and experience the Force through it. What does the Force tell you to do?"

"...whatever I want," she slowly admitted. "But...but, I know that can't be all...there's something dark there." She calmed down. "I've felt the Force. Mostly it's, it's just there. But sometimes, it's more. It feels…alive. It calls me, but…it's tempting me. It's offering me what I want, but not for me. For it. It wants me to use it, to unleash it. And I feel...that it will consume me if I do."

Phage smiled. "The dark side." He slowly ran his eyes over the trees behind her. "A fitting name, don't you think?"

"I get what you're saying. All these things...I feel it. I want to just let go. Drown in myself. No morals, no concerns. But...that can't be the right thing to do."

Phage waved his hand. "Sit."

She sat back down.

"Most moral systems are structural. They are designed, as you know, for a society to function easily. They inhibit and control beings into a narrow range of behaviors that, ideally, will produce good outcomes in the aggregate if everyone does them. Every species of intelligent beings has their own cultural preferences, their own evolved social behaviors, their own styles of moral systems. There's not really a point in 'refuting' these systems, because they're all so artificial.

The Force gives us something more. Something beyond. The Force is the true fabric of reality, far more real than the things we can see and touch. The whims the Force encourages are real, they are moral, no other concept of morality is meaningful. Everything else is artificial. They're self-serving frameworks thrown on top of the Force as if they could impose themselves on it.

Even ideologies that tell you to deny yourself and only serve others; is there not some pleasant feeling they chase? Serenity, contentment, peace, as the Jedi say? The Force encompasses all of it, but in their arrogance they think to decide what is worth having, and to pick and choose what they want. And they live their lives in guarded fear, terrified that one day the full nature of the Force will find them.

The Sith reject the madness. The fear of the Force, the misguided attempts to worship it, or to break it into a pattern some particular culture finds appealing. The Sith embrace the Force – embrace reality – as it is, and in doing so we find the Force embraces us. The Force gives us power, empowers us to do what we want.

That is what it means to serve the Dark Side."

"So I should just...give in? Let it overwhelm me? But then I won't even be in control."

"Then stay in control. The Dark Side isn't your enemy, any more than your own feelings and desires are your enemy. Sometimes it benefits your goals to use rage and hate. Sometimes it benefits you more to smile and lie. You choose what you need. The Dark Side merely gives you the full set of tools."

She ran her hands over her face and through her hair. "I just...I don't know. I can't get over the idea of just doing whatever I want, whatever I feel like, regardless of anyone else. If everyone did that it would be a disaster. Absolute chaos."

"Hmm." Phage made a show of looking around the forest. "The natural order seems quite peaceful to me."