Chapter 13: Who are you Engel?
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Lord Vader returned to Coruscant, right now he was in the throne room, he was in front of his master.
"Lord Vader, have you resolved your affairs?" Palpatine asked.
"Yes Master". Vader answered the question.
"Really?" Palpatine stood from his throne heading towards Vader. "The Sith know that fear leads to anger… anger leads to hate… and hate leads to strength. But you my friend... you are wallowing in pain. You will have to start again... with fear" Palpatine smiled a wicked smile, launching force rays against Vader.
Vader blocked the rays with his lightsaber, the energy was powerful from the last time he remembered.
"By…? Why do you attack me master?" Vader asked despite knowing the answer… it was too obvious.
"Don't play with me, Lord Vader! Tell him Grand Vizier!" Palpatine ordered with a mocking, malicious smile.
"He was tasked with executing two Jedi in the Dagobah system… however he let one of them escape with Luke Skywalker… the Jedi who escaped was the Emperor's double, his brother Engel… whom he had to kill. The less he failed, the more betrayal."
"And what do we do with the Mas Amedda traitors?" Palpatine asked, ceasing his attack.
"We killed them my Lord…" Amedda responded.
Palpatine used the force to choke Vader.
"You lied to me. You said Padme was dead…" Vader claimed angrily.
"Ha! There is the proof. It was the fear of losing Padme that drove you to my side. Transform your weakness into an unimaginable strength. But now that weakness returns... and puts everything you have achieved at risk. Let me show you fear again… and thus give you back your power."
Palpatine stopped choking Vader to destroy his mechanical body using the force as part of his punishment.
"Forget Padme…forget the boy…forget Engel…forget everything. Except your Emperor!" Palpatine finished his punishment and Vader was on the ground all broken. "You must find yourself again old friend. Relearn the primacy of power over all else… or you will die." Palpatine said with an evil smile.
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Palpatine left Vader all destroyed on Mustafar, as the last part of his punishment, he boarded his shuttle leaving Mustafar and was informed by Mas Amedda that Vader was heading right now to the ruins of the Techno-union.
I have turned Vader's pain into fear... and his fear into anger. But he has already learned and then forgotten these lessons... I will turn his life into fear... and his fear back into pain... as many times as necessary. Palpatine thought with a mocking and wicked smile.
"Remember Grand Vizier... That he had the intention of looking for my little brother." Palpatine said with a malicious smile.
"His majesty… what do you plan to do?" Mas Amedda asked with a bow.
Before answering Palpatine connects his presence in his force with Vader's, through the bond they shared as master and apprentice.
Vader comes to feel a dark presence within his thoughts, that was the voice of his master... the voice of Sidious. And a few last words from me, Lord Vader. Since Engel is your favorite, you chose him before me... so fill yourself with all the precious memories of your beloved Engel, so that you are very happy and don't miss him so much.
Palpatine cut the mental link and Vader could feel that those words were full of sarcasm and hatred... but that hatred was not directed at him... but at Engel.
"You know how I am Mas Amedda." Palpatine laughed softly.
"Does your majesty wish to order a search?" Mas Amedda asked curiously.
"I'll tell you what my plan is… I'm not going to order any search. "I myself will take care of investigating who my dear little brother Engel really is." Palpatine said, letting out a sinister laugh.
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The Emperor's imperial shuttle left for the ancient world of the Sith... Moraband.
Palpatine entered the old temple, heading before an altar, to perform an old art of the dark side to see things that were beyond his reach.
He would use the strong bond that existed between his brother and him. He only needed a drop of his blood for the ritual to begin.
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Several years ago in Convergence the former royal home of the Palpatine family. Bremé was still in pain... even though she had already given birth to a pair of twins and another boy and finally a girl. This did not heal the pain she felt inside her, the death of one of her twins was hard for her.
In the last eight years, Cosinga's relationship with her son Sheev. She had been embroiled in a temporary and unstable truce.
Cosinga hated her son so much that the only way she could express it was to hit him as hard as she could. The same thing happened to Sheev's brothers, Cosinga taught them to despise her older brother.
When Sheev was so broken and vulnerable, he just wanted to be left alone, then no one would witness his weakness. He would be alone all his life. Her family would never show him any support. But he promised himself that he would stop being weak and that one day he could face Cosinga to make him pay for everything he did to him.
She barely remembers that her mother used to hold and rock him when he was much younger, until her father snapped at her for her to stop coddling him and hand him over to the nurse droid.
Sometimes she wants to hurt her brother Maree, push him when she stumbles down the high garden wall. It's such a long fall sideways into the bushes. She wonders what the broken brother looks like. Would Dad prefer it then? Most likely. The father seems to prefer almost any other stuff. He no longer cries at the thought because he was cured of that weakness almost two years ago. Crying is useless, he never did.
"You can tell what's happening to you, Bremé," Cosinga said with annoyance after the last political meeting against Bon Tapalo.
"I was thinking... I've been researching and I once read that twin brothers, even though they are separated, maintain a very special connection at the level of sensations." Bremé said with a warm smile.
"AND…?" Cosinga asked indifferently.
"Well, on the day my children were born, the only one who survived was Sheev... but what if he didn't, what if my other son is alive?" Bremé said with joy at that possibility.
"Enough! "I don't understand your confusion," said Cosinga, annoyed.
"But… there is a hunch inside me… that tells me that my other son didn't really die… and Sheev feels the same, he feels the presence of his brother." Bremé said with a smile. "What if our son is alive and they "That's crazy, our son died and you yourself had already accepted that fact… we buried him."
"But I never saw the baby, because he was locked in a box, they didn't open it, I didn't see him."
"That doesn't make any logic, what would be the point of telling Sheev that he had a twin brother who died the same day he was born. "We better go to sleep because I'm very tired."
Cosinga will say what she wants, but I have to find a way to exhume my son's body and check if he is really dead. Bremé thought with determination.
Some time later Bremé obtained permission to exhume the remains of her son...
"My lady… the tomb is empty."
Bremé, upon hearing those words, let out a smile and tears of happiness that her son is alive.
"My son… is alive, I knew it," Bremé said with tears in his eyes.
Bremé was with a smile on her lips, at a gala party in Convergencia.
"Cosinga our son is alive, be glad our son lives and we have to get him back. "Now we just have to find out how it was stolen." Bremé said with a smile.
"He can't believe our son's grave is empty." Cosinga said feigning surprise.
"But I wasn't wrong, my son is alive... we have to find him."
"Even so, it is very difficult for me to believe it, to believe that our son is alive, eight years have passed, we only have five children and they are our only children…" Cosinga said with a threatening look.
Bremé wiped her smile away with one of hidden sadness… but she wouldn't stop, she would get to the bottom of this.
Nine years later, Bremé was searching the entire galaxy for her son. By posting photos of her son Sheev on the holonet, anyone who saw a young man just like her first-born son... would find her other son, after all they were identical twins.
Without a doubt her son today would be 17 years old just like Sheev. She offered a large reward to find her son.
Right now she was receiving positive confirmation about the whereabouts of her twin son, after nine years of waiting.
She was on the family ship with her four children and her husband. In Chandrila's world. Right now Cosinga was in another cabin with her eldest him from us?"
"Please tell me that my mother's heart has not been wrong all these years… my son is alive, right?" Bremé asked with a smile.
"Right now I am on my way to the world where my Lady's son is."
"You saw it? "Did you see my son?" Bremé asked with joy in her eyes.
"I have not seen him yet, my Lady, but I have strong evidence that leads me to his twin son…"
But at that moment a thunderous noise was heard from the cabin where her eldest son and her husband were.
"What was that?" Bremé asked worriedly hanging up the call.
Sheev Palpatine was still standing in the same place, with his hands trembling in front of him and his face stricken. Something stirred behind his incandescent eyes. He heard the knocking on the hatch and turned around.
"Don't come in! Get away from me!"
"What have you done?" It was the voice of her mother, Bremé in a panic. "What have you done?"
Cosinga managed to get to his knees and began a terrified retreat, leaving trails of blood on the deck. But Palpatine was advancing towards him.
"If the Force begot you, I curse it!" Cosinga uttered "I curse her!"
"Me too," Palpatine growled.
The hatch began to open and he heard the voice of the guard who had escorted him to the ship.
"iCosinga!" her mother Bremé shouted.
Palpatine pressed his head into the palms of his hands and then, with eerie calm, ran to the hatch, grabbed the guard at the threshold, and threw him to the other end of the cabin.
They were all dead, his parents and his siblings… he had killed them using the dark side of the force.
He had warned him. Stay away from my!
But as he had always done, he rushed to the old man's aid, never once stopping to think before acting. His trust was blind and he had paid the ultimate price for such foolish and unrequited devotion.
He hated her in that moment, hated her with the all-consuming passion of the years he spent watching her wither. Weak! Always so weak! To think that he had emerged from her and the old monster...to think that these other equally miserable corpses had been her pitiful siblings.
What was a family bond if not a painful obstacle? She had never met or been interested in having a meaningful relationship with any of them. They were unworthy and he was unwanted.
"He can't touch us anymore, my poor dear mother. I'm done with him..." she smiled devilishly, but as soon as the grimace appeared, it transformed into a dark look of despair. . "I finished you off too, but you would never have understood. You should have listened to me. You should have listened. I could have saved you."
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The dark visions of the Sith ritual ended and Palpatine looked up with a devilish, demented smile. So his mother was looking for Engel for many years, she was about to find him... before... Sidious smiled with pure evil at those juicy memories that caused him a dark joy. Before he himself... his own son will end his miserable life.
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After these revelations, Palpatine returned to the imperial palace. At that moment Mas Amedda informs him of Darth Vader's progress.
"Your majesty, Lord Vader, did you not finish his punishment?" Mas Amedda asked curiously.
"Not yet…".
"Is his punishment over? Now he is going to grant her forgiveness?"
"No… my apprentice still has a long way to go if he wants to earn my forgiveness. It is obvious that Vader cannot hide his preferences for Engel." Palpatine made a gesture of annoyance at that idea.
But at that moment Sidious begins to remember a particular world that Darth Vader visited. He had the location of the place thanks to an imperial probe. Sidious let out a malicious smile, no doubt that was where Engel lived before joining the rebellion.
"Grand Vizier Amedda, I am going to be away for a few days… you will be in charge until I return."
"Yes, his majesty." Amedda said with a bow.
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The doorbell rang, the nurse came out and called Sidious. In a doctor's office.
The doctor had his head down and his eyes glued to a clipboard in his hand. "Here he says your name is Sheev Palpatine."
But he stopped abruptly, looked with wide brown eyes into the Emperor's amber gaze, and startled, jumped back. Sidious smiled kindly at him as the doctor struggled to regain his composure.
"I…forgive me, Your Imperial Majesty, I didn't realize…what brings you to my office?" He asked nervously, stumbling over his words.
Sidious lowers his hood and reveals his entire deformed face. "I have lived too long with these scars… from the Jedi attempt on my life long ago, the wounds… deformed me. And I'm not satisfied at all, I want to have my face back the way I had it here."
Saying this Sidious shows him a photo of his twin brother Engel.
When the doctor saw Engel's photo, he was amazed... "The resemblance is extraordinary."
"Except for my face… can you remedy this with surgery for my face?" Sidious asked.
The doctor nodded seriously "We have the surgery indicated for you, it will not take more than several hours... we start right now." The doctor asked.
"At once, please." Sidious said with a smile.
And several hours passed while the Emperor was subjected to rigorous surgery. When the surgery finally came to an end and he woke up from anesthesia-induced sleep, Sidious couldn't wait to look in the mirror.
"What do you think? He looked very good and his majesty assured him that he had never looked better…" The doctor said with a friendly smile.
"What if I look the same as before…" Sidious showed Engel's photo to the doctor again.
"Identical… and the most important thing is that you will change places. Nobody would notice."
"Yes, I like it, but there is something I don't know… it doesn't convince me."
"Well I hope you don't mind but apart from his face I did a full body surgery, he completely recovered his previous appearance."
"Super good… thank you very much." Sidious said with a wicked smile.
Returning to his chambers in the imperial palace, he went straight to the dressing table and slowly undressed. The anesthesia-induced dizziness had disappeared but the headache was becoming more painful.
Then he got into the shower. The water was cold, I just wanted to wake up his mind. To refresh his body from the induced sleep state.
His closet in his dressing room was full of his robes. All in black. But behind these black robes, deep within his wardrobe, were some robes that he had used when he was Supreme Chancellor.
Sidious knew that Engel wore simpler things, so he chose a dark blue tunic from his wardrobe. A simple but elegant outfit, and unlike his typical Nubian robes that he wore before, this outfit was not full of huge cloaks and sleeves.
He looked at himself again in the mirror, although he regained his face... Palpatine's face was the same as Engel's.
Thinking more calmly if Vader had confused him with Engel... Then Chancellor Palpatine was the same as Engel.
Chancellor Palpatine pretended to be a kind and generous person... with an affable smile showing grandfatherly affection; Loving and dedicated to his loved ones.
Pushing away all the dark thoughts and feelings from his mind, his eyes that were yellow a while ago turned pale blue again.
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On a world far away from the rest of the systems and worlds of galactic society in general, the Emperor's shuttle landed in the forest... Palpatine removed the hood from his face and arrived at the town where Engel lived.
"Engel? "Engel…!" He called out the same bounty hunter who was friends with Engel, the same one who helped him figure out Anakin's past.
Palpatine turned to see who was calling him, so it had worked...
"It's a pleasure to see you again, since you're all dressed up, I almost don't recognize you…" said the bounty hunter with a friendly smile.
"Yes, I came because I missed home a lot… Any news?" Palpatine asked with a friendly smile.
"None, you already know that the town is very small along with the other villages in our small world isolated from the rest of the galaxy."
"Yes, I understand perfectly." Palpatine said with a kind smile.
"And tell me, what happened to Anakin? Did you recover your memory of him? ".
"Yes… he is better now, I helped him and now he is back in his home." Palpatine said with a cheerful smile that masked a wicked smile.
"I'm glad to know... Now I have to go, but after a while he looked for you to continue talking."
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After about half an hour the bounty hunter was next to the Twi'lek Fortune Teller. To inform you of Engel's arrival.
"Look who came to visit us…"
"But I don't know him…" said the Twi'lek Fortune Teller.
"It's very changed… Engel Engel!" She called the bounty hunter again.
Palpatine had his back meditating and turned around when he heard his name called.
"Tell me it's not good luck that I came…" The bounty hunter said with a cheerful smile.
"Yes… yes, I am very happy." He whispered the Twi'lek Fortune Teller. Something feels different about Engel, his presence feels… darker somehow, lacking the familiar tinge of brightness she used to sense in him. He thought with concern "Engel…!" The Twi'lek Pythoness said with a laugh and happy smile hugging Palpatine.
Palpatine, not knowing how to react to this type of affection, only lets out a smile and a clumsy pat on his shoulder.
The bounty hunter left, saying goodbye to Palpatine disguised as Engel.
"And tell me, Anakin, how is he doing?" The Twi'lek Fortune Teller asked.
"Well, he's much better…" Palpatine said with a friendly smile.
"You don't know how much I want to see him, is he in your cabin?" The Twi'lek Fortune Teller asked.
"No, he's not here…"
"As? Don't tell me he didn't come with you."
"Well, I came alone, because… I missed my home, my friends and family a lot."
"The whole town here misses you too, how happy they will be when they see you… but at least we have to celebrate your return, right now we are going to organize a party for you." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said with a smile.
"No…excuse me but I can't stay."
"As? But you just arrived." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said, somewhat confused because Engel had never talked to her about you.
"Yes, but I just came to visit, I can't stay long… you understand, right?"
The Twi'lek Fortune Teller was beginning to get suspicious, there was something strange here... "Yes, of course the Twi'lek Fortune Teller understands... it's because you joined the rebel alliance, right?"
"Yes... and I am continuing my studies to become a Jedi," Palpatine said, feeling nauseous at the mention of such words.
"You are doing well, I always wanted the best for you… since I was little I saw great potential within you. She was not wrong." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said with a friendly smile.
"Good see you later". Palpatine said about to leave but he could feel the old woman's hand taking his arm.
"No, what do you think… you are coming with me."
"Yeah come on…".
"Engel, where are you going? Because you have already spent a lot of time away from home, he forgot where I live." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said with a suspicious touch.
"My apologies, this whole war thing has me distracted and stressed…" Palpatine said, approaching the Twi'lek Fortune Teller.
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Palpatine disguised as Engel walked with the Twi'lek Fortune Teller through the town, the townspeople who knew Engel greeted him and Palpatine only gave them a friendly smile and the occasional wave.
"You'll say I'm crazy but the truth is that you don't look like you're from here, just look at how you're dressed. With a tunic and shoes that at first glance look like they are fine and very expensive. Or is it that life outside our world has transformed you, changed you…"
"Yes… as you will see I no longer dress the same way as before."
"If I didn't know you so well, almost since you were born... I would say that you are not Engel." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said with a smile simulating her suspicions.
Are you suspicious of me? Palpatine thought as he physically struggled to keep the lightning bolt in his fingers.
"But that little face, that smile and those little eyes are the same mischievous people as always." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said with a smile, "Now let's go quickly to my cabin, I want to prepare that Shaak broth that you like so much...".
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Once at the Twi'lek Fortune Teller's house, she prepared "Engel" the Shaak broth that he liked so much.
"It is a real joy that you have come to visit us, even if it is for a short time." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said as she served the food on plates.
Palpatine, having no choice, took some of the broth... it was actually horrible to his taste. Oh my dear little brother, where did you get these ordinary tastes? When did you meet these disgusting creatures? Palpatine thought with contempt, "You'll excuse me but I'm not very hungry... but this broth made me remember when I was a child, I was very happy with my parents, very happy and smiling."
"Yes, my child, you were very happy and you still are… despite the years you have never lost your joy and your kindness."
"I always wondered why my real parents abandoned me?" Palpatine said with a "sad look."
"I don't know either, my child, but the only thing I can tell you is that they loved you with all their hearts."
But the Twi'lek Fortune Teller knew better than anyone, the true story of Engel's origin. She remembers everything Engel's adoptive parents told her that day seventy-seven years ago.
"And in that way Engel came to my arms, you can say that I gave him life, like a mother to a son." Engel's adoptive mother said crying.
"Understand us, Pythoness, that little creature was ours from the first moment… We had just buried our son and we felt very alone in the world. And the baby that came into our arms was a gift from heaven, our little son wanted to send him to us," said Engel's adoptive father, hugging his wife.
"That was the impression of the moment, and it is understood but after that first moment… they had to go to the authorities, look for the family and hand over the baby." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said seriously.
"We didn't know anything, not even who to return it to." Her mother said, shedding her tears.
"Oh please! "If you didn't know anything then why are you here? All this information is on the holonet," said the Twi'lek Fortune Teller, annoyed by seeing the holo photographs of the Palpatine family on Naboo.
"But that was later, we wouldn't have found out about things until much later," said Engel's father.
"But you found out, and it was at that moment that you should have gone to the authorities, reported that the missing child was with you." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said annoyed.
"No... after hearing this news, we decided to protect our son... the galaxy will never know of Engel's existence, and that is why we keep it hidden." The mother said, wiping her tears.
"So they are thinking of denying that child the opportunity to meet his real family."
"No! When we found out, we already wanted it!" The father said, defending his right over Engel.
"Yeah! The boy, my son! He came to give me tenderness, joy, happiness and affection, he gave me everything! Without him I wouldn't know if he could continue living." The mother said sobbing. "I will never forget that moment… when he was just a baby, I took him home in my arms. He was crying but when he opened his eyes he smiled at me. He became my son, he swore to him by the most sacred thing that I will defend this right... I will not give it back to anyone! Never!".
"I'm not going to say anything, you have my word. But the truth will be discovered sooner or later… they won't be able to keep it hidden forever."
The Twi'lek Fortune Teller promised not to tell Engel anything about his true origins and his true family, much less that he had a twin brother. But a sinister and dark presence had read her thoughts.
"You're not Engel... you're his twin brother." The Twi'lek Pythoness said as she felt the beautiful crimson lightsaber pointed at her neck.
Palpatine laughed sinisterly, and the eyes that were blue had once again had a yellow tint.
"You are Engel's twin brother... Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the entire galaxy."
Palpatine has many questions. He wants the Twi'lek Fortune Teller to tell him everything about Engel and he can hardly refuse, she was not afraid for her life but for the lives of all the children and women in the town. Palpatine is too interested to know more about Engel.
"When Engel was a baby, he was found by his parents in a slave market… they became attached to the little boy and decided to keep him. "Engel was a very smiling, happy and tender child."
"My late mother found out that my twin brother was still alive…" Palpatine said with a wicked smile.
"Eight years later, I learned of Engel's true origin... that the matriarch of Naboo's noble family, House Palpatine, was searching for him. But Engel's parents refused to give him to his real family, they became too attached to Engel that they did not want to return him.
"Did my brother know about this?" Palpatine asked curiously.
"He doesn't know anything, Engel only knows that he was abandoned by his real parents when he was a baby and that he was adopted and rescued by his parents from that slave market." The Twi'lek Fortune Teller said, wiping away her tears. "I insisted that they tell Engel the truth about his true origin and that he has a brother who is identical to him, but that day never came... when Engel's parents died they told me that if one day Engel discovered the truth … I had to give him a chest that they left for him…".
"And where is that chest?" Palpatine asked.
"I have it among my things... I never believed that Engel would one day discover the truth, until the day he met Anakin." The Fortune Teller said seriously.
"Lord Vader?" Palpatine asked.
"That's right... three years ago he came to this place, when he met Engel... he mistook him for you, because of the great resemblance that you two have."
"Thank you very much dear, you already told me everything I wanted to know." Palpatine said with a wicked smile grabbing the chest that Engel's parents had left behind.
Palpatine left the Twi'lek Fortune Teller's hut, inside it was only the fortune teller's hanged body.
Palpatine was clutching the chest in his hands, returning to his shuttle leaving for the capital of his empire.