SIDIOUS: Lord Of Darkness - Chapter 13

74 BBY - Naboo, Theed City

For hours, the young Sheev would remain curled up in a ball at the bottom of the pit, his head in his legs. He had tried getting out of the hole in the pavement after he fell running away from his mother, but Sheev had failed and eventually gave up. In all this time, he had been crying in his arms, wondering what his family would think of that telekenetic outburst. What was that? The boy asked himself. What am I on the inside...? Just then, Sheev heard a voice calling out from up above. ''I think he's down here!'' The voice shouted. Sheev stood up, recognizing the voice to be that of his older brother Dantius. ''Dantius!?'' Sheev called out, wondering if it really was his brother.

Suddenly, Dantius's face appeared. ''Take my hand, Sheev!'' He yelled, extending one arm out to his brother. The pit wasn't very big, so this gesture made it easy for Sheev to take Dantius's hand. Grabbing Sheev's hand, Dantius slowly pulled his little brother out from the pit. Once Sheev was out, Dantius forced him into a hug. ''Mother was so worried for you, Sheev. Don't scare our parents like that again!'' Dantius said, hugging Sheev tighter. Over Dantius's shoulder, however, Sheev could see both of his parents arguing in the rain, most likely about his outburst. A thought then occurred to Sheev as he was hugging his brother back. What does my family truly think of me..?

65 BBY - Sojourn, village retreat

In the center of a dark room, Plagueis was meditating, feeling nothing but the Force all around him in this moment. For a few hours now, he had been waiting for Mother Koril to finish repairing the damage that had been done to Darth Sidious's face on Brendok. Finally, after spending much of his time meditating, Plagueis heard the door to the chamber open. ''Magister Demask.'' Mother Koril said from behind. Plagueis awoke from his meditation, turning to see Koril standing in the doorway. ''Young Palpatine's face has successfully been repaired. Unfortunately, me and your other assistants were unable to completely erase the scars, but that shouldn't matter too much.''

From behind Koril, Sidious stepped forward, kneeling before Plagueis. The raw, bloody wounds that once smeared his face no longer looked infected. However, his forehead did still look like it had been split in half, and the scars on his cheeks, chin, and nose did still remain. ''I must say you look better than you did on Mustafar.'' Plagueis remarked. ''Tell me, what was it that gave the wounds on your face anyway, my Apprentice?'' Plagueis then asked. ''Cantaros threw a sharp boulder in my face in the first time I confronted him.'' Sidious replied, balling one hand up into a fist as he did so. ''I see...'' Plagueis said, looking at Koril. ''Leave us.''

Koril obliged, shutting the door. A huge light suddenly turned on in the chamber, blinding Sidious momentarily. ''Come, my Apprentice.'' Plagueis said, motioning towards a shrine behind him. On it, there lay multiple pieces of deconstructed metal and spring, as well as the Kyber Crystal Sidious had bled back on Mustafar. ''It is time for your true training as a Sith to begin.'' Plagueis continued. Palpatine stood up, walking towards the shrine. ''The elements you see before you are fragments of your new weapon, which you must now construct.'' Plagueis said. Sidious nodded, closing his eyes and extending one arm outward. Slowly, everything on the shrine levitated into the air, and piece by piece began to join into a single object.

Plagueis smiled as this was happening, watching the metal alloys join around the Crystal in a single order. Once they were all lined up, the metal and springs joined together, forming a Lightsaber hilt. Sidious opened his eyes, grasping the hilt with one hand. It was a truly unique design, in Palpatine's eyes. The body of the hilt was decorated from golden alloys belonging to Phrik, whilst the flat emitter was composed of Aurodium, and the rest of the hilt's body had an Electrum finish to it. All materials that belonged to one form of royalty, or another. ''Ignite the blade.'' Plagueis commanded. Sidious did as he was told, pressing the ignition button on the side of the hilt. A crimson Lightsaber blade immediately flashed before his eyes, just as the shrine vanished beneath ground level. 

Sidious smiled, staring at his new blade in awe. ''Now, Sidious...    Let's see how well you can fair with a Lightsaber, apart from facing Jedi.'' Plagueis said, extending both arms outward. ''Attack me.'' Plagueis commanded. ''Attack me with all of your strength.'' Palpatine looked at the hilt of his Lightsaber, then back at Plagueis. He nodded, and slowly began walking towards his Master, twirling his blade around in his fingers. Sidious quickened his pace, swinging at Plagueis in fast strokes. Yet Plagueis dodged, weaved, and ducked under each stroke of an attack, finally thrusting one hand upward and blasting Palpatine into the roof of the chamber. Sidious dropped his Lightsaber, collapsing onto the hard metal floor.

Palpatine groaned, pushing himself back up onto his feet. Plagueis towered over him, both hands folded behind his back. ''Remember why the Sith are more powerful than the Jedi, Sidious...'' Plagueis said, as he watched Sidious find his strength again. ''And why may that be?'' Palpatine asked, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. ''Because we are not afraid to feel.'' Plagueis replied. Sidious pulled his Lightsaber back to his hand, resuming his attacks from earlier. Yet again, Plagueis dodged every swing Palpatine made, refusing to draw his own weapon. ''Mercy only breeds defeat, Apprentice. Stop fighting like the Jedi you have slain.''

Palpatine yelled, swinging directly for Plagueis's neck. The Dark Lord stopped the attack halfway through, and Force Pushed his opponent away from him. Sidious fought back, thrusting his free hand forward and sending Plagueis smashing into the wall. Gripping his hilt with both hands, Sidious ran for Plagueis while he was down, when a jolt of electric shock suddenly shot through his leg. Collapsing to one knee, Sidious looked to his left, seeing a Training Remote hovering in the air. Plagueis took a moment to collect himself, wiping blood from his own mouth. ''Good. I can feel your anger now, Sidious....         Unleash it.''

Palpatine lashed out again, preparing to deal his first blow to Plagueis, only for another electric shock to incapacitate him. The Apprentice stopped, turning his attention to the Training Remote, which had seemingly multipled into eight more Remotes. The Remotes opened fire on Sidious, who easily deflected the blaster fire. Finally, Plagueis ignited his own Lightsaber, swinging for the back of Palpatine's head. Palpatine saw this coming, and quickly turned around to block the attack, finally commencing the duel between him and Plagueis.

More and more Training Remotes rapidly began shooting out of the ground, firing at Sidious in all directions as he struggled to keep up with Plagueis. Palpatine, despite having killed five Jedi only nine months into his Apprenticeship, with three of them being Masters, had to admit he found himself a good challenge in Plagueis. The Muun's speed was truly impeckable, and Sidious had a hard time keeping up with that. In Sidious's eyes, Plagueis did not follow the rules of combat. There was no method to his movements. In a duel, once Plagueis got inside your head and knew every move, he stayed there and there was no getting him out.

Sidious's eyes began darting around the room. Now there were Training Remotes with blue and orange markings that were firing at him. Kicking Plagueis in the chest, Sidious turned his attention back to the Remotes, reflecting their blaster bolts with his Lightsaber. However, as the bolts of the new ones came flying back at them, an invinsible shield bounced off the Remotes and hit the wall. Palpatine, stunned by the suprise, was about to unleash another attack on Plagueis, when he was suddenly hit in the face by something shooting out of the ground. Staggering back, Sidious was by something similar, this time it came from behind and smashed right into his back. The Apprentice fell to one knee, blood oozing from both his nose and mouth. He looked up, seeing that Plagueis had now taken the high ground, standing atop one of the rapidly rising pillars from the metal floor.

Sidious gritted both teeth together, jumping on top of one of the pillars. Hopping from one pillar to another, Sidious attempted to catch up with Plagueis, but suddenly stopped when he felt something sharp lodge itself into the back of his shoulder. Grabbing it, Sidious peeled the thing off his shoulder, seeing that it was another Training Remote, painted in red and black markings, glowing from the inside. A deep, whirring noise could be heard from the Remote, before it exploded in Sidious's hand. Palpatine staggered, seeing nothing but a blinding white light. The pillar he was standing on sank back into the ground, causing Palpatine to lose his footing and fall, landing directly on his back, blinded. ''Remember a Sith does not always need their eyes to see their target!'' Plagueis shouted. ''Use the Force! Find where I am!!''

Sidious shut his burning eyes, fully tapping into the Force. He could still see blinding white light, but now his adversaries were illuminated by a crimson hue. Standing up, Palpatine ran after Plagueis, hopping from pillar to pillar, all the while, deflecting blaster fire from the Training Remotes. The Apprentice leaped for his Master, kicking Plagueis's legs out from underneath him and causing him to fall from his pillar. One of the rising pillars struck Plagueis in the back of the leg as he fell, making him shriek. Sidious jumped from his pillar back to the center of the chamber, still deflecting blaster fire from the Remotes. Then, as if an alarm went off inside his own head, Sidious locked blades with a training droid wielding an Electrostaff. Three more of them appeared, outnumbering the young man.

The droids soon began to overwhelm Sidious, alongside the Remotes. Over and over, the Apprentice was struck either by a non-lethal blaster bolt, or one end of an Electrostaff in an open area in his defenses. After some time fighting back, Sidious was finally disarmed by the droids, and was now overrun on all sides. Reopening his eyes, Sidious screamed at the top of his lungs, thrusting both arms outward. Two massive waves of electricity sprung from his fingertips, burning all the droids to a crisp in a matter of seconds. This would continue until Sidious finally caved in, stopping his attack and collapsing to the ground, exhausted.

One by one, the now charred droids and Training Remotes collapsed, turning into a pile of ashes as they did so. Sidious shuddered, looking down at his fingertips, which now billowed smoke. Plagueis rose, walking towards his Apprentice. ''For a student that has never been taught how to conjure Sith Lightning before..            That was truly remarkable, Sidious.'' Plagueis admitted. Palpatine looked up at his Master, a look of surprise laced in his eyes. ''I didn't know I had this power in me, Master...     How do I control it!?'' Sidious asked. ''To conjure Force Lightning, one must be first struck by it, to feel it's pain before it can be inflicted upon others.'' Plagueis replied. ''Due to your high potential in the Force, coupled with the fact you have been struck by it once before, it's easy for you to unleash abilities like it at extremely dangerous levels...''

Sidious rose to his feet, now having fully regained his physical sight. ''Master, I have another question.'' He said. ''Go ahead, Apprentice.'' Plagueis said. ''I've studied the ancient texts before at Mount Rivan on Almas, and...              In them, I've read about Sith who have used an excessive amount of the Dark Side to the point where they no longer look human. In time, will my use of the Dark Side, coupled with my scars, change me into the kind of being these ancient Sith were?'' Plagueis pursed his ripped open lips together. ''That, I cannot answer just yet, Sidious. In time, perhaps your physical features will mirror that of Sith like King Ommin, Darth Sion, Darth Nihilus, and many, many others. But your abilities will have to grow in order to determine whether or not this will be the case...''

Just then, the door to the chamber opened. Sidious turned his head, seeing Sate Pestage standing in the doorway. ''Am I interrupting something?'' Sate asked. ''No, Sate Pestage.'' Plagueis replied. ''Sidious and I just finished our training session. What is it?'' He asked. ''Chancellor Kaj demands your presence, Lord Plagueis. Same with you, Lord Sidious.'' Sate replied. ''He wants to discuss the matter of the fortune House Palpatine had before you two slaughtered them all, and blamed their deaths on Shane Naberrie.''

65 BBY - Coruscant, Judiciary Centeral Detention Center

On Coruscant, the now young Senator Rhaenyra Naberrie would be inside a turbolift, heading further and further up the building to the prison block where her father, Shane, would be located. Ever since Shane Naberrie was framed for the assassination of House Palpatine on Naboo, and the burning of their mansion, Rhaenyra, alongside her close friend, Vidar Kim, had been trying to trace the real individual behind the death of the Palpatines. But no matter how hard she tried, she never could deduce the possible killer of the Royal House...        Until now, which was the reason Rhaenyra was going to visit her father in prison.

The door opened, and Rhaenyra was immediately greeted by two Senate Guards standing on a platform. ''Right this way, Senator Naberrie.'' One of the guards said, gesturing for Rhaenyra to step onto the platform. Rhaenyra did so, just as the turbolift door shut behind her. The platform began to move, with the other guard operating the control panel on the side. For a few minutes, the platform glided through the air, moving towards one of many prison cells that illuminated a golden hue. The platform stopped once it approached one of the cells, and Rhaenyra could see her father inside, lying on his back, trying to sleep. ''Leave us.'' She said, as the cell door opened and she stepped inside. In the back of her mind, she wasn't sure if she was ready to face her father in this dark time, but she told herself she had to. If she was to provide evidence that he was not responsible for the deaths of the Palpatines, she had to first tell him what she has for proof.

''Hello, father.'' Rhaenyra said. Shane turned over onto one side, locking eyes with Rhaenyra. ''My dear daughter, if you are here to break me out of this wretched place, it will not do anything to improve upon the sentence Chancellor Kaj has given me...'' Shane said, rolling back over. ''I'm not here to break you out, father..       At least not in the way you think.'' Rhaenyra replied. ''I think Vidar and I may have deduced who could have truly been responsible for the destruction of House Palpatine.'' She continued. That caught Shane's immediate attention, as he sat up and turned to face Rhaenyra. ''I'm listening.''

Rhaenyra took in a deep breath, before responding to her father. ''I think Sheev did it. I think Sheev is the one who murdered his own family.'' Rhaenyra said. Shane's jaw dropped, and a look of surprise came across his face. ''Impossible...      Why would young Palpatine commit manslaughter on his own blood relatives? I remember Senator Demask staying in that arena to comfort him after he killed Carson..'' ''That's the thing.'' Rhaenyra said. ''Sheev was never truly shaken up when he killed Carson.'' She continued, pulling a Holoprojector out from the pocket of her Senator garments. Turning it on, Rhaenyra showed her father the exact moment Shee killed Carson Damisch on Naboo months earlier. ''Notice how he isn't taken aback when he rips his knife out of Carson's throat.'' Rhaenyra said, pausing the Holoprojector at the moment where Carson's body collapsed. ''The slaughter of the Palpatines was a merciless act, father. Tell me, do you see any look of remorse on Sheev's face?''

Shane leaned forward, taking one, hard look at the Hologram. Finally, he spoke again. ''No, Rhaenyra...        I don't.'' He said. ''Precisely.'' Rhaenyra said. ''If he could kill Carson, a man who appeared to be a good friend of his, without remorse or hesitation, surely he did the same with his own family, right?'' Rhaenyra asked. ''I suppose Cosinga always spoke of Sheev as a failure in his own right..'' Shane replied. ''Now, let me ask you this.'' Rhaenyra said. ''Why didn't you call off the duel between Sheev and Carson when it was clear Carson bested his opponent right away?'' She asked. Shane let out a heavy sigh. ''Demask wouldn't let me call it off..       I remember him telling me the fight wouldn't end with a draw, or with Carson standing victorious, or with both of them walking out unscathed. When I asked what he thought would happen, he chose to let me see for myself..       Almost like he predicted Sheev would kill Carson.''

Rhaenyra smiled. ''Exactly. With all of this in mind, coupled with the fact it was Demask of all people that framed you for the assassination, and the number of absences Sheev has had in Senate meetings...        Who do you think he and Demask really are under the sugercoated identities of politicans?'' She asked. Shane adjusted his posture. ''I can't say, Rhaenyra. If the Jedi weren't so grounded in politics as they are now, maybe you could have presented this to them, but...         I suppose we may never know.'' Shane replied. ''Regardless, my dear daughter, there can only be one way you can set my case right and take them out of the picture..''

Rhaenyra's smile faded. ''And what do you propose in that case?'' She asked. Shane let out a breath, before speaking to Rhaenyra. ''You must hire the same class of assassins Demask said I hired to wipe out House Palpatine. Give them the objectives you seek, and have them search for as much evidence as possible that I'm not guilty of manslaughter. Have the assassins turn over Demask and Sheev to Chancellor Kaj, and if that can't happen...         Well, I'm sure you know what the second option for the assassins will be..'' Rhaenyra nodded slowly, looking down at the floor. Shane placed a hand on her shoulder. ''The second option will most likely have to be the one that happens, Rhaenyra. I know you love Sheev....       But trust me when I say he isn't the same young man that succeeded in every class in the Academy..         Nor do I think he ever was that individual to begin with.''

Rhaenyra nodded. ''I understand, father. I will tell Vidar what you told me, and we'll figure out if we're going to apprehend Sheev and Demask, or if we're gonna kill them.'' Rhaenyra said, turning to leave Shane's cell. ''Oh, and one more thing.'' Shane said, just before the cell door opened. Rhaenyra turned, locking eyes with her father. ''You don't have to enact this plan of yours today, Rhaenyra. Take your time. Make sure you have everything planned out. Then once the time comes, you can avenge Carson and put Sheev to justice.'' Rhaenyra nodded. ''Goodbye father.'' She said with tears in her eyes, before the cell door opened and the Senate Guards took her back to the turbolift where she came in.