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He falls to kneel before me, and I can't help but sneer slightly. I don't say anything yet though. I simply pace around him in circles. For several minutes I let him sweat behind that horrid mask he made.
“Why have you returned?” I finally ask on the sixth or seventh rotation. A slight pause, “Do you have the lightsaber of Skywalker?”
After a moment of hesitation, “No, my Master.”
I raise an eyebrow, “Are you trying to rise above your station, my friend?” I stop, and stand facing away from him, “I am not your master, for you have yet to prove yourself worthy of any title more prestigious than what your little children's club can confer, Kylo Ren.”
“I apologise, my... Lord Snoke. It was not my intention to suggest as such.”
I gently spin around and grab his chin to force his face up so I can stare deep into his mask. I think that I see... something in his eyes. It gives me some hope that this meeting is not a wasted one.
“Yes,” I purr “Yes it was dear Kylo. But I forgive you... this time. Such ambition is not an unappealing trait after all, but perhaps not quite so brazenly in the future, yes?”
I let go of his chin and he immediately drops his head back into a position of supplication; I tut slightly. Apparently he hasn't really learned today's lesson after all. I resume my circular pacing.
“So, Kylo. Where is the lightsaber?”
“Several members of the Resistance, including a traitor from within my own ranks, fled the planet with the droid still in their possession. I know not to where they traveled.”
I close my eyes as I continue my walking. First simply to better hear concentrate on what Kylo was saying, but then to let the Force flow fully into me. My pacing hitches slightly as I do so. It feels different than it has for... a very long time. I frown. The future has not been this unsure for many, many years, not since my old apprentice had drowned the force in his clumsy cloud to deceive the Jedi.
It's not important now, I remind myself. For now I see what I can. Flashes come to me. A snow-covered forest. Kylo preparing for battle. Some man holding... I smile the lightsaber. Blazing brilliantly blue in the darkness, it illuminates his face, anger readily apparent.
I reach out a hand and lightly trail my fingers along Kylo's shoulders as I pace. After a second I speak, “Kylo... do you know why the Sith take on new titles upon their ascension?”
He is most definitely taken aback at this. “No, sir,” he eventually says.
“It is a symbol. Upon taking the name we become more than we were before. Which inspires more awe, Snoke or Darth Plagueis? Rain or Darth Zannah? Long after his death, Darth Revan lives on, even though his birth-name has long since been lost to history.” I pause for effect, “I tell you this for a reason, my friend. You are not Sith yet because you do not see beyond the now. You see the small amount of power your knight-friends have; you see the power you have; you see the power I have, but beyond that? Yes you see the power Skywalker, ” I spit out the pretender's name, “had, but to history he was nothing. People know him now, but thirty years from now? One hundred? A thousand? He is no Bane, no Revan.
“If you ever become Sith, you must understand those that came before, and you must make sure that those that succeed you in the line of Sith feel your power centuries later. Why do you think I still live? Because my previous apprentice was not true Sith. He too saw only the immediate, he did not ensure his blade struck true enough to fell me,” and here I run a finger down the mass of scars on my face. “He founded an Empire, yes, but it lasted barely two decades, and will soon be forgotten. He was blind to the future and ignorant of the past.”
“I myself have looked deeply into the future, and I have seen where the lightsaber shall be. You must go to Takodana, in the Endor System. It is there that you will find the rebels who have taken the weapon.” Somehow he manages to bow even lower at his new instructions.
“Yes, my Mas–”
I tut again, “Kylo.” I warn.
“I meant, 'Yes, Lord Snoke.'”
He gets up, and turns to leave, but I put my hand fully on his shoulder to stop him, “Kylo. Do this, and I will reconsider granting you the apprenticeship you desire, I promise. Know though, Darth Plagueis does not appreciate failure. If the lightsaber is not in your hands when you return, you will never become Sith, even if it means the line dies with me,” I let the lie slide out easily, no need to inform him of all my plans after all.
Again that slight hesitation before he answers, “Yes, Lord Snoke,” and then he surprises me. He crosses his arms over his chest and then bows in an old gesture – an ancient gesture really – used by the Sith of Bane's time to swear fealty to their masters. I do not reprimand him for this though for I'm entirely too caught of guard by the act to do anything but fight to keep my composure.
“You may go.” I finally say.
He nods slightly and leaves my chambers. My mind is currently reeling. Where had he learned that? As far as I knew there were no holocrons that held that knowledge. Nor did any textual records of that time period still exist, any copies that might have existed having been destroyed in the purge of the Courscanti Jedi Temple. I myself only learned of the gesture after conversing with the spirit of Darth Bane himself on Moraband during my long exile.
Perhaps Kylo Ren was craftier than I had ever suspected. Perhaps I had been wrong – loathe as I normally was to admit to such – perhaps he did have a greater appreciation for the past than I had suspected. And for the first time upon thinking of the young man I'd met all those years ago, I let a smile crawl onto my lips. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless.
And I don't do anything to try to slow the creeping laughter that crawls up and out of my throat, and soon echoes off the walls. Some, perhaps most even, would consider it to be a horrid sound, I've been told as much before, more than a century ago. When one is a Dark Lord of the Sith, such things tend to go unmentioned.
Eventually though, my cackles slow, and then peter completely out as my mind turns to a new topic.
Kylo Ren. No, no. That's no good.
Darth Bane. Darth Revan. Darth Ruin. Those are all good names. All strong Sith names.
Now I think that perhaps it's time to add another to their number. I must start thinking of something more appropriate for my new apprentice. Perhaps something about deception...