𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑾 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑨 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 (Incomplete)

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Vain walked over to the entrance as he opened the blast door with ease when calling upon the dark side of the force to give him his strength, he steps outside the Fortress looking out at the view in front of him that was Corvax Fen, a forest area of the planet that was home to a cult called the Alazmec of winsit. Vain walked away from the entrance of the Fortress closing the doorway that led into it before leaving the grounds of it. Vain enters Corvax Fen as he slowly walks through the forest with him caressing the irontrees as he walks by, he always admired these trees as they were one of the few plant life that Mustafar had to offer. The deeper Vain went into the forest he noticed a few irontrees that looked to hate been cut down with what looked like scorched marks on the bark, also he stumbled upon bodies of the cultists that inhabited Corvax along with some stormtroopers who were with the First Order. He kneels down, setting down his right knee down into the ground covered in many feet of ashes. Vain looked down at the dead body of one of the stormtroopers looking at the ashe covered helmet, he wipes away the ashes and looks at the broken stormtrooper helmet with the trooper's bashed up face inside with a surprised expression on his face hiding behind his expressionless helmet. But before he could sink this in he hears the voice of a woman coming from behind him along with the sound of a lightsaber as he feels the hot temperature from the blade that she had pointed toward the back of his head. She asks "Who are you?". He doesn't speak as he tries to figure out what to do in this moment whether he was going to fight his way out of this one or possibly try and talk it out with her. "I sense you are strong with the dark side, but who could you serve?" the mysterious woman asked, only after a few seconds of his silence she asked again demanding "Who do you serve?". This time Vain had spoken giving her an answer to her burning question "I would like to ask you the same. I serve my master... Palpatine".

[Empress Palpatine]

Seeing as the stranger didn't give him a direct answer, Rey was very tempted to just cut the man down now and move on. Luckily for him, he muttered a name that took her back a bit, stopping her from slashing the saber across his neck. "Palpatine?" Was all she responded with, taking a few moments to process this. 'A clone. Must be.' Was the first thing that her mind jumped to. Rey knew that Palpatine was the one responsible for Snoke and turning Ben Solo to the dark side. Also, based on his past actions, he seemed to be very strict in following the rule of two, so why would he be after Ben, herself, and whoever this was in front of her. "Lies. I am the only apprentice Palpatine was after." This wasn't the full truth, but factoring in Ren wasn't necessary right now. "Tell the truth or i'll strike you down now." She continued, moving the blade inches closer to the man.

Even if he was telling the truth, she didn't want to hear it because it made her feel like she was the second choice for her grandfather's apprentice. She was technically the third, but that was only because of choices her parents made, which was out of her control entirely, but this felt more personal than it ever did with Ren. Ren and her were a Dyad, which meant that Palpatine got as close as he could get to her without actually getting to her. This was just some random. "I am Empress Palpatine, ruler of the galaxy, granddaughter of Palpatine. I am the sith!" At this point she was really just trying to baffle the man so that he would tell the truth. Palpatine hadn't even mentioned him during the fight on Exogal, so how could he really be one of his apprentices. Well, in her mind, it was impossible and he had to have been some Sith poser.