A PURPOSE

'Listen.' Leena heard the voice again in her dreams.

But unlike before, she did not flinch. The noise in her head still hurts, it was a kind of pain she could never explain. It was like a drumbeat, a never-ending drumbeat – one, two, three, four – the drumbeat, the heartbeat, it was all the same for her.

'Listen.' The noise repeated. Leena's eyes remained closed as if she was meditating – with nothing surrounding her, and no other company but the noise.

She found herself in the middle of the darkness.

It was cold, no source of light or warmth – but it was there. The sounds of laughter and happiness, children running around, and slowly, she was starting to see a scene. She was unsure if this was a part of her forgotten memories, locked inside a safe deep inside her mind or if it's a vision granted to her by the Force.

Leena was standing inside of the stronghold living room. Still hearing those children giggling. It felt safe, it felt like home.

When the children appeared from her sight, they did not notice her or better yet – they couldn't see her. Hair as black as the night sky and one of them, the boy had grey eyes – the same eyes as hers. The difference was that the children had that happiness of a childhood she never had. The boy was older while the girl continued to chase him as they played.

'Be careful with your sister.' She heard a woman's soft voice. The Sith Lord turned around to find a different scenery. She could still hear the laughter of children and found three of them insight, and a woman who looked just like her.

Zylas was seated by the couch with her hand gently on her stomach, she was pregnant while watching three children playing on the floor just where she could see them. Two older boys and a little girl who was nothing more than a year old. She didn't have any problem with knowing which boy is which – the tallest was her brother Tyrral, Zylas's oldest son and supposedly heir. The smaller boy was her brother who did not survive the assault, Varan and then there was her – the toddler who was a year old.

Leena felt like she was dancing ghosts from her past. From ones who she had lost to the ones she had found, and to the ones who she cared for the most.

'Mother do you have to go?' Leena turned to find Zylas standing by the door with her armor on. Though her eyes were not as corrupted as the daughter thought she would be, they were the same shade of grey as they should be. Tyrral was standing in front of their mother, holding a stuffed toy as he looked up to her waiting for an answer.

The late Lord Sern smiled, as she crouched down in her son's level. Gently stroking his hair and answered: 'The Emperor has called for me, and I must answer.'

'To experience these simple pleasures again, would be worth anything.' Leena spun around to find Arrun standing right in front of her, with his corrupted yellow gaze just on her. It was like recreating the scene when they first went out within the woods of Dromand Kaas. 'And after a thousand years, Korriban was ours again for the taking. Remember this, Leena – when you feel anger in your every connection to the Force, then you will have discovered the dark side.'

'Someone once told me that… treachery is the Sith's endless game.' In front of Leena stood a Dark Lord of the Sith – Occlus. She remembered those words from so many years ago, Leena was nothing more than a mere apprentice. 'And he told me that I must win it, I pass that statement to you as well, Sern. You're still young and you will learn so much more and see what the galaxy has to offer you.'

She began to hear Tarun's kind and gentle voice. 'You must forget who you are, initiate. Abandon who you were, become the person who will embrace the ways of Revan – the ways of the light and the dark. For Leena Sern is a dark apprentice and that Leena Sern is dead.'

'I want to understand you, Leena.' She turned to see Vette standing before her with those sad eyes. 'I just… every time I try, I can't read your face anymore. I can't predict what you're thinking. You work for these… bad people but your actions speak differently.'

'What do you want?' Leena heard her voice as this time, she sees an image of her and Quinn from when they were on Nar Shaddaa. Her eyes were visibly yellow at the time – drowning herself from that corruption of hatred and power. She could feel it – the pull to the darkness.

'I want to see you succeed in your task, my Lord, and show the Empire that you are the way for greatness.' She recalled this conversation with her Captain. A man who chose to follow her after their initial success on Balmorra.

'Why?' She asked.

'You have a title, a legacy, a vision for a better Empire. But you have something more than that. You may cover it up and deny it my Lord, but I could tell that you have a gentle heart. You will not only be respected and feared, but you will also be loved.'

'You cannot do that!' Jaesa's voice rang through her ears as the Sith Lord could see the moment when Nomen Karr was finally at their disposal. 'The dark side will claim you if you kill me, please! Let me join you.'

'I am not my mother.' Her voice continued as the sight of her and Zabro was there in front of her like a scene from the HoloNet.

"We continue to wage war within you." Leena heard her voice. But this feeling, the sensation – it was the same feeling when she was back on Tatooine.

The Sith Lord found herself standing in the middle of the void once more. The embracing darkness that felt so welcoming and forgiving towards her for years. On one side stood the light and the other, dark. "For a moment there's this strong pull for you to embrace the dark side and the next, you will be pulled to embrace the light."

"What do you two want?"

"An answer." The light one answered.

"It won't be long until our Master betrays us. We linger in your thoughts, we feel your emotions, your constant pain, your endless paranoia." The dark one stood there. Having her body feel these things as long as the dark embrace them completely. "Your craving for vengeance and your will to survive. We fell all of them but of course, it is you who makes the ultimate decision."

"We form your bonds, we make them stronger, we store in the memories you wish to keep – all the sorrows, the happiness, the sadness, the warmth – all of it." Leena looked down on her feet as she continued to listen to both of them. "You have set your path to vengeance towards Baras but we could feel it inside of us. The conflict towards our brother, Tyrral."

"The brother who betrayed us abandoned us, failed us. You wish to kill him." The dark one was plaining evil notions in her head. These lingering thoughts, those noises in her head. "The boy who was meant to be Sith, the heir to our mother's legacy – he passed the suffering, the tournament onto us."

"We must not give in to temptation." The light argued. "The Force has great plans for us and we must follow the path. This is our destiny."

"You two should leave me alone."

"Then why do you fear the past?" Both of them spoke at the same time. Planting this feeling of coldness on her skin. Her heartbeat grew faster, she could feel the fright, the pain – it was all there. "Tell us, Leena Ziare Sern – do you know that the sins casts long shadows?"

Leena opened her eyes, surrounded by the ice and snow inside a cave in Hoth.

Leena made her choice.

If there's anyone who can bring change, it will be someone willing to sacrifice what they care for. Someone who can't sacrifice anything can never change anything, and upon a mountain of corpses – she stood there on top, alone.

The one who can go against a monster isn't another monster, but a devil.

She did what she thought was necessary but Vette never saw her be cruel.

They saw gangs killing innocents, Jedi and Republic troops killing Sith and Imperial soldiers, and vice versa. It was an endless cycle of death and war. They said that the Sith were evil but for her, the Jedi are no different from their counterparts.

The Twi'lek companion sighed – having her eyes by the entrance of the ship waiting for their Lord to come back in one piece and alive.

Vette knew that Leena had something more than a fancy title, she may cover it up and deny it but she does have a gentle heart. A woman who can not only be respected and feared but can be loved. Maybe for once, before everything was over – Vette just want to know what it was like to serve with pride. For someone, she believed in.

She's been by her side longer than any of them. She watches over her – and she already made her choice a long time ago. She could never abandon Leena.

She was worried.

The three of them were all worried.

It wasn't like her to go out on her own, even though she was fully capable of slaughtering a whole Republic army on her.

Quinn was quietly checking the medical supplies in the medical bay, as Jaesa quietly entered the room to find the Captain there with a datapad. He was always an odd man – he was calm, confident, dedicated when it came to their Lord. She still wasn't so comfortable fighting alongside with diehard Imperials, especially when Pierce came into Leena's service. But there was something about him that bothered her – this unwavering feeling from the moment she laid her eyes on him.

"Uhm… Captain?" Quinn stopped and turned around to meet those innocent pair of brown eyes. "I am… sorry to disturb you while on duty but I want to end this unsettling feeling and wish to ask you a question."

"What's on your mind?" In front of him was a child learning from a Sith Lord such as their Master. He was there when Leena allowed her apprentice to stay with the light, it was odd for a Sith Lord of her power and influence to have such a decision. But there they were.

He didn't need the Force to know that Jaesa's loyalty was not to the Empire, but rather to an individual. It wasn't so surprising, after all – he who once had his loyalty to Baras, a man who saved his military career now at the mercy of his apprentice. His new master.

"I see you looking at… my Master from time to time." She was young. The Jedi taught her well, observing her surroundings as much as she could. They both serve the same Sith Lord, after all, it was only natural that someone would notice. "I am… aware of your previous loyalty to Darth Baras and how you swore your allegiance to my Master but I must know. Who do you truly serve?"

Quinn never doubted that Vette already knew from the start, all the way back when they first met on Balmorra. For the young apprentice to be wary about him, she was learning. Despite leaning towards the light side of the Force, she was starting to understand how this painful game works. How it should be played.

She remembered the look on the Captain's face when he defended his actions and honored Leena's decision to go out alone. She wanted to know what made her win this Imperial Captain over against other Sith Lords across the galaxy. She wanted to know if his royalty truly belongs to their Lord and Master.

"Leena." He answered with no reservation, with no hesitation as he looked into her innocent brown eyes. "I serve Leena and no one else."

"You love her." The dedication he had was not like any other Imperial soldier towards their superior Sith Lord, but rather as a man to a woman. "Is that why you serve her?"

"When I was granted the reward to choose where I could have my next assignment for a successful mission on Balmorra, I choose to be in service to Leena Sern who was nothing more than an apprentice," Quinn placed down the datapad on the table as he turned his attention back to Jaesa. "Because I believed that serving her would be a great honor for a man of my talents. It first started as a boyish admiration, from a soldier to his superior and nothing more. And along with that feeling was also fear, to play along with Sith politics was suicide for Imperials but I still dared. I… reported to Darth Baras as instructed."

Jaesa remained quiet as Quinn told his story. She wanted to speak but her mind told her to listen longer and see what he had to say even more. "By Lord Sern's orders, I am nothing more than a pawn in a game. Even before I met her serving Baras himself was already suicide enough – but everything I did is for the Empire, and it was always for the Empire but now… Now that I serve her, everything I do now is for her."

"Why her?" The apprentice dared to ask. "Why is she worth all of this?"

"Do you believe in anything? Truly believe in anything?" His gaze suddenly became intense. Jaesa couldn't simply look away from his deep blue eyes. She asked herself if she truly believed in anything, as the young Alderaanian handmaiden, or as a Padawan of Master Karr. "Your Order? Your Masters? Destiny?"

She thought for a moment and gave him an answer. "No. I guess… I didn't."

"Neither did I." Jaesa was surprised by the response of the Captain. She didn't take him to be a man to share his emotions or his opinion that didn't revolve around work. "I always thought that being a good soldier meant following orders, following your Sith superiors, and nothing more. But then the incident on Drukenwell happened and years later, I met a girl who marched on a Republic base with a whole brigade of troopers and droids with a single lightsaber and no back up of any kind. When the day ended, I thought she must have already died out there – instead, I saw her. Leena Sern, alive and unhurt. My foolish emotions do not cloud my judgment towards her, I know my place, I speak my opinion when needed – I gave her my loyalty not because she's the apprentice of my previous Master, but rather she gave me a reason to believe in her. And believe in her I do. I vowed to serve her, obey her, and to die for her when need be."

Jaesa didn't know if she even knew a person who was as devoted to anyone as Quinn is to serving Leena. She understood why Vette stayed, the strong bond of sisterhood after all those years being together. But she and Quinn were the newest additions, and in a short period, a woman like Leena managed to have some sort of impact towards the two of them in less than a year.

He was ready to die for her, no matter the reason, no matter the method.

If they were truly Leena's loyal servants, they would do what needs to be done no matter what.

The Force has a plan, and they were part of it.