Author's Note: So, I read Revan hoping for an epic tale about one of the best characters in the entire Star Wars universe. But, let's just say it: that was the worst ending. Ever. I practically screamed in agony. Please, review and tell me I'm wrong! Anyway, due to the horrible ending, I have decided to write my own tale of Revan's grandeur, but with a few changes. Please enjoy!

Act I: Malachor V

It was impossible to leave the past behind. Even when that past had been erased.

The past came back to haunt Revan when her fingers deftly entered hyperspace coordinates she couldn't remember ever seeing, nonetheless entering, in her life. It haunted her when her feet followed familiar paths on planets she didn't remember ever visiting. It haunted her when her brain translated languages she couldn't remember learning. It haunted her when people that she didn't know nodded in recognition when they passed her. It haunted her in her dreams, waking and sleeping, when all she could think of was Carth. She was starting to go a little crazy.

It had been months since Revan had left him standing in the docking bay on Telos, where she had boarded the Ebon Hawk and left to find the evil that plagued her nightmares and the galaxy. She closed her eyes, remembering his solemn gaze as she mournfully ascended the ramp and the tears that their parting had brought to her eyes. Revan had betrayed him again, leaving him behind, perhaps forever. No words had been spoken in their last embrace, but they both realized it might be the last embrace they ever shared. But, she needed to find this evil, if only to protect him.

The only companions she had brought with her were T3-M4, her faithful mechanic droid, and HK-47, her assassin droid and one of her best friends, if a droid could be considered a friend. For some reason, his cynical comments always made her smile, especially when he called the idiots they encountered on their journey "meatbags." The rest of her friends, Jolee, Juhani, Canderous, Mission, Zalbaar, and Bastila, had no idea where she was going. However, Revan knew Bastila had ordered T3-M4 to keep an eye on her, and most likely to get help if she got in trouble, which she probably would. Eventually.

She had left Telos and immediately sought the Mandalorians. Even though they distrusted outsiders, especially the Jedi, she had had a hunch that they knew something about the threat, the Sith, that no one else knew, something that had caused them to attack the Republic. And she had been right. After months proving herself worthy, she had met with Mandalore the Ultimate's son. He had told her all the events leading up to the Mandalorian War, including how his father had left for one of the systems beyond Mandalorian space. Thus, her wild chase around the galaxy had begun.

On the last world she had visited, some Weequay pirates had informed her that Darth Revan, her former identity, often traveled to a remote planet in an Unknown System. They had no other information than that, not even the name of the planet. Just as she was about to leave for one of several systems, an old, decaying, mute Weequay had approached her. He had drawn her a picture of a small world, smaller than some moons, that was dark and foreboding. She had known the planet immediately: Malachor V.

"Malachor V is where Revan went?" she asked.

The elder had nodded, understanding despite his fragmented verbal skills.

Revan had then bowed respectfully. "Thank you, my friend. I shall never forget your kindness."

He stared after the mysterious Jedi as she returned to her ship. And now, the Jedi stood on the desolate, dark surface of the choked planet of Malachor V. Revan had no idea what evil could still be on Malachor V. Certainly the ancient Sith, which she believed was the evil, wouldn't be living in the forsaken graveyard. The surface of the planet had been virtually destroyed in one of the last battles of the war. And it had been her fault. Revan hadn't realized how…evil she had been. From her understanding, it had been a brilliant, if not a cold and calculating tactical move that had all but eliminated her enemies, both Mandalorian and Republic. After that, the planet had been avoided. Whatever had been here, Sith or something else, it was probably gone.

Malachor V was a physical embodiment of the Dark Side. Even if there was nothing here now, she could understand how servants of the Dark Side, such as the Sith, would want to live here. When she had landed on the surface, every step had become an effort. The gravity here was stronger than on any other planet she had visited. She had climbed up some fallen rocks, and now she stood, surveying the landscape. The land was broken, cut by jagged, deep ravines and cracks that glowed from the planet's core. Unnatural, twisting rocks rose like spires into the sky. The entire land glowed eerily, giving it a dark beauty. Looking out upon it, Revan knew that the evil she sought was not here. But something in her mind told her to stay, at least for a while.

"Inquiry: Master, why are we here?" HK asked from behind her, interrupting her thoughts. "The meatbags on the last planet informed us that our current destination is in the Unknown Systems."

"I know, HK," Revan turned around, her robes twirling around her. "But, there is something here."

"Cynical Response: Very well, Master. If you insist."

Revan smiled, but she didn't respond to his hidden taunt. He had gotten better at goading people into attacking, and had been practicing on her. She knew he wanted to fight, not search the entire galaxy for some nameless thing. In truth, she didn't want to be questing, either, but…

Jumping down nimbly from her perch, she began wandering, as she usually did on the planets she visited. Revan often found that her feet were better guides than the maps stored in HK's newly reactivated memory. She weaved deftly through the maze of rock pillars, ignoring the spirits and fades of those who had died here. As much as their silent screams of agony tore at her heart, for their deaths had been her fault, she knew that she could do nothing for them. They were just echoes now, an imprint caused by the wound in the Force. The beasts that lived on Malachor V, man-sized reptilians bred by the Dark Side, slithered into the shadows at her approach, though she could feel their hostility, and their fear of her, affirming the fact that she had been here before. Otherwise, they would have attacked her on sight.

After she and HK had wandered for a time, she came upon a cave leading down into the depths of the planet. Something inside called to her, beckoning her. Without hesitation, Revan entered the mouth of the cave and continued walking with HK clanking behind. Revan had no fear of the cave or whatever lurked inside: she had once faced two terentateks alone and survived. What was there to be afraid of in a crumbling cave on a graveyard planet? Not that it made a difference: she knew she could be beat. But at least the odds were in her favor…right? The cave grew darker the deeper they descended, lit only by the glowing, green fissures in the ground. After they had stumbled along for a time, they arrived at an impediment, the sunken remains of some great machine. Revan immediately knew it was the Mass Shadow Generator, the device that had practically ended the Mandalorian War. It shone with the eerie green light of the planet's core and radiated with a malevolent energy. Years after the last battle, the Battle of Malachor V, the machine was still clean and burnished, but, as impeccably immaculate as it still was after all these years, the buried monstrosity had the appearance of some ancient artifact of a long-forgotten time.

At an impulse, Revan bravely approached the contraption and touched the cold metal. The scenery flickered slightly, and ghostly apparitions appeared, shades of the past that had left an imprint on the Force, just like the dying specters that she had passed in the maze of paths. This, however, were more like a vision, a recording of the past. She saw the cave as it was before the war: still dark, but sturdy and whole, and fully illuminated by artificial light. A Zabrak engineer leaned over the control panel nearby, entering the last commands that would awaken his horrible masterpiece. He was completely absorbed in his work when a figure silently approached him and his machine. The figure was clothed in a dark robe and was wearing the mask of a fallen Mandalorian woman: Darth Revan, herself as she had once been. Revan could still feel the remnants of her former power swirling in the air as she watched the scene, a silent, invisible observer. The Zabrak stood, wiping the sweat off his brow, and upon turning to leave, stumbled back in surprise at the sight of the masked figure.

"General Revan!" he cried and saluted her former self.

Her specter strode silently forward and touched the machine gently, almost lovingly, inches away from the actual Revan. "When will it be ready, Bao-Dur?"

"Give it a day or two to warm up, and it should work perfectly, General," Bao-Dur proclaimed proudly.

She nodded in approval and said, "Good work, Lieutenant."

Bao-Dur grinned slightly, and after a pause, probed, "May I ask how my other work is? Does it meet your expectations?"

"I'm alive right now, am I not, lieutenant? That means it has met my expectations," the shade Revan reposted. She pulled her hand away from the machine and twisted to face the Zabrak. "Now, I shall leave you to your work. I have much to do as well."

"Very good, ma'am," he saluted her again.

Then, with a sudden abruptness, the vision ended, and the cave became torn and fractured once again. So, she thought to herself, I had two things built here, not just one. Interesting.

"Query: Master, are you all right?" HK asked from behind her.

"Yeah," she responded at length. "Let's…just keep moving."

"Inquiry: Master, were you thinking of that meatbag Carth again?"

Revan grimaced. "Well, now I am. Thanks, HK. I was almost done crying. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I'll go find a nice, dark corner to die in."

"Sarcasm: Ha, ha, ha, Master. Very funny. Now, are we done on this depressing planet? I want to kill something."

She sighed, knowing that he was probably right, and that whatever she had had built was probably buried under several tons of rock and gravity. But her feet told a different story. They itched to retrace well-worn paths. So, since she really had nothing better to do, she allowed them to wander. They led her out of the cave and back into the maze of paths, along a different path. And then, something totally unexpected happened: Revan rounded a corner and was startled to find a man meditating in a little clearing, with the rock faces forming a natural, circular barrier cut only by a myriad of different paths. He was facing away from her, his stance peaceful, but his appearance told a different story. His body was broken, seeming to be sewn together haphazardly, and his face was craggily and scarred. His dark aura was overpowering, almost as if he was the Dark Side. He noticed her at the same time as she noticed him. He turned to look at her with his one good eye, and, after a glimmer of unbridled surprise flickered across his face, sped wordlessly off down a path, supplementing his speed with the Force. It was a common skill that many Jedi used, including Revan. Her eyebrows arched in shock at the strange encounter, and then, perhaps foolishly, she sped off after him. Poor HK-47 was left in the clearing.

He pressed a button on his left arm, which opened a hologram of T3. "Report: T3-M4, we have a problem."

"Beep-beep boop?" the mechanical droid asked.

"Explanation: Revan has run off after some…zombie meatbag," HK informed his partner.

Meanwhile, the prodigal knight was chasing after the strange, powerful Sith. At least, she assumed he was a Sith, though not the kind she was looking for. He rounded a corner, into yet another clearing, and, with one powerful burst of Force, vanished down one of several paths. Revan came to a screeching stop, knowing that she had lost him. But, that was okay because something in this particular clearing called to her, like the Mass Shadow Generator had. Something was buried here. She scanned the area and spotted a heap of rubble near one of the walls. With a wave of her hand, she moved the rocks away and revealed a small cave passage. Exhausted and breathing hard, with loose strands of hair draping over her face, she entered the passage.

The tunnel was darker than the first, so Revan drew her lightsaber, lighting the entire complex. The tunnel led sharply down and curved to the right, which meant that it led right under the clearing. She descended, curious, only to find a barrier of impenetrable darkness. Mechanically, Revan reached to her left for a light switch. She didn't expect to find one, but, surprisingly, there was a button wired into the rock wall. She grimaced at the conveniently placed button, but pushed it anyway. Immediately, the chamber lit up, and, sitting in the middle of the chamber, completely intact, was a small, shiny ship.

But the ship was unlike any other ship Revan had ever seen. It was small, meant to only hold one, maybe two people, but it was outfitted with a hyperdrive. The exoskeleton was built of a heavier metal than that commonly used for hulls, and the shape was designed to withstand heavy impacts. In the bottom of the ship was a storage compartment, possibly to hold spare parts. It had no turrets, either. The ship seemed to have been made for one purpose: to crash.

Partly out of habit, but mostly out of curiosity, she walked up to the ship and touched the cold metal. Apparitions appeared: yet another Force vision. Darth Revan was starting up the ship when a woman appeared, out of breath, at the tunnel. She was dressed as a Jedi, and was most likely a Revanchist, assigned to the unfortunate post on Malachor V.

"Revan!" the Jedi gasped.

Darth Revan raised her head, taken aback that she had been interrupted. "What now?"

The Jedi inhaled deeply, and then said, "Bao-Dur said you were coming here. I…do you want me to inform Malak that you are leaving?"

"No!" Revan snapped. "What is it you want, General?"

The Jedi looked up into the darkened mask. "Your droid has returned. He said his mission had been completed, and he demanded to be taken to you."

Revan unconsciously drummed her fingers on the controls. "Hmm…I will attend to him when I get back. Have him wait at the base."

"Why not just take him with you?" the woman wondered.

She imagined that her former self quietly laughed at this. "Machines do not work where I go, General."

The Jedi nodded in understanding, saluted, and then left. Darth Revan turned back to the controls, and then…the vision ended. Well, now Revan knew that this where she parted with her companions. She didn't want to leave HK and T3, but it seemed that she didn't really have a choice. Something told her that she needed to go to this new world, whatever it was. So, she clamored into the old ship and took a seat in the cockpit.

Revan looked for the ignition, but there was none. There wasn't any visible way to start the engines. Then, she realized that the ship had been specifically designed for her. Smiling, she extended her hand and tapped into the Force. Immediately, the engines began to thrum. She then used the Force to open the doors, or rather, the ceiling. After these two tasks had been accomplished, she checked the hyperspace coordinates. As she had suspected, coordinates had already been entered. Actually, it seemed that the computer could only recognize those coordinates. She set the course, and then sat back. Even though her droids would know she had left, she needed closure. She accessed her communicator.

"Greeting: Master, is that you? I am very distraught at having been left behind," HK answered. "Did you catch the zombie meatbag?"

Revan smiled sadly. "No, HK. I didn't."

"Question: Then, where are you, Master?"

"Well," Revan started, "I'm…leaving."

"Incomprehension: 'Leaving', Master?"

"I am going to another planet, HK, and you can't follow," she explained.

"Inquiry: Why not?"

"You won't work, where I'm going. I'm doing this to protect you and T3. HK, do me one favor?"

"Assent: Of course, Master. Anything your squishy, meatbag heart desires. Unless, of course, you want me to be like that droid on Dantooine. Then I am drawing the line," HK responded flatly.

Revan cracked a smile despite herself. "Tell Carth…tell him to wait for me, and that I will return to him one day."

"Remark: That…" HK began, then paused. "Revision: No, I am not going to go there. I will deliver your message. But I do not understand: why are you going to this world without any assistance? The wench Bastila would not be happy."

"Bye, HK," Revan said, a final farewell, and ended the transmission.

The ship was rising over the scarred surface of Malachor V now. Revan looked down out of the cockpit window and got the strange feeling that she would never return to the planet again.

Back on the surface, HK-47 looked at his droid companion as their sensors indicated that something, notably Revan, had left the planet's surface.

"Profanity: Oh schist," HK announced.

"Boop boop-beep," T3-M4 agreed.

As soon as she came out of hyperspace, she was overwhelmed by the power the planet possessed. It wasn't the Dark Side; Malachor V stank of Dark Side, and this did not feel like Malachor V. But, the power felt…malicious. Tempting. Dangerously alluring.

The planet, looking down upon its serene surface, seemed to be similar to Naboo or Kashyyyk: no giant cities sprawled endlessly across its surface, no chasms led deep into the planet's core, and no spewing volcanoes or barren, rocky landscapes made it nearly impossible to live on. In fact, the world seemed quite pleasant, with its green and yellow plains and deep blue oceans. She felt inexplicably drawn to the planet, despite its obvious primitiveness. There were no docking stations or major establishments her instruments could detect. So, she set a course to land in the ocean east of one of the continents.

The ship entered the upper atmosphere, and tongues of fiery heat began to stream off of its surface. It was then that the alarms began to go off. The ship's computers reported that the systems were starting to fail, and, with each moment that passed, the screen flickered more and more until it just went black. Well, that explains what happens to machines here, Revan thought as her ship plummeted to the surface. She didn't panic; one of the reasons she had set a course for the ocean was in case something like this happened. So, as was her nature, she sat back in her seat and waited for the inevitable impact.

Or, at least, that was what she had intended to do. The ground was still an indistinct, green and blue canvas when her ship was hit from the side. The ship rolled to the left, knocking her off course. But, it hadn't been another ship that had fired at her. That was what worried her the most. Revan liked to know what was attacking her.

As though it had heard her silent wish, the aggressor began mauling the sides of the craft, like a young bird trying to pry open the shell of a mollusk. She was almost powerless to stop the thing, but she tried to draw her lightsaber anyway. The…thing finally pierced the sides of her ship. Using its claws, it tore four, long gashes in the siding, decompressing the cabin. Fortunately they were low enough now that Revan's brain didn't explode from the sudden change in pressure. The monster expanded the wound enough to look inside. It was reptilian in nature, with hard, dry scales, a long snout, and a multitude of spikes and spines growing like tree limbs from its crown and backbone.

It saw her, and mentally screamed, "Threat! Must…kill…threat! Must…kill…you!"

Finally, after much fumbling, Revan managed to wrestle out her lightsaber and activate it. The blade of pure energy vibrated to life, lighting up the entire chamber. The monster took a swipe at her inside the cockpit, but Revan pressed herself against the controls and swung at its forepaw. The blade made contact with flesh, and wisps of smoke arose. But the blade didn't sever the limb; the monster's scales were thick, maybe even heat-resistant. Revan cursed silently as she realized she would have to draw her other sword, Naga Sadow's Poison Blade. It was the best blade she had ever found that wasn't a lightsaber; perhaps it would be able to pierce the impenetrable armor of the beast.

The monster then realized that the gash it had created wasn't large enough to attack efficiently through, especially since it was allowing Revan to dodge its attacks. So, it proceeded to completely rip her ship apart. As Revan dived for her pack, her bag containing pretty much every useful thing she could carry, including the Poison Blade, the beast tore off huge chunks of her ship and flung them away, scattering them in the atmosphere. Most would melt and disintegrate before they reached the planet's surface. The moment Revan had managed to grasp her sword, the monster had decided that it had inflicted enough damage on the insignificant ship, which meant that there wasn't much left of Revan's craft. She faced the monster and finally saw what it really looked like: a giant, proud reptile with wings, heavy armor plates, an elongated neck and tail, and a soft, vulnerable underbelly.

They had reached terminal velocity, spiraling through the air. The beast, instinctively knowing this, began beating its huge, membranous wings to slow their descent, but the rest of its attention was fixed on her. It began a ferocious assault on her, using its claws and teeth. Luckily, Revan was practically a master with swords and was able to easily deflect its attacks. The monster noticed this and decided to try a different approach. It opened its mouth, as if about to snap at her, but breathed fire instead. Revan's skin began to blister from the intense heat. Gritting her teeth, Revan erected a Force Shield to negate the flames.

And so, realizing that fire was useless against her, it began another furious onslaught, this time even more ferocious. Revan was put on the defensive, though she kept looking for any opening to strike. The ground was getting closer now, and large features were coming into view. Trees began to take shape. Both knew there wasn't much time before they crashed. Revan abandoned her ship and began freefalling, hoping to angle herself to land on the beast's belly. Suddenly, her vision swam and sharp, excruciating pain went up her back. She screamed; the monster, in an act of desperation, had used its tail as a club and tried to paralyze her. Though the pain was more intense than anything Revan had ever felt, and she could feel blood dripping down her back, she still had feeling in her lower body. But its blow had given her enough of a push that she was practically on the monster's stomach. She raised the Poison Blade, and, with what was left of her strength, drove it into the beast's body.

The monster roared in anguish. It was dying, and it had failed to kill her. With what remained of its strength, it took one, final, wild blow…and connected. Its claws raked over her face, the blood and pain blinding her. They screamed in unison from agony as they fell. The monster, reinvigorated by its success, bent its neck toward her, perhaps hoping for one more chance to burn her to a crisp. Revan recalled her Jedi training; she had once learned how to sense objects without seeing them. She now could sense the beast's head as it moved toward her, and in one sweeping motion, pulled her sword out of the beast's stomach and thrust it through the bottom of its head.

Revan heard the beast hiss slightly as the blood filled its mouth. The beast gave one, giant shudder, and died. Revan fell to her knees upon the beast, blood soaking her skin and clothes, sword still in hand. She realized the ground was fast approaching, so she again thrust her sword in the monster's stomach and held on for her life. She knew that the collision might kill her, or, at least, severely injure her. She gripped the sword tighter and thought of Carth. He gave her the will to live, no matter what happened. And then, they hit the ground, and Revan was thrown into darkness.