White flashes, tinged with sapphire and ruby, turned the polished floor into a mirror full of light. The staccato hisses and cracks that accompanied the bursts of radiance resounded off the walls of the corridor and echoed in both directions, punctuating the constant hum of energy that droned underneath.
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, master of the Dark Side, moved without effort. The ruby blade of his lightsaber met the sapphire weapon of his opponent almost casually, catching it, batting it aside, dismissing it with flicks of his mechanical wrists and countering with simple thrusts that required nothing more than a single step forward. His stance was resolute; he never gave ground, only took it. Every step, an advance. Every strike, forward. Darth Vader was a bulwark, a fortress pushed forward by the raw power of the Dark Side of the Force itself.
But the lightsabers were merely a formality. Invisible to the mundane eyes that watched from nearby, the maelstrom of rage and hatred that was Darth Vader in the Force crashed against his opponent with all the strength of a supernova. The flickering blue-white flame in the Force that was Obi-wan Kenobi wavered with every strike.
This was the true battle. As Vader bent his will upon his old master he felt, through the Force, the path of the duel. Every part of it, from the words spoken at the start to the steps he was taking right now, was visible to him. And each time Obi-wan's presence trembled under the onslaught of Dark Side power that was Vader's to command, Vader saw with greater clarity the path the duel would take.
The lightsabers were for show. A salute, a reminder, a gesture of respect between two masters of the Force. Because they both knew that the duel would only end one way. With Darth Vader triumphant, standing over the body of his old master just as Obi-wan had stood over him on Mustafar.
But… why was Obi-wan smiling?
At the edge of his senses, Vader detected movement in the hangar nearby. The Force told him everything he needed to know. The prisoners had hesitated in their escape, watching, and the Force was full of fear. Fear for Obi-wan. They, like him, knew how this duel would end.
And yet, Obi-wan still smiled. It was as if he knew something, something Vader didn't, but Vader knew that that was impossible. Vader controlled the Force around them, and because of that he knew everything that mattered in that moment.
Obi-wan raised his lightsaber. The sapphire light shone around them, a beacon in the grey hallway and within the Force itself. And Vader knew that the moment had come. He stepped. He swung.
But Obi-wan's blade didn't move. As Vader's lightsaber connected with his old master's body, he realized in that instant that he had misread the Force.
No… Not misread… Obi-wan had hidden this from him.
This final moment, the true ending of the battle, Obi-wan had concealed within the Force. This was what Obi-wan had intended.
Vader's lightsaber passed through the Jedi Master's cloak but found no Jedi. The cloak crumpled to the floor, charred from the crimson blade's edge, but empty. Obi-wan was gone. In the Force, that blue-white flame that had been him had vanished. Obi-wan Kenobi was dead.
But somehow, this was exactly what the old Jedi had wanted.