A/N: Get ready for a tear-jerker. This epilogue shows how the Chosen all died. Although, if you guys have any more questions, feel free to PM me, and if its a good question, I'll probably add a Part III to the epilogue.
I actually almost cried writing this, but that's what I was going for. This is no happy ending, just a recount of the end.
It's been fun, folks.
I've finished my sandcastle, GL!
A soft pulsing light glowed at the edge of Vera's vision, so soft she never would have noticed it with her helmet. As her eyes adjusted, the light gre stronger. She took a step towards it, carefully feeling her way to it.
It outlined a door, but as Vera ran her hands over it, she realized there wasn't a handle. She grimaced, knowing she'd have to break the door down, and that was impossible.
"Oh, don't worry, it's not impossible." A voice, with a slight coruscanti accent broke into her thoughts, and she whipped around to see a Force Ghost. She'd heard of them, of course, and one or two had visited before, but they were just Jedi, and hadn't been anyone important.
She'd never seen this Ghost before. She studied him, and his blue-grey eyes twinkled as he ran his hand over his ginger beard. Or she figured it was ginger, really, because it was hard to tell with the blue aura around him. She cautiously asked, "And you are?"
He smiled, and answered, "I am Grandmaster Obi-wan Kenobi of the Jedi Order. I chose to guard my students' tombs, because I looked after them in life, why not death? I wasn't one of the Chosen, and I can feel their presences in there."
Vera bowed in respect to one of the greatest Jedi in the galaxy's history. She had heard of him; who hadn't? Elected by the Force itself, speaking through Likala again, to lead the once powerful Jedi Order. He had trained Likala, although within a year, she rejected the Jedi teachings, focusing instead on their power. He had trained Anakin, who had tipped the balance of the Force, giving it enough energy, between him, Likala, and the Force, to rip the Force-sensitivity from Sidious. Obi-wan had even defeated Maul, the first time, and when Maul came back, Likala killed him, but gave the credit to her Master.
He changed the Code, letting Jedi form attachments, and he brought Asajj Ventress back to the Light. His accomplishments were endless. Vera asked quietly, "How can I get in there? There is no handle, and there is no way I can move that, the edges are almost seamless."
He smiled, "Use the Force. Reach out with your mind, and the Force will answer. If you do not figure out the way in, well, I cannot help, although I can guide you out."
Vera nodded, and sat down, focusing on the wall.
CRACK.
The stone shifted and rumbled, and Vera smiled as it rolled away from the door after so many hours of concentrating. The light shone from a blue suit of armor, glowing and pulsing. She carefully made her way across the musty cave, and realised the armor had an arm wrapping around it.
It was a statue. A woman, her stone, marble, eyes cold and unseeing, although in the tilt of her brow, and the carved quirk of her mouth, Vera could see herself.
For a second, a vision flashed before her eyes, of an old woman in the arms of a man, both their bodies scarred, although they smiled sad smiles.
"It's time, F'ika." the woman smiled up at her husband, and he gently pushed a strand of silver hair away from her face.
"I know. Still, after hundreds of years, I still feel like there's more to do. Although, I want to see my brothers again. Rex and Cody are already gone, along with Echo."
The woman nodded, "We are the last of the Chosen. And we will still accomplish more, even in death. You heard what the Force said. And I'm ready."
The man nodded, and Vera caught sight of a '5' tatooed on his brow. He leaned down, and said quietly, "But before we die..." And as he trailed off, he leaned down and kissed the old woman, kissing her for the last time possible. She smiled up at them, and as the sun set, their bodies disappeared, leaving only two sets of armor.
Vera choked back tears as the scene ended, and she knelt down to the chest in front of the lovers' statues. In fact, as she looked around, several other people had arms around each other, including a tall man with a prosthetic right hand, and a woman with a fancy headdress. A togruta stood with her arm wrapped around a man in blue armor, and he held a helmet, painted with jaig eyes, in the hand that wasn't wrapped around the togruta.
As Vera watched them, another vision sprang into being, this time of a man and the togruta surrounded by people with red sabers.
"C'mon Rex, we can do this!" The togruta parried a blow, and struck out at one of the Sith, catching his neck, killing him instantly.
The man tossed a detonator, and it slammed into the Sith, killing two more. The Dark Siders hissed, and then the three remaining struck out with lightning, dealing fatal blows to the Jedi Master. The togruta sent out a massive Force wave as she died, slamming the Sith into the surrounding walls, the concussive force killing them, and sending rumbles through the ground, and stopping the man from being executed.
He let out a yell of complete despair, and cradled her head as she gave her final breath, tears streaming down his face.
Time passed and the shadows stretched, and the man worked tirelessly, digging a grave, even as the skin on his hands split and blood stained the rock he was using to dig. He was numb, and his face was emotionless, his grief seemingly beyond tears.
As he finally covered her body, more Sith appeared, and one snuck up behind him, and stabbed him in the heart, getting revenge for the other dead Darksiders.
And he died next to her.
As Vera turned to the next statue, a woman standing alone, with blue painted eyes, and a gentle look, she was assaulted by yet another heart wrenching vision.
"Kaitlyn, we have to evacuate. Go! I'll do what I can here. I'm already infected." An older woman was talking to the grey haired woman from her first vision, except the first woman's hair was brown, streaked with white, and there were fewer scars. Her face was taut with pain, and she nodded, "Someday, we'll meet again, my old friend."
The blonde lady nodded, "I promise, Katie."
The man with the '5' growled, "Grace, ease their suffering. These soldiers fought for the Republic, and they shouldn't suffer."
Grace nodded, "I agree, Fives." As she moved to turn off the comm she said, "Long live the Jedi. Long live the Chosen. Long live the Force. Long live the Republic." She shut it off, and returned to the medical center. Soldiers, lay on biobeds, too weak to move, barely strong enough to blink. One in particular struggled to get up when he saw her, and growled, "Gr'ika, why are you still here? Leave us, before you get infe-." He shuddered with coughs, breaking off. A monitor beeped somewhere where a soldier had flatlined, and coughing could be heard echoing down the darkened halls.
The blonde woman whispered, "Our daughters are away, and safe, and I... I'm already infected, Kix."
The man's eyes went wide, but before he could say anything, he was wracked by more coughs. She ran her hand over his forehead, kissed him, and whispered, "I'm sorry."
He nodded, and leaned back, defeat dulling his honey brown eyes, and he turned his head to her. Vera realised the virus, whatever it was must be fast acting, because his strength was visibly fading. He wheezed, "Grace, I.. I...love..." But before he could finish, his strength gave out, and he fell unconscious, his eyes fluttering shut.
The blonde woman trembled, and whispered, "I know, ner cyar'ika."
She walked away to go tend to her other patients, working tirelessly, but at one point she collapsed, and as she struggled to get up, she dragged herself to Kix's biobed. He opened his eyes, and there was so much emotion brimming in them, the blonde woman gasped out with her dying breath, "Kix.. I love you..." As she died, the sharp shrill of the heart rate monitor next to the former medic gave a slow steady scream.
Vera shuddered. By far, that was the saddest of them all, fighting something invisible, untouchable.
She warily turned to the last statue, and her last vision was short, a glimpse of a silver ship, and flames, then other ships, fighters, streaking away from a column of smoke clawing its way out of a jungle canopy.
She sighed in relief, and then looked around, her gaze falling on the armor, a predatory smile lighting up her face.
Blue and red sabers clashed, and a black one joined the deadly dance of death. The Saber of the First Chosen, and a darksaberr fought against the Emperor's red blade. The blue pulsing armor led the battle, the Rebels following the glow of armor. The Emperor was no old man like Sidious; he was young and strong, full of anger and hatred.
His long blonde hair whipped in the wind, and he faced Vera. The blue armor was scuffed, but the blue and white paint was visible under the dusty scars and memories of campaigns recent and ancient.
Vera parried another blow, and feinted, drawing her sabers towards his legs, then cutting off with one to aim for his head. He could only block one, and the blue lightsaber hissed as it cut through tissue and bone, cauterizing blood vessels.
He screamed, and the surrounding death troopers started to retreat. The Rebels let out a cheer, and gave chase, rapidly downing the fleeing Imperials.
Vera stood over her fallen enemy and growled, "Where are the Jedi?"
The Sith growled, "The beginning, that's all my Master told me."
Vera stabbed downwards, ending his whimpering, and sat down to meditate.
Vera stood on Coruscant, reveling in victory. The great Temple had remained untouched, for fear of antagonizing the already strong dissidents and Rebels that the Empire could never catch. The Jedi stood around her, returned from Tython, rejoicing in the fall of the Sith.
Eight ghosts stood before her, the Chosen, and Grandmaster Kenobi in their prime, power emanating from them, along with benevolence. Pride shone in Kaitlyn and Fives' eyes as the watched their desendent. The former Senator and Chancellor, Amidala, said quietly, but in a voice all the Jedi stopped to listen to, "And now, there will be peace."
A/N: For the last time, review! Tell me how the final chapter of Renegades was, or your feelings about the characters about the Dark Collison Saga