Disclaimer: Don't own it. Not trying to.

A/N: Last update! This chapter makes no sense unless you read the Epilogue, so I am posting them together. FYI, this is WAY more filled with romantic sap than what I normally write...

Chapter 13: Supernova

The cries reached the woman's ears the moment they started, and she sat up before her husband even stirred. Concerned, she furrowed her brow, making the wrinkles that lined her eyes and forehead crease even further. She wasn't particularly old, but excessive worry over the years had made her age prematurely. It was an older version of Tenyalla Skywalker.

She waited a few moments longer. When her son Ben didn't stop sobbing, she started to rise to tend to him, but firm hands from behind pressed down on her shoulders.

"Stay here, love," Luke told her gently. "I'll take care of it."

She relaxed slightly, and then lay back down. She listened to the voices in the next room, sighing out of admiration when she heard the sound of her husband's reassuring voice. The more he spoke, the more the sobs subsided. Luke could tame any wild beast with just the sound of his voice.

When he reentered, however, he didn't look very reassured himself.

"What was it?" his wife asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Bad dream." Outwardly, his expression hadn't changed, but attempting to hide emotions from a Jedi wife usually wasn't very successful.

"What's wrong, Luke?"

He sighed, pulled her into an upright position, and held her close for few minutes before answering. "He dreamed that you got shot on tomorrow's mission."

"Fatal?" In reality, she already knew the answer.

"Yes."

"And you took it to be prophetic?"

"He's very close to you, Ten. I don't think it was just a coincidence that he had the dream tonight. The force often shows one the fate of people that one loves the most."

Tenyalla reached up and stroked his hair. "Perhaps he was just worried. And if there was more to it than that, it's all right. You know that I've always wanted to die defending the Republic."

"Still, I've had a bad feeling about you going on this mission lever since it was assigned to you." He looked her straight in the eyes. "So, I'm coming with you tomorrow."

"You've said you hated Tatooine, to the point where you'd avoid it at all costs."

"Almost all costs. I'm coming with you, and that's final."

Tenyalla nodded her consent, knowing that it would be futile to argue with Luke. True to his family traits, he was inherently very stubborn.

>

For those who dare face two Jedi in battle, it is usually a most unfortunate end, especially if said two Jedi happened to be Skywalkers.

One green lightsaber blade and one violet blade moved rapidly through the air, relentlessly blocking enemy fire. It was an amazing spectacle, this duo doing battle. Though the Jedi were known to be pacifists, if keeping peace meant aggressively defending others' rights, they were able to do that as well.

Yet, not even the greatest Jedi is infallible. Luke never sensed the bolt that sailed towards his side. Since he had his back to it, he didn't see it either… but his wife did. Her heart raced, and so did her feet. She leapt towards the shot that would have been lethal to Luke. Her blade rose to block it once she was in its path, but so much had happened so fast that she missed by crucial centimeters. The bolt struck her in the side; she grunted and fell limply to the ground.

Luke thought that he had been hit. He felt both the physical and emotional pain. He very nearly cried out and fell down himself, but the urgency of the situation kept him on his feet. He knew instantly what had happened, and did not even need to cast a glance to the side to figure anything out. The love of his life had been shot.

The knowledge resulted in a violent infuriation that made him drastically increase in velocity. He soared through the air, catching at least half of his enemies off guard, and disarming a good number of them in a matter of seconds. After a few minutes, all were either dead, unconscious, unarmed, or had retreated. That left the sandy plane littered with bodies but only one of them mattered to Luke.

She was unconscious at the moment, like so many of the unfortunate others were. But she would wake again – Luke would see to that. He slipped one tremulous arm around the back of her neck the other around her knees, and carried her to their mutual ship. Fortunately, it was nearby; they had been ambushed the moment they had landed.

Gingerly, he laid her slight form on the bed in the quarters, then rushed to the cockpit to start the flight cycle.

Once the vessel was safely in the routes of Hyperspace, Luke rushed to his wife's side. He didn't shed any tears, but he cried inwardly at what he saw as he knelt there. Her blood was everywhere. The shot had covered a fair portion of her vital midsection, just above her hip. She was still breathing – thank the Stars, she was still breathing – albeit shallowly.

Luke put his forehead to hers and started to place her in a healing trance, but she chose that moment to return to consciousness. In spite of her period of unawareness, she was fully mindful about her condition.

"It's too late Luke."

"No…"

She reached up to place a finger over his lips and to caress his face. "Save your strength, love. My time has come. Listen to me. Tell Lanya and Ben that I love them. Take care of them and watch after them for me, Luke."

"Don't talk like this, Tenyalla. You'll come back to Coruscant with me and—"

"I'm not going to make it back to Coruscant Luke. I'm going to die here. Please let me go."

Grief-stricken, he rested his head on her shoulder. There was no more deceiving himself. She was right; she had only a few minutes left.

Tenyalla caressed his face, and then pulled out a necklace that had been protected by her layered robes. It looked far too beautiful to be worn with simple Jedi robes on a dusty planet such as Tatooine. She handed it to Luke along with her wedding band that she slipped off her fourth finger. "So my memory lives on with you."

Luke took them absently, though he added, "I won't need these to help me remember you." He paused for a minutes. "I should have been able to save you. Why do you have to die?"

"That is the way of the force, Luke. This is one of those things that happen to us when we least expect it, and we don't understand. Those were the principles that you taught me so long ago."

Luke sighed. He remembered hearing those words from Master Yoda 20 years ago before the ancient Jedi Master passed on. It had been hard enough to cope with that loss…

As he'd done for the old Jedi Master, he pulled the bedcovers over Tenyalla, as if trying to give her comfort in her last few minutes.

She smiled weakly, and spoke with a voice just as feeble. But, just as a beautiful star shines most brightly before it fades away and dies, she fervently spoke the most endearing words that Luke had ever heard in those moments. "I'm sorry that you felt the need to annul the mission in order to save me. But I suppose there will be another time for you to go slave-freeing… since you survived."

"I only wish you could have lived with me. But I'll always be thankful to you for saving me." Luke was almost on the verge of tears.

"I was just returning the favor," she replied, smiling slightly. "You won't need to mourn for me, Luke. I will be one with the Force, which you will be with you always, as I will be…" Her voice trailed off, but her head gently rolled to the side as if she had said all that she wanted to before her death.

"Tenyalla!" Luke moved to grab her arm, but found that he was instead grasping the bed covering. As for Tenyalla... she was gone.

Not wanting to look at the spot where her body had laid mere seconds ago, he spun around and headed for the cockpit. In doing so, he glanced briefly out the viewport. The stars swirled around him in all the glory of Hyperspace, but they seemed darker, as if they too were mourning the death of a great hero.

Glancing back at the bed, Luke suddenly knew why they looked darker. The brightest star of them all had extinguished its light by exploding into a supernova.

Still clutching his late wife's jewelry, he finally left the room, closing the door so as to seal off the bad memories. He wouldn't return; he'd much rather sleep in the cockpit among the comfort of flight controls than in the bed in which his beloved had spent her last moments.

He landed the ship in much the same way as he always did. As he disembarked, he saw his children gleefully rush towards him.

Her children.

Luke watched them regretfully as they came near. He saw that they knew he was safe, but at the same time, he felt incredibly sorry for them. Little did they know that he was returning alone.

His daughter Lanya approached and embraced him. When she withdrew, she had an all-too-aware look on her face, and Luke began to wonder whether she really did know. And as he looked into those gray eyes that may as well have been Tenyalla's, he felt his heart break all over again.

Then came the dreaded question. "Where's mom?"

By this time, Ben had caught up to her and came to stand behind the duo. Luke couldn't even verbally respond, but as he had guessed, Lanya understood the implications of his silence. Her eyes narrowed and started to fill with tears.

"I'm sorry, Lanya. I'm sorry I wasn't able to save your mother—"

"Mommy's gone!" Ben screamed suddenly.

"Yes, sweetie, I'm afraid so."

Ben started crying uncontrollably. Luke picked him up and tried not to cry himself as he led his children back to their apartment in the Jedi Temple.