The end at last! Thanks for sticking with me and for your very kind reviews. I hope you're all as excited as I am for episode 7! Two weeks to go!

I found him waiting for me, saber ignited. A red saber. How fitting that he'd pick the color of blood. He actually cut quite an imposing figure: the pressure suit hid everything that could identify him as a human while also making him seem taller, larger, and more threatening. Why a cape, though? Did he miss the feeling of a Jedi robe? The mechanical respirator's wheezing and the hum of his lightsaber provided an eerie soundtrack for the whole tableau.

Vader walked towards me. I sensed rage and bloodlust surging in his soul, giving him a dark power that sickened me. I drew and ignited my saber. This weapon is your life, I'd told him once. No, you told Anakin that. NOT HIM.

He spoke, and the voice was wrong in ways I couldn't describe. "I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last," he boomed. For how many beings has that voice been the last thing they heard in this universe?

He continued, "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but a learner. Now, I am the master."

I thought, you never left me. I said, "Only a master of evil, Darth." He attacked and I parried, spinning and forcing my body into saber forms it had all but forgotten. Vader swung at me and slashed a wall instead. I could see his new body wasn't as quick or agile as his old one. Unfortunately, I wasn't as fast as I once was, either. After only a few moments of battle, I knew that my desert-worn body would be no match for a mad cyborg in strength or stamina.

Which meant I was likely about to die. I let go of that thought.

I probed for weaknesses. I let the Force guide me into the circuits of his pressure suit, looking for a glitch I could exploit. That trick had worked on Anakin's arm, once. Sadly, cybernetic limbs had seemingly seen some improvements while I was in exile; these wouldn't drop a saber as easily.

"Your powers are weak, old man," Vader taunted. It didn't sting me at all. I'd rather grow old as a good man than turn dark and be immortal. I suppose he wouldn't understand, I thought.

But if he wants to talk, let's talk. "You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

His answer was another attack. I defended as best I could.

Finally he said, "You should not have come back."

Maybe not, I thought as I beat off a furious flurry of slashes. He hadn't defeated me, yet, but I was definitely giving ground. I should have finished this when I was twenty years younger. But regret is an attachment.

As I backed up, I saw—more with the Force than with my eyes—that we had come within sight of the hangar where the Millennium Falcon sat. Across the space I could tell that Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and someone else were close by, hoping for a chance to get to the Falcon. A squadron of storm troopers were guarding it, but I could sense that our duel was attracting their attention. Good, I thought, yes, that's right, look at me. Shoot at me if you dare. Only give Luke a chance to make a break for the ship.

My arms were growing heavier by the second; even with the Force's help, I knew I wasn't strong enough to keep this up much longer. It was a relief when I sensed Luke enter the hangar. Until I realized he had seen me.

I heard his voice, calling out in a mixture of confusion and fear, "Ben?" Hush, son, just go to the ship, I prayed. Then I sensed him coming towards me, instead.

I risked a glance towards him, and there she was: Leia Organa. Daughter of Padme Amidala Naberrie and Anakin Skywalker, and also of Senator and Mrs. Organa. He found her. She's safe. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I smiled a little bit at the sight of both of them, brother and sister, together at last.

Vader must have sensed my joy, because suddenly his anger was tinged with curiosity. DON'T LOOK AT THEM, I wanted to scream. YOU DON'T GET TO SEE THEM. LOOK AT ME. I tried to press the message through the Force, LOOK AT ME.

I switched off my lightsaber. In Vader's state of anger and hatred, that earned me his full attention. It only took a split second to commune with the living Force; I barely even felt the blade carve through my flesh.

This is how it feels, to leave your body and enter the living Force: Everything is happening at once and you can see it all.

Memories whip by, some my own, some I never knew before. Beru Lars tells a Stormtrooper, "My nephew's been gone for three standard weeks, visiting a girl," and her voice doesn't even tremble. My master chokes out the words, "Promise me," and I promise. Yoda asks me if I want to be a father and laughs when I say maybe I'm a crazy uncle instead. A senator kisses a knight in a cave, and that one kiss is enough to destroy worlds.

In a Death Star hangar, Luke shouts "no!" and starts a shootout with Stormtroopers. Vader kicks at my robes, looking for a body that isn't there. Han and Leia call for Luke, "come on!" Leia shouts, "Luke, it's too late!" Han has a fighter's instincts, he shouts, "Blast the door, kid!" Darth Vader comes towards his children and a door slams in his face. I try to call to my grief-stricken padawan, "Run, Luke, run!" Maybe he hears me or maybe he hears Leia, but it doesn't matter, he runs and they get on the ship and it gets away and Luke and Leia are safe. Oh, but for how long? Will it only be an hour? Will Vader find them? Will they fall? I have to go, I have to get back and protect them-

But Qui-Gon Jinn is with me and he says, "Rest, Obi-Wan, be at peace, you have fulfilled your destiny."

All is said.