Chapter 25 - The End

And then Luke died and all light in the galaxy died with him.

...

Just Kidding!

AN: So I was going to give you another heavy hitting chapter, but I think a little fluff was called for. And I only left you with the cliff-hanger for a night, so I am not completely evil… maybe ;)

Actual Chapter 25 - Separate Corners

Leia was desperate with grief, and she was apologizing to her brother in a litany.

Anakin was shaken, he had been living on Mortis for nearly eight years, and this behaviour while awe inspiring in near deities, had far different connotations within his own flesh and blood kids.

To see such hatred and fear reflected in his mother's eyes, from Padme's face, to have his daughter honestly want him dead was…

Rex jerked him back and he whispered in a low voice, "Let's go, Sir. You can't be here."

But Anakin couldn't leave. He couldn't let his son and daughter kill each other, why couldn't Rex understand that?

Leia looked up at him then, as he fought to keep his feet without actually grappling with Rex.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

Anakin let himself be taken away then because he was pissed and couldn't have answered her with comforting words.

She thought an apology could make up for killing her brother?

No, an apology didn't cut it.

Yes, maybe her reasons were justified. Anakin had more than a suspicion that his future self had likely tormented her beyond humiliating her in a duel, but the girl had too much power to lose control like this.

It was a mirror of his own deeds that he had never wanted.

As for Luke?

How was he going to tell Padme Luke was dead? She had met him, and though Anakin had only gotten to know his son a bit in vision, he already loved him. And he was more proud of him than he thought he would be for anyone in his life.

Padme must have felt the same.

He wanted to be at his son's side in his last moments, but he knew it was for the best that he not be there.

And yet, as he ascended to one of the Star Destroyers, finally escaping Mortis, he felt a traitorous piece of hope take shape in his heart.

The Force did not intend for Luke to die, and on Mortis, the Force's intentions were an active and living reality.

If Luke did survive this by some miracle then he and Obi-Wan needed to have a long talk with the boy because throwing yourself in front of lightsaber blade is beyond stupid.

Anakin had been armed, it would have been next to impossible for Leia who hadn't even had a proper hold on the lightsaber to beat him.

"You alright, Anakin?" Rex asked as they stepped off the transport.

It was a bit jarring to have the clones address him by his first name so casually, but not wholly unwelcome.

"Physically, yeah, sure, I'm alright, but honestly though? My daughter just tried to kill me because in her eyes I'm the evil bastard trying to steal her brother. And now my son is dying and I can't be there with him in case I set something else into motion." He took in a breath, knowing that he was in denial, knowing that when Obi-Wan told him Luke had passed, when he felt it, it would destroy something in him that he would never get back. He looked at Rex, "How are you?"

Rex met his gaze solidly, "You are a good man, Sir, and I want your kids to know that."

"Why do I hear a but coming?"

"But if you ever turn dark, it isn't going to be your kids nor General Kenobi who comes after you. The 501st will be the ones to put you down. Because the future those two are from cannot be allowed to come to pass."

Anakin put a hand on Rex's shoulder, "Thank you, brother, and this time I swear I will not fail you."

"Failure is fine, Anakin," Fives said evenly, "Just don't betray us."

And with that simple statement, Anakin realized that nothing had escaped the clones' notice, and the times when they would be blindly obedient had long since passed.

It almost brought a smile to his lips.

Ahsoka had been in war for over five years now, and she had known fear, she had known death. She had felt the brush of both, she had been hunted, she had lost people, but until now, she had never felt fear like this.

Luke's sister had been possessed, the Force around her angulating, scarier than Dooku or Ventress, more intelligent than the cyborg, Grievous.

Ahsoka had felt the Dark Side before, but she had never seen it embodied.

Yet Luke had stayed at her side and then thrown himself in front of a lightsaber blade for her.

"You idiot," she choked, "Anakin was armed, it would have been nothing for him to disarm her."

Luke's blue eyes fluttered open, the same blue and the same shape as Anakin's but the person behind them was all Luke, "Oops."

She almost laughed, "Why didn't you tell us who you were?"

Luke's breathing was uneven as he fought for speech, "I trust you, 'Soka, but didn't want to tell you... he was dead… break your heart."

She felt the tears start then, "You're breaking my heart now, Skyguy."

He smiled at her, "Wish we had more time."

Obi-Wan's head wiped up from where he was looking at the wound, "Tell us how to heal you the way you healed Waxer."

Luke shook his head, and gasped at the motion. Ahsoka put a hand on either side of his head, keeping him still where he rested on her lap.

"Tell us," Ahsoka ordered.

"Could die, Yoda said… accidents happen when first learn, always dangerous. You share life, not the outside Force..." His words grew weaker with each syllable, and she could see him fighting to keep his eyes from rolling back.

"Please, Luke," Leia begged, grasping his hand as if she was the one dying.

Ahsoka laid her hand on Luke's cheek, "Look at me, Skyguy, tell us."

"That's an order, Padawan mine," Obi-Wan added helpfully.

"It's not science," Luke said, "But intention… self."

"Speak, Padawan Skywalker, speak," Obi-Wan encouraged, his voice was steady, but a quick glance let Ahsoka know how desperate he was too.

They couldn't lose Luke. He was the glue holding everything together, the root of all the goodness that had been happening to them, even if it came with a healthy dose of chaos. Ahsoka wouldn't have wished for it any other way.

"Find your life in the Force, find mine and spill one into another," Luke said, his eyes shutting as he focused on forming each word, "Carefully, easy to let go of your own life. Else you can slip away… into the Force."

"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan called, "Do you understand his meaning?"

Years ago she wouldn't have, but through meditation, the phrase 'finding herself in the Force' wasn't a metaphor, it was a literal understanding of one's own presence in the greater galaxy.

She nodded.

"We are going to do this together. I looked up some of the theory on it after Luke mentioned it, but I didn't have time to really investigate. My understanding is that Luke's life is draining away. If we can't heal him, we could easily die with him. I want you to find my life Force and we will heal him together. I want you to direct the healing and I will hold onto us. I will pull us back if we give too much."

Ahsoka took in a deep breath, closing her eyes and falling into the meditative trance that came easier and easier to her.

Usually, when she closed her eyes it was welcome darkness, but on Mortis…

She was falling through a black of ocean lit by pinpricks of stars.

"Breath, Ahsoka, the Force is here but we are here also," Obi-Wan's words called her back to the present and she was able to identify the stars as the people she loved.

The troops, Satine, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Luke, and Leia. Leia's light was flickering, Luke's was fading, and Anakin's star blazed as if he could entice the other two to challenge him, to live just to try and match him.

But Ahsoka reached first for Obi-Wan, clear and brilliant.

It was an intimate thing sharing one's energy this deeply, and she had to drop her shields to let his energy merge with hers.

She clung to that feeling of living light as she opened her eyes. She didn't reach for the wound in Luke's middle.

This wasn't science, it was intention.

"Heal," she said, tipping her and Obi-Wan's light into Luke as if she had a bucket of sparks and intended to dump them on dry kindling.

Live.

Luke gasped, his back arching, Obi-Wan's shoulders hunched and not a few heartbeats later, he cried, "Ahsoka stop!"

An arm wrapped around her waist, and she was pulled back away from the person she was trying to save. She saw Luke rolling on his side, coughing up blood as Leia reached for him.

Only then did Ahsoka become aware of it being Cody who had pulled her back, his other hand had pulled Obi-Wan back by the collar of his robes.

Trust Cody to be literal when Obi-Wan suggests pulling them back if they gave too much of themselves.

She was exhausted and she leaned back against Cody's chest. Obi-Wan slumped against Cody's side. Satine seemed to materialize beside Obi-Wan, her hand brushing back his hair from his forehead.

"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan managed, "You alright?"

She wanted to bluster, but the very thought of sitting up made her feel sick. She squeezed her eyes shut as the world spun. "I don't feel good," she admitted.

"I said carefully," Luke said, sounding stronger and closer than he had been a minute ago.

She blinked her eyes open, and she could have cried seeing Luke kneeling in front of her, all traces of pain and fatigue were gone from his face.

"It worked," she said, relief flooding her. And then to Luke's first coherent words since being impaled, "You're welcome."

Ungrateful Bantha.

"Is she going to be alright?" Cody and Satine asked Luke.

He nodded, touching first her cheek, then Obi-Wan's, "They both will be, but they need food and sleep."

"You slept like the dead afterwards, General," Gregor remarked.

Obi-Wan stirred at this, "No, no one is allowed to be dead. Metaphorically or otherwise."

Ahsoka almost laughed, but was distracted by a small hand taking her own. She turned her gaze to Luke's left and found Leia with fresh tears falling down her face, "Thank you."

There was more to those words, more in her dark gaze than those words could express, but Ahsoka understood.

Appo knelt by her side, and Cody passed her over.

"I can walk," she protested.

"Hush, Commander, you were brave and a badass, and now it is our turn to do our jobs and get you off this cursed planet."

She slumped but peaked over Appo's shoulder to see Satine help Cody get Obi-Wan to his feet. Luke hovered by their side even as he took hold of his sister's hand.

Obi-Wan looked drunk.

Was that what she looked like? It seemed likely, she did feel kind of floaty.

The shuttle ride up to the Negotiator II was an experience and she clung to Appo, but she felt more solid the further away they got away from Mortis.

She blinked up at Appo who was speaking to her while she hadn't been paying attention, only for him to almost drop her when Morai perched on his other shoulder and squawk-tweeted.

She couldn't help but giggle at Appo who glared at the green and white Convor bird.

"Dogma," Obi-Wan said, sounding more himself as their ships entered lightspeed, "Go tell Anakin everyone is alright."

"Already done, Sir."

"Thanks," he breathed.

"Food," Waxer said, "Come on you four. Even wizards need sustenance."

It was a silent affair, their walk to the nearest galley.

Well, she didn't walk, Appo carried her and it was really only politeness that kept either Cody and Luke from tossing Obi-Wan over one of their shoulders. Satine actually looked like she was about ready to pick Obi-Wan up bridal style the way Appo was holding Ahsoka.

"Commander Tano," Appo said evenly as she swayed in her seat as he sat her upright.

She felt like a youngling again.

"I'm fine," she assured him.

Dogma placed a cup of water in her hand as Gregor did the same for Obi-Wan.

She drank greedily and didn't pause before devouring the heavenly smelling white meat Hardcase placed in front of her.

One of the best things about becoming Rebels was the food on board was often bartered for rather than the rations they had during the Clone War. Neither she, Obi-Wan, nor the clones really cared about money, but fresh food?

Fresh food was worth more than any amount of precious metal.

Even if Satine had made noises about the clones needing proper Mandalorian armour.

When her plate was clean, Ahsoka felt much more herself and looked up to find the others staring at her, well, everyone excluding Obi-Wan and Appo.

"What?" she asked.

Dogma shook his head, "You were supposed to eat, not inhale, Ahsoka."

Leia frowned at her, "I'm sorry, what did you say your full name was again?"

She smiled at the woman who looked like Padme and a lot less frantic now that her tears had dried and they were off Mortis, "Padawan Ahsoka Tano."

Her brown eyes went wide and she repeated the name silently.

"Leia, what is it?" Luke asked his twin.

Leia turned on him, "Luke, Ahsoka Tano."

"Yes," he said slowly, "I know, we're friends."

Leia punched his shoulder, "She's the Fulcrum."

Luke's mouth actually popped open and he turned to Ahsoka with an awe filled gaze.

It made Ahsoka feel self-conscious, but not in an entirely bad way. "The Fulcrum?" she asked, "Do you mean the frequency Obi-Wan and I use with Anakin?"

Obi-Wan looked interested, "Why would you two know that codename two decades after the end of the war?"

"Because the Fulcrums became the term we used for Rebel spies," Leia said, she gestured to Ahsoka, "But she's the Fulcrum. You were the spymaster, the -the soul of the Rebellion. We would have been dead in the water if it wasn't for you and your people."

"I thought you said all the Jedi but Yoda and I died," Obi-Wan said.

"Anakin said I never made Knight," Ahsoka said without elaboration.

Obi-Wan looked taken aback, "Anakin isn't from the future too, is he? I know the times on Mortis were altered but-"

"Nope," Ahsoka assured him, "Just a Force vision."

Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm too young to feel this old."

Satine rubbed his back, "Finish eating, love, you just need sleep."

Ahsoka was pretty sure Obi-Wan needed a lot more than just sleep, but then, Obi-Wan had Satine, had all of them, to take care of him now.

Obi-Wan had spent the last decade and a half taking care of everyone else, it was high time they returned the favour.

Cody and Satine seemed to be on the same wavelength as they watched Obi-Wan closely. He gave them all amused looks as he brought his food laden fork to his lips.

Ahsoka felt as if she could have fallen asleep sitting upright, but curiosity outweighed her need for rest, "You didn't know me on sight, either of you, but you knew my name?"

"Leia knew your name, I had only heard stories about the mysterious agent known as the Fulcrum," Luke said. He shook his head, "Honestly, Ahsoka, I knew you were capable, but by the binary suns, the things you were rumoured to have done?" He shook his head again.

"How is that more impressive than the things I've done in the Clone Wars?" she asked.

"Because you had next to no help," Leia said, "Our war against the Empire was like taking a ragtag team of pirates against the capital on nearly every mission."

Luke snorted, "She means that literally. But you had even fewer resources than that to depend on. And our people weren't truly trustworthy. I mean some were, but the majority… well… whoever you went into battle with, you had to be prepared to get stabbed in the back and still salvage the mission."

Leia nodded, "We were a bunch of vigilantes and our motives could so easily be turned against us. And we had people who joined us who were looking to play both sides. The people you could count on the most were usually people who had no one under imperial influence."

"She means orphans and the homeless, like me and Chewie. Except the homeless don't always have a ton of reasons to die on suicide missions," Luke said.

Ahsoka stared at him, she knew there were differences between him and Anakin, personality wise was obvious and his way of using his powers could be dumbfounding at times, but she was starting to see what the clones saw in him.

The clones, generally speaking, didn't care that much about their Force powers. Across a battlefield, the clones were more likely to protect the Jedi than utilize them as weapons except during stealth missions. But Luke…

Ahsoka had to ask, "Compared to your troops of the future Rebellion, how different has it been leading the 501st and the 212th?"

Luke laughed, "Night and day." He grinned at Appo who grinned back, "Loyal, trained, men who actually listen to orders and don't scramble when a plan goes a little sideways. And the clones never baulk."

"Yes, we do," Waxer disagreed.

Luke shook his head, "I don't mean you don't feel fear, I mean I've never had any of you not show up at a position for your own undisclosed reasons. Once, I would have said my Rebels gave more of their own intelligence, disagreed with me more constructively, but you are all really good at that if you know I'll listen. The only thing my Rebels really had over you was that they were better at gorilla warfare and," he gestured to Ahsoka, "we had more people trained in stealth."

"But then most of our war was fought in stealth," Leia said, "I trained Luke to lead the actual military assault battles. He surpassed me on the field which was a boon. We had a lot of great generals over the years, but most of them were assassinated. It's a tricky thing, being on the offensive and constantly having to run away."

"You talked us to victory with the Galactic Civil War," Appo said, "Your reasoning with Count Dooku changed the tide of this war."

Leia looked exasperated, "When first you don't succeed, try, try again?"

"It was over hologram," Luke defended himself.

"What are you two bickering about now?" Satine asked, glaring at Obi-Wan who had opened his mouth -likely to say much the same thing.

He ate another mouthful of food instead, giving his betrothed innocent eyes.

"Luke gave himself to Vader and Palpatine last night," Leia said, almost as if she were tattling.

Satine glared Obi-Wan to silence and Cody asked, "What do you mean 'gave himself'?"

"I surrendered," Luke said, "Vader could sense me on Endor, and they would have stopped at nothing to get at me. I was the last Jedi they knew of and it was either convert me or kill me. I was too big a potential threat to let go."

"Why would you have surrendered yourself?" Hardcase asked.

"Because he thought he could save Anakin," Leia said.

"I love Anakin," Hardcase said, "But if he was a Sith you should have steered clear of him."

"Obi-Wan and Yoda said I should have killed him. After getting actual training, I don't see how I could have."

"You said you only had three months of training?" Ahsoka asked. "I don't even understand how you could have competently held a lightsaber after three months."

"I had the lightsaber for about four years, Obi-Wan had me practice with a droid."

"Luke," Ahsoka said, "A youngling can handle a practice droid. Yoda must have fast tracked your training. I can't imagine it was a fun three months."

Luke's smile was fond, but that type of fondness that comes from enduring something painful. "Fun… is one description. As for lightsabers, my most practical lightsaber training was courtesy of Darth Vader himself. He played with me before cutting my hand off. Effective disarming technique as it happens."

Ahsoka could only blink at the blase way he said those words. She really couldn't imagine the first time duelling someone being against a Sith Lord, "You must have been terrified."

"I was pissed, actually. Vader killed Ben, and Ben had told me Vader had killed my father. I hated his guts on principal, and then when he claimed to be my father," he shook his head.

Leia was biting her lip, clearly trying to rein back her own view of this.

"How did you escape?" Obi-Wan asked, before quickly putting another bite of food into his mouth from a glare from Cody.

"I threw myself down a reactor shaft," Luke said casually, "Got sucked out an exhaust port and Leia found me clinging to an antenna pole."

"Tell us again why you only got three months of training?" Ahsoka asked.

"My uncle didn't want me trained, he thought the Jedi had screwed up the galaxy and Old Ben respected his guardianship over me. After my Uncle and Aunt were killed Ben was killed by Vader a few days after giving me Anakin's lightsaber. I found Yoda a few years later and I cut my training short to fall into a trap that Vader set up by torturing my friends. By the time I got back to Dagobah, Yoda was dying of old age and the Rebellion was on its last leg to take out the Empire."

"We still don't know if we would have won or not," Leia said.

"We would have," Luke said with staggering surety.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Because it was our time, and nothing lasts forever, not peace and not evil."

"Leia," Ahsoka asked, "You were in the Rebellion longer than Luke, how did you and I never meet?"

"My father, Bail Organa, never allowed it."

"Why not?" Appo asked.

But Ahsoka knew, "You were in hiding, I would have recognized a girl who looks like Padme Amidala with Anakin Skywalker's fire."

Leia's eyes tightened at the last, but she nodded, "I don't know why Anakin never recognized me."

"Anakin can be very good at diluting himself," Obi-Wan said softly, "I can imagine that as a Sith if he got it into his head that Padme and his unborn children were dead that he would have been abstinent to any other information."

"We aren't going to help him stay on the right path if you all assume the worst of him all of the time," Luke said a bit hotly.

"We don't assume the worst of Anakin," Ahsoka said.

He looked at her, "Yeah, you do. Especially the Jedi Council. Yoda was insufferable and I honestly considered him more my Master than Obi-Wan before I came back into the past. I even respect Master Windu, but I did not enjoy being in Anakin's shoes. Your utter shock any time I did something reasonable became quite obnoxious."

Leia sighed, "Which doesn't make much sense. Papa said that Anakin was one of the finest Generals in the GAR, his understanding of the military far surpassed most of the other Jedi. Papa said that when Anakin was brought on to sit on the Council he had yet to make the rank of Master, however, many thought it was the sign that the Republic would finally be winning the war."

Ahsoka frowned, she was really too tired to sort through all the nuances of that but she asked, "Was it? The end of the war, I mean?"

"It was the end of the Clone Wars. Anakin killed Count Dooku and Obi-Wan killed General Grievous." Leia looked thoughtful then.

Luke asked, "I know that face, what is it?"

"I just, well I never thought of Vader as being Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader was powerful, but honestly, the 501st was better known than he was in our time. People heard horror stories about the dark General, the Emperor's dog, but it was his military tactics, his ruthlessness and unstoppable 501st that really defined him. The Separatists fell hard and fast at the end of the Clone Wars, but there were thousands and thousands of systems that weren't fully aligned or didn't fall with the Separatists. Darth Va- Anakin led his men against the galaxy and he won."

"We fought the Republic?" Dogma asked, his eyes sad.

Leia shook her head, "The Republic systems were pretty much safe, because they voted Palpatine in as Emperor."

"I'm sorry," Satine interrupted, "they voted in a dictator? They voted for a Sith?"

"Palpatine could not have advertised his being a Sith without exposing himself as the Mastermind of both sides of the Clone Wars. Not that many people actually know what a Sith is. Evil Jedi, is the closest most get but Palpatine painted the Jedi as evil traitors so even that wasn't a huge problem. Besides that, the history of the Clone Wars was censored hard, that's why Luke, on top of being from a planet like Tatooine, didn't know much about the war."

"But you know," Ahsoka said.

Leia smiled, "I'm Bail's daughter, and my father might not have been on the frontlines of battles but-"

"Oh no," Satine and Obi-Wan said in unison, and Obi-Wan motioned for Satine to continue.

"Your adoptive father has very much been on the frontlines before," Satine said. "Bail has survived a number of assassination attempts while serving on the Senate in the last few years."

"Padme and Bail have been almost competitive in how much trouble they can get themselves in," Obi-Wan added.

"I think Padme is winning in that case," Appo said.

Obi-Wan sighed, "I know Anakin and she were intimate, I should have known it was more. She's worse than he is."

Luke put his hand to his mouth, "Bantha-shit."

"What did you do?" Ahsoka asked.

Luke's cheeks went red, "I- I told Padme who I was. I told her that Anakin was dead."

Leia gave him an odd look, "Luke, did you divorce our parents?"

He had to think about it, which as a general rule is not a good thing when someone asks you if you got a divorce, finally, he said, "Not officially? But I think she might have moved on."

Satine looked paler than normal. Ahsoka surmised that she knew something that Anakin wasn't going to like knowing, not in the slightest.

Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose, "I can't do this tonight."

"And you won't," Satine said, "We will be in hyperspace for some time. We have time for everyone to get a good night's sleep before investigating anyone else's trauma. Past or present."

"Where are we going?" Leia asked.

"Mandalore," Cody said, "We will have to be ready for anything, but we can regroup from there."

Leia nodded.

Ahsoka could see some heartache on her face and was about to ask but Appo interrupted by asking, "You need me to carry you, Commander Fulcrum, or would you prefer General Luke to have that honour?"

Ahsoka could only gape at Appo, calling her out in front of her maybe crush.

"'Soka, you're not feeling better?" Luke asked.

Thank the Force, Luke was oblivious to the meaning behind that jab.

She stood, and after eating and sitting for a while she did, in fact, feel better, though she still felt that she needed sleep "Nope," she said with false brightness, "I'm good."

She caught Leia's knowing gaze, the Princess hadn't been with them for a day and she had already figured Ahsoka out.

Damnit.

She needed to get over this, Luke obviously didn't see her like that. And if she was just the badass Fulcrum Rebel spy in his eyes, she could live with that.

Appo began to speak but Ahsoka beat him to it, "Let's go, Captain Appo, or else would you like me to report to Major Skywalker your lack of protocol?"

All the clones laughed at her threat, even Hardcase and Dogma.

"Sure, Commander, let's go talk to Rex," he said, waving to the others as he walked her out.

They didn't go talk to Rex, but Ahsoka was going to get Appo back for that quip, just see if she didn't.

AN: Reactions, thoughts, Fulcrums, or feedback, pretty please?