Once
by RueRoyale
Notes/Disclaimer: Belongs to George Lucas. Feedback encouraged.
For all that he knew, it was everything. The big picture, the common good. It was for the Jedi, for the Republic, for the will of the Force. For the People even as he overlooked the individual toil of the living souls of which it was composed. He took on the fight for the galaxy, and with it, all their many struggles. There was a war to be won, something larger, always something greater which encompassed it all. That's why when things had started to change, when he should have noticed that someone among the millions was about to alter the course of history, when specific attention had had to be paid to the singular struggle of his own pupil, Obi-Wan had lost Anakin's voice in the tide of the bigger picture.
His years in the desert didn't provide for much fighting. Communion with the Force was all he could manage. He sought understanding, not generalizations. No longer having to look after the livelihood of millions, life boiled down to himself and Luke; everyone else could wait.
As for now, this one moment, Obi-Wan at last could see the lives of everyone in the galaxy, a patchwork of little experiences, each their own, important for the sake of itself, and, at the center, the fulcrum of it all was he and the man-monster before him. The Force spoke to him, called out to him. This was for everyone, yes, but it was also for Obi-Wan.
He relaxes his grip on his lightsaber, smiles, and as red glow descends on his body, his soul reaches out to something larger…larger.
end