Chapter 20
--
A flash of light. A sharp pain in Anakin's consciousness. The Force rippled. It was true. All of it was true. Obi-Wan Kenobi was gone, and Anakin was left alone. And everything was dark. There was no light at all, in the room, in his heart.
"NO!" He screamed again. Everything Anakin had ever worked for, had ever believed in, had backfired against him. Nothing was left. Nothing at all.
Except ...
Tarra put a hand on Anakin's shaking shoulder. Anakin turned to her, his eyes red and puffy. At that moment he did not look like the Chosen One at all. He looked like a man lost, and already dead.
Anakin buried his face into Tarra's sleek, black hair. "Don't you leave me."
"Shh," Tarra whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." Tears were running down her cheek as well.
--
The tender moment was torn apart with a rumble.
A very loud rumble.
"What the ..." Anakin said incredulously.
"Obi-Wan must have –" Tarra began, but before the sentence was completely a shimmering, green glow appeared before the two Jedi. "Go, Anakin. Get away, the Death Star is out of control ... go, quickly!"
Tarra gasped, "How ..."
Anakin walked towards Obi-Wan's ghostly form. "I'm sorry," he called out, but the luminescent glow had already faded. Then he turned, the rumbling growing louder. "C'mon. Obi-Wan died to save our lives. Our lives. The lives of the Rebellion. He died to uphold everything he held dear."
"I don't want to join him just yet," he finished, smiling weakly at Tarra's shining face.
Then the two started running. For their lives. For the lives of the Rebellion.
--
"What the blazes was that?" Captain Ozzel watched, incredulous, as a huge portion of the Death Star ripped apart, sailing through endless space, colliding with Imperial and Rebel fighters and cruisers.
Ozzel watched as the Death Star was engulfed in a massive chain explosion, and noted sadly that two Jedi were on the Superstar Destroyer. He hoped Master Yoda and Master Kenobi were well.
Something told him, though, that they weren't. It was a bittersweet moment for the young captain. As he watched from the bridge of the Executor, he realized he was witnessing the death of both the Empire, and of the Jedi.
--
Two Jedi ran for their lives. And for the time being, the Jedi Order was not completely destroyed. For another second anyway.
Fifty seconds later, the Jedi were still running, and Jedi Order still was not destroyed.
--
Artoo-Detoo rolled up the ramp to a Lambda class shuttle.
"Are you sure this is the ship Master Anakin is going to use?"
-DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS?- The astrodroid tootled. C-3PO, looking flustered, muttered no, then shuffled his way up the ramp. The shuttle, of course, was the only ship in the entire hangar bay that could seat more than 2 people. R2-D2 trusted Anakin not to forget him, even in times of distress.
--
Artoo trusted the right man. Anakin would rather die himself than lose another of his friends. Not this time. Not after what Obi-Wan just did. In a single blast of white hot fire, Anakin had lost his best friend, his mentor. Obi-Wan didn't have to teach him anything anymore, but he would always be Anakin's master. No matter where he was.
His mechanical hand clutched Tarra's fleshy one, half pulling, half dragging her towards the hangar bay.
"That one!" Tarra pointed at a small, light craft, enough for the both of them. Anakin shook his head.
"I'm not leaving without Artoo," he said pointedly, then moved towards the large Lambda class shuttle that had its engines already warmed up. Anakin suspected that Threepio or Artoo had fired up the engines. "That way," he said. Tarra sprinted beside him, the Force enhancing the two Jedis' strides, as they outpaced the erupting flames.
By the time Anakin and Tarra had reached the shuttle, they were downright bushed. Their Force abilities had drained, using constant Force pushes to ward the explosion and the flames from reaching them. Especially Anakin, whose fear, anger, and sadness drove him to greater heights in Force abilities. The two Jedi managed to scramble up the ramp of the ship. "Go! Now!" Tarra panted, and C-3PO closed the hatch, and launched the ship from the hangar bay of the Death Star.
The entire hangar bay erupted in flames shortly thereafter. Anakin struggled to his mechanical legs, watching solemnly as the flames consumed the one man he could trust.
"I wasn't strong enough," he whispered, blinking back tears, then giving up and letting them flow down his face. It wasn't very Jedi to cry, but there was no way in hell Anakin wasn't going to cry at this point. Salty tears slid down his cheeks. He didn't even bother to wipe the tears away.
Tarra walked next to him, watching the explosion with him, but more importantly than that, being with him. He was alone, afraid, and angry; she was his comfort, his reassurance that not everything he had was gone. His tears were wiped away at her touch.
In his heart, Anakin Skywalker burned at the loss of his old master. But as he watched the Death Star burst into a fiery inferno, he couldn't help but to smile, only a little, through his tears. One Dark era had finally come to a sudden and abrupt halt, and Anakin knew that any real Jedi would gladly give his or her own life, and would gladly sacrifice the life of another Jedi, for the betterment of the galaxy.
Well, every Jedi but one.
Anakin knew, in his charbroiled heart, that he would never give up the life of someone he loved for the greater good of the galaxy.
Obi-Wan's loyalty was to the Republic, to Democracy. Anakin's loyalty was to the people of the Republic, to the people who served Democracy.
And that makes all the difference in the galaxy.
--
"Welcome back, Master Skywalker," Captain Ozzel said curtly. "Where ... are the others? Master Yoda? What of General Kenobi?"
Anakin couldn't answer.
"Dead," Tarra said. "At least, Obi-Wan is, I don't know about –"
"Yoda's dead as well," Anakin said heavily. Nobody in the room knew that he, himself, had killed the great, diminutive Jedi Master.
It would stay that way, he decided. This was just another secret he would take to his grave.
He sighed. He had way too many secrets. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm going to return to my quarters. We have won. Let's just ... get out of here."
Tarra followed him, and Anakin was too tired, too pained to object.
--
Han watched in awe as the remnants of the Death Star floated by his ship. All ships had stopped fighting; all had stopped to watch the destruction of the great vessel.
"Home One ... this is Blue Five," Han spoke into the com, as Chewbacca growled happily beside him. "I think we just won the war."
A scoff at the other end of the com. "No, really?"
Han grinned, "Well, since you needed an excuse to hear my melodious voice ..."
"Shut up, Solo."
--
"I told you he would do it," Obi-Wan said, smiling, to Master Yoda.
"Hmmph, killed me, he did," Yoda said, his posture clearly that of a pouting child.
"You were getting old anyway," remarked Obi-Wan, his eyes twinkling.
"About time you two joined me," Mace Windu stepped out from the shadows, his mouth fixed in the first smile that anyone had ever seen the Jedi Master perform.
"Oh, Force, look! Windu smiled," said Qui-Gon Jinn, laughing, while Mace Windu tried to smother his facial expression, failing miserably and resorting to covering his face with his cloak, which, of course, caused the other Jedi to laugh even more.
"You shouldn't have let me teach you, Mace," said Qui-Gon, "You could be in the Force right now, and be exempt from all this teasing."
"I should have done that," Mace said, "but then I wouldn't have been able to witness the fall of the Sith."
"Over it is, we do not know," Master Yoda said softly.
"What do you mean?"
"The Jedi must be rebuilt. If reconstructed it is not, soon the Sith will return, and meet no resistance."
"You're right," Mace Windu said. "But how?"
"Up to Skywalker, it is, to rebuild the Order."
"But Anakin ..."
"Not Anakin. Luke's destiny, it is."
--
Luke Skywalker was a young boy, about six years of age now. He lived on a moisture farm on the planet of Tatooine, and the farthest he had ever gone from there was the one time when his Uncle Owen took him on a ride on the speeder to the local market, to buy some supplies.
So naturally, he was awed when he noticed a sleek, silver ship descend from the sky.
It was of a Nubian class, he knew by the sleek design. Just above one wing was the word "Amidala". The ship was the greatest thing that young Luke had ever seen in his life, but what was even more astonishing as the golden droid that shuffled down the ramp.
"Oh! You must be Luke! I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg..." the droid began, but was cut off.
"What the Tusk? How do you know my name?" Luke was frightened, but more curious.
"... relations. You see, your Father sent me..."
"My father? When can I see him?"
"Ahh, well, if you would just come aboard, he is right there," said C-3PO. "And do hurry, will you? I've forgotten how much I dread coming to this planet."
"My father! What is he? Why haven't I seen him before? Why doesn't he just come down from the ship? Why did you get sent here? Is he in trouble with the Empire? What's his job? What does he do? What does he look like? What about my mother? What does she look like? How come my parents never visited me? Why do Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru come with me? Do they have a pet? I've always wanted a pet. Why—"
"Oh, my! Do slow down, will you, my processor's shot! Come, come aboard, and you will meet your father!"
"No need."
A voice had come from the ramp of the ship, and there stood Anakin Skywalker. "Uncle Owen never told you what happened to your father?"
"They told me he died ... in the war ..."
"No, I am your father."
Luke's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Wow, really?"
"Search your feelings, Luke, you know it to be true."
A girl walked next to Anakin. "Now, Anakin, remember, he hasn't been trained as a Jedi yet, he can't control his feelings."
"Oh. Right."
But Luke knew that he was telling the truth. That the man that stood before him, Anakin, was his father. The one he had never met. "Is that my mom?" he asked, still wide-eyed.
Tarra laughed. "No, Luke. I'm Tarra, your father's girlfriend."
Luke scrunched up his nose. "Ewwwww!" Tarra laughed.
"C'mon, Luke, come into the ship with us. We'll take you far away to places you've never been before."
They didn't even need to ask twice. Quick as a speeder, Luke had raced up the ramp into the ship.
Anakin laughed. "Threepio's talking with your aunt and uncle right now. When he gets back, I'll show you the Capital of the universe."
"Coruscant?" Luke asked in awe. "Really? Wow!"
Tarra nudged close to Anakin. "How do you know Threepio's going to convince Luke's aunt and uncle to let him come with us?"
"Convince?" Anakin opened a pouch, which contained a small bottle with a spray on top. "A little of this Kenobi Powder will do just fine. Threepio doesn't even need to raise his voice."
--
A/N: Probably another chapter after this, and that'll be just about it. Thanks for all the reviews, again, and I'm sorry if I killed Obi-Wan. Things can't ALL go right, or the story would be too predictable!
I like how Anakin used almost the same lines Vader used in Empire Strikes Back. Seems completely different in such a different tone, don't you think?