Epilogue: And May the Force be With You

The Emperor sat on his throne in the Imperial Palace, whilst Mas Amedda relayed some of the latest happenings in the galaxy and disgruntlement among the senators. The Senate would have to be dealt with eventually. But it would be too soon now. Not all the pieces were yet in place.

Then the Emperor felt it. The familiar presence of rage and a small smile creaked onto his lips.

The door flung open and Darth Vader strode in.

"I would speak with you, Master," Vader said.

"Not now Vader," Mas Amedda sneered. "We are in the process of-" He never finished as Vader pinched his throat closed with the Force, Amedda choking and grasping at his neck.

"Leave us," the Emperor said. "Release him, Vader."

Vader did so and Amedda gasped, rubbing his throat, before scurrying out of the room. The Royal Guards bowed and did so as well.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, my apprentice?" the Emperor asked.

"Barriss Offee," Vader replied, the anger in his mechanical voice clear.

The Emperor's smile grew wider. "Ah...so I see Scorpious failed in both of his tasks."

"You knew she was alive?"

"Of course. It was I who let her go."

Vader's head tilted slightly. "Why would you do that?" he demanded.

"The girl was a curiosity," the Emperor mused. "To fool the Jedi Order was quite something. To frame her friend another piece of interest. To fool me...that would take some doing." His eyes glimmered beneath the cowl. "I was intrigued to see what would happen if I let her run. See who she would become."

Vader glowered from behind his helmet, rage spitting within him. "And if she had killed me?"

"Then she would merely have proved herself stronger than you." He let the words hang there, let the implication grow. And they both saw it then, distantly, the echo of a future closing. Where it was not Vader confronting the Emperor, but a Mirialan kneeling before him, her hatred burning like the core of a star. "But in the end, she was weak," the Emperor said, the finality closing off the vision. "You have proven yourself most worthy, Lord Vader."

Vader glared at him. Glared with an intensity that would have made any being in the galaxy quiver.

Any being other than this one, who merely smiled back.

He spun on his heel and marched out of the room. He couldn't be sure if the cackle that followed him was from the Emperor, or merely the one that always echoed in his head.

Ahsoka knew what she was going to find. But the sight still made her let out a trembling gasp.

Barriss lay on the ground, a burnt hole through her heart, her right hand cut off. Surprisingly her expression was almost...peaceful. Her eyes gently closed. As if she hadn't suffered at all.

And maybe she hadn't. Ahsoka had felt something, briefly, when she was unconscious. A soft, comforting touch to her senses, like warm fingers, gently brushing over her forehead.

She didn't have much time. It wouldn't be long until the fires in the factory were under control. But she wasn't going to leave Barriss' body to be ravaged by the Empire. No, she would give her a proper send-off.

A Jedi send-off.

Ahsoka grabbed a fuel canister from the transport ship and she set it down next to Barriss' body.

She knelt down next to Barriss and took the beads from her montrals. She pressed them into Barriss' left hand, so a part of her would always be with her. Then she placed Barriss' right arm over her chest and folded the left on top of it. She leaned forward, trying to think of something to say.

Then, with a smile, she found she knew exactly what to say.

"Goodbye Barriss," she said. "And may the Force be with you."

She kissed Barriss' forehead. Touched her own forehead to hers.

Then she stood up and poured some of the fuel over her body. She stepped back and ignited her lightsabre and cut it through the puddle. The fuel lit up and the fires crept along Barriss' body.

Ahsoka watched it for a time, watched the fires eat into the flesh and the smoke whirl, with every moment imagining Barriss being pulled back into the Force. It was not the Jedi way to feel attachment, to feel this kind of pained sadness at what could have been, at what had been ripped away, to carry around the dreams of what might have been.

But then again, she wasn't a Jedi.

She wiped at her eyes and then turned around and walked towards the hangar entrance. Outside the sun was setting on the horizon, casting everything into an ethereal twilight.

Ahsoka stepped over the lip of the hangar and then walked down the hill.

The end!

And with the end, comes the reflections. But first, the final responses to reviews:

Guest: Dang, well that was heartbreaking... :(

Yeah... though without wishing to take happiness in misery, I'm happy to know it touched you :)

prjones339: Barriss can never have a happy ending, can she?

Strangely, and I accept it maybe doesn't come over so well in the writing, but I do kind of see this as a happy ending for Barriss. She reconciles with Ahsoka; learns that Ahsoka loved her too; and in the end, she's able to open up to and become one with the Force, which she hadn't been able to do for a long time, overcoming her fears and resisting a final temptation of the Dark Side.

NightStrike: Ok... Welp you rlly captured of Star Wars here didn't you. Make you attached u never thought you'd like and then BAM dead. Very Star Wars of you.

Ha, ha! I'm hoping I can take this as a compliment ^_^;

And now, some reflections on the story:

When I started this it was prompted by irritation over the end of Season 5. There seemed to be so many unresolved elements and, from scouting the internet, it didn't seem like any of them got resolved on the show or any of the subsequent shows. I checked out and found some stories that looked into it, but they were all different from what I imagined. So I decided to have a go myself (at this point I hadn't read The Erosion of the Spirit over on AO3 - if I had I likely wouldn't have bothered with this). I had the idea for the sequence of Palpatine letting Barriss go, then I had the idea for the reunion scene, and then the ending.

There was no real plan when I started this and I think that shows, unfortunately. Initially, it was supposed to be mainly a character study of Barriss, but then I realized I couldn't do that without also examining Ahsoka so there was less set-up for things that I would have liked. On the whole, I also think it's too fast. The reconciliation is in some ways too easy. But it was always intended to be (relatively) short (I say, looking at the close to novel-length word count...). There were a couple of reasons for this, but primarily I was worried about losing enthusiasm and it being orphaned, or real-life work getting too much and bringing it to a halt. Were I to do it again, I'd take things slower. But then I wouldn't do it again, because, well The Erosion of the Spirit...

But as it was I had a blast writing it, and it got me back into writing in general after being in a bit of funk. I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed the original characters I came up with. And now it's over I feel a little sad it's gone.

As for the future of Barriss and Ahsoka in canon...well I have some trepidation. Rumour is the casting call for Barriss has gone out for the Ahsoka TV series and I've got a horrible feeling she'll turn up as Thrawn's lightsabre wielding ally which I don't think would make sense for her. I'm hoping that the live-action stuff seemingly being geared more towards older audiences will mean that they can be a bit more daring in exploring the relationship (within limits, I mean I don't think Disney is going to allow anything more than strictly heterosexual interactions, but we'll see!), but I have my doubts. I'm near convinced that Barriss was supposed to be the Seventh Sister anyway before that idea got dropped as they realized they couldn't not address it, but also there wouldn't be room to address it in Rebels, so we've had about 8 years of bluffing about there being some grand plan when there isn't any XD

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who read this, and who reviewed, followed and favourited. I hope you've all enjoyed the journey! If you have liked this and you want to read more of my stuff, I have a 'dark' version of a post-Wrong Jedi story, And if we Fell Together, going on over on Archive of Our Own (same handle as here). And maybe I'll see some of you there :)

But for now, thanks again everyone, and my warmest and best wishes to you all!

Kaaragen