Thanks so much for the reviews... :-)

Here is the final part to this story...However it may not be the end...I am seriously considering writing two other companion pieces to this...One about Jaina and the other about Jacen and how he became Darth Krayt. So, keep an eye out for them sometime in the future...

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Part III

Kol Skywalker ran his hand through his tussled red-gold hair as he stepped into the darkened room of his great-grandfather. He looked at the frail form lying on the large metal bed and thought Ben looked so small as he slept in the center, with the blankets tucked under his chin, so old. And yet, that wasn't the impression the youngest member of the Skywalker clan derived from the Force. Ben Skywalker was anything but frail in spirit. He was a burning beacon of Light.

Kol swallowed and moved into the room. He hated Coruscant and spent most of his time on Ossus with his fiancée, a non-Jedi instructor by the name of Maila Wasser. However, when his great aunt Jalyn informed him about his grandfather's condition turning for the worse, he came back as soon as possible. After adjusting the dimming control on the window to shut out more of the artificial night light that he so despised, he sat in the chair by the bed.

As he looked at Ben he thought about what the man meant to him. He had never known his grandfather, Jak Skywalker. He had been killed on a mission thirty years ago, ten years before Kol had been born. So, Ben was more than just a distant patriarch of his family, he was Kol's Granddad, his hero. Kol had looked up to Ben and had always felt a deep love for him. And Ben returned the emotion for his only great-grandson. Ben had always found time for the sometimes stubborn red-headed boy. He always had time for his silly questions and his precociousness. Kol would greatly miss the great man that was Ben Skywalker.

Then he thought of something that he had asked Ben over ten years ago, Granddad, what is a legacy? It had been just another question but it was the only question that Kol could remember Ben's exact answer to, Kol, a legacy is what we all leave behind. It is the story of our lives and how we want to be remembered when we are gone. It is how we affect the future and is what really counts in the end.

Kol thought about what Ben Skywalker's legacy would be and wondered if his own would ever measure up. Ben had done what not many others could. He defeated a Sith Lord while technically was still an Apprentice. At age twenty-two he not only became a father for the second time when his first of two daughters were born, but also became a Master and was appointed to the Council. By age thirty he was named the Grand Master when Kol's great-great-grandmother stepped down from the post. Ben affected the lives of billions as his time as Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. He never was afraid to be seen or heard, and more than one politician was put in his or her place by Master Skywalker's no nonsense wit. It had been said that his sense of humor was as sharp as his blade, maybe sharper.

Ben had helped bring a lasting peace to the galaxy in a way his cousin never could have. Although, relations between the Empire and the Galactic Alliance were never less than stressed, they never became open hostilities. The Fel's were actually doing their part for the Galaxy and people seemed tolerant, if they weren't always happy. Kol knew that Ben regretted never seeing his cousin Jaina Fel again. She died about fifteen years ago, not long after her husband, the Emperor.

Odd, Kol thought, Granddad is doing the same thing. He just can't go on without Grandmother. Jysella Horn Skywalker had only died eight months ago and her passing left a huge, gapping hole in Ben's heart. Ben missed her pointed barbs of common sense that she never seemed to be out of. She grounded Ben, everyone could see that, and now that she was gone, Ben was lost. She had truly been his soul mate. Kol swallowed again as he thought of Maila and he hoped they had the same type of relationship as his great-grandparents shared. He hoped that Maila and he were as much in love as Ben and Jysella were when they were married for 65 years.

But Kol knew that they didn't always have a blissful life. They both gave so much to the Galaxy that it almost seemed unfair that they had to continue to feel loss. The first tragedy happened when their youngest daughter was killed when she was fourteen in a fluke accident that never should have happened. During a lightsaber sparring match with her elder sister Jalyn, Myra's lightsaber malfunctioned and didn't catch the strike. Jalyn's blade didn't stop until it had nearly severed the slender girl through the middle. Jalyn never quiet got over that and decided not to become a Jedi. She lived her life dedicated to teaching non-Force based educational subjects such as history, reading and language at the academy and she never married. She never picked her lightsaber up again, a painful decision Ben and Jysella eventually accepted.

The second tragedy came in the form of Jak's death on Dantooine when he and two other Jedi, including their Apprentices, were ambushed while mediating a dispute between the two hostile political factions who were trying to gain power. One of the parties of the still struggling planet, which had suffered greatly during the Yuuzhan War, blamed the Alliance for it's broken economy. They wanted to break from the Alliance and join the Empire. Jag Fel had been implementing programs that seemed to help the once devastated wastelands that beings were still struggling to live on over fifty years after the end of the Vong War. It also didn't help internal relations that Dantooine had an extremely volatile mix of species that normally would not have been found together.

Kol's father, Bolton had only been ten at the time and had been one of the Apprentices on the mission. Although, he had not been Jak's Apprentice, he had witnessed his father's death while the young Master saved the others. It had become the factor that defined the type of person Bolton would become—strong, brave and dedicated to the Jedi Order and the Alliance. He was determined that his father's death hadn't been in vain even though Dantooine eventually sided with the Empire.

Ben stirred and brought the young man out of his reverie. As he turned his attention to the old man lying there, Ben opened his bright blue eyes and met Kol's green. Ben had always said that Kol was a merging of the Skywalker/Horn genes that somehow bypassed two other generations. All of Ben's children had inherited their mother's black or at least dark hair, Bolton inherited his mother's blond, but Kol had Ben's red hair and Jysella's green eyes. He had Ben's height and his breadth of chest and shoulders came from Jysella's side, particularly from the mountain of a man that had been her grandfather Booster Terrik.

Ben smiled and said with a slight smirk, "So, what brings you all the way to this dreaded planet that you hate so much?"

Kol smiled back and said, "Oh, I just thought it was time to come and visit. You know, I'm getting married in three months and Maila is driving me crazy."

Ben chuckled, "Come now, Kol. I may be old but I still remember being young," there was actually a mischievousness in his eyes that painfully reminded Kol of the younger Ben. "And I know nothing could have pulled me away from your grandmother." Then he lost all of the easy levity and said, "You came to watch an old man die."

Kol swallowed, "Granddad, that's not true."

Ben pinned him with a look that said I'm not buying it but he didn't comment further. Instead, he asked, "How is your bride to be?"

Kol smiled, just thinking about the beautiful blond-haired, green-eyed teacher made his heart skip a beat. Yeah, Granddad, your right, if you weren't dieing I wouldn't be here. Finally, he said, "She just started a new session. She loves teaching the basics of reading to the youngest Padawans. It amazes me how she can get them to learn like she does."

Ben nodded and then a violent cough raked his body. Kol jumped up and grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table. Helping to hold Ben's head off the pillow, Kol held the glass to his lips with his other hand. Ben took a small sip and then lay back down. After Kol was settled on the chair again Ben said, "Kol, I fear that I have failed."

Kol was actually stunned by the words, "Granddad? You have never failed in anything that you've ever done."

Ben looked away and his eyes took on a far away expression. After a moment he said quietly, "I should have made sure that he was dead before leaving him."

Kol stared dumbfounded at his hero for several seconds before saying, "Who?"

Ben turned and gazed at Kol, "Do you remember me telling you what a legacy is?"

Kol nodded, he had no idea where this was going, but he was truly interested.

"Well, I fear my greatest legacy will be my greatest failure."

Kol violently shook his head, "Granddad, that's preposterous. You have done more for the Alliance, for the Galaxy than any Jedi ever."

But Ben was all quiet determination as he said, "No, Kol, I fear that all that will be erased by what I failed to do 65 years ago. I never made sure my cousin Jacen was dead. I fear that he has survived. I feel the tremors in the Force, Kol. There is an evil out there and I fear it is Jacen."

Kol still wasn't buying it. "Granddad, your cousin would be even older than you. Even if he did survive your duel, he couldn't be alive today. He'd by over a hundred years old."

"Kol," Ben locked the younger man's eyes and in a tone that held no room for argument he said, "never underestimate the power of the Dark Side. It is not more powerful then the Light but it can bend reality and Jacen was a master at bending reality. I fear Jacen is still alive and is waiting for a time when it will be most opportune for him to come out of whatever hellhole he has been hiding in."

Kol swallowed, hard. There was something in his mentor's words that touched a deep cord in the young Jedi. "Granddad, what if by some slim chance you are correct, what will we do?"

Ben actually picked his head off the pillow to stare at Kol, "You must defeat him, Kol, and if not you then your heirs. Only then will there be lasting peace. Only then will our legacy as the children of the Chosen One be fulfilled. Only then will we really know what counts in the end."

Ben laid his head back down and he stared at the ceiling. Eventually, he said his voice weak, "I'm not going to last too much longer, Kol. I miss your grandmother, my kids and my parents. I know I'll never see them again but knowing that I'll be part of the Force with them is comforting. I'll always watch out for you, Kol, as with your aunt and father. Always know that I'm proud of you and that I love you."

Kol suddenly felt the sting of tears, he swallowed hard again trying to get his emotions under control. Finally, he whispered hoarsely, "I love you too, Granddad. And I miss Grandmother too as I'll miss you."

However, Kol doubted Ben ever heard the last words. Kol felt the shift in the Force as he felt his grandfather's presence slip into it. Like a gust of wind that would blow out a candle, Ben Skywalker became one with the Force that he served so well for his entire life.

Kol heard the door open and heard the quiet sobs of his great-aunt and the sniff of his father, but Kol never looked up at them. He watched as his hero vanished from sight and he wondered when his life came to an end if he would leave as great a legacy as his great-grandfather. Kol hadn't argued with Ben over it, but Kol knew Ben Skywalker had done more that really mattered then any other man he ever met.

FIN

FL

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Thanks so much for reading. I hope that you all enjoyed it.

All reviews are welcome...