Another fic crossposted from my ao3 account, Jack_of_All_Blades. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

They were binary stars, terrible in their equal brilliance.

The first years after the rise of the Empire, he had sent bounty hunters out to hunt down and bring in Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of a handful of traitor Jedi still hiding in the shadows. But despite the increasingly-ridiculous bounty and the voracious appetites of the bounty hunters, he could find no trace of her anywhere. From the Core planets to the Outer Rim.

She was just . . . gone.

He knew she had felt his presence in the Force. He didn't bother to hide now. He was a powerful beacon the Emperor used to rally more planets to his cause. And those that would not bow . . .

They had plans for those worlds.

People he had once called friends in another life, now fled into the shadows, betraying him. They scattered like cockroaches, seeking hiding places where the Empire's long arm would not immediately find them. But he still had those who remained loyal, in their blue armor. All but one.

And the loss of Rex was a blow to his pride. For he had nothing else. Pride in the Empire, pride in his work.

The Commander had joined the traitors just as surely as the others. Eventually the betrayer would be brought to justice, the punishment meted out.

But for now, there was only one person in the galaxy he wished to see.

"I will see her before me, on her knees, so that she may know what it is to betray the Empire."

.*.

The star base is cold, impersonal. She feels the life draining from her, leeching into polished floors. The hollowness of this space, where once an entire planet had once hung, lingers within a pall of death. She can't even feel them within the Force.

But the hooded figure in black is more worrying, at this point.

"Obi-Wan."

"Darth."

With years of disuse, her skills are far from what they used to be. And she is not as young as she once was. That warrior had burned to death on the black sands of Mustafar alongside the one man she'd ever loved.

His voice is cold and menacing, nothing left of the boy who would talk for hours on ship maintenance. "When I left you, I was but the learner. But now I am the master."

"Only a master of evil, Darth."

She hadn't thought they'd meet once again like this, but somehow she feels it was something meant to happen. The Force's way of putting an end to the old way, ushering in the new. And it's painful to think about, but the last couple days she has spent in company with one she had fought years to protect have also been a balm to her. It's the knowledge that she has kept him safe, been a part of his life when she feared she would never see him again after that tenuous beginning.

She can feel the heat, the muffled rage behind each swing of the red lightsaber. The betrayer and betrayed. But even now she doesn't know who was more wronged. And so she responds with biting words, taunts. She refuses to call him by name. That man is dead.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." It sounds like a weak boast even to her own ears, but her faith in the Force has never wavered. And so she trusts in that faith. Yoda had once told her during her training under him that to become truly one with the Force, a Jedi must be willing to give up what it means to be an individual and to open herself completely, to be willing to give up herself. She had not understood it then, as a young Padawan, young and immortal and as yet unaware of the need to protect someone with her life. But she does now. Oh gods and all divinities, does she.

You should not have come back.

She has lured him down black and white corridors, through echoing hangars and past gaping officers and stormtroopers. It's enough to give the others time to flee, even though she knows they won't leave without her. And so she has to ensure their escape.

This masked monster, once a man, all but smothers her. He's playing with her by this point. Toying with her in a way his other self never would have ever considered. But across the hangar, she meets the blue, blue eyes of a boy from Tatooine, and she knows . . .

She knows Anakin didn't die on Mustafar. A piece of him still burns brilliantly. Out of two dying stars, a supernova burns away the deadness. He was destined for greater things before his birth and cannot be tied to anything upon this mortal plane. He must be free to make his choices, something she was never given.

And so she brings her lightsaber up in a careful, painful salute. Her eyes fall closed even as she smiles. It is the last gift she will give him, her boy.

Farewell, oh bright star.

She no longer feels the wrath setting the air around them alight, no longer pays due to the restraints she'd bound herself to almost her entire life.

And with a gasp, she can feel it.

She's cut free from everything else, but that feeling flows through her, vibrant and humming. It is a supernova beneath her skin, too brilliant. It burns without pain and she can feel herself unraveling into thousands of threads, binding to the light swirling around her, through her.

She is Light.