Updates: So good news and bad news for y'all who complain about me not finishing a story. This particularly fic could certainly be classified as a fix-it fic. And as such, we have exactly five chapters left :D
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The Queen Does Not Need to Know: is almost at the end of Act II. Act III depends on feedback not being 'meh' due to all kriffing extra work, notes, research, and drafting included. Also, if you don't like the sequels, neither did I which is why I wrote this fic where I take from Lucas and Legends, and yes, Daisy Ridley is actually a Kenobi ;)
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Significant Brain Damage: maybe has fifteen chapters left at the most, it will pass the 250K mark. It's on its last arch where the clones get centre stage and their own personal villain :D
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The Astute Panic of Mandalore: has officially been cannibalized by The Kenobi Scandal and by a new Ahsoka centric fic that I will begin at the conclusion of Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
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Return of the Father: Haven't finished the Jedi Apprentice books, can't tell you when I will, maybe a year, maybe two.
WARNING!: Character death and graphic-ish violence ahead.
Chapter 10 - Weddings and Carnage
Luke wasn't sure what to do when Satine smiled at him, but when he saw Ben's face, he knew it was okay.
Duchess Satine offered him an apologetic smile, "My apologies, Luke, for my tone earlier."
Luke smiled at her, "It's okay, I understand."
She shook her head, "Well, you certainly didn't inherit your father's temperament."
Luke could feel Cody, Waxer, Wooley, and Appo give her sceptical looks even with their helmets on.
"He's calmer than his mother too. I'd say he's saner than her too but he flies a ship like his father," Ben said.
Appo shook his head, "He doesn't fly like you, he flies like General Skywalker."
Luke felt bad then, and he met Ben's gaze, "Did you tell Satine?"
Ben nodded, then looked at Cody and Waxer, "We haven't told you because it is hard to believe."
They were standing outside a dinning hall, Satine's guards had been given stations further in the city to help teach the rest of the 212th the security system.
Luke wasn't positive, but he had a feeling the 212th was going to dissolve into civilian life on Mandalore. Already, the palace guards were trusting the clones with security beyond what was wise to give any foreigner. Satine's announcement this morning that the laws of Mandalore would be altering and that the presence of the 212th Battalion did not mean that they had surrendered their neutrality.
The promise of change seemed to have a tangible effect on her people.
Cody folded his arms, "Let me guess, this is about your disappearance on Umbara?"
Ben looked chagrined, "If I told you I time travelled and somehow ended up in my younger body on Tatooine replacing my presence on Umbara, would you believe me?"
Cody took off his helmet, and Luke noticed a small bandage on the side of his neck as Cody glared at Ben, "I would say it makes more sense the physics behind traveling from Umbara to Tatooine and back in less than twenty standard hours."
Ben grinned, "Well then, I'm a time traveller from two decades in the future, and Luke. who travelled with me, is Anakin Skywalker's biological son."
Every trooper looked at Luke.
Appo took off his helmet too, and again Luke noticed the bandage on his neck as well. The 501st Lieutenant frowned at him, "You do have some of Senator Amidala's features, but aside from your flying skills…"
Cody nodded, "He's more your son, Sir, than Skywalker's."
Ben gave Luke a proud smile and Luke couldn't help but grin back, because whether the biology supported them or not, they were always going to be family.
Waxer, who kept his helmet on, said, "Does anyone else know?"
Luke shook his head, "Just the people in this room."
"I thought the scandal of my having a son would be more believable than time travel," Ben offered.
Satine laughed, "Oh, and I'm sure your frustrating the Jedi was just a bonus?"
Ben smirked, "Surprising Anakin was the real treat."
Appo shook his head, "Sir, you and General Skywalker are terrible people."
Ben looked slightly affronted which sent Luke and Satine into peels of laughter.
Today was… well it was better than the days before because while Rex was still on mandatory bed rest, Ahsoka had finally been moved to a bacta tank.
She really wasn't going to be happy when she woke up and discovered she had three months of mandatory bed rest and physical therapy ahead of her.
If only she hadn't tried getting out from underneath him when he had tried to protect her. She was going to get an earful from him when she was feeling well enough.
Bail had already been moved to a hospital on Alderaan.
Rex sighed, leaning his head back on his pillow. Kix wasn't letting anyone share news with him. Not even why he had briefly woken up to Kix doing brain surgery on Fives after they had been pulled from their Bacta bath. And Kix had been chasing General Skywalker anytime he came around.
Which was why Rex wasn't exactly sure what to think when four of his brothers came into his medical room.
Brothers all from different battalions, sectors, and all of whom were fellow Commanders; Wolffe, Trauma, Monnk, and Doom.
Kix pointed at them, "Do not wake up Fives."
"Oh, but you're not going to chase them off?" Rex asked a bit sourly.
Kix fixed him with a steady gaze, "You take after your General, Rex."
"Thank you."
Doom laughed as he sat at the end of his bed, "I don't think that was a compliment."
"What are you all doing here?" Rex asked, not at all in the mood to deal with Doom or Trauma for that matter. They made Hardcase sound like a sane person and Dogma seem like a rule breaker. How they managed to be both sticklers and as insane as Skywalker and Kenobi put together, Rex had never been able to fathom.
"Is that any way to talk to people here to relieve your boredom?" Trauma asked with a predatory smile.
"That would depend on the nature of your information," Rex said warily, meeting Wolffe's gaze.
Wolffe was the sanest of the four.
Well, actually, Monnk was fine, but he was quiet and wouldn't speak except when absolutely necessary. Rex had once thought that made him a strange choice for Mashell Commander, but when Monnk did speak, the troops listened.
Wolffe sighed heavily and sat beside Rex's hip.
Rex stared at him, "That bad?"
"Did Kix tell you about your surgery?" Wolffe asked, staring at Five's still sleeping form.
Kix had left the room, and it was only the six of them and Ahsoka floating in her tank.
"I was told that I was impaled a few times in my joints by small building materials, some broken bones. I don't know how much surgery I actually needed."
Wolffe sighed and looked at him, his silver eye not matching the sadness in the other, "You had brain surgery, Rex, we all have now. The medics have been working their asses off. It's a good thing the Senators didn't want the military stitching them up. Aside from a handful of them, they all got shipped off to their fancy hospitals."
He sounded more bitter than Rex had ever heard him. Rex touched his hand, "Wolffe, what has happened?"
Wolffe stared in him, "They bought us, made us, enslaved us, and sold us again."
Rex frowned, "Who?"
"The Republic, the Senate, the Sith."
Remembering what Kenobi had said to the Chancellor, he said, "What does it matter? We would have chosen this, and we aren't slaves, there orders we can disobey. It's not as if the Jedi would beat us or hurt us, not on purpose. We are not slaves."
Trauma snapped, "They chipped us, Rex."
Rex frowned, "You mean, a slave chip? Like they have in the Outer Rim?"
Doom laughed darkly, "No, the inhibitor chips, to prevent us from losing our tempers, when in reality, they made us to slaughter the Jedi, including the younglings."
Rex wasn't following, and his face must have shown in, because Monnk spoke for the first time since entering the room.
By the time Monnk had finished, Rex wished he had never spoken at all.
"Cody told us, Kenobi told him, we still don't know how the General found out, but he did. But Kenobi's the only outsider who knows."
"The Sith know," Rex shot back.
Wolffe shook his head, "They don't know we've taken them out. The medics used lasers, the incisions so small no one can see them. We've kept it quiet, no ones talking about it not even amongst themselves. It's been difficult keeping it from the Jedi, but they don't spy on us. Everyone in the Republic is clear."
Rex felt a surge of renewed horror, "Kamino."
Because their karking creators did watch their every move.
Doom spoke gravely, "We've planned a revolution."
"The long-necks have safeties in place for that," Rex said.
"The five of us are going, we are going to hit the transmissions and the power."
"The younglings," Rex said, thinking of their brothers still in their incubators.
"They have their backup generators," Trauma said, "but by the time they get the transmission for help off, Kamino will be ours."
"That's insane," Rex said, "There is no way to get clearance for all of us to leave our battalions for a weekend of treason and pandemonium."
Wolffe's smile was, well, wolfish, "We don't need anyone's permission."
Rex just raised his brows.
"We've been promoted," Doom said.
Rex waited, not sure what that meant, there wasn't a position high enough in the ranks to allow them to just skip off to Kamino for a weekend.
Wolffe leaned forward, "Rex, us five have been promoted to the High Jedi Council."
Rex's breath left him, and he sighed the words, "You're lying."
Monnk shook his head, "We are the High Generals Wolffe, Doom, Trauma, Monnk, and Rex, brother."
Rex shook his head, "I'm- I barely made Commander? Why me?" Because honestly, the other four weren't bad choices, sure, they weren't experts about Jedi culture, but they could learn that. Short of wizardry they could learn anything, they were born leaders, but him?
Trauma sniggered, "He's just in shock that he outranks General Skywalker now."
Rex stared down at his hands, "And we are going to start our terms, spit in the face of this honour by starting a revolution?"
Monnk spoke, "If they are our people and us theirs, then they must respect our choices in this. We are men, not slaves, and there is no honour in pretending otherwise."
Rex nodded, then looked at the door, "How are we getting past Kix?"
Doom and Trauma smiled in unison.
And Rex wondered if the Jedi Council realized what they had done promoting these two.
Ben didn't think things would move as quickly on Mandalore as they did. One moment he was making an idle comment about Defence Academy, a place where traditional Mandalorian customs could be taught, providing equal opportunity and oversight for anyone who joined no matter their clan or heritage, and the next thing he knew his plans for a small wedding were shoved out a window.
Satine revoked the exile of the warriors and gave them a section of the city that was immediately put under construction for Ben's hypothetical Defence Academy. Many of the troops from the 212th ended up helping in its construction.
Waxer and Boil were hired as instructions for the younger grades before the platform was to the building was set.
The news that the such an Academy was being built, that their warrior heritage was going to be brought back into being in a modern way that didn't threaten civil war, was all the Mandalore system could talk about.
It would be called the Concordia Academy of Mandalore, after the moon that the warriors had been exiled to while the rest of Mandalore recovered from their last great war.
And Ben found himself being blamed for this movement, which perversely made him a Jedi General from the Republic, one of the most popular figures on Mandalore.
He stood in the darkened entrance of the Palace holding Satine's hand. Curtains had been drawn so that they stood in absolute darkness before they would walk out into the light together. He didn't think he would be nervous to stand on the steps of the palace, where a temporary garden pavilion had been constructed. He had seen the flowers from his suite above as Cody helped him assemble his new custom made Mandalorian armour.
White and blue flowers were everywhere. And the crowd was a happy assembly of clone troopers, Mandalorians in full armour (many with younglings on their shoulders pounding happily on their helmeted heads), and civilians.
When he had first come to Mandalore, he never thought such an amiable crowd could exist.
He also never thought he would be wearing this much beskar. Satine must have spent a small fortune on it for him. There was nothing of his own Jedi heritage, but perhaps the cloak, a sweep of rich orange fabric over the white plates. He had chosen the orange in respect to the 212th, the white too, was in honour of his men, but on his shoulders, the crescent of the Jedi was replaced by the symbol of Satine's house.
He and Luke were keeping their name Kenobi, but from here on out, they would be a part of Satine's clan, a silver owl with spread wings. Apparently, Satine had refrained from using the symbol as she wanted to dispel clan hierarchies, but today, they would wear the symbols of the past to give them new meaning in the future they were bringing them into.
"Obi-Wan," Satine said from beside him, "I can feel your tension, what's wrong?"
What was wrong? He wasn't afraid of crowds. He didn't know what to say and when he took too long to answer, she squeezed his hand.
"Luke calls you Ben," she remarked.
He nodded, realized she couldn't see it, and said, "Yes, after the war… well, it was the name you chose for me."
She was silent for a long moment as they continued to wait in the dark for the music to start.
Finally, she asked, "Do you want my opinion?"
"Always," he said.
"I honestly like Obi-Wan better, it fits you better. It reminds me of Qui-Gon, of that bullheaded Jedi Knight I first met, I first fell in love with."
He sucked in a sharp breath, before deliberately exhaling, "I wasn't a Knight then, just a Padawan. I have been Ben for a long time, Satine, and it's been even longer since I was that Padawan."
"Then answer me this, do you cling to that name because it's how Luke sees you, or because you are still hiding?"
He closed his eyes, and asked himself that.
Asked why he was so afraid in this moment to walk out with her when this was what he wanted.
And the answer was ugly, "I'm afraid I'm going to lose you again."
Just as Anakin had been afraid to lose Padme.
Fear and attachment led to suffering.
And he was suffering and holding onto that suffering like a shield,. It's why he couldn't bear to go into the Temple, it's why he hadn't been able to face Palpatine without lashing out, and it's why he remained even in his own thoughts as Ben Kenobi, the crazy old hermit.
Because Ben wasn't the name of a Jedi, Ben was the name of a man with no friends, no family. The name of man who had failed in all things and exiled to the far reaches of the galaxy for his crimes.
For his crimes against the galaxy, for his failure to protect everyone he had ever loved.
Is that how he wanted to start this new life?
He had looked in the mirror today and saw a warrior he had not recognized. Could he forge himself into that, into someone who would not run, but stand and fight for what he believed in?
Satine pulled on his hand, "I'm afraid I'll lose you too, you know, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying every second we have together."
He turned to her, and even in the dark, they found each other's lips.
Of course, this is when the music started and when the curtains pulled back. The doors pulled back.
A cheer rose and Obi-Wan pulled back from that kiss to see Satine…
The sight of her stole the breath from his lungs.
He had been expecting her to be wearing a dress, and she was but the cloth was less a dress and more decoration. Her armour was the deepest blue and like his and the clones' over black. On her chest plate was the most intricate piece of metalwork he'd ever seen, a silver owl caught in mid flight. The cloth that framed her face and accentuated her hips was white with blue and silver accents. Her hair was pinned with white flowers and blue jewels.
She was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He hardly noticed the people, the music, the sounds, the flower petals raining down on them, it was just them.
As she stepped, her armoured boots making her every movement seem like a dance, he felt honoured to be at her side.
When it came time to exchange vows, he felt only love for her.
They spoke in unison, "We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors."
Because she had his heart from their first and he wanted to share his life, his burdens with her.
And seeing as they had legally adopted Luke and the entire 212th, 'raising warriors' wasn't so much a promise to the people of Mandalore, as an acknowledgement of fact.
Their wedding turned into a city wide street festival. And if Obi-Wan had to acknowledge the Mandalorian genius for weapons, then their fireworks were something else to see.
It was perhaps the happiest day and night of his life.
He even caught Cody dancing with a woman with golden hair and a sniper-rifle nearly as long as she was tall strapped to her back.
Submerged in the chaos and merriment, explosives raining rainbow light against a background of stars, Satine pulled him close and said, "I love you, my dearest Obi-Wan."
And in her arms, in this place, in this love, he felt remade and reborn.
Luke was on patrol with Appo, soaring around the perimeter of the planet the day after Ben- or rather Obi-Wan as he asked to be called this morning, and Satine's wedding when they found a ship that had been stuck in orbit for some time.
And by stuck, he meant literally stuck. When the exiles of Concordia had been welcomed back to the main planet, security had been increased tenfold, no one entered or left orbit without being triple checked by Mandalorian's guard and the 212th. Which had left this particular vessel no options but to sit here and hope that they were forgotten about.
Cody joined them five minutes after boarding the ship that appeared to be a pirate vessel.
Luke heard the hum of a lightsaber, his pulse jumping, he threw out his hand, Force pushing their attacker just like Obi-Wan had shown him to.
The Mando with three marks on his forehead went soaring into the opposite wall, hitting with a ding.
He fell forward leaving a dent in the metal wall behind him, and either he was unconscious or dazed because he didn't catch himself as he fell forward, landing face first with a metallic clang. Trooper Threepwood dashed forward and had the aggressor in cuffs before Luke could determine which.
Appo patted him on the back, "Good work, cadet."
Luke grinned, holding his blaster at the ready and checking around the corner.
"I don't think he's a Jedi," Cody said, picking up the lightsaber whose blade had been black laced with white.
It wasn't until they got to the next hall did blaster fire come at them.
Cody called into his coms for backup, as they began firing back at the small group of Mandos. When again, Luke heard the distinct sound of lightsabers being ignited. And this time, he felt a ripple in the Force.
He was reaching for his own lightsaber when one of the Mandos shouted, "Traitor!"
Followed by the sound of death cries and bodies dropping to the ground.
"Come on out, Kenobi, we won't hurt you," came a female voice.
Cody let out a low oath.
"Who is it?" Luke asked in a whisper.
"Ventress," he nearly snarled as he came around the corner, blaster blazing.
Luke, Appo, and Threepwood followed.
A female and male Zabrak, both with red lightsabers deflected their every shot.
"We surrender," the female said, before frowning at him, "Where is Kenobi?"
"I'm Luke Kenobi," he said, holding his hand out for their lightsabers.
She placed both in his hand as Appo took away the dual ended saber hilt from the male.
Ventress smiled at him sensually as she allowed Cody to cuff her, "I'm Asajj Ventress, and he's Feral, my apprentice."
Luke cocked his head, "And what do you want with my father?"
Her smile was evil as she purred, "To taste him."
Cody hit her with a stunner point blank and then hit Feral, the Zabrak with ochre skin and golden eyes. Threepwood bent to lift him over his shoulder as Cody caught Ventress and flung her over his shoulder.
Cody spoke into his coms, "Troub-"
But an incoming call from Waxer over lapped his, "The palace is under attack."
"Who?"
"Nite Owls, Death Watch, I don't know who they are, but get down here!"
Cody nodded and they started running back to their own ships, the two Zabraks were thrown into the backs of their transports with little ceremony.
Except when they landed and more trouble greeted them. Two more Zabraks met them on the landing platform.
"Luke Kenobi," the red skinned one said in sickly anticipation, "I've finally caught you away from your sire."
Luke could feel the darkness rolling off him in the Force, unlike the other two Zabraks they had apprehended, these two had unnatural yellow eyes rimmed in red.
Appo bellowed, "Luke run!"
From day one, Ben had told him to listen to the clones, listen to Appo, Appo who had left his unit, his battalion, and his General to follow Luke into exile.
So when Luintantiant Appo told him to run.
Luke ran.
The two Sith followed after him, and he ran like a stampede of Banthas were after him.
Obi-Wan wasn't sure why he kept expecting the best of people, because time after time, those people kept underwhelming his expectations.
Bo-Katan Kryze had helped him, sort of, rescue Satine from Death Watch. Not that she had followed through with that attempt, but she had saved him later on.
Which is why watching her blow a hole threw her nephew's heart broke his.
"Bo-Katon!" Satine screamed as he, Satine's guards, and the clones worked through the Nite Owls/Death Watch to get to her side.
Bo-Katon jet-rocked across the throne room. And Obi-Wan killed two of Bo's men to get at her, but it wasn't soon enough.
Bo-Katon caught her older sister around the neck with her arm, and pointed a blaster at Satine's head.
The room froze.
Satine's hands clutched at Bo-Katon's arm. She was standing in the same spot that Darth Maul had choked her the last time, the macabre echo nearly brought Obi-Wan to his knees.
He couldn't live through this again.
But Satine had the breath to talk this time, and she hissed, "He was our nephew, how could you kill Korkie?"
"That boy was nothing, just as you are nothing. Do you think backtracking on all your ill conceived edicts will be enough to hide your weaknesses?"
"Please, Bo, you don't need to do this," Satine pleaded.
Obi-Wan was calculating how he could pull Bo-Katon's blaster out of her hands, but her finger was on the trigger. He reached out to the Force, looking for anything to help him.
"You were born weak, Satine, and you will die like the coward you are and I will lead in your place."
Satine went limp in her sister's arms, her head dipping, and Obi-Wan reached out with the Force, lifting Bo-Katon's blaster toward the ceiling.
Two things happened simultaneously, Bo's shot went wide, and Satine, who had been acting, used her show of submission to reach for a dagger in her boot. She brought that blade up and back into her sister's eye.
Bo-Katon reeled back screaming and was promptly tackled and subdued by two of Obi-Wan's men. Satine's guard used the shock of the moment to down the remaining Death Watch terrorists.
Obi-Wan was at Satine's side in a moment, wrapping his arms around her as she broke down. There wasn't much that could have affected her more than violence within her own family.
And just when he thought things couldn't get worse, Cody's voice came over the coms, "Sir, Darth Maul is chasing Luke down over building rooftops to the east of the palace, the other one, Savage Opress is with him."
Satine pushed Obi-Wan away, "Go!"
He was already turning to run, Cody arriving on a speeder bike on the steps outside.
He received one day of peace, and then the galaxy conspired against him.
Luke could feel Obi-Wan reaching out to him, but Luke didn't stop running until he ran out of rooftops. He reached for his saber when he reached the end lipped roof, the only jump to make was too far for him.
Yes, he had been learning a bit of Force enhanced leaping, but not enough for that distance.
"Kenobi's coming, brother," Maul said to the yellow skinned Zabrak, "Hold him off, I need time to play with our prey."
The other left without another word.
On the plus side to running around on a Star Destroyer for a few months was that Luke wasn't even short of breath while the Zabraks looked a little worse for wear.
On the downside, Luke had barely a week of training with a real lightsaber.
He ignited his a moment before the Sith did, this creature that so desperately wanted to ruin Obi-Wan's life and had already hurt him in ways past imagining.
Maul sneered at him, "Pink?"
"Orange," Luke corrected shortly, trying to remember everything he had seen of lightsaber duelling.
Maul chuckled, "Tainted so soon by the Dark? Is that why Kenobi kept you hidden, because you were tainted?"
Luke was going to die if Obi-Wan didn't get to him in time, so he had to give Obi-Wan time… He remembered what Anakin had said about Obi-Wan fighting with people's minds.
"You think you're so great? My birth father was more of Sith Lord than you'll ever be."
Maul chuckled as they began circling each other, "Kenobi has never strayed from his precious Light side, but once I'm down with you, he will!" He said the last while launching at Luke, their blades meeting with shocking intensity and sound. It was all Luke could do to pull away, retreating as far as he was able to.
Maul stalked him.
Luke was very aware that this creature was playing with him. His plan was torture instead of kill. Which was good, it gave him more time.
"Not him," Luke said blithely, "My birth father, Darth Vader, he's killed millions."
Surprise flickered across Maul's face, "You aren't Kenobi's son?"
"No, he rescued me from a Sith, my father to be exact, he's much more homicidal than you are. Obi-Wan said he's killed thousands of Jedi Knights and Masters, how many of you killed? Two?"
Maul roared, his slashes coming down in a blur of speed.
Maybe pissing him off had been the wrong move.
Luke was glad for all the ridiculous exercises the clones had been putting him through because he was able to run backwards, using his lightsaber as a sort of shield.
Luke flipped backwards and to the side when Maul tried to jump over him.
"You lie!" he cried, "My Master has only trained one other apprentice! There is no Darth Vader!"
Their blades locked, and Luke spoke over the sizzle of them, "Darth Vader is the galaxy's worst nightmare."
Maul bared his teeth, pressing down as the light of their sabers cast them in the colours of sunset, "And I am yours."
Luke scoffed as they broke apart, he held his blade at the ready, letting his doubts go to the Force, "I'm not afraid of you."
Maul snarled, "You will be."
Then he came at Luke in a swirl of red light and black cloth.
Savage's blade cut the front off of Cody's speeder as he tried to get Obi-Wan closer to Luke who was impossibly exchanging blows with Darth Maul.
Cody rolled away from the crash, while Obi-Wan used the moment of the crash to fling himself at and through Savage.
The Dathomiran might have caused him trouble when he fought with Maul decades, but on his own Savage was nothing.
And Obi-Wan killed him and moved forward as if he was nothing.
But he was too late.
"LUKE!" Obi-Wan cried as his son, his son dropped to the ground.
Maul turned on him, and their old song and dance continued.
Ben let his emotions go to the Force, he let everything go.
Luke was gone.
He had failed.
Again.
And again.
And again.
History was destined to repeat itself, any hope he had that the Force had been giving him a second chance to make things right had been a lie. A fantasy he lulled himself into believing.
Hope died in Ben then, hope died with Luke.
And so it seemed did the future.
Yet the Force was still with him, the Light was not lessened by his sorrow and despair.
He had lost, but Maul hadn't won.
"What does it take to turn you!?" Maul bellowed.
Ben didn't know.
"Maybe in the next life," he answered without emotion.
He would not betray his people, his men, Luke or Satine by turning to the Dark now.
There was nothing the Dark Side could offer him but more pain and suffering.
He had enough of that for eons to come.
Maul roared, "You killed my brother!"
"You didn't keep him safe," Ben said, "You choose revenge over peace, you choose death over hope."
Maul snarled and made the same motion he'd seen him take Luke down with, the same move that had stumbled Qui-Gon, the same motion that had gotten this Dathomirian killed on Tatooine.
And Ben ended him in the same way he had then, slashing downward through the Sith's hilt and lengthwise through his central body.
But this time Ben didn't catch him and offer his enemy words of solace. He let the Zabrak fall to his death, alone beneath the stars and the distant lights of city traffic.
Ben instead went to Luke, his last Padawan, his charge.
His child.
Kneeling, Ben put a hand to the side of his neck.
And he found a pulse.
"Luke!" he exclaimed.
Luke's eyes snapped open and he sat up so fast that their skulls smashed together.
"Ow!" Luke exclaimed, reaching for first his forehead before rubbing at his bruised chin where Maul had struck him with the middle of his hilt.
Obi-Wan pulled Luke into his arms, the tears spilling from his eyes as the reality of his still breathing son being alive sunk in.
A moment later, Cody dropped to his knees beside them and pulled both Obi-Wan and Luke into his arms.
In the end, it was Cody and Luke who were holding Obi-Wan together as he let himself fully break down for the first time in twenty years.
The Force and all its Light seemed to embrace them.
He had been sure that he was about to lose everything today, again, but tonight, hope had beaten fear, and love had endured suffering.
His men were alive and free, Luke was alive, Satine was alive, and so too was Obi-Wan Kenobi.
KEYnote: Yes, Maul could have killed Luke, duh, but he was being a cat. Thoughts on this chapter, kittens, or feedback pretty please?