A/N: As I said in the previous chapter, we're coming up on the end game. This will be the first multi-chapter fic (aside from Soldiers, Young and Old) that I've done to completion, and once this is over I'll have more time for my other stuff. Hope you enjoy!

Star Wars is fully owned and controlled by Disney. They may or may not also control the world from a secret underground bunker.

"I... I don't even know how to react to this, Kevin," Ms. Madison said, still reeling from the short version of my story that I had just finished telling her. "God, I thought you were dead, and now I find out that..."

She cut herself off with a heavy sigh as she placed her head in her hands; she wasn't crying, but I got the feeling that if she weren't sitting on the bed at the time she would have collapsed to the floor under the weight of it all.

"Kevin, what am I going to tell anyone? How are we going to explain this—"

I shook my head. "We can't. We can't tell anyone. Not yet, at least..."

"What do you mean, 'not yet'?"

"I... well, it's hard to explain, but when you can feel the Force, you can sense its... intent sometimes, or something like that. The Force is so complex I honestly can't describe it to you accurately in a way you'd be able to understand. Even Master Obi-Wan doesn't completely understand sometimes—"

"Wait, 'Master Obi-Wan'? As in—you're not seriously saying—"

"Yeah. His second padawan after Master Skyw—Anakin. Okay, yeah, it does seem a little strange that I almost forgot that they used to be fictional from my perspective. Don't worry, Anakin hasn't gone Vader yet; still, there's no telling what else might be changing with me here. Which is why I have to go back soon—"

She stood up suddenly, eyes simultaneously displaying shock, hurt, and mild anger. "'Back'? Kevin, I was almost about to give up on ever finding you alive again! I was almost convinced that someone would drag your body out of the river, and now you're going back to a universe that is currently in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war?!"

I had almost forgotten that look; she had mastered it like no one else in either universe. Force, I think she could've even shrunk Master Windu down to an inch with that! It took every ounce of willpower I had not to let the guilt overcome me, let alone all the other emotions running through me at this reunion. "Ms. Madison, I know it's dangerous; I've trained for dangerous. I've already gone through real life-or-death combat situations; it wasn't easy, and I don't think it ever will be. But there are people I've come to know as real, actual people and not just fictional characters, people who might end up needing my help at some point; I can't just walk away from that. As for the danger... don't be afraid for me. I'll be fine, and I know I'll see you again before long."

"How can you know that, Kevin? It's war, and nothing is ever safe in war! I know that firsthand..." Ms. Madison looked down at the floor; I know she doesn't like to talk about it, so the fact that she brought it up at all spoke to just how frightened she was for me. "...How can you possibly know... and how can I know?"

"Because," I said, looking her directly in the eye and saying with full confidence, "The Force is with me. I know it sounds cheesy—heck, it probably sounds sort of like I've joined a cult or something—but that's the literal truth. I can feel it, every second of every day, and it hasn't failed me yet. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, because the future is always changing, but I can always trust in the Force. That's just part of being a Jed—"

All of a sudden, a hundred alarm bells started going off in my head.

"What? What's wrong, Kevin?"

"Get all the others into the basement and lock the door. You have about three minutes."

"Kevin, what's going on?"

"Someone followed me through the breach. Several armed someones. They're only a few blocks away, and they're not planning on a friendly visit."

Cad Bane was neither easily impressed nor easily shaken by strange revelations under ordinary circumstances. These were far from ordinary circumstances. Even so, the surprise at seeing an entirely new universe passed into disappointment when he noticed how technologically backwards it was compared to the Galaxy. True, he'd seen even more backwards areas in the Outer Rim—there were even settlements in those parts where living mounts and powdered slugthrowers were still used instead of repulsor tech and blasters—but that was mostly due to lack of resources or money for anything more complex rather than a lack of technical knowledge. This planet was just backwards, pure and simple. Of course, we'll stick out like angry rancors, but by the time anyone on this rock knows something's up, we'll already have gone out of sight, Bane mused; That, or the sep fleet will arrive and start tearing this backwater a new one. Either way, we'll be as ghosts before anyone can react.

At least the subordinates Dooku supplied him with were the flesh-and-blood trained-killer types rather than those idiot droids; he didn't like relying on a team to get the job done, but when he had to it was good to have competent people. Besides, it wasn't as if he planned to let any of them live long enough to get a share of the paycheck.

After a brief period of travel, the team managed to reach the target building; he wasn't sure how Dooku knew about it, but he suspected it had to do with that new apprentice of his. With a few gestures, his three "colleagues" moved to enter while he remained outside using the x-ray function on his macrobinoculars to observe the fight through the walls. I don't really expect much trouble from this kid, but he was trained by Kenobi. Worst-case-scenario, they'll probably get enough hits in that I can just come in and clean up after them...

It wasn't long before he spotted the padawan in question, hiding around a corner from one of his team; he had to smirk in genuine amusement. Kenobi trained this kid good. He'd picked a narrow hallway with only one way in and out, which would give him the advantage in terms of blaster deflection. The assassin in question wasn't stupid either, however, and quickly rolled behind a counter instead of sticking his idiot head around the corner; as a result, he was able to spot the kid hiding there, and let out a quick burst of fire in his direction before ducking back behind cover. The kid managed to deflect the worst of it, but the other two, being on the opposite side of the wall from the kid, heard the shots and aimed their guns at the wall itself; the bolts punched through with little difficulty, forcing him out into the open.

Unfortunately, that's when things started to go wrong for the team; again, being trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi meant getting trained by a master strategist and tactician, so rather than simply running out in a panic the padawan force-leaped over the counter and quickly killed the assassin hiding there before the latter could react. The other two moved to flank, but once again the kid was ready, force-throwing pots and pans at his assailants while remaining behind cover; with that distraction, he was able to subdue one with an arm amputation and a heavy force-push, knocking the poor sap out like a light. The third managed to graze the padawan on the shoulder in the process, but the kid shrugged it off and deflected the other shots before leaping behind another wall, remaining low to minimize the risk of being shot through it. The assassin did a flying sideways leap around the corner, letting loose a rapid-fire burst from both guns, but they ended up being blocked or deflected, one of the last bolts being redirected right at the idiot's head, doing him in.

Gotta say, he knows his stuff well. Bane smiled at the padawan's relieved expression, blissfully unaware of the hidden bounty hunter due to Bane's Ysalamiri-enhanced longcoat. The instant the boy moved past a window, Bane tossed a couple of grenades in; the kid barely had time to get out of the way before they exploded. Wasting no time, the hired gun kicked a nearby door down and fired, forcing the padawan into cover again.

"Nice moves, kid. A few years, give or take, and you might've reached about a fraction of Kenobi's level. But your luck just ran out."

"Bane?!"

"In the flesh," he chuckled. "Gotta say, what Dooku thinks he can get out of this mudball I have no clue. But considering his offer of a lifetimes' worth of creds, a future long-term contract, and a continent or two to call home, retirement never sounded better. Shame about the low tech, but once the current tenants are gone it shouldn't be too hard to redecorate a bit."

The boy tried to move out of cover, but a quick burst of blaster fire followed by a stun grenade made him reconsider the notion. "You really think Dooku will let you live once he's got what he wants?"

"Ordinarily, no. But he isn't stupid; I've got skills no one else has, and big fleet or no he'll need some high-class scum like me to deal with any problems. Can't rule a planet without good pest control."

After a short pause, the kid tried to escape to another cover, and was successful this time—but only just, as Bane simply managed to flank and corner him again. A chair was sent flying in his direction, forcing Bane to dodge, and he had just enough time to get out his own stolen lightsaber to parry the kid's counterattack before delivering a kick to the gut and retreating with another burst of blaster fire; even so, Kenobi's padawan still managed to block and deflect the shots. Bane started to seriously consider the possibility that this fight might take a while before a welcome distraction occurred.

"Ahh!"

Both combatants looked to see a small child—considering how empty the place was, the little kriffer was obviously overlooked during whatever evacuation occurred—standing in a hallway. Before the padawan could respond, Bane had grabbed the child and placed a blaster to his skull. "What's your name, kiddo?"

"B-b-b-braden..." The child choked out, quietly weeping in pure terror.

"Well, Braden, I'm guessing you wanna live, huh? You're a pretty cute kid—it'd be a terrible shame if you had a big hole where the back of your head used to be. Or maybe I could blow your head open from the other direction and leave you minus a face? I can improvise." Bane looked at the padawan with a smirk. "You want this brat to see another day, drop the lightsaber."

Jedi padawan or no, the kid couldn't help but sneer in frustration. "You think I'm stupid? You'll kill him anyway!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. But think about it this way: you surrender, he might die. You don't, he'll definitely die. Doesn't seem like too difficult a choice—"

Chk-CHK.

The unmistakable sound of a blaster of some sort being cocked behind him surprised Bane enough to loosen his grip on the smaller child, giving the padawan plenty of time to force-pull the hostage away; Bane had just enough time to whip around to see an unbelievably pissed-off human woman wielding a double-barreled slugthrower.

BOOM.

"Go down to the basement, Braden. Don't look, just go to the others and stay there until Ms. Madison comes to get you, okay?"

Shooing Braden off, I turned to Ms. Madison, who lowered the still-smoking shotgun, switched the safety on and placed it on the counter before collapsing to the floor, leaning against the wall for support. "I never thought I'd have to use a gun ever again. 'Never again', I told myself. 'You were discharged, you did your time, you can rest easy.'"

"There wasn't any other way..."

She replied with a sad chuckle. "Never thought one of my kids would be lecturing me on this kind of thing..." A long silence followed; when she broke it, her voice almost cracked with grief. "You should never have had to be in this sort of situation. You shouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing. Jedi or not, you're a child and this," she said, gesturing to Bane's corpse, "is something no child should ever have to deal with."

I nodded a bit. "There isn't much that can be done about it, though. The Force helps; there's a sort of calming effect, and meditation tends to keep the stress to a minimum. All the same... I did have some nightmares the first time. Master Obi-Wan helps, but... if I ever do come back to visit, would it be okay if I talked to you about it from time to time?"

A sad smile came in response. "Like I said, Kevin, you're one of my kids; that won't ever change, even if you get adopted or made a Jedi or whatever. I wouldn't have any business running a place like this if I didn't make time for you when you needed it. I'll get this all cleaned up—"

I froze, remembering the guy I knocked out. "Wait! One of them's alive. I need to read his mind to see if there's any more coming, so wait until I do that before you tie him up or whatever."

She started to say something before probably realizing that this was the new normal and she ought to get used to it; ignoring her for the moment, I knelt over the assassin and placed my hand on his head, clearing my mind and searching through his memories. It wasn't long before I found something disturbing.

Marsh...? Marsh is Dooku's apprentice... wait. Something else—oh.

Oh Force.

An invasion fleet.

Before I could react to the new revelations, I suddenly found myself being pulled into yet another vision; to my surprise, it started out the same as all the others, but a story began to unfold as it became clearer and clearer.

A red glow from a lightsaber; a green lightsaber—MY lightsaber—crosses it. As the two clash, I see myself and Marsh in deadly combat.

Though the area around the battle is shrouded in darkness, by squinting I can just make out a terrible scene: crumbling buildings full of frightened and starving people; rivers of sludge abound, and thick smog blackens the sky. To my horror, I realize that this is no alien planet; this is Earth.

Suddenly, the battle ceases, with both combatants turning to face me. Marsh's lightsaber suddenly turns blue, and instead of facing each other in battle he and I now stand side-by-side—as allies, not enemies.

A new lightsaber activates, green.

Another lightsaber activates, blue.

And another, and another and another, all wielded by people I don't know. As each one ignites, the dark shadows are banished. The smog dissipates to reveal clear blue skies; the crumbling buildings give way to gleaming spires, the rivers of sludge become flowing streams of crystal-clear water, and the frightened people rise to their feet and begin walking happily through the new world without a care.

But the grandest sight of all is behind me and Marsh: hundreds of thousands of people, maybe more, stretching as far as the eye can see—and all of them wielding lightsabers.

I didn't need to be told what the vision meant. Ever since I first began my training, I wondered why the Force brought me to the Galaxy; no matter what I did, it seemed that I only managed to affect minor changes at best. Now I knew why.

I was never meant to save the Galaxy. And I was never meant to save anything alone.

For the first time since it all began, I knew what I had to do; I could only hope I had the strength with which to succeed.

Next chapter, back to the Galaxy... and the beginning of the finale. Read and review!