So, this is the last chapter of this fic. I'd just like to thank everyone who read and reviewed, especially wavingthroughawindow, whatifweareallfictional, JustARandomNerd, Fiction Is The Truth and so many others for reviewing consistently and constantly; it always made my day, and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

This is the longest fic I've ever written, and was the test trial for a new method of writing, and considering it's been resoundingly successful I'm going to continue using it. I'm as surprised as anyone I managed to crank out 120,000 words in eight months, posting it all in ten months, so thank you all for coming on this journey with me. You're all amazing, and I hope you like the last chapter!


Jesper looked up when he sensed Nina join the celebration, and made his way through the crowd towards her.

She seemed to sense his mood before she even saw his face - though, that might be because she seemed to be in such a grave mood herself. But she didn't smile as she met his eye, then glanced at his side. "You've lost your lightsaber."

"Yes." He swallowed. He couldn't pretend to be alright with that - that lightsaber had had his mother's kyber crystal inside it, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd just lost her all over again. "The boy who sacrificed himself to destroy the generator used it on the reactors."

She studied his face. "You have something to say."

She sounded tired, and for a moment Jesper felt guilty for pushing this on her now. Now, which should be a happy day. But. . . "I know we said I could get my own kyber crystal once the war was over. But I won't."

Nina waited for him to finish.

"I don't want to be trained as a Jedi anymore."

Nina had no outward reaction: she just tilted her head, waiting for him to explain himself.

"I'm grateful for the skills you've given me," he told her, "and I'm grateful that you helped me learn to not despise this power, to instead use it as a tool to help the people I love. Like when we were rescuing Kaz - I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did in that throne room if I didn't have the Force as my ally." He took a deep breath. "But I am not cut out to be a Jedi. Or whatever new order you plan on building."

"You have too much of your mother in you."

He smiled wryly at how accurately she'd hit the nail on the head. "Yes. I don't know why she left the Jedi. I can't know. I'd rather see the world, do my own research on the Force, before I decide whether or not to pledge myself to an order that I believe is inherently flawed." He sighed. "I will still help you build your new order - Force, of course I will - if you need me. But I don't want to be a part of it until I've worked things out on my own."

"You want to see the galaxy."

"I want to travel. And, actually - I want to do exactly what I said. I want to visit old places strong with the Force, old Jedi and Sith temples. I want to learn. The galaxy is at our feet, now," he said, "and I want to experience it to the full."

Nina smiled at that. "I know you, Jesper. I think this is exactly what you need. Although. . ." Her smile turned sly. "Will Wylan be joining you?"

"I was planning on it, yeah," Wylan said from behind Jesper. Jesper jumped a little, then relaxed as Wylan slipped an arm round his shoulders. "I'll keep helping the Rebellion, and the New Republic we're going to build, but then I want to see the universe."

Jesper felt his heart stop as he looked down into Wylan's earnest eyes. Their relationship had changed so much in the past months, and it would change so much more in the future. He realised, abruptly, that he'd never kissed him before.

But he wanted to.

So he did.

And Nina walked away as Wylan kissed him back, and as the celebratory fireworks exploded over Endor, Jesper's future had never looked brighter.


The celebration was in full swing by the time Inej and Kaz got permission to dock with one of the cruisers and catch one of the shuttles down to the moon below. Everyone's eyes looked red and puffy, like they'd been crying - a lot of good soldiers had been lost when they took down the shield generator - but few could stop smiling for long.

Nina was the first to notice them. "Inej!"

She couldn't - nor did she want to - stop the grin that cracked her face at the sight of her friend, alive and awake, even if she limped slightly, bruises creeping over the parts of her skin not covered by her fatigues.

Wylan, Matthias and Jesper soon followed her. "They say you were the one to blow it," Wylan said. "Was it really you? Both Death Stars?"

"Both Death Stars," Inej confirmed, and hugged them.

"Now, come on!" Jesper cut in. "There's a party going on!"

The party that was thrown on the surface didn't seem particularly organised, but what it lacked in substance it made up for in enthusiasm. More and more Rebels got permission to join the shuttles coming down to the surface to celebrate; before long Inej lost her friends in a blur of faces and congratulations, whirling dances and booming music. Where, exactly, the Pathfinders had acquired a piece of tech to play music on, Inej didn't know, but she was a little disturbed by the people who used sticks to hit stormtrooper helmets like they were drums.

After a while, she managed to detach herself from the chaos to find Matthias sitting off to the side, acting. . . well, not uncharacteristically morose, but more morose than she would've expected him to be. So Inej did what any decent person would do: she said down beside him.

"What's wrong?"

Matthias shook his head. "I don't know. War. Glory. The whole deal." He pressed his lips together. "Our propaganda stunt played on reinforced toxic Mandalorian ideals of violence," his voice broke a little as he said 'toxic', "and a young Mandalorian killed himself today because of it."

Inej had heard the story of Mikhail from one of Tamar's Pathfinders, so she didn't ask him to explain. She just sat there quietly, letting Matthias vent.

"Why should it be necessary for someone to die horribly and painfully for a cause they believe in?"

"Isn't that what you decided to do when you joined the Rebellion?" Inej asked.

"No." The word was vehement. "It's- it's not the same thing." He took a deep breath. "Any of the people on this moon would die for the Rebellion. I know that. It's not- It's not a bad thing, per se, caring about a cause that much, being selfless enough to put others before yourself - though I suppose there's a whole other argument about self-destructive heroism to be had there as well.

"No, what I mean is. . . He-" Matthias took a breath. "Mikhail wasn't sorry that he was dying for a Rebellion he'd never become a member of, which would never remember his name. He took pride in it. Pride that he was about to die, and die with glory. That culture - that Mandalorian attitude towards violence and destruction - is toxic. It will only lead to more war, the way it has for generations."

"I heard that the planet of Mandalore's seen so much war that the grass won't grow back on the meadows." Inej herself couldn't fathom the mere thought of it.

"It's true." Matthias swallowed. "My people have suffered enough because of the wars they start. Why can't it just end?"

"Wasn't there a splinter group on Mandalore dedicated to ending that?" Inej frowned. "A government that controlled Mandalore during the Clone Wars, and preached the idea of peace and prosperity. It collapsed when their leader, the Duchess of Mandalore, was assassinated."

Matthias nodded. "The New Mandalorians," he said. "Brum hated them more than anything - more than the Rebels, even. At least they didn't try to call themselves Mandalorian. I think they're still around, somewhere."

Inej shrugged. "Then why don't you join them?"

"I. . ." He froze. "I could do that?"

She shrugged again. "The Emperor's dead. The end of the Empire is nigh. You can do whatever you want."

Matthias's gaze snapped to hers. "What do you think Nina will do?" he asked. "Wylan?"

Her breath faltered at the intensity of the question. "I don't know. We'll still need soldiers. Rebels. I hope they'll continue with that, but. . . It's their choice." She smiled. "Although, if you do choose to join the New Mandalorians, I'm sure Nina would be able to find plenty of reasons to visit you. 'Building relations with the previous enemies of the Jedi', and all that."

Matthias flushed, and didn't comment. Instead he said: "I was talking to Wylan earlier. He wants to keep working with you until all the factions of the Empire are fully routed, and then. . . Who knows? He implied he might like to go travelling."

"Jesper will probably join him," said a new voice. Kaz stepped up and sat on the other side of her. "But what about you, Inej? What are you going to do?"

"What are you going to do?" she challenged, but it wasn't in the same way she would have challenged him before. It was playful now, a genuine curiosity. "You leaving us again?"

He didn't quite smile back at her, but his mouth twitched like he wanted to. "Yes, actually," he admitted. Her heart sank for a moment before he continued, "I'm going to investigate the criminal underworld for your Rebellion. I'll act as a bounty hunter of sorts, tracking down Imperial war criminals and such."

She grinned at him. "Kaz Brekker, a bounty hunter? Oh how the tables have turned." He actually did smile at that: it was small and fleeting, but it was there. "You'll be terrifying."

"I will," he said, almost proudly. "And what about you?"

She glanced at Matthias, then back at Kaz. "I guess. . ." Her eyes fell on some of the pilots of Green Squadron, their orange flight suits garish in the evening light. "I'll keep flying with Green Squadron. Or at least, some of the pilots from it," she added. "I want to form a new squadron, meant for covert missions. I find the data and the missions we need, then the whole squadron carries it out."

"What're you gonna call it?" Matthias asked.

"'Wraith Squadron' has a nice ring to it," Kaz mused.

Inej laughed. "You're right. What's more terrifying than one Wraith in the galaxy? Over a dozen of them."

"Glad you find it such a good idea," Kaz said, "because I have something for you."

She blinked at him. "Okay. . ." She turned to Matthias and said, "I saw Nina by the food table, if you wanted to go look for her," then, ignoring the way his cheeks flushed pink, allowed Kaz to take her hand and pull her away. "What is it?"

They were a little way beyond the outskirts of the party when he stopped and pulled out a holo, its blue light bright against the dimness of the trees. "If you're going to start your own squadron," he said, "you'll need a ship, won't you?"

Her eyes went wide as she studied the ship in the hollow. It was white and hexagonal, simple but elegant, nice enough to be a well-kept freighter but not nice enough to draw attention. The cockpit was a bubble attached to the front, and it had three turrets: one of the back, one on the top, one on the bottom.

"A VCX-100 light freighter," she breathed. "Three turrets?"

"Each one with a laser cannon, and two with proton torpedo launchers."

She just look at him, mouth agape.

He continued, "It also has engines which are baffled, with energy dampeners and static jammers which make it hard to detect, plus another eighty seven highly illegal upgrades which I'll let you find on your own. All in all-"

"-it's a perfect stealth ship."

"Not quite perfect, but I'm sure you'll find way to modify it yourself until it is."

Inej shook her head. "Kaz, I can't accept this."

"Forget that," he dismissed. "I bought it off a Twi'lek woman from the Free Ryloth movement who was selling it cheap to any Rebels. I didn't pay much for it, and she was thrilled at the idea it would be used by the Wraith herself. It used to be called the Ghost, but I'm think you can rechristen it to the Wraith."

He handed her the holo and she clutched it tightly.

"Also," he said. "I've made contact with two citizens of the new Alderaanian flotilla that sprung up. They say their family name is Ghafa - they saw the brief footage of you from Pekka's palace, and they recognised you. They want to talk to you."

If her heart had skipped a beat when he gave her the ship, it stopped altogether at this. "W-what?"

"Your parents are alive, Inej," he repeated gently. "They're looking for you. They miss you."

She-

She couldn't breathe.

Mama. Papa.

They were alive.

For a moment, all she could do was laugh giddily. Then she found her voice. "Thank you, Kaz," she said. "Thank you. You-" She shook her head. "You can be so wonderful sometimes."

His faint smile faltered at the compliment. "Just take the damn ship, Inej." There was joking in his tone, but seriousness as well. "Take it, and change the galaxy with it."


Nikolai had spent as much time as he could on his flagship Home One before one of his subordinates persuaded him to catch a shuttle down to the moon and join the celebration. He conceded, and travelled to the moon, but he didn't join the celebration. That was for the everyday soldiers, who went out on missions and risked their lives, like Ghafa and Zenik and Van Eck and Helvar. It wasn't for ex-senators and Rebel leaders.

Instead, he went to the only lambda shuttle still on the moon - the one Zenik had come in. It wasn't locked or secured in any way; he found himself able to walk right up the ramp and into the cockpit to see the lights of Endor laid out before him through the viewport.

To see Alina's body, still lying in the seat he'd seen her die in.

And you're a Sith Lord.

Not anymore.

He was glad his friend had died in peace, even if his other friends - the ones who actually deserved peaceful deaths - didn't. He would miss Tolya and Tamar, and Alina no less, but he'd been missing Alina since Koroleva had been born. That emotion wasn't new to him.

The knowledge that the twins were gone, on the other hand, was still fresh and raw.

He hefted Alina's body into his arms and carried her out of the shuttle, into the night air. Alina had spent her childhood outside, and even after that she had never liked being inside for too long; it was wrong to leave her corpse there, when the fresh air was so close by.

When the stars were just within reach.

It took him the better part of an hour to get the remainder of her armour off of her, and once he did he buried it deep, the dirt embedding itself under his fingernails. He didn't complain of the sweat on his back or the aches in his joints - this was a service to his friend. It was the least he could do.

Finally, he gathered dry wood and set up a pyre. He laid her body atop it. It was an easy task to find two pieces of flint and strike them against each other, sending sparks flying until a scrap of cloth he'd torn off his white cloak caught aflame, and the wood itself burned with it.

He watched as her clothes, then her body caught fire, and the unpleasant smell of charred flesh filled his nostrils. Smoke curled towards the sky, the yellow flames bright against the pink and purple supernovae spread out in the heavens above them.

Nikolai didn't know how Tamar had died. Didn't want to know. He was sure he'd find out later, when Zenik reported everything that had happened, but right now he was glad that he didn't know whether or not it had been Alina who killed her. He was glad that in this final moment, that last crime couldn't be attributed to her.

"I'm sorry, Alina," he said to the pyre. "And I hope that wherever you are now, you're happy."

Pressure was building at the back of his eyes, tears pressing into his tear ducts. But his face remained dry as he took a deep breath, as the flames consumed the last of her body, as he turned towards the sounds of the party going on not too far away.

He could hear Zenik's excited chatter, Helvar's booming voice, Ghafa's calming hum. There was something missing without the twins, but it was a happy noise all the same, of the next generation carving out their future in a war-torn galaxy.

"We'll all be dead soon," he murmured, to himself, to Alina, to Tamar and Tolya, to all the Jedi who'd died before their time. "Our generation messed everything up, and soon there'll be none of us left because of it."

The laughter kept rising and falling. He watched the silhouettes of the young group of Rebels who'd defeated both the Death Stars dance through the colourful lights, as delicate and ethereal as fairies, and when he turned back to the fire, he imagined he saw another two silhouettes. Zoya's face, blue and glowing, winked at him for an instant before vanishing, but it was the image of Alina that lingered for longer - the image of her as he'd known her just before the Clone Wars had started, Jedi robes drifting around her, dark hair braided back in a no-nonsense plait, shy smile fixed on her face.

Then she vanished too, and he imagined the wind was her whispered goodbye.

He took a sharp breath. "I'll tell them what happened," he promised. "That Fahey's mother helped trigger the Clone Wars, that I was in part to blame for it as well. I'll tell them about Ilse's warmongering ways, the corruption in the Republic, the opportunistic Darkling who made to take advantage of it all."

The music kept playing. It made his heart ache, thinking of other times - of better times.

He shook his head. "But not today."

He glanced behind him again, at the silhouettes and the lights and the magic of hope. At that time, there was no way he could know what was to come.

He couldn't know that Brekker and Ghafa would serve with the New Republic for a further eighteen months, routing ex-Imperial dissidents, before they both went to live in a colony set up by the surviving Alderaanians.

He couldn't know that Helvar would become the Prime Minister of Mandalore on behalf of the New Mandalorians, taking major steps away from the toxic warrior culture as well as finding ways to be with Zenik.

He couldn't know that Fahey would go travelling around the galaxy with Van Eck, researching major events and places in the history of the Force and eventually setting up a charity for children whose parents couldn't or wouldn't be there for them, whether they were Force-sensitive or otherwise.

And he couldn't know that Zenik would set up a new Force sect in contingency with the New Republic - and the New Mandalorians - neither Jedi nor Sith, which focused on finding a healthy balance between both the light and the dark in the galaxy and in yourself.

He couldn't know any of this, but he felt it, somehow.

So he smiled in the darkness. "They'll still be here, in the years to come," he predicted. We'll all be dead," he took in a breath of fresh air, "but they will remain. And they will make the future bright."

As bright as the surface of Endor's planet, arching over half the sky. As bright as the stars seen beyond it.

As bright as the sun, staining the sky pink and gold as it climbed.

The long night had ended. Dawn had come, and the sun was rising on the Republic once again.