Chapter 93 - Aftermath

Author's Note: In which everyone faces the aftermath of the fight. :) People talk. ^-^

To Guest: I'm glad that you like how Athea's arc ended! :)

To Jayden: Glad you liked the climax :P
I think Athea's death would've felt more climatic if you could see the explosion. I suppose only words have different effects than what you visualize in mind. xD More about her is going to be addressed, but I won't say if it's as Force ghost or not.
There's still a number of more chapters before the epilogue to close everything up. Hopefully you'll like the closure :D
I'm so glad that you've enjoyed this story so much! ^-^

Thank y'all so much for reviewing! 💖💖💖

~ Amina Gila

There's no escape from here, Kanan knows, so all he can do is sit in the cell, meditating and hoping an opportunity will present itself. No one's come to question him yet, but he doesn't know if the others are so lucky. They're alive, or he would have sensed something happening to them, but... He'd be lying to say he's not scared. This time, there will be no last minute rescue attempt. All the rebels are busy elsewhere. And he has no idea what to do about it.

The door to his cell suddenly snaps open, the stormtroopers in the doorway motioning for him to follow.

He does, warily.

The rest of the Ghost crew are already outside in the hall, and Kanan glances over them briefly, just to make sure that they're fine. They appear to be, although they're obviously no less confused than he is. He wants to talk, but he knows better than to try. The stormtroopers will never allow it.

They're taken to the command center, where a very cranky looking Governor Pryce is standing.

"What do you want?" Hera demands, staring back at her defiantly.

"By order from Coruscant, you are to be freed, until a deal is worked out between the Empire and the Alliance," she says, sounding as though every word is the most disgusting thing she's ever uttered.

Kanan blinks.

"What?!" they all demand, almost at once.

"You are free to leave," she grits out, gesturing for the stormtroopers to free them, before they're ushered out into the hallway, and just...

"What?!" Ezra demands again, as they look around.

"Perhaps Marr's plan worked?" Sabine proposes, sounding just as disbelieving.

"Or maybe this is a trap," Kanan points out, frowning. It's a million kinds of strange, not that he's complaining.

"Why don't we get out of here and call for an update?" Hera advises.

They do, Kanan keeping his hand near his lightsaber just in case someone attacks them, but no one does. They do send a transmission in to Rebel command, to hear that many of the attacks were successful. They lost so many of their resources, though. But the Empire has a new Emperor, and Marr is apparently injured, which means as soon as things are a little more stable here, they're heading right to Coruscant.

But they actually won. The Emperor is dead. Maybe it'll sink in later, because right now, Kanan feels like he's in a daze – living in a dream, even if it's a very good one this time.

**w**

Ahsoka wants to talk to Anakin, except... she has absolutely no idea what to say. What is there to say? He was gone but now he's back, and she has so much to tell him and thank him for. When she finds herself alone with him finally, she finds herself speechless. "Thank you," she says at last, because focusing on the situation is easier than her chaotic emotions. It was when they last met, too, though... she regrets doing so.

"It... was the least I could do," he replies. She can sense he feels awkward, too, and it makes her feel better. At least she's not alone.

"We would have failed without you," she adds. That, she knows with certainty.

"Perhaps," he replies. She loathes how it feels as though they no longer know how to speak with one another. Then again, that was true before, too, right? But Anakin is here, and he's finally free, which means they can try at something.

What should she even say to her... Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi – maybe, hopefully – master when she hasn't seen him in seventeen years, save on Malachor? Who she knows helped destroy the Jedi? Who tried to kill Marr? She has no idea, and it's not something she has anyone to turn to for help.

"I... am glad you're alive," she blurts out finally.

He inclines his head slightly instead of verbally responding. Distantly, she wonders if he even knows how to handle these conversations anymore. He's been away from people so long he might not remember, and that hurts. She knew everything had changed, but she still misses her Anakin.

There are so many things she wanted to say to him.

"Do you know what I have become?"

Marr insisted it wasn't her fault, but she still feels somewhat responsible.

"I don't understand how this happened," Ahsoka confesses finally. "You were always so Light. Maul told us that Sidious was... grooming you, but no one ever noticed. I should have seen it. We all should've." I should have saved you, she doesn't say.

"I am not your failure, Ahsoka. I am a monster of my own making. I became... Sidious's weapon."

"You're not a weapon, Anakin." She moves forwards, hesitantly, uncertainly, but he doesn't pull away when she lays a hand on his arm. "You've changed, and you can't undo what is done, but you can try to make it better. That's all I've been doing for years. I thought... perhaps it could make up for leaving you, but nothing could."

"I do not blame you for leaving," he replies, "I wanted to go as well, but I could not."

"Why?" she asks, trying to hide the pain in her voice, "Why couldn't you leave?"

"I had a duty to the Order," he answers, "They freed me. I had a duty. I could not abandon the galaxy."

It reminds her again of how much like this Anakin has always been – so loyal and self-sacrificing. In truth, she doesn't fully understand it, because she may have held true to the Code her entire life, but she certainly didn't feel she owed that kind of loyalty to the Council after what they did to her. "Would it really have been... abandoning, though?" she asks.

"Where would I have gone? What would I have done?" The what do I do now is unstated, but she can still see it clearly enough.

"I... found a life out there, but it was..." Ahsoka trails off. It was a pretty meaningless, pointless existence, she had rapidly realized. She can't imagine Anakin ever living like that. "Didn't you and Padme...?"

"I could not have stayed with her, had I left," he responds, "She didn't want to risk her career for me. Had I remained with her, it would have drawn unwanted attention."

"Marr said you were married," she frowns. Truthfully, she has no idea what all that entails, but... "Why wouldn't she want you there? I mean, you were planning to live together afterwards, right?"

The way his Force-signature twists with pain makes her wish she hadn't mentioned it at all. "Yes," he replies quietly, "We were. But it matters little."

It is the past now, and Ahsoka knows it can't be easy for him to talk about. There's no point reflecting on what they had and lost, anyway. "I suppose not," she agrees. "What matters most is... what we do now."

"Yes," he concurs, "It does."

"What will happen with the Empire now?" she inquires. "Who takes charge?"

"The line of command is unclear. I may be able to obtain control of the Empire."

Anakin and his weird manner of speech. It's only gotten worse over the years. "I imagine we'll be able to find a peaceful resolution."

"Perhaps," he agrees, "If the Rebellion is willing."

"Not all of them, I imagine, but enough." Or at least she certainly hopes so.

**w**

He thought Anakin was gone. Vader had said he was gone. Yoda had said he was gone. Everyone did, and Obi-Wan believed it – his actions never showed anything else, but then, Theseus came, and he said otherwise, and somehow, everything changed.

Because then Anakin wasn't gone anymore, and Obi-Wan has no idea when or how that happened. This still isn't... his Anakin, but he can feel the ex-Sith's Light, nonetheless. It reminds him a little of how Theseus himself now feels: a strange mix of light and dark that's not quite either.

For years, he's operated under the belief that Anakin was dead. It's been seventeen years, aside from a brief week where he questioned it, and he has absolutely no idea how to handle the fact that Anakin is... still alive. And it was Theseus who helped him find that Light again. It's something Obi-Wan was never able to do, because he never tried. If he had...

For the first ten years on Tatooine, he had frequently wondered if Padme was right that there was still good in him. It was so, so obvious that Anakin – Vader – whoever he was then – still deeply cared for everyone in his family. If he had tried then, actually tried to help Anakin, could he have brought him back years ago?

How many lives could he have saved if he'd tried?

How much pain could both of them have been spared if he tried?

Anakin is no longer the swirling maelstrom of anger, fury, and fear he was the last time Obi-Wan saw him, but he seems quite content with ignoring him entirely.

Which... Obi-Wan isn't surprised about it, considering everything that went down between them, but it still stings, and he doesn't like it. Getting Anakin alone isn't easy, but if the looks Ahsoka keeps throwing him are anything to go by, she's trying to help them talk.

"Will he make a full recovery?" Obi-Wan asks finally, at a lack of anything else to say. He felt the pain still lingering on the walls of the rooms when he came here. He wants to know more, to know what happened here. He wants to know what Sidious has been doing to his padawan.

"Yes," Anakin answers bluntly. Shortly. "I recommend not training another padawan," he adds dryly a moment later, "Or he will be stabbed by one of his parents as well."

Obi-Wan winces. He had thought the same – this was far too like what happened on Mustafar, and he doesn't know what to think of how even now, years later, Anakin is still so freely willing to call him... what he did when they were younger. "I assure you, that is not a concern," Obi-Wan replies, "I do not believe you would harm your child." Not anymore, at least.

"Leia?" he asks, visibly confused.

"No. Her twin brother. Luke. He... was raised with your family on Tatooine." It couldn't hurt to tell him that, could it? He doesn't know what Master Yoda would say, and it doesn't really matter anyway, because Yoda is gone. Obi-Wan knew it would happen eventually, but not so soon. Not even in his lifetime, and it leaves him feeling oddly lost. It's up to the twins to continue the line of the Jedi now.

"Theseus never spoke of him," Anakin says quietly, at least Obi-Wan this it was meant to be quietly, because his vocoder distorts all emotion in his voice.

"He never knew until later, and I... was not happy with him telling you."

"You would keep them from me?" he asks, and there's a disturbing amount of hurt there.

"You were a Sith. What else would I have done? Bring them to you? I saw what you did. I know what you are capable of. If Sidious found them..."

"Had I known they were alive, I would have taken action against Sidious even without Theseus's request."

He can't tell whether that was meant to be accusing, but it feels like it was anyway.

If he hadn't been so caught off-guard on Mapuzo, he might have tried... something. Anything. He doesn't actually know, and it does no good thinking about it. He let go of everything, accepting this was how it was meant to be, but now that he sees Anakin again, it makes him question everything he thought he knew.

Master Yoda said no one could turn back from the Dark. He said Anakin was lost, but he was wrong. Somehow, he was wrong, and if the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order for centuries was wrong, what does that say about the rest of them? The Council was... mortals, and they made mistakes, but this is different. This is about the very way of a Jedi's life.

He resolutely ignores the traitorous part of his mind whispering that maybe Theseus was right.

"Then why did you now?" he demands instead, "When you could have all along?"

"And leave the galaxy in chaos with no leader?" Anakin asks with a hint of incredulousness, "And I tried, but I could not carry through with it."

"Could not or would not?" Obi-Wan can't help asking.

"Both, perhaps."

"You let yourself become a tool for destruction," he accuses. And he doesn't understand it, either, because he can't imagine what would ever make Anakin do something of that nature. He was so... good. If he saw something he knew was wrong, he would fight against it. He doesn't understand why Vader didn't... do the same thing. He doesn't understand why Vader exists, period.

"I know what I am," he retorts with the first flare of anger and no small amount of bitterness, "I was his tool, his weapon, his... plaything. I was all that he wanted me to be, the same way I once tried to be yours. All that he... did to me was what I did to others. I knew, and I regret it, but I did as my master asked."

"And if you didn't?" He doesn't know why he's asking. He doesn't want to know.

"Then this... place became of good use."

Something twists sharply inside him. "I should have seen it," he finds himself saying. "I should have known you were not yourself."

"I still made my choices," Anakin replies, turning away. "They were not yours. I let my fear of him rule me."

An 'I'm sorry I didn't know' isn't nearly enough in the face of all this. He doesn't even know what he could say.

Obi-Wan still hasn't forgiven what Anakin did, and he doesn't know if he ever will, and accepting that... it was Anakin who did it will not be easy. He thought, also, during the first ten years, that maybe Yoda was right, and Anakin was entirely gone, and while he hadn't entirely believed it, part of him also had. That's what made what Vader said so easy to accept, but now...

Hesitantly, he reaches out, laying his hand on Anakin's arm.

His former padawan stills, looking back at him. "Why are you doing this now?" he inquires.

"I don't know," Obi-Wan says, because he doesn't. "I spent years believing you were gone."'

"It was not as though you cared," he argues. Earlier, he had thought Vader was saying it solely to throw him off-balance, but now, it's clear that's untrue. Anakin is genuinely convinced of this, and Obi-Wan has no idea why or how to change that.

"I did. I always did." The leather beneath his hand is thick, and he can't help wondering. "Do you... truly need all this?"

"My master told me it was the only choice. It... fueled the Dark Side. It serves its purpose."

"Is that still what you are? A servant of the Dark Side?"

"I served my master. Not the Dark Side. Sidious may have given me power, but he held me back. He knew what I was capable of."

"Your master is gone," Obi-Wan points out.

"And I serve him no longer," Anakin agrees. He looks up, presumedly meeting Obi-Wan's gaze through his mask. He raises his hand, lightly laying it over Obi-Wan's. He doesn't know if Anakin has any idea how the clearly the stay with me, don't leave is projected into the Force, then he remembers it was the last thing Anakin said to him on Mustafar and wonders if it's merely his own memories, but it doesn't much matter.

Either way, no matter how he figures it, Anakin is here, and he's still alive. Somehow. And for years, there is nothing Obi-Wan had wanted more than that. In the beginning, it was hard – sometimes he thought Anakin might appear out of literally nowhere and laugh at him for thinking it was possible for him to Fall or die or... any of that.

But now, he's here, and he has Anakin back, and really, it's all he's wanted for years now, even if he long gave up on it.

He should probably keep his distance, considering the fact that he's still not certain that Anakin is... stable, at all, really, but he doesn't want to. He doesn't even know if he can. He wants everything to be how it once was, at least with Anakin, but that's impossible.

Hesitantly, he reaches out, wrapping his arms around his former padawan. Anakin melts into it almost immediately, though he seems... slightly confused.

It's only now that Obi-Wan realizes Anakin isn't actually... any taller than he was before, though he certainly looks like he is, because the armor makes his proportions all off. It's... strange and different, and he doesn't know if he should really be doing it, but he wants this. He misses Anakin and...

They don't talk anymore, but they don't move away from each other, either, until duty calls them.

**w**

Even with the battle over, there's still much to be done – but Vizma isn't concerned with that right now. The moment they hear the news from Anastasia and Ahsoka, she and Bo get to the next ship they can to Coruscant. Her father is going to be fine, but that doesn't make her any less worried about his injury. It was... serious, after all.

And it was her grandmother who did it to him. It may have been an accident, but that doesn't lessen her fury. But for now, all she wants is to see him – except he isn't the first one she sees.

"Hold on, you're my father's former teacher?" she asks, dubiously.

"I am," Obi-Wan replies, "You are his daughter?"

"Who else could I be?" She doesn't know why she expected someone more... 'warrior looking', from how Marr always talked about him. "Here I thought you'd be more..."

"What?" he asks, sounding almost offended. Maybe. She's not quite sure.

She shrugs. "I just didn't know you were so... old."

"I am not that old."

"I suggest you don't argue with someone so little," Anastasia crows.

"I am not little! I'm fourteen."

"You are much like him," the cyborg comments, drawing Vizma's gaze to him. His vocoder makes the comment mostly toneless, but she's wondering if she's actually imagining a faint amount of amusement from him. She's seen holos of him before, so she already knew what he looked like, but it's... a little different in person. It's hard to imagine that she's finally meeting the two people her father always talked about so much.

"Am I?" Vizma asks, looking up at him, meeting the general area where his eyes must be.

"Yes."

"My father talked about you a lot," she continues, "But I didn't quite expect the fancy armor and dramatic cape." She thought she would feel angry meeting him, and maybe she is a little, but mostly she's just... curious to know the person her father cares for so much. And apparently, Anakin helped save his life and killed the Emperor, and that means something.

He's also apparently not one for much talking.

"I suppose it works well for intimidating people, though," she continues, cheerfully, "Which is necessary when dealing with morons. I imagine you had to do that a lot." She has yet to be very impressed with pretty much any Imperial she ran into.

"It... served its purpose," he replies.

"It could use a paint job, though. It doesn't even have any symbols on it." She scans his armor again, just to make sure, "Or is strutting around in that kind of style a... religious thing?"

For a moment, he just... stares. She thinks anyway. It's not like she can see his eyes. "All Sith do dress in black," he says, after a pause.

"Are you still a Sith?" Vizma asks.

"... No." Why does he sound so uncertain about that?

"Good, because the first one I heard of murdered my grandfather, the second tried to enslave Mandalore, and the third was my grandmother who seemed to have learned a marvelous level of loyalty as a Jedi."

"The Jedi had nothing to do with Athea's actions," Obi-Wan cuts in.

"Really? Because I find it strange that almost every Dark Side user is a former Jedi."

"Sidious and Maul were not former Jedi," he retorts.

"They're the only ones who weren't," Vizma counters, "And Dad claimed Maul actually cared about his apprentices. I can't really say the same for the Jedi." Okay, she didn't quite mean it as an attack on him, but... apparently, Anakin is in life support because of him, from what she gathered. Which she can kind of understand if he betrayed everything, but still. Jedi sound like a nightmare she's glad she has nothing to do with.

"I don't know what you've been told about Jedi, but –" Obi-Wan begins, sounding highly offended now.

"Too much, that's what," Anastasia chirps.

"A lot of good and bad. I prefer my own path." She pauses for a moment, looking back to Anakin. "So, if my father always calls you his brother, so I guess that makes you my... uncle."

The helmeted head turns to look at her for a long moment. "... yes," he agrees, very slowly.

"You have Theseus' lightsaber," Obi-Wan observes.

It stupidly takes her a moment to realize who he's referring to. "He gave it to me, after he got the Darksaber."

"Which he doesn't have anymore," Anastasia comments.

"What?!" Bo and Vizma demand.

"Long story. Why doesn't we go see if he's awake first?"

**w**

Marr really hates the feel of this room. He can still sense it even in his unconscious state, but he'll have to tolerate it until he's well enough to get out of here. (Why does it feel like this? What did Sidious do to Anakin in here?!)

"You look amazing," Anastasia drawls, as she, Bo, and Vizma come in to see him. BD was here already, having stayed beside him the entire time. That's normal.

"Thanks," he shoots back, dryly.

"How are you feeling?" Bo asks, frowning.

"I'm on painkillers," he tells her, lightly, "So I don't know. But I'll be fine, don't worry. What happened on Mandalore?" He needs to know what happened to his allies on all the different planets they were attacking, actually. But his medical droids won't permit such strenuous activities for now.

"We won," Vizma interjects, but he notices immediately there's a distinctly serious look in her eyes that... wasn't there before. "But..."

"What?"

"Ursa was lost," Bo says, "As were many others. But we succeeded. We freed Mandalore. That's what matters most."

"And in case you forgot, you lost the Darksaber," Anastasia adds.

Right. He's hardly even had time to think about that. "What happened to it?"

"An Inquisitor picked it up, and someone named Din Djarin won it from him." She scowls. "He's one of the Children of the Watch."

He's not the Mand'alor anymore. It's jarring, but at the same time, if anything, he finds it relieving. All of this is a burden he's been carrying for years, and he's more than ready to let it go, even if it will feel strange without that... purpose. Everyone in his new and old families are back together again – almost everyone – and he wants to keep it that way.

"Then he rightfully won it," Marr replies, "I did lose the fight with my mother."

"You could win it back," Bo argues.

He shakes his head. "Perhaps it's time that burden goes to another."

"Are you serious?!" Anastasia demands.

"If it bothers you that much, perhaps you should propose to him," Marr quips.

She punches him. Hard. "You're crazy."

He smothers a laugh. "I know."

"I just got a new uncle," Vizma chirps, "I don't think I'm ready for a second one."

Marr perks up. "You met Anakin already?"

"Of course, I did. He's... strange. Him and Obi-Wan both."

Marr chuckles. "I suppose they are."

"I can't imagine you knowing any non-Mandalorian who isn't," Bo says, dryly.

"I think they're waiting to see you," Vizma comments, "I can tell them to come in."

The other three slip out, and Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan do come in moments later. It's jarring, seeing them all standing together like that. Something between them seems... a lot more settled than it was before. Maybe trying to rebuild something will be a little simpler than Marr might have thought, even if he knows nothing will be the same again. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, though, does it? Because things before obviously had... a lot more problems than even he remembers, for Anakin to have Fallen.

Maybe... they can rebuild something even better.

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