I do not protect the balance. I am the balance.
---
"I have a message for you." Sahrea Shan said as she appeared beside Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was reading on their bed when he looked up to his dead wife.
He had aged much in their time apart. How could he not? Not only was Tatooine a rough place to live, but he had lost so much in life. It had begun to take it toll on him. However, the impact of his losses did nothing to dull the handsomeness in his face. If anything, it honed it.
He sprung up and wrapped his arms around her, not even bothering to mark his page in the parchment text. The feeling made her heart leap.
She loved being near him. The familiar feel of his body. His height, his smell. The way his arms squeezed against her back, making her feel protected and loved and safe. He made her feel grounded when she existed only in the Force. Kenobi pulled back enough to see her face, but refused to let go.
"What is it?" he asked softly, pressing his forehead to hers. She closed her eyes as his nose brushed against her cheek. She nuzzled into him more. His breath on her neck sent spirals of energy galloping throughout her body. How she missed him. Even though time was instantaneous for her, like the sensation of sleeping, all their time apart was still felt. It still weighed heavily on her.
"Someone is coming for you. Someones, actually." she told him. She opened her eyes, her lashes brushing against his cheek. They were inches apart. She couldn't have pulled away from him if she tried.
"A boy. A padawan with a green saber and unnaturally blue eyes." she stated. His face stayed the same, but his eyes lit up curiously. His hand found hers and intertwined their fingers together.
"And the other?" he asked. Sahrea bit her lip. "An old foe." The male's name slipped from her mind. She had trouble remembering sometimes. The Force was so expansive. Her mind was spread wide over time and space. It made it difficult. She closed her eyes.
"A long awaited meeting this will be, between you and this old enemy. Died once he did, from a saber's blade, brought back to life with a brother's aid. Come he has to settle the score and soon the conflict will be no more." she canted. Sahrea had no idea why that came out as a rhyme. It was not intended. Obi-Wan's brow drew together.
"Maul." he muttered. She squeezed his hand. "You must face him." she told him. Kenobi put a hand to her cheek. "It must be done." he said. No sooner had he finished speaking had the Force pulled her away.
It was dark now. She was in the desert. She turned and saw a crackling fire and before it, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was standing, facing something in the desert. No, someone. If he knew of her presence, he made no acknowledgment.
"Look what has become of you." A familiar voice said, chilling Shan to her core. "A rat in the desert." Maul said by the light of the fire. It shifted the shadows that clung to his body.
"Look what I have risen above." Obi-Wan replied coolly. Sahrea stepped back, away from the two, heart pounding in fear. The air grew cold. The Dark Side of the Force always pooled closely when a life would be lost. Maul began to walk around the side of the fire.
"I have come to kill you, but perhaps it's worse to leave you here, festering your squalor." the Zabrak said as the two circled the flames.
"If you define yourself by your power to take life, the desire to dominate, to possess, then you have nothing." her husband replied, looking regal in the flickering light. Maul bared his teeth angrily. He pulled out his saber and dug it into the sand. The grains he flicked suffocated the fire, leaving Maul only to be illuminated by his crimson blade.
"And what do you have?" he snapped back. Sahrea recoiled at the movement. She couldn't help and it was killing her. Maul stood with his saber at waist level. Kenobi stood with his hands in his sleeves, looking quite calm. Maul straightened.
"Why have you come to this place?" he asked. He focused intently on Kenobi. "Not simply to hide." His yellow eyes widened.
"Oh. You have a purpose here." he stated. Kenobi's brows drew together. "Perhaps you are protecting something?" he mused, the gears turning in his mind.
"No." he said, the pieces falling together, "Protecting someone." Obi-Wan ignited his saber, lighting his face a pale blue. Shan's heart thumped wildly. The former Jedi gave his blade a twirl. He lifted it above his head, parallel to the sand beneath his feet. His free hand extended out, his index and middle fingers raised.
Maul activated the bottom half of his saber. He spun it a few times before holding it behind him. After a breath, Maul put both hands on his hilt.
Kenobi dropped his saber to waist level. The two old enemies looked each other dead in the eye. Her husband stood steadfast and unflinching in the face of his longtime nemesis. Sahrea bit her lip as both stood still for a long few seconds.
Maul gave an angry roar as he leapt off the ground. He spun, his saber blending into almost one mass, before colliding his with Obi-Wan's.
Their sabers clashed. Maul went low. Kenobi blocked it. The former Sith reached up. With one swift blow, Obi-Wan cut his saber down in a clean sweep.
There was a cutting sound as Maul froze. His face changed. The air was like ice now. He lowered his hands. His saber had been split in two. The two halves deactivated as Maul collapsed to his knees.
The former Sith Lord fell forward and Obi-Wan caught him gently. He flipped Maul onto his back as the Zabrak struggled for breath. Maul took a stuttering inhale. Shan put a hand to her mouth.
"Tell me," he muttered weakly, reaching up towards Kenobi, "is it the Chosen One?" he asked. Kenobi looked down at his enemy, who lay dying in his arms.
"He is." Maul seemed to be content with this answer. "He will avenge us." The Zabrak took his final breath before his body went limp. Shan watched as his yellow eyes faded back to green.
Obi-Wan waited a moment before shutting Maul's lids. He put a hand on the Zabrak's still chest, their bodies creating a long shadow in the light of the two moons.
Sahrea stepped forward as a light began to lift from Maul's body. She reached out to it, it catching on her fingers. It was warm and solid. The misty light began shift and dance before it morphed into the shape of a being. Of Maul.
He turned to her as Kenobi lifted his body away. She was holding his hand. She could tell the second she let go, he would no longer have any ties here. He would become one with the Force. He looked around. He was frightened. His eyes fell on her.
"Sahrea Shan." he said, looking at her. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. There was something different about Maul now. It was like a weight had been lifted off him. Everything that had plagued him before, the anger, the hatred, was gone. He looked peaceful.
"Hello Maul. It's been a long time." she said, giving him a smile. He cocked his head at her.
"So death got you as well." he stated. She nodded her head. "Indeed it did. It gets all of us eventually." She stepped closer to him. She could feel the Force pulling him back. She wouldn't be able to hold him here much longer.
"Do not be afraid. You will be at peace now." she told him. Maul looked down at her. She had forgotten how much taller he was than her. He gave her a smile. Not the crazed, sadistic one she had seen before. This was a real. True.
"Thank you." he told her. He stepped away and released her hand. His form dissipated into nothing right before she too, was called back to the Force.
---
Ignorance binds me, knowledge will free me.
---
The first thing Sahrea heard were muddled voices. She had no idea who was speaking or what they were saying. Eventually the voices began to clear as her vision colored and sharpened.
"I don't understand." Obi-Wan said to his son. Anakin had grown much since she last saw him. He had to be close to eighteen now. He looked so much like Obi-Wan it was painful. The only difference was his piercing grey eyes. Her eyes.
Coda was behind him, looking meek. She too had grown. She was almost a woman. Her reddish-blonde hair hung loosely in her face, shadowing her expression. Sahrea could see her daughter's scared eyes.
"Do not pretend." Anakin spat. His expression was pure venom. He held his lightsaber in his hand. Her saber. The silver bladed one she forged as a child.
"I see how you look at me. You blame me for her death." Obi-Wan shook his head. "The only person blaming you for your mother's death is yourself." Anakin's eyes were livid. They turned a reddish-yellow.
"Stop lying! You hate me for it." He threw the saber hilt at Obi-Wan as hard as he could. The former general reached out and caught it through the Force. His expression was one of solemn pain as he grabbed it out of the air. Shan put a hand on his shoulder. If he felt it, he gave no indication.
"It is in your head my son." Obi-Wan's face was neutral, but there was a pleading tone hidden in his voice. Anakin shook his head. Coda was still behind him, quiet and afraid.
"I'm leaving. I can't stay here any longer." Anakin spat, balling his hands up into fists. Obi-Wan took a sharp inhale through his nose.
"Where will you go?" he asked briskly. Anakin huffed. "Anywhere but here. And Coda is coming with me." he said, grabbing his sister's wrist. Obi-Wan took a step forward. "That is not your decision to make." Anakin turned to his sister.
"You're right, father. What will it be Coda?" he said, his voice too pleasant for the topic at hand. "Stay here, hidden, isolated, alone? Or come with me, your only brother, your true family?" Coda shook her head.
"Please don't make me choose. I, I-" she began to stammer, trying to step away. Anakin's face turned sour. "You would abandon me? You're own brother?" A flash of anger came over her husband, quick as a whip.
"Do not guilt her into leaving with you!" he snapped. "She is my daughter and will stay with me. I can not force you to stay against your will Anakin, but I do ask you to stay. I love you. You are my son!" Sahrea's own heart panged in timing with Obi-Wan's recoil at his words, so similar to the ones he said to the man their son was named after, all those years ago.
"Good luck with that." Anakin drawled. "I'm not leaving her behind to be murdered by an Inquisitor. After all you've done, fighting in the Clone Wars, dueling Sith, being a Jedi and a general, yet you couldn't even save our mother. How could you possibly expect to save my sister?" Obi-Wan shook his head in disbelief. Even Sahrea felt the sting of his words. She wanted to yell and scream.
Her heart was breaking as she stood there watching her family rip apart over her death while she was powerless to interfere. She was not sure why she was here, but perhaps it was the Dark Side of the Force that brought her to this point, to torture her, punish her.
"This isn't right Anakin. Stop!" he commanded, sounding once again like the incredible general he once was. Their son scoffed.
"What are you going to do? Fight me?" Anakin reached behind and pulled Coda's orange saber off her belt, igniting it as he did.
"You know that is not a fight you would win." Obi-Wan stated, squeezing Sahrea's saber. Anakin smirked. "Doesn't matter. Either way, you lose." Obi-Wan looked to Coda. She wouldn't look at him.
"Is this what you want?" he asked her gently. Anakin tugged his sister closer to him.
"This is what she needs. To be away from you and his hut and this planet!" Anakin pulled his sister to him and shoved her through the door. He threw the orange bladed saber onto the floor and backed out.
Obi-Wan stood there motionless. He held the purple hilt of her silver saber in his hand, the one Anakin had thrown at him. Her other saber still laid abandoned on the floor.
Shan stepped to him, tears she didn't realize she had shed streaming down her face. She threw her arms around him. His only response was to put a hand around her lower back.
Sahrea used to think a lightsaber was cursed, that it was a bad omen to have in her home. In reality, it turned out she feared the wrong thing. In the end, it was a name she should have been worried about.
---
The chains will be broken.
---
Sahrea Shan opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar hanger. She could sense that this base, wherever she was, was massive. It could have been the size of a small moon.
The floor was a deep grey and polished to a high shine. A large divot in the floor was illuminated in glowing white lights. Behind her was a run down, Corellian YT-1300f light freighter that looked like it wouldn't be able to fly a parsec without falling apart. Beyond that was the vacuum of space.
Shan looked around, trying to get her bearings. It wasn't until a blaster bolt zoomed through her chest that she realized there was a battle going on.
"Ben?" a voice called. Sahrea turned her face towards a young man. Stormtroopers were everywhere and blaster bolts were flying. This man with golden hair was stopped in the hangar, dressed in stormtrooper armor. The Force flowed around him in a familiar fashion. Luke Skywalker.
At first, Shan thought he was looking at her, but then she realized that he was looking through her, to something behind. She turned around, blaster bolts still shooting off in every direction.
There was Darth Vader. She had never seen Anakin this way in life. She was glad she hadn't. Even as one with the Force, she could sense his pain, both emotional and physical. He had been turned into a monstrous thing, a being made of black fabric and metal. His heavy breaths echoed to her. His red lightsaber was activated, inches away from a cyan colored one being held by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Kenobi's eyes were locked on Luke's, but slid away to find hers. Her husband's face may have aged since they met all those years ago, but those eyes hadn't changed a bit. They held the same wise glint they did in the senate tower where they met. When they went after Biron Sykes.
Oh how long ago that felt.
Obi-Wan gave her a reassuring smile as he lifted his saber. Vader swung his blade, slicing straight through him. It connected with nothing. Obi-Wan Kenobi's body had disappeared, leaving a bundle of robes and an abandoned lightsaber behind.
"No!" Luke screamed, backing away. He let loose a few shots. Shan looked to him. His face was horrified. His entire aura shifted to one of grief and fear as he backed away towards the Corellian ship. Shan turned her attention away from the young Skywalker as a soft hand brushed her bicep.
"Hello Sahrea." Obi-Wan said, his voice soft. Tears filled her eyes as she looked into his face. She threw herself into him, going up on her toes to plant a kiss on his lips. He was still the aged Kenobi she had just seen pass into the Force, but she didn't care. He was still her Obi-Wan regardless of how he appeared. She began to cry as she pushed her forehead into his.
"You're finally here." she muttered against his mouth, her fingers in his beard. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her into him, everyone else oblivious to their presence. Tears slipped down her cheeks. She couldn't have stopped them if she tried. He was here, her love. They were together again at last.
"I missed you." he said, kissing her again and again. "My Fire Fang." he brushed her hair away from her face as the freighter carrying Luke Skywalker shot out of the hangar. The Death Star. That was what it was called.
Darth Vader called Kenobi's fallen saber to his hand as he watched the ship disappear into the stars. Sahrea looked back to her husband.
"I love you." she said, her voice tight. He tugged her closer. Their noses brushed against each other. His breath was warm against her lips.
"And I love you. I always have, I always will." he told her. "Now we will never be separated again." She closed her eyes again as the Force once again called her back. But this time she was not alone. When she was overwhelmed by the Force again, she had Obi-Wan Kenobi in her arms, for now and forever.
---
I am a Gray Jedi