[All the Hours] FIN |Epilogue|

Oh.My.God.

*cannot move*

EVIL! ANAKIN! AGGGHHH!

This is all so... addicting. That was wonderful, I loved it beyond ends... how WILL it end?

*sobs*

I just don't understand...

EXCELLENT!

 

Chapter Twenty

Every Living Thing

12 days, 12 hours, 45 minutes, and 5 seconds Earlier


Obi-Wan Kenobi stared up at the ceiling and smiled. He didn?t know what had woken him out of his sleep, but he knew it had been a wonderful dream. The ceiling was whole, not marred by the flames that he had dreamt of, engulfing his room and then the apartment as an engine pummeled the walls. It was just simply his room; decorated sparsely, but still with just the feel of Obi-Wan; the ceiling was not some borrowed apartment?s where he and Anakin would be staying until their own were repaired.

No, he had prevented it all; he had stopped the universe from turning.

He began to laugh. He laughed until he was gasping for breath and he had no idea why, only that he was overwhelmingly happy. He sighed and thought for just a moment while he knew he still had life to take pause and think. He would miss them. Obi-Wan rolled to his side, sighing with macabre content and he felt the paper crunch underneath him. He pulled the letter that he had written out of his tunics and smiled again. Anakin would understand. He had to. He gripped the letter to his chest and pulled the blankets closer.

The elder woman leaned forward, pulling him down and rasping in his ear with her ancient knowledge, ?Every living thing in this galaxy dies alone.?

She had been right. Oh, how she had been right. But still, Obi-Wan smiled. He could accept this fate; he was willing to die in this isolation. He would stop the universe from turning.

In a few moments, he heard the rumbling sound and he was happy. This was how it would all end. This was the way that the universe would continue without him. He was barely on the fringes of sleep when the speeder engine, taken back in time with him in the time storm, collided with the Temple walls and the impact jarred loose thousands of shards of stone and metal. When he felt the sharp stab of pain enter his chest, he could not breath, but he continued to smile just a little until universe ? for Obi-Wan Kenobi ? ended.

Later, Anakin Skywalker would stand outside the apartment with a cold, complacent demeanor. Mace Windu would stand next to him, ready to make any move on Anakin; any move to hold him from hysterics. But his services would be unnecessary. Anakin would stand, even as a concealed hoverbed was slowly taken away with the outline that he knew was his master, with a broken stance and frosted, blank soul. When the hoverbed finally disappears from view, he would stand and stare, the empty, mourning eyes of a son losing a father, at the corner that the bed had turned. He would refuse to cry in front of the Jedi watching.

Later still, Mace Windu would hand him a letter. It would be speckled with blood, but Anakin would not cringe, only nod and hold it to his chest before gently opening it and reading.

Anakin ?
I have reached the turning of the universe and I know now what I must do. I have so many questions for you, but sometimes I?m afraid of what you will answer me with. Sometimes I?m afraid that you will tell me that there is nothing that I can do; that this universe will happen whether I do this or not.

All I can do is beg of you.

Anakin, I do this now because you must not turn. The Dark Side will overcome all if you allow yourself to become that which the Jedi hate with all of their beings. Do whatever you must, my apprentice, but do not allow yourself to become such a monster because of both my shortcomings and yours.

I love you, Anakin.

All that I can do now is hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the universe comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.

---

Fysinia N?rell sat up in her bed with a gasp. She felt a ripple of terror and confusion flutter through her mind; vague waves from the Jedi around her. She swallowed a few times, her throat dry and cracked as though she had been screaming. Perhaps she had.

All

 

. . .






I'm confused! I understand what happened, but I'm confused as to how. Explain it, THIRD!

Still, very good. And I mean in a good way. Poor Obi-Wan! And I loved that letter - simple but heartfelt.

Once you've explained things to me, I'm sure I'll love this and demand you submit it to the Archive.

 

very very interesting. lemme see if I have this (well i cant say straight because it was such a convoluted twisty thing) um right?

in order to change what he had dreamed, with the window that the bad anaKIN had sent to him after he died in the evil universe, Obi-Wan allowed himself to be killed in the accident to prevent what he viewed as his errors in training Anakin.

Of course, this begs the question: did it work? and, will Obi-Wan be able to walk in Anakin's dreams and keep him from turning?

such fun.

such a lovely twisting story. I really enjoyed it.

 

Wow. Intense, convoluted and heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing it.

 

A wonderful, twisted, convoluted, confusing tale?

Excellent.

And there's still an epilogue to go!

Thanks for the comments - you guys are the best, the ones who've stuck through this from the beginning.

Who's in favor of an "Author Explains It All" at the end?


tf

 

...

...

...

Heartbreaking! Even though I knew he would die, it was still sad.

Amazing, altough I'm still a little confused.
I will have a box of tissues handy for the epilogue just in case.

Who's in favor of an "Author Explains It All" at the end?
*raises hand and waves it in the air* Me, me!

 

Any last requests?


tf

 

That was beautiful! So sad! I it. I agree with oba- this demands to be sent into the archive! You have to answer the questions...

 

?

//curls up into a ball and rocks back and forth


And so ends the life of the self-sacrificing Obi-Wan we love.

Of course, pyro Obi-Wan wasn't bad, not at all.


Like oba I get what happened... I don't get how it happened.

Who's in favor of an "Author Explains It All" at the end?

Need you even ask?!

 

Epilogue tonight. I know, I know - you don't believe me. But it WILL be here soon.


tf

 

You posted and you didn't tell me???!!!!!

? ? ? What happened again?

Kidding. So sad and lovely and beautiful.

And you'd better explain, TF, or I'll... uh, I'll hunt you down! Or something.

 

Epilogue
Twenty Years Later




Anakin Skywalker stands alone on the balcony and thinks about how he still doesn?t like to play holochess with anyone, not even his wife. He won?t even explain to her why; that it was his and Obi-Wan?s game (he stopped calling him master in his thoughts, it seemed so utterly trivial, now that he was dead). He thinks about how it has been so long. Has it really been so long? He stares over at his wife?s boat that bobs slowly in the calm Nubian tides as they lap against the house. He stares at the engine and cringes.

The retired Senator Padme Skywalker walks behind her husband and wonders why he is so withdrawn on this day. In the beginning, when she herself had mourned so completely with her soon-to-be fiancé, he had been so solemn on this one day of the week. Later, it had only been that certain day of the month, one that she dared not approach him on with trivial things to upset him with. And now, events of the past so far behind them, he finally only mourned quietly for this one day of the year. Sometimes she thought that he was ashamed that his anguish had faded so.

She walked beside him and leaned softly against the railing, her hair still managing to fall in waves, framing her face and making her look girlish despite the fading color, slowly being overthrown by gray. She says softly, so as not to disturb him too much, ?Is it the day so soon??

?I shouldn?t mourn so after this long.? Anakin says without turning to her, he doesn?t want her to see his red-rimmed eyes, ?Not when there are so many others that followed.?

The Jedi Purge had come and gone. He watched the news channels with his pregnant wife at his side with morbid curiosity. They droned and replayed the images of the crumbling Temple echoing with screams for help that would never come. He saw a few faces that he knew before the video would inevitably be cut short; they spared the planet the gruesome images, not knowing that the scenes would soon be playing out on the front steps of every person on Coruscant. The Jedi Purge had not been limited to Jedi.

Through it all, he wished he could?ve felt something, but he could not. Even as he felt his heart tighten with shame for his own apathy, he couldn?t force himself to feel something for people that he never really knew nor understood. He?d only understood one of them and he had

After he had read the last letter, the last words, that Obi-Wan ever wrote to him, he began to plant seeds of doubt within his own mind. He was assigned another master, of course. He was a strong master, a master who was knowledgeable, wise beyond count, who could quote whole passages from Jedi scripture.

A master who could never be Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He?d left the Jedi shortly thereafter. He realized that all this time, he?d always liked the idea of being a Jedi more than actually living the life.
Anakin could feel it within himself; this deep, aching need to be powerful, and it frightened him. He calmed it, meditating for days upon in until his knees were sore. After so many hours, the only conclusion that he could make was that he would always be who he was. He wanted to seek help, but from who? He had gone to Padme, and she had taken him in without a second thought. They shared much; memories that mingled together until they were a long blur of motion and color binding infinitely into a relationship that healed their fragments of a soul into a combined being with peace and love.

When, after two long years that sometimes didn?t feel so long, he asked her to become his wife in a public ceremony, the decision was also made without a second thought or a look back. They?d both decided that a life of solitude and peacefulness was what should be granted to them, all of their actions and decisions made so young finally catching up to them and exhausting their minds.

Anakin stared out on the mountains reflected in the water and tried to remember how many years they had lived here. Seven? It had been before the twins were born that they moved to

 

Oh, you will reply?

I can see why you were panicking about the mushiness. It's very mushy, but after so much angst that kind of mush is appropriate. Very well written, as usual, no grammar errors.

I'd still like an explanation, though. I understand why Obi-Wan died (kinda), and why Anakin feels like things were a 'dream'. For the life of me, I can't remember who Chrena was, though. And I still don't get the manipulated dead thing. Sorry!!

I still loved the story. I loved the emotions you literally wrung out of your poor characters. Very nice job, Celt.

 

Manipulated Dead Condensed Tutorial

The MD are people that died in the OTHER universe - the one that Obi-Wan prevented by dying and therefore Anakin didn't turn. Nik was a MD because he "died" in the universe (i.e., Anakin was saying that who he was died). They come come back through these wormholes in time to try to get the "living receiver" - Obi-Wan - to change the way things turn out. It's all very complicated, I know, and I was just trying to explain it was well as the movie does.

They try to get the manipulated living to help them out - everyone in the story is setting Obi-Wan up so he's there at that exact moment in time when he needs to go BACK in time to save everyone. The author gave his speeder to Padme so she would be in it when the engines malfunctioned. The mind healer reported Obi-Wan to the council so he would be in his room at that time and not with Anakin. They're all guiding him towards that destination.

 

well i greatly enjoyed it. chrena was the little jedi girl that obiwan helped when the others were picking on her.

 

Thanks, PaddyJuan.

Well... this was a disappointment...


tf

 

WHY?!? WHY WHY WHY?!?! YOU KILLED OBI!!!!!!!!!! AND YOU MADE MY POOR ANI SAD!!! Well, it's ok if you make him sad and Obi's there to comfort him! The best kind of stories! This was a really emotional and confusing story. But it was really cool! Congratulations on your success with it! Hey, do you have any Ani(H/C)/Obi angst stories? If you do, could you give me the links? I LOVE THOSE!

 

Great ending to a fantastic story.

I liked the fact that Chrena was the one to kill the wrinkly sith.
And Anakin didn't turn. It's good to know that Obi-Wan's sacrifice was worth it.

Another great story.

*All the Hours--Home of the Pyro Obi. Accept no substitutes*

 

*stands up and slowly claps*

I wanted to do that before, but my computer is an jerk.

 

//also stands and applauds

Great job! And I think I get the Manipulated Dead thing. Some. A little...


btw, John Allerdyce's other name has a tendency to bring this fic to my mind.

 

What a beautiful, amazing end to this story. Anakin sensing the life he almost had is chilling. I think you should submit this story to be archived. More people should see it!

 

This was such a beautiful story! Bekka, it was excellent! I loved it! Excellent, marvelous job! Wow!

 

That was simply amazing Bekka. No one could have pulled that off any better.

Just one question: So the Jedi purges still happened? ....doesn't that just suck...

and I know this was probably a long time ago...but I'm commenting now...

so much like a little brat princess in a tantrum. ....isn't that what she's always like??? ?

 

Maybe you should move this to the new board so more people can read it. Just a suggestion!