Star Wars: The Good Ending

Obi-Wan

Obi-Wan was not a fan of getting old. Of course Anakin had been calling him old for years, but after the Clone Wars ended, he was really starting to feel it. His back hurt and his knees creaked, but worst of all were probably his busted ribs where he took a Sith Lord's metal foot to the chest.
    "Rex? Rex, can you hear me?" Anakin shouted into his comm link. The only response they got were words from ARC Trooper Echo, his voice broken up by static. "Rex, all our exits are gon- seven min- trapped-" the comm broke in a burst of static, then radio silence. Anakin frowned, looking like he was barely containing his panic, completely forgetting about Maul. He turned to Ahsoka, who'd already started cutting out an escape in the floor.
"Ahsoka, take Obi-Wan, and get back to the ship. I have to find them and make sure they make it out."
Ahsoka looked up at him, her expression mirroring his own stubbornness. "I think not. Either we're all getting home, or none of us are."
"I agree," Obi-Wan concurred, forcing himself to stand a little straighter. Anakin sighed and smacked the side of his head, "You two are impossible," he grumbled.
The cutout of the floor Ahsoka made fell down the shaft, a vertical tunnel that looked at least 5 stories tall. She turned to face Obi-Wan and handed him back his lightsaber. "After you, Master Kenobi."
He forced a confident if slightly uneasy smile, then jumped down the tower, closely followed by Anakin and Ahsoka. They plummeted for several seconds, the sounds of the crumbling fortress echoing throughout the dark space. Obi-Wan sensed the floor and called in the Force to slow his fall, hearing his companions land close by in the pitch black darkness.
He and Anakin ignited their respective lightsabers to provide some meager blue light. The building shook again, nearly knocking them off balance as it lurched and swayed. Wasting no time, Anakin slashed through the panel, and forced the elevator doors open, before tearing off into the darkness, not even waiting to see if Obi-Wan and Ahsoka would follow. They did, rushing through the maze of corridors and rooms, the lights flickering on and off before eventually burning out completely.
The air was thick and hot, and Obi-Wan quickly found himself drenched in sweat, heaving as he struggled to breathe, and it was then he knew his ribs were definitely broken.
Anakin seemed to be following a trail of some kind, an unique skill he'd developed over the years where he could use the Force to track down other users in his vicinity. This ability was usually honed by Jedi Seekers, but of course he had no interest in being a Jedi recruiter. Obi-Wan could do it to an extent, but Anakin seemed to be much more precise about it.
Ahsoka looked exhausted in the ghastly glow of their lightsabers, but kept up despite it. The two of them probably would've lost Anakin completely if his lung capacity was what it used to be. They stopped where the hallway split into three crossroads, and Anakin looked frantically from left to right.
"I think it's that-" suddenly, something pounced on him from the ceiling, in half a second its enormous talons coming down on Anakin's neck. He quickly slashed off the droid's front legs, and Obi-Wan finished it off with a quick slash through the middle, and it fell limply to the floor.
Ahsoka pulled Anakin to his feet and kicked the droid with the toe of her boot. "Spider droids. There's probably mo-" She was cut off by the terrified scream of a child echoing through the halls, followed by shouting and blasterfire.
After that it probably would've been easier to move the sun than stop Anakin, and he sprinted into the darkness, probably faster than Obi-Wan had ever seen him run before in his life. He and Ahsoka wordlessly followed the screeching of steel and the shouting of clones. Somehow, they managed to catch up with Anakin who of course ran straight through a cluster of 6 or so spiders and was currently barely fighting off the dozens of knife-like legs jabbing at him from all directions. Ahsoka picked up a couple disembodied legs and gripped them like lightsabers. "Go after them! I'll get him out of this mess," she ordered before leaping into the fray, yanking one of the spiders away from her master and driving her makeshift sword through its central lens.
Obi-Wan knew it was an order, not a suggestion, and took off after the other sounds, slicing through a few spider droids as he went, his injuries completely forgotten. The sounds grew gradually louder into he nearly tripped over a crushed spider droid. He rounded the corner right to the commotion, quickly slicing through three more droids. He ducked another and used the force to crush a few more, finishing off the rest of them.
He promptly half collapsed into the wall, holding his ribs which were becoming exceedingly difficult to ignore. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, catching his breath. Echo nodded and hauled himself to his feet, shooting one of the still twitching droids. Crosshair and Tech followed suit, and Wrecker practically yanked Rex to his feet where the two of them looked like they were trying to shield something to the best of their ability. A young boy peeked out from behind Wrecker's boot and his face lit up like a star. "Obi-Wan!" Luke ran over and flung his arms around his uncle's leg, grinning from ear to ear under his filtration mask. Obi-Wan smiled slightly and patted the top of Luke's head affectionately. A few moments later, Anakin and Ahsoka appeared around the corner, Ahsoka with her makeshift swords raised. They both looked pretty tousled, with Ahsoka limping, having a large, bleeding cut on her thigh.
"Daddy!" Leia cried and practically jumped on him, her brother quickly following suit. Anakin squeezed them both as tightly as possible, and for a moment Obi-Wan worried he might start crying. But Anakin looked up and immediately frowned, looking around the hallway. "Where's Hunter and Omega?"
Rex sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor, his face invisible under his helmet. "One of the spiders dragged Hunter off and the kid went after him."
Anakin's expression hardened and he set both his kids down, taking a moment to gently cup the sides of both their faces. "You guys get to the spire, I'll find them."
Before anyone could protest, he started off down the hall, with Obi-Wan chasing after him and grabbing him by the arm. "Anakin, you can't," he hissed.
"It's my fault they're even here. I'm not leaving them to die," he insisted, almost aggressively. That determination right there is what made Anakin such a revered and respected general. Regardless of odds and circumstances, he never left his men behind.
"Look at Ahsoka and I. We're in no shape to get them out on our own. It's going to take all of us to get out of here."
    Anakin bit his lip and looked at the banged up group of soldiers behind him and sighed. "So what do we do instead?"
    Echo crossed his arms, "We do what she said. Omega said they'd meet us at the tower, and we have to trust that's what they'll do. But if you go after them, that's splitting us up into even more groups, something we can't afford right now. I don't like it either, but it's our only option, sir."
    For a second Obi-Wan worried Anakin would disregard the ARC Trooper's advice and go after them anyway, but to his master's surprise, he relented and turned around, holding his lightsaber up for some meager lighting. The building trembled and shook a bit, leaning sideways ever so slightly. "Tech, do you know how to get to the exit?" Anakin asked.
    "I assume that's a rhetorical question?"
"Ahh, no?"
"Then yes, I do. Follow me, we haven't much time before this level is submerged."
He started walking, and Anakin picked up Luke and Leia, holding one in each arm. Ahsoka followed him at the front, with Obi-Wan bringing up the rear to make sure they didn't get snuck up on again.
It was eerily quiet in the building, with the occasional crumbling and crashing. As they recanted their steps to the tower, Anakin eventually passed Luke back off to Rex so he had a hand free for his lightsaber.
Ahsoka was definitely worse for wear, but seemed to be doing alright, she kept her scavenged swords clipped on her belt in place of her lightsabers, which were probably long gone by now. She stayed at the front with Rex and Anakin, trying to stop herself from limping. Echo had patched up her leg, but there was no telling how deep that cut was.
Everyone stayed mostly quiet, like too much talking would wake up the fortress and collapse what was left of it. The hallways were too unstable, aso they were forced to walk along the exterior battlements, as it made escape to higher ground much easier.
Waves of smoke rolled off the lava, and as Obi-Wan was able to finally gain a visual on the spire, the top had vanished into the clouds. The heat was still miserable, but less suffocating outside, and Anakin at least seemed to be breathing easier because of it.
They all kept a lookout for their missing comrades, but never saw them, and Obi-Wan worried that if the spider droids hadn't killed them, the collapsing building had. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice the crumbling column that nearly crushed him til right after Wrecker yanked him out of the way.
He tried half meditating, immersing himself into the force to try and distract from his busted rib cage. He'd broken ribs before, and he was not a fan. He was beginning to wish they'd brought a medic, for everyone's sake.
When they finally reached the spire, Rex pulled down his scanner and looked to the sky. "Seems stable enough," he put out.
"Alright, I'll go first," Anakin swung his daughter onto his back and jumped up onto the steep brick sides, using his metal hand to climb, and the other to hold on to Leia. Rex handed Luke to Obi-Wan, probably because he thought it was safer to have a force user carry him, and followed close behind Anakin. Everyone followed, with Ahsoka bringing up the rear.
The building continued to crumble, and everyone seemed to hold their breath as they climbed. Luke locked his legs around Obi-Wan's chest, which hurt something terrible, but Kenobi gritted his teeth and ignored it, putting one hand in front of the other. The higher up they went, the worse the wind got, and the more apprehensive the Jedi Master became. Wrecker was clearly not a fan of heights, something Obi-Wan didn't need the Force to pick up on. Anakin seemed to be doing just fine, even with Leia, establishing a clear path of where it was safe for everyone to step.
Seconds felt like hours as they approached the cloudy atmosphere, no longer able to even see the lava flow below, just the thick, swirling red smoke. Unlike Dathomir, where the red air felt clammy and wet, this was thick and arid, as dry as the sands of Tatooine. Obi-Wan was wearing out, and he could tell everyone else was too. The odds that they could climb faster than lava could melt was a long shot at best.
Suddenly a crash worse than any before reverberated through the tower as the base collapsed in on itself. Obi-Wan nearly lost his grip, just barely catching himself, when everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Rex lost his hold and slid down the side, unable to regain his footing. Ahsoka thrust her arm out and grabbed him by the wrist, but it was too late, and he fell through her fingers into the clouds below them.
Obi-Wan was barely aware of the twins screaming and crying, or Anakin and Echo's shouting. All he could see and all he could feel was the shocked despair coming off Ahsoka in waves. Her arm was still outstretched and her fingers coiled, trembling slightly. Her blue eyes were wide and exemplified her obvious horror. 'I dropped him, I dropped him. . .' her thoughts screamed aloud.
The structure stabilized itself and the wind nearly stopped as everyone's shock mirrored each other. Anakin was obviously in denial and was yelling for his friend as if he could hear him. Ahsoka just stared in shocked silence until she finally turned back to face the wall, her eyes closed.
"You guys alright up there?" came a voice.
The wind blew through a cloud revealing a small sniper's battlement several meters below them. Standing on the small ledge were two clone troopers in dark gray armor, the smaller of the two helping Rex onto the platform with them.
"You guys made it!" Wrecker yelled happily.
"What, you thought we wouldn't?" Omega yelled back, planting a boot on the wall.
"Never lost faith in ya, Kid!" Echo called.
"I'm fine too, thanks!" Rex shouted, mostly goodnaturedly.
    Ahsoka was laughing, probably from crazed relief, "Get a move on Rex, we're losing daylight!"
    "Yeah, Obi-Wan's not getting any younger up here!" Anakin yelled from above them. Everyone laughed, and although Obi-Wan thought it was a bizarre time to joke, it did well to lift everyone's spirits. Maybe it was the heat making everyone lightheaded and delirious.
They kept on climbing without anymore problems, until they finally arrived back up on the topmost balcony outside the throne room. The ray shields had died, and all the light fixtures had gone dark. The fortress had sunk so far they were completely level with the top of the cliff it was previously built on.
    Anakin sat down Leia and cracked his back a couple times, staring at the vast distance from the spire to solid land. A Jedi could clear that jump easily, but it wouldn't be as simple for the clones.
    Omega helped Ahsoka and Crosshair up onto the platform and followed Anakin's gaze to the cliff edge, pulling off her helmet and straining her eyes to see. "So, how do we get over there?" she asked, smearing a sweaty lock of blonde hair away from her face.
    "Oh, that's easy," Wrecker responded, his immediate reaction to pick up Rex and chuck him to the other side, ignoring the general's loud protest. Anakin used the force to soften his fall, but failed at suppressing a smile. It's a good thing comms were busted, because whatever Rex was shouting and cursing was probably not very child friendly.
    Ahsoka picked up Luke and Leia, backing up a few steps, "Give me a boost, will ya?" She ran and jumped, leaping farther than physically possible, easily clearing the jump with some help from her masters. Now that the twins were safe and back on solid land, Obi-Wan noticed Anakin visibly relaxed.
    "Ok," Omega started, putting her helmet back on, gesturing in Ahsoka's direction. "So can I like, do that instead of getting thrown?"
    Anakin shrugged and the clone commando took several steps back, before running and managing to jump a pretty impressive distance before they helped her the rest of the way. Obi-Wan noticed the group's sergeant tense up, very obviously apprehensive of the idea, but it seemed to go off without a hitch, and the young clone landed easily next to Rex who Obi-Wan could just barely make out with his arms crossed.
    Tech went next, followed by Hunter, Echo, and Crosshair, until it was finally just the two Jedi and Wrecker.
    "Aghh, any other way across?" He asked, tentatively looking over the edge. It was kind of funny honestly, Wrecker towering over everyone else and still being terrified of heights. Anakin smirked and shook his head in response. Wrecker sighed, and jumped pretty impressively far, with the Jedi following suit and helping him across.
    "He's gonna get an earful from Rex," Anakin smiled and pointed out. His face was smeared with ash and soot, and his clothes were riddled with scorch marks and grime, but this was honestly the best Obi-Wan had seen Anakin in weeks.
    "Go ahead Master, I'll make sure you get across," he assured, gesturing to the now nearly obscured cliff. The fortress was beginning to tremble again, and Obi-Wan could only guess how long until it was completely gone. He readied himself to jump, then stopped himself, a creeping, cold sensation tingling down his spine.
    "Doesn't this seem too easy?" he asked Anakin.
The young man frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a mannerism Obi-Wan noticed he'd picked up from his old master. "Yeah, it does, kinda. But what-" he was cut off by a phantom springing out from the smoke, Anakin just barely deflecting it from cleaving him clean in half. Anakin kicked it through the shattered doors and held up his lightsaber with two hands, Obi-Wan following suit with his trademark defensive pose of extending two fingers and holding his saber above his head, poised to strike.
    Gone was Darth Maul's barely controlled composure. His air of aloof coldness, and cruel wisdom were washed away, replaced by burning, passionate hatred and an insatiable hunger for revenge that seemed to consume the yellow depths of his eyes. Eyes Obi-Wan had become all too familiar with over the last sixteen years. The eyes of the sith assassin that killed his master, the man who was practically a father to him. The monster that slaughtered countless innocents in his name, the devil who gutted the love of his life, right before his eyes. The animal he'd been chasing for the last three years, who stole his brother's children and tried to kill all of them, all because sixteen years ago on Naboo, Obi-Wan didn't aim for the neck.
    "We take him together," Anakin decided, gripping his saber a bit tighter. Maul threw back his horned head and laughed, the crumbling tower practically shaking in harmony with the cruel, evil sound, "And now," Maul growed quietly, "the student watches the master die."
    Maul called upon the Force to thrust Anakin back out onto the balcony, the sizzling red ray shields reactivating to keep him out. He recovered remarkably fast, leaping forward and slashing his lightsaber at the forcefield, only for it to bounce off harmlessly every time. Maul extended his arm, lightsaber in hand and engaged it, one side, then the other.
    Anakin couldn't help him. That was fine, he didn't want his old apprentice to get hurt anyway. Maul was his wound to mend, his burden to bear. He always had been. And one thing Obi-Wan knew about Maul was that he was easy to bait.
    "I'm going to make you pay, and I don't care who has to die to do it. I won't rest until I've destroyed you, and everyone you hold dear," Maul promised, his words coming out in a seething hiss.
"If you define yourself by the power to take life, the desire to dominate, to possess...then you have nothing."
"No, once you're dead, I will have everything," Maul assured him.
Obi-Wan knew it was now or never. He moved his lightsaber into the defensive pose of his master Qui-Gon Jinn, knowing Maul wouldn't be able to resist the temptation. He was suddenly struck by the deja vu of it all. Maul's sadistic game he'd set up. He would kill the teacher as the student looked on helplessly, just as he had all those years ago. Then he probably planned on killing Anakin as well.
    Maul sprang at Obi-Wan, and just as he suspected, tried the same move he used to kill Qui-Gon. Swing, parry, swing, but when the blunt hilt of the lightsaber came for his face, Obi-Wan instead slashed upward through it, slicing the shaft clean in half. He brought his saber down in a vertical cleave from Maul's neck to his naval, a fatal blow, even for him.
    Obi-Wan had gone over in his mind every way imaginable Qui-Gon could've countered. He'd practiced it religiously, even teaching it to Anakin, the perfect clean, killing blow. It was perhaps the shortest duel in Obi-Wan's life, and he watched as the monster of his own making crumpled to the floor, his chest sizzling and steaming.
    Obi-Wan stumbled a few steps back and disengaged his lightsaber, letting it drop to the floor. He couldn't remember ever feeling so tired in his entire life. The edges of his vision blurred, and before he could even process what happened, the world went black and the spinning floor rushed up to meet him.