I honestly wrote this fanfiction roughly 6 days before Episode CI aired on my Tumblr account, and it received a lot of good traffic! I felt uploading it here would be better than possibly losing it in my messy blog of other stuff I share.

The Fate of the entire Universe hangs in the Balance as Samurai Jack faces Aku.

The plan was simple. Circle around Aku's fearsome tower fortress as a distraction force against Aku while Samurai Jack got in close enough to vanquish Aku. The Scotsman's new army has assembled together for what may be their last battle. Their forces are consisting of many of the people Jack affected in his life, including the Archers, Woolies, and even Da Sa-Moo-Rai's rag-tag group from his bar. The face-off will be against seemingly never ending legions of Aku's Beetle Drones, interstellar bounty hunters, and his summoned minions taking place outside in the crater surrounding Aku's fearsome tower fortress. However, Jack's objective was side tracked as he was forced to face off Corrupted Ashi as Aku watches from his throne cackling in mad laughter.

"Yes… the simplest solution is usually the best one…" Aku mused.

"Ashi! You can't let it end this way! Please Ashi, fight!" Jack begged.

The Samurai tried desperately to get Ashi to fight the corruption controlling her, but to no avail. Her whip-like attacks from her new limbs toss Jack around as he cringed at every slash from his blade that made her scream in agony as tendril after tendril, burned away to ash and regenerated at an astonishing pace.

"Aah! I… can't! You have to kill me, Jack! There is no other way! Don't let me live like this!" Ashi screamed as she temporarily broke away, tears pouring from her eyes, only to be silenced by the blackness of Aku's curse.

As a powerful backhand sends Jack flying into a stone pillar of fire, he sees his situation. His hair was let loose in a mess and precious gi was completely torn off at the top half, bloodied and tattered from the waist to the bottom. Slashes and bruises adorned his body as blood seeped from his wounds, and the love of his life utterly lost to Aku's will as the demon smugly folds his gargantuan arms from his throne.

There is only one way.

No. There has to be another.

But it is what she wanted.

She needs to fight harder!

But she can't.

Please. Grant her peace. You know what you have to do.

Ashi sprung forward, lunging at Jack as he in turn raised his sword at the ready, fighting back tears that still rolled down his blood-smeared and dirty countenance.

"Forgive me…" he whispered one last time.

He likewise sprung forward thrusting his sword, when the unexpected happened.

Seeing that Jack will be the victor, Aku did the one thing that would break his eternal adversary's sanity. The one thing that would top all of the evil acts he ever did in existence.

As the lovers charged and were about to make contact, Aku pulled his influence and essence from Ashi leaving her in her former human state, in the drab prison outfit and black boots she wore beforehand. She didn't know at first why she still ran to Jack, arms outstretched above her head. Confusion struck both their faces.

Then it hit her.

Tip pierced flesh. Blade pushed through. Her insides shredded as the sword went through her for what felt like an eternity, but twas only a moment. With a resounding crunch and snap, the sword drenched in her blood shot through her spine and out her back. The deed was done.

"No…" Jack whispered. He wanted all of this to be nothing more than a nightmare, but no, it was more real than ever. He drove his mighty sword through her to the hilt.

Tears welled up in both of their eyes. He let go of the blade as she staggered and began to fall for the last time. Jack caught her, right arm around her waist, left hand around the side of her neck. He saw she was losing focus and felt her pulse began to slow down.

The pain was too much for her to bear as it shot through her abdomen. She couldn't feel her limbs anymore. The last thing she felt was his blade.

Blood pooled around them in the crimson floor of Aku's chamber as he smiled in content.

She tried to speak, to give her final words of forgiveness, gratitude, and love to Jack, but she only coughed out blood and gurgled. Over 50 years of combat experience couldn't prepare him for this.

"No, no, no! Ashi… I'm so sorry!" he cried as rivers spilled down his face and his voice cracked. She was done for.

The lovers shared one more solid look in each other's eyes as he cradled her, she could only give a faint smile to Jack before the light in her eyes went away. The smile dropped.

Ashi lies dead in her lover's arms.

"Hahahahahaha! Foolish Samurai!" Aku thundered. "Did you really think that you really deserved her? Star-crossed lovers is what you both were! Never meant to be, never will be!" The taunts persisted.

Samurai Jack held her lifeless body close, hoping for a miracle, but that never came.

"I'm… so… sorry…" he cried as he buried his face next to hers.

Aku's laugh echoed through the inner sanctum as the tower shook from the battle outside. Explosions that were barely audible resounded in their ears. Aku headed over to show Jack the true weight of his failure. He pulled down what seemed to be a zipper on the wall as it opened with a mysterious hiss.

Jack could only helplessly look up at how much worse things were going.

The window opened to a horrific sight. The battle was not going well. Despite the growing mounds of corpses of Aku's terrible horde, it was a desperate fight for survival for Jack's men and women. Their ammunition began to run dry, their blades ran dull. Bloody pools of reds, blues, and greens mixed with the black of Aku's sentries littered the battlefront. Screams and shouts were drowned out by the clatter of bladed, mechanical legs. Several legions began to retreat. Lone survivors lingered in a dazed and shocked awe, some missing limbs, others searching for loved ones buried in the corpses.

Hope was lost.

The black demon bent down, facing Jack, a devilish green smile that stretched before him. "Annihilating your scum will set an example to all who dare oppose Aku!" He rose and laughed maniacally once more.

Enough.

Jack collected himself as his rage fueled high. He clenched his fists and he let out a yell that might as well have been heard around the world.

"AAAKUUUUU!" Jack pulled out his sword from Ashi's gut as her limp body fell back into her pool of blood. He didn't bother giving her a second look as he jumped high in the air, sword held above his head, about to strike.

Aku was too absorbed in what he perceived to be his victory to realize what came down upon him.

Jack screamed and brought the blade crashing down on the cursed demon, slicing down from his neck to the ground. The wisps of darkness burned to ash and blew away.

They both came crashing down as the evil one attempted to retaliate, sending scores of his black tendrils after the Samurai, only for them to be cut down with precision and ease. Eventually, only his upper torso and left arm was left, him weakly gripping the pillar behind him that he rested his head on.

"Heh heh heh… killing me won't undo the past, nor bring back your sweet Ashi." he proudly, but weakly spat. "My unspeakable evil has reached through the stars and eons!"

"No." the Samurai said. He pointed his sword at him and shouted, "your unspeakable evil ends today! The present and future shall flourish in your absence!"

Jack yelled and leaped once more and drove the sacred blade between Aku's eyes and twisted. The devil screamed and convulsed as his body lit and burned away to ash. The reign of Aku's terror was finally over.

Slowly coming back to his senses, Jack calmly sheathed his sword and turned away. He almost let the madness drive him again, but not this time. He turned to Ashi and met her eyes once more, still wide open and the tears that cascaded down her face were dried and present. He closed her beautiful, lifeless eyes gently as he planted a kiss in her now cold lips and picked her up on front of him in his exhausted arms. Her blood dripped from her wound, further staining what was left of Jack's gi. She's become another memory, another casualty. Just as he feared.

He marched onwards to the front gate that opened to the light of the outside world. Much to Jack's surprise, a miracle occurred! He wondered in the back of his mind how he was going to go through the remnants of the armies of Aku, but no more thought was necessary. The beetle drones, the destroyers of many, were all offline! The bots fell and lay where they once stood. The remaining minions and mercenaries scattered in panic and retreat in realizing their main support was lost for good. Loud cheering echoed with the machine gun fire, sword clashing, and explosions that rocked the barren wasteland. It seems that when Aku died, his control over his machines and minions vanished as well, leaving them either permanently disabled or lost and demoralized.

Many of Jack's friends came over charging and dealing with the stragglers with ease.

"At least they made it." Jack sighed and looked down on his love. "Oh, how I wish you could see this, Ashi…"

The first to arrive was Flora and some of her sisters. They were hurt from battle, but that didn't sour their spirit. "Woohoo! We hit them right in their daddy bags!" she cheered. Many others joined in.

But when she looked at Jack, her joy dropped harder than a boulder off a cliff. The others came around to their hero.

"Jack… What happened?" Flora inquired. Her father, the Scotsman, appeared behind her in shock of the scene before him.

"I defeated Aku, but it came at a terrible price. Ashi is gone." he calmly spoke.

"Jack… I'm so sorry… I…" the Scotsman apologized.

"No." Jack interrupted. "You both have nothing to be sorry for. This is a great victory, and we all gave our lives and more to make sure it happened."

Flora took charge and carried Ashi's body respectfully from Jack's arms. She could only offer a smile for him. Her father said, "We'll make sure this lass gets a proper funeral, laddie!"

"Thank you." the depression clear in his voice as he walked away, head down. He couldn't bear seeing the one he loved so much taken away from him. They all wanted to offer him support, but couldn't. He always left before anyone could.

He walked on seeing rebels, soldiers, knights, Spartans, and civilians from many cultures and races cheering and raising their worn weapons in victory. Others scrambled to tend to the survivors, the grieving, and the wounded. The most prominent was Olivia, from the village of kids Jack saved from a rave cult decades earlier. She slung her father's old, beaten hunting rifle on her back and jumped atop a tall mound of robot corpses. Despite the blood from her bandaged injuries, she still rose her hands high and proclaimed,

"Samurai Drop!"

The crowds around rose their hands in the signature "S" shape and sang their song of praise and danced the Samurai.

In any other day, Jack would have admired, even joined in on the display, but now was different. This war cost so many, and he lost too much now. He lost his Empire and parents. He lost many of those who fought alongside him. Now, he lost his one chance at true love in his disastrous and lonely life in an instant. He walked on, the crowds' cheering left them unaware of his sudden departure.

As he reached the edge of the crater where the limits of Aku's fortress began, he saw a figure, standing at the edge, observing him. Jack gripped his sword at the sight of this unknown man. One of Aku's minions? No. He was something more. Upon better observation, he noticed the following:

Tall and well-built, in a black bodysuit, clearly worn from combat. He wore a raggedy cloak that covered his chest, part of his head, and flowed to the wind from his back. He carried in one hand, a large katana that sported a red and black diamond pattern on the hilt, the blade dripping black from the oil of the drones. On the other, he shouldered a large, heavily customized silver and chrome plated heavy machine gun, barrel smoking from use with its magazine clearly half-empty. His face was expressionless, but seemed familiar. Blue skin, bald and covered his eyes with cracked red sunglasses.

"Could it be?" Jack wondered.

Before he could investigate further, the figure turned and walked away. He gave chase, and when he reached the edge and looked, the man was gone, except for a trail of footprints that continued for as far as the eye can see to the northeast.

"There's nothing there except for…" before Jack could continue, a faint pillar of light emerged from the distance. Dark storm clouds collected around the faint sparkle and thundered.

Upon realizing the obvious, he spoke to himself, "This could be my one chance to set things right. For Ashi, for everyone."

Near him, he found several discarded transports his army used to get to battle, among them was a motorcycle very similar to the one he drove for many years. Upon inspection, the engine worked, hull was intact, and there's more than enough fuel to get over to the light.

As he headed off with newfound vigor in his spirit, he mouthed the phrase that became his mantra,

"Gotta get back, back to the past… Samurai Jack…"

Author's Notes:

Woohoo! This felt good to write. Can't believe this is the first fanfiction I ever wrote. Please review and critique, as I wish to improve and develop my storytelling and writing. For the record, I really enjoyed what we actually got in the end, despite some obvious pacing issues the later Episodes this season suffered from. I'm really glad Genndy Tartakovsky and his team have brought us a fitting, heartfelt, and memorable conclusion to a beloved childhood series. Kudos to them all!