Padme turned to denial the very second he walked into the safehouse without a tall shadow at his back. She took one look at his face, lost all expression behind a wall of stone, and said one word.

"No."

She was brushing past him without another word, and then she was gone before Obi-wan fully registered it. Bail's own devastation stared with a mixture of disbelief and acceptance at Obi-wan. The Jedi Master couldn't bring himself to meet the Senator's eyes.

"He's... really gone?" Bail asked hesitantly.

A stiff nod was all Obi-wan could manage.

Shaking himself as if he could rid himself of the desolation in the air, Bail moved towards Obi-wan and placed a firm hand on his shoulder, guiding him to the couch in the next room. Padme was already there, looking ill and far too pale. He stared between the two of them with concern, hovering uncertainly because how do you console a person who's whole world crumbled around them.

"What happened at the session, Bail?" Obi-wan asked, his voice barely making it past a mumble without shaking.

Bail shook his head in disgust. "He claimed the Jedi attempted to overthrow the Senate. The Republic has been 'reorganized' into an Empire. He made himself into a dictator for the sake of 'security' without anyone realizing they were signing away their freedom."

"Did he threaten you?"

"He made it clear," Bail sighed, "that anyone who continued to oppose him would regret it. Myself and a few other Senators were 'pulled aside' to drive the point home."

"We need to get off of Coruscant before the entire planet is put into lockdown. From there we can..." Obi-wan hesitated.

"Figure a way out of this," Bail finished for him. The vague 'find a way to fix everything' only made Obi-wan's heart plummet more. Only Anakin could take a broad plan like 'fix everything' and make some random explosion that would solve most of their problems.

The Jedi shuddered. He didn't want to think about Anakin and explosions at the moment.

Obi-wan was broken out of the dark thoughts by the sound of Bail's communicator chiming. The Senator turned away, surprise clear in his voice as he greeted, "Senator Mothma."

"Senator Organa," the communicator returned. "I suggest you turn on the nearest television. You need to see this."

Padme lunged towards the television, looking desperate as she flicked it on with more force than absolutely necessary.

Anakin's face stared back at them.

A relieved laugh choked from Padme, all her limbs losing their tension as if she was a puppet with her string cut. A hand covered her mouth, as if she could hide the sheer joy on her features.

"Anakin?" Obi-wan stuttered, shooting to his feet and taking several steps closer to the screen.

The young man had several small cuts and bruises adorning his face, plaster and dust still coating his skin from when the ceiling collapsed and separated him from Jayden. He had an exhausted grin, the cocky kind that only appeared when he knew he had won and was just casually delivering the final blow. "He's alive," Obi-wan nearly laughed.

"Okay, so listen up," Anakin told them, his voice pained but masked behind his regular assurance.

"Obi-wan," Bail muttered, sounding reluctant and pained. The Jedi barely heard him in favor of hanging on to his Padawan's every word. "Obi-wan, Padme," the Senator grew more insistent, until they both tore their eyes off of the screen to glance at him.

"I'm on my last leg here and only have time for one phone call."

"This is a recording," Bail told them. "It was sent to every possible news station. From the Communications room in the Jedi Temple."

No.

"Rather than use it to find my master and wife to say goodbye..."

No.

"...I'm using it to tell the people of the Republic about the Jedi massacre that claimed the lives of countless younglings and adults..."

No.

"...including myself, issued by Chancellor Palpatine, a Sith Lord..."

The world became static, the background behind Anakin finally registering as the stone wall Obi-wan had seen shattered behind the force of an explosion that would drive a body against it. A body that would shatter just as much as it shattered the whole wall Obi-wan saw now behind his doomed apprentice.

Dimly, he heard Padme scream in denial, felt her heart break in two.

All he could see was Anakin's eyes, accepting in a way the stubborn Jedi had never once before been, and scared as he had always refused to admit.

"This is Anakin Skywalker, loyal servant to the Republic, Jedi Knight, brother, husband, and soon to be father, signing off for the last time." The soot and blood coated warrior shot them his usual cocky smile, beaming with amazing brilliance despite all exhaustion. His eyes seemed to look specifically at Obi-wan, his last words meant only for him. "Goodbye." The screen went black, and shot to a view of the Jedi Temple with a reporters voice speaking mindlessly.

A keeling moan of absolute pain escaped Padme's lips and she crumpled to the floor, her arms wrapped around her stomach as if only that would keep her last connection to Anakin from fading away.

Obi-wan's numb lips parted, whisper repeating, "Brother".

They may have stayed there for eternity, caught in the loop of Anakin's last words, if Bail hadn't spoken, with words more awed than despaired, and shattered the loop. "There something going on outside. I think you guys need to see it."

The two barely managed to stumble to the nearest window looking out at the glowing city below, merely for the sake of action than for any curiosity that refused to burn in either of them.

It took Obi-wan several moments to register what he was seeing and work up the energy to decipher why it was important.

When he finally did, he had to blink several times before he was able to stutter out a coherent sentence.

"Is that... a rebellion?"

Looks like Anakin managed to fix everything with a random explosion one last time.

So, this is the end of this particular story. It was actually Anakin's last few words that spawned this entire thing, the longest fanfic I've ever posted. I'm glad I made it all the way through, despite the six month long wait.

PLEASE give me your reviews on this ending, and make sure to follow this if you want to read the sequel. I'll just keep posting it on this story, though the posting is probably going to be even more sporadic than this one.

And, since you all wanted so desperately for Anakin not to be dead, here's a teaser scene from the sequel.

A young woman screamed, wrenching something in Ahsoka's heart as their bond howled with horrible, crippling clarity. Despite the danger, despite the fact that she knew better than to get distracted, despite the fact that Ahsoka knew exactly what she would see, she looked. She turned just in time to watch the life leave a fellow rebel's body, for him to slump around a crimson lightsaber emerging from his gut.

The battle paused, even the stormtroopers ceasing their attack, as Vader shifted the lightsaber, and the rebel's corpse crumpled to the ground. Shilah was darting forward with a roar, her lightsabers casting a green glow on her face, before Ahsoka could do anything to stop her Padawan.

The terrifying image of the giant shadow of the Sith nearly engulfing the small but furious teenager froze Ahsoka in place, even as Shilah let out an ungodly screech and sliced through the air, going straight for Vader's throat.

Vader turned, his saber ready to defend Shilah's enraged attack in a clash of sparks. Conflicting red and green light shone in the Twilek's eyes, turning her snarl nearly feral.

Vader's own eyes, the red shades that hid anything below, absorbed all light and warmth. The cold hatred and anger, rolling off of him in waves, easily overpowered Shilah's fiery vengeance and doused the whole room in chilling despair.

Red light cast shadows on his skeletal mask, the mechanical breathing somehow became louder than the clash of sabers or blasters, and Ahsoka felt dread swallow her whole.

Her feet were moving, desperately moving, pushing herself forward, sprinting into the slowest crawl, and Ahsoka was just too slow.

Vader disengaged their blades with a tremendous shove that nearly sent Shilah to the ground. Shilah ducked. Vader's saber nearly took her head off.

Ahsoka had to get there.

Vader was stronger, but Shilah was faster. His swing made her block buckle, and she rolled to avoid it.

Terror.

His tall figure made him bulky and slow. Shilah was around Vader, swinging at his back.

Lightsaber burned through flesh.

Shilah screamed. Ahsoka screamed. Shilah collapsed without a sound. Ahsoka's heart stopped, and Vader's breath filled the air.

You're welcome. (I might have a bit of a sadistic streak).

Remember to review!