It was over.

The Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen and the Empire has risen.

The Jedi were dead, and so was Anakin.

Despite all of Grim’s best efforts, Darth Sidious had still won. The story had gone exactly the same. The only thing that had changed, was that she was there.

The two Jedi made their way to Padmé's ship and Grim wasn't sure if she could face her after everything else. Padmé too would die. She had not been able to save anyone in the end.

And the one life she had gone to take, she had failed to do so. She had the chance, but rather than killing him, Grim had left. She had spoken to him and walked away.

Killing him would have been a mercy to all, but she had not done so and it no longer mattered. Grim could not change the story any further.

If the changes she had made even mattered at all.

"Oh Master Kenobi! Grim! We have Miss Padmé on board! Please, please hurry! We should leave this dreadful place at once," Threepio called as they entered the ship.

"Yes, and never return here again," she said, weak and tired. All the pain from the day and the fact she hadn't slept in some time was catching up to her.

She stumbled and almost fell but Obi-Wan caught her. "Careful," he said.

"Thank you," she whispered.

The two of them went over to Padmé. "Obi-Wan...is Anakin alright?" She asked quietly upon noticing him. She still loved him despite everything, Grim felt her heart twist at this fact. She fell unconscious, not noticing her and without a response from either Jedi.

Grim swallowed. No, Anakin was not alright. He would never be again. But he wasn't dead either, not like how Obi-Wan thought, but she would not bring herself to admit that.

Anakin had to be dead, otherwise she had left her brother to suffer despite knowing what was to become of him, and of what would become of everyone he was yet to harm. For there were still so many things she had failed to change, and so many people she had failed to save.

She felt tears filling her eyes again, and she couldn't bear them. She turned around and cried into Obi-Wan's shoulder. He had no words to comfort her, he just hugged her carefully.

Grim tried to hug Obi-Wan back, but her one remaining arm was already wrapped around him. So it was as much of a hug as she could give in her current state.

Obi-Wan ended the hug. "We have to get going."

"Yes, Sidious will be here soon and..." Grim trailed off.

"Neither of us can stand against him in our state, and Padmé needs urgent medical attention."

That's not what she had been thinking. Her thoughts had wondered to her brother that they had left behind. She just nodded instead.

The ride to Polis Massa was a silent one. Obi-Wan piloted the ship as Grim sat in the co-pilot seat.

They had failed, and they had killed their brother.

The ride seemed to last a lifetime as memories flooded Grim's brain, along with the grief.

So many people in her memories were now dead, and Anakin-

She didn't want to think about him.

Grim couldn't think about him, not after all he had done.

She leaned her head against Obi-Wan’s shoulder, the duel had tired her even more. Before she knew it she had closed her eyes and drifted asleep, using Obi-Wan as a pillow.

Obi-Wan looked at his Padawan, she was so small. She always had been, but now she looked even smaller.

She was also young, too young to have gone through everything that she had gone through.

Grim had run off to face Anakin before he could stop her, and he had arrived too late to help her.

There was some dried blood that matted her hair, and the scar on her face seemed more noticeable than before, although he knew nothing had changed.

It was clear that she had not slept in days, and he wondered just how long she had been without it.

Obi-Wan noted Grim’s left arm, or rather the lack of it. Before he had arrived Anakin had cut it off. He hadn’t been able to save her either, he was just thankful that she was still alive.

She seemed so small now as she slept on his shoulder, and she looked as young as she was, but tired too.

This wasn't the same girl he had taken in as his padawan when the war had only recently begun.

  Over the years she had changed and grown.

In the course of three years Grim had become a great Jedi, and if their lives had not been taken, Obi-Wan had no doubt she would only become an even greater Jedi.

But their lives had been stolen, taken away by the Sith.

"Rest now, little one," he told his sleeping Padawan. "You did all you could, I am proud of you." In her sleep she smiled, and despite the grief in his heart, Obi-Wan smiled as well.

"Wake up Grim," He later whispered. She opened her eyes and noticed that they had landed. She groaned softly as she woke up and got out of the chair. “We’re here.”

He carried Padmé in a bridal carry, and Grim wrapped her remaining arm around his back for support. Bail ran over to meet the two Jedi. “Take her to the medical center, quickly,” he told Obi-Wan about Padmé. “I’ll support your Padawan.”

Obi-Wan nodded. Bail moved over and allowed Grim to wrap her remaining arm around his back, helping to keep her steady as they made their way to the medical center.

“Thank you, Senator Organa,” Grim mumbled.

“You’re welcome, young one,” replied Bail.

They reached the medical center where Yoda was waiting on them. He watched Obi-Wan pass by with Padmé, a gentle sadness in his eyes. Then he noticed Bail enter supporting Grim. “Padawan Kennet,” he gasped.

She gave him a weak and tired smile. “Hello Master Yoda, I think I’ve learned my lesson about going to face Sith Lords on my own,” she tried to joke.

He gave a sad smile in reply. “Glad for that I am, sad that it took you this way to learn.”

“Yes well, there’s no changing the past, that is set. It is the future that is in motion,” she replied.

“Learned much you have.”

“I had great teachers,” she replied. “I know something is going to have to be done about my arm- well lack thereof, but before that, can I be here for Padmé? She’s my friend.”

Yoda read the expression on Grim’s face clearly. “Of course, young one.”

Grim, Yoda, and Bail, joined Obi-Wan where they watched the droids operate on the dying woman. Obi-Wan was supporting Grim again, and a droid hovered over to them. “Medically, she is completely healthy,” the droid explained. “For reasons we can’t explain, we are losing her.”

  “She’s dying?” Obi-Wan asked.

“We don’t know why,” the droid answered. “She has lost the will to live.”

“Because of Anakin,” Grim whispered quietly. “Everything he did was to save her, and in the end it killed her.” She watched Padmé sadly. “It killed them both, and brought the galaxy with them.”

“We have to operate quickly if we are to save the babies,” the droid went on.

“Babies?” Bail asked.

“She’s carrying twins.”

Obi-Wan went in to help Padmé, and Bail supported Grim.

She watched, she was left only able to watch and her heart broke. Her friend was dying and she could do nothing, she hadn’t been able to save anyone today.

The galaxy had been left empty because of Order 66, because of her brother’s betrayal, because of Sidious. Yet, even despite this, she felt light, she still felt the light around her. She felt Yoda and Obi-Wan’s gentle warmth, and the sadness they carried within them, and she felt the birth of stars as Leia and Luke were born.

She watched as Padmé died, still believing in the good inside of Anakin Skywalker, still believing in the good of the galaxy. Tears blurred her vision, she didn’t stop them from spilling over either. Although even as she cried she allowed herself to smile too. There was still hope for the future, the twins were proof of that.

“They’re already so bright,” said Grim.

“Yes,” agreed Yoda. “Strong in the Force they are.”

“And they’ll have a bright future, even if the galaxy is dark now.”

She didn’t get the chance to meet them at first. Instead she had to get medical attention for herself for the injuries she had sustained on Mustafar, namely her missing arm.

Grim opened her eyes to the white lights of a hospital.

She groaned softly as she turned her head to see Obi-Wan waiting beside her bed. “Master?” she asked. “Please tell me that everything was just a really bad dream and I just crashed during a fight with the Seps…”

“I am sorry little one, but I am afraid that it did happen,” he told her.

Tears filled her eyes for the hundredth time that day. “So Anakin-?”

“Is dead,” Obi-Wan confirmed.

“And so I failed,” she concluded as the tears rolled down her face. She didn’t have the heart to tell Obi-Wan the truth even now, even still she would keep things secret.

“It was not your fault,” he said.

“And it was not yours,” she replied. “Although we both blame ourselves for those who have died.”

Yoda walked into the room. “Good to see you awake it is,” he said, walking over to Grim’s bedside.

“Master Yoda,” she greeted. She looked at the two Jedi. “What happens to us now?”

“Left uncertain is the future, always in motion it is,” Yoda replied. “Expected this nobody did, other than you, that is.”

“I knew of it, it didn’t mean I expected it. I had hoped to change the ending, although I failed. I’m sorry I never kept my promise when I became a Jedi.”

“Remind you, must I? Your promise it was to save as many lives as possible, that you did. Fail us, you did not.”

Grim smiled.

“Nobody asked you to do what you did, all anyone ever asked was if you wanted to go home. You made the choice to stay and save as many lives as possible, and even though you didn’t change the ending, I’m sure you changed the story,” Obi-Wan told her. “You’ve become an amazing Jedi in such a short amount of time.”

Grim caught the wording. “Master…?”

“A Jedi Knight you are to become, young Kennet,” Yoda said, confirming her thoughts.

Grim gawked at the two. “You can’t be serious? Me, a Jedi Knight? But- but I couldn’t stop the Sith! I didn’t-”

“The only one who lost you are not, failed to defeat Darth Sidious, I did. Any less of a Master am I?” Yoda pointed out.

“No, of course not Master Yoda,” she said.

“Then less of a Jedi are you for being unable to stop Sidious’ plan?” He asked her.

“I suppose not,” she agreed, seeing Yoda’s point.

However, she still did not think she was ready.

  She had failed them.

She had failed the Jedi.

Still who was she to argue with the last remaining members of the Jedi Council?

She kneeled before Yoda, her head bowed.

Yoda ignited his lightsaber. "Grim Kennet," he began. He moved his lightsaber to the left side of her head. "By the right of the Council." He changed sides. "By the will of the Force." He switched it back to the left side, and cut off her padawan braid. "Dub thee I do, a Jedi Knight."

Grim rose and bowed. "Thank you Master."

She looked at her braid on the ground. The symbol that she wore with honor as it marked her rank as a Jedi Padawan, now she was a Knight.

Though her thoughts shifted to the other Padawans who survived this genocide.

They would have to tear out their own braids to survive further, many would never even be knighted.

She fell to her knees as a sudden wave of grief struck her down.

Grim was the last Padawan to have this honor.

  "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was just thinking about the other Padawans who survived. They- they won't have this, many of them lived because of their Master's sacrifice. How is it - that in a single day, the Empire has taken so much? And it's not even done - the Empire, the Sith will keep hunting us, keeping killing us, how is it that the Sith can do that? And we can do nothing - for if we do we may cause more danger for those who can fight."

"But there are those who can fight," Obi-Wan replied. "And in time there will be a new hope."

"And how long will the galaxy have to suffer until then?" Grim asked, wiping away her tears. "How many more Jedi will have to die? How many more innocents will suffer? I do not deserve the honor of being a Jedi Knight."

"Deserve to be a Knight you do, young Kennet," Yoda replied.

"You have learned so much in these past years, we are very proud of you," Obi-Wan added.

"Why?" asked Grim. "I failed you - I failed all of the Jedi. I couldn't save anyone, why would you be proud of me?"

"Already told you this, we did," Yoda told her. "Learn much you have, grown you have, and even in the face of darkness choose the light you did.”

She was about to argue more, when Obi-Wan spoke again. "This never was your war," he told her. "You never had to do this, nobody asked you to, we asked if you wanted to go back to your home. Yet, even knowing how this would end you chose to stay, to help us. You knew what you would sacrifice, what you would see, and how it would play out, but you chose to fight anyway. You chose to help complete strangers rather than return to your own universe."

"If there was a chance I could save lives, I had to take it," replied Grim. "Even if it was only the slightest chance. Yet I failed."

"The point that is not," Yoda replied. "Knowing this ending chose to help anyway you did. Selfless you are, and though failed perhaps, your fault this is not."

"How is it not my fault if I failed?"

"Because there was only the slightest chance you could save us, but you took it anyway. You were not the one who caused this, you did all you could to prevent it," said Obi-Wan kindly.

Grim smiled softly. "You're right, and even though we lost this war, hope survives, the Jedi survive, for the Sith can't destroy the light. Thank you Masters." Grim hugged Yoda. "Thank you for letting me join your family."

Yoda hugged her back, and then Obi-Wan joined the hug."Thank you for being a part of it," Obi-Wan replied.

The three Jedi stayed there for a long moment. They had lost so much. Yet there was still hope, there was still light.

The newly knighted Jedi walked with her Masters to see the twins. Bail was already there, he allowed Grim to pass him and see them.

She looked at the two children.

The little sun and princess.

The hopes of the galaxy.

Even though so much sorrow filled her heart their bright presence was enough to cause her to smile. "They're so bright, the galaxy's little sun and our hope's princess." For now the darkness did not exist. In the current moment there was no tragedy that had occurred. She placed a light kiss on their foreheads. "Our little hopes."

She walked away from the twins and then over to Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail. "You don't have to tell me what you've figured out for them, I know what it is," she said.

  Grim looked at Bail, "you will take Leia and she will live a wonderful life loved as your daughter, and she will grow to be a wonderful person." 

She turned to Obi-Wan, "and you will take Luke to the Lars where they will raise him as their own, and Luke will be loved and grow to become a great Jedi.

“They have such a bright future, even despite the darkness now. They are our hopes for the future," she told all three of them.

She looked back at the twins, "our little lights."

The three smiled at Grim and the hope she held in her heart. Obi-Wan turned to her. “What will you do now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I want to fight against the Empire, but after everything I’ve gone through? I don’t think I can face that now, not yet. Nor am I ready to be on my own, I know I need to let go, but I don’t think I can, not yet. I’m not ready. I think that I want to stay with you, I’ll go with you to watch over Luke, at least until I can find who I am again.

“I learned a long time ago that I’m a Jedi, and I’m always going to be one. No matter what, the Sith can’t take away who I am. But in a new galaxy, I find myself a stranger again. I need to rediscover who I am, and then when the time comes, I will join the fight against the Empire.”

“But you can’t stay forever,” Obi-Wan told her.

“I know,” said Grim. “I think I always knew I wasn’t meant to stay forever, no matter where I was. I’d always have to move on and let go and face the future while holding the light.”

The flight to Tatooine was just as quiet as the flight from Mustafar. Although that same grief persisted in the two Jedi still, hope had spread its warm light into their hearts.

Grim held the newborn child in her arms while Obi-Wan piloted the ship.

She looked upon the face of the baby boy, the son of her brother.

The son of her enemy.

She allowed a tear to fall down her cheek. She had lost everything, Obi-Wan and the lightsaber that was clipped to her belt was all that remained of her life as a Jedi.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the child. “You would have grown in a much brighter galaxy if I hadn’t caused such pain. You are destined for great things Luke.”

She could feel the light radiating from the young child and it warmed her own heavy heart, cutting through the dark clouds that had begun to wrap themselves around it.

She smiled at him. “I have seen your story before, you will succeed where I have failed. You will do so much good and bring light and hope back into the galaxy. I had thought I would vanquish the dark, but I was foolish to try and write another’s story. I have learned that I can only write my own, and your story is your own alone. I will not try and alter it like I tried to alter your father’s. The force is strong in you Luke, and I know you will become a great Jedi.”

“You have learned a lot Grim,” Obi-Wan told her. “I am quite proud of you, and know that everything that happened was not your fault.”

“I know,” said Grim. “It just feels that way at times, as it will for the both of us. Our story has ended, but there is still more left to go. We lived through the prequels, but Luke will write the next adventure of the Jedi’s legacy. Our era has ended, but that only means the next one has begun.”

Obi-Wan smiled at her, she wasn’t the same girl he had taken in as a Padawan.

She was still young, but she was older. She was wiser, she had learned so much, and gone through pain that she never should have had to.

The war had changed her, it had changed them all.

Though one thing stayed the same, even now when darkness coated the galaxy in a thick smoke, blotting out all the stars, she was bright.

Grim still shone of compassion and light, even now.

“In time a new hope will emerge,” Obi-Wan said, echoing the message he had given the survivors.

“The force will be with us, always,” said Grim. “The Jedi can’t be defeated as long as the light lives. This may be the end, but a new story, A New Hope, will rise.”

She smiled a little at the joke she had made.

Even when all was lost she could find light in the situation.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan agreed. “As long as there is light, there will be Jedi.”

The ship landed on the desert planet. Grim stood up, still holding the sleeping child and exited the ship. Obi-Wan followed her and the two set off to take Luke to his family.

They were quiet on the ride as they silently mourned all of those they had lost.

Their home, their family was destroyed and yet they had survived.

  Grim reflected on the homes and families she had lost.

She had been stolen from one, swept away into an alien universe, and she had built another one with the Jedi but they had been ripped from her.

Murdered by her own brother.

She had lost two lives, but she would survive, Grim would find a new home as she had before.

She looked at Obi-Wan and sent comfort through their bond. Obi-Wan returned the gesture and she knew that together they mourned for those that they had lost, but they would accept it with time.

They would let go, because they were Jedi, and they knew that those who had gone were now one with the Force.

The Sith could not defeat the Jedi, because darkness can not entirely conceal the light, it is always there only hidden.

One only needs to search for the light.

The Jedi reached the Lars homestead. Grim handed Luke over to Obi-Wan as the two approached the couple who had been watching the suns rise.

  Obi-Wan handed Luke over to them and explained the situation. Owen and Beru nodded and promised to raise Luke as their own.

The Jedi then left to find their new home.

As they departed Grim looked back, knowing the future of the galaxy was secure.

  She may have failed to save the Jedi, but she knew that despite it all a spark of hope remained in this universe.

  She may have not changed the story, but she had left her mark, and it was time for the next story to be written.