Work Text:
Death sighed deeply as they watched the scene before them. The two humans, one moment so happy to finally be together, just to be torn apart in the next. The young woman now leaning over her other half’s body, trying to get him back. But Death knew better. The man was already their responsibility. They were no stranger to tragedy, having witnessed so many, in such different forms. But that was also one of the reasons why they knew, that this one wasn’t supposed to happen. And why they now had a slight problem at their hands.
Normally when someone died who wasn’t supposed to die, it would result in minor inconveniences and some more work for Death, but then after a little bit of time the things would righten themselves, the galaxy being able to work around the incident.
In this case however the two humans involved, played a way to big part, with them being the embodiment of the balance of light and dark in the galaxy. So, it was pretty obvious that when one died the galaxy would become unbalanced again and where that would lead, they had all seen.
And apart from that, these two beings shared a bond that had the power of life itself, which meant their very souls were more or less bound together. So even if Death wanted to take one of the two, it wouldn’t be possible without taking the other one too.
Death sighed again, what a mess this was. At least they wouldn’t have to deal with this one alone, so there was at least a small chance to righten all of this. Given that the other two eternal beings would play along. Therefore, Death turned to the one already standing next to them.
Life had been watching alongside Death, as the scene unfolded before them.
If it wouldn’t be completely unfair of them, Death would be angry with their counterpart for allowing that stupid human to give his life away so easily. But they had been around long enough to have seen these kind of sacrifices countless times and they knew that Life was as powerless as they were in these situations.
Afterall Life could merely give, while Death could merely take and only the living beings could choose.
So, there was no point in being annoyed. At least not at Life. It looked a bit different for the other eternal being.
Death could probably be titled as the most patient being in any galaxy, but after all the stunts the Force had pulled in the last 70/80 years, even Death realized they had a limit, and with the result of this day, the Force had definitely pushed past it.
If it had started with the Force dragging Life into creating a living human being out of only Force-energy or with this power-obsessed Sith, who somehow had been able to get away from Death and was able to haunt the galaxy even after his demise, Death wasn’t quite sure. But with creating this unbreakable bond, a dyad, and then just letting one of the two die, that really pushed past any limit.
It really wasn’t that Death didn’t understand, that sometimes someone needed to take on a more active role to ensure balance in the galaxy, but then that being should at least make sure the plan worked and not circle back to the beginning.
They were pulled out of their musing, by the light touch of Life.
The Force had finally shown up again. After helping all the Jedi connect with the young women and giving their strength to her.
Death scowled at their fellow eternal being, which at least had the decency to look sheepish.
“So how do we fix this?”, Death demanded.
The Force watched the scene before them for a moment.
The young Jedi had pulled the man in a different position so that she could cradle his head in her lap. She was carding one hand through his hair while talking to him. If she had any strength left, she probably would have dragged both of them out of there long ago, but as weak as the woman was at the moment, she wouldn’t be able to do that. And since it would seem as she had no intention of leaving him, she could do nothing else but sit there and hope that maybe one of her friends would come and get them.
“Well there is really only one thing we can do”, responded the Force as they turned back to the other two eternal beings.
Death huffed annoyed: “Of course there is only one thing we can do. As I can’t take him, for that lovely bond you created. You are lucky we can do it this easily here on Exegol, otherwise you would own us even more than you already do.”
The Force smiled apologetically: “I know. I am very sorry. I hadn’t expected that it would get so out of hand.”
Death narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Oh really?”, they slowly asked: “Then who exactly made it possible for that Sithlord to get away from me in the first place?”
“Ah, well …”, the Force took a slight step back: “you see, what he did was combine abilities he gained through me and science. It wouldn’t have worked with only the power he got from me. So, it really was only partly my fault. And it didn’t really work that well anyway.”
“It worked well enough, that he was able to screw up a perfectly fine human being again and start another war.”
“Oh, come on, that boy is a Skywalker if it hadn’t been that Sith, someone else would probably have screwed with him. This family is nothing but trouble.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you. Who exactly was the one who created Anakin Skywalker again?!”
“Well, I thought it would help, at that point in time.”
Before Death had even time to debate if it would be worth the trouble to get out his scythe and make the Force a head smaller, Life stepped between them.
“Force, that Sith nearly destroyed the light in this galaxy. He took countless of my gifts. So, you better make sure he will never again be able to do anything like that. This galaxy needs peace so that it can finally heal. Death and I will help you righten this terrible wrong and give these two a second chance. Thus, they can finally bring balance and with it peace for them and the galaxy. And you will make sure that this time they will find their way and if needed you will guide them along. So that in the future my gift will not be lost in another war again.”
The Force bowed their head to Life: “I promise this second chance will not be in vain. And there will be peace and balance with these two.”
Life nodded: “Well then, we already wasted enough time. Let’s get these two on the path that will lead them back together.”
Death nodded and together all three stepped closer. The Force took a moment to open the passage between the Wolds and then nodded at the other two. Death and Life took hold on Ben Solos Soul and Body and guided him to the World between Worlds, the plain, where he could wait until his other half found him again and would be able to bring him back. Rey of Jakku felt the shift in the Force and looked up for a moment before she looked down again and to her horror saw how the body of Ben slowly vanished. She tried to hold him there. Crying out and begging for him not to leave her. But the Force already reached out to soothe her, showing her the way forward. It took a while but the feeling of hope, that reached her through the Force, got her up and a slight nudge at the bond had her determined to get back what was hers.
The three eternal beings watched as the young Jedi left the planet. They all knew she would find the way.
“Well then”, the Force turned to the other two, “I need to make sure the young Solo is fine and maybe get some old Jedi to talk to him, until his other half finds him again."
“I will be there when she brings him back”, Life nodded to the Force, “just to make sure everything will be fine.”
The Force smiled at them gratefully.
“Then I trust you two to not mess this up”, Death added, “I will have a lot of work to do, with all the souls my Reapers collected today. Just make sure it will be some time before I have to deal with these two again.”
“Of course”, responded Life and Force.
Death inclined his head politely to both of them and then vanished. They would know, when the young women succeeded and then Death hoped it would be quiet some time before they would have to go to guide them on their last journey. But they knew when the time came, Death would guide them both together, as it should be.
The end