1
Leia took a deep breath. The rainforest environment of the Endor’s forested moon was enough to make her hair wisp out in every direction, and make every situation into an oppressively warm and humid situation. Pressed up against a dirt ridge, feet from the building that they needed to break into, Leia was forced to deal with the overly-close presence of Han Solo, Chewbacca, two Ewoks, and two irritating droids.
Tearing her thoughts away from that which wouldn’t help her - Focus on what matters in the moment, Leia - she studied the building which housed the controls for the Death Star’s shield generators.
“The main entrance to the control bunker's on the far side of that landing platform,” she finally said. “This isn't gonna be easy.”
Han threw her a weak attempt at his normal cocky grin. “Hey, don't worry. Chewie and me got into a lot of places more heavily guarded than this.”
The Ewoks chattered quickly at C-3PO. Leia took another slow breath, and turned to the droid. “No elaborating, what are they saying?” she demanded. This was not the time for C-3PO’s ordinary dramatics.
“He says there's a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge,” C-3PO answered.
Before anything else could be said, Leia quickly signalled the other Rebels soldiers.
Entrance-secret-follow. Pass-on-message.
Within moments, they had shifted.
Leia took in their new target area. “Four guards,” she murmured, signalling with one hand as she spoke. “We’ll have to take them out.”
They had to. The shield had to come down, and this was no time for her to be squeamish.
Even if she was internally flinching at the idea of personally killing anyone.
“Not necessarily,” Han said, barely a breath away. “We could knock ‘em out real quiet-like, no problem, no mess.”
Behind them, C-3PO was translating everything for the Ewoks.
“It only takes one to sound an alarm,” Leia reminded the overconfident smuggler.
Han nudged her shoulder. “That’s why we’ll do it real quiet-like. It’s a good plan, Princess, and the least amount of probl-”
“Oh! Oh, my. Uh, Princess Leia!” C-3PO cried, waving his arms with his usual dramatic panic.
“Quiet,” Leia snapped, dragging the bright droid to the ground.
“I'm afraid our furry companion has gone and done something rather rash,” C-3PO insisted.
Han darted a quick look towards the control building, the guards, and the running Ewok. “Well, shit.”
Leia looked, and winced. “Oh, no.”
Han leaned his head against Leia’s back. “Well, there goes our surprise attack.”
Leia stared after the mad Ewok, her eyes widening as the small being took off on a speeder - and was quickly followed by three of the four guards!
“Or not,” Leia breathed incredulously.
[Brilliant,] Chewbacca agreed. [Now there’s only one of them!]
“Yeah,” Han looked startled. “Not bad for the little furball. You stay here, Princess, and coordinate the troops. We’ve got this.” He winked at Leia (winked!) and turned to Chewbacca. “Fifth Siege, on that little moon in the Kiris Cluster?”
[Sure.]
Leia swallowed back a laugh as Han and Chewie lead the remaining Imperial soldier on a merry chase into the waiting arms of the Rebellion.
This might actually work.
They slipped into the control building without a problem. The entire place seemed to have been guarded by only a handful of guards.
Within moments, they had rounded up the personnel within the station, and herded away the people in charge of the generator controls.
Leia swept a wild glance around the room, and took in all of the computers and controls. “Hurry, Han,” she said, feeling something that told her that they needed to rush. “The fleet will be here any moment!”
Han waved his hands. “Charges, come on!” They had planned for this, and there was no need for this to be spoiled -
“Freeze, you Rebel scum.” An Imperial commander pointed his blaster at Han, who slowly raised his hands into the air. Behind him, dozens of Imperial soldiers flooded into the room, disarming every Rebellion soldier and forcing them out of the control center.
Leia’s head throbbed as they were led through the building and outside. They had failed. Her boots sank into the dirt, and she suddenly knew -
“Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet…”
Darkness boiled into everything, burning away confidence.
“Yes...I assure you we are quite safe from your friends here....”
A tiny spot in the Darkness, bright with Light, responding -
“Your overconfidence is your weakness.”
Luke.
The Light was Luke.
The Dark responded, pushing at the edges of Luke’s Light. “Your faith in your friends is yours.” It burned -
“Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design! Your friends up there on the Sanctuary Moon are walking into a trap. As is your Rebel fleet! It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them! Oh...I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive.”
Leia knew.
Her head throbbed.
They were trapped. They would fail. And it was all planned.
They would fail. And Luke…
She couldn’t fail.
Lights flashed.
The generator control stations exploded.
Leia felt something warm curl around her, and dirt filled her mouth.
“What the hell was that?”
She knew that voice.
“Princess? Oh, dammit, Leia, are you alright?”
Leia tried to think through her headache.
“Leia? Damn, Chewie, something’s wrong -”
“I’m...fine…” Leia gritted, blinking through the pain. “Han? The generator?”
“It - ow! Chewie, could you - the damn thing blew up, and off schedule, too!”
A bit of vision returned to her. Han was gritting his teeth in pain, while Chewbacca pulled something large and metallic out of his shoulder.
Leia closed her eyes. “I think that was me.”
“Ow, Chewie, careful, that’s my blaster arm - what d’you mean, that was you?”
Leia prayed that the headache would go away. “Are we safe? The Imperials -”
“Got the brunt of that blast.” Han snorted. “I doubt any of ‘em are gonna be gettin’ up anytime soon.”
“Right.” Leia took a deep breath, and winced when something twinged uncomfortably in her stomach. “I… I can use the Force. Like Luke. Except not like him, because I think I’d have noticed if he felt this awful every time he used the Force.”
“You can what?”
Leia smiled weakly. She could feel Han gaping at her. “Luke taught me a little, before we went to get you on Tatooine. He’s better than I am, but I can do something, I guess, taking this as an example.”
One of Han’s hands curled around her left hand. “How?”
“The usual way, I suppose,” Leia mused. “Genetics. Luke is my brother, after all.”
“What?”
2
Despite the slightly desperate situation, Lando Calrissian couldn’t help a slightly gleeful wriggle in his seat at the prospect of flying the Millennium Falcon into battle. He’d never had a real chance to put this beauty through its paces, and now, after Han had proven that this was an absolutely incredible ship, Lando could really have some fun.
While shooting Imperial ships and heading towards the Death Star, of course.
“Admiral, we're in position. All fighters accounted for.” Beside him, Nien Nunb took one last look around the famous ship, and took the secondary controls. Over the comms, Admiral Ackbar’s voice crackled.
“Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates.”
Lando checked the screens one last time, and turned to Nunb, who was frowning dubiously at their attack formation.
“Don't worry, my friends are down there,” Lando told Nunb. Han definitely counted as a friend, but Lando was pretty sure that Princess Leia would prefer to shoot him on sight. He shook his head. Focus. “They'll have that shield down on time…” Lando hesitated. “Or this'll be the shortest offensive of all time,” he mumbled to himself.
Nunb snorted. [As if that hasn’t been the way of it for every Rebel offensive - miraculous or dead.]
Ackbar’s voice cut in. “All craft, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark.”
Lando threw the last three switches, and hoped that everyone else was prepared. This battle was going to be a doozy. “All right. Stand by.”
“Stand by,” called in Red Leader, a Corellian named Wedge Antilles.
“All clear and stand by,” agreed Grey Leader, an Outer Rim man like himself. Horton Salm, Lando was pretty sure the man’s name was.
“Clear, stand by,” rasped Green Leader, Corellian Tikvah Kesef-Solo. Despite being Han’s niece, the near-stereotypical Corellian woman had paid Lando no mind - despite his betrayal at Cloud City. She, like many Corellians, was a well-known fighter pilot, and had swiftly taken position as Green Leader over the heads of several long-term Rebels.
Nobody faced off with a Corellian who knew what they were doing.
Rumor had it that Green Three and Green Four were both from the Solo family as well. Lando wondered how one could command effectively with that kind of pressure, and swiftly pushed it out of his head.
Ackbar had called for the shift to hyperspace.
The shift was ridiculously smooth - Lando always expected hyperspace to be filled with jolts and discomfort in the old and unofficially ‘mended’ frame of the Millennium Falcon, and was always pleasantly surprised. Someday, he would find out exactly whose tech Han had stolen to make the ride so smooth.
Space returned to normal, and the Death Star loomed impressively in his front screens. Lando flicked on the official battle lines. “All wings report in.”
“Red Leader, standing by.”
“Grey Leader, standing by.”
“Green Leader, standing by.”
Antilles’ voice returned. “Lock S-foils in attack positions.”
Lando waited, a bit impatiently. This was the worst part of any battle, the waiting…
“May the Force be with us,” Admiral Ackbar breathed.
“Force protect us all,” agreed Kesef-Solo, the whine of her ship making her voice sound even worse than minutes previously.
Lando was about to assemble the Falcon’s weaponry, when Nunb leaned over and slammed the AVERT button. Before Lando could snap at the Sullustan, Nunb pointed at their scan screens. [We’re not getting any readings on the shields!]
Landon scowled, banging the side of the screen. The readings remained the same. “We've got to be able to get some kind of a reading on that shield, up or down,” he snapped. Nunb gave him a meaningful look.
[Jammers?]
Lando snorted. “Well, how could they be jamming us if they…” he froze. “If they don't know if we're coming.” Swerving the Falcon abruptly, he nearly smacked his head in his efforts to make sure his voice was heard over the comms.
“Break off the attack! The shield is still up!”
“I get no reading,” Antilles said doubtfully. “Are you sure?”
“Pull up!” Lando shouted, “All craft pull up!”
Ackbar’s command comm overtook the battle comms. “Take evasive action! Green Group, stick close to holding sector MV-7.” He sounded as close to panicked as Lando had ever heard a Mon Calamari sound.
And then - the words that Lando had dreaded. Predicted, but dreaded.
“It’s a trap!”
Lando took one look at his viewscreen, and felt adrenaline start to rush in his veins. “We’ve got company, Nunb!” he cried, stabbing the commlink. “We’ve got fighters coming in, sector C12 towards J24-L.”
“Got your back, Falcon,” Kesef-Solo said, meeting words with efficient actions. Green Team swooped in, shooting furiously. “Getcher ass outta there!”
“Copy,” Lando said. He pushed the commlink into permanent-on position, and swung the Falcon like a dancer. Damn, but these controls were good. “Accelerate to attack speeds, draw their fire away from the cruisers!”
“Copy, Gold Leader,” Antilles called.
“Copy,” Salm returned.
“YEEEEHAH!” Kesef-Solo shouted. A few moments later, her second cleared his throat. “Ah...copy.”
The battle heated up.
There were pros and cons to having the comms on for battle, Lando quickly discovered. The biggest one, as it turned out, was that the entire Solo clan was apparently fucking crazy.
Green Three, a young woman apparently named Drasha, could not stop giggling, and kept doing things in her little starfighter that shouldn’t be physically possible, all the while keeping up a running score with Green Four.
“Fifty-three Four, and five company F6-9 to MJ-1J, Green Leader!”
“Sixty-one, Three! Five down to three, still towards MJ-1J.”
Green Four kept weaving like a drunkard, and then suddenly proving exactly why he was a top pilot for the Alliance.
“Three of ‘em comin’ in, twenty degrees to AF-3N,” Red Two called.
“Cut to the left! I'll take the leader!” Antilles replied. “They're heading for the medical frigate.”
Lando grimaced, and did a double-flip that would make most pilots seasick. Nunb suddenly looked up, alarmed. [We’ve got Star Destroyers in sector N!]
Lando took a quick glance. “Dammit. They’re not attacking, though. Wonder what they’re waiting for.”
Suddenly, Drasha Solo’s voice screamed over the comms. “Red Team, Grey Team, pull back! Pull back! Get Blue Cruiser out of here!”
Confused responses crackled over the comms, but then something tore through space, slamming into Blue Cruiser and sending out an artificial shockwave that threw Rebel ships in all directions.
“Fuck, the Star’s operational!” Kesef-Solo shouted, horror vibrating through her voice.
3
“I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive,” the Emperor drawled. “Come, boy. See for yourself.”
Breathe in the Force, breathe out the fear. Luke moved towards the window-style viewscreen. It was a painful scene - Rebel ships easily being turned aside by Imperial TIE Fighters, occasionally crashing into the Death Star’s shields and exploding when there was no escape.
The Emperor laughed softly. “From here you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance, and the end of your insignificant Rebellion.” The Darkness that surrounded the Sith like a black hole shifted, like a snake about to strike. The Emperor nodded at Luke’s lightsaber, which sat innocently on the arm of the Imperial throne. “You want this, don't you?”
Luke swallowed hard. What could he do from here? Fight?
“The hate is swelling in you now,” the Emperor breathed. “Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment, you make yourself more my servant.”
Breathe out the fear, breathe in the Force. But it was so hard, here in this pit of Darkness…
Luke took another slow breath. “I will not,” he said, purposefully turning his tone into a gentle reminder. He had learned quickly, at Ben’s side, that amiable treatment of your opponent was more irritating than any attack.
“It is unavoidable,” the Emperor hissed. “It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now mine!”
“I am not,” Luke returned, finding his pleasant tone a bit more easily. Did the Emperor think that a few words of destiny and reminding him of his father’s fate would so easily sway him?
The Emperor shook his head slowly. “Foolish, foolish,” he murmured. He smiled at Luke. “As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed.” His words were punctuated with the explosion of a Rebel ship against the Death Star’s shields. “Now, witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!” He pressed a commlink. “Fire at will, Commander!”
Luke couldn’t move, horrified, as the deadly light of the Death Star gathered in the image on the viewscreen. Explosions followed by explosions tore through the Rebel fleet.
The Emperor laughed. “Your fleet has lost. And your friends on the Endor moon will not survive. There is no escape, my young apprentice. The Alliance will die...as will your friends.”
Luke shook his head. No. He couldn’t -
He couldn’t do this alone.
He focused on the Emperor, who was still laughing. “Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon! Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.”
Luke’s vision narrowed. It was the Emperor’s fault -
His lightsaber flew into his hand without a thought, and he attacked -
For a moment, he was locked, blade to blade, with Vader. Then, he spun away, attacked again, and could almost hear Ben, like an echo of an echo -
What kind of duel do you call that? Attacking wildly while leaving your head wide open?
Anger burned through his veins -
Anger.
Anger was causing him to lose his focus, and fight like a small angry child, instead of the trained adult that he was.
Luke lowered his lightsaber, backing away. “I will not fight you, father.”
Vader swung at him, stalking forward like a furious cat. “You are unwise to lower your defenses. And I had thought...Obi Wan had taught you well.”
Luke almost laughed at the weak verbal attack on Ben’s skills. Ben had taught him well, and this was the proof. Tentatively, he reached out with the Force, trying to predict Vader’s next move… and found himself surprised.
“Your thoughts betray you, father,” Luke called from the shadows in which he hid. “I feel the good in you...the conflict.”
Vader’s suit continued inexorably forward, but his Force presence flinched. “There is no conflict.”
“You couldn't bring yourself to kill me before,” Luke reminded the man who had once been Anakin Skywalker. “I don't believe you'll destroy me now.”
Vader slashed at the catwalk upon which Luke had perched, and Luke had to jump quickly to avoid landing messily. From the Emperor’s corner, Darkness intensified.
“You underestimate the power of the dark side!” Vader snapped. “If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny!”
Luke hid in the physical shadows as mental shadows swirled against his mind, searching for a way in.
“You cannot hide forever, Luke,” Vader said, speaking slowly and deliberately. “Give yourself to the dark side.”
“I will not fight you.” Luke knew that Vader spoke the truth. His purpose here was soon to come to an end, and that end could very well be in death.
The Emperor cackled, and Vader continued, the Darkness suddenly swamping Luke. “It is the only way you can save your friends, you know this.”
Luke flinched. His purpose here had failed, for the shield had never gone down, and he would never hold them long enough, and everyone would die -
“Yes…” Vader’s words escaped his helmet like the hiss of his breath. “Your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…”
No. No, Vader mustn’t know, mustn’t -
“Sister!” Vader sounded startled. His Force presence flickered oddly, before resettling in the Darkness that enveloped the Emperor. “So...you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too.” He breathed in and out, the sound as oddly mechanical as ever. “Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will.”
It had never been Obi-Wan’s failure. It was his.
Luke had failed. He had failed, and the Emperor and Vader had won -
And they would go after everyone, Han and Ahsoka and Leia -
He dropped his lightsaber, and darkness fell before Darkness.
4
Lando grabbed at the controls of the Falcon, leveling the ship out after the surprise explosion. “That blast came from the Death Star! That thing’s operational.” He was so stunned, he barely noticed his shocked echo of Kesef-Solo’s horrified shout. “Home One, this is Gold Leader -”
Ackbar sighed across the comms. “We saw it. All craft prepare to retreat.”
“Like karking hell!” Kesef-Solo snapped.
Lando turned to reface the Death Star. “You won't get another chance at this, Admiral,” he pointed out.
“We have no choice, General Calrissian, General Kesef-Solo. Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude.” Ackbar sounded almost broken.
Lando shook his head at Nunb, and shot down an idling Imperial TIE Fighter. “Han will have that shield down. We've got to give him more time.”
“Force, forget time!” shouted Kesef-Solo. “Look!”
Like a blessing from a religion that Lando didn’t believe in, like a kriffing miracle, the jammers and the shield cloaking the Death Star collapsed.
“The shield is down!” he shouted gleefully. “Did you see that?”
“The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor.” Ackbar commanded.
Lando couldn’t help the wild laugh that escaped him as he refocused on the Death Star. “We're on our way. Red Group, Green Group, Gold Group, all fighters follow me!” He beamed at Nunb. “Told you they’d do it!”
“Green Two to Green Leader, dropping cargo.”
“Clear.”
Lando dodged three TIE Fighters and the collapsing remains of an Imperial Destroyer. “What part of the plan is that? Green Leader, respond!”
Kesef-Solo took a moment to respond. “It’s the part of the plan that isn’t part of the plan, Gold Leader.”
Lando swore, and took another chance at diving towards the Death Star. Rebuffed, he returned to taking potshots at Imperial ships. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Look, it’s been approved, Gold Leader. Five from thirty degrees, Red Leader!”
Lando hoped that, whatever it was, it wasn’t going to blow up in their faces any more than this attack already had.
5
All he could see was violet light, arcing through the darkness. Explosions surrounded him, and he fell, and fell, and fell…
An abrasive voice cut through the endless Dark.
“Hey, Palpatine, you Hutt-fucking piece of Bantha dung!”
Luke blinked away the Darkness, and stared.
Standing in a ragged square of light that had once been a doorway, twin red lightsabers crossed, was Asajj Ventress. Her teeth were bared in a wild grin. “Miss me, you nokka shee tong sak?”
Vader stalked towards Asajj, who just laughed in his face.
“You couldn’t beat me thirty years ago, Skywalker,” Asajj drawled, batting Vader’s lightsaber away and flipping to the side, nearly taking off a sparking piece of Vader’s suit. “What makes you think you have the tiniest chance, now?”
“Wonderful,” the Emperor cackled. “The two strongest Force users of the Rebellion, right here, waiting to obey my command.”
Asajj’s grin tightened into a scowl, and Luke struggled to his feet as he watched Asajj use the Force to bat an enormous piece of debris at the Emperor, who casually destroyed it with a burst of the Dark Side.
As Vader continued to attack Asajj, Luke stared at the battled. He had seen Asajj’s lightsabers before, they had always been red -
But they weren’t. They were a deep reddish-violet, just far enough from the traditionally Sith color to make a statement.
“Did you enjoy playing Jedi, my dear?” the Emperor inquired over the sound of clashing lightsabers. “Did you enjoy being the outsider, always trying to do good while they distrusted you?”
Asajj’s attacks began to grow wild, as she fought Vader to get at the Emperor with a wild sort of viciousness that was dangerously close to anger.
When he felt the swell of hatred burst from Asajj, Luke gave up attempting to look for his lightsaber. Diving forward, he bodily intercepted Asajj just as she destroyed a large section of Vader’s suit and knocked the man to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Asajj demanded, her eyes flashing golden yellow and her lightsabers pointed at him. “I can kill him, now!”
“This is what he wants!” Luke shouted at her. “Asajj, you can’t!”
“Don’t you dare tell me I can’t!” Asajj hissed, using a wave of Force to throw Vader into a wall, where the Dark Lord fell limply like an empty puppet. “After what he’s done to me - after what he’s done to you -”
“Look at yourself!” Luke screamed, horror burning in his heart as he saw the Darkness enfold Asajj like an old friend. “If you do this - if you kill him - then I’ll truly be alone!”
Asajj froze. The glow in her eyes faded, and the Darkness abruptly sank away from her like grimy water down a drain. “No -”
For the first time since he had lost his lightsaber to his own stumble into the Dark, Luke felt the Light eating away at his fear. I’m not alone, he reminded himself. And neither is Asajj.
“After everything you’ve fought for,” Luke breathed. “Don’t leave me alone. Not now.”
Asajj lowered her lightsabers, her eyes paling to a gentle blue - and the Emperor hissed, raising his warped and wrinkled hands.
“Abomination!” His voice roiled with Darkness. “See what happens when you defy the Dark!” Violet lightning exploded from his hands, arcing through the air to send Asajj flying, her lightsabers rolling on the floor.
Luke scooped up Asajj’s lightsabers, and dove forward. “No!”
Unready for it, Luke screamed in agony as the lightning danced along his nerves for the briefest of moments. He caught his breath, gasping, and pressed his head against the floor, hurting almost as much from the pain of hearing Asajj scream as from his own burning agony, when his eyes stopped -
His lightsaber.
Luke called his lightsaber into his hands with a near-joyous breath of the Force, reveling in the faint feeling of Light that rushed through him as he did so, countering the burn of Darkness from the lightning.
He dashed towards the Emperor, his lightsaber raised -
The Emperor looked up, and his eyes widened. For a breath, the lightning connecting him to Asajj brightened to black-edged white, and then the Emperor flung Asajj’s limp body into the same wall that had met Vader.
Luke got in one swing before he was struck with the Emperor’s Dark lightning for the second time.
The agony of the first time, that brief interception, was nothing compared to this.
Words fell from his mouth. His hopeless, aching dreams…
“Father…”
The Emperor laughed over him, the only image in a growing sea of Darkness.
“Young fool...only now, at the end, do you understand.”
Luke writhed in agony, the pain impossible to escape.
“Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision.”
Everything, even opening and closing his eyes, was an experience in torment. “Father…” It was such a hopeless plea, but it was what fell from his lips in this moment of torture. “Please…”
And then, just as Luke couldn’t hold his eyes open any longer, he saw a dark shadow rise up behind the Emperor, who was nearly gasping with laughter.
“Now, young Skywalker...you will die!”
The pain increased - and vanished.
Luke gasped for air, the feeling raw and cold down his throat as he forced open his eyes to see -
A dark suit, arms clasped around the Emperor’s frail body, lightning arcing like waves over the two -
And then the Emperor was gone, down the core shaft, and Darkness exploded like that last gasp of a storm.
The suit collapsed, taking its prisoner with it to the floor. Mere feet away, a rasping laugh weakly filled the suddenly silent room.
“I knew it…”
Luke shoved himself onto all fours, and crawled over to Asajj, who smiled weakly at him. She turned her head towards the prone figure in black.
“I knew… your goody-two-shoes self… wasn’t gone… Skywalker….” Her eyes, blue like Ben’s lightsaber had been, fogged over. “Light…”
Luke shook his head as he felt Asajj fade, her life vanishing into the Force. Tears streaked down his face, and he collapsed, helplessly, beside her body. The floor was gritty with something that might have been sand, and he dragged his hands through it in helpless pain. “No,” he whispered. “Why?”
The floor shook and far-off explosions echoed into the room. Something broke, and water began to spray into the room. Luke pushed himself back into a seated position. Someone had gotten to the Death Star. It was only a matter of time, now.
6
Leia stared into the sky, her whole body aching. Beside her, Han shook his head, a slow trickle of blood from some small nick drawing a thin line down his right cheek.
“Siblings,” he breathed. “You know, that makes a lot more sense than anything else.”
Leia shook her head. “I’ve been an utter fool, too. I’m going to spend the rest of my life learning better, and asking forgiveness. And it would serve me right it I didn’t get it!”
“Princess? General?” One of the few Rebel soldiers still on his feet stood in front of them, his face twisted with uncertainty. “We haven’t heard from Home One in a long time, do you know -”
Leia smiled. “Just watch the sky, if you’re worried,” she said. For once, she didn’t feel the slightest bit worried. She felt almost loopy, the way one did when fed the good sort of pain drugs. She wasn’t sure if it was the pain, her probable concussion, or the use of the Force when she had no idea what she was doing.
Something trickled out of her sleeve. Too weighted down with exhaustion to move, Leia turned to Han. “Han? Something is coming from my sleeve, can you make sure it’s not blood?”
Han paled, and nearly dove for the ground, before staring at her wrists and frowning.
“What is it?” Leia asked, tasting salt and feeling the heat of Tatooine as if it was present.
Han lifted a hand, and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, letting loose a stream of...sand?
7
There was no sound of warning, nothing, but Luke was warned by something, nevertheless, just in time to see Asajj’s body vanish, much as Yoda and Ben both had at their deaths. Even with those experiences behind him, Luke clutched at the empty cloak and clothing left behind, loss mixing with confusion.
“What?”
He gathered up the cloth, and crawled over to the unmoving body of his father
His father, who had saved him when it had truly counted.
The helmet turned slowly towards him. “Luke…”
Luke struggled to move more quickly. “Father!”
“Luke, help me take this mask off.”
Luke froze, his hands clenching on Asajj’s abandoned clothing. “But you'll die.”
The broken, wheezing laugh carved itself into Luke’s memories. “Nothing can stop that now. Just for once... let me look on you with my own eyes.”
Luke nearly dived for his father, his hands shaking as he did his best to carefully remove the helmet that had entombed Anakin Skywalker for over twenty years.
An aged, wrinkled man squinted up at him, milky-white skin bent and twisted as unfocused eyes struggled to focus. “Now…” Anakin took a ragged breath. “Go, my son. Leave me.”
Luke shook his head, dropping the helmet to the floor without a thought. “No. You're coming with me. I can't leave you here. I've got to save you.”
The Light that had struggled into being in the soul of Anakin Skywalker suddenly burst into vigorous light, a near-visible flare of Force Light that strengthened Luke’s resolution that he couldn’t leave his father to die.
Anakin wheezed. “Oh, Luke… you already have.” He gasped for breath. “You were right about me, my son. Tell your sister… you were right.”
Luke bit his lip, tears returning to his eyes, when suddenly, the floor moved.
No - not the floor -
The sand on the floor -
Light exploded into being, and the sand swirled, shifting upwards into the shape of a woman. Water, which had been pooling on the floor and draining through the grating, roared towards the ceiling in a wave, collecting in a pillar of Light-lit water.
Anakin stared at the sand-woman, his breathing slowing and becoming raspier with every breath. “Mother?”
Shmi Skywalker, reached forward, and brushed her son’s wrinkled cheek. “Shh, Ani. Breathe for a little while longer.”
The water roiled with Force-Light, and Luke could only stare in shock and astonishment as it, too, folded itself into the shape of a woman.
A single tear struggled its way out of Anakin’s left eye and down his scarred cheek. “Padmé?”
“Not exactly,” the watery woman breathed. “But for your sake… yes….”
And then the Light burned ever brighter, and something like Asajj’s voice breathed into Luke’s mind.
A gift…
A surge of energy gave life to Luke’s exhausted body, nowhere near enough to fight, but enough to walk a short way with a burden.
A gift...for the Chosen One and the Chosen who regained the balance and freed the Force…
Water and sand
Dark and Light
Life and Death
And Life…
Luke clutched at his father as the Light burned around them. Water and sand mixed, the female figures fading into nothingness, and Luke couldn’t help but gasp as the black suit of Darth Vader split open, and his father -
Shrank.
The Light faded from visibility, leaving only wisps of the ever-present Force to caress the sleeping form of a tiny little boy, the only remains of the dying Anakin Skywalker.
“A chance,” a voice rang out, a strange combination of the many voices that had been Shmi, Padmé, and Asajj. “Now, run, Luke!”
The Death Star rocked, and Luke grabbed up the little boy, taking only enough time to snatch the helmet, and he ran.
8
On Endor’s moon, lying on a pillow of sand, Leia smiled and closed her eyes. Around her, Rebel soldiers cheered and screamed, pointing at the sky.
The Death Star exploded, its destruction visible even from their land-bound position.
“They did it!” Han said with no little amount of satisfaction. Then, he paused. Leia opened an eye, and looked at him. He was frowning at the sky, squinting as if he thought he could see something else. Noticing her gaze, Han looked away, his normal easy grin peeling over his face like a mask.
“I’m sure Luke wasn’t on that thing when it blew,” Han said, his normal tone not coming to him quite as easily as the face. Leia smiled up at him, feeling...something.
“I know he didn’t,” she said, feeling quite as if she was reassuring him, rather than the other way around. “I can feel it. Force, remember? He’s safe.”
Han’s grin softened into something much more genuine. “We did it, didn’t we?”
Leia nodded. “It’s done.”
9
Luke set the pyre to light, and stepped back, a tiny hand enfolded in his own. In the center of the pyre, a single black helmet and a cloak lay as the final momentoes of the long and colorful life of Anakin Skywalker and his Fall as Darth Vader.
Luke stared into the flames, smiling as the blue cloak that had last enfolded Asajj Ventress also caught fire, sending sparks into the nighttime air. The intense woman would probably find a way to come back from the dead to yell at him for giving her a pyre shared with Anakin Skywalker… and Luke was pretty pleased with that idea, actually.
A few feet away, Han and Chewie were cheerfully embracing Lando Calrissian, and Leia seemed to be deep in conversation with Han’s flirty niece.
“Luke?”
Luke looked down at the little boy clutching his hand, and then up at the speaker, a woman he knew quite well.
“Hi, Ahsoka.”
The older woman hugged him, her eyes gentle with shared loss. “They are one with the Force, now,” she said, the words more ritual than intended comfort.
As Luke nodded, Ahsoka knelt, her focus taken up by the little boy at his side. “And who are you, youngling?”
Blue eyes looked up from under a mop of blonde hair, innocence meeting startled mourning. “I’m An’kin,” the boy lisped, holding up a hand with three fingers sticking out. “An’ I’m f-f-three,” he stumbled. “Luke’s gonna take ca’e of me.”
Ahsoka’s eyes filled with tears. She looked at Luke, who met her tearful eyes with his own tears. “A gift from the Force?” he said hesitantly, still uncertain about exactly what had happened.
Ahsoka darted forward, hugged a startled little boy, and then stood, hugging Luke once more.
“And what a gift,” she whispered, pulling away to stare into the flames. “A second chance.”
Luke stared into the sky, momentarily spotting a collection of Force ghosts smiling down at them. Ben, Shmi, a woman Luke didn’t recognize who resembled the woman his father had called ‘Padmé’, and beings of all shapes and sizes moving in and out of focus.
They all had a second chance, now.
A chance for a new hope.