Author's Note:Okay, finally an update.


The door com buzzed, and Luke opened it to see a young ensign.

"Master Skywalker?"

"Yes?"

The ensign stood at attention.

"Ensign Drake Hunter. The Grand Admiral wishes to speak with you,... alone."

Luke nodded and followed the young man. Once in Thrawn's quarters he once again felt the affect of the ysalamiri.

"Master Skywalker, thank you for coming," Thrawn said after dismissing Drake.

"Of course, Admiral. How can I help you?"

Thrawn motioned to a chair.

"Please sit, and I will explain why I wished to meet with you alone."

Luke sat down, and Thrawn did the same.

"Now, I know the basics of the Battle of Endor, but rumor has it that you witnessed both the Emperor and Darth Vader's deaths."

Ah, that's why he was here. Thrawn wanted to know what had happened that day.

"It's no rumor, but I must correct you on something."

Thrawn's eyebrows raised.

"Oh?"

"It was Anakin Skywalker who died aboard the Death Star, not Darth Vader."

The Chiss leaned forward some, now truly interested.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Darth Vader was simply the evil of the Emperor that corrupted Anakin Skywalker, he was never his own person. He lived through Anakin. After dueling me in Bespin, Anakin Skywalker began to reawaken. By the time the Battle of Endor rolled around Vader was dying. I guess you could say I killed Darth Vader, but Darth Vader was never intended to have life. My father turned to the Darkside in hopes of saving my mother, but Darth Vader grew quickly through the mass murder of the Jedi and overtook Anakin. The Emperor twisted Darth Vader into the monster you met, but he was never able to completely destroy Anakin Skywalker."

Thrawn steepled his fingers, processing what he had just heard. He knew all too well the affects of the Darkside on a Force Sensitive.

"So you're saying that Darth Vader died before his body?"

"No."

He sat up straight in surprise and confusion.

"No?"

Luke nodded.

"The body was never his. Nothing physical was ever his. It was Anakin Skywalker's. He was born Anakin, he died Anakin, and Vader never had true claim to any of it."

Thrawn's eyebrows were almost to his hairline. Even his brilliant mind could still be baffled by Jedi beliefs and workings.

"Vader was Palpatine's creation, the twisting and corrupting of my father's emotions and soul. Anakin was the galaxy's greatest victim. Vader was nothing more than Palpatine's slave."

"Yet, he killed his Master."

Luke shook his head. He knew Thrawn wanted to understand everything behind the death of the Emperor, and so he would explain it all, no matter how long it took. Understanding that it was Anakin and not Vader would be probably the greatest thing to help Thrawn understand that where he was now, allied with them, was the right place for him to be.

"Anakin killed Palpatine. Vader wanted him dead, yes, but he wanted his place as Emperor and Sith Master. Vader would have waited for Palpatine to exhaust himself killing me before striking. Anakin stopped him from killing me, even while knowing Palpatine's Force Lightning would short circuit his suit and kill him. He did it to save me, not out of revenge or to rise in rank."

The Grand Admiral could feel a slight ache as he tried to process all this.

"I know this is difficult to understand, Admiral, but it's true. Though they shared the same body and mind, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were as different as night and day. Anakin never needed Vader, but Vader could not survive with Anakin. Yes Vader died on the Death Star, but his death wasn't physical."

"One body, two people?"

Luke nodded.

"You make him sound as if he had multiple personalities."

"In a way."

Thrawn sat back.

"I believe I'm beginning to understand what you're saying, Skywalker."

Luke smiled.

"Most people just think he's crazy."

The Jedi smiled, but Thrawn looked like he was on the verge of screaming.

"Hello, Father."

Anakin Skywalker's ghost walked into Luke's view.

"Hello, son. Sorry to scare you, Admiral, but I felt that perhaps seeing me would help cement the concept of what Luke told you."

Thrawn stared at the ghost. He was young, tall, and handsome, not at all what he had pictured to be behind the mask of Darth Vader.

Anakin smiled, sensing Thrawn's thoughts.

"This isn't what I looked like behind that mask."

Suddenly the image changed to a scarred man with not a single hair upon his head. Thrawn had seen corpses that looked better that he did.

"This is what I looked like behind the mask."

The Chiss swallowed, and Anakin turned back to normal.

"What... what happened to you?"

An old man dressed like Anakin appeared beside him.

"I'm afraid I am to blame for his appearance and the need for that suit."

"Hello, Ben."

Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi smiled at Luke.

"After Anakin killed the Separatists on Mustafar, his wife and I found him there. Blinded by his anger, he choked her, accusing her of bringing me there to kill him. We fought, and I cut off his left arm and both legs."

"I slid down the bank and ended up catching on fire."

Thrawn turned pale and winced at the thought.

"The fire damaged my lungs, eyes, and destroyed my hearing. Without that suit, I could not breathe on my own, see as well as I needed to, and I could not hear at all without the mask. You saw me as the pinnacle of strength, but in reality I was a broken man who depended on machinery just to breathe."

"So when he grabbed Palpatine and threw him down to the reactor core, the lightning fired the life support system of the suit," Luke said.

The Grand Admiral looked at Luke then back at the ghosts.

"Yes, so before Luke ever removed my mask, my fate was sealed. Removing the mask simply brought it on quicker."

"Then why did you have him remove the mask?"

Anakin smiled sadly.

"Though the mask helped me see, my vision was forever tinted red by it. I wanted to see my son as he truly was, with my own eyes, before I died. Thrawn, I know you feared me as Vader, and it's time to stop fighting for what he wanted, it's time to stop fighting for the Empire. In doing so, you keep the beliefs of Palpatine and Vader alive."

The ghosts disappeared.

Thrawn dismissed Luke and sat thinking about what all he had learned and been told.


End Note: Anakin and Obi-Wan make an appearance, and Thrawn gets insight into Vader and Anakin.