Chapter Twenty-Eight: Into the Gray Netherworld

When Luke and Leia finally made it back, they were greeted by the wild and panicked eyes of Han. He was cradling the limp and pale body of Anakin, with one hand pressed to the pulse on Anakin's neck and the other supporting his shoulders and head.

Han's head shot up when he saw them approaching rapidly. Before Luke or Leia could even inquire, the thin, grave lines on his mouth and alarmed sparks in his eyes immediately conveyed the seriousness of the situation. Han finally managed to formulate words, saying with urgency as they hastily drew to his side and bent beside Anakin, "He's not breathing. He just stopped breathing."

It was then that Luke's heart lurched in his chest. He fumbled to place his fingers on Anakin's neck, but he had to steady himself before he could sense the slow, faint beat there on the cold and clammy skin. He did not have to check if Anakin was breathing; the bluish lips already confirmed that Anakin was not getting enough oxygen.

So wrapped up in his own panic, Luke was barely aware that Han was continuing to talk in a bumbling manner.

"I couldn't reach the medcenter," Han told them, his voice shaking violently. "There's no signal anywhere down here."

As Han continued to talk, Luke hastily uncapped the syringe, willing his fingers to stop trembling. He ended up dropping the cap in his clumsiness, but soon the syringe was bared and poised.

A cold and feverish feeling settled over him as he shifted Anakin's limp head to the side, into Leia's soothing hands, therefore baring Anakin's neck. With his fingers on the clammy skin, Luke quickly inserted the needle into Anakin's bloodstream, then released the antidote slowly, just as Jade had warned him.

After he had withdrawn the syringe, Luke stared closely at Anakin, waiting, hoping, wishing for some change. None came. There was no change in color in his neck or face or lips. He did not start back to life. He did not breathe.

Leia's steady hands eventually guided his away from Anakin, though they were cold to touch and made a shiver go down his back.

"What can we do?" Leia asked him, her voice uncharacteristically tremulous. She brushed Anakin's hair from his clammy forehead and looked to Luke, worry deep in her brown eyes.

Luke could not reply for a moment, his throat tight. "I'm going to enter a healing meditation to try to drive the poison from his organs. Hopefully he can just sweat it out," he told her. "I'm going to need your help."

Leia nodded, and looked up at Han. "Han, call Mother," she ordered him. "Use my comlink. It has better frequencies than yours."

"The medcenter?" Han asked her.

Leia shook her head, her brow furrowed with deep creases. "Assassin's toxins are often uncommon and untreatable. The medcenter would not be able to help. They likely wouldn't even be able to identify the poison she used."

Han accepted the comlink Leia handed him, and then stood to retreat a little ways and make the connection. Leia then looked up at Luke, the expression in her eyes communicating that she was ready for whatever was necessary.

"We need to enter his consciousness," Luke told her, "And keep him rooted to his body while we drive out the toxins."

Leia nodded in understanding.

"Leia," Luke warned. "He may be weak in body, but the consciousness of a person is a different matter. We do not know what he may do when he senses us. He may not even realize it's us."

Leia nodded once more.

Then, both closing their eyes at once, they submerged themselves in the Force.

It was not hard to slip part Anakin's lax mental shields. Usually, they were remarkably strong, so much so that on a regular occasion it was difficult for Luke or Leia to even sense emotions leaking from his mind. But now that he was unconscious and fading quickly, his mental shields seemed to have crumpled, and Luke found it easy to slip past them and into the deep recesses of his father's mind.

Quickly, when he had passed into that abyss, Luke was assaulted with bursts of vibrant color that swirled around him like winds over rippling grasses. The colors mixed together; they swirled in giant, gentle windstorms that changed abruptly in both color and speed, reminding Luke somewhat of children playfully chasing one another. Some times the colors were bright and happy, and other times they faded into deeper, more pensive colors, at which point the winds died down, becoming more ominous and threatening.

Then, immediately, as Luke continued to enter into his father's mind, he was assaulted with memories, pictures and colors of things he did not recognize.

A kind-looking woman dressed in Tatooine garb flashed in front of his eyes. Now be brave, she said as she faded away, and don't look back… don't look back…

Luke pushed the memory aside and plowed deeper into his father's mind, searching for the darkness of the poison that he knew resided there, but soon another voice echoed through the space, filled with a sticky sweetness Luke recalled so well… I am appointing you to be my personal representative on the Jedi Council. The old man turned around, a fatherly look on his face as he began to fade. He was Palpatine. As Luke struggled to flee from the memory of such a hated man, he was suddenly assaulted with the smell and sight of a flower-laden field. …Just being around her is… intoxicating.

Soon, the thoughts and memories began to come more quickly Padmé's voice spoke through the darkness. Ani, I'm pregnant… A sandy hovel. A sparkling lake. A fiery volcano. Then, suddenly, the winds of Bespin swirled around a familiar dark, armored figure as he reached out towards a young man a little ways off. Come with me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son…

Luke gave a final shove to the memories, feeling a slight tinge of pain at something that was so familiar to him as well. He then retreated a ways from his father's mind, feeling slightly guilty for witnessing some of Anakin's more personal thoughts. Making sure to hold back the waves of pictures and thoughts with a section of his own mind, he then turned his concentration and focus towards the crawling dark presence that was beginning to creep over Anakin's consciousness, the presence that was paralyzing and clouding all Anakin's mind with shadow.

He felt Leia's presence stir beside him, and, feeling her raw power join with his, he tightened his secure hold on his father's mind, while pushing with all his might to drive out the creeping darkness. With Leia's joint effort, he could soon feel the darkness begin to stutter and stumble, halting its crippling crawl into Anakin's mind.

Luke reached deeper into the Force, summoning more and more of the power of the Force's swirling masses to direct it towards the darkness. And slowly, but surely, as Luke and Leia released more of the light into Anakin's mind, little by little the darkness seemed to dissolve into nothingness.

Luke and Leia worked the healing power through the recesses of Anakin's mind, then moved it over Anakin's body, stirring his organs back into life little by little.

Soon, when the twins had finished and had driven out the last bits of darkness, they both withdrew from their trances and returned back to the world around them.

The bright world assaulted Luke when he opened his eyes, and the surreal world of his father's mind vanished around him. Immediately, before he had adapted, Han's hand grabbed his shoulder, and, startled, Luke looked up to see Han's worried expression.

"What happened?" Han demanded. "You and Leia were out for ten minutes!"

Luke just shook his head, finding he could not reply for a moment out of shock of his return to the bright and raw world. He watched his sister struggle to adapt herself beside him. "We drove the poison from his body," he managed to say, breaking his gaze with Han to look down on his father. "I don't think there's much else we can do."

Leia's hands were already above Anakin's lips, which were looking decidedly more normal than before, as the blue and gray faded away. Her hands hovered over his lips, trying to feel if oxygen was passing through. "He's breathing," she finally said. She looked up at Luke and Han with relief. "He's breathing."