They finally reached the bay, and Mara decided that they should take a shuttle. Except for one technician, the bay was strangely deserted. Luke commanded the technician to give them the passcode, injecting the power of Force-persuasion into his voice. Using the Force once more, he made the man forget that they were there.
Mara started pushing the proper buttons and stopped when she heard a cold hard voice.
"Now my child, you wouldn't be trying to escape, would you?" She slowly turned and saw the Emperor and Vader standing there tauntingly.
"Shavit," she whispered, throwing an exasperated glance at Luke, who sent a sour look back.
"Surely you did not think you could escape. Your destiny lies along the Dark path. You must open your eyes and see it." Vader started walking towards Luke.
Luke tried to calm himself and desperately remember that, even though Vader killed his students and Tontay, there was no reason he should stoop to his father's level. Mara put her arm on his, but then he exploded, unable to take it anymore.
He dropped the empty cage, the pittin jumping gracefully onto the ground, and he brought out his saber, the blade hissing to life. He struck at Vader, who ignited his blood-red saber and blocked his blow.
For a moment, their sabers stood locked, then Luke struck harshly again, driving Vader back. Block, parry, feint, their sabers were a red and green blur. Luke's hate was bubbling, and the Emperor was shouting encouraging words at him, while Mara was yelling at him to stop, but it was to no heed.
Luke was determined to destroy this evil. Vader must be stopped before he could kill anyone else, was the thought coursing through his brain. Finally, he heard one of Mara's shouts.
"Luke, if you kill him, then you are no better than he is!"
The look on his face changed, but he continued dueling, and after a few more strikes, he abruptly stopped and shut off his lightsaber.
Vader was swinging a blow that was high enough to take his head off—
Mara gasped—
Palpatine chuckled with glee—
Artoo whistled—
The pittin mewled—
Luke looked on, accepting his oncoming death—
—and, inches from his son's head, Vader turned his saber off.
He loved his son.
He couldn't kill him. His son was willing to give his life for a good cause. Much as he himself would've done when he was much younger, before he had fought with Kenobi and fell into the lava pit...
But Kenobi was dead.
And he, Vader, was still alive, and he had a son who desperately needed his help. The only option now was for him to remove the threat against his son's life: Palpatine.
Luke and Mara's eyebrows were furrowed, and Vader turned and strode towards Palpatine. The Emperor looked on in sudden horror—this was not supposed to happen—and lightning bolts soon sprang from his fingertips.
Vader staggered under the attack, and Luke shouted, "No!" and jumped in front of the bolts. He fell to the ground under the harsh assault, and the Emperor quickly realized that he could not stop Vader from killing him. So instead, he kept the bolts directly focused on Skywalker deadly, determined to destroy the one thing his traitorous right hand held dear.
Mara shouted out something uncomprehensible, and Vader continued, driving the lasersword through Palpatine's chest.
With a pained scream, the Emperor's body exploded into a great blue blast, throwing Vader back. Luke, however, was hit with the full impact of it.
All that was now left of Palpatine was his robe, and the horrible memories and nightmares he had caused many.
Vader hastily got to his feet, and his desperate gaze rested on his son. He was now fully transformed back into Anakin Skywalker, the good man he had once been, and, with a start, he took a second glance at Luke, horrified...No, it couldn't be...
Mara rushed over to Luke's side and put her heart to his chest. The pittin followed her, mrewling mournfully. Artoo came over and gave a sorrowful whistle.
His heartbeat had stopped.
She draped her body over him, trying to hold back her tears, then she was unable to contain herself, and she started sobbing uncontrollably. "He can't be dead! He can't," she managed through her tears.
Vader was too stunned to cry.
After all they'd survived, his son couldn't be dead now...
A strange buzzing noise came from the deceased Emperor's robe, and it began to glow with an eerie red light. From inside of his robe, a red crystal floated upwards into the air: the Kaiburr crystal. A few months after Luke had destroyed the Death Star, he and Leia had gone on a diplomatic mission and crashed onto a strange planet where the Empire had a mining facility stationed. There they met a strange woman with an odd crystal shard, which she claimed was from a stone she called the Kaiburr crystal. She had been trying to find it because it amplified the Force, and Vader was looking for it for the same reason. Luke, Leia, and the old woman finally found it, in its temple, and they had had an unfortunate run-in with Vader.
The red crystal was still glowing with a strange kind of light, and it hovered over Luke's chest. Mara moved back along with the pittin and Artoo, unsure of what was happening. The crystal floated down, touching Luke's chest. The red glow seemed to penetrate his body, and little tendrils spread throughout until he was red and glowing like the crystal. He floated into the air, limbs dangling, then he was gently set back down. Oddly enough, he started breathing again.
Both Vader and Mara looked on in awe and joy, and then the crystal started towards Vader. He watched it with disbelief. It came and touched his mask's forehead, the glow also spreading throughout his body though not as brightly as it had with Luke's. Then the crystal gently settled to the ground, the bright glow dimming.
They continued looking on in anticipation, and they were not surprised when it abruptly exploded, though they had to shield their eyes. They were both disappointed about the destruction of this healing crystal, but Vader had another matter to worry about.
He was having a hard time breathing, so, for lack of any better ideas, he took off his helmet. He took in a deep breath, shocked. He could breathe normally!
He touched his face tentatively and then the top of his head. He had hair, and his face was like the man's that he would have been had he not fallen into the lava pit! He took off his left glove, finding that the skin was no longer white from lack of sunlight for many years but instead a healthy peach. Next, he took off his right glove, and sadly found that his right hand was still mechanical. But that was the only part of him that was still machine, an example of the way he had lived. It served as a reminder of the evil he and his son had overcome, the reason why his son's right hand wasn't similarly cured. The Force seemed to want to etch this day in their memories for all time, and Vader almost could have sworn that he heard the laughter of his old Jedi Master, Yoda, echo in his ears.
Mara walked over to where the Emperor's robe was, then she rolled it up and shoved it under a nearby ship. She walked back to Luke and...Anakin Skywalker. That red stone had worked unbelievable miracles. She wasn't sure what to say to Luke's father, so Anakin said it for her: "I'm glad it's over."
She cracked a smile. "Yeah."
They both turned to a moaning noise. Luke's eyelids fluttered, and he shot up with widened eyes. The pittin and Artoo made joyful noises, and Luke looked down at himself, then at Mara. Then he glanced at his father, looked back at himself, then sharply looked back at Vader. "I thought I was as good as dead...And, Father,...you appear to be...normal."
"The crystal saved your life once again, and it healed me...Except for our right hands. They remain as symbols of our journey." Anakin smiled.
It was a weird feeling to look at a kindly faced man in a suit that had struck terror into the hearts of millions.
Luke slowly got to his feet.
"Can we go home?" Mara asked.
Luke and Anakin laughed.
"Yes, let's," Luke grinned.
Anakin hesitated, "What will they think of me?"
"Let's get you a change of clothes and tell people you were one of the Emperor's prisoners. Don't worry, we'll only tell trustworthy people of your real identity, at least until we can get you completely cleared." Luke looked at his father. "I'm sure they'll understand."
Mara went over to Luke and hugged him. "I thought you were dead." Her eyes were still a bit red.
"I was, but I'm not now." Luke embraced her back tightly. The pittin crawled up his pant leg, and he winced a bit at her claws, then she scuttled up to his shoulder. He pulled back from the hug, and he grabbed Mara's hand and started leading her out of the hangar bay, side by side with her and his father, Artoo trailing along behind. But then on impulse he stopped, leaning down to pick up a red shard, the last piece of the Kaiburr crystal.
