Well, folks, we're getting closer to the long-awaited end of this story. I hope you enjoy.....

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By the time they had hauled him to the throne room, Mara was already there, she herself guarded by two stormtroopers. Luke was dragged, stumbling, to the Emperor's throne and tossed unceremoniously to the floor where he tried to regain his feet despite hands locked behind him. He couldn't. Instead, he fell forward again, gasping, head reeling.

The Emperor's bad mood was reflected upon the fact that he stood unspeaking and unsmiling over the kneeling Jedi, his cane striking the floor in front of Luke's eyes with angry precision. "You are trying my patience, boy," he snapped. "Do you care to explain your insolent and disobedient behavior?"

Squeezing his eyes shut, Luke only shook his head, still kneeling before the despot. There was no real purpose in answering.

The Emperor stopped in front of the Jedi and dropped Luke's lightsaber at his feet. The weapon struck the stone floor with a loud clang. "It has been a while since you've had the occasion to duel with your father, hasn't it?" he asked offhandedly.

Luke eyed his saber like poison, resisting the temptation to call the weapon to him, to give in the fear and the anger that was pounding in his heart. No, he could not afford to do that. It was what Palpatine wanted. He couldn't do it.

"Lord Vader?" the Emperor summoned, stepping away from Luke.

The dark lord hesitated slightly. His saber, held loosely at arm's-length, pointed toward the ground, came on with a snap-hiss.

The manacles fell from Luke's hands as the Emperor stepped back to retake his seat on his throne. "Now, keep this fairly entertaining or others will feel the consequences of your failure." He nodded toward Mara. "My Hand has demonstrated the ability to be expendable, if necessary. And she might have her uses, since I am aware how much you care for her." Palpatine smiled down at the Jedi. "I will have no qualms about it. Is that understood?"

Luke understood perfectly. He must fight to save her life, and the lives of Han and Leia. *Don't give into your anger. Don't give in.* He didn't know how long he would be required to duel, or how long it would be until his strength gave out, but he tried not to think of those things. Mechanically, his head pounding, vision blurring, he pushed to his feet, hand groping for his saber. The weapon rested like lead in his fingers, heavy and taunting. He only needed to give in for a few seconds, finish the Emperor off, and they'd all be free. But he knew it couldn't happen that way. He knew he didn't possibly have the strength to make it happen that way. Vader stood motionless, his stance hesitant and wary.

Dark fear weighing down his steps, Luke shuffled forward to his father, eyes flickering to Mara, and back again. Darth Vader stood dutifully waiting, nothing in his stance or sense indicating any weakness or compassion for his son.

Praying for strength, Luke stepped forward numbly and swung the first blow.

********

The stormtroopers pushed Han and Leia hurriedly ahead of them, down a long carpeted corridor.

"What's going on?" Solo demanded angrily, a gnawing, unnerving fear aching in the pit of his stomach. "Where are you taking us?"

They acted as though they hadn't heard, pushing him, hands manacled behind his back, roughly forward. "Move it," one growled as they passed through a darkened doorway.

"What's....going on?" The words died on his lips as Han stepped in to the massive throne room shrouded in darkness and saw the battle come into view. The image was one that would burn into his mind.

At the edge of the white stone steps, lightsabers in a blur of motion, Luke and Vader were dueling. In a terrific crash of noise and light, the two exchanged blow after blow. As Solo watched in rapt fascination, he was reminded of the only other time he had witnessed a lightsaber duel: on the first Death Star. Only then it had been between Vader and Obi-wan Kenobi. Now it involved his friend. The battle seemed to be progressing with a strange kind of energy and fury. But on closer inspection, Han saw from Luke's stance and manner that something was wrong. *Of course something's wrong,* he thought to himself. *The kid's hurt—in absolutely no shape to be battling Vader.*

"Let's go." The stormtrooper behind Han shoved him roughly. Solo glowered and moved forward, not taking his eyes off the fighting.

"Finally, our guests have arrived," a voice spoke, drawing the smuggler's attention to the center of the room. Han suddenly went cold. Palpatine stood in front of his throne, alternately eyeing Luke's duel and Han and Leia with a sickly sort of glee. His worn black robe covered him like a shroud, making him appear as though he were a walking corpse. Solo shivered, instinctively stepping toward his wife so that he stood between her and Palpatine.

"Does it not please you that your friends have arrived, Jedi?" The Emperor questioned Luke conversationally. Skywalker was concentrating too hard on the duel to answer. His expression was fixed in a determined grimace. Perspiration rolling down his face combined with a sickly pallor to make his features look waxen. Vader seemed to be putting as little effort into the duel as possible. Yet still, Luke pressed on, exchanging blow after blow with the dark lord.

Finally, throwing a pained glance in his and Leia's direction, Luke staggered to a halt and deactivated his lightsaber. Han could hear the Jedi's ragged breathing from where he stood and felt vaguely sick. Luke limped forward, eyeing the Emperor with dread in his eyes, his face betraying pain. Solo's memory of his own anger at Luke, of punching his friend out in the prison cell, smarted. The smuggler was beginning to see a clearer picture of what was going on. Luke was not the traitor Madine accused him of being, but a prisoner and a pawn to his abilities and to frightening circumstances.

Han clenched his fist at his side, remembering the angry burns and bruises on the Jedi's face and arms. They'd thought Luke had betrayed them. They had accused him and given up on him. All the while the younger man had tried only to keep them out of harm's way.

At his side, Leia stood in rigid silence, tense as if ready to spring. Her lips mouthed her brother's name, but no sound came out. Her wide brown eyes held the same deep-rooted horror that Han recognized from her nightmares. Solo wondered if she could sense her brother's emotions through the Force.

Luke back-stepped warily, keeping clear of Vader's lightsaber. Vader, for his part, paced, making no move to continue the fight.

"Did I tell you to stop fighting yet?" The voice of the Emperor was dangerously soft. Solo eyed the black-cowled terror with loathing and the faint stirrings of fear at the unspoken menace in that voice. Han suddenly wished very much to have his blaster comfortably in his hand. Even though he knew it would not do him any good, it would make him feel just a little bit better. Luke only shook his head, casting a weary glance at his friends.

"Do you mean to disobey me, Skywalker?"

Faded blue eyes staring blankly, Luke reactivated his lightsaber and stepped half-heartedly towards Vader. The dark lord watched his son's desperation soullessly, easily blocking the weakening blows. Luke's actions were slower and more deliberate than before. He staggered forward with more of a pronounced limp, expression tight with suppressed pain.

Luke made a feint towards Vader's head with his humming green blade. Vader ducked away and retaliated by sweeping his blade at Luke's feet. The Jedi barely managed to deflect the blow and stagger out of the way, but it was the final straw. Stumbling to his knees and gasping for air, Luke looked very white. His arms, as he tried to push up from the floor, shook with exertion.

"Luke!" Leia cried into the room's sudden silence, expression contorted in dread. Silently, Han willed her to be quiet and keep from calling attention to herself.

"I can't," Luke whispered, still fighting dizzily to regain his feet. "I can't..." Vader, standing over him, deactivated his lightsaber, not pressing his advantage.

Han watched helplessly, his stomach churning in a curious sort of dread, as Palpatine stepped toward the gasping young man. "You disobey me," he said quietly.

The Jedi looked up at the Emperor, one hand still clutching at his right side, while the other held his lightsaber in a white-knuckled fist pressing against the floor. "I can't," he whispered again, shaking his head.

"Fool," Palpatine snapped. "If you would use the dark side as I instructed, you would not have such frail weaknesses. But apparently you still insist on learning things the hard way."

With a sudden speed that bellied his appearance, Palpatine lashed out. Blue-white lightning leapt from his fingertips with a horrendous *crack,* shooting across the room. Han watched, in shocked horror; too stunned to react, as Leia cried out and crumpled under the sudden barrage, blue lightning crawling like a spider's web over her body.

"Leia!" Han cried, rushing to her, not caring if they decided to shoot him for doing so.

Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain and she moaned something he couldn't understand. Fear squeezing his heart, Solo probed her injuries, cringing at the angry red burns that traversed her arms and neck. He winced at the stink of ozone. "Leia, come on," he murmured, patting her cheeks as well as he could with shackled hands. "Come on, sweetheart." With another moan, she opened her eyes.

"Do you want your friends to suffer like this?" The Emperor asked into the waiting silence. Solo bit his lip and awkwardly helped his wife to a sitting position.

"You okay?" he asked her in concern. "Huh?"

She only nodded, eyes unfocused in pain. Solo clenched his fist, swallowing back his temper, knowing an outburst of rage on his part would do little to help them right now.

"Leave them out of this!" Luke snapped angrily. With a painful effort, he pushed drunkenly to his feet, catching his hand against the floor for balance. His lightsaber was held poised in his hand, not yet ignited. "They have done nothing to you." He choked back a cough, taking a step towards Palpatine. "Just leave them alone."

Solo eyed his friend nervously, muscles tied in tight little knots as he tended to Leia. What was Luke doing? Instead of resuming his duel with Vader, the young man was taking another step toward the Emperor.

Luke was breathing hard. His eyes were wide and swimming with anger and pain. His lightsaber was being held in an iron grip at his side. "Your fight has only ever been with me," he said softly, advancing another step. "Leave them alone."

Palpatine continued to stare at the Jedi, cold and unmoving.

Han bit down hard on his bottom lip as he helped Leia sit up, his eyes never straying from his friend. *Don't go crazy on me now, kid...*

"What is he doing?" Leia whispered, gripping Solo's arms shakily. The smuggler could only shake his head, feeling a horrible sensation of dread churning in his stomach.

"The duel," Palpatine reminded the Jedi calmly, nodding fractionally toward Vader who was still standing where he had been two minutes ago. "Or do you wish for one of your friends to die?"

Luke's forward momentum was halted by that reminder. Suddenly visibly self- reproachful, he staggered back a step, half-turning to where his father was standing. Then he glanced back at the Emperor again, eyes drunk with pain and anger.

Apparently that brief moment of hesitation was all that was needed to ignite Palpatine's temper again. The wizened old man suddenly lashed out with another arcing flash of blue-white lightening. Han's muscles jerked in reaction, fully expecting to feel the shock of the blast course through him. A fraction of a second later, hearing a startled cry of pain, he realized that the attack was directed at the red-haired woman standing half in the shadows.

As Mara Jade crumpled forward, falling to her knees, Luke, eyes terror- stricken, lunged forward with the last of his depleted strength to deflect the bolts. "No!" he cried furiously, catching the lightning with his weapon. "You will not hurt them!"

Angrily, Palpatine shifted his attack towards Luke, sparking bolts of electricity. But the Jedi reflected most of the bolts with his lightsaber and charged forward in a sudden headlong rush of adrenaline. His features were strained, angry, his eyes ablaze with fury as he attacked.

*******

Through her haze of pain, Mara saw Luke launch himself toward Palpatine, his energy renewed with the strength of his anger and the desperate hatred in his eyes.

Luke was finally giving in to the Dark Side. She wanted to shout to him to stop, not to do it, but her voice and body seemed paralyzed the Emperor's lightning attack. She could only watch helplessly as he gave in. She was in no shape to do anything about it.

Blue-white lightning flashed. Mara cringed involuntarily, wincing in reaction. But Palpatine's attack was directed at his latest threat—Luke Skywalker had finally snapped. Luke deflected the burst more easily than he had any of his father's lightsaber blows, strengthened now by his blinding fury, and moved forward toward the Emperor.

Mara rolled awkwardly to her side, pushing up on her elbows, wishing she had the strength to join the fray—to talk some sense into Skywalker, to help him...something.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement, realized a millisecond later that it was the glint of Vader's helmet in the shadows. In a sudden blur of ebony cape and glowing, crimson lightsaber, the dark lord was moving forward toward his son and the Emperor, the blade of his saber catching the trailing tendrils of another burst of lightning directed toward Luke.

He was defending the Jedi and attacking his master.

A flash of revelation rolled dread in Mara's stomach. She crawled to a sitting position, ignoring the pain, remembering Vader's offer to Luke on Cloud City. The Sith lord had promised his son that together they could destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy. Now Luke had finally accepted that offer. The promise was about to come true. The Jedi was selling his soul for his only last-ditch solution to save his friends. *Luke...* she thought helplessly. *Don't do it...* But if he heard her, he gave no sign.

Luke and Vader closed in on the Emperor together, blue and green lightsabers illuminated by a massive web of crackling blue lightning.

And for the first time in her life, Mara saw very real fear shining in Palpatine's eyes.

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