"If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed!"
Lightning burst out of his fingertips, right at me. I've never known such a corruption in the Force. I doubled over onto my knees, wincing in agony.
"Young fool." Palpatine mused. "Only now, at the end, do you understand."
Vader was crawling, like a wounded beast, to the Emperor's side. I didn't think it possible, but the lighting increased in intensity. I rolled on the ground, writhing and twisting. It felt like my entire soul was just being dragged out of me. "You will pay the price for your lack of vision!" He spat at me.
I twisted. "Father, please! Help me!" I screamed. "Help!"
I screamed louder and louder, until finally, the volts stopped coming. But the hell wasn't over. "Now, young Skywalker. You will die." And Palpatine smiled.
I was hit again and again by the Force-lightning. I was on the verge of unconsciousness, waiting to join Yoda and Ben in the Force…
When Lord Vader (my father!) leapt up from where he'd been sitting quietly the past few minutes, and grabbed the Emperor. Palpatine continued to shoot the malignant lightning, and he struggled, but Father held him tight. He threw Palpatine over the rail into the power core, and collapsed. He tried to follow the Emperor to the end, but I slowly got up, and pulled him back to safety. We lay entwined together on the dying Death Star, for now violent rocks shook the station.
It was too late for him, I saw that immediately. The lightning had shocked his artificial system, and his breathing was forced. But I still had to get him out of there.
Outside of the throne room, it was chaos. Officers and Troopers were running, trying to escape, barking out last minute commands, standing in stubborn defiance. I tried to carry Vader, but I was too weak, too weak from the attack by the Emperor, and we both collapsed. I tried to drag him, but I had to stop. I knelt beside him. "Luke…help me take…this mask off." He murmured weakly.
I shook my head. "But
you'll die."
"Nothing…can stop that now. Just for once…let
me…look on you with my own eyes."
I deftly nodded. Slowly,
painfully, I lifted the mask off of him, revealing the mystery behind
the mask for so long.
It was the sad face of an old man. Pasty white skin, because he hadn't seen the sun for twenty years, with scars twisting around his skull. It was the first, and last, time I would ever see my fathers face.
He smiled. Now his
voice was even fainter. "Now, go my son. Leave me."
I shook my
head. "No, you're coming with me! I'll not leave you here I've
got to save you!"
"You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister…you were right."
A cold feeling slipped
through me. "Father. I won't leave you."
His eyes closed.
"Luke." He sighed, as the life left him.
Anakin Skywalker was dead. Lord Vader had been dead.
I stared at him in shock. He was really gone. I bowed my head sadly. But there was no time to waste. I had to get out.
I reached out to the Force, and Anakins' body lifted up. It drifted into the docking bay, where there was an imperial shuttle. I ran in, and took off. I took a deep breath in nervous anticipation as the shuttle flew out of the Death Star, and the Death Star blew behind me.
