Luke, the Force is strong in your family. There is another… Yoda's voice echoed in my mind. I looked down at my sister—my twin—and I inhaled deeply. Ever since I had learnt of our relationship, I had wanted her to know the truth. But I didn't know how I was supposed to do that. Looking her over, in my heart I knew she deserved the truth—all of it. She's strong. She always has been strong.
"I have to face Vader," I told her quietly, placing some of my weight on the vine railings hooked to the secluded walkway we were on. I was at a loss for words, and that was all I could manage to say. And I desperately wanted her to understand, but she couldn't without the full truth. There was no easy way about that.
She shook her head at me. "I don't understand Luke. Why must you face him?" She held her tears back, but I could see them congregating at the corners of her eyes. I reached out with the back of my hand to dry her eyes.
"He's—" I started, and then, my voice softened as I continued, for some reason thinking that it could soften the blow of my ancestry, "my father." I looked back into her eyes. Telling her the truth about who he was to me, to us, was the hardest thing I ever had to do. And what was coming was even harder.
"Your father?" she asked, disbelievingly.
I nodded and bit my lip. "There's more, Leia, but it won't be easy for you to hear, but you must. If I don't make it back, you're the only hope for the Alliance."
"Luke!" Leia quilled. "Don't talk that way! You have a power that I can never understand, that I could never have!"
"You're wrong," I put it blandly. "You have that power too. In time, you will learn to use it like I have." I stopped and looked down at our entwined fingers. There is another… "The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it, and—" I paused as I looked back to her face, not really knowing how she was going to take the news. But I had to tell her. "—My sister has it." Her eyes clouded as she thought of my words. I held my breath, waiting for her to look at me. When she did, I said, "Yes, Leia. It's you."
"I know," she breathed quietly. "Somehow, I've always known."
"Then you know why I must face him," I pleaded, wanting her to understand the longing I had to bring Father back to the good side.
She pulled away. "No! Run away. Run far away. If he can feel your presence then leave this place. I wish I could go with you."
I could see her tears trickling down her face and I pulled her into my arms to comfort both of us. "No you don't," I whispered reassuringly. "You've always been strong. I must face him."
"Why must you confront him?" she asked brokenly.
I pulled away and used my real hand to wipe away her tears. "Because there is good in him. I have felt it."
"Good?" she retorted. Noticing my own tears, she suddenly knew that this wasn't easy for me either. We embraced each other one last time before I made my retreat. Before I left her there, I leaned over and kissed her cheek.
Walking away from her in that moment, and telling her the truth was the hardest decision that I had ever made. I hated it. What I had told her had to have been one of the most devastating things that I probably had to tell her and I couldn't be there to comfort her, but I couldn't have stayed any longer, else I would have endangered them all.
I didn't know where I would go first after leaving the village. I had to be a long way from the group—all of them—before allowing myself to be captured. And I had to calm down my emotional state if I was going to do what I set out to do—that of saving Father.
I didn't know of which direction I wandered in, or for how long. All I remember doing was calming myself down and sending reassuring thoughts to Leia, who gratefully accepted them. I wished there had been something more I could have done for her. I wished that I was with her as she processed the information.
I guess it was near midnight when I decided to let someone catch me and take me to Father. By then, I had thought through my situation and decision. My father's life was worth my sacrifice. And the team's mission on Endor needed to be completed, and without me to endanger them, it would work.
I sensed them come to arrest me and I pulled my lightsaber from my belt. Flicking it on, it appeared just in time to deflect four laser bolts shot at me. I deflected all of them into the ground and called, "I do not want to harm you. I will come peacefully."
The leader came and stood before me. I handed him my lightsaber without question and rested my wrists together, held out so he could place binders on them. He nodded to his men, who came to grasp my upper arms as he placed the binders on my wrist. "Are there more of you?" the commander demanded.
"No," I lied. "There are no others."
He told the others to make certain that I would not escape, he lead the group to the bunker, where Father was waiting for us. As we entered, Father's harsh breathing thundered in my ears.
"This is a rebel that surrendered to us," the commander said. "He was armed only with this." He handed over my lightsaber to Father.
"Very good, commander."
"Though he denies it, I believe that there may be more of them out there."
"Continue your search and bring them to me," Father seethed. The commander nodded and left with his men. I stood in the empty corridor, watching the only other occupant closely. He broke the silence that had surrounded us. "The Emperor has been expecting you."
I nodded slowly. "I know, Father."
"So you have accepted the truth." He turned to me and looked me over.
I didn't bother to look back at him. "I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father." If I lost it…I just wouldn't. There is another…
Tuning on me viciously, he hissed, "That name no longer has any meaning for me."
This time, I did face him. "It is the name of your true self that you've only forgotten," I pleaded. "I've sensed the conflict within you, let go of your hate."
"Obi-Wan once thought as you do."
Does that surprise you, Father? He trained me. I moved to stand by one of the rails in the corridor as Father looked my lightsaber over. I could sense him do it. The familiar snap-hiss of the blade filled the room. "I see you have constructed a new lightsaber for yourself. Very impressive." The blade shut off and I heard him sigh.
"There is good still left in you, Father."
His tone was that of defeat. And I knew that I couldn't persuade him otherwise. "It is too late for me, son."
I looked at him with sorrow filled eyes, feeling my hopes deflate with that one comment. I had told Leia that I could turn Father back to the Lightside. But I was wrong. Yoda was right. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
What was I supposed to do then? Give it all up? I couldn't do that—that was out of the options. And I remembered that I, too, had touched the dark path. When I found out the truth of my father. And I had come back. Was there hope still? I then remembered Leia—my sister. I had to return, if only for her. But the man before me… what was he?
He said it himself… It is too late for me. It is never too late. But there seemed to be no hope for the man who was my father. Obi-Wan had told me that Vader had betrayed and murdered my father. And I'm beginning to see that.
I sighed and gazed into his black mask. "Then my father is truly dead."
