Chapter 22: Farewell

Padmé and Luke were both overwhelmed with sorrow.

It had happened so quickly; they could not accept that Anakin Skywalker was dead.

His lips quivering, Luke turned to Padmé and sighed deeply, trying to contain his bottomless sorrow and loss. He was trying not to cry, but losing the battle. He had sensed the goodness in his father. He had been right.

"Father saved my life..."

Tears welled up in Luke's eyes and his jaw trembled. He could not believe that he was gone.

First Ben, then Master Yoda, and now my Father.

His Father was gone, but thank the Force he still had his Mother.

They were both silent for a moment, each lost in their own bitter grief. Neither of them could believe that Anakin was dead. The sound of the warning claxons penetrated his heartache and his father's warning came back to Luke in a rush. They had to leave the Death Star before it was too late. Time was nearly up for them, too.

"Mother, we have to leave, we don't have much time." Luke was insistent and spoke in a breathless rush.

Padmé shook her head, held Anakin's body close to her and said, "No! I cannot leave him."

Was she mad? Had she lost her mind?

Luke peered at her warily, as if she'd grown another head in front of him.

"But Mother," he tried to reason with her. "WE—Leia and I- need you!"

With a wistful smile, Padmé shook her head and murmured, "You've both done very well without me…" Then, turning to look at the scarred, empty shell of Anakin Skywalker, she stated, "He needs me more. He always has…"

Luke tried to remain calm and coax his mother away from the body. She was overcome with sorrow, he could understand that, and she would eventually come to her senses. He slowly approached her and knelt down to her level to begin extracting her from his father. He reached a hand out to her. She drew slightly back from him.

"I'm not leaving," she stated evenly.

Like Anakin, Luke's thoughts were easy for her to read on his face. Although he was trying to hide it, he looked at her as if she had completely lost her mind and he was going to do his best to try to make her come to her senses. She stopped him before he even got a word out.

"Luke, I am neither as noble nor as foolish as you think I am," she said calmly looking directly into his eyes, with a slight smile.

Luke's face twisted in confusion. She truly was mad.

Padmé could read that look and felt a bit exasperated. She took a deep breath and blurted out the truth:

"Luke… I'm dying..."

She had to be candid with him. "I will be lucky to last a week."

"What! Why?" Luke's face reflected his dismay. He did not want to believe her. It could not possibly end this way!

"It's too late for me, my son…" Smiling a gentle smile, she spoke as if she were addressing a small, frightened child, which is what Luke resembled at the precise moment.

"Nothing can help me now; it's much too late for a remission of my illness." He looked at her in growing horror. She continued in a soft voice to calm him. Perhaps she really had been too blunt about it.

"Luke, let your feelings guide you. You know that what I am telling you is true."

Striving for calm, Luke briefly closed his eyes and focused his sensitivity on his mother. Her Force signature burned oddly and intensely bright, like a flame does before burning itself out. After a moment, he could sense the brightness dimming. She was right; her life force was leaving her- and quickly.

She really didn't have a lot of time, he thought as his heart clenched in his chest.

No!

But Luke did not want to believe this. He could not accept this.

It was unfair.

Something could be done for her. He knew it.

"Mother, we can get you the best specialists- the best treatments!" His voice was frantic. He couldn't bear another loss.

"Luke, I don't want to live my last days sedated while my body decays around me. I don't want you or Leia to remember me like that. Remember me as I am now, with your Father. I want to die with dignity. Please, that is I all I ask of you."

Luke was truly in despair at this point. Why did these things have to happen to him?

"It is far too late for me, but you and Leia must go on. You need to both rebuild the Republic…and the Jedi Order. Your Father would want you to do that. You must live on after us. You are our legacy. My life is over, but I am content because I know that you and Leia will carry on on after us and continue to do great things."

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Luke looked sadly at his father; she was still holding on to him tightly.

"No… but he knows now…" She gave a slight wry grin.

Luke's eyes stung as he stood up.

He knew then that he would lose her, too. It was the way of life. He had to accept it. She looked up at him with large, liquid eyes.

"I am so proud of you, Luke. Please…please tell Leia I am so proud of you both and I love you both dearly. I am so very sorry to leave you…"

Luke opened his mouth to try to reason with her one last time, but his argument was cut off.

"You must go on. You have to leave before it's too late. Don't make your father's sacrifice be in vain."

He hesitated.

"Please…Do not mourn us, Luke. Instead, rejoice…We are now free."

Luke bowed his head, turned and reluctantly walked a few paces away.

Padmé took a deep breath as the tears rushed to her eyes, "Always remember, Luke….you are a Jedi…"

"…As was my Father, before me…" He felt profoundly humbled at his proclamation. Luke turned back to her and his eyes sparkled brightly.

While still holding on to her husband's body, Padmé reached an arm out one last time to her son. He flew to her side, throwing his arms around her in a tight embrace. She put all the love she felt for him into that last embrace. She held him close to her affectionately, kissed his forehead, and then whispered urgently:

"You must go!"

Luke reluctantly tore himself away. As he retreated a few paces, Padmé called out to him.

"Luke!"

He paused and turned back.

With a slight smile on her face and tears in her eyes, Padmé called out one last benediction:

"May the Force be with you."

He replied with a sad smile. "May the Force be with you, Mother."

With that, Luke made his reluctant escape.

x x x x

Padmé, oblivious to the evacuation around her of hundreds of former Empire officers and Stormtroopers to the emergency pods, cradled Anakin's body to her, finally getting to hold him after all these years.

"I knew there was still good in you, my love! I knew it!" she whispered fiercely, rocking back and forth. Tears now streamed down her face without restraint, but she was truly happy because Anakin was finally free. Her grip on her husband's body was growing weaker as her life force began its departure.

She felt drowsy as she closed her eyes for the final time.

The Death Star exploded in a thermodynamic wave that incinerated the last symbol of the tyrannical Empire. The darkness that shrouded the galaxy was gone. Freedom and justice would reign again.

Nothing was left but a shimmer of falling stars.