Luke had just left Han, Lando and Chewie, and was running like a madman towards his father. All of a sudden, he froze on the spot. Anakin's paralysing fear hit him like a shockwave.
'Fire! Fire! FIRE! NO! Burning, burning, BURNING! NONONONONO!' Anakin's distraught mind repeated time and again, trapped in a spiral of horrifying memories.
'FATHER!' Luke called out mentally. 'I am here! I'm on the other side of the fire! You must jump! Don't be afraid! I *am* here with you! You have to jump. NOW!'
'Luke! Luke, help me!' Anakin implored, in a paroxysm of terror. 'I cannot move! I will burn! I will burn to death again! NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!'
Luke didn't hesitate.
'I'm coming, Father! I'm coming!' he shouted, sending a soothing wave of love and reassurance, and jumping over the wall of fire. He landed on the other side, right in front of his petrified father.
Anakin was catatonic. His eyes were open wide and fixed on the flames, lost in a dark corner of his mind, reliving the most excruciatingly traumatic experience of his life.
Their time was running short. He turned off his lightsaber and attached it to his belt. Then, he did the same with his father's after snatching it out of his stiff hand. Reaching up, he took Anakin's head in his hands and forced him to meet his eyes.
'Look at me!' he commanded, in a tone of voice he had never used with his father before. 'Look into my eyes NOW!'
Somehow, his mind-voice reached Anakin wherever he had retreated into. His bulging eyes immediately turned to his child's blue orbs.
'Don't stop looking at me!' Luke instructed sternly. 'It's just you and me here. No one but you and me. Nothing will harm you. Nothing! I will not allow it.'
Almost hyperventilating, Anakin gave a sharp nod.
'Do you trust me?' Luke asked.
'With everything I am,' was the automatic, heartfelt reply, from the depths of Anakin's soul.
Luke crushed the immediate emotional response that his father's words stirred in him. There was no time.
'Then hold my hand and close your eyes. You will do as I say. You will NOT open them again until I tell you to. You understand?' He brought one hand down and clasped Anakin's.
'Yes,' was the shaky, weak reply.
'All right. Close them. Now,' his mental voice was like a comforting, tender caress.
Anakin obeyed.
'Good,' Luke approved, his chest constricting with more love than he thought he was capable of feeling. 'Hold my hand tight, and jump with me when I tell you. Jump high. As high as you can.'
Anakin nodded again, like a frightened but infinitely trusting child.
Unable to help himself, Luke kissed his father's forehead. Then, he moved away and stood next to Anakin, interlacing his fingers with him.
'When we jump together, remember to draw out and ignite your lightsaber, for we don't know how many droids will be waiting for us on the other side,' he reminded his father.
Anakin nodded for the third time, with more conviction.
'Okay, here we go. At the count of three.' The young man squinted at the brightness of the fire. 'Ready?'
'Yes,' Anakin replied.
'All right. One...' Luke squeezed the big hand, in fierce support. 'You can do it. Trust me! Two...' his muscles tensed, and he felt Anakin tensing beside him as well in preparation. "THREE!" he cried out, both mentally and out loud.
A heartbeat later, they landed on the other side of the wall of fire.
Blindly obeying his son's command, Anakin's eyes opened and his lightsaber flew to his hand, igniting halfway.
Thirty droids awaited them, and instantly adopting their back to back position, they began deflecting the fire and decimating them, slowly but relentlessly.
Meanwhile, from her vantage point behind the Presidential Shuttle, Leia had seen the escaped prisoners trying to make it inconspicuously to one of the ships in the hangar. A small, irrelevant cargo ship, perfect to go unnoticed anywhere. She counted six of them, as they practically tiptoed into the ship.
A few seconds later, two more shapes walked up the open ramp.
The Princess approached the fugitives' ship cautiously, a playful, hard smile on her face. It would be a pleasure to catch this bunch of rats like fishes in a net.
"Han, come in," she whispered into the comlink.
"Do you see that scum?" Han asked his two friends.
"Nope," Lando replied.
Chewie shook his head.
"Dammit!" the Corellian cursed. He felt guilty for not helping Luke and his father, but they couldn't let that disgusting group of traitors get away.
Leia had just told him that eight of them had boarded a small cargo vessel, and they seemed to be waiting for the other three. He doubted they were waiting out of loyalty, but more probably out of fear, especially of Ylek. That Twi'lek bastard had turned out to be a real psychopath. The mere thought that he had been able to deceive them all for so many months, and the fact that he had formed part of the government of the Republic made his skin crawl.
This was something personal for all of them. They wouldn't escape.
"Number nine, Jayson, just entered," Leia's voice announced through the comlink.
"That leaves only Ylek. Keyholm's out cold and handcuffed to the railings," Han informed his fiancée.
"That creep's too cunning to just get away without trying something first. You'd better find him," Leia recommended to her friends.
"Right," Han agreed wholeheartedly.
Lando and Chewie nodded at the Corellian, in total agreement.
"Let's see. If I was a psycho and I wanted to leave mayhem behind me when I escaped, what would I do?" Lando muttered to himself.
"Han, come in. Something's wrong," Leia's voice filtered through the comlink all of a sudden.
"What do you mean?" Han asked.
"I think the Gang of Nine is getting ready to take off. They ignited the retrothrusters."
"And what did you do about it?" Han knew his beloved only too well.
"Oh, not me. Artoo." Leia explained. "He locked them inside, and reprogrammed the ship to take off after introducing a password. The retrothrusters just switched themselves off."
Han's infectious chuckle made Leia smile. Those nine bastards were trapped inside their escaping vehicle. Beautiful.
But then, it occurred to Han that there was something even better than that.
"Tell Artoo..." he began.
"...to secure all the ships in the hangar," Leia finished for him. "He's already working on it."
"Great minds think alike," Han's delighted grin was obvious through the comlink.
Lando tapped the Corellian on the shoulder.
"I got him," he said.
"Where?!" Han asked.
Lando shrugged somewhat apologetically.
"Well, I didn't spot him, exactly," he explained. "I figured that hating us as deeply as Ylek does, he'd try to lock us in the hangar, and blow it up behind him somehow when he escaped."
"Sounds nasty enough to be exactly what Ylek would do," Han agreed with his friend. "Let's look for a terminal."
The trio went from one terminal to the next, with no luck.
"This is the last one," Han said, after checking the last terminal. "Either you're wrong, or..."
"No, wait! There is another," Lando suddenly remembered. "He could access the main computer from the goods lift's panel, couldn't he?"
"You're right!" Han exclaimed. "Let's go!"
"All set, Artoo?" Leia asked the little droid.
Artoo beeped affirmatively, unplugging his little arm from the computer terminal.
"All right. Let's go find Han and the others," the Princess instructed.
On their way, she blasted into oblivion a few droids that Luke and Anakin had missed. For a second, she was entranced again by the sight of her brother and her father, fighting more droids than seemed possible. She guessed they were using the Force to attract their attention, because none of the droids had seemed interested in anything but the two Jedi since the moment they arrived. Their stamina and power of concentration would never cease to amaze her.
Snapping herself out of her admiring contemplation, Leia continued looking for her fiancé and her friends.
"I'll be..." Han bared his teeth in seething anger, when he took a look from behind a speeder, and saw Ylek and a free and conscious Keyholm bent over the lift's terminal, obviously manipulating something. He exchanged a fast look with Lando and Chewie, who had seen them too. They nodded to him in immediate understanding.
They walked up behind the two traitors, spreading out a little.
"Ahem," Han cleared his throat out loud.
Ylek and Keyholm stiffened, and Ylek turned about slowly, facing them with a nasty expression on his features.
"Hello again, guys," he greeted them.
"I suggest you stop what you're doing, whatever it is," Han smiled, shaking his head. "We've secured all ships and locked the hangar doors. If you intend to blow it up after escaping in one of these ships, then forget about it. We'll all die here, and you don't seem the suicidal type to me."
"You'd be surprised," Ylek shot back, the corner of his mouth twisting in an ugly, ironic sneer.
"Don't tell me. You have a plan B," Leia butted in, joining her friends and pointing at Ylek and Keyholm with her blaster. She smiled dangerously. "Keyholm, get away from that panel. Now," she threatened.
"As a matter of fact, we do," Keyholm replied, obeying the Princess' order and nodding at Ylek.
"See that cargo ship over there?" Ylek asked, pointing at the biggest ship in the hangar.
"That ship is secured too, Ylek." Lando didn't take the bait.
"Not anymore," Ylek smiled, pointing discreetly one of the tiny devices he had in his hand at the ship.
A second later, the main hatch opened, and a big ramp descenced to the floor.
"I fail to see how you intend to escape, since we're holding you at blaster point," Han pointed out.
"That's an easy one," Keyholm replied. "You're going to be very busy dealing with them." His chin moved in the ship's direction.
Mechanical sounds made Han, Lando, Leia and Chewie turn their heads to the ship.
Dozens of droidekas rolled down the ramp, in perfect formation.
"You bastards!"
In an explosion of anger, Leia used the Force to slam the already fleeing Ylek and Keyholm against the wall. She took off running toward Luke and Anakin, who were directly in the line of fire of the droidekas, taking care of the few remaining battle droids. They were sitting ducks.
"Luke! Father! Look out!" she cried out.
The two Jedi had already felt the danger. Thinking - and moving - as one, they threw themselves to the floor, letting the droidekas dispose of the remaining battle droids when they opened fire.
Leia shot at the droidekas, but it was already too late. They had activated their shield generators, and the blaster bolts died on them.
Although momentarily stunned by their violent slamming against the wall, Ylek and Keyholm still hurried to get away and enter the ship the droidekas had vacated.
Lando, Han and Chewie had had enough. They ran after them and fell on them, delivering all the range of blows, kicks and punches they had. They could have used their blasters, but it was too much anger and too much irreparable damage for the fight to be over so soon. There were too many ugly feelings to release. A few cuts and bruises were no comparison with the hundreds of people who were dying because of those two.
Ylek and Keyholm fought back with everything they had, but it was not enough, especially when fighting two very determined and enraged men and a Wookie.
Han revelled in every blow. He punched Ylek's stomach and face as if his very life depended on it. And it was never enough. Even the few blows that crossed his defences and reached him only fueled his anger.
Beside him, Lando and Chewie employed the same 'treatment' with Keyholm. The man was an expert in street fighting, and he put up one hell of a fight. Finally, losing his patience, Lando kicked the man's privates and that was it. Two seconds later, Keyholm was handcuffed again, howling on his knees, against the hull of a small ship.
A little while later, Han punched Ylek's jaw so hard that he heard the bone crack. Ylek collapsed senseless, like a broken puppet.
"It was about time, dammit!" the Corellian exclaimed, wiping away the blood on his lower lip.
Lando handed him his last pair of handcuffs and Ylek joined his partner in crime.
It was then, when the three friends turned their heads and saw what was happening on the other side of the hangar, that every hair on their bodies stood on end.
Luke and Anakin were surrounded by fifty droidekas that were firing at them at will, with absolutely no chance of winning the battle. Every deflected bolt was useless against their shield generators. They were merely holding back the attack and protecting themselves and each other, but that situation couldn't last for long.
Han barked at 3PO and Artoo to guard the prisoners, and ran as close to his friends as he could, followed by Lando and Chewie.
Leia was shooting at the droidekas like mad, but it was futile.
"Luke! Anakin! It's over!" Han cried out over the deafening noise. "We got Ylek and Keyholm, and the others are locked up in a ship! Get out of there and let's go to the bunker!"
Immediately, a few droidekas turned to him.
"Uh-oh!" Han muttered to himself, running for cover. A round of blaster bolts hit the floor where he had been standing a millisecond before.
Right then, everybody realized that was the key. To distract the droids' attention away from Luke and Anakin, so they could escape. Lando, Chewie and Leia began crying out to the droids and waving at them.
It worked. Some droidekas abandoned their formation and began shooting at them.
"To the lift!" Lando yelled. "Go, go, go!"
Keyholm tried to take advantage of the situation and attempted a desperate escape, but Artoo quickly extended one of his little arms. The electric discharge was strong enough to render the man unconscious.
The droidekas moved fast and soon enough, Lando, Han and Chewie, Leia and the two Jedi were fighting four groups of droids that chased them implacably. And so, the most dangerous game of cat and mouse began.
Leia was the first to see the lift, directly in front of her. All of a sudden, a droideka blocked her path, and she had to hide behind a speeder.
Lando arrived next. After catching his breath, he took a quick look.
"Blast it!" he cursed.
"What is it?" the Princess asked.
"I just counted six droidekas blocking the lift's doors."
"Damn!" Leia hit the speeder with her fist.
Lando saw Han and Chewie running up to them, and he gestured for them to look for cover somewhere else. It would be safer for all of them if they spread out.
The Corellian and the Wookie nodded in agreement, and sought refuge behind a small ship on the left.
"They're blocking the lift!" Lando shouted.
"I can see that!" Han replied. "Any suggestions?"
"None whatsoever. This doesn't look good," Lando replied, a dejected edge to his voice.
Han and Leia's eyes met over the distance separating them, and shared a look of love and infinite regret.
'Father, what are we going to do? We won't be able to hold them forever,' Luke's mind touched his father's.
'I know,' Anakin's replied. He made a short pause. 'There is something I saw Barriss Offee and Luminara Unduli try once. They generated a Force field around them...' he began hesitantly.
'Let's try it!' Luke simply said.
'But, Son, we never tried it before! I have no idea how to do it. How could we possibly figure out...?'
'And we'll never have the chance to figure out how to do it if they kill us. We have no choice, Father.' Luke's mind-voice reminded them both.
'True.' Anakin sighed in resignation. 'All right. We'll only have one shot at this. Let's have the others bring the droidekas to one place where we'll be waiting for them,' he instructed.
'Got you,' Luke nodded. 'The centre of the hangar seems the best place. It's mostly cleared.'
'I agree,' Anakin concurred. 'Warn your sister.'
Luke concentrated and reached out mentally to his sister. She was quite proficient at telepathy already, but he didn't want to distract her and put her in danger.
'Leia,' he called.
Several metres away, Leia stiffened at the sound of her brother's voice in her mind. She still had to get used to it.
'Yes?' she sent back, bringing down her blaster and hiding behind the speeder. She couldn't divide her attention between the droidekas and mind-talk at the same time, yet.
'Father's got an idea. Try to bring the droids to the centre of the hangar. We'll be waiting for them there.'
'And then what?' she asked, less-than-convinced of that so-called idea.
'Cross your fingers,' was all Luke said before shutting their mind-link for the present.
The Princess shook her head. Well, at least one plan was better than none at all. There was nothing else to be done.
She explained Luke and Anakin's plan to her friends. The four of them nodded at each other, and Leia cried out mentally to her brother that they were ready.
'Whenever you want, Father,' Luke said.
'All right,' Anakin took a deep breath, preparing himself. 'Now!' he yelled.
The two Jedi jumped over the droidekas and ran as fast as their legs allowed them. Now, it was their friends' job to bring the droids to the centre of the hangar, where they were heading.
Father and Son met a few seconds later. They paused for a moment to catch their breath. Mentally, Anakin explained to his child what they were supposed to do, but he had no idea how. They could only do what felt right and above all, trust the Force and their bond.
They attached their lightsabers to their belts and assumed their back-to-back position. It had become second-nature to them to fight like this; even more so than single fighting. Their different styles had found a way to merge and become more one than they ever thought possible.
But now they wouldn't be using their lightsabers. They were relying solely on their capacity to feel the Force and project it in a deadly wave.
Were they really that powerful? Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee had been, but this was going to be their first time, and they had no idea what they were doing. Their extreme Force gift was irrelevant in this instance.
They concentrated as hard as they could, getting in touch with the Force as they had never allowed themselves before. They reached out with their feelings, opening their hearts as much as their minds.
Their hands moved of their own volition and sought each other. Their palms touched behind them, and they immediately interlaced their fingers. A strange tingling sensation began spreading all over them, as if they were energizing one another. Their eyes rolled and they threw back their heads. Their bodies started vibrating uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, Han, Leia, Lando and Chewie were taking their time to bring the droidekas where Luke and Anakin waited for them. They wanted to give the two Jedi as much time as possible to prepare themselves, whatever it was they were up to.
Finally, they headed for the centre of the hangar, zigzagging along ships and shuttles.
Luke and Anakin stood in the exact centre of the vast room. Their bodies shook brutally, frighteningly stiff. Their hands were clasped so tight that they were white. Their eyes were squeezed shut and the veins and tendons in their necks seemed about to snap. They were raw power on the verge of exploding.
Leia froze the moment she saw them. Her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped open. What the hell...? But then, she remembered that she had a dozen droidekas on her tail. She reached out through the Force and felt Han, Lando and Chewie approaching the centre of the hangar from different directions, shooting back at the droids.
They had to synchronize their arrivals to the second.
A heartbeat later, something told her this was the right moment.
"DOWN!" she cried out at the top of her voice.
Immediately obeying her, Han, Lando and Chewie threw themselves to the floor along with the Princess, and rolled to one side.
Not expecting that, the droidekas overtook them. Momentarily disoriented, they stopped, a few metres away from the two still, and apparently defenceless Jedi. Their programming was clear: to destroy. They aimed their weapons at them.
And that was it. Anakin and Luke let go of each other's hands and they thrust them forward violently, palms out, releasing a Force-wave that devastated everything in its path. All droids were thrown backwards and their forms were instantly flattened out, as if an invisible, overpowering mass had squashed them. Even the ships and shuttles closest to the two Jedi suffered the effects of the destructive Force-wave. Everything within a radius of fifteen metres was thoroughly crushed.
It was over in a matter of seconds. The sudden silence in the hangar was almost unbearably loud.
Hardly daring to move a muscle, Leia, Han, Lando and Chewie opened their eyes and took a look around them. Unable to believe what they saw, they jumped to their feet.
Luke and Anakin's eyes opened too, and they almost popped out of their sockets at the incredible sight.
Walking among the squashed remains of the droidekas, the four friends approached the two stunned Jedi, who seemed unable to move, shocked at what they had done.
"10-9-8..." the countdown progressed relentlessly, as everybody forced their ships to their limit to reach their assigned positions.
"Will we make it?" the Mon Calamary Commander asked the controller nearest to him.
"It's problematic, sir," was the less-than-precise reply that said it all.
"Four-three-two..."
"May the Force be with us," the Commander prayed, closing his eyes.
"One... Zero!"
The next few seconds witnessed a display of terrifyingly lethal fireworks. All six Star Destroyers shot at what they believed to be easy targets, only to see them move away at the last possible second.
That was the last thing they saw, before their laser beams bounced back on the almost invisible satellites' crystal panels, and five and a half Destroyers blew up in a series of massive, bone-chilling explosions.
One of the deflected laser beams wasn't a direct hit, and it blew up a big part of Star Destroyer number one. The lower part of it was immediately attracted by Coruscant's gravity.
The incipient screams of victory were short-lived, as everybody noticed the imminent danger.
"We can't allow this monster to crash into the planet!" Vaughan cried out to his fellow Wings. "C'mon, guys! Let's fry this thing into oblivion!"
A myriad of X and Y-Wings followed the young man in his dizzying descent, trying to prevent the lower half of the Destroyer from plummeting into the surface of the planet.
"Watch your crossfire! We don't want to kill each other trying to blast that thing down there!" Wedge warned.
Seconds later, all Wings reached the falling Destroyer and shot at it with all their fire power, almost disintegrating it. What was left of it burned in the atmosphere like a shooting star.
"WE DID IT!" a chorus of exultant voices filled the communications channel.
The Commander of the Fleet immediately contacted Mon Mothma.
"Mrs. President, this is the Freedom. The threat to the Republic has been successfully neutralized," he announced formally. "We won," he added unnecessarily, the raw, naked emotion in his voice impossible to disguise.
"Well done, Commander," Mon Mothma's voice replied, barely able to hold back the intensity of her feelings. "Well done. Thank you for the most brilliant performance I have ever seen. Your courage and our brothers' sacrifice will never be forgotten."
All those listening closed their eyes, and observed the most respectful silence in memory of all those who had died today, protecting everybody's liberty and right to live in peace and true Democracy.
In the hangar, Luke and Anakin couldn't seem to stop blushing as they received the most outrageous congratulations for the "mind-blowing Force trick they had pulled."
Han and Lando especially, seemed to be enjoying thoroughly their merciless teasing of the two red-faced Jedi, who didn't know where to look.
Leia noticed then that her comlink was beeping, so she moved aside, to get the message without any loud background noise.
"It was a miracle you didn't flatten us out too," Lando commented, looking at the devastated area surrounding them.
"I cannot explain it, either." Anakin was just as much at a loss to understand what Luke and he had done.
"In any case, I'm very happy to keep the same volume," the Corellian cracked, feeling his torso exaggeratedly.
Luke spluttered, shaking his head. Some things would never change, thank heavens.
"YESSS!" Leia cried out excitedly, making everybody turn their heads to look at her.
"What is it?" Lando asked, praying that it was what he was already suspecting.
Leia rushed forward.
"It's over!" She grabbed Luke and Han's arms, and looked at them all one by one. "The Fleet just suppressed the insurrection and the bombs have been deactivated!" She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes, sighing out loud. "It's over!" she repeated to herself, as if she couldn't believe it.
The sudden quiet moment was shattered when everybody threw themselves into each other's arms with a cry of joy. It felt as if they had won yet another war against the Empire. Although this time, the war had been against the dark side of the very Republic.
They prayed that everyone had learned their lesson for good this time. Life was too precious and too short for any more lives to be lost because of something as petty as greed, ambition and thirst for power. Because, in the end, everything had come down to those.
All of a sudden, a loud mechanical scream made them move back with a start and listen.
"It's Artoo!" Anakin and Luke exclaimed at the same time, recognizing the droid's unmistakable sounds.
The two Jedi took off running towards the place where the scream had come from, followed close behind by the others. They reached the area where they had left the prisoners, guarded by the two droids.
3PO's right arm had been blasted off, and Artoo had a huge hole in the centre of his rounded body.
Keyholm was lying on the floor, still unconscious; but Ylek had disappeared.
Everybody looked around, spreading out little by little, beginning the search for the escaped prisoner.
"He's close. I can feel him," Leia said softly to her friends. "But where?" she said to herself. Something wasn't quite right there.
A sudden intuition made Luke look up. Standing on the top of a small shuttle, still handcuffed, Ylek was aiming what seemed to be a small blaster... at his father!
"FATHER! FATHER, LOOK OUT!" he cried out, jumping into the air and covering Anakin with his own body.
Ylek fired.
Anakin and Leia let out a horrible scream. Leia doubled over and fell to her knees, as if the shot had hit her squarely.
Luke collapsed on top of his father, knocking all the air out of Anakin's lungs.
The world seemed to stand still as everybody stared at the gaping hole in Luke's chest as he lay, inert, on Anakin.
"LUKE!" Han yelled, his heart crying out with more pain than he thought he could feel in a million lifetimes. The pain turned into seething anger, and turning about, he shot blindly in the direction of where the blaster bolt had come from. He shot and shot and shot like a madman, not looking, not wanting to see and feel anything but the roar in his blood. A few seconds later, they heard the dull thud of a dead body hitting the floor.
No silence had ever been so filled with abject horror, as they looked down at the young Jedi, half-dead already, lying on top of his shocked father.
Summoning up his strength somehow, Anakin moved out from beneath his child with infinite care and held him against his chest.
"Luke! Oh, my angel, my little angel, what have you done?" he moaned time and again, rocking him as he would a baby.
Struggling to focus, Luke's eyes rested on his father, shining with love.
"Covered you. Partners are supposed to do that, aren't they?" he replied with a little smile.
Snapping out of his state of shock somehow, Anakin took immediate action. He rose to his feet with his son in his arms.
"Hold on, Luke. Hold on, little one. I'll take you to Sickbay. They'll heal you there. They'll... They will..." Anakin was beyond words, beyond thoughts. He couldn't think, he couldn't hear anything, except the sound of his heart breaking into a billion little pieces.
The older Jedi headed for the hangar doors as fast as his legs allowed him. The deafening sound of his frenetic heartbeat banged mercilessly on his eardrums and he couldn't hear beyond that. Until the faintest sound reached his ears and the roaring quieted down.
"Dad. Dad... Dad..."
Anakin's legs stopped functioning and his eyes, that were focused on the doors right ahead, looked down at his child, open wide in absolute horror.
"Dad." A tear rolled down Luke's cheek.
The powerful Jedi dropped to his knees and burst into tears, understanding at last.
"You knew! Oh, Force! You knew all along!" he exclaimed.
Luke's deadly pale face smiled peacefully. He nodded.
"It's all right. It is all right," he whispered. His head turned to his friends, who knelt down beside them with a look of utter shock and disbelief on their faces. His eyes rolled for a second, but they focused again on Anakin. "I knew, but I didn't know how... exactly." He smiled in relief. "I was... afraid to die. But I'm not afraid to die... for you."
Anakin broke down and buried his face in his child's shoulder.
"Oh, my goodness! This can't be happening! It can't be happening!" he cried. "My dearest, foolish boy," he moved back and his trembling fingers began caressing the soft cheeks feverishly. "Don't you know that the son must never die for the father? It is the father who must die for the son!"
"You already did that," Luke reminded him. "And I swore I would never go through that pain again."
"And you want me to go through it instead? That is not very kind of you, my child," Anakin smiled through his tears.
Luke smiled at him adoringly. He tried to breathe, but his lungs wouldn't fill. He made an agonizing attempt to draw breath and his eyes immediately turned to his sister and his friends. His family. His greatest treasure.
"Lando," he softly called.
"I'm right here, Luke." The black eyes were red and tears streamed down the dark face. He reached out a trembling hand and caressed the blond hair.
"Take care of them," he swept his family with one look. "They will need your strength. Try to be strong, and when you can't, turn to them for comfort. They will take such good care of you."
"I will," Lando promised, holding back a sob and biting his lips until he drew blood.
Luke nodded and blinked back his own tears. His eyes turned to his Wookie friend.
"Chewie," he smiled weakly and reached out a terribly shaking hand.
Chewie edged closer, wailing and howling softly.
Luke's hand touched the Wookie's fur and scratched it one last time.
"You must be strong, too. For Han, for Leia, for all. I..." he rolled his eyes, in frustration this time. "I wish I had something... illuminating to say, but dammit... I can't think of anything. How... embarrassing," he gasped.
Anakin cradled his son's head in the crook of his arm, making it as comfortable as he could. The backs of his fingers stroked the ashen face. Part of him was numb, deep in denial. This was too sudden, too unthinkable to be real. His child couldn't be dying in his arms! He had to be in bed, sleeping, deep in the most horrendous nightmare of all.
"I'm cold," the young man moaned all of a sudden.
Immediately, Lando took off his jacket and covered Luke's torso with it.
"Thank you," Luke's eyes softened in gratitude. Then, they turned to his dearest, best friend in the universe.
"Han."
Smiling tenderly, the Corellian reached out and took a cool hand in his.
"Hey," he whispered in an endearingly pathetic attempt to cheer them all.
"You must take care of Leia and my father. I entrust them to you," Luke squeezed the strong hand feebly. "You're like a son for my father. Be with him. C-comfort him. Please."
Han looked up at Anakin. Unable to stand the torment in those blue eyes, he reached out and squeezed the older man's shoulder.
"Luke, I... Luke..." he choked on his words and broke down. For the first time in his life, the cynical pirate with a heart of gold dissolved into tears.
"You're the brother I never had. My big brother," Luke's eyes illuminated in fond remembrance of their years together. "I love you, Han. Thank you for the most beautiful friendship I never dared to dream."
Han shook his head and met the misted blue eyes, unable to utter a single word. His chest was racked with powerful sobs. Nothing had ever hurt so much. Nothing would ever hurt so much.
"I love you too, little brother. Always did, always will," he forced himself to speak, cupping Luke's cheek in his hand and pressing his palm against it desperately, wishing for something that was beyond his ability to realize.
Luke cuddled his face up to the warm palm with a faraway little smile.
"Leia," he called, his suddenly unfocused eyes looking blindly for his sister.
The youngest Skywalker grasped her brother's hand, brought it to her lips and began kissing it in despair.
"My dearest Leia," Luke smiled, a look of infinite calm and peace crossing his features. "My journey began the moment I first saw you on a tiny holograph. You became a part of me before I knew you were a part of me. My family. You were always my strength and my focus." His badly damaged lungs fought to keep on breathing, but it was becoming more and more difficult. He knew he shouldn't be alive at this point, but he thanked whatever was responsible for these few minutes with his loved ones.
Anakin sat him up, placing the lolling head on his shoulder with infinite tenderness. The image of his mother as she expired in his arms twenty five years ago superposed onto his child's, and he thought he would go mad with grief.
Leia hurled herself at her brother and held on to him, as if by clinging to him for all she was worth she could keep him alive. She soaked the collar of his top with her tears. Luke returned her embrace as best as he could, hiding his face in the loose strands of long brown hair, sniffing at it.
"Leia, I would like to give you something," he whispered into her ear.
Leia clung to Luke even harder, as her crying intensified heartbreakingly. Finally, Han had to force her away.
"I want you to have my lightsaber. You must continue what I began." He tried to look down at himself, but a wave of searing pain made him desist. "Take it."
"No!" Leia shook her head.
"Please. Please, dearest Leia. We don't have... much time," Luke begged, an expression of sheer panic crossing his features for the first time.
Giving up, destroyed inside, Leia's trembling fingers unclipped the lightsaber from her brother's belt.
Luke smiled, calmer now, and nodded at her as he tried to reach out one hand.
Immediately, Leia took it in her own and brought it up to her face, caressing herself with it.
"Leia, there is... something I need to ask you," Luke's stare intensified, showing how important this request was to him.
Leia nodded in silence, returning his stare and imprinting her brother's touch in her soul forever.
"Please, Leia. Please... open your heart to Father fully. You're all he'll have left when I am gone. Losing me will kill him," he looked up at Anakin, wetness rolling down his face once more.
Anakin kissed Luke's forehead, bathing it with his tears. He buried his face in his son's hair, wanting to lose himself in it and die with him.
"Whatever he did to you... to me... to millions of people, is in the past. You only have the present... and the future. You are his entire life. Don't forsake him when he will need you most," he implored.
Leia pressed Luke's palm against her cheek and turned her eyes to Anakin. For the first time, she saw him as he really was. A man. A weak, strong, limited, powerful, fallible, brave and intelligent human being, with his strengths and his faults, who was losing what he loved the most... just as she was.
Anakin returned her look, letting her see the depth of his agony, that no one and nothing would ever be able to soothe. Not even her.
And in that unimaginable, unbearable pain that was theirs and only theirs, they found each other at last.
The Princess reached out her free hand and cupped the side of Anakin's face, wiping away the tear tracks on it with her thumb. She looked into his soul, and the final barrier collapsed within her.
Seeing the unspoken permission in the brown eyes she had gotten from her mother, Anakin reached out too, and his hand cradled his daughter's face for the first time. His fingers caressed it all over, revelling in the privilege he had been finally granted.
Leia cuddled her cheek into the loving palm and kissed it, not afraid anymore to return her father's love in a physical way.
And Father and Daughter touched, really touched, for the first time.
"I promise," she vowed to both of them.
Luke took a deep breath. He could go in peace now. He could feel the bond taking deep root in his sister's heart, giving implicit permission to Anakin to open up to her completely.
The three-way link was the most beautiful thing she had ever known, and Leia broke down, realizing they would never be able to enjoy it. She collapsed and sought refuge in Han's arms, cuddling up to him, like a little girl who had lost it all.
Luke's senses began to abandon him, and frantically turning to his father, he reached up and grabbed the front of his top, as if clinging to what remained of his life.
The sight of that big man, crying and sobbing desperately, was more than he could bear. He reached up and caressed Anakin's chin with the backs of his fingers.
"Don't cry, Dad. Please, don't cry," he begged. "It breaks my heart to see you cry."
"You are my heart. You are my soul," Anakin said, holding the caressing hand in his and kissing the palm. "How will I live without you?" Just then, the knowledge that these were his last moments with his son hit him fully. He shook his head from side to side. "No. I won't. I won't live without you!" he cried out.
"You must," Luke reminded him quietly. "For Leia, for her future children. Your grandchildren. The next generation of Skywalkers... must be trained. And you are the only one who can do it." He released his hand from his father's grasp and wiped away the tears that streamed down the much-loved face. "And you must live for yourself, too. For all the good things you still can do, for all the lives you will save and influence positively." He looked down for a moment, and finally dared to say the words that would seal Anakin's fate. "And you must live for me. My death must not be in vain, Father."
The words came out harsher than he'd intended, but he couldn't control his throat muscles anymore. He knew he was hurting Anakin beyond belief with those words, but he had no choice. Neither of them had.
Anakin looked away, wounded by those cruel words. He shook his head again and looked down into his son's barely focusing eyes.
"I lost my mother. I lost your mother," the tears fell now on Luke's face, and he wiped them away hastily. "I can't lose you too. I cannot!"
Luke smiled sadly and his fingertips felt the soft, wet face he could hardly see anymore. He stroked the smooth, good-looking features all over, reading them and memorizing them as blind people did. His hand stopped when it felt the small wound on Anakin's forehead. He pressed his index and middle fingertips to it, healing it.
Anakin moaned out loud.
"Why don't you heal yourself instead?" he admonished.
The young man smiled again in bitter regret.
"I wish I could, but you know I can't. That was the will of the Force. This... is the final gift I can give you. Don't reject it," he asked.
"I'd die a thousand times before rejecting you!" Anakin exclaimed, taking the trembling hand in his again. "You showed me that generosity, compassion and love could conquer all. They could forgive even this," he shook the bionic hand, "and save even me. I will never stop believing in miracles, for you are the most wondrous one of all." He framed Luke's face in his palm and covered it with kisses. "My baby, my angel, my beautiful little angel!" Brutal sobs shattered his spirit again.
Anakin's falling apart was killing Luke. Literally. He had to do something. He had to offer some hope, he had to give his father a reason to want to go on living.
"Don't be afraid. I will always be with you," his voice came out slow and infinitely peaceful. "In here," he touched his father's chest and cuddled up to it, "and in here," he touched his temple. "And maybe... I'll be able to come to you occasionally, like Ben did." He sighed. "It won't be the same, I know, but you know there is no death. I will live... as long as you remember me. A part of me will always remain." He caressed the swollen, bloodshot eyes. "And when your time comes... one day far, far away... I will be waiting for you."
Anakin let out a heart-rending sob and rested his soaked cheek on his child's forehead.
"Don't leave me, my angel. Don't go. Don't go, I beg you!"
Luke smiled, his eyes looking at a spot on the ceiling.
"I love you, Father." He made a final, titanic effort, and moved his head, looking for Anakin's face. He couldn't see it. He couldn't see anything anymore. A growing part of his body was numbed, unfeeling. His lips finally came into contact with something soft and warm, and he bestowed a soft kiss there, putting all the love in his being in the kiss. "I love you, Dad," he whispered. "Oh, Force, I love you so...!" A final tear rolled down his face. "Thank you for... the happiest seven months of my life."
Anakin stiffened when he felt his son's essence beginning to slip away. The shining place that Luke's consciousness inhabited within his mind started to fade away.
"NO!" he cried out, feeling as if a clawed hand was ripping his insides apart. If he lost this he would cease to exist, too. He couldn't live without this precious light! Without Luke's warm presence inside him making him worthy. Worthy of being alive, worthy of deserving his own dignity and honour. Worthy of love.
He clung to the dwindling light with his very life.
"NO! You won't leave me!" he ordered, turning Luke's face to his forcefully, scaring everybody. "Look into my eyes! You will look into my eyes, and won't look away until I tell you to, you hear me?!" His voice was guttural. Almost inhuman.
And unbelievably, Luke obeyed with a small nod.
"That's it," Anakin nodded. "Don't stop looking into my eyes." The big, powerful body shook like a leaf, on the verge of its endurance and its sanity. "I won't let you go. You will stay! You will stay with me and... and..."
Suddenly, the older Jedi realized that Luke's eyes weren't only looking at him. They were also looking past him, into infinity. There was a smile on his lips. A sweet, peaceful, loving smile.
Instinctively, everything he was held on to the white light of his son's consciousness, ready to follow it.
"No," he moaned. "Stay. Stay! Stay! STAY!" he screamed.
The white light died away.
Anakin and Leia wailed in unison as the light died inside them too.
A bottomless hole seemed to swallow them, and they knew what it felt like to be dead in life.
Luke's friends crumbled. Han grasped Luke's lifeless hand in his, weeping quietly, as he held Leia to him with one arm, pressing her head to his chest. The Princess was clinging to his vest, barely conscious. There could be no life for her after Luke. No life after losing her anchor and the closest, dearest thing to her heart.
Lando reached out slowly and closed Luke's eyes with the utmost respect. As he moved back his hand, he couldn't help one final fond caress to the blond hair. Then, he hid his face in his hands and burst into tears.
Chewie looked up and let out a heartbreaking howl as his huge bulk began shuddering uncontrollably.
Anakin couldn't stop staring at his son. He was petrified. He was dead. As dead as the body he cradled in his arms.
The only movement that revealed he was alive were the countless tears that rolled down his cheeks and fell on Luke's face, like raindrops.
It was his fault. He should have foreseen this! It made no sense that Luke had been the one to foresee his own death. What was the point of Luke's needless suffering? What was the point of Luke's death?
Luke's death.
The mere thought broke something inside him. His frantic mind cried out to their lost link. His head snapped back and he screamed, like a mortally wounded lion demanding the universe to give him his cub back.
He embraced Luke's head to his breast and kissed it all over. His mind spiralled in a whirlpool of incoherent thoughts and shattered love.
He couldn't accept it. There had to be a deeper meaning in this that he couldn't comprehend. There had to be something he could do, even now! That was what made him what and who he was. His refusal to accept things as inevitable. It had been his downfall once, but he had taken the wrong path then. He had turned to the Darkness.
He knew now that the Light was the Truth. Therefore, the Light must hold the answer he so desperately needed. Light was warmth, and compassion, and Love as he had never known. Light wasn't cruel or unfeeling, even if it looked like it sometimes. It was them, imperfect, limited beings, who couldn't see the bigger picture. There had to be a reason why the Light allowed for the best human being who had ever existed to die, sparing someone as unworthy as him.
He had to trust the Light. The Light surrounding them, the Light inside him. That's where the real Truth lay. He carried his Truth, his own answers, deep within.
His eyes turned to the oh-so-loved face and he cupped it in his hand.
'Padme!' he called out in his mind. 'Padme, help me! I need him so! He's my life! Without him, there is no place for me in this realm. Force, help me! I cannot live without my children. I must die first. I have to die first!'
He closed his eyes tight and pressed his face to Luke's, soaking up the warmth of his skin, the overwhelming feel of his son's body in his arms.
Random thoughts, voices, images and memories coalesced in his brain in a cacophony of madness. He focused on it, welcoming it. Anything was preferable to the infinite void that filled the place where the purest, most beautiful selfless Love had resided before.
'Will I ever see you again?'
'What does your heart tell you?'
'Our baby is a blessing.'
'Father, please!'
'Come with me.'
'Sometimes, there are things no one can fix. You're not all-powerful, Ani.'
'I should be. Someday I will be. I will be the the most powerful Jedi ever. I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying.'
'Luke's not the greatest Jedi ever and neither are you. The two of you are the greatest Jedi ever.'
'The two of you are the greatest Jedi ever.'
'I will even learn to stop people from dying.'
'I promise you.'
'I felt as if a soft breeze had brushed my soul. And it felt like you.'
'Do you feel any different?'
'You changed something inside me. You passed on something to me. I can feel it.'
'Maybe it's something you needed, or will need in the future.'
'Whatever it is you did for me, we'll find out in its own good time.'
'In its own good time.'
'I will even learn to stop people from dying!
'From dying!'
'Maybe it's something you needed, or will need in the future.'
'Will need in the future.'
'You passed on something to me.'
'I promise you.'
'I PROMISE YOU!'
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Anakin's scream went on and on and on, until his throat was raw. He pulled Lando's jacket away from his son's body, revealing the huge hole in the centre of Luke's chest.
Instinct! He had to follow his instinct, and his Love, and the voices in his head! If he stopped now he would lose it all.
Gently depositing his child on the floor, he covered the hole with his palms, pressing down.
"You won't go! You won't leave me! You will come back to me!" he exclaimed, tears running unnoticed down his face in rivulets. "Come on, Luke! Come on, little one! Come back to me! Come back to me!" he began chanting.
He lost track of time, calling upon the Light to assist him, to guide him, to show him the way in the darkness of a lifetime without his greatest blessing, lifeless on the floor beside him.
He suddenly felt someone's hands on his, trying to pry them away from Luke. He shook them off roughly.
"NO!" he barked. "He will come back. I will bring him back! He shared his healing gift with me that morning. I understand now." He paused a second to brush his sweaty palm across the soft fringe, and caressed the smooth face with his fingertips. "Show me how to do it right. Show me, my son! Don't go away just yet. Wait for me! I will bring you back." He placed his hand back again on Luke's chest and redoubled his efforts.
Everybody looked at the distraught Jedi, terribly upset by the disturbing scene, not knowing what to do or say. Anakin was beyond reality, deep within his insane fantasy that he could bring Luke back. But no force would make him stop. He would go on, until he passed out or died.
"Come on, my boy! Come back to us! You have so much to teach me. I have so much love to give you. Everything will be even better than before." An endless stream of tears poured out of his eyes.
Han cuddled Leia, trying to shield her from the shocking sight of her father, almost gone by now, convinced that he could resuscitate his child. He understood the older man's need to believe, to hope against all hope, but... Wiping away his own tears, he looked at Lando and Chewie, regretting it immediately. The horrified expressions on their faces unsettled him even more.
As crazy as it could seem, Anakin's contorted features were the only ones that transmitted what he needed the most at this very moment.
Faith.
"Come on, Luke! Don't do this to me!" Anakin continued unrelentingly. "You shared your gift with me, show me now what to do with it! I won't stop until you come back." He was panting, on the brink of a physical and emotional breakdown. "Please, please, my baby! Come back to me. Come back to me. Come back to me..." the litany was back, as he pressed down even harder. "You will come back to me. You will come back to me. YOU-WILL-COME-BACK-TO-ME!" he yelled, with the last spark of sanity he had left.
The five of them jerked back with a muffled scream when Luke's eyes opened wide all of a sudden, and his body sat up with a start. The young man began drawing deep and fast intakes of breath, filling his lungs with badly needed oxygen.
Their eyes were instantly drawn to the burned hole in the young Jedi's top. Pink flesh could be seen beneath, where before there had been a hole big enough for a fist to fit in.
No one could blink. No one could breathe. No one could believe it. They just stared at Luke's face getting its colour back, as he breathed more and more easily.
Finally, Luke swallowed hard and turned his head. He looked at his friends, who gazed at him, their eyes bulging open, in a state of shock. They didn't dare to move. They didn't dare to touch, in case they were dreaming.
Leia was the first to react. She could feel the warmth of her brother's lifeforce within her mind again. It was no delusion. It was real. As real as he was, sitting up right in front of her.
She reached out a shaking hand, and touched Luke's cheek. She trembled and let out a little groan, a part of her still refusing to believe the miracle.
Luke's eyes filled with tears and he reached up, holding Leia's hand in his.
"Hello, little sister," he greeted her self-consciously, kissing the back of her hand.
Letting go, Leia hurled herself at her brother. The two siblings hugged desperately, so desperately that they almost cracked each other's bones. The lightsaber clattered on the floor, forgotten.
Slowly realizing they weren't dreaming, Han, Lando and Chewie reached out hesitatingly and touched Luke, comfirming the wondrous reality.
Luke's head moved up from his sister's shoulder where he had buried his face, and smiled at them shakily. He reached out one arm at them and that was it. There was no stopping the heartfelt, devastating embrace between them all.
Anakin watched the scene, speechless. He looked down at his hands, that suddenly felt alien to him.
He had done it. He had healed his son. He had healed Luke.
No. More than that. He had resurrected him. He had brought him back from the dead!
The concept felt surreal. Even preposterous. But it was exactly what Luke had done with him only a few months ago.
He felt eerily disconnected from the here and now. Disconnected from his own feelings. His eyes turned to the sight before him. Luke, passing from Han's loving arms to Lando's, and from them to Chewie's.
And then, it was as if a door burst open inside him. Luke's living essence filled the void in his heart and his mind with Light and joy.
Force, he had never known such need! Everything he was, cried out for the comfort of Luke's touch.
He hugged himself when an implacable, merciless cold wrapped itself around his being.
Luke shuddered savagely and immediately turned to Anakin. His features softened, and all of him illuminated from within with love.
He knelt up in front of his father and reached out. His hands rubbed the cold arms, stroking up the long limbs.
The moment Luke touched him, Anakin returned from the chilly place where he had retreated into. His eyes focused again on his child and a hopeful, wistful smile lit up his face.
Luke's eyes misted once more, and tears began to flow down his cheeks. His hands moved up to Anakin's head. Their eyes met.
It was the most sublime communion of souls. They merged until there was no part of them that wasn't a part of each other.
Luke bent forward and his lips brushed Anakin's forehead like the soft wings of an Alderanian butterfly. Then, they settled on the swollen, reddened eyes that had cried so much for him today and kissed them deeply, lingeringly, wishing to take upon himself all the horror and agony his father had suffered.
Moving back just enough to meet those eyes again, his thumbs wiped away the tears on Anakin's face. He didn't know it could be possible to feel so much pain, so much love, and still be alive.
"I love you," he whispered to his father. "Thank you for bringing me back."
And those were the words that released Anakin from his invisible, icy chains. He unfurled himself and crushed the smaller body to his chest.
"My baby!" he exclaimed. "My precious little angel!" He began kissing the boyish features everywhere. "I love you. I love you so much!"
Luke returned the primal embrace for all he was worth. He enveloped his father in his arms, dispelling both their fears in the most basic way; flesh to flesh.
They clung to one another, unwilling, unable to let go. They pressed hard against each other, uttering incoherent words that made no sense, except to them. They held. Closer. Tighter. It was never, NEVER enough.
They were, literally, each other's life. They were One. The greatest Jedi ever, as Leia's incredibly powerful insight had rightly foreseen days ago.
As a myriad of X and Y-Wings flew on Coruscant's sky, drawing rainbows and setting off fireworks in the sunset, reassuring the population that cheered them from their balconies that they were safe and Peace was safe once more, no fireworks, no rainbows, and no extravagant explosions of joy were purer than the quiet, silent image of the two Jedi who, lost in each other's arms, rejoiced in the miracle of life and the only power that truly bound the Universe together.
Love.
TO BE CONCLUDED...