Leia ran down the corridor, following what she could feel of Han's presence, and she could feel the light of his existence flickering.

"Don't do this to us, Han," she whispered to herself. "Not now. Not after everything."

But a voice answered her.

I have to end this, Leia. Please understand. I love you. I'll always love you.

Leia shook her head and turned sharply.

"Come on, Chewie. I know where he's going."

-

He pushed her backwards with her own force, his blood roaring in his ears.

"You won't do this to us," he said. "Not anymore!"

She writhed on the ground and screamed, but Han didn't stop.

"When others writhe in darkness," he shouted, "she will stand in light!"

Lakaya tried in vain to fight back.

"When they are blind, she will make them see!"

She screamed at him, but he only smiled.

"When they are in agony she will ease their pain."

At last he dropped is hands to his sides. Lakaya lay on the ground, moving slowly.

"You should know what it is to feel pain – real pain."

She laughed, painfully but still strong.

"You can't kill me," she said. "You can't kill me."

Han shook his head.

"You're only here because you're already dead. I'm not going to kill you – I'm going to destroy you."

He flung his hands forward again and the lightning came from his own hands. He could feel the power swelling, like a dark flood, rising up inside him, giving him the strength to project this electricity.

It felt cold. It felt dark.

It felt good.

-

"No!" Luke shouted suddenly, whacking his head on the roof of the speeder without noticing. "Don't give in to the dark side! Please, Han!"

-

"Don't give in to the dark side!"

That voice. He recognised it.

What..? Who..?

The dark side? Was that what this was? The pain, the electricity he was inflicting on her?

"Please, Han."

Han? Was that his name?

He dropped his hands and turned away. The children were watching him with hopeful expressions on what was left of their faces.

He held out a hand.

"Come on," he whispered.

Two of the children ran forward and took his hands. The rest swarmed towards him and waited, some looking at him, some looking at Lakaya. With some it was hard to tell where they were looking, their eyes damaged or missing. But they seemed to know their way.

He looked at Lakaya one last time, and walked away.

-

"Where is he?" Luke said, coming to to find himself in the back of a high-power speeder

"Right now it looks like he's headed back to the ridge."

"What?" Luke asked, head pounding.

"The ridge," Leia repeated. "The clearing where he stopped the day he crashed."

"Why?" said Luke.

"I don't know," said Leia. "I think he's going to jump."

-

"Where are we going?"

The little child looked up at him hopefully.

"We're going to take you all home."

"You've come to help us?" asked another.

"Yes," Han whispered. "I've come to help you."

"How?"

"By setting you free. I'm going to set us all free. And then she won't be able to hurt us anymore."

-

"Look, there he goes!" said Leia, as Chewie roared much the same.

"He's not going to jump," Luke whispered. "He's not going to jump! They're going to jump!"

Leia looked at him.

"What?"

-

"Where are we going?"

Han glanced at the small child who sat on his lap as the speederbike raced through traffic. He waved his hand and the bike changed direction.

"We're going to where I used to take her," he answered, completely unaware he was speaking Corellian and that the child understood him anyway.

The child turned its head.

"Who's her?"

Han thought for a moment.

"I don't remember her name," he said sadly.

The child's expression seemed to project sympathy.

"You don't remember her name?"

Han shook his head.

"No. But she's beautiful. She's kind and she's beautiful and she loves me. And she'd want me to help you."

The child nodded.

"Look," said Han. "We're here."

-

Leia jumped out of the speeder and raced toward the clearing, praying she wasn't too late. Luke was hot on her heels, silent as always. Chewie was just as fast.

"Han!" she called. "Han!"

-

"Han!"

Han turned his head.

"That's her now," he said softly.

-

She finally broke through the trees and was astounded at what she saw. There was Han. And, not only was he fully dressed, but he was armed.

Standing around him were children, too many to count, and they were all mutilated and bleeding to the extent that they should all have been dead. But instead, they turned to face her.

"Dirsk," Han said to the one next to him, still in his native language. "Corine niede. Me jhlandise va."

"What did he say?" Leia whispered.

"/There/" Chewie started to translate. "/She came. I told you./"

One of the children said something to him, whispered it, and he lifted the child into his arms and smiled.

"Nierts, Corine eil e grosch va," he said to the child. "Te se oeur por va so alei orijin mainet."

"/No, she won't hurt you," Chewie translated. "/It's time for you to go home now./"

Leia took one step forward, but Han flung out his hand and she found herself frozen, unable to move a muscle.

"Al e nied prochsima, va eil sinyulari yierde grosch."

"/Don't come near, you'll only get hurt./"

She couldn't move when she tried to go forwards but when she tried to move backwards she realized she was able to.

"Han, what's going on?" Luke said as he slowed to a halt beside Leia.

"Me es envoiei skah orijin," he said in Corellian. "Uet me es aleias so detruijhre Cori."

"/I'm sending them home. And I'm going to destroy her./"

"How?" Luke whispered. "They don't have any presence in the force. How can you possibly-"

"Al va ves quea skeh on?" Han asked softly.

"/Do you know who they are/"

Luke shook his head.

"Jhan. Esch fenal en ro skah."

There was a long silence.

"Chewie?" said Leia quietly.

"/Souls. Every last one of them./"

"Souls?"

"/Yes/" Chewie said as Han continued. "/They're all souls. She put them here to destroy me. They have cried for help. Plagued my nightmares. She put them here to drive me insane when she entered my body. They have haunted me day and night and now we're all going to be free./"

"Not if I can help it."

Leia's blood froze. She turned, praying to every God and Goddess she knew that that voice was not the one she remembered. But as she turned she saw a tall, slender woman, with pale skin, large eyes, a wicked smile and hair that seemed to have a life of its own.

"Lakaya," she breathed. "How..?"

Luke drew his lightsaber but, before he could even prepare himself, it was gone, torn from his hand. Leia was reminded of Vader's effortless attempt to relieve Han of his weapon when they had first walked into the dining hall on Bespin. But when she turned to look, it was Han's who had taken Luke's weapon without ever touching it.

"He has the Force!" Luke whispered.

"/You don't need this weapon now/" Chewie translated as Han spoke quietly. "/It can't help anyone. She's only a projection; a shadow of what she was./"

"Don't you want them to fight me?" Lakaya smirked.

"They don't need to," Han answered in Corellian.

She laughed coldly and flung her hands out toward him, blue lightening rushing forward from her fingertips. Leia shrieked, Luke yelled, "No!"

But Han stood still, his head cocked to one side, and the lightning stopped short a foot or so away from his body.

"NO!" Lakaya wailed. "This cannot be!"

"/It's a shame/" Chewie translated as Han started talking again, "/that you took so many lives. You didn't kill them as children. I know that. But the weakness you caused, the pain you inflicted. That is why they appear as children. Because that was the extent of their vulnerability. That is what you reduced them to./"

"Then why are…" Leia began.

Han, to her surprise, faced her and answered.

"Skeh on dos jhan ro esch cor uet cori corine iers ifir ecstimerne. Uet skeh oni colt sirdsk ni detruijhre mes,"

"/They are the souls of every man and woman she has ever murdered. And they were put here to destroy me./"

"Destroy you?" said Leia.

"/First they were to drive me insane through pleas and cries I could not answer, then they were to take my soul from me and give it to her before she was to cast it into Enozdaed, the seventh Hell. But she didn't understand that they would rather be free than destroy another. So they have taken her power. And they have given it to me./"

As Han finished talking and Chewie finished translating, Han cast a glance at Lakaya and waved his hand at her absently, and she flew backwards with a shriek, her powers apparently having no effect.

"Nied," he said to the children, turning away from Leia, from Luke, from Chewie and from Lakaya. "Te se oeur."

"/Come. It is time./"

"Time for what?" Leia said desperately, finding she was still unable to get any closer to Han as he walked slowly toward the other side of the clearing where, she knew, there was a three hundred foot drop.

He turned to face her once he, and all the children, were lined up by the cliff edge. The sun was just beginning to rise.

"Dajhschkol, mer kier. Te se oeur por des corse ni drosch."

"/Goodbye, my love. It is time for this body to die./"

Leia's eyes widened.

"No, Han, you can't!"

But he smiled sadly.

"I have to," he said, in clearer, deeper, more emotional basic than she had ever heard him use before, as if every emotion he had was in those words, as if only now was he able to speak.

And, slowly, he began to guide the children, one at a time, over the edge of the cliff. But, instead of falling, they kept walking out into the air, fading with each step they took until, one by one, they disappeared.

Lakaya, unable to move where she lay, screamed in agony, similarly fading with each child that was freed, and Han knew why. Her power lay with them.

And, when the last child had walked into the sunrise, and she had faded into nothingness he turned back to them to smile one last time, the blackness gone from his eyes, the sparkling hazel there once again.

"When they lie in darkness, she will stand in light. When they are blind, she will make them see. When they are lost she will find them. When they are in agony, she will ease the suffering."

The sad smile he wore grew pained.

"I love you," he whispered, his voice choked, thick with emotion.

Then he turned back toward the cliff edge and squared his shoulders, singing that lullaby to himself softly.

Leia started forwards.

Wait! Forwards!

Of course! Lakaya was gone! Han had no power with which to hold them back anymore!

"Luke!" she shouted as Han took his final determined steps.

Luke flew forwards and dove, just as Han disappeared.

-

Han wondered why he was not falling, why he had not been allowed to.

He looked up and saw a face he had not expected.

"Let me go," he whispered as he hung from Luke's hand. "Please. Let me go."

"No," Luke said, fighting tears that he could not control. "We didn't come this far to loose you now."

Han shook his head.

"Please-"

"No!"

"Please, Luke. If you love me, let me go!"

Luke looked into the eyes, saw the pain and suffering they had endured, saw the love they harbored, saw the fear and anguish they possessed. Han's word's misted his own eyes. If you love me. Was there truly no other way to put an end to Han's suffering.

"Please, Luke," he whispered. "Please."

Luke stared. The world seemed to have moved into slow motion. He could see this man before him, relying on him. He could see the rocks far below. He could see the sunrise and he knew that if he just opened his fingers and let Han go that this pain would be over.

He took a deep breath.

"No," he answered.

-

Leia rushed forward as Luke pulled Han back up again. For a moment, it looked like they were going to loose him.

But Han stared at Luke, his eyes burning into Luke's soul.

"Don't you see?" Luke asked. "That's it."

"No," Han whispered. "One more."

Luke frowned.

"Han, there's no-one left. You did it. They're all free, she's gone!"

"No," Han said again. "There's one more."

The trees around them twisted suddenly and the sky darkened. Stone walls grew from the ground, obscuring Leia and Chewie and everything else from view. Hard slabs covered the grass.

Han's eyes bored into Luke's for a moment longer and then Han stepped to one side. Behind him, Luke saw the other Han – the Dream Han – hanging in the center of the cell.

Luke shook his head as Han walked past.

"Han," he said desperately.

Han continued to walk toward the Dream Han and answered in a voice that was soft, low.

"I have to let go," he said. "How can I move on if the memories live?"

"What are you going to do?"

Han paused and cocked his head as though listening to the question echo off the walls. Then he drew himself up to his full height.

"I'm going to finish this – make it all no more than a bad dream."

He walked around the Dream Han to face him and touched a hand to his face. The Dream Han opened his eyes and, because he lacked the strength to do so for himself, Han lifted his head.

Hope flickered in the Dream Han's eyes.

"You came back for me?" he whispered.

Han nodded.

"Yes," he murmured.

Panic crossed the Dream Han's face.

"But Lakaya," he whispered, her name sending chills down Han's spine. "What if she-"

"She's dead," Han said simply. "I killed her. She can't hurt you anymore."

The Dream Han stared for a moment, eyes liquid with hope and the expectance of having that hope destroyed. But when no mocking laugher came, nor stinging rebuke, the Dream Han hung his head, shoulders shaking silently, weeping as relief overcame him.

"Oh, Gods…" he whispered, his chains clinking softly as he shook, "oh, Gods..."

Frowning, but never looking directly into the Dream Han's eyes, Han removed his jacket. He dropped it onto the ground a few feet away and then reached up to support his counterpart. The Dream Han moaned softly but let Han support his weight.

Han reached up and opened the chains simply by tugging them open, keeping his hold on the Dream Han as he fell forward.

Slowly, he lowered them both to the ground and cradled the Dream Han's upper body in his arms. He lifted his discarded jacket and settled it across the Dream Han's exposed hips, providing him modestly he had not had for far too long. The Dream Han had begun to shiver and turned his head toward Han's chest.

"Tired…" he breathed.

Han nodded.

"Yeah, I know. It's all alright now."

"Han?" asked the Dream Han, brow furrowing, eyes narrowing, as though he hadn't realized who it was before.

"Yeah?"

The Dream Han hardly moved, but his eyes took in both Han and his surroundings. He couldn't see Luke from where he was. He smiled tiredly.

"I'm dying, aren't I?"

Han nodded.

"Yes."

The Dream Han closed his eyes a moment.

"Can't feel…my body…" he wheezed.

Han shook his head. The Dream Han attempted to laugh but succeeded only in forcing a little air from his lungs in a few short gasps.

"Probably…just as well…huh..?"

Han frowned again.

"I'm going to help you," Han said.

He drew a long thin knife.

"What are you going to do!" Luke said suddenly.

Han looked up at him sharply.

"I'm going to do what you should have done when you found me. I'm going to help him die."

He looked at the man in his arms.

"It's okay," said the Dream Han.

Han smiled sadly.

"I know."

Han brought the knife forward and touched it to the Dream Han's side. But then he stopped and looked back into the Dream Han's eyes.

"I'm afraid," he said softly.

The Dream Han nodded.

"Me too."

There was a long silence as Han looked the Dream Han's failing body up and down.

"Do it," the Dream Han said. "Now."

Without breaking eye contact, Han forced the knife forward. The Dream Han gasped suddenly, but Han didn't stop until the knife was in up to the hilt, ignoring the nausea he felt when he met with resistance. It was only a second or so before he felt blood, warm and sticky, spilling onto his hands.

With a movement that was rougher than he intended, Han pulled the knife out of the Dream Han's side. The Dream an cried out softly as the metal left his flesh, but, as Han threw the knife, the Dream Han smiled.

Luke was blinking rapidly, trying still to stave of tears.

The Dream Han's breathing was ragged, each breath harder to take than the one before it.

"That's it," the Dream Han said. "It's over."

Han nodded again. The Dream Han's smile flickered and he stretched out a hand. Han took it, surprised at the strength that remained in the grasp. The Dream Han stared up at him, eyes turning glassy.

"Tell her…" he murmured.

Han lifted the Dream Han's head to try and aid his breathing but his mouth only filled with blood.

The Dream Han smiled again.

"Tell her everything," he whispered. "And tell her I love her."

The dream Han's eyes closed and he sighed, expelling his last breath. And then he, too began to fade. But as the Dream Han's body began to fade, each wound he sustained opened in replica on Han's body. Han hung his head so that Luke could not see as every cut, laceration and abrasion bled, each bruise blossomed.

Finally, the Dream Han was gone, leaving not even a drop of blood behind him, Han's jacket crumpling to the floor. Han winced as the old wounds opened themselves across his body.

"Han?" Luke asked, suddenly aware of the wounds as blood soaked through Han's shirt.

"Oh," Han whispered. "Leia…"

Around them, the dream world dissolved, the sky brightening once more. Han lay unconscious on the grass, bleeding.

"What happened?" Leia and Chewie asked simultaneously, rushing forward.

"It's over," Luke assured her. "It's all over now. Chewie? Help me get him back to the hospital."