Where Am I Going To?
Part Three
Chapter Eleven
"You cannot hide forever, Luke."
On the contrary, he could hide, and he would stay that way for as long as possible. The catwalk had been cut from right under him, and down he'd tumbled, rolling under the staircase to the emperor's dais.
I will not fight you, was his only call in the darkness, eyes shut tightly as he calmed his breathing.
"Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends…."
Luke's eyes shot open. Oh God…Something in him trembled, and mechanically he reached out a hand to grab a support, visibly shaking. No, no, he couldn't believe that. He couldn't….
But Han, and Wedge, and Lando, and-
"Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…"
No…
Vader stumbled, his forced breathing not giving a sign to his sudden unrest. "What?" was the harsh whisper in the darkness, and Luke gulped, terrified. "You…you have a….a sister?" Luke didn't know how he hadn't cried out by this point, didn't think he could speak at all. "So…Obi-Wan thought to hide her, as well….You will both come home to me. It is your destiny, you are a part of the Dark Side."
"No!"
He didn't even realize his saber was on as he rushed his father, pushed him back, back, back, amid Palpatine's terrible laugh. There was only the here and the now, and the clashing of weapons in heated combat until the young Jedi had his sire briefly pinned against the wall.
"I won't let you touch her!"
"Luke, listen to me, I-"
"No, you listen!" And it was all he could do to step back, to hold his lightsaber pointed at his father's chest to keep him from twitching a muscle, to hold his focus sharp to make both of the other occupants of the room be leery of him. "My whole life someone's been telling me what I'm meant to be. Not just the Sith, I admit the Jedi said it, too. Well, I'm tired. Do you hear me? I'm tired of the whole damn thing! I haven't worked for four years for you, or them, or for anybody else! I did it because I chose it, and not because of destiny. It's time for me to chose my destiny." He took a few more faltering steps back, breathing heavily. "It's time I decide where I am going to."
And for several tense seconds they just stood like that in the gloom, both opponents panting. But the brief, turbulent calm couldn't last.
Emperor Palpatine clapped sarcastically from his chair, rising up with a sneer on his lips. "A beautiful speech, my young apprentice. But you cannot escape your fate. You are as bound to me as your father was at your age. Now give in, you can't possibly win."
Luke's attention was split, and he now faced the emperor. "You're wrong, I already have."
"You like to think your father's loyalty lies with you? Hardly." And Luke quickly ducked as his father started a fresh swipe at his head. And then it was all back to the beginning again, Palpatine egging him on from the sidelines, Luke now furiously fighting, driving his father onto the bridge to the elevator shaft. Attacking uncontrollably until he had him down, until he had him beaten, until-
Until he swiped off his hand.
Robotic, that's all it was. More machine than man now… The flesh and blood man who sired him did not exist, and Luke was yanked viciously back into reality at the sight of this. The body was gone.
But the soul….
And wasn't that why he'd come, for the soul? Didn't he promise Obi-Wan he could save him? And hadn't he promised Leia?
Oh, God, what have I done!
Luke's knees buckled as he heard the emperor laughing behind him. No, he would not live another day if he failed. He would not simply kill the emperor or any such thing. None of this was simple. He would not live another day if he returned to Leia having failed in what he promised her he'd do.
"Your hate has made you powerful." Luke shook his head, eyes still locked onto his father's. "Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side."
Luke choked. What? He expected him to kill him? After seventeen years being raised by the man to be Imperial Prince? He'd hated Palpatine far too long, loved his father far too dearly to ever even consider-
But what if he….
….No. No, he wasn't going to do it. In point of fact, gasping for breath, he turned, tossed away his lightsaber, and shook his head. "I won't do it…" he croaked. More boldly now, he proclaimed, "You failed, Your Majesty. I am a Jedi, and I will neither bend nor break. I refute your destiny, and claim my own. There," he finished, standing tall, chest puffed out. "You can do nothing worse."
Normally, under any other circumstance, Luke would have trembled instantaneously at the look that now crossed Palpatine's face. But nothing could phase him now, nothing could make him fear. He had fought the uphill battle for four years, and even if it had meant his death, he had won.
So he didn't mind so much when the Force Lightning mercilessly attacked. He only cried out once, only locked eyes with his father who stood at his attacker's side once, and slid to the floor and into unconsciousness quietly.
He had won.
…
"I will go on. You showed me the way. I will not fail you."
Luke felt himself being pulled out of the blackness of his own subconscious as if being pulled from the brink of death. And really it wasn't so hard to think that that was where he'd been. He gasped for a moment, blinking sensitive eyes as he tried desperately to understand the last few turbulent minutes.
There was no Palpatine. Gone, something told him – the Force told him – and not to return. And for a brief moment of utter panic, when he could not see his father, when his eyes hadn't fully adjusted, he'd feared the same for Darth Vader.
Who had just earned the name Anakin Skywalker again.
Luke finally caught sight of the massive body, slumped against a rail by the reactor shaft, and Luke had to drag himself there, and then with great effort pull his father away, sitting up and putting the masked head in his lap. Luke coughed, tried to smile, winced in absolute pain. Oh, there had always been a reason to fear Palpatine as a child….
"Father," he gasped as the man's erratic breathing filled the room with an eerie sound. "I don't hate you."
"No…" Vader whispered, reaching a gloved hand out, trying to reach his son's face. "No, of course not."
"And I'm sorry for all the times I said I did, and all the times I hurt you, and I all the times I disappointed you, and-"
"You never disappointed me."
Luke smiled slightly, opened his mouth, shut it again. With much effort, the scratchy young voice asked, "Think you can get up?"
"I'm not sure."
"Try, please, you've got to try. It's alright," he reassured as the respirator became particularly noisy. "I'm going to take you home."
"Home?"
"Yes, home…you and I never really had that, I know, but that's okay…We can be a family, it's alright…"
Vader shuddered as his machinery broke down. "It's a nice dream."
"We've earned it," his son assured fiercely. "And we will have it."
"Luke, I…I broke your mother's heart."
There was a pause, blue eyes rapidly blinking as he fumbled. After a moment he coughed, "Yes…Yes, I suspect you did."
"And I killed so many of your friends, and the Jedi-"
"Father," he interrupted, trying to smile. "I think this list could go on for a while."
"Yet for all that….you still came back." He was in such awe of it that it amazed Luke. Didn't he think he would? Didn't he know? Their love was richer and more powerful than anything the universe could try to throw at them. Not even death could stop it.
"Yes, of course I did! None of that matters now, don't you see? I love you unconditionally, I always did. I forgive you for everything you cannot forgive yourself. I am your son, no strings attached! Always and forever. I love you and ask for nothing in return."
The redeemed creature squeezed the young man's hand, desperate with emotion. "I'd give you everything."
"Then just give me yourself. And that's enough." They sat like that for some moments still, just catching their breath with a terrible sort of urgency as an icy hand like death swept in closer, and closer…
Luke was desperate to dodge it. "Come on, let's try to get you up. We're getting out of here." And there the struggle only just began.
…
Feet, inches away from the shuttle they needed to get them out of there. So close, so obtainable. And that's what made it so cruel for Luke's strength to just collapse, for his father's suit to truly fail. It was with great effort that the son lay his father down on the shuttle ramp, gasping for breath, both the same. The Forced cracked and buzzed and seemed to whisper, Time, time, and no more time.
No. He refused that idea. He hadn't fought this hard for his father to lose him now.
"Luke?" the aged man feebly begged. "Help me take this mask off."
Luke paused, still trying to regain strength. He shivered, refused. "You'll die."
"Nothing can stop that now."
"Please don't talk like that!" he pleaded. "I won't give up on you now."
"I want…just once…to see you. With my own eyes."
"The price is too high. Wait until I can get you to a medical ward."
"No. Now."
There was no fighting that. The son paused, stared at his father's mask for a moment…and carefully reached out a hand to remove it.
To Be Continued…
Stephanie C: Thanks, we perform in about a week and a half.
Jessica -Angel- Skywalker: Well, Luke let it slip alright…
Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi: I kept forgetting I had this written up, so it's a touch late…
denique: Yeah, sorry, it will end soon. But I'll start another fic which I actually think will be even better.
Madame Naberrie: Oh, thank you so much! Doing evil for the right reasons is still evil. It's inescapable. Hopefully Luke has figured that out…
Schnickledooger: Here you are, Palpatine's dead. As for Vader, well, we'll see.