Luke separated himself from the others. Their continued mutterings wouldn't break his concentration. His eyes were closed, his breathing even. His epiphany had hit him like a bolt of lightning- the natural kind, not Palpatine's, he told himself- and just like any huge moment it was hard to grasp and wanted to slip away. He'd told the others he needed a moment to think.

Luke felt... blessed. It was an odd thing to realize, as he faced yet again another fight for life. Not just his own, but all life. Yes, Palpatine was back and yes he had a real chance at accomplishing what he intended. And Luke dreaded the possibility and did harbor a real fear.

But also, for this fight he had what he hadn't before, and that was... contentment. That's what he had said of the Force before, in times of peace, but he'd misread it. It was his contentment. In earlier fights, it was a burden shouldered upon him. By Ben, by Yoda, by the actions of his father. It was both Leia, whose Force potential was unrecognized, and Han, who got him through. Real friendship. Not responsibility or obligation. And now there was so much more of it, this real, terrific connection. He had a wife and child, niece and nephews, good friends.

He wasn't doing this for the Force. He was doing it for them. For himself. He hoped it gave him a power Palpatine did not have.

Chewie's stomach rumbled. If he possessed the ability to use the Force, he'd use it to ask his mate Malla to bring him something to eat.

He stepped over to Han, who held the youngest of his cubs. Little Nak was fighting to stay awake.

*You are tired, little one,* he told the boy. *And I am hungry.* He used a sharp nail to widen the opening of Nak's candy sack.

The boy lifted his head off his father's shoulder. "You want some candy, Chewie?" It made Nak happy to share with him.

"I thought you said you didn't eat the stuff," Han said to his wookiee partner.

"There's food inside, Chewie," Leia told him. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a break while Luke is meditating."

Chewie shook his great shaggy head. *Your family is my life. I will not leave your sides or see you vulnerable because of hunger.*

"At least you're just hungry," Han said. "I'm all sorts of frustrated. If a Force Ghost had some calories, I'd let you eat one. But I doubt they're very nourishing."

Lando looked around him. This wasn't his home, but he'd been here often enough. He had known Han Solo a long time, through thick and thin, some big ups and large downs. But they were friends now, or should he say friends again; good friends, the parts of their contentious association forgiven. Mostly.

He was certainly the most clueless being here tonight. He didn't know what a Yoda was, he had never heard of Qui Gonn and only knew Luke had named his baby after someone important to him.

He'd had dealings with Darth Vader before, and had he known what he did now, namely that under the visage of black death Vader was just a weakened man, things might have gone differently.

Palpatine, he knew. Not personally, but the man's cruelty had dictated the policies of the Empire and it was enough to turn Lando's swindler heart into that of a hero.

Ben was a bit of an oddball, he was thinking as he found the old man's eyes on him, wondering if they were blue in life or if it was the Force emanating out of them, and then he shrugged. Maybe death did that to you.

"Having second thoughts, Mr. Calrissian?" Old Ben asked.

"General," Lando corrected and smoothed his cape. "Second thoughts about what?"

"I can't seem to keep all the different titles arranged in my mind," Ben said cheerfully. "But you are here tonight. Your destiny shaped you long ago."

"I just came to serve punch," Lando said. "And I didn't know I'd be doing that!"

Ben smiled. "I see what Luke meant. The Force is present in all of us, even the dark side. I see it in you and Captain Solo-"

General."

"Of course." The ghost nodded. "And him and Mrs. Skywalker."

Lando didn't bother to correct him this time. "What are you saying? That Han doesn't get along well with others, or do you have a real observation to make?"

"I was taught to keep the light and dark separate," Ben said. "To guard my feelings. Maybe it helped me live a long time."

"Didn't Vader kill you?" Lando sent a shifty-eyed glance toward the ghost of Anakin Skywalker.

"But maybe what I thought was peace was really loneliness."

Yoda held the most years of life, but Qui Gonn had been dead the longest. He was struck by the changes in the way the Force was handled by the Jedi in this age. Master Skywalker, the leader and teacher, was married, and had a child! And his sister was left untrained! In his day, none of this would have been allowed.

He remembered the grief Obi Wan- or Ben, as he seemed to like to be called now- had felt upon his death. Also not permitted, but Qui Gonn remembered as he slipped into death how... was it odd to say it felt good? validating? that his life had meant so much to another.

Yes, it had been nice to be loved. And here was a large family before him, and those studying the Force allowed one without it to sort of joke about feeding a ghost to a wookiee. Dark Side humor this had to be, yet it was tolerated, and, Qui Gonn saw by the slight movement of Skywalker's lips, not entirely unwelcome.

His eyes were twinkling again as he addressed General Solo's insult. "We have no feelings to hurt," Qui Gonn said amiably, "But I understand your frustration."

"If you have no feelings, then you don't care," Jacen reasoned. "So why are you here?"

"As Palpatine grows more powerful, he uses the Force to do it. He took her Force," Qui Gonn nodded in the direction of Mara Jade. "If he succeeds in taking others, I fear the version of us that exists in the Force will no longer be."

"You're afraid of dying," Jacen understood.

With a deep sigh, Luke came out of his meditation. No one knew when it would end and it was uninteresting to watch, and the group was scattered about the patio. No one paid him any notice just yet. Mon Mothma was sitting on the ground with her knees bent and ankles crossed. In the expanse of skirt fabric between her knees, she, Chewbacca and Nak had made a small pile of candy wrappings. Mara leaned against the stone wall, and rested her cheek against baby Ben's soft hair with her eyes closed, as if she was trying to draw strength from his scent. Han sat against the edge of a table, his arm slung over Leia, who had her own arms wrapped around his middle. Jaina, Jacen and Lando had gathered around the three Force ghosts and were talking quietly together. Only the ghost of Anakin Skywalker stood alone and slightly off to the side, behind Luke.

The one who sought connection so deeply, Luke thought. The one who mercilessly prolonged an entire war to find his son.

He'd forgotten how it hurt his hands. The tingling had given away to a burning sensation. The Force wanted him to burn everything in his path. When there was nothing left, it would turn on him, but he would not tolerate taking a subservient role.

The branch he was resting on cracked, and he fell to the ground. He stood up quickly, turning on his feet, his eyes darting in all directions.

The time had come, then. He would release a little of himself, and they would come, and then he would take them all.

He directed his aching fingers at the fallen branch, and with a grimace of release, painful and welcoming, he set it on fire.

"Father," Luke summoned the ghost of Anakin Skywalker to his side. "Both Ben and Yoda have told me your fall was a seduction by the Dark Side of the Force. But I see now that tells me nothing."

Anakin gave a harsh laugh.

"Tell me what happened," Luke said quietly.

Anakin glided limblessly back and forth, and then sighed. "What Qui Gonn mentioned earlier is true. I was groomed by Palpatine. I came to the Jedi Order a boy, but much older than they were used to training. I was always an outsider. Too old, too young, too powerful, too attached. Palpatine was then the Chancellor, and he took an interest in me."

He stopped to look at his son. "When Obi Wan spent his exile on Tatooine, did you get the impression he was grooming you?"

Luke shook his head. "I had very little contact with him until I sought him out. If he had, I would have hated you from the start."

"Didn't you? On Cloud City you chose to jump to your death rather than join me."

"Because I didn't want to join the Dark Side, but I always wanted my father. Remember how quickly I answered you, after my escape?"

"You called me father," Anakin remembered. He continued his tale. "I fell in love, and had visions of her death. In childbirth, actually," he added with a nod to his offspring. "I had been a slave as a boy. Even while training in the Force, every death seemed so unnecessary and cruel. The Force gave me warnings about my mother, and I ignored them, and she died the cruellest death of all. I couldn't stand the thought of something like that happening to the woman I loved. The Jedi wouldn't help me-"

Throughout the years, Luke had little contact with Force ghosts. Now, with the mention of his late mother, whom Luke knew nothing about, he saw they were a wealth of information. But he had to shelve his questions until the crisis of Palpatine's return was resolved.

"They couldn't, could they?" he asked. "to How would they be able to help-"

"- but Palpatine promised he could show me how to stop death. That's all I needed to hear."

"But he didn't show you," Luke said.

"I don't think he knew how, then."

"I guess he does now."

"Do you think we'll win, Mom?" Jaina asked.

Leia looked with a weary fondness at her daughter. Her cosmetic costume efforts were an absolute mess. "You should go wash your face," she said.

"I don't want to. I don't want to miss anything."

Leia understood. "It's not a matter of winning," she said. "When you think of it that way, it's a competition, and you open yourself up to losing. This is about setting it right, doing the right thing."

"Doesn't Palpatine think what he's doing is right?"

Leia sighed. "He's insane."

"Maybe the Force addled his brain."

"Maybe it did."

"Trade you, Jade," Han said to Mara. They both held a sleeping child in their arms. Han's bundle, Nak, was a lot bigger than her baby.

Mara's torso reflexively turned Ben away from Han. "Not on your life."

"Mine's getting heavy."

She smiled reluctantly. "They've had a night. Why don't you put him to bed inside?"

Han had considered doing that, but the events of the evening had him reject the idea. "With our luck, Palps'll go sneaking behind our backs."

"I'm not letting go of Ben, either."

"So, need any pointers from a Non on life without the Force?"

"Don't rub it in," she scowled at him.

"I'm not," Han realized. "I guess it's my way of expressing condolence. "

"I'm not dead," Mara snapped.

Han nodded. "Glad you can see the bright side. Or is it the light side?"

"You're no Jedi master, Solo." But she could see what he was attempting, and appreciated the effort. "I hope I get it back."

"If you don't, we'll have a target shooting contest, and then I'll know for sure if you've been using the Force to cheat all this time."

"You're on."

"I've learned a lot tonight," Luke told them all. "Things that I wouldn't have maybe in a lifetime of meditation."

"Wake up, buddy," Han bounced Nak on his arm. "Uncle Luke's got another story for you."

"The main thing is, love is the meaning of life," Luke began.

"Bravo!" Qui Gonn applauded.

"Master, this isn't a recital," Old Ben tugged on Qui Gonn's glowing blue robes.

"I came to the same conclusion myself," Qui Gonn said proudly to Mon Mothma.

"You always knew that," Mara called from the group to her husband.

"I knew love was important to life," Luke amended. "I knew that the Jedi of old disavowed attachments, but I thought differently, even when I was in my twenties, because I was already attached."

"Told you, too old were you," Yoda said with an unrelenting stubbornness.

"But the Force can't exist without love," Luke said.

"Kid, if this is a biology lesson, the stingers and the feathers," Han said, "I think most of us know it." Chewie hooted an emphatic agreement.

"I don't," Nak said.

"Mom told us a couple of years ago," Jaina said.

"Not just biology," Luke said. "Master Yoda, it's the reason the Jedi died out when Palpatine seized power."

"Wrong you are," Yoda stomped a thick foot, "blasters fired by troops at Jedi the reason is."

"There was no one to mourn the Jedi. To remember them. To keep them in their hearts. It would have died out anyway, just a lot slower, because it had to rely on the Force to create users." Luke tapped a table in rhythm to his speech. "Nothing can survive without love."

Lando held a finger up. "Got a contradiction for you. Palpatine."

Luke nodded smugly at Lando. It was exactly the answer he wanted from the crowd. "I repeat: nothing can survive without love."

"He sure as kriff is not showing his loving side tonight," Lando said.

"He's incapable," Mara said.

"And that will work to our advantage," Luke said. "Don't you see?"

Chewie uttered a long string of guttural sounds. *Why hasn't he attacked us? We've been all over the grounds.*

Leia shrugged at him. "I'm still hoping we're wrong."

"Let me understand this," Mon Mothma spoke up, "you're saying... he's going to... self-extinguish?"

"If he stays in his own body, yes," Luke nodded at her.

"So... we wait him out? Don't let him get a new body?" Jacen asked. He looked around at the others. It didn't seem too difficult.

"I'm not sure we'll be able to prevent that," Luke said.

Everyone exchanged glances, a mixture of worry, confusion and skepticism on their faces.

"These Force riddles are your fault," Han told Yoda. "He was never the same after he met you."

"But if we let that happen," Luke continued, "there's nothing to stop him from doing this again."

Voices came at the same time with questions. "What do we do?" "How do we catch him?" "He's got to be stopped!" *Grksshyrk.*

Just then flames could be seen from the grove.

*The trees!* Chewie bellowed and he hurtled off the patio.

"Lando!" Han shouted. "Speeder!"

"I'm on it!" Lando shouted back and the two men sprinted toward a large shed.

"Wait!" Luke called.

"Luke, our property is burning!" Leia yelled angrily and she left to follow Chewie.

"Do you have irrigation you can run?" Mon Mothma wandered the patio, searching for a control box. "Wet the ground so the fire can't spread?"

"There's a hose point out there," Jacen said.

"I'll get the hose!" Jaina shouted, and her twin raced after.

"Wait for me!" Nak followed with loud whine.

"Children, wait!" Mon Mothma scurried after them with her skirts held high.

In the ensuing silence, Yoda grunted, "Scattered, have they."

Qui Gonn rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Events have developed."

"Dictated by Palpatine," Anakin Skywalker declared grimly. "Not the Force."

"I wasn't finished," Luke said.

"It's just us Force Ghosts now." Old Ben was no help at all. "Oh, and Mrs. Skywalker, of course, and the ba-"

"It's Jade!"

"Someone wants a ride," Lando pointed as Han steered the land speeder out of the small hangar at top speed.

"Dad! Dad!"

Han twisted his torso to see his three children and Mon Mothma running awkwardly, encumbered by a length of hose and voluminous skirts.

"You three get back to the house," he ordered his children.

"We've got the hose," Jacen said breathlessly.

Lando pursed his lips. "It's a better idea than ours. Together, it's a great idea."

"Good thinking," Han told his children. "Throw it on, then-" Before he could finish, all three were already on board, and Mon Mothma was still climbing in. There was no keeping them away, he saw. So he set his jaw and pressed the accelerator. "Stay with the Chancellor and out of the way."

Mon Mothma was out of breath. She hadn't run this hard since she was young. But she sent the kids a glance that told them they wouldn't sit on the sidelines while they were with her.

The woods were very dark still. Except for the orange flames ahead, which to Leia's eye didn't seem to be growing. And the sparkles of drifting light nearby, like little bugs twinkling in flight, only that was a memory of Alderaan.

Chewie was ahead, making straight for the fire. She veered her run toward the sparkles.

"They're running right to him," Luke said urgently.

"Was that not the plan all along?" Old Ben said.

"They didn't hear the plan! Neither did you!"

"I'll head him off," Anakin Skywalker said grimly, and he glided away.

Luke looked around desperately for a place to deposit his sleeping son. But the monitors in the house wouldn't reach the grove, and what if Luke lost his Force, too?

He took his wife's hand. "Head out, everyone."

The blue lights floated into the darkness, and he and Mara moved as quickly as they could, but they were slowed by the sleeping baby. Luke saw the blue of their Force, a tiny army, a power of heritage. The agitation he'd noted earlier, what had caused his son to keen like that, eased back a little in watchful gratitude.

"You," he sneered at the woman. She had the mark of Skywalker all over her. The Jedi- and the Force was just as guilty, keeping this from him- had once held an advantage over him, but no more.

"Your father was a failure," he gnashed his teeth. "It is no wonder my victory was delayed."

Leia's Alderaani witch costume did not include her lightsaber. Too late, she realized her foolhardiness. She lifted her heels one at a time to her rear and took off her shoes.

Palpatine looked different than Lando and Han had described. Taller than a child, and the wrinkles weren't so bad.

"You'll never have victory," she told Palpatine.

"Master!"

Leia turned her head just as Palpatine raised his gnarled fingers.

Han was cursing the low performance of the land speeder. "Why'd I let anyone talk me out of upgrading the engine?"

"Land speeders don't need hyperdrive, Dad," Jaina reminded him.

Lando had his arm extended, holding on for dear life. Han was steering around the trees, taking sharp turns at full speed. He checked behind him to be sure no one had fallen out. "I heard something," he said.

"It's very smokey," Mon Mothma observed worriedly. "How will you find the hose point?"

It was a good question, Han thought, and he didn't have an answer. The hose point access was in the ground, under a metal plate. In all the years they'd lived here, he'd never had cause to use it. Mature trees didn't need to be watered.

"I heard a yell," Lando said.

"Maybe the Force brought us here," Jacen said. "And the hose point is an excuse."

The speeder jolted to a stop and everyone lurched forward. Han jumped out. "How do you Jedi get anything done?" he asked. "Chewie!" he bellowed into the smoke. "I think the smoke is Chewie. Wookiees smother their fires. He's got to be close."

"Master!"

The word affected Palpatine. Like cells dividing, expanding, the creation of life. Master was a sound, an instinct, something understood but not known. Whispered in the smoke, tingling in his fingers, synonymous with the feeling of the dark side of the Force.

Anakin Skywalker glided to stand before his daughter and Palpatine.

Leia saw his ugly, limbless shape, the bald head, the weak eyes. She had always hated Darth Vader, and no matter how hard Luke tried she assigned that same hatred to Anakin Skywalker. And she hated Palpatine, too, for broader reasons- for Alderaan, for the war, for his greed and cruelty.

Two rages existed within her, and then a third grew, at herself, for being vulnerable, for being foolish; and then a fourth, at Luke, for his sentimental weakness.

Love, Luke thought again. He was feeling a little nauseous. And, if he were honest, scared too.

"Mara, I love you," he told his wife.

She nodded, and squeezed Ben, reassured by his innocent presence. "I know what you're doing," she said. "Once, all I knew was darkness, until you came and showed me different. But it was just me, a servant, and still it was hard, wasn't it?"

Luke nodded. "You almost killed me."

"Several times," Mara reminded him. "It was your faith. In me, that changed me. And I wouldn't have all this- you, Ben, a life I love- without you. Love spreads."

"Love leads to fear," Yoda said.

"Master Yoda," Qui Gonn sighed, "with all due respect, please stop saying that. They exist together. Did you ever fear the end of the Jedi?"

"No."

"Maybe you should have."

"Hmm," Ben said.

Love, Luke repeated to himself as he walked along. Family. But families were complicated. His especially. His father was wrapped up in self-remorse, and his sister... His sister...

"We have to hurry," he told the Force ghosts. There was a way Palpatine could succeed. "You're faster. We'll catch up. Hate is blinding, but it can spread too."

Chewie jumped out of the trees, causing Mon Mothma to shriek.

"You startled me, Chewbacca," she clutched at her chest. Qui Gonn placed a blue hand on her shoulder to steady her and she let out another squawk. "Where did you come from?"

He looked at her kindly. "It's been a difficult night for you, m'lady. Constrained by your outfit and your attitude."

"My attitude?" Mon Mothma bristled.

"Accept us," Qui Gonn told her. "Accept the essence of the Force, where there is no breath, but still you find life."

"I'm with her," Lando put in, noting that Ben and Yoda were here now, too. "I accept you. Only I didn't know you could move that fast."

Chewie tugged on Jacen's robes. *This is just what I need to put the rest of the fire out.*

"But Chewie, these are my robes," Jacen whined.

"And now they're good for something," Han said.

"You'll look like us," Old Ben said. "Master Yoda's are tattered from his years of living in a swamp." He pulled at his own robes to show Jacen holes. "I got these from splashes of lava."

Jacen looked at each Force ghost. The robe was a symbol of the Jedi, but it had its own story, too. He could wear his like a badge of achievement. He shrugged out of his. "Here you go, Chewie."

*Thank you, little one.*

Han looked around. "Leia went with you," he told Chewie. "Where is she?"

Mara felt a tension across her back and shoulders. Her arms ached from clutching Ben so tightly. Her brisk pace was rougher than if she had rocked the baby to sleep, but he seemed unbothered by the motion. She was relieved he wasn't crying anymore. That had been very frightening. She'd never felt more helpless. Until she lost her ability to use the Force.

"There's something to this notion of fear," she mentioned to Luke as they walked as fast as they could with their burden.

He turned to her. "What are you noticing?"

"I haven't given the Nons enough credit. I don't know how they do it, to live in such blindness. I'm scared," she admitted frankly. "I can't- I can't foresee anything, any outcomes. Or they are all terrifying. It's like the whole world is vulnerable. Fragile."

They walked several paces before he answered. "Doesn't that describe life in general? I'm thinking of when I was a boy. The desert was really dangerous. Even this forest- there's a food chain. Instinct keeps prey from trying not to be eaten, but even that knowledge can't prevent it from happening."

Mara glanced down at Ben. "All I want is for him to be safe."

Luke nodded. "He is right now."

"He lost his Force too, didn't he, Luke. That's why he can sleep."

Luke stopped to wrap his wife and son in a hug. "It'll be alright."

Oh, Anakin Skywalker remembered this. The feeling of intense emotional hunger and thirst. He'd had it all his life, he saw now. And the Jedi, with their philosophy of detachment and moderation, had deprived him.

It was sad to have died, and not gotten what he wanted.

His old master Palpatine was back. Lusting for power and immortality like before.

"What a waste you are, my former apprentice," Palpatine sneered at him. "You've done nothing with your death." He raised his aching fingers.

Lightning streamed, the palest of blue, from blackened fingers. Anakin stood between Palpatine and Leia, the daughter he learned he had when it was too late, and let it come.

Leia watched as if transfixed. When it came out the back of Anakin Skywalker's ghostly form she finally reacted. She threw herself sideways and landed with a grunt. For a moment she lay still, winded. She could hear the crackles of flame and Palpatine's laughter.

Her father, when he was Darth Vader, had once used the Force on her. There was a time, when she was a girl and she had no idea, when she was carefree and happy. Then the Force had come into her life, friend and foe, Luke and Darth Vader. The loss of Alderaan, the replacement of one father she loved with another she wanted to deny.

"I can feel your anger, daughter of Skywalker." Spittle flew from Palpatine's twisted mouth. "Jade's Force gave in to me, just as she did when she was my Hand, but you..."

Palpatine was standing over her, his yellowed eyes lusting and odd. Leia thought of Han, and her children, the mixture of life with and without the Force, of arms wrapped around her.

Leia got to her feet. She had nothing with which to fight. No weapon. And then Luke's words came back to her. Love.

Using all the strength her small body physically possessed, Leia lunged at Palpatine.

"Over there!" Jaina shouted, and Chewie reacted at once, Jacen's smoldering robes flapping at his side.

Lando tripped over something. "What the... Han! I found it! The hose point!"

"Bring it over here," Han beckoned urgently to his children for the length of hose.

"Is this gonna work, Dad?" Jacen asked. "We're up against the Force."

"You gotta make a stand," Han answered as he attached the hose and opened the valve. "Even if it's your last one."

Jacen nodded. The words came out of his father's mouth, but they sounded good. Important. If he closed his eyes, he could see them coming out of Qui Gonn's mouth. And Qui Gonn, to this fourteen year old boy, was someone he admired.

"Come, m'lady," Qui Gonn quietly whispered in Mon Mothma's ear. There was no warmth of breath, no touch of air. "We are needed."

They headed towards the new area of flame. Mon Mothma could hear sounds of a scuffle.

"Leia!" she gasped.

She'd first met Leia when her colleague in the Senate Bail Organa adopted her as an infant. And she had watched as Leia grew into the roles of senator and princess, then member of the High Council during the Rebellion. And now here she was in a forest glade, her alluring guise of a beautiul spirit of Alderaan devolved into a feral fight for her home.

Mon Mothma rushed forward. It was two symbols of the civil war, the people and the tyrant, the just and the wicked. Mon Mothma had been part of a secret group of senators plotting to unseat Palpatine before he crowned himself emperor, and she saw in Leia her younger self, when it hadn't gone right.

Leia and Palpatine were fighting hand-to-hand, pushing against each other with their hands on the other's shoulders. Little bursts of hot sparks flashed from Palpatine's fingers, and though Leia cried out in pain, she did not let go.

"Leia!" Mon Mothma shouted again, and rushed forward to fight off Palpatine.

Qui Gonn joined Anakin.

"It's frustrating not to be able to help," Anakin said. "The lightning passes right through. They can still get hurt."

"We are the Force," Qui Gonn calmly. "So is the lightning."

Han held the hose, swaying it back and forth on the ground before him and on tree trunks to dampen the landscape. "Kids, slow down!" he bellowed. "Lando, run up ahead. Make sure they stay safe."

"No," Lando decided. "I'm sticking with you. They number three; you'd be one. Besides, I think they've been doing pretty good so far. Time to let them grow up a little."

"Kriff that," Han growled. "It's past their bedtime."

Lando laughed. "Remember when you thought it funny that I was a responsible businessman?"

"That was surprise."

"Yeah, I know. I do the same when I think of you as a responsible father."

The orange glow was brighter and Luke could feel the fire's warmth and hear the air fuel it. The Force was full of exertion and feeling, but it hadn't lost control.

"This is it," he told Mara. "Whatever happens-"

"Just do it, Farmboy."

"Mom!" the three chldren cried. Without any hesitation they jumped into the fray.

Old Ben came to stand next to Qui Gonn and Anakin. "Is there nothing we can do?"

"We are here," Qui Gonn said. "It is enough."

"Palpatine appears to be growing. And I mean literally," Ben observed. "Did they not say he was child-sized?"

"Leia!" Han shouted as he came into the clearing. For a moment he was dumbstruck by the sight of his entire family plus Mon Mothma fighting a much larger and younger-looking Palpatine. It was hard to see; again, smoke wisped around the fighters. Han realized Mon and Leia were being burned by Palpatine. His fighter instincts returned, and acting like the hose was a blaster, he swung it up to aim at Palpatine, and adjusted the nozzle so that it was a high pressure stream.

"Don't just stand there," he yelled to Lando. "Get them off each other!"

Lando ran behind Palpatine's back, and grabbed a fistful of the immortal being's robes. He pulled hard. "Kids," he shouted. "Get over here! Help me!"

With their help he was able to wrench Palpatine away from the frenzied hands of Mon Mothma and Leia, who both fell to their hands and knees, panting. A stream of water hit Palpatine in the face.

Luke rushed up. "This is fantastic!" he shouted over the noise of water and Palpatine's furious sputterings. "Good work, everyone. Now stand back, and let him lightning."

"Know what you are doing?" Yoda asked.

"You had the answer all along, Master Yoda. Let the dark side consume him."

Hatred, and enemies. The worthless. Betrayal.

It was all here. Palpatine grimaced, like something was bursting to come out of him.

Conspiracies. Greed.

His hands couldn't contain it anymore, and he pushed down on the air, and the lightning was bluer, its path a bit wider. The son of Skywalker answered it with his lightsaber, aiming it toward the Force ghosts.

Fools. How he had laughed at them, mocked them. Forever he would do that, so they would know his scorn.

His hands were blue fire, and it burned. Oh, how it burned, delicious pain.

More. More, something within him urged, an insatiable thirst, such hunger. Still, the lightsaber met his fury, and in the crowd of people he could see disgust and fear and victory and even hopeful triumph and he wanted to burn them, and now here were his other indulgences, murder and death, all the lives he had lain to waste, millions upon millions, filling the glade. They waved at him, and in their eternity they were not angry, and they did not hate. They were what made up the Force, and they would accept him as one of them.

The fire in him wouldn't die. He couldn't stop the lightning. He had lost control. He felt smaller, less of himself, a part of something bigger.

"No," he tried to say. His eyes widened as he met Luke Skywalker's calm ones, ones who knew better.

Palpatine rushed for the hose. He couldn't take the heat anymore, the burning. It was eating him up inside. The worthless holding it ran away with it, letting the water hit the women, the children, protecting them.

It hurt! He stuck his hand in his mouth to quench it, bit down, and then he was gone.

No one spoke. They were breathing hard, and Han held the hose still, so a large puddle was forming, but otherwise the forest was quiet.

"Is he gone?" Nak asked.

"He's gone," Luke answered.

Chewie stepped forward. He stepped where Palpatine's energy had finally run out, and stamped on the smoldering earth.

*Always make sure your fires are out* he proclaimed.

"If that ain't advice for the ages," Lando wiped his brow.

Author's note

I think it needs an epilogue.

Thank you for reading!