At last we have come to the end of this story. I'm still debating about doing a small epilogue in a few days, but it all depends on what you, the reader, think. I've enjoyed this story from the beginning, and am a little more than sad to see it end, but relieved at the same time. I hope you all enjoyed following it as much as I did writing it! Thank you to ALL my faithful readers, the first ones, the later ones, and even the ones who never reviewed but followed it anyway! This story would have gone no where without the reviewers though, so a special thank you to you guys! So, tell me what you think overall (especially for those who have never reviewed) by reading and reviewing:-)

And now for...

CHAPTER 16: THE END ALL BE ALL

Palpatine slapped Luke on the back, "See, Lord Vader! I told that with just a little persuasion he would come to us!"

"Luke, don't." Laila moaned. Luke's eyes were set hard on her, yellow with rage. With sudden force he slammed against Vader and encircled his hands around his throat, "You're lying!" he screamed.

Laila rushed forward and tried to pull Luke off her Master, "Luke, stop! This is what he wants! Don't do it!"

Luke shoved her off harshly, "Don't tell me what to do," he hissed at her.

Vader's breathing became labored and he felt his son's strength growing with the evil that was consuming him. He knew it wasn't because Luke wanted to feel that power, that would come later, it was because he felt betrayed…just like he had, with Obi-Wan and Padme so many years ago. And look where it had gotten him, he thought bitterly, forever imprisoned in a black suit and eternally indebted to the Emperor. He thought back to when he first saw Luke smile, laugh, wield a lightsaber for the Light, it was as if through his son's sudden darkness, he had seen the light. His entire body filled with the substance and he felt relieved. He almost smiled, had Luke's hands not been around his neck.

He grasped his hand on Luke's arm, "Luke don't," he rasped, "Go back to her, the…light…" it was too late though, in Luke's anger he had disabled his father's iron lung.

Vader took in one deep breath and collapsed.

"Father!" Luke shouted out of his trance as he felt his father's transformation, "No!" he bent down to his father and tried to stand him up unsuccessfully.

"No…Luke…my time is…up." Anakin said, gently placing his hand on Luke's face with great effort.

Reading his mind, Luke tenderly removed Anakin's helmet and looked into the identical blue eyes.

"My son…" Anakin gave a thin smiled before closing his eyes for the last time.

Laila was still panting from screaming at Luke to stop strangling his father when her tears began to fall rapidly. She had lost Luke and her Master. She fell to her knees and cried harder.

Palpatine cursed silently the day Anakin Skywalker was born and cursed again when he felt the light beating out the darkness inside Luke. He had to get rid of him too now, Laila was his only hope. Maybe the death of him would spark her darkness again…a little bit of Force-lightning ought to do the trick…

Laila's strong, dark bond with Vader rolled over into an even stronger bond of light with Anakin and he heard his voice in her head, "Laila! Luke, you must save him!" With the bond, she quickly heard Palpatine's disastrous plan.

"You've cost me too much, Skywalker! You will pay!" Palpatine sputtered, his hands rising to shoot forth the deadly bolts.

Almost in slow motion Luke faced his opponent, as Laila jumped up and ran to him, "Luke, watch out!" she flew over and pushed him to the side right as Palpatine's lightning bolts hit her full force.

Luke fell to the hard floor, Laila's screams ringing in his ears. He saw her withering in pain on the floor

"Laila!" he called his saber to him from across the room and charged at Palpatine, who before he could realize what was happening, had been impaled by Luke's spectacular green lightsaber.

Palpatine's face registered shock as he fell back, sent into the perpetual turmoil of the afterlife.

Luke breathed heavily as he become conscious of the fact that he had destroyed the most powerful human being in the galaxy.

"Luke." Laila groaned from her position on the ground. Luke rushed to her side. She was paler than normal and her Force Signature was faint.

Luke cradled her head in his lap, "No, Laila, don't do this! Stay with me! I love you!"

Her eyes fluttered and her signature was almost gone. Burns littered her body from the lightning; scars would create maps on her face for all eternity.

"I'm sorry, Laila," Luke placed a soft hand on the side of her face, "I should've been able to save you."

Laila fought back death for one more moment, "No, Luke, no. You did save me," she tried to smile at him, her mind becoming foggier, but she had to tell him, "You did save me… from the Dark Side, you saved me… just like your father."

Tears ran down Luke's face, "I can't live without you Laila, I just can't."

"I know. So don't…live for me, Luke. Live…for me."

"I don't think I can. Please, stay with me, Laila. I need you!"

Laila shook her head slowly, darkness inching it's way into her, "No, it was I who…needed…you." Her breaths were coming fewer and farther between. Luke knew the end was coming.

Luke called the broken snippet to him and held it into Laila's hand, "Forever, remember? I'll always love you." Tears blurred his vision as Laila's hand became limp in his own.

"…love…forever." Luke looked into her bright turquoise eyes one last time and she died in his arms, her Force signature faded into the darkness forever.

That night, the Empire died, but along with it, Laila, and a very large piece of Luke's heart.

the end.

Now, I know some people may not approve of the ending, but it was planned from the very beginning and it's how I felt it should end. If you did or didn't like it, tell me in a review! Please and thank you:-)

And if you'd still like to see more of my writing, I'm in the process of writing Legacies Die Hard, a time travel fic (Anakin goes to the future, more info in previous chapters). And I may possibly pick up my very first story that went on hold when this one started up, Victorious (another Luke/OC story). So read them if you're ever bored and review to tell me what you think of them:-)