There was a moment of silence before Vader collapsed to his knees and then to the floor, his left hand all that was keeping him from lying face-down. Obi-Wan and Luke rushed over and knelt beside him. Leia hesitantly stood a few feet away.
"Father," Luke said quietly, touching the Sith Lord's shoulder.
"My mask—take off my mask," Vader requested, touching his son's shoulder in return.
A protest died unsaid on Luke's lips. For the Sith Lord and the Tusken, perhaps, both long sheltered from the light, the removal of facial coverings was unthinkable. But for one trying to escape those bonds of darkness, the act was a step toward the light.
Slowly, almost reverently, Luke removed the mask, revealing a pale face set in a hairless, scarred head.
Tears shone in the Sith Lord's eyes. Quietly, he said, "You were right about me, Luke—know that, Leia—he was right...Thank you...Thank you for saving me..."
"You are not going to die," Luke said surely. He reached out to the Force and placed his hand on the dying man. "I will...I will save you."
His father smiled sadly.
****
Obi-Wan stared at the eyes of his former apprentice. They were no longer simply the eyes of Vader which he had encountered on Mustafar—they were shining orbs in which Anakin Skywalker was fighting against the Darkness.
Even if there were a chance that Anakin would turn back to the Dark Side, Obi-Wan could not forsake him again.
He placed his hands on Anakin's chest, smiling as the startled man flinched. "You have been redeemed by love, my friend...You saved me many times, Anakin...I will join your son to save your life."
****
Leia stared at her father. He had helped kill his master, had been willing to risk his own life for the survival of his children...But that one act was not enough for him to atone for all the ill he had done.
And yet...
Shouldn't he be allowed the chance to right some of the wrongs he had wrought? His death would accomplish nothing, but if he lived...
She moved forward a few steps, looking down at her father. Finally, she too knelt and placed a hand upon him. "I will help save you as well."
Her father's eyes met her own. She could see the sorrow in them, the shame, the fear...Through her own face, she communicated to him: I will help you, but you are not forgiven. She just couldn't forgive him yet.
He gave a slight nod—he understood what she was conveying. Though pain flashed through his eyes, Leia felt no remorse. She had spoken the truth, and truth was part of what she had been fighting for.
****
The kneeling Force users turned after hearing a voice from behind them. "Are you three crazy?" Han exclaimed as he walked toward them. "You're just going to heal Darth Vader?"
"He is Darth Vader no longer," said Obi-Wan calmly.
"Who...are you?" wheezed Anakin.
The smuggler puffed his chest out a little. "I'm Leia's boyfriend."
"What?" exclaimed Leia, Anakin, and Obi-Wan simultaneously. Luke merely smiled.
"Well," the smuggler amended, "I will be...There are a few details to work out first..."
Leia shook her head in disbelief, glaring at the man. "Why, you stuck-up...half-witted...scruffy-looking...nerf herder!"
"Who's scruffy-looking?" Han replied with a hurt look.
Leia gazed around her surroundings in frustration. "You know, if I weren't related to half of the men in this room, I'd probably be kissing one of them just to prove you don't know everything about women yet."
Obi-Wan was failing to hide his smile as he said gently, "I am afraid your father needs attention right now more than your boyfriend, Leia."
"He is not—" Leia cut off, seeing the look on Obi-Wan's face. "All right. I'm sorry." She turned her attention back to her father.
The three Force users, in unison, poured Light Side energy into the redeemed man. While doing so, Obi-Wan could have sworn he saw Anakin Skywalker bathed in a warm white glow, but that might very well have been his imagination. After a few minutes, the man was no longer wheezing, and his breathing seemed to be strong enough that Obi-Wan no longer worried about having to put the mask back on him.
The man lying on the floor in front of him was very pale, but Obi-Wan knew without a doubt that it was Anakin Skywalker. Older, perhaps; darker, perhaps; but Anakin Skywalker nonetheless.
"I do not understand..." Anakin frowned. "I do not need my mask..."
"The Dark Side is meant for destruction, Anakin," Obi-Wan chided gently as he and Anakin's children rose to their feet, "but the Light Side is meant for life."
Anakin nodded slowly, hesitantly. Obi-Wan could see that he was taking the lesson to heart.
There was a sudden influx of Dark Side energy, and when Obi-Wan turned, he saw an angry redhead pointing a ruby lightsaber at Luke's throat.
****
Anakin was somewhat surprised that he hadn't sensed Mara Jade, but then again, Palpatine had taught her how to cloak her presence in the Force. To aid in the destruction of Jedi, she would have to be able to hide herself.
Luke stood still, not even looking down at the blade hovering inches beneath his chin. Instead, he stared at Mara Jade.
"I saw everything," she whispered. "I was watching on a viewscreen—I couldn't hear it, but I saw you—I saw you all killing my master...You are all traitors to the Empire."
"Jade," Anakin said quietly as he sat up, "your master was trying to kill us..." His heart pounded out of fear for his son, but he knew that if she had truly wanted to kill Luke, then the boy would be dead already. The Emperor's Hand rarely missed her target.
"You have betrayed him," Jade said, glaring at him.
"He didn't care for you or me," Anakin replied gently. "He cared only for himself."
His son began to speak. "Mara..."
She turned and looked at him sharply. "You can talk?"
"There is more...to life than death...There is...so much...so much he never offered you...But you—you can still have it, Mara."
The girl hesitated. Anakin could tell that she wanted to believe Luke—she wanted to trust him...But she had been taught all her life to trust only Palpatine, and now...Now she was beginning to doubt the one person she had been allowed to trust.
Anakin opened his mouth to speak, but then he heard the sound of a blaster going off, and Mara Jade fell to the floor. He turned his head and saw Leia looking upon the redhead's body with a grim look. She had apparently taken Han's blaster and shot Mara with a stun blast.
"She'll be okay," Leia said, as if to ward off the accusatory gazes being sent her way. "I've met her before, though, and I knew she would be too much of a problem for us to handle right now."
Anakin smiled. It seemed his daughter wasn't one to waste too much time. His daughter...How strangely right that sounded...
He cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "We should evacuate the Death Star before we destroy it...Grand Moff Tarkin might try to hinder our efforts, but I believe we can handle him." He smiled, suddenly feeling a spark of the reckless youth he had once been flare up.
"We can send her out in an escape pod, Luke," Leia said to her brother, who was looking sadly upon the redhead's body. "Maybe one day the two of you will meet again under better circumstances..."
Luke hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yeah..."
****
When Anakin made an announcement over the intercom, he made it known that he, Darth Vader, had defected to the Rebellion and that all who also wished to defect could do so without fearing punishment. For those who remained loyal Imperials, they were to evacuate the Death Star. High-ranking loyal Imperials like Grand Moff Tarkin were arrested, as Anakin knew they would only provide trouble.
Anakin ushered the handcuffed prisoners into the Millennium Falcon after muttering to his companions, "How you survived the journey here on that mechanical beast is beyond my understanding." When the last of the prisoners were settled in, he spotted an astromech unit and a protocol droid exiting one of the ship's storage rooms. Furrowing his brow, he ventured, "Threepio? Artoo?"
Threepio tilted his head. "Excuse me, sir, but do I know you?"
Anakin felt somewhat taken aback by the droid's response, though he knew memory wipes were customary for droids. He tried to hide his disappointment as he told them: "I'm Anakin Skywalker..."
Artoo whistled in excitement.
"The Maker? What are you talking about, Artoo?" Threepio demanded.
The little droid beeped, but Anakin cut him off. "I created you, Threepio...And I'm guessing you still remember me, Artoo?"
When the astromech beeped an affirmative and tootled something else, Anakin smiled. "I missed you, too, Artoo...But I have returned, and we can hear more about each other's exploits later."
The droid beeped happily in response.
****
After the Death Star was completely evacuated and drained of important supplies by ships which were defecting to the Rebellion, Anakin and Luke piloted TIE/Advanced fighters out of the Death Star, sending some Force-aimed proton torpedoes through the thermal exhaust port which Anakin knew was the station's one weakness. Then Anakin, whooping out of excitement (stars, how wonderful it felt to finally do that again!), veered his fighter out of the trench and moved away from the Death Star, his son following him.
The Rebellion hadn't needed the Death Star plans after all.
****
Staring out the Falcon's viewport at the exploding Death Star, Leia couldn't help but smile. With the superstation's demise, the Empire was beginning to die.
Quietly, she spoke to the man beside her. "I appreciate all the help you have given us, Han."
The smuggler gave her a lop-sided grin that only Chewie and Obi-Wan caught. "You do realize you owe me, right, Your Worship?"
The princess glared, her solemnity shattered. "You will be paid handsomely. Do not worry."
"That's not exactly what I was talking about," Han grinned, standing up and leaning over her. "What I meant was—" he cut off as he proceeded to kiss her.
She leaned into the kiss before backing away and slapping him. "You nerf!"
But the smuggler grinned knowingly at her. "One day, you'll be begging me for more of that."
"In your dreams," Leia snorted.
"Yeah," Han smirked, "there too."
****
"Succeed, they did," Yoda said with a small smile at the spirit standing next to him.
Qui-Gon Jinn nodded. "Did you really expect anything less?"
The little green alien looked sad. "After the Jedi Purge, expect less of much have I."
"Well, maybe this will teach you to be a little more optimistic, hmm?" Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow.
"Heh," chuckled Yoda. "Perhaps, Qui-Gon. Perhaps."
****
Before the Yavin IV celebration ceremony, Luke met Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles for a second time. He hadn't known their names, but he had remembered their faces. The latter had remembered him, and the former had sensed something strangely familiar about him. He planned to talk more with them both later—he sensed they would all be great friends one day—but he needed to go to the ceremony. He clenched his new prosthetic right hand—it felt strange but right that he would be part machine like his father.
****
The ceremony filled Leia with excitement. More Rebels than she could count had gathered on the Rebels' base at Yavin IV, including her foster father, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Winter. Winter stood off to the left side near Dodonna and other Rebel officers, the gleaming Threepio and Artoo were near other officers on the right, and the three Rebel Alliance heads formed a triangle in the middle. The Three were proud—they felt their lives had been building up to this very moment. Bail Organa had helped make the galaxy safer for his homeplanet and two adopted daughters, Mon Mothma's hard work had finally reached fruition, and Garm Bel Iblis had attained justice for the deaths of his wife and children. Every face in the room radiated with joy.
A large grin on her face, Leia walked down the long aisle with her brother, her biological father, Obi-Wan, Han, and Chewie. On this day, they would be honored as heroes.
Leia knew that in the following days the Empire would fall and a New Republic would rise. The blow the Rebellion had struck above Alderaan was one the Empire could never recover from, though the battle was not quite over. But at the moment, that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that she knew the battle would be over. The Empire was crippled, and it would not recover.
Long live the Republic.
****
A few days after the Rebel celebrations had finally begun to die down, Luke went to visit Tatooine for what he intended to be the last time. He walked among familiar places, touched familiar things. While walking through the Jundland Wastes, it occurred to him that he didn't really know who he was—Chinnatah? Sun? Kid?...Luke? Maybe he was them all...And maybe he was more.
He did know that as Chinnatah, the Tatooinian suns and sands would always be in his blood; that as Sun, part of him would always be slightly fearful; that as Kid, he would always be discovering new things; and that as Luke, the Force would always be a part of his life...
Perhaps it didn't matter what he was—it just mattered that he was. At that thought, so simple but so satisfactory, he gazed upward at the Tatooinian sunset. The bright colors above him seemed to indicate that the sky's mind was in turmoil, but he felt at peace. He was going to end his old life and begin a new one, one with friends and family that accepted him as he was and as he was not. Removing his gaze from the sky, he moved forward.
The twin suns continued burning just as brightly. The next day, they would rise again.