AN: I really was dissatisfied with the first scene of this chapter. I just couldn't get it like I wanted. It just didn't seem believable, but I decided I'd rectify it with a new scene that will be in one of these next chapters. Anyway, there are six more chapters after this and an epilogue… maybe, if I can get it to write the right way. So nothing else.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Thirty-three

Luke narrowly avoided a falling tree as Vader and Obi-wan dueled. As expected, the duel hadn't remained in the small clearing and Luke was trying his best to keep up with them while staying out the way at the same time. But it wouldn't be long before he would have to intervene. He could feel it in force. It was urging him to make his choice, any choice to tilt the tides of the battle.

"Obi-wan, Father," he yelled trying to perhaps stop them. But it was no use. This was a personal vendetta his dad had against Obi-wan and Obi-wan was convinced it was his duty to destroy the Sith.

Then Luke nearly fell over at the ripple in the force he felt. He leaned on the tree in realization that something big had happened. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard the roaring of a ship landing and a few minutes later, both his sisters clobbered into him.

"Shmi!" he said in shock. "What…? Where…?"

"Long story," Leia said. "Where's dad?"

Luke nodded his head in irritation to where Obi-wan and Vader were dueling.

"We've got to stop this," Leia said.

"It's no use." Luke said in frustration at his two mentors. "I've tried. Adults… I swear…"

"But you are an adult," Shmi pointed out and Luke only shot her a brief look before looking back at Leia..

"The emperor has Ahsoka. I bet he knew the Jedi would distract him the whole time so he could get her," Leia exclaimed.

Luke gaped at her for a moment before clenching his jaw and turning to the duel. This had to end. He was pretty sure what the outcome was going to be, but they had no time to wait on it. He started to assure his sisters that he'd handle it when Shmi did something at could have meant disaster.

"Daddy!' she yelled.

It had the desired effect. It got Vader's attention, but not Obi-wan's. In his moment of distraction, Obi-wan found an opening.

"Daddy," Leia yelled prepared to run to his aid, but Luke surprisingly beat her to it.

Luke didn't think, because he'd probably let his senses take over if he did. His only thought was the panic he had felt in Leia and Shmi as he blocked Obi-wan's lightsaber from slashing their father's chest with his own.

Obi-wan wasn't shocked. In fact, to Luke's surprise he smiled a little looking resigned to his fate as Vader took the opportunity to cut off his lightsaber hand off and then slash him in the chest. Vader's victory was short lived however as Obi-wan's body disappeared only leaving his Jedi robes. Both he and Luke were puzzled at what had happened as Vader picked at the robes with his lightsaber.

"Daddy," Leia said running to Vader and embracing him.

"Leia wait for us," Shmi said trying to make her way to him just as quickly before giving up and climbing on Kishan who crossed the short distance for her.

"Are you all okay?" Vader asked her.

"Daddy. The emperor got mama," Shmi said.

Vader paused before saying in a deadly calm tone, "What?"

"This whole thing was a ruse to get to her," Leia explained. "He sent personal fighters to destroy the Death Star as a distraction when he knew we had caught on. Ahsoka went right to him on the Devastator."

Vader swore violently in at least five of the many languages he fluently spoke as he activated the com in his helmet to get in touch with the Admiral.

"Yes milord?" Piett asked.

"Where's the Devastator?"

A pause. "We aren't sure sir. It disappeared shortly after the Death Star exploded. We're under the assumption it got caught in the blast."

"I doubt it," Vader said. "According to my daughter, the emperor was on it. I'll be arriving shortly. Be prepared for immediate take off to Coruscant and order for the rest of the fleet to retreat immediately. The rebels are the least of my concerns right now."

Vader turned to Leia. "Where's your ship?"

"Han, Chewie, and Threepio are watching it," Leia said starting to lead the way and then pausing. She turned around and looked past her father to look at Luke who was on his knees before the remains of Obi-wan's robes with Yoda watching from afar with a grim expression on his face.

"What have I done…" he asked.

Leia went up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Luke," she said and though she hadn't been very fond of the Jedi, she truly meant it. She knew how he felt.

"I couldn't let him kill dad… I don't know why… I just…"

"It's simple," Leia said as she knelt next to Luke. "He's our father regardless and although you won't admit it, even you know that he was denied the chance to raise you. I think… I think Obi-wan knew he had to die."

"But Obi-wan…"

"I'm sure he'd understand. I'm sure he'd forgive you," Leia replied.

"How do you know that?" Luke snapped.

Leia paused as she grabbed Luke's hand. "Because you found it in yourself to forgive."

Luke was silent and Leia sighed squeezing his hand reassuringly before standing up.

"Come my son," Vader said coming behind Luke. "This has been your destiny from the beginning. You have only been running away from it."

"I'll never turn to the dark side," Luke said to him.

"No one's asking you to," Leia said to him. "We are asking you to stop running away from your real family. You've denied us long enough."

Luke gave Yoda an apologetic glance before standing up and turning to leave with them. Leia put her arm around his shoulder and sighed while Shmi urged Kishan to stand near him and the feline rubbed his head into Luke's chest on her behalf.

"We don't have much time," Vader said. "We must head to Coruscant quickly."

"What about Lana?" Leia asked.

Vader paused and then said. "According to Admiral Piett, our forces have already retreated from Endor and Lana is with them. Now no more questions and get moving."

As soon as they were in the shuttle, Vader made contact with the Executor and told Abdul and Peitt to set the course for Coruscant. Then Shmi spoke up for the first time since she had called out to Vader on Endor before.

"Coruscant?" Shmi said as they flew to the Executor. "Isn't that the center of the galaxy? The planet that's a big city?"

"An ecumenopolis, Mimi," Leia said as she fidgeted anxiously from where she stood behind her father as he flew.

"Does it have any lava anywhere?"

Everyone stopped to look at her at that point, but it was Vader who answered with a tilt of his head.

"No… why?"

"I saw the planet the emperor took mama in a vision," Shmi said with a distant look in her eyes. "It was hot, with rivers of lava and volcanoes. The emperor took mama somewhere and asked her if she remembered it and then it ended."

"How many lava planets are there in the galaxy?" Luke asked his father, but Vader had become amazingly stiff and Luke felt his mood slump considerably as a wave of emotions came off of him, the primary ones being regret, pain, and intense fear. Leia was in a similar state.

"What's going on?" Luke asked her.

"Luke…" Leia said to him snapping out her daze. "It's Mustafar. Mustafar's a lava planet. It's where dad was burned and he almost…"

"…killed mother," Luke whispered and then looked at their father. "That's low."

"I should have known the emperor would pull something like this," Vader said in a hollow tone that Luke was sure wasn't caused by mask.

"It makes sense," Leia said to him. "You'd go to Tatooine before you went there again."

Vader shook his head and looked down at Shmi again. "Did you see anything else?"

"I saw a base like the one that used to be on Hoth," Shmi said simply.

"A base?" Han asked Shmi. "You mean like a military base or something?"

"Yeah. Like those imperial bases we visited," Shmi said to Han.

Luke, Leia, and Vader exchanged a grim look. This had just gotten a heck of a lot more complicated than they had anticipated it would be.

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Ahsoka was immediately apprehended when she arrived on the Devastator and she didn't fight when they cuffed her. She had full faith that Vader would come after her and when he did, all hell was going to break loose between him and the emperor. But she wasn't thinking about that. The most important thing right then was making sure the emperor didn't find out about her pregnancy as she wasn't sure is he already knew or not. So she did her best to conceal the presence that was a bright spot in the force now, even unborn.

She felt his presence long before she saw him, dark and probing at her, trying to find her weakness. The door to her sell opened and in walked the emperor. This was the first time in her life that she had faced him without Vader at her side, before the Clone Wars or after it.

"I'm pleased to see that you came to me willingly Lady Pesinoé," Palpatine said to her.

Ahsoka hissed. "That's not my name. You don't own me," she snapped.

"Quite the contrary child," Palpatine said. "So long as you're connected to Vader, you belong to me."

Ahsoka had always rolled her eyes at the arrogance Palpatine had shown, but this was crossing the line.

"I don't belong to you and neither does Vader," Ahsoka snapped at him. "He's going to kill you for this."

Palpatine sneered. "You overestimate Vader because there's one thing you don't take into account. His greatest weakness."

"And what's that?" Ahsoka asked.

"His desire to protect those he loves," Palpatine said with disdain. "As you know by now, I used it against him when he feared for Padmé's life. He was willing to fight death itself to save her and it made him the perfect apprentice, to change his ambition in another direction by making him lose the reason for his ambition. But then you came along and while it was a definite wrench in my plans it also became another way to make myself even more powerful. This obsession of his… It's been the greatest thorn in my side, but it's worked out for me."

Ahsoka glared at him. A person who was willing to use the heart of another person to their own advantage for power was truly evil. It made the atrocities Vader committed that much less horrifying. Vader at least had a heart for people, the heart his daughter had kept alive without even trying… well in a way she had tried by setting her father up with her Jedi guardian.

"But Vader's not fighting death this time, something beyond his control. Now he knows it's you he needs to fight and if I recall, he doesn't make the same mistake twice. He'll come and once he does, you and your empire are going straight to oblivion," Ahsoka said to him.

"You're so sure," Palpatine pointed out.

Ahsoka didn't answer him. But she had no doubt that Vader could defeat the emperor if only because Palpatine was forgetting that the thing he considered to be Vader's greatest weakness, was his greatest strength.

"I thought you'd like to see where my apprentice will have to come find you," Palpatine said.

"You mean we've already arrived at Coruscant?" Ahsoka asked.

"We're not on Coruscant my child… Perhaps you'd like me to take you down to the planet," he said as he left the cell and two storm troopers came back to get her and lead her to one of Palpatine's personal shuttles.

"If you're so confident in your power, why have me in cuffs? Why not fight me?" Ahsoka asked.

"You're far too valuable to me alive than dead Jedi," Palpatine said to her. "Far too valuable."

Ahsoka huffed. "I call it being a coward," she said to him.

Palpatine didn't say anything though she could feel that he was apparently displeased. Then he laughed.

"Not at all. But even more valuable than your life is the child you carry," Palpatine said and then said, "Surely you didn't think you could hide him from me?"

So much for wistful thinking, Ahsoka thought as closed her cloak around herself protectively. The emperor was always one step ahead of them and so she stood silently between the two storm trooper guards as they headed to whatever planet they were going to. She couldn't see it, but there was something familiar and ominous about it. Palpatine wasted no time trying to raise her suspense and anxiousness. He simply ordered his guards to let the ramp down and Ahsoka froze in terror.

She took a step back, but the troopers pushed her down the ramp, directly into the hot atmosphere of the lava planet she and Vader hadn't even mentioned by name in years, let alone ever wanted to step foot on again.

"No," she said but was forced to keep walking, barely noticing the imperial strong fort that was there as the flashbacks came. As long as she had never had to face it, she never had to relive the horror that happened that day on Mustafar, the day everything changed for the worse, yet was the catalyst for the good that was to come.

You're breaking my heart…

Master please…

Anakin… I didn't…

No!

There's good in him… I know… there's… still…

"Surely you remember this place?" Palpatine asked snapping Ahsoka out her thoughts.

Ahsoka almost didn't know what he was talking about. The last time she was here, the facility that had been there was destroyed and the imperial base they were at certainly hadn't been there. Then she noticed that he wasn't referring to the structure, but the lava pit below the bridge they were on and just like that, the image of her beloved, burning alive with his limbs severed came to her like she was watching it happen as she had that very day.

"So you do remember?" Palpatine cackled.

"Bastard," Ahsoka muttered as she struggled to look away. But she couldn't. Her gaze was transfixed on that spot. All she could think about was that she had left Vader there to burn and she had almost let the Jedi persuade her to leave him in his darkness, lost. She had betrayed him that day just as much as anyone else had.

"I hate you," she said to Palpatine as a tear fell from her eyes.

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Vader paced anxiously as he waited for Lana to return. It was decided that the emperor would be looking for Vader to come and so instead of risking any of them before they had a plan, he sent an eager Lana to do the job. She proved to be as swift and efficient as he mother was and when she returned, her mood was grim.

"He's there alright," she said. "And there's an imperial fortress there too. No way just taking the Executor and the rest of your personal fleet isn't going to do it. I'm talking an entire fleet led by at least one Super Class Star Destroyer to boot. Palpatine's prepared for you all to come and with a word he can have himself off the planet and anyone he wants killed."

"Kriff," Vader said clenching his fist.

"Don't you have anyone in the empire you can go to for help daddy? Someone who will ally with you against the emperor?" Leia asked.

Vader scoffed. "Most people are too busy trying to kiss up to Palpatine to do such a thing. They'd only be vying to be emperor and we'd have a much worse scenario on our hands. At least we know Palpatine's our enemy, but the moffs and many of the admirals are as fickle as the wind. I'd rather not let this battle become common knowledge before it gets started."

"What about Thrawn? You told me and Ahsoka one that you like him, that he respects you more than he does the emperor. You're both military men," Leia added.

"He's way out in the unknown regions. It would take him too long to get back, and that's not counting how long it would take to get into contact with him," Vader replied.

"You mean people inside the empire hate you more than the emperor?" Han asked and then whistled. "Stang. You would think a guy could get a little respect around here."

"There's a difference between respect and hate Solo. I have respect. I command it. But they hate me because I expose their incompetence. Talk and money don't impress me much, never has," Vader replied.

"You can't get one more fleet?" Abdul asked. "If it weren't for the fact that the Executor's not running to its full efficiency with the main power generator busted, I'd say we take the emperor with what we have. Ten Imperial Class Destroyers and a Super Class could do it along with all the fighters and pilots we have."

"I'm not taking any chances with that. This is going to be risky enough as it is. But Palpatine will know what we're trying to do if I contact another fleet and he may reinforce his fleet. The Death Squadron is all we've got," Vader said to him.

"No it isn't," Luke suddenly said before they could lose all hope of getting an ally. "We can talk to the rebellion…"

Han looked at Luke like he had grown to heads as did Leia, Lana, and Abdul.

"Kid… We just got through trying to whip them down there. You just defected to the empire for crying out loud. And you think they're going to want to help us?" Han asked.

"Han's right," Leia said. "They'll never go for it. Sure we have a common enemy, but you saw them. They don't want anything to do with the empire. They think dad would be just as bad of a ruler as Palpatine especially since he's not very well known for his diplomacy."

"You could talk them into it Leia," Luke said. "They might listen to you and me."

"Ahsoka betrayed them. They're not going to go for it," Abdul argued.

"We'd actually be handing them the emperor on a silver platter," Lana said putting in her two cents and then looked at Leia. "You could pull it off. You could push them in the right direction…"

"Lana," Leia said sighing. She knew she was more than capable of doing that. But she had her own personal vendetta against the rebellion. Sure she wasn't for completely crushing it like her father was, but the fact of the matter was that they hated her father and it wasn't something she was just about to cast aside.

Before Leia could continue though, Vader who hadn't spoken for a while said, "Princess… please."

One thing Leia didn't think her dad knew was just as he couldn't say no to her, she couldn't say no to him. Leia was confident they could take Palpatine's fleet surrounding Mustafar on their own, but her father… Ahsoka told her once that her dad's greatest fear was losing someone he cared about and just like he had practically sold his soul to the dark side to save their mother, he'd do it again. He was desperate and he was well aware that the dark side wasn't going to help him on this one. She set her jaw in determination and then looked at Luke.

"Get in contact with the Alliance High Council."

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AN: Depending on how many reviews I get, I may update tomorrow. I probably will in fact. I'm in a rush to get this all posted so I won't be posting two storied at once. Tell me what you think. I'm iffy on it, so I leave it up to the readers.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!