No words.

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Don't kill me...bear with me...just a little longer...

Enjoy!

Anakin stood tense at the foot of the steps, making sure he was positioned to jump to his daughter's defense at a millisecond's notice as he glared Sidious down. Galen's hands were clenched tightly over his two lightsabers, ready to whip them out and act at the drop of a hat. Leia was eyeing both versions of her brother in sick worry.

"Let them go Sidious," Anakin growled menacingly, fists clenching. His right hand was twitching towards his lightsaber that seemed to be tempting him to draw it and act no matter what the consequences were. Years of self-discipline in both of his lives was what kept him from acting on the impulse.

"And what could you possibly offer me in return?" Sidious drawled, sounding bored as he came to stand behind Luke, his right hand still clutching the young man's shoulder tightly. Luke had closed his eyes and Anakin could sense an internal war happening in the young man as he tried to calm himself in preparation for…something.

Anakin avoided looking at Luke. Instead, he let his eyes focus on his son in the shadows behind Sidious. "What about me? You tried so hard to have me—whole and at my full potential—what if I offered myself to you willingly?"

Luke's eyes had snapped open at his proposal. "Don't—!" he cried out in a raspy voice before Sidious dug his fingers into Luke's shoulder and caused him to gasp, doubling over in pain. Leia latched onto his arm with her hand, possibly cutting off his circulation.

"Father, you can't be serious!" Leia said fearfully.

"I don't believe you," Sidious sneered, twisting Luke's shoulder and causing the Jedi to twist into the motion in pain. "For this pathetic excuse of a Jedi, you'd sell your soul to me now when you wouldn't twenty-three years ago?"

Anakin's teeth grit in anger, and he could feel the fury welling in his son at the thought that Anakin would give himself up in the hopes that Luke would live. "No, for all three of them. Your quarrel is with me Sidious, leave them out of it."

"I'd say it's too late for that," Sidious mused. "Besides, it was their decision in the first place; they involved themselves and chose to side with me."

"We both know that's a lie," Anakin snarled, his eyes narrowing. "You take a grain of truth, one small fact, and then you twist it as far as you can so that it will serve your manipulating purposes. You continue to string them along until there's nothing left of them and they hold themselves back by their own guilt and leave them believing that there is no hope for them when there is."

"Are you speaking from experience Vader?" Sidious hissed.

Anakin drew himself up to his full height. "I am not your servant; not anymore."

"Or are you?" Sidious jeered. "You've been struggling with yourself ever since this merge started, and we both know that no one ever truly returns from the dark side. You're still Vader, no matter how much you try to deny it."

Anakin's eyes flashed, and for a moment he worried that some gold might have bled through into his eyes. Still, he clenched his teeth. "I think we're getting off topic; my soul for theirs," Anakin forced himself to say, taking a step forward and slowly getting down on one knee, holding Sidious' gaze and ignoring the other's around him. Leia was trying to pull him back to his feet, her hand grasped around his arm tightly as she tried to yank him back. His resistance was too strong though, and he was losing himself in the waves of the Force that were churning into an unbearable tempest in the room. Luke's horror cut him like a knife, as did Leia's panic and Galen's alarm. His son's shock was jarring, and Mara's stunned awe at the events unfolding in front of her were strange reactions, but he hardly cared. Unpleasant memories were coming back to him in a strength and potency that brought bile to his mouth; he was absolutely sure he was about to vomit.

What have I done?

I will do whatever you…ask…

Just help me save Padme's life…I can't live without her…!

He had been here before; he and Luke had been ready to sacrifice everything to avoid this moment, and here he was, kneeling before Sidious once more, the words he needed to say ready to spill off of his lips that moment that Sidious accepted his offer.

I pledge myself…to your teachings…

Luke suddenly stiffened from his spot in front of Sidious, his eyes snapping shut as he started mouthing the same thing over and over, his lips moving incoherently. Anakin's heart was pounding in his chest as he stared up at Sidious intently. It felt like everything was balancing on a needlepoint, tipping to and fro, ready to come crashing down on one side or the other if someone so much as breathed wrong. Though now…Anakin could start to make out Luke's mouthed words…

There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.

There is no death, there is the Force.

There is no death, there is the Force.

There is no death…

"Request denied," Sidious hissed.

Snap-hiss.

"NO!" Anakin screamed, shooting up onto his feet.

"Luke!" Leia shrieked beside Anakin.

The worst part was the look of utmost acceptance and even peace that was on Luke's face. Once more, a lightsaber had been pierced through his chest. Once more, Anakin was watching the light fade from Luke's eyes. This time…

Sidious made sure he didn't miss.

Anakin was reaching for both lightsabers clipped onto his belt, eyes glued to Luke's as the light blazed in his eyes for a few split seconds before it went out completely with his last soft gasp for air. The ruby blade pulled itself out of Luke's unmoving chest, allowing the now hollow shell of a broken body to drop to the stone steps between Anakin and Sidious. There were two more simultaneous snap-hiss sounds as Anakin activated both his blue lightsaber and Luke's green lightsaber, advancing up the steps and focused entirely on gutting Sidious alive. He knew he would be able to carry out the task slowly, painfully, and efficiently.

He didn't even care if his eyes were blazing a brilliant gold as the blue and green lightsabers clashed against Sidious' red; all he cared was that Sidious died by his hand.

"Oh, how the mighty fall," Sidious hissed in his face.

Behind the two bitter enemies that caused a tsunami of chaos in the Force, the world was quite literally crumbling all around. Anakin's fury had caused—and was still causing—chunks of the ruins to crumble from the ceiling and walls. Dust rose in the air as the very foundation and earth all around trembled from Anakin's rage.

The occupants of the room hardly paid any attention to the chaos all around, for they were all focusing on their individual battles.

When Anakin had attacked Sidious, it had added the fuel to the fire burning beneath the surface. The other four had been standing in utmost shock and staring at Luke's lifeless body until Anakin had suddenly attacked Sidious. Eius had been the first to react, moving to stop his father from attacking his Master. Galen, however, had cut him off, blocking the crimson blade with his double blue blades and putting himself between Eius and Anakin before forcing Eius off of the platform. When Galen had attacked Eius, Mara had snapped to attention, moving to assist Eius before Leia cut her off and crossed her blue blade with Mara's violet one.

And so Luke's death triggered three separate fights to the death as the ruins began to cave in all around them, each individual oblivious to the very real threat of being buried alive.

In each fight, the blades flew at blinding speeds, back and forth in blinding clashes. Sidious and Anakin were the fastest, Eius and Galen the next fastest, and Leia and Mara the last. Dark power warped around Anakin and Sidious as they fought, pushing each other back and forth with their fury. Anakin's eyes blazed unashamed molten gold fury as he snarled at Sidious, a bloodlust he hadn't experienced in a long time rushing through him, calling for Sidious' life. The blue blade was the one that fought off the attacks, but every time Anakin made an attempt at a killing blow, he swung with Luke's lightsaber. He was going to get revenge one way or another. He was done playing Sidious' games. No more; no more.

Meanwhile, Galen and Eius were trapped in what appeared to be their usual sparring dance, but really was so much more now. Already, Galen and Eius had landed a hit on one another; Eius was sporting a cut along his thigh while Galen did his best to ignore a slash across his bicep. There were out to kill each other, their dance having evolved into a cacophony of near misses and barely deflected death-blows. Eius' hood had fallen in the midst of the fight, and the sight of his best friend's face glaring at him so hatefully caused Galen's stomach to twist painfully.

He did take hope in the fact that Eius' eyes were not entirely yellow. No, there was a streak of gold here and there that had appeared in the fight, but other than that his eyes were pure blue.

Galen's hopeful thoughts were cut short as he was forced to duck to avoid a fatal swipe at his head. Now was not the time for his mind to wander; now was the time to survive.

Elsewhere, near the door, Mara and Leia were involved in their own deadly dance. Leia had to rely heavily on the Force as her eyes were blurred with tears, her heart still bleeding from watching her brother die.

She just couldn't believe that he was really gone…

Mara swung, but her strike was too wide and, in a moment of clear vision, Leia realized that Mara's eyes were red from barely contained tears. The sight was startling to see; why was Mara crying, or at least trying not to cry?

"Maybe we should both take a moment to gather ourselves," Leia said sarcastically, her voice warped by her tears.

"What are you talking about? I'm just fine," Mara growled back; but her voice lacked the bite.

"Then why are there tears in your eyes too?" Leia asked.

Her response was a sharp pain in her side as Mara scored a cut up Leia's waist, taking advantage of Leia's momentary distraction.

With that, the discussion ended and the fight continued.

Across the hall, a large chunk of the ceiling fell towards Eius and Galen; both jumped out of the way, though Eius was the first to react, slicing off a chunk of the rubble and sending it flying towards Galen with a cry of fury. Galen bent back, the stone cutting him across the cheek on its way past before he was once more fighting off Eius' relentless advance on him.

Back on the platform, Sidious snarled at Anakin, lightning crackling to life in one hand as he swung downwards with the other. Anakin used Luke's lightsaber to deflect the lightning that as Vader would have been fatal to him with the intensity he could feel as the blade deflected the lightning. Meanwhile, his own blue lightsaber came upwards to intercept the arching blow. Sidious and Anakin came face to face, blazing yellow and golden eyes staring hatefully into each other. No matter what, someone was going to die in this fight, and Anakin was determined to make that someone Sidious.

Sidious smiled at him. "No matter what you do Skywalker…those you love always end up dead. And every time it's your fault, one way or another. How does it feel?" he sneered.

Anakin's hate spiked painfully high and he shoved the old man forward as hard as he could into the wall, descending on the twisted abomination like a bounty hunter on a reward.

"It feels like I have no problem doing this," Anakin seethed. Sidious moved to scramble back to his feet, but it was too late; Anakin severed the twisted thing's hand from the wrist, successfully disarming Sidious. Sidious screamed in furious pain before shooting Sith Lighting at Anakin with his remaining hand. However, Anakin deflected the lightning with his blue lightsaber before swinging Luke's blade in a vengeful slice. The lightning abruptly ended, and Sidious' body collapsed to the floor, blue energy rushing past Anakin as he stumbled back a few steps, breathing heavily as he stared at the body that was now missing its head. In the back of his mind, Anakin found himself thinking of Dooku momentarily before the vengeance came back for one last powerful surge.

"You're right, I am still Vader…but I am not yours to control," Anakin said lowly to the body. He stood there for a few more moments before he jaggedly turned from the sight, staring at nothing in particular as a wave of exhaustion suddenly fell over him. He staggered forward blindly for a few seconds before he found himself kneeling besides Luke's body. Slowly, he leaned down, oblivious to the fact that the fights around him had not ceased as he gently turned Luke's body over, brushing the blonde bangs caked with dirt and mud out of the equally dirty face. He really was gone this time; the Force gave a sure confirmation of the fact.

A strangled sob burst from his lips as Anakin currently had no self-control, but still he raised his burning, watery eyes to finally take in the room around him. The sight caused his heart to clench in his chest, desperation and hopelessly overcoming him for a moment courtesy of the dark side before he found the inner strength to push it away, rising to his feet.

"Stop!" he shouted at them all, blue-once-more eyes snapping in sternness, his voice full of authority though still holding its mournful tones. "It's over, stop fighting!"

He couldn't watch this fall apart any farther than it already had. Only now was he starting to realize the ruins were crumbling all around, and they weren't that far from caving in on them all.

Leia and Mara came to a surprised halt off in their corner, though Eius refused to give up. In fact, Anakin saw the oncoming tragedy a split moment before it happened, giving him enough time to react.

Eius successfully disarmed Galen.

Before his son could go in for the kill, Anakin risked death itself and came up behind the young man, wrapping his arms around his son's arms and chest tightly and dragging him back away from Galen.

"Luke! Luke, stop! Luke!" he shouted as his son struggled violently against him.

He heard the cracking up above him, heard the sound of rock starting to break away, heard Leia's scream of warning and Galen's shout of caution, and realized that they were right in the path of falling debris, dust raining down on them and obscuring them from the view of the others.

His son, however, elbowed him in the gut, knocking the wind out of Anakin for a moment before suddenly the ground disappeared beneath both of them and they fell down into dark nothingness.

By the way, for those of you doubting me because of A Father's Son...

Yes. Original Luke is ACTUALLY dead.