Chapter Twenty-Four

Leia's fingers were within inches of his own when the walls and floor of Abeloth's hideaway abruptly fell away and he found himself standing out in the open plain of vast space, surrounded by a blanket of twinkling stars. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Luke and Leia had retreated to the periphery of his consciousness as he stood within a realm that was meant for Celestials alone. Consequently, only he and Abeloth remained, suspended in mid-air out among the cosmos like the two eternal beings that they were.

With the planets and stars twinkling around him, Anakin gradually recognized that he had transformed once again. His human façade had been stripped away, leaving behind only the visage of what had been created on Mortis. He faced a seething Abeloth, knowing instinctively that she had been the one to transport them there…her last, desperate attempt at liberating herself.

Planets whipped around them with dizzying speed as time bent and altered. But the rapidly changing scenes that surrounded them weren't the thing that held Anakin's rapt focus. In Abeloth's tentacled grasp was a bastardized version of the dagger of Mortis. It wasn't an exact replica, but instead had a ghostly, sickled blade with a pale, narrow hilt. Rather than being constructed to maintain order, it was clear to Anakin that Abeloth's blade had been created to foment chaos.

She sneered at him before lowering her eyes to admire her handiwork. "Do you like my creation, Chosen One? I have spent many centuries crafting this blade."

"This has been your plan all along, hasn't it?" Anakin noted as he studied the perversion she had created, "That's the true reason you drew the children here…drew me here… We were a means to an end."

"Did you truly think that I would willingly languish in this prison for lifetimes upon lifetimes?" she spat.

"That is not for you to decide. I cannot let you go free."

"You cannot stop me."

Anakin drew his dagger, his expression resolved. "I will." They circled one another warily in the vast backdrop of space. Anakin remained tense, anticipating the moment she would strike. The hatred rolling from her was a tangible thing. Still, something inexplicable compelled him to reason with her. For all his arguments to the contrary, he recognized on some fundamental level that he and Abeloth were the same after all. He wanted to offer her the chance at redemption…one that had not been extended to him.

"You know that this is over, don't you?" Anakin asked her, "You have lost. You've only delayed the inevitable by bringing me here."

"This could have had a different outcome," she hissed.

"This is the only outcome. Don't make me destroy you."

"You are a fool! We could have stood together, but you have betrayed me along with all the rest! You have destroyed everything!"

"You have done that yourself," he replied.

It was almost surreal to Anakin to hear the very words that Obi-Wan had spoken to him seemingly a millennia ago come out of his own mouth. What was even more incredible was that he recognized the resonating truth in them so clearly now when before while on Mustafar he had been too blinded by his rage and hatred to recognize their veracity.

"Your own selfishness has corrupted you," he told Abeloth, "You have forgotten your true purpose. You fail to allow yourself to be guided by the Force. You seek to control it instead. That will always be your undoing."

"Foolish boy! I am the Force! I am the Guide! There is no one besides me!"

Anakin fell into his combat stance, inexplicably saddened by her answer. Perhaps, because he understood perfectly that she was rushing headlong into her own destruction. She was yielding to the call of the dark side. She was walking the path that every Sith before her had chosen. The path he had once chosen for himself, and the end for her would be the same as the rest. He inclined his head in a nod of acceptance.

"Then you have sealed your fate."

That disappointed proclamation angered her further. The tumult of her rage overwhelmed only seconds before Abeloth moved towards him with incomprehensible speeds, almost as if she was teleporting herself from one spot to another. She winked in and out of the surrounding cosmos around them with effortless skill, attacking him on all sides with simultaneous effort. Matching her intense speed, Anakin met her blow for blow, mimicking her fighting style by darting in and out of existence in an effort to keep her unbalanced.

All around them, the blanket of stars shifted and swelled. Sometimes they were encompassed by dark space and other times they hovered above a planet's atmosphere, just close enough to make out the various peaks and valleys of the mountain ranges belong them. They moved through time and space, worlds, galaxies, and solar systems, two fluid combatants arcing across the continuum of the Force, without a beginning or an end.

They were more perfectly matched than Anakin had anticipated. He didn't know why, but he was genuinely surprised by Abeloth's adept skill with a blade. While the mythical daggers they wielded were very dissimilar from lightsabers in their sleekness and precision, the technique required to command those blades was the same. Although Abeloth had existed for thousands of years and was no Jedi and never had been, she transitioned through the seven lightsaber forms with the skilled precision of a Jedi master…as if she had been the one to originate them.

Her fluidity with the use of Form III proved especially challenging for Anakin, mostly because dueling with her became too reminiscent of his battle with Obi-Wan on Mustafar. Anakin didn't doubt the choice was deliberate. As adept as Abeloth proved to be with a blade, her true mastery was through manipulation, trickery, and bringing one's most deeply buried fears and regret to the surface.

He leaned heavily into a combination of Ataru and Shien because both were the styles that he was most comfortable with and the form that best fit his personality. He pushed at her aggressively, stalking her in a series of lunges and acrobatic flips that could have quickly become fatiguing if the Force was infusing him with a steady stream of vigor, rejuvenating him with each strike.

They moved together in a sinuous wave of thrusts and parries, bouncing effortlessly across galaxies and solar systems and from star to star. For the most part, they were evenly matched in ability. But Anakin knew victory would not be determined by the merits of their physical prowess or their skill with the blade. Ultimately, the one left standing would be the one who could wield the Force more masterfully…or yield to it.

To Anakin, it felt as if they had only just started but also as if they had been fighting for an eternity. Stars imploded. Planets died. Nebula formed. And still it raged on and on, until Anakin recognized that their prolonged conflict was sending out massive tremors into the Force, further weakening the foundation of Abeloth's prison and crumbling the bonds that kept her shackled there. No doubt that had been her goal for engaging him in the first place. Anakin decided to end it.

She disappeared again and when she reappeared directly in front of him, he brought down the shadowed blade of the Mortis dagger, breaking her own dagger into two when she deflected his blow. The weapon instantly dissolved in a pillar of smoke. Abeloth scrambled back from him as the scene around them solidified once more into her dark, dank lair beyond shadows.

"And now," Anakin told her softly, "it ends here."

He drove the dagger forward, meaning to plunge it into what would have been her heart had she been a live being, but Anakin stopped himself from executing that killing blow at the last moment when Leia was suddenly between them. At first, he felt a little disoriented by her abrupt appearance, thinking that she must have thrown herself between them in a misguided effort to protect Abeloth. But then he noticed her eyes and the bright, silver light that almost caused them to glow.

The strength of her and Leia's connection was so strong that their forms almost converged into one being so that they became a distorted, hybridized creature…a monster that retained his child's innocent face. Anakin stumbled back in startled revulsion. It was a horrifying thing to witness. Abeloth relished in his agony, her delight manifesting itself in Leia's childish smile which was somehow just as malevolent as her true one.

"Would you really destroy your own child, Chosen One?"

Anakin fell away further with a shuddering breath, forcing himself to look away from the gruesome transformation that continued. "This conflict is between you and me! Let her go!"

"We are one," Abeloth whispered, "She is mine! I will never let her go! You will have to kill her to sever this bond…and we both know that you will not do that, Chosen One!"

Her smile widened when she watched the indecision play out behind his eyes. His conflicted hesitance washed over her through the Force. She could distinctly feel what Anakin was feeling right then, as if they too had become one entity. He was acutely aware of Leia's anguish and terror right then, the incredible toll that Abeloth was taking on her mind and spirit.

He feared not only the prospect of losing his daughter to eternal darkness, but the devastation that loss would inflict upon his son and his wife and the blame they might likely assign to him because of his inability to save her. Besides that, Leia was still a child. She had barely begun to taste life. Anakin couldn't bear the thought of it all ending here because he had failed. He would carry that guilt with him until he became one with the Cosmic Force and likely even beyond that. That fear kept him from charging her again with the dagger. Abeloth gladly exploited his vacillation.

"I do not wish to harm her," she crooned melodiously, "The choice is very simple. Give us the dagger and we will withdraw from you. She will be mine…but she will live eternally."

Anakin had an untenable choice set before him that was not a choice at all. He was at risk of losing Leia either way. If he followed through with his intention to run Abeloth through, he would rid the galaxy of her influence forever, but he would likely kill his daughter in the process. If he yielded to Abeloth and gave her the dagger as she asked, Leia would live but her life would likely be rife with suffering. Even now he could feel how her connection with Abeloth was stripping her of everything, slowly siphoning away the essence of who she was and all she could become. Perhaps one day he would even find himself faced with the prospect of destroying her too…

His conflict showered over Abeloth through the Force. She knew she had won. It had finally wittled down to this one, singular moment. After thousands of years of conflict and embittered railing and imprisonments, she was finally on the precipice of freedom. The dagger of Mortis was within her grasp, and she would control her own fate from that point forward. But more satisfying than that, she would have retribution for all that had been stolen from her. She would have her revenge, and she would use the protégé of her greatest enemy to accomplish that goal.

She almost pitied Anakin Skywalker in a way. After all, she had walked in his shoes once. But that was also the reason her confidence had become so unshakeable. His love for his child would be his ultimate undoing, just as her love for her children had been hers. Everything had come full circle yet again. That could be nothing other than the will of the Force.

Though Anakin's grip on the dagger flexed and tightened, Abeloth did not flinch. His actions were little more than posturing. He wouldn't dare raise the blade against her again. He couldn't kill her, not if that meant harming Leia in the process. For all his nobility and righteous judgment over her tendency towards selfish indulgence, he was no different from her. Anakin Skywalker would always choose his attachments over the greater good. It was the one thing Abeloth had counted on from the beginning.

"You can stop her pain. Give into me and I will show you what true power is."

Yet again, Anakin found himself embroiled in the same enduring conflict that he always had. Should he trust in himself, or should he trust in the Force? Too many times in the past he had worked himself into a frenzy to circumvent potential disaster, imposing his own will as a way to avoid suffering grief and loss. And he had failed again and again. Each time he had only brought more suffering upon himself instead.

But Anakin remembered the distinct moments in his life when he had decided to trust in the Force despite his doubts. He had done so when he traveled back in time and after his mother had been so perilously close to death following her ordeal with the Tuskens, and again when premonitions of Luke's death had plagued him and even once more when he had found himself on Mortis with a completely new purpose. In none of those instances had Anakin been certain of the outcome. He had trusted in the Force simply because he had been without any other options. In fact, he hadn't expected a positive outcome in any of those circumstances at all.

But he had been wrong in each instance. The Force had favored him in every instance. His trust had never been misplaced.

Anakin had to believe that it would not be misplaced now. This time, he allowed himself to flow with the Force's current, not because he had no other choice, but because he wanted to. He closed his eyes and allowed the Force to ebb through him, his body little more than a willing conduit for its nebulous will. He was moving before he couldn't even comprehend that he was in motion, his spirit rising and cresting like the waves of the ocean. With almost blinding speed, he was transferred to Abeloth's rear. Driven by the purest instinct, Anakin thrust forward his hand and plunged the dagger deep.

Leia's startled cry of pain managed to drown out Abeloth's surprised howl, and the sound lacerated Anakin's heart even when he knew he had done what needed to be done. Abeloth disengaged from Leia quickly, but not fast enough to avoid the blade of the Mortis dagger entirely. As a convulsing Leia fell back into her father's arms, a wounded Abeloth scuttled to the far corner of her lair to avoid further attack. But Anakin hardly acknowledged her. His eyes were glued to Leia's rapidly paling face as he gently lowered her twitching body to the ground.

The dagger's blade had been strong enough to sever Leia's connection to Abeloth, but it had also nearly snapped the tether she held to her physical body. If she died in beyond shadows, she would be transported to the Lake of Apparitions, and she would be unable to return. He would never be able to undo it.

There was a flurry of activity that erupted around him, but Anakin didn't acknowledge that either. He had to work quickly. He was vaguely aware of Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and a now fully conscious Luke rushing closer, their confused, urgent cries mixed with Abeloth's mewling huffs of pain. While Luke flew to Anakin and Leia's side, tearful and hysterical, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka ignited their lightsabers and went barreling forward to engage a wounded Abeloth.

Luke wept over his sister and grasped her limp hand in his own, begging Anakin plaintively not to let her die. But Anakin barely heard him because he had already begun the same transfer of energy that he had witnessed between the Daughter and Ahsoka so many years ago. At the time, the Daughter had been dying herself and Ahsoka was already gone. Leia, however, was still alive…though just barely. Anakin concentrated on strengthening her connection to the physical world by weakening his own.

Everything around him began to gradually fade away. The sounds of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's battle with Abeloth. The fevered grip that Luke had on his tunic sleeve coupled with his son's harsh, plaintive sobs. Even the feel of Leia's small body cradled in his arms became like a distant reality.

Anakin knew that it was working because he could feel pain again. He felt the burning sting in the small of his back and reached to trace the jagged edges of the growing wound with almost stunned disbelief. He didn't only feel physical pain, but he also felt the isolation and loneliness that had made Leia so vulnerable to Abeloth in the first place. It was as if he was absorbing all of the anguish and confusion that had brought her to this point. In that instant, Anakin knew Leia Skywalker better than she knew herself but, she also knew him too.

When that realization dawned, there was a burst of incredible light all around him that was almost blinding. When he reoriented himself, Anakin found himself standing in the center of that light. Leia stood across from him. She studied him with a mixture of guarded curiosity and stunned disbelief. Her features were reminiscent of her mother, but her wary expression was all him.

"Why are you helping me?"

He snorted lightly at the question. "You're my daughter, Leia. I love you very much. I'm not the evil you think I am."

She flinched and briefly glanced away from him. "I know that now. I can see you," she whispered, "I still don't understand how you could do those terrible things, but I know you were scared."

"Yes, I was. All my life."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I."

Leia nibbled her lower lip as an incredible realization dawned. "You really do love us…and Mom. You love her more than anything."

"Yes. I do."

"What happens now?"

"You get to go home to your mother."

"What about you?" He didn't respond to that question aloud but his sad smile in response was all the answer Leia needed. She squeezed her eyes shut as the tears threatened. "You have to let me fix it! This is all my fault. You don't have to do this for me."

"I do. I want to do this."

"But they just got you back! It was the only thing Luke wanted this whole time!"

"I know. But you can help him. You can help them both. I won't be gone…just somewhere you can't reach me."

Leia nodded her understanding, her tears finally spilling over. "I can't…I can't…" she sobbed, "It's not fair! I'm the one who messed up! I should pay for it!"

"I think we've all paid enough. Don't you, little one?" Anakin asked her softly, "Go home now, Leia."

"You don't understand! I can't go back without you," she whispered hoarsely, "Mom and Luke will…"

"…They won't blame you, Leia. They will recover because they are strong…and so are you. They will have each other, and they will have you. It will be alright. Go home."

"I'm so sorry, Daddy…" she sobbed brokenly, rushing forward to embrace him for the first time in more than two months, "I'm really sorry…"

Her small arms banded around him tightly, so forcefully that he feared he might not be able to extricate her. For the moment, Anakin basked in the embrace because he had been yearning for this bit of affection from her for so long that he had started to think he would never know it. He held her gently and stroked her rumpled hair, blinking back the grateful tears that burned in his eyes, crystallizing every detail in his mind and heart because he had no doubt that he would carry them for eternity.

"I'm not sorry," he whispered to her fervently moments before she faded from his arms, "I will never be sorry about this."