Darkness.

There was darkness all around him, cold and silent.

It covered him and Luke Skywalker embraced it. The only sound he could hear was his own trembling breath. A red glow pierced his protective blanket and the mechanical breathing sent a chill down Luke's spine.

Before him stood a living shadow. Darth Vader, the executioner of the Empire and destroyer of the Jedi Order.

His father.

The glow of the red lightsaber in his hands sent off a nightmarish glint off the stark black armor.

"You cannot hide forever, Luke," Vader's voice boomed, amplified by the mask that kept him alive.

"I will not fight you," Luke declared, firmly. There is still good in you father. You can still feel the light. I know you can! Let it in.

Darth Vader's helmet moved in the darkness in the direction of his son, like a vicious predator finding his next meal cornered.

"Give yourself to the dark side," he said. "It is the only way you can save your friends."

My friends...

Han, Chewy, Wedge, Leia... If I fail here, they will all die today... my own sister...

"Yes," Vader purred. "Your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for... sister?"

Luke gasped.No!

"So you have a twin sister? Your feelings have now betrayed her, too," Vader said with pride. "Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete."

Leia!

Vader turned away from Luke in thought and stood there for a second.

In that miniscule moment, Luke felt an overwhelming sadness overcome his father. Through the Force he could feel light and the dark side battling for Vader's soul before the black-clad warrior spoke.

"If you will not turn to the dark side... Then perhaps she will."

Luke had seen Darth Vader do many terrible things, but the thought of his father corrupting, hurting his sister enraged him.

"Never!" He roared. In a blind rage, Luke's lightsaber leaped to his hands and he unleashed his anger on this cold, unfeeling, cruel monster. Vader swung his lightsaber to counter Luke's but Luke batted it away, forcing his father back.

You will never hurt Leia. You will never hurt anyone again. I will end you!

Images poured through Luke's mind in an enraged instant.

Vader had taken so much from him. He had hurt those he most cared about.

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Ben, Biggs, Dak, Han, Leia, countless others that had suffered or died by this fiend's hands.

Their faces fueled his rage as he pushed Vader onto a catwalk.

He swung blindly and missed. Vader was able to parry two more savage strikes before Luke pushed him back forcefully. Vader stumbled back and Luke advanced, wailing uncontrollably at the red blade. This red blade that had slaughtered so many good friends from the rebel alliance.

This red blade that had taken his hand from him.

This red blade that signified all that his father had become, everything that Vader wanted Leia to become.

With one last swing of his lightsaber, the green blade penetrated through steel, armor and fabric, severing Vader's right hand completely at the wrist.

The black lightsaber, with Vader's hand still holding on to it, tumbled down the shaft towards the Death Star's main reactor core.

Vader howled in pain and fell back, his right arm smoking at the stump.

Luke held his green blade at Vader's throat, poised for the killing blow. Before him, the most feared enforcer of the empire had been reduced to nothing but a broken, defenseless man. Vader wasn't even trying to escape, he just laid there on the charred ground looking up at Luke.

His breathing apparatus sparked, distorting his mechanical breathing and he held his one good hand up at Luke as if pleading for mercy.

A loud cackle boomed from behind them and Luke turned to see the Emperor, watching with delight from the stairs that led to his throne.

"Good. Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side."

Luke's senses slowly cleared and his breathing slowed. Once again he could feel the force flowing around him fluidly. He stared in horror at what he had done in his rage. He saw Vader's severed stump and, looking at his own mechanical hand, remembered his failure in the cave of Dagobah.

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny...

Luke could feel the forces of good and evil battling on this fateful day.

He could feel the cries of the dying rebel fighters just outside, being crushed by the Imperial armada and the Death Star. He reached out to his force connection to find his sister in the sanctuary moon below.

He could feel her pain, but he could also feel something else.

Elation... success! He could feel the joy coming from Leia as the shield generator failed and the Death Star's shield evaporated.

The rebel fleet would now begin their run against the Death Star's main reactor and it would all be over at last.

He breathed in determination.

"Never," he said firmly, deactivating his lightsaber and throwing the hilt away. "I'll never turn to the dark side."

He walked away from his father's crumpled body and stood bravely against the ancient emperor.

"You've failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

The emperor's face twisted into a hate filled frown.

"So be it, Jedi."

Darkness surrounded Luke. He could feel it through his bones, thick in the air as the Emperor straightened and brought his arms up towards him. Luke swallowed but stood his ground, determined to face whatever the Emperor through at him.

"If you will not be turned," the Emperor said with finality, "You will be destroyed."

Blue lightning erupted from the Emperor's fingers and crashed against Luke, sending him back. Luke caught onto the railing, trying to put up a force shield against the deadly attack, but the lightning broke through and ripped into him.

"Young fool, only now at the end, do you understand?"

More lightning, more intense than the last burst, tore at Luke's clothes. Luke lifted up the Force barrier again, calling to him the feeling of success from the Rebel Strike team in Endor and the advancing Rebel Fleet to strengthen his resolve. The Emperor must have felt his attempts because he scoffed at him.

"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side!"

The Emperor sent another volley of dark energy, so strong this time that it knocked Luke to the floor.

"You have paid the price for your lack of vision!"

Luke was now on the floor, writhing in pain.

Every cell in his body was on fire, screaming as the Emperor stood over him mercilessly.

Through the blinding flashes of the Emperor's attack, Luke saw his father standing next to the Emperor, watching.

"Father, please!" Luke pleaded. "Help me!"

Luke couldn't contain it any longer and he roared out in pain, buckling wildly on the floor. Just when he thought his father wouldn't act, the attack seized. Luke looked up and the Emperor smiled down at him.

"Now young Skywalker.," he said, softly. "You will die."

When Vader heard this he turned from the Emperor to Luke.

Please, father, Luke pleaded. Please help me!

The lightning struck him again, ripping through Luke and drawing out blood. Luke's vision started to go black and he readied himself to die.

Father, don't let him take me from you again...

"No..." Luke heard, faintly. "No!"

The attack suddenly seized again and Luke looked up to see the Emperor and Vader screaming. Vader held the Emperor high over his head while the Emperor fought back, pouring down the lightning against Vader's life support.

With one final move, Vader swung the Emperor and threw him down the shaft towards the Core, where the Emperor was instantly vaporized.

Luke felt a shift in the Force as the Emperor perished.

When the roar of the explosion cleared, all he could hear was the failing gasps of his father's life support suit. Vader, once a towering sinister force, now lay fragile and broken.

Luke called up what energy he had left and went to his father's side, holding him.

For a long moment they sat on the dirty, charred floor, both shaken from what had just happened.

An overwhelming sense of pride swelled up in Luke. His father had finally broken from the Emperor's grip. Now he was free.

The ground shook from an explosion and alarms started to blare frantically.

"Evacuate!" The panicked voice of Commander Jerjerrod sounded over the comms. "Evacuate!"

There was nowhere to run. They were at the very heart of the Death Star. They weren't going to make it out alive.

Luke felt a twinge of sadness crawl through his stomach but he shook the feeling. The Emperor was dead and soon the Death Star would be gone, taking the Empire with it. Finally, there would be peace in the galaxy, even if he was not there to see it.

"Luke..." Vader said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Son."

Luke looked into his father's helmet's eye panels. Vader must have sensed what was about to happen too. There was something very different about him now. Slowly, the blanket of rage, grief and hate evaporated from Vader's Force signature, replaced by pride.

"Help me take this mask off," he said, weakly.

"But you'll die!" Luke said, holding his father's shoulder.

"Nothing can stop that now," Vader said, resigned. "Just for once let me look on you with my own eyes."

It was true. Soon both of them would be dead.

Slowly, Luke unhooked the life support systems from the helmet and the mechanical breathing stopped. The helmet's airtight mask hissed as Luke pulled it off.

A pair of yellow eyes stared back at him in compassion. The scarred man before him struggled to breath without the life support but managed a smile.

The Death Star shook again and a loud explosion was heard from beneath them.

The two Skywalkers stared at each other, tears swelling in Luke's eyes.

"I'm sorry, father. I've failed you," Luke said, quietly. "I should've come to you sooner. I should have saved you."

Vader's tears fell from his eyes and he placed a gauntlet clad hand on Luke's shoulder.

"You already have, Luke," he whispered weakly. "You were right... you were right about me."

"Father..."

There was a loud explosion from directly below them. Luke heard the whine of the Millennium Falcon's torpedo canons and in a deafening roar, the Death Star's Core exploded.

"Father." Luke said through gritted teeth, holding onto his father tightly, calling to the Force for calm in the face of death.

Fire erupted from the shaft where the Emperor had been thrown and consumed everything in the Throne Room. Luke held up his hand, throwing a Force barrier around them. He could feel his father doing the same beside him.

The fires devoured everything in sight and the light and heat blinded Luke as it crashed against the protective wall around them. It wouldn't hold, and Luke looked at his father.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was slowing.

"Son," Vader said weakly. "Forgive me for hurting you and your sister."

He opened his eyes and Luke found himself staring back into eyes as blue as his.

"I loved you before you were even born."

"I love you too, father."

"At last," Vader said, looking up into the fires that had consumed everything around them. "I will see your mother again."

Luke took his father's hand in his, accepting his fate.

With that, the fires broke through the Force barrier, consuming Darth Vader and young Luke Skywalker as the Death Star exploded.

An unusual heaviness on his chest woke Luke up.

Am I... dead?

The last thing he remembered seeing was fire everywhere, feeling it sear the flesh from his bones.

Now everything was black again. Feeling around, he realized that he was pinned under something really heavy and metallic. His mouth was dry and he couldn't move his arms.

"Father!" he gasped. His voice echoed in the darkness, but nobody responded.

He tried nudging his arms and legs free, but only succeeding in moving whatever was crushing him. It pinned him down even more and Luke screamed in pain.

Clearing his mind, he called out to the Force.

In his mind, he envisioned whatever was on top of him lifting and moving.

It was no use. He was just too weak from his fight against Vader and the Emperor. He slumped back as the heavy object fell back on him, crushing his ribs. Something broke and the pain made Luke howl through gritted teeth.

His eyes started to roll and he felt his consciousness slipping.

He reached out to the Force.

"Leia... Leia!"

There was no response.

He licked his dry lips and slowed his breathing, using the last of his will to reach farther. In the distance, somewhere very far away, he felt a soft vibration in the Force.

The more he concentrated on this thread, the more familiar it became.

"Ben?"

He gulped for air and willed himself to reach out to the Force with every cell in his body.

"Ben... Ben... please, help me... Ben..."

Hours passed and Luke fell in and out of consciousness several times. Any attempt to free himself only resulted in pain as the metal object crushed him even more. Slowly but surely, the signature in the Force he had felt earlier became stronger and closer.

"Ben..."

Just before Luke blacked out again, he felt the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber above him and a blue blade emerged, cutting a circle around the object above him. The metallic slab shook as it was pulled off, and Luke could finally breathe again. Light poured in from the hole and Luke saw a hooded figure standing above him before he finally passed out.