Chapter 25: Fall of Hope

Leia looked at Vader with disgust and no remorse. He had slaughtered her two friends, companions, and family with little care or regard. The only thought that blazed through her empty head was killing Vader, avenging them.

Vader could sense his daughter's frustration and anger growing to new found heights. She had obviously inherited his strong temper. He smiled at the thought and at her own weakness. It was time to end this, one way or another.

Vader leapt with blinding speed at Leia and brought his blade down. Her silver blade shot forward blocking the blade momentarily before she turned and met another swipe from Vader. He disengaged and evaluated his daughter. Her lightsaber skills had grown tremendously from the last time he had seen her fight. No doubt she had skills that could rival him or Sim.

Vader brought his blade above his head and attacked Leia, twirling his lightsaber in unison with hers. He blocked her every swipe, her every thrust, her every slash, and he met it with a level greater. He did a back spin and flipped over Leia turning in time to deflect her thrust. He pushed her blade left and attacked her inner shoulder. Leia ducked in time and moved forward to hit him in the jaw with the tip of her blade but it was instantly struck down by Vader's glowing crimson blade. She stepped back and once again engaged him with another parry followed by a small jump to avoid a slash at her midsection. She gained her footing before jumping to the side of Vader. He turned to meet her blow but she had already leaped above him and to the other side, catching him off guard and almost striking him in the side with a thrust. But Vader was too quick as he stepped back with blinding speed for even his own appearance.

Leia did a wide slash at his chest with her lightsaber as he easily blocked it with his blade before moving it out of the way and leaving her front exposed. Taking advantage of it, he slammed his foot into her chest and sent her flying back. She barely recovered and landed on her feet but instantly brought her blade once more to block a whirlwind of blows from Vader at lightning speeds. As father and daughter continued the fight, Leia moved through the hallways, taking one block before bringing his blade down and doing a midair jump and kicking him in the head, sending him into the right wall. She jumped back to access the damage to only find Vader recovering instantly. He let out a loud crackle as a grin sped across his youthful yet obviously tainted face.

"You are quite skilled Leia," said Vader enthusiastically, "Sim would have been proud."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure this will be your final lightsaber duel, my lord," finished Leia before taking up the offensive once more with jumping and instantly attacking Vader with a sequence of lightning fast maneuvers that instantly sent him on the defensive. He walked briskly back as she pushed and pushed him back further with swipes and thrust at his midsection and chest. He continued to block them with simple twirls with the occasional offensive strike but he was easily forced up the stair steps of the Jedi Temple hallway. As daughter and father reached the top stairs, Vader brought his blade up and in a quick move he pushed her blade and brought his blade down to her foot. Leia narrowly jumped out of the way but allowed Vader to gain some ground on her and regain his composure.

"You still have a chance Leia to join the Empire," said Vader as he brought his fist up.

"Damn, how many times do I have to say no before you actually take a hint?" asked Leia with a mocking face, "For a Dark Lord, you are not the brightest o the lot."

Anger pierced through the Force as Vader leaped at Leia and forced her back with a deadly barrage of blows. He hit her at the shoulder, midsection, thigh, arm, and chest, though, each one was blocked only barely. Leia continued to move down the hallway as her silver blade met time after time against the Dark Lord's red blade. Finally the two entered a deadlock with their lightsabers as each tried to overpower the other.

"Your skills in a lightsaber duel are legendary, some of the best I've seen in a long time," said Vader, "But I could teach you more if you came to the dark side." Leia grunted again as she tried desperately to hold on to the deadlock against her father's more powerful psychic.

Vader unlocked as he called on the Force and Force-pushed Leia over the edge of the stairs. Leia landed on her knees as she tried to gain her balance but instantly had to deflect another blow as Vader brought another barrage of blows to her. She was still dizzy from the blow and needed time to recover but Vader's lightning fast blows were not allowing her a moment of peace. She had to do something fast or she would find herself disarmed, literally, in a few moments.

She blocked another blow from Vader before suddenly leaping backwards on to one of the column bases, a couple of yards from Vader. Vader only offered a smile as he figured out what his daughter was trying to do. She would learn that it was not wise to take a breather in a duel to the death.

Calling on the Force, he did a flip as he landed right of Leia and did a swipe for it only to be blocked but instantly turned that into a downwards arc, leaving her shoulder exposed. He delivered a punch straight to her shoulder causing her to reel back to the right, giving Vader enough time to slam her against the column and then throw her against the wall. As good as she was, she had much to learn still. He watched as Leia tried desperately to get up from the blow to her head but everything was cloudy. Slowly Vader advanced on her with his red blade poised to strike her neck.

Leia could only think of one thing, that she had failed. The Dark Lord was more powerful than she could ever imagine and this was the end. She had failed Tosh, Myrenia, Sim, Padme, Luke, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and everyone who counted on her. Suddenly a voice whispered into her ear,

"Leia, do not give up. As long as there is a will to protect, there will always be hope," said the long dead Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Vader took a few more steps as he found his red blade only inches away from his daughter's neck and ready to kill her. She was a failure to him. If she would not join the dark side, then she would suffer.

"I give you one last chance, join the dark side or die," said Vader as he held his blade to her throat.

"No," spat Leia as she stubbornly refused to join Vader. Anger began to swell in him at his daughter's stupidity and hard-headedness.

"Very well, I hope you like the afterlife," said Vader as he brought his blade back for the fatal blow, "Say hello to Obi-Wan for me."

With that he thrust his blade at Leia who closed her eyes for death. As she got ready for death, called on the Force without thinking about it and suddenly put her hand up with blazing speed, causing the Dark Lord to fly straight back and slam into the wall. One of Leia's eyes opened up as she looked to see what had happened. Vader rubbed his head as he saw his daughter get up. She had caught him off guard with a Force-push yet he never detected it coming.

Leia instantly sprung up as she called on her lightsaber and activated it once more. The fight was still on.

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Sim maneuvered in a loop once more as he put on his engines full throttle.

"Damn it, I can't shake these guys off my back," cursed Sim to himself as he pulled back the control stick and sent the fighter into a climb, once again.

The other four enemy TIEs followed suit and opened fire on his ship, hitting his back shields and damaging them. They got ready to fire another round of blaster shots to finish Sim off but at the last minute he did something he was famous for in the Clone Wars: the tight spin.

Using the Force, he pulled as hard as he could on the control stick and caused it to start climbing in a circle, with the TIEs following. He upped the speed of the motion as the Gs on the plane began to increase tremendously. The only thing that was keeping his ship alive was the Force, but that could not be said for the other ships. In a split second, the four fighters were engulfed in mini-explosions as the ships were vaporized and crushed by the sheer amount of Gs from the maneuvers. Sim let out a chuckle and remembered the old days during the Clone Wars. He pressed on the throttle and the aircraft zoomed out of the Yavin system as he tried madly to get back to Icylian.

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Leia leaped around Vader time and time again as her lightsaber turned into 20 and her blade pounded Vader from whatever angle she could find. She was leaping around like an acrobatic high on steroids, flaunting her mastery of Form IV Atari. Yet it was not enough as Vader met each wild move with a precise and carefully planed block, swipe, or thrust in his Form V stance. He was combining his mastery of Form V with some degrees of his former mentors Form III along with a reminiscent of Count Dooku's Form II.

The two met in a deadlock as Leia swiftly turned, disengaged, and took a deep swipe at Vader, knocking him back a few steps but not enough to misbalance him. She took up the initiative and attacked Vader with a series of blinding fast maneuvers that only someone with a degree of great mastery of the Force could execute properly. She leaped above Vader as he turned but she jumped over his blade and did a back flip back to her former position, bringing her blade down in a downwards arc. Vader spun quickly enough and with a twirl of his lightsaber, he caught her blade and shoved her back with his sheer strength.

Leia momentarily stopped to see the Dark Lord advance on her. So far she had been unsuccessful in finding any weaknesses in his form. That was expected considering he had practiced lightsaber combat for over 30 years and he had sheer experience. It didn't help that his midichlorine count was the greatest ever in history, giving him access to bounds of Force power.

Vader leaped on to attack once more but Leia decided it was time to give some ground. She did back flip combined with assistance of the Force and reached the top of a pillar, standing on top of it. Vader eyed her suspiciously before doing the same and landing at a nearby pillar too.

"What's wrong child?" asked Vader, "Are you scared of my power?"

"No, I'm just getting bored down there is all," said Leia as she waved her hand a small column unbolted itself from the wall. It went flying straight at Vader who flicked his finger in a circular motion and the piece of the column went flying in the other direction.

"So you think you can best me in the Force child?" asked Vader with a wicked grin, "Let's see how powerful you truly are."

Vader turned to a huge column supporting the ceiling and called on the dark side. The column broke from its base and floated to the top of Vader who didn't even look like he was putting any effort into it. With a smile he sent the column hurtling at a surprised Leia.

Leia stood still and closed her eyes as she remembered her early training with Sim. She breathed in and out before wrapping herself in the glowing light of the Force. Leia put up her hand at the column and it came to a halt in front of her. Swallowing Leia began to spin the column to give it momentum. Vader looked at her in complete aghast before realizing what she was doing. With an abrupt thrust of her wrist, the column went slamming at Vader who brought up his two hands to stop the racing column. He let go and the column fell straight to the ground, causing a loud crash and for the temple to shake.

"Sim has taught you well, young Skywalker," said Vader at his daughter's sheer skill in the Force, "I'll give you that, but let's see how you deal with other problems."

He brought up his hand and suddenly Force Lightning shot out and went straight to Leia. With brisk speed, she brought up her hand in time to intercept the lightning in her palm. As the lightning poured into her palm and into a ball of energy, Leia instantly began to weaken from the strain. Her knees began to buckle as she collapsed to one knee and closed one eye.

"What's wrong, Leia?" shouted Vader with a crackle over the loud roar of his lightning, "Is the dark side too much for you? Little girl, you should have never picked a fight with someone who has been using the dark side longer than you have lived!"

Leia knew he was right. She had no hope of besting a Sith Lord and it only had been luck that she had survived till now. Leia continued to weaken under the heavy assault as more and more lightning got past her and sent shockwaves through her. She could hold out no more yet something was making her do so. She could tell if it was the Force or her own stubbornness. Whatever it was, she accepted that she would die trying. Gathering up whatever power she had left in reserve, she readied herself for a trick that she had seen Sim do. Focusing on the lightning coursing through her body, she lifted up her other hand and let the lightning in her palm disperse. The lightning began to course through her painfully, making her want to collapse and wither away but she fought the thoughts back. Clearing her mind, she began to gather up that lightning and energy into the other hand, focusing all the incoming lightning from the one hand, straight into the other. She then just let go.

Lightning escaped from her hand as it went straight back at Vader and slammed into him, his own lightning continuing. He brought up one of his hands to deflect the lightning while the other continued to shoot out its deadly bolts. His daughter was doing something he had not seen for a long time, but it was a weakness at the same time. With a small smile, he increase the lightning's intensity at Leia by tenfold but the smile quickly faded as the lightning striking his palm suddenly increased tenfold and overcame his barriers, sending him reeling against the wall.

"How did you do that?" said Vader in a raspy and exhausted voice full of pain. Leia huffed and breathed hard as she took a moment to recover from the ordeal.

"I turned myself into a redirection circuit," said Leia with a notorious grin splattered over her face, "What's wrong? Your lightning hurt?"

Vader screamed inside at his own stupidity. In his consuming glory, he had forgotten about Sim's technique in dealing with Force lightning. His past was biting him more than he wanted it to.

"Your powers are great young one, but you have much to learn," said Vader as he redirected his electricity at a metal pole. The electricity flew threw the metal pole as it went up the column that connected to Leia's. She only had a second to react before she was struck by it, full blast. The electricity swam through her as she fell unconscious and her body fell off the column. It plummeted to the ground and she slammed against the floor, letting out a sharp groan.

Vader leaped from his position and reignited his lightsaber, strolling toward the lump that was his daughter.

"I must say, Sim has taught you well but you are no match for me," said Vader as he brought his lightsaber up for the final blow. With a crack it entered her and she was dead. Leia Skywalker the daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Skywalker, brother to Luke Skywalker, had become one with the Force.

Vader pulled his blade out of his daughter as a tear slid down his scarred cheek. Vader shook his head as the spirit of Anakin Skywalker was once more repelled and Vader remained in control. Suddenly he felt a dark presence and turned to see where it came. A smile crept over his face as he saw who it was:

It was Luke Skywalker, Darth Annihilator.

"Lord Annihilator, I see you have escaped," said Vader as he walked closer to Luke, "I've got rid of the threat."

As he walked closer, suddenly Vader stopped. Something was wrong. Luke's eyes were fiery yellow. Luke let his robe fall to the ground as he summoned his lightsaber to his hand and activated it. An emotion of betrayal flew across Vader's face as he realized that his son was not an ally, he was the enemy.

"No Vader, I am no longer Darth Annihilator. I am Luke Skywalker and I'm not your son," said Luke as he got into his Form V stance, "My father died a long time ago."