The Rise And Fall Of Darth Vader (18 page)

From the darkness, the son said, “I will not fight you.”

“Give yourself to the dark side,” Vader urged. “It is the only way you can save your friends.” Vader was suddenly aware that Luke was now thinking of his friends, his concern for them almost palpable. “Yes,” Vader said, “your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…”

Luke was unable to stop Vader from accessing his mind.

“Sister!” Vader exclaimed. “So… you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete.” Moving deeper into the recesses below the platform, he said, “If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will.”

“No!” Luke screamed, igniting his lightsaber as he rushed from his hiding place to attack Vader. Sparks flew as they traded blows in the dark, cramped area, and Vader was forced to retreat out from under the platform until they arrived at the edge of a short bridge beside a deep, open elevator shaft.

A glancing blow ruptured Vader’s life-support system, and as he fell back against the bridge’s railing he was unable to stop Luke’s blade from severing his right wrist. Metal and electronic parts flew from Vader’s shattered stump, and his lightsaber clattered over the edge of the bridge and into the apparently bottomless shaft. Badly wounded and utterly exhausted, Vader looked up to see Luke’s lightsaber angled to deliver a killing stroke.

The Emperor had risen from his throne to stand on the stairway behind Luke. “Good!” the Emperor said. “Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place at my side!”

So this is how it all ends,
Vader thought.

But then Luke deactivated his lightsaber and said, “Never!” Flinging the weapon aside, he declared, “I’ll never turn to the dark side. You’ ve failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

The Emperor scowled. With immeasurable displeasure, he said, “So be it… Jedi. If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed.”

Still lying against the bridge railing beside the elevator shaft, Vader watched the Emperor extend his gnarled fingers and unleash blinding bolts of blue lightning from his fingertips. The lightning struck Luke, who tried to deflect the crackling bands of energy, but was so overwhelmed that his body crumpled to the floor.

No,
Vader thought.
No. Not like this.

As the Emperor continued to strike Luke with his barrage of Sith lightning, Vader struggled to his feet. One leg was broken, and the other wasn’t working right. Moving awkwardly, he shifted his bulk to stand beside his Master. On the floor, Luke writhed in agony, and was on the verge of death as he groaned, “Father, please. Help me.”

Vader watched Luke curl into a fetal position as the Emperor hurled an even more staggering wave of lightning at his victim. Vader had no doubt that Luke was about to die. His son screamed.

Not just my son…

The Emperor unleashed another round of lightning.

…or Padmé‘s son…

Luke screamed louder.

…but my son… who loves me.

Luke’s clothes began to smolder as his body involuntarily spasmed. Suddenly, Vader realized that he was no longer concerned about his own personal future. Despite all the terrible, unspeakable things he’d done in his life, he knew he could not stand by and allow the Emperor to kill Luke. And in that moment of awareness, he was Darth Vader no more.

He was Anakin Sky walker.

It took all of his remaining strength to seize the Emperor from behind, lift him off his feet, and carry him to the open elevator shaft. The wretched Emperor continued to release lightning bolts, but they veered away from Luke and arced back to crash down upon him and his insurgent apprentice. The lightning penetrated Vader’s life-support suit and electrified Anakin’s organic remains, but he lurched forward until he could throw the Emperor into the elevator shaft.

Palpatine screamed as his body plummeted down the shaft. Still trapped within Darth Vader’s armor, Anakin collapsed at the shaft’s edge, but heard the explosion of dark energy that consumed the falling Emperor.

Hearing his own breathing as a rasping rattle, Anakin knew that Vader’s helmet’s respiratory apparatus was broken. He felt something tug at his shoulders, and realized Luke had crawled beside him and was pulling him away from the edge of the abyss.

Despite his own injuries, Luke managed to haul his father to the hangar that contained Vader’s shuttle. The journey was made even more difficult by the fact that the Rebels had disabled the energy shield projector on the Sanctuary Moon, and the Death Star was now under heavy attack. Trying to keep his own legs steady as the battle station was wracked by explosions, Luke dragged his father to the shuttle’s landing ramp before he collapsed from the effort.

He’s not going to make it,
Anakin thought.
Not with me.

“Luke,” he gasped, “help me take this mask off.”

Luke knelt beside him and said, “But you’ll die.”

“Nothing can stop that now,” Anakin said. “Just for once… let me look on you… with my own eyes.”

Slowly, carefully, Luke lifted Vader’s angular helmet, then removed the faceplate from the black durasteel shell that wrapped around his neck. As Anakin’s scarred features were exposed, he was surprised to feel tears welling in his eyes.

It’s over,
he thought.
The nightmare is over.

He smiled weakly, then said, “Now… go, my son. Leave me.”

“No,” Luke insisted. “You’re coming with me. I’ll not leave you here. I’ve got to save you.”

Anakin smiled again. “You already have, Luke. You were right.” Choking his last breaths, he said, “You were right about me. Tell your sister… you were right.”

Closing his eyes as he slumped back against the shuttle ramp, Anakin Skywalker had every reason to believe that he was finally about to embrace perpetual darkness.

Not for the first time, he was wrong.

Initially, there was darkness for Anakin Skywalker, a boundless shadowy realm, like a universe without stars. But then, from somewhere at the edge of his awareness, he perceived a distant, shimmering light, then heard a voice say,
Anakin
.

The voice was familiar.

Although Anakin no longer had a body or a mouth with which to speak, he somehow answered,
Obi-Wan? Master, I’m so sorry. So very, very -

Anakin, listen carefully,
Obi-Wan interrupted, and Anakin was aware that the distant light was either growing brighter or closer, or perhaps both.
You are in the netherworld of the Force, but if you ever wish to revisit corporeal space, then I still have one thing left to teach you. A way to become one with the Force. If you choose this path to immortality, then you must listen now, before your consciousness fades.

Knowing he was beyond redemption, Anakin said,
But, Master… why me?

Because you ended the horror, Anakin,
Obi-Wan said.
Because you fulfilled the prophecy.

The light was very bright now.

Anakin’s first thought was that he might be able to see his children again. He said,
Thank you, Master.

* * *

Taking the Imperial shuttle, Luke Skywalker had escaped with his father’s remains from the Death Star only a moment before the battle station exploded. After landing on the Sanctuary Moon, Luke prepared a very private funeral in a forest clearing.

Night had fallen by the time Luke placed Anakin Skywalker’s armor-clad body atop a pile of gathered wood. As he ignited the pyre, Luke said, “I burn his armor and with it the name of Darth Vader. May the name of Anakin Skywalker be a light that guides the Jedi for generations to come.”

Luke was unaware of the spirits who watched him from the shadows of the lambent woods. But later, when he rejoined his allies for their victory celebration in the treetop village that was home to the Ewoks, Luke saw three shimmering apparitions materialize in the darkness. They were Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda… and his father, Anakin Skywalker.

The Jedi had returned.