Consequences

Chapter 23 - Mission Complete

"Give yourself to the Dark Side. It's the only way you can save your friends, Luke," Vader responds, "Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for..." He pauses, obviously sensing some of Luke's emotions and thoughts through the Force. Not good. Don't think about them. Don't think about them, Luke. Don't give it away. Don't –

"Sister!" he exclaims, "So, you have a twin sister." So much for that. It's not Vader I'm worried about keeping her existence from; he'd never hurt any of us. It's Sidious. "Your feelings have not betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will." No, he can't mean that. He's just testing our limits. I hope. Leia has far more darkness than either of us, so it wouldn't be hard to turn her.

"Never!" yells Luke, igniting his lightsaber and charging out of his hiding place in a rage. So much for not using the Dark Side. He attacks Vader, flailing his lightsaber about wildly, hitting a beam nearby, sending sparks flying everywhere. After all the training I gave you, Luke, this is how you fight?

Luke is on the offensive now, though Vader's definitely not trying nearly as hard as he could be. He pushes the fight further away from my position so I can't see it quite so well anymore, but they are heading towards an elevator shaft. Luke's lightsaber continues slamming into things as he goes, sparking flying wildly. I am going to facepalm right about now. I don't blame him, but he needs to calm down. I thought he'd know Vader didn't really mean he was going to try turning her.

In a sudden stray swing of Luke's lightsaber which Vader doesn't block on time, the green blade cuts through his wrist. I can't suppress the horrified gasp that escapes me as Vader falls to the floor and Luke holds his lightsaber over him, preventing him from rising. This... this was not how the fight was supposed to end.

Then I hear the nearly evil-sounding footsteps as the Emperor descends the stairs towards where Luke and Vader are. I wish I had my lightsaber with me right now. I could just stab him in the back.

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

"Luke, no!" I yell, nearly panicking as I jump forwards out of my hiding spot. I'm not sure what I'm planning to do, but something, anything.

Sidious explodes. "I have had enough of your meddling, child," he roars. The Force screams of danger. The Sith raises his hand, and almost before I have a chance to register it, a blinding bolt of bluish energy shoots out of his fingers, striking me. Burning agony rips through me, making the throbbing in my arm feel nearly nonexistent. A scream rips from me and the next thing I register is laying on the other side of the room. The world seems very hazy, and I'm having a hard time seeing anything as I struggle to remain conscious.

"Kill him and become my new apprentice or she dies," I hear Sidious's voice from what sounds like a million light years away. Luke's gaze flickers between Vader, Sidious, and then me, indecision obvious. Don't do this. Don't turn to the Dark Side for me. I need to get up, to do something, but all I can do right now is lay here.

"Don't –" is all I manage to get out before a blast of lightning hits me again and this time it doesn't just stop.

It feels like every inch of me is burning from the inside out, slowly, painfully. I've been electrocuted before, but Sith lightning is very different from the usual. It's far more painful. He's not trying to stun me this time. He's trying to kill me. He's going to. I'm going to die. If it's to save my brother, I'll take anything that comes my way. I writhe on the ground in agony. The only thing I can feel is the lightning pouring through me.

Finally, after what seems like forever, it stops.

I can feel the agonizing indecision in Luke. He's not sure what to do. And I'm scared to find out what choice he's going to make. Considering the pressure he's under, and what he probably believes may be the only way to save me, Leia, and everyone...

Feeling like this is a stupid idea, I reach out mentally towards Luke. Maybe I won't get electrocuted immediately like this. "Don't do it, Luke," I practically beg. I can't be the cause of my brother's death.

"He's going to kill you," Luke's panicked voice comes back through our bond, "And the others will die too...."

"Don't do it," I insist, "There has to be another way." Maybe I'll have to die to get back to my own time. That's not what I thought before, but maybe... I don't know, but I'm not going to risk it. I... I need a lightsaber, except I don't have one. I glance down at myself, taking in the injuries from the lightning. I don't even know if I'll be able to hold one against the force of that. I reach into the Force, struggling to siphon away most of the pain.

Finally, Luke backs away from Vader and turns around, though he keeps his lightsaber poised in front of him. "Never! I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

For a terrifying moment, all is still. "So be it, Jedi," growls the Emperor, his voice so full of anger and hatred that it sends shivers through me. "If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed."

Lightning shoots out of his fingers but this time not at me – at Luke. He attempts to deflect it with his lightsaber, but the blast is too strong, and it knocks the blade right out of his hands. Vader rises to his feet and walks over to stand next to Sidious.

Luke falls to the floor screaming as the lightning consumes him. Horror flares though me. I need to do something and now. I can't just lay here, injured or not, while this crazed Sith tortures Luke. I try to move but can't. Everything just hurts too badly. Move, move, move!

"Young fool, only now, at the end, do you understand," scoffs Sidious. Luke attempts to hold onto something near him to keep himself from falling down the elevator shaft as the lightning continues flowing into him. I push myself into a sitting position and then climb to my feet.

Sidious pauses in his lightning for a moment, looking at me mockingly I struggle to move forwards without face-planting. "Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side." Lightning blasts out of his hands again, one aimed at Luke and the other at me. No. Reaching out, I pull Luke's lightsaber into my hands, igniting it barely in time to meet the onslaught of the lightning.

"You have paid the price for your lack of vision," he cackles as he continues shoot the lightning. I'm struggling to hold the lightsaber firmly, but I'm having an increasingly hard time doing so. Slowly, my grip is weakening. I try to walk towards Luke, which would normally be fine, but I'm anything but fine right now.

"Father, please... help me," moans Luke. Vader looks between us and Sidious, and I sense turmoil in him, but somehow, it already seems like he knows what he's going to do.

"Now, young Skywalker, you will die... and with you, Tano," Sidious gloats. The blasts of lightning shooting out his fingers somehow increase in intensity. Right when I'm only a few feet from Luke, my grip slips, the lightsaber flying from my hands. I hit the floor as the lightning consumes me again. And this time, I have no doubts there is no way of escape. Except –

"Master!" I gasp out. Anakin, we need you. I don't deserve it, but Luke does. And so do you. Don't let Cato Neimoidia be the last battle we fought together.

The barrage of lightning suddenly stops, and I look to see Vader picking up the crazed Sith. Every inch of me is aching, but at least I'm still alive. So is Luke. That's not my concern, though. Sidious continues to shoot lightning, which arches over his head, crackling into Vader. And frying all his equipment from the sound of it. Despite the lightning engulfing him, he makes his way over to the elevator shaft and throws Sidious down it.

Vader collapses to his knees by the shaft, resting his right arm on it to keep himself from falling after as an explosion rings out from far below, followed by a surge of decreasing darkness in the Force. Sidious is dead. I can hardly believe it. I feel more satisfied about that than I care to admit. And far more than I should, even as a Grey Jedi.

Ignoring the pain still coursing through me, I push myself off the floor and crawl over to Anakin. Luke somehow makes it over to him before me, pulling him away from the shaft. I kneel beside them, lightly resting a hand on my brother's chest. "Anakin, we need to leave," I murmur.