On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CLVIII

"Father, watch out!" Luke shouted just as Palpatine's lightning shot from the Emperor towards the distracted Sith Lord. Vader looked, but the Jedi could already tell that his father wouldn't be able to dodge or block the attack. Luke was too far away to do much of anything, not to mention that Vader was between the boy and the Sith Master.

But he wasn't helpless, not with the Force as an ally. Luke Force shoved his attackers away, giving him a bit of breathing room even as he dropped his lightsaber and pulled on the Force, green and gold lightning springing from his hands and enveloping both the Jedi and his father in a protective dome of light. The Sith's blue, quickly turning purple, lightning hit a moment later and the shield almost fizzled out instantly, green disappearing completely while the golden lighting was just barely able to handle the barrage—something that had often happened when he was still learning the technique. The Jedi didn't know what the colors meant, but when it came to Force lightning shields, gold was better than green. At least for Luke that was, Luna had some incredibly strong purple lightning powered shields she'd used for demonstration, but that was just Sith lightning, not the Grey lightning variant (which was, fittingly, grey) she'd been trying to move herself onto. Or something. Why she didn't just go for Jedi lighting was beyond him.

Not that he currently cared what color the lightning was considering the important part was the shield held firm. Luke grunted, struggling to keep it up as the guards, or at least those that weren't caught in a rebound of Palpatine's blue lightning, attacked with their weapons, attempting to beat down the shield.

"Luna?" Vader guessed, not sounding all that surprised as he retreated closer to where Luke was, which allowed the Jedi to shrink the radius of the protective golden shield.

"Yep...." Luke grunted, briefly recalling her repeated assaults on his shield while he was still learning. Luna was likely the only reason he was currently able to hold it against Palpatine. "Plan?"

"How long can you hold the shield?"

"Not....long," he groaned through the strain.

"Give me a moment," Vader directed as the Force swirled around them as it came to the Sith Lord's call, swirling around the vaulted ceiling. Luke wasn't able to pay it much mind, focused as he was at trying to keep the lightning shield in place.

So it was truly no surprise that when the ear splitting crack of thunder reverberated through the room, loud enough for the Jedi to literally feel it in his bones, Luke was caught completely off guard. The golden lightning died just in time for the Rebel General to watch the red guards in front of him finish being struck by a black bolt of lightning as wide as the Jedi's torso. The red guards seized for a moment before dropping to the ground, their Force presences dying as their bodies convulsed uncontrollably. Luke blinked the after images away, looking around in momentary confusion to find all the guards were similarly laying on the ground while Palpatine glared hatefully from his throne, a lightning shield of his own flickering away.

"Did you....do that?" Luke asked between heavy breaths, looking at his father in pure shock.

"Yes," was Vader's all too simple answer as the storm above them continued to swirl. He made a gesture towards the Emperor and another bolt of lightning shot down. Palpatine once again shielded himself, redirecting the black lightning at the father and son. Luke barely managed to deflect the bolt into the wall with his own green-gold lightning, leaving a sizable hole in the stone. "Now where is your lightsaber?"

"Uh...."

"Impressive," Palaptine growled, interrupting before Luke could come up with an answer. The boy took the opportunity to unsheath Luna's dagger just in case a weapon would be needed, as it felt incredibly unwise to risk glancing about for his fallen saber. The darkside suddenly flooded the room, as though power was being dragged into the Emperor's body from the outside. It was like he was watching the creation of a living manifestation of the darkside of the Force as lightning crackled over the Emperor's body and darkness oozed from his pores. "But you know nothing of true power!"

Purple lightning shot from the dark robes figure and this time....

This time Luke was neither fast nor strong enough to block.

~*~

Luna feels it coming before it happens, the Force coiling as if in pain around her. Less than half a second later, multiple Hands drop to the ground dead, life being sucked from their bodies and into the stronghold behind them. The presence calling on their energy and life is sickeningly familiar, so even without being in the throne room, the girl knows exactly what is happening.

She tries to act, sending all the lightsabers she has at those still standing but weakened from the drain, attempting to claim their lives before Palpatine can while using the Force to snap the necks of others. In some cases Luna isn't quick enough, in others she simply misses, her mind, Force control, and energy levels not up to the task she is asking of them. Palpatine's abominations continue falling around her, no longer fighting, just stilling as they wait to die. It is a sudden silence on a battlefield—the stillness is wrong and unnerving. Luna can still hear the sounds of battle behind her, her troops fighting with the Empire's soldiers, the sounds of blaster fire and cannons. But her immediate surroundings are silent save for the humming of her lightsabers.

The calm lasts only a few seconds.

Intense pain rips through Luna's body, phantom prosthetics burning as something in her—no, Vader's chest gives out. First the girl drops to her knees, lightsabers flickering out of existence as the world blurs around her, full of nothing but pain. Then she topples to the side, as though she were a doll blown over by the wind.

Luna is absent before her head hits the ground. The light of the energy shield above danced over her and the many dead as the sounds of battle and thunder rings through the air.