This is the final chapter. If you missed Chapter 12 (posted last week) please read that first. Hope you enjoy, and thank you for all your comments. They keep me going!

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Vader? Mace questioned silently. But that was your--

Anakin turned his head to meet the brown eyes and saw comprehension dawn in them.

You and Padme-- Luke is your son!

He nodded, feeling a curious mixture of pride and shame. Mace had been his friend for many years, and he wanted to explain everything: how much he had loved Padme and how badly they had both wanted their child-- and how the Jedi destroyed it all. But before he could tell Mace any of it, his danger-sense exploded, and he looked down three stories at the bright red blades that had ignited.

"Now!" he shouted, shattering the window by jumping through it, activating his own saber as he flew through the air. Landing lightly on his feet, he somersaulted once to place himself between Ventress and Luke.

"No!" she raged, using her twin lightsabers as a blinding fortress of protection while she danced away.

"Coward," he hissed. "You're afraid to face me again-- just as you were afraid to face Obi-Wan! You used Luke to kill him-- Damn you, you're not going to use him again!"

She laughed wildly, leaping to an upper landing. "And you'll not mutilate me again, Skywalker! This isn't over-- I'll return and destroy both of you!"

With Mace at his shoulder, Anakin prepared to follow her. But faster than he could complete his jump, she snapped her two sabers together and hurled them into the air. They turned into a deadly windmill, racing straight for Luke.

"Nooo!" Anakin shouted. He twisted in mid-air, desperately trying to move in front of the spinning sabers. He could not be too late again-- not this time! "Luke!"

But his son didn't need his help, for he had already acted. Luke thrust both hands outward, sending white lightning into the oncoming blades. The lethal whirlwind froze in the air, then clattered to the floor, blades shutting down. When the lightning ending, Luke call the hilt to him, staring at the double-ended saber as if he couldn't quite believe his accomplishment.

Anakin and Mace rushed to him-- Mace more warily, not yet ready to trust Luke. But Anakin had no fear of the weapon held by his son. "Well done," he said quietly, though his voice trembled with the realization of what he had nearly lost.

Luke looked at the dual lightsaber for a moment, then snapped the hilts apart and handed them to Anakin. "Who was she?"

Anakin looked up at the landing where the Sith had been. She was gone for now but not, he knew, conquered.

"Her name is Asajj Ventress," Mace said. "Long ago she was a Jedi, but she fell to the Dark Side. She has a history of confrontations with Jedi."

"Obi-Wan and I thought we had slain her long ago. Before you were born." Anakin didn't look away from Luke, though the young man's gaze was relentless and unreadable.

"Who is Darth Vader?" his son asked.

Anakin hesitated. The adrenaline and worry of the last few minutes had pushed aside his anger and disillusionment with the Jedi-- temporarily. He did not believe he could ever forgive Yoda's actions, but he could not hold a grudge against Obi-Wan. His friend and master had paid the ultimate price for his deception; Yoda had not. Yoda had suffered no remorse but, Anakin could now see as he looked back over their shared past, Obi-Wan had.

"Let's get out of here," Mace suggested. "I must return to the temple... and you two need to talk."

- - - - -

"Darth Vader," Anakin Skywalker began, "was me."

Luke's expression didn't alter, and Anakin realized the boy sitting beside him didn't understand the implications of that revelation. He stared up at the tree that loomed over them, here in the park where they had first met only hours earlier this very day. The brilliance of the night sky was muted, its stars dimmed by city lights and obscured by pollution.

"I was nearly lost to the Dark Side. I became Palpatine's apprentice for a short while. Mace and Obi-Wan... saved me." A too-simple explanation for the agonies of that time, but he didn't want to overburden his child.

"Do you know how I came to be on Tatooine?"

He shook his head. "I can only guess. I knew Owen and Beru Lars, and Palpatine was aware that we were related by marriage."

"Really." The voice was flat, the eyes expressionless.

"They were good people."

"Then how did we end up with Sidious?" Luke snapped.

That was a question he too wanted answered. "Judging from what Ventress said, she took you from your mother and... killed her. Palpatine was in no condition to harm anyone, so it had to be Ventress who did it."

Luke folded his arms. "So the story about a shuttle accident was a lie?"

"Perhaps. Or it was the means to-- " All the breath left his lungs at once.

Luke knew!

"H-how...?" Astonishment robbed him of words.

The youth made a scoffing sound. "You're not the only one who can steal a data chip," Luke said, sounding pleased with himself.

"I see," he murmured automatically, struggling to find something more adequate to say. But his mind was numb from too many shocks. "Then you know that I'm your father."

"I guess." The boy shrugged and looked aside. He bent over and pulled up a few blades of grass, spreading them in his palm and staring as if they were the most interesting things he'd ever seen. "Pretty inconvenient, huh? A Jedi with a kid." He threw a challenging glare at Anakin. "No wonder you didn't want me or my mother."

"What?" He half-rose, then caught his anger and squashed it. His hand brushed tentatively against Luke's shoulder. "I thought you had died with her. I had no idea... Luke, I didn't know until today that you lived. When I read your DNA results-- Ah, I was overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed." Luke kept staring at his hands. "Right. So... were you happy about it or ...?"

"Gods." Anakin rubbed his forehead wearily. "I was angry," he said honestly. "Furious that you had been kept from me. That I had a son and didn't know. That you lived eighteen years without me... that I had lived eighteen years without you."

"Oh," Luke said, his voice small and quiet.

Anakin wondered if the boy was disappointed by his reply. "I wanted a life with you and Padme. I would have walked away from the Jedi Order if that's what it took. And Yoda knew it."

The wide blue eyes glanced his way only briefly. "What happened?"

He wanted to omit mention of Kenobi's part in the deception, but his son did not deserve more lies. "Yoda and Obi-Wan sent Padme away-- to be safe, they told her, and that was part of the truth. But Yoda also feared that it would be a blow to the galaxy's faith in the Jedi if I were to leave."

"Because you're the Chosen One."

"Yes. A poor excuse, but..."

Luke's hands curled into fists that crushed the delicate grass stems. "Then the Jedi killed my mother."

"No," he said sharply. "Yoda denied it, and now that I know Ventress was involved, I am certain it was she who killed Padme. She nearly admitted it. On Palpatine's orders, she killed your mother and took you to him."

His son mulled this over for a few minutes, and Anakin remained silent, letting the boy digest the new information. Finally Luke asked: "Am I a Sith or a Jedi?"

"That's a choice you may make, if you wish."

"It is?"

"The Force is neutral. How you use it determines your destiny."

Luke turned his hand upside down and brushed the crumpled grass from his palm. "What if I don't want to be either one? I don't think I like the Sith or the Jedi."

"That, too, is your choice." Anakin smiled tightly. "I'm not particularly pleased with the Jedi Order either."

"We could be renegades!" A spark of animation suddenly appeared. "Wandering the galaxy, freeing slaves, righting wrongs-- That is," Luke faltered, "if you want to be with me. Or I could just go away. I can get along fine on my own."

There was a lump in his throat so large that he could barely breathe around it. Anakin swallowed and stood. "You're not going anywhere without me, Son. Now that we've found each other, I'm not letting you go." He held open his arms.

Or at least he intended to open his arms. But somewhere between thought and result, he faltered and ended up with his hands palms up, asking for acceptance.

Luke blinked several times, then rose. "I, uh..." He ducked his head, peering up at Anakin through heavy lashes. "Okay, I guess. If you want." His mouth curved slightly, hesitant, as if it didn't know quite what to do.

Never saw him smile, Huff Darklighter had said.

Anakin couldn't wait longer for the boy to move. He grabbed Luke and pulled him against his chest. There was a token resistance, then the blond head pressed under his chin and, after a few seconds, his son's entire body relaxed and arms wrapped around his back in an answering hug.

- - - - -

"Always remember who you are, she said," Luke whispered, his words muffled against the dark cloak.

Despite that, his father heard him. "Who said that?"

"I guess... my mother. I thought it was a dream, but... maybe not." He wished his mother could know that he remembered.

"That sounds like something Padme would say." The chest heaved under his ear as his father sighed. "And now you know. You're Luke Skywalker."

"Mm-hmm." He sighed and lifted his head.

"We both have new futures," Anakin Skywalker said, "and they are full of possibilities. We can choose for ourselves. I will not let the Jedi dictate my path any longer."

"Maybe that means you'll end up doing what you were 'Chosen' for."

His father shot a sharp look at him. "You have some very interesting ideas," he said slowly, "and unusual ones. I wonder-- "

"There is one other thing," Luke interrupted, lifting his head.

"What?" His father's embrace loosened marginally, only enough to allow him to look down at Luke.

"Ventress said that she 'ended up' with someone other than me. She said 'her'. I thought she meant my mother, but if Mother was already dead-- who was Ventress talking about?"

His father stared at him, his brow furrowing. "I don't know. There was..." His eyes closed and, whether he meant to or not, he shared his memory with Luke.

...she smiled, her eyes full of mischief. "I have another surprise for you, Anakin."

"I don't have time now. I have to see Chancellor Palpatine. We'll talk when I return, my love. Save your surprise for then."

She just kept smiling in a pleased, secret way. And that was the last time I saw her...

"Twins," his father said, his voice amazed. "She was carrying twins! By the gods, you have a twin sister!"

"Huh. Well then," Luke said practically, thought he was wondered if a Sith sister would be a welcome addition to his new family, "we'd better go find her, hadn't we."

"A grand idea." Anakin Skywalker grinned, and Luke couldn't-- and didn't want to-- stop looking at him. "What a team we're going to make!"

"Yeah." Luke felt an answering grin stretch his face in an unfamiliar way. "Father."

END

Between father and son, there is a bridge that neither Time nor Death can shatter. Each stands at one end, needing to cross.

The bridge is your love for him.

(attributed to Master Po, Kung Fu)