Anakin goes to Hogwarts

Chapter 1: The Jedi Returns

"Father!" cried Luke in agony as the Emperor's Force Lightning ate at him and made him convulse on the floor. Darth Vader looked on, his mask as impassive and relentless as always, but inside the mask a man struggled to be free of the pain that had held him captive for over twenty years.

"Help me!" Vader had been alone for so long, but now his son was here-his beautiful son who looked so much like the young Anakin Skywalker, and whose face shone with the compassion and love Vader had forsaken long ago.

"Please!" When the former Anakin Skywalker looked at that face, suddenly he couldn't see any of himself in it. Suddenly it was her face... her image before him, writhing on the floor before the hideous embodiment of hate. Pleading for Anakin to save her. But that's all I wanted to do, Padme, he thought sadly. I just wanted to save you. How did it all go so wrong? He had failed her then. The power of the Dark Side had not been able to save his Padme, and now she was gone, beyond all hope of rescue, and he was a slave again, bound to follow the whims of another cruel master, to serve the Darkness that had ripped his beloved from his side.

No more. With a swift movement, Anakin lunged forward and picked up the Emperor as easily as he might have picked up a young child. As I might have done if I had the chance to be a true father to Luke, he thought. The Emperor was still cackling madly with delight at torturing Luke, but now Anakin was holding the frail old man over the reactor shaft, standing right against the railing, and now Anakin simply dropped him in. It was a simple act, and the Force was with him. The Force filled him with love now, and he marvelled to see how the Darkness was driven back before the bright power of the Light. He had been so afraid to turn back toward the Light. It is too late for me, he had thought, and resigned himself to follow the Dark path forever, but Luke had been right about him. Strangely, he could see Luke in his mind, standing with Princess Leia on a wooden platform in the light of flickering torches in a friendly forest.

"There is good in him," Luke told her. Anakin saw their entire conversation in one moment. "The Force is strong in my family," Luke said simply. "My father has it, I have it, and my sister has it." With so much good in his children, there had to be goodness in Anakin. It was never too late to turn back, because the Light was stronger than the Dark in the end. "I am a Jedi," Luke had said, standing defiantly before the Emperor, refusing to use the Dark Side to kill in anger, and so am I! cried Anakin in his mind

As Palpatine started to fall downward, however, he let loose a stream of Force Lightning at Anakin, electrocuting him as he had done to Luke, and frying the circuits of Anakin's respirator. His artificial limbs were also damaged by the current, and Anakin leaned heavily against the railing, turning away from the falling Sith. He could see Luke getting up, already recovering from the Emperor's assault, still bright with the Light side of the Force.

"Father," said Luke lovingly, starting toward the dark figure who was now gasping for breath. But their reconciliation was not to be. Palpatine, falling through the reactor shaft, had somehow summoned enough energy in the Force to crack the railing Anakin leaned on. He felt himself fall helplessly downward. Luke tried to reach him, but the Emperor's rage was powerful, and Anakin fell after him.

Palpatine had never been so consumed with hatred. In his long life of serving the Dark Side, how could he now allow the Light to triumph? Two recklessly naive boys from a backward desert planet were no match for him! He focused all his energy into pulling Vader towards himself, so much that he felt his own descent slow down. He called out to the Dark Side, somehow connecting with the universe in a way that he never had before. He felt the Darkness reach out to him, calling him to another place and time where its hold was growing stronger, and he knew the Dark Side wanted him there...

As Anakin fell, he saw the glowing yellow eyes of the Emperor below him. The Emperor seemed to be falling slowly, and now his entire body was glowing. A sickly sort of force field seemed to emanate from his body, warping his shape and the shapes of the station behind him. Something about the sickly glow seemed wrong to Anakin, as if the very fabric of reality was being torn apart. Suddenly, the Emperor disappeared, but the sickly force field remained, and Anakin was falling toward it. Helpless to avoid his fate, Anakin called out to Luke with his mind. "I love you, my son." Then he was gone.