To Live For

"Who are you?" the Emperor hissed.

"I?" the young man replied evenly, turning his hooded head to face the Sith Lord. "You seek fact where you should seek truth." He removed the hood, revealing handsome features and piercing blue eyes. He continued "And you see a man where you should recognize a boy."

"You!"

And after all that time, he was not afraid. "Yes." His chin lifted proudly, with no hint of the memories that must have haunted him.

"You will die now," the Emperor declared.

His hands reached inside the black cloak he wore, and with a snap-hiss, a green lightsaber ignited. "Perhaps," said he. "But let me tell you this before you try, Sidious:

"Every nightmare you ever had, every vision of the future in which you lost, is coming true. Everything you tried to prevent with torturing me will happen now because fate is fate, and I know I have a destiny."

Palpatine snorted, yet his nervousness was plain to see. "You think you will defeat me?" he challenged.

A strong man who was once a tortured boy raised his eyes to look at the most powerful Sith in history without fear. "I know I can," said a Jedi.

In him rested all the hopes of peace and equality, and he bore the burden well. "And you know it," Luke Skywalker said softly.

And so Sidious Palpatine, Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith, rushed forward onto the last hope of the Jedi.