Work Text:
No. 27—Pushed to the Limit
Muffled Screams | Stumbling | Magical Exhaustion
“Father! Can you hear me?” Luke’s voice fuzzed through the comm, but still came through.
Anakin tapped the comm. “I can hear you.” He scanned the battlefield. Republic troops were beating back the Yuuzhan Vong slave army, but the Vong ships still dominated the skies. “Where are you?”
“Still in the Star Destroyer you made me be in,” Luke said. “It’s crashing right near you. We don’t have any controls left.”
Anakin grimaced. He could hear the accusation, but he didn’t regret his decision. Luke needed to get used to directing a battle, and he still hadn’t fully recovered his eyesight from his battle injury over a month ago. Though this crash may yet make Anakin regret his orders. “Don’t you have any control?”
“No! No control left and the others already took the escape pods,” Luke said.
A group of Vong slaves rushed Anakin. He swung his lightsaber through the foremost one, slashing and cutting until the group was laying on the dusty red field twitching in pieces.
“I…I just wanted to say goodbye,” Luke said.
“No, no, no,” Anakin said. “Not acceptable.” He shaded his eyes. A streak in the sky zoomed towards him. The beating of his heart told him it was Luke. “You’re not allowed to die. Not now.”
“Unless you can magically make the controls light up, I don’t think you have a say,” Luke said.
“No, no, I have an idea.” Anakin had no idea if he had enough power to do this, but he didn’t have any other option. “Use the Force and push against the ground to slow the ship.”
“I don’t think I have enough power!” Luke said.
“Don’t think, just do!” Anakin shouted to the nearby army, part clones, part volunteers, part Jedi. Compared to the Clone Wars, shoving the Jedi into the regular ranks instead of automatically assigning high ones and the thousands more Jedi available still messed with Anakin. “Cover me!”
Three older padawans ran to him and surrounded him. “Yes, General.”
Anakin clipped his lightsaber to the belt and held out his hands. He sank into the Force and pushed as hard as he could against the falling Star Destroyer.
His arms trembled, but the ship slowed noticeably. Pain streaked down his arms. Sweat trailed down his face.
“Make way!” he shouted. “Ship coming down!”
Republic troops scattered.
The ship was still falling too fast.
An old warning from biology class popped into Anakin’s mind. “Don’t use the Force too much or it’ll be bad. Why?”
Anakin’s arms trembled. He pushed harder against the ship. It was still slowing. Sweat dripped into his eyes. His vision blurred. Pain tore through his chest.
“That’s right. At its core, the Force is energy. Using the Force feeds your mitochondria—the powerhouse of the cells.”
Through the bond, Luke’s desperation bled through. He was pushing against the ground as much as Anakin was pushing against the ship. Anakin slid a few inches back with the force of the push.
“And how do your mitochondria create energy? That’s right! They burn energy sources!”
Not slow enough, not slow enough… Anakin reached deep and pushed harder. Luke wouldn’t die on his watch.
His head spun and his body began to glow.
“If you use the Force too much at once, your mitochondria will keep burning and keep burning. If they burn too much, your cells will catch on fire. Do you know what would happen to you then?”
Anakin glowed brighter. Pain seared through him. The ship neared the dusty ground.
“You’ll burst into flames! I know, Tru, burning to death via the Force does sound cool, but you’d still be dead, so be careful.”
Some rose from Anakin. The Destroyer crashed into the battlefield hard, but not hard enough to break the ship.
Panting hard, Anakin released the Force. Luke was safe and Anakin hadn’t caught on fire.
He didn’t even have the chance to breathe before darkness descended on him.