Star Wars: There Is Another - Prologue
Star Wars: There Is Another
Rating: PG-13
Premise: Luke Skywalker has failed. With his hand missing, his rage overcoming him, and the truth about Darth Vader’s identity known to him, he feels there is no hope left. Yet somehow, he feels that fate is better left in the hands of Leia. Leia Organa: it is her destiny to become the Jedi Luke never could be.
Warnings: blood
Author's note: This is my NaNoWriMo project for this year: an attempt at re-writing a good chunk of the Star Wars canon. Namely, picked up from the end of Empire Strikes Back, Luke has failed his Jedi training and has learned the shocking truth about his identity. Now, traumatized and at his lowest point, he turns to Leia to do what he cannot: become the Jedi whose destiny will bring peace to the galaxy.
Prologue | Chapter One |
Leia…
His name had resounded so clearly in her ears. It was perfectly impossible, but Luke had always had a strange impact on her. She had always known they would meet before she even knew who the scrawny boy from Tatooine was.
“Luke…”
The pain that carried in this cry was enough to make her lose her balance, and she gripped the clunky bars of the Millennium Falcon to keep herself from crying out in pain. She steeled herself and straightened up, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
His face had come to mind, too, agonized and torn with shock and childlike fear. Her head throbbed, and she knew that his did, too. Her heart pounded in her head.
“Turn this thing around,” she ordered.
“What?” Lando asked, giving her his skeptical look.
“I beg your pardon, Princess-” ‘3PO chimed in.
“Just do it. I know where Luke is,” she said.
Lando exchanged a shifty glance with Chewy, who was gripping the controls to keep from tearing at whatever he could reach. Lando had had to strap him into the co-pilot seat to keep the Wookie from whimpering in his rack, panicked and alone.
“Just do it,” Leia said, gritting her teeth. She was used to having to reinforce her orders, used to having to repeat herself. The world was always ten steps behind her. But the world was also presumably not getting a fully-fledged image of Luke Skywalker dangling from the edge of a starship, clutching himself in searing pain. Leia winced again. Leia…
Luke was in a worse state than she had realized. He was trembling, whimpering and muttering in rapid succession as he was brought down at last, and his clothes were covered in blood. As Lando carried him through the corridor she followed after him, reaching out to take Luke’s hand in comfort, only to feel a sickening horror to see that there was no hand to take. She backed away, her own hand searing with pain as if razor-heat had touched it.
“I’ll take care of it, Leia,” Lando said over his shoulder, continuing to carry Luke away towards a bunk to let him sleep. “Just go back to the controls.”
Leia looked at her hands: they were covered in Luke’s blood.
“N-no,” she said, still looking at her hands. The blood was already beginning to dry. “No, I’ll look after him.” She swallowed hard and took deep, controlled breaths. As she always did. Her shoulders relaxed and fell into their proper stance, and she strode forwards, following the trail of blood to Luke’s room. Lando was lowering Luke onto the bed, gently and carefully. Luke was struggling to keep consciousness.
“Move,” she ordered Lando. She adjusted Luke’s sheets and pillow, hesitating for a moment when she realized she’d have to move Luke’s right arm. She grasped his forearm in her thumb and forefinger and gingerly moved his arm away.
She looked up at Lando as Luke let out a semi-conscious moan of pain. “Thank you, Lando,” she said curtly. “I can handle it from here.”
He nodded briefly and swept out of the room.
She listened as his footsteps echoed down the hall, back to the controls. Luke’s breathing was fast and shallow, and his face was hollowed and gaunt. Leia closed her eyes.
I can handle it from here.