![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Family Matters
Series: Star Wars, Legends
Characters: Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo
Summary: The mission on the forest moon of Endor suddenly gets complicated.
-------------
He'd loaded the speeder bike inside Tydirium's cargo hold as he started to light up the engine. It's just a short trip to the Ewok village anyway so he could pilot the ship by himself. Still... what he'd found earlier kept haunting his thoughts.
He ended up checking the site even more. No sign of an actual body remains—thank goodness, he didn't want to incur any angry spirits or something and the ashes didn't look like it's coming from a cremated body—but he found the rest of Darth Vader's 'body'. Or more like the body armour... actually. Tinted durasteel, electronics, wires... don't exactly burn well after all. He took a peek at some parts of the armour, and was surprised to see what looked like a charred remains of a life-support system... and mechanical prosthetics.
When you saw things like that... it just changed your views about things. Like he'd always thought that Vader's armour was just like any other armours but made to look even more menacing. Just for effects, scare factors. But to think that the armour was hiding something like this... it's just surprising. That low breathing that sent fears crawling up everyone's bones; turned out to be the sound of the breathing apparatus designed to keep Vader alive all these times. Suddenly Vader didn't seem to be all that hateful—to him—but more to pitiful. No wonder the guy's in bad mood all the time.
But another question hit him. Vader was supposed to have died on the Death Star. How could his armour be on this forest moon instead? Unless, Luke...!
"Vader killed the Emperor..."
"If not for him, I would have died by the Emperor's hand."
It can't be... right?
"—he died before I could get him to the ship."
"There's someone he needed to save over there, that's why he left."
The thoughts that kept popping inside his head just seemed to not making any sense. Yet... everything seemed to fit. Leia's wariness... for example. He thought it was strange that Leia didn't sound too happy when Luke said that he saved their father. Even more that she actually seemed relieved that Luke said he died. And the thing about when Luke started talking about why the two of them ended up separated at birth before Leia interrupted him...
Did Vader died... to save Luke? Was that why Luke cried when he talked about that? It's not because he wasn't the one that killed the Emperor, but it's because his father was the one that did it. Knowing that it would kill him in the process...!
The shuttle shook as one of its foil wings got caught by a stray branch. Oops! Han berated himself for being distracted. He sighed.
But really... he never thought that Luke (and Leia)'s biological father could be someone like that. Then again, was that so surprising? Since Vader was so powerful, it could explain why Luke was also so...
He could see the Ewok village drawing closer so he started looking for a large enough clearing to land this thing on.
He thought of the many encounters he had with Vader. He thought of the many encounters Luke and Leia had with that guy. Vader tortured Leia before... and he cut off Luke's right hand. Come to think, it made sense now why Vader had been particular about capturing Luke alive. He remembered the incident in Bespin a little too well.
Han heaved another long sigh before turning the engine down. Well, he of all people understood well enough not to judge others over things like blood ties. His own wasn't that pretty or noble throughout as well.
"...I saved him."
Was that what Luke actually mean? Not that he saved his father's life... but he saved his father's soul? Under normal circumstances, he couldn't imagine why Vader would even betray on his master to save a Jedi—aren't Jedi and Sith supposed to be mortal enemies?—but to save his own son... he could buy that. Everyone weren't born evil after all so perhaps before Vader... there was a good man that sired both Luke and Leia. He could accept that. He's not one to keep grudges too long anyway.
xxx
He came back to see Leia listening in to a conference call between Mon Mothma, Crix Madine and Ackbar. Heck... apparently Luke was also present up there on the rebel flagship's war room. He barely caught the end tail of Mon Mothma and Madine's scolding Luke for being mindless about his own health.
Han stared at Leia's face as she concentrated on the discussion. He joined in beside her, chipping in his opinion once a while as he waited until the conference ended.
When the call ended, he waited for the right moment to touch the topic. They've started packing their things now and they also got this new mission that they had to do. Or more like, a new mission that Leia needed to do. Regardless, he found it hard to string out some words to start the ball rolling. It's not the same as their earlier chat after Luke left. That one had them talking about their life's ambitions, motivations, past friends and adventures... which was not really personal topics that one should be mindful enough to tread carefully. He even got Leia to laugh a bit as he mentioned about that one time she kissed Luke just to make a point to him and then asking what she thought about it now, now that she learnt that Luke was her brother. (Well, lucky Luke wasn't around to hear that... it probably be more awkward for them if all three of them had been present.)
But... eventually, they would still have to talk about this topic. And better he confirm his suspicions first so that he could prepare himself in case something happen later. Because one thing he was sure of, was that it wasn't good for Leia to keep things bottled up for too long. He'd seen the few times when Leia had snapped for no reason, and it's never ever been good.
"Hey... Leia, you have a minute?"
It was rare for him to just address her by her name, but this topic was a bit too personal and he didn't want to rile her up unnecessarily by making fun of her title. How'd it work now... actually, considering her relationship with Luke? But that's not even his business to care about.
"What?"
Well... here goes...
"Well, Leia... you know there's something that kept bothering me... about the things Luke said. And about the things you said..."
There it was... the tensed muscles at the corner of her mouth.
"You said it was Vader that picked Luke up from the shield generator station... and then Luke said that Vader saved his life from the Emperor. I can't help finding that strange. And I might be looking at this wrong but... Luke seemed a bit defensive of Vader now, which was a bit strange too. And then he seemed to be sad that Vader's dead and his—your dad... I mean your real... uh... dead too, b-but Luke was more sad about..."
"What were you trying to say?" Leia snapped.
He tried not to flinch at that retort too much. "I mean... What I was trying to say is—Is there... something else you and Luke were not telling me?"
"What do you want to know? Whether on not my father was—" He could have sworn Leia was trying to mouth something that started with a V, but then stopped herself. "What did you found when you went out to recover the shuttle? You saw something... right? Is that what you're telling me? Are you going to tell on people about it?"
"Whoa... wait, hold on there... Your Highnessness! Don't start bombarding your salvos on me. I was trying to get the facts sorted! You know... Princess, you and Luke had been my closest friend in this Alliance—sure, Lando and Chewie were also my friends—I mean, you get it! We've gone through so much things together and you know, no matter what I'll still watch over your backs. Even if you and Luke had some kinda dark past—darker than mine even—I won't ever judge either of you for it. So tell me... is it true? Because yes, I did saw the remains of Vader's armour at some corner of the forest over there... and I don't think it just happened to fall from the Death Star." Han took a long breath afterwards and suddenly remembered to look around him to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on him.
Well, the gesture was unneeded anyway since they're inside the Falcon's cargo hold at the moment but one can't be too careful.
The cat's out of the bag now and he'd let out everything that he wanted to say. Leia suddenly seemed to lost her fire as she started to sway—and he caught her just on time. Right away Leia tightened her hold around his waist.
"I was so scared, I wished all of that wasn't true..."
Han kissed her forehead softly, as she looked up towards him. He shrugged. "I guess the real reason why you and Luke were separated at birth was to hide both of you from Vader, huh?"
Leia nodded. "I think so. Most likely. You should know already how far Vader had gone just to capture Luke alive. You were his test subject for the trap he supposedly planned for Luke. You should've been there... Luke was never quite the same since Bespin. I used to think it's because he couldn't save you but I never realized..."
Both of them went quiet for a while. Han bit his lips. A part of him wanted to add that... since Vader saved Luke's life; perhaps that means that maybe before his death... Vader had gone back to become a good guy. You know, like returning back to the light side... the way Luke would say it. Luke did say he saved their father. And seeing that Vader turned back to being good because he couldn't stand seeing his own son suffering, that should count for something. Right?
But he's not sure how to say all that to her. And he realized that maybe the reason Leia was on an edge about all of this was because...
"Oh! Princess Leia! General! You're both here!" Threepio suddenly exclaimed before wobbling towards them, clumsily. "There was a transmission from Artoo! Apparently Master Luke insisted he have to take part in this mission to Bakura."
"What?" Leia exclaimed as Threepio added.
"I do not know the full detail, and I wasn't able to contact the flagship."
Leia shook her head as she turned towards Han. "We better get up there, find out what's happening," Han stared at her back, amused. The princess was already back to her usual self, ordering him around in his own ship. She turned around again, before he could wipe away the smile on his face.
"Just to be sure, no telling anyone else about the things we talked about just now. I don't want any of these details reach Mon Mothma or anyone else or you'll be getting more than just a scolding—"
Han raised both his hands in defence. "I promise!"
xxx
"Also, no telling Luke that we even argued about this topic!" she added as Han nodded almost too rapidly.
Seeing that, she couldn't help smiling. A part of her had been worried about how her life would go from this point, now that she was aware of the dark side of her lineage. But she didn't want Luke to know that she even had these dark thoughts. Because to Luke, his gift in the Force might be a good thing. But to her, it also comes with a darkness that she wasn't sure she could carry by herself.
For a moment, she was grateful to have Han by her side.
Regardless, the future would still have a lot in store for her. She could take her time to deal with the unpleasant side of her family matters some other time.
Series: Star Wars, Legends
Characters: Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo
Summary: The mission on the forest moon of Endor suddenly gets complicated.
-------------
He'd loaded the speeder bike inside Tydirium's cargo hold as he started to light up the engine. It's just a short trip to the Ewok village anyway so he could pilot the ship by himself. Still... what he'd found earlier kept haunting his thoughts.
He ended up checking the site even more. No sign of an actual body remains—thank goodness, he didn't want to incur any angry spirits or something and the ashes didn't look like it's coming from a cremated body—but he found the rest of Darth Vader's 'body'. Or more like the body armour... actually. Tinted durasteel, electronics, wires... don't exactly burn well after all. He took a peek at some parts of the armour, and was surprised to see what looked like a charred remains of a life-support system... and mechanical prosthetics.
When you saw things like that... it just changed your views about things. Like he'd always thought that Vader's armour was just like any other armours but made to look even more menacing. Just for effects, scare factors. But to think that the armour was hiding something like this... it's just surprising. That low breathing that sent fears crawling up everyone's bones; turned out to be the sound of the breathing apparatus designed to keep Vader alive all these times. Suddenly Vader didn't seem to be all that hateful—to him—but more to pitiful. No wonder the guy's in bad mood all the time.
But another question hit him. Vader was supposed to have died on the Death Star. How could his armour be on this forest moon instead? Unless, Luke...!
"Vader killed the Emperor..."
"If not for him, I would have died by the Emperor's hand."
It can't be... right?
"—he died before I could get him to the ship."
"There's someone he needed to save over there, that's why he left."
The thoughts that kept popping inside his head just seemed to not making any sense. Yet... everything seemed to fit. Leia's wariness... for example. He thought it was strange that Leia didn't sound too happy when Luke said that he saved their father. Even more that she actually seemed relieved that Luke said he died. And the thing about when Luke started talking about why the two of them ended up separated at birth before Leia interrupted him...
Did Vader died... to save Luke? Was that why Luke cried when he talked about that? It's not because he wasn't the one that killed the Emperor, but it's because his father was the one that did it. Knowing that it would kill him in the process...!
The shuttle shook as one of its foil wings got caught by a stray branch. Oops! Han berated himself for being distracted. He sighed.
But really... he never thought that Luke (and Leia)'s biological father could be someone like that. Then again, was that so surprising? Since Vader was so powerful, it could explain why Luke was also so...
He could see the Ewok village drawing closer so he started looking for a large enough clearing to land this thing on.
He thought of the many encounters he had with Vader. He thought of the many encounters Luke and Leia had with that guy. Vader tortured Leia before... and he cut off Luke's right hand. Come to think, it made sense now why Vader had been particular about capturing Luke alive. He remembered the incident in Bespin a little too well.
Han heaved another long sigh before turning the engine down. Well, he of all people understood well enough not to judge others over things like blood ties. His own wasn't that pretty or noble throughout as well.
"...I saved him."
Was that what Luke actually mean? Not that he saved his father's life... but he saved his father's soul? Under normal circumstances, he couldn't imagine why Vader would even betray on his master to save a Jedi—aren't Jedi and Sith supposed to be mortal enemies?—but to save his own son... he could buy that. Everyone weren't born evil after all so perhaps before Vader... there was a good man that sired both Luke and Leia. He could accept that. He's not one to keep grudges too long anyway.
xxx
He came back to see Leia listening in to a conference call between Mon Mothma, Crix Madine and Ackbar. Heck... apparently Luke was also present up there on the rebel flagship's war room. He barely caught the end tail of Mon Mothma and Madine's scolding Luke for being mindless about his own health.
Han stared at Leia's face as she concentrated on the discussion. He joined in beside her, chipping in his opinion once a while as he waited until the conference ended.
When the call ended, he waited for the right moment to touch the topic. They've started packing their things now and they also got this new mission that they had to do. Or more like, a new mission that Leia needed to do. Regardless, he found it hard to string out some words to start the ball rolling. It's not the same as their earlier chat after Luke left. That one had them talking about their life's ambitions, motivations, past friends and adventures... which was not really personal topics that one should be mindful enough to tread carefully. He even got Leia to laugh a bit as he mentioned about that one time she kissed Luke just to make a point to him and then asking what she thought about it now, now that she learnt that Luke was her brother. (Well, lucky Luke wasn't around to hear that... it probably be more awkward for them if all three of them had been present.)
But... eventually, they would still have to talk about this topic. And better he confirm his suspicions first so that he could prepare himself in case something happen later. Because one thing he was sure of, was that it wasn't good for Leia to keep things bottled up for too long. He'd seen the few times when Leia had snapped for no reason, and it's never ever been good.
"Hey... Leia, you have a minute?"
It was rare for him to just address her by her name, but this topic was a bit too personal and he didn't want to rile her up unnecessarily by making fun of her title. How'd it work now... actually, considering her relationship with Luke? But that's not even his business to care about.
"What?"
Well... here goes...
"Well, Leia... you know there's something that kept bothering me... about the things Luke said. And about the things you said..."
There it was... the tensed muscles at the corner of her mouth.
"You said it was Vader that picked Luke up from the shield generator station... and then Luke said that Vader saved his life from the Emperor. I can't help finding that strange. And I might be looking at this wrong but... Luke seemed a bit defensive of Vader now, which was a bit strange too. And then he seemed to be sad that Vader's dead and his—your dad... I mean your real... uh... dead too, b-but Luke was more sad about..."
"What were you trying to say?" Leia snapped.
He tried not to flinch at that retort too much. "I mean... What I was trying to say is—Is there... something else you and Luke were not telling me?"
"What do you want to know? Whether on not my father was—" He could have sworn Leia was trying to mouth something that started with a V, but then stopped herself. "What did you found when you went out to recover the shuttle? You saw something... right? Is that what you're telling me? Are you going to tell on people about it?"
"Whoa... wait, hold on there... Your Highnessness! Don't start bombarding your salvos on me. I was trying to get the facts sorted! You know... Princess, you and Luke had been my closest friend in this Alliance—sure, Lando and Chewie were also my friends—I mean, you get it! We've gone through so much things together and you know, no matter what I'll still watch over your backs. Even if you and Luke had some kinda dark past—darker than mine even—I won't ever judge either of you for it. So tell me... is it true? Because yes, I did saw the remains of Vader's armour at some corner of the forest over there... and I don't think it just happened to fall from the Death Star." Han took a long breath afterwards and suddenly remembered to look around him to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on him.
Well, the gesture was unneeded anyway since they're inside the Falcon's cargo hold at the moment but one can't be too careful.
The cat's out of the bag now and he'd let out everything that he wanted to say. Leia suddenly seemed to lost her fire as she started to sway—and he caught her just on time. Right away Leia tightened her hold around his waist.
"I was so scared, I wished all of that wasn't true..."
Han kissed her forehead softly, as she looked up towards him. He shrugged. "I guess the real reason why you and Luke were separated at birth was to hide both of you from Vader, huh?"
Leia nodded. "I think so. Most likely. You should know already how far Vader had gone just to capture Luke alive. You were his test subject for the trap he supposedly planned for Luke. You should've been there... Luke was never quite the same since Bespin. I used to think it's because he couldn't save you but I never realized..."
Both of them went quiet for a while. Han bit his lips. A part of him wanted to add that... since Vader saved Luke's life; perhaps that means that maybe before his death... Vader had gone back to become a good guy. You know, like returning back to the light side... the way Luke would say it. Luke did say he saved their father. And seeing that Vader turned back to being good because he couldn't stand seeing his own son suffering, that should count for something. Right?
But he's not sure how to say all that to her. And he realized that maybe the reason Leia was on an edge about all of this was because...
"Oh! Princess Leia! General! You're both here!" Threepio suddenly exclaimed before wobbling towards them, clumsily. "There was a transmission from Artoo! Apparently Master Luke insisted he have to take part in this mission to Bakura."
"What?" Leia exclaimed as Threepio added.
"I do not know the full detail, and I wasn't able to contact the flagship."
Leia shook her head as she turned towards Han. "We better get up there, find out what's happening," Han stared at her back, amused. The princess was already back to her usual self, ordering him around in his own ship. She turned around again, before he could wipe away the smile on his face.
"Just to be sure, no telling anyone else about the things we talked about just now. I don't want any of these details reach Mon Mothma or anyone else or you'll be getting more than just a scolding—"
Han raised both his hands in defence. "I promise!"
xxx
"Also, no telling Luke that we even argued about this topic!" she added as Han nodded almost too rapidly.
Seeing that, she couldn't help smiling. A part of her had been worried about how her life would go from this point, now that she was aware of the dark side of her lineage. But she didn't want Luke to know that she even had these dark thoughts. Because to Luke, his gift in the Force might be a good thing. But to her, it also comes with a darkness that she wasn't sure she could carry by herself.
For a moment, she was grateful to have Han by her side.
Regardless, the future would still have a lot in store for her. She could take her time to deal with the unpleasant side of her family matters some other time.
Tags: