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Topic:
My Once and Constant Savior, Han/Leia AU, UPDATE 12 NOVEMBER! No, seriously!
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/11 8:24am
Subject:
My Once and Constant Savior, Han/Leia AU, UPDATE 12 NOVEMBER! No, seriously!
- Date Edited:
11/12 2:05pm (7 edits total)
Edited By:
LASOS
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AN: So this was an idea that I got while listening to Dane Cook of all things-if anyone knows the joke, it's the one where he says he's going to "Tarantino" it, meaning he's telling the end of the joke first and then telling the events leading up to it. So that's what we're doing here. The story spans the OT and I've planned it to become pretty AU towards the end, but nothing that we see on screen will be affected. It's mostly H/L but there are other things thrown in to the mix.
Oh, and if you've read anything else I've done, you know I like to do this: "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought." That's what she said.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is not mine. Dane Cook's idea is not mine, neither is Quentin Tarantino's. Neither are the songs that I use. So there.
And now...
My Once and Constant Savior
He did not see that he was covered in blood until he fell against the stark white wall of the med bay and sank to the floor, moving his hands to cover his face. He wanted to block it all out--the harsh lights, the silence of the hallways, the look of tremendous pain on her face that was burned into his mind and refused to leave him. So he brought his hands to his eyes and then he saw it. The blood. Covering his hands, covering his arms and his clothes. It was not fresh blood. It had browned and dried and clung uncomfortably to his skin and made him sick because the color reminded him not of life but of death, excruciating death.
Han Solo rubbed his palms together in a furious attempt to remove the blood, her blood, from his hands. It cracked and fell to the floor in tiny flakes and he fought hard against the lump rising in his throat as the color of his own skin began to show. Finally, he gave up and buried his face into his hands, desperately willing himself to wake up from this horrible, horrible dream.
But he couldn’t. This was real.
He had lost her.
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
6/11 8:25am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
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Whoa...vivid.
-----signature-----
"I feel like a more down-to-earth Pink 5 when I'm writing Leah. Same attitude, less lip gloss." ~Me on how to get in the right mindset for Twilight fanfic.
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/11 8:30am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
- Date Edited:
6/11 4:25pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
LASOS
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Chapter One: Remember Two Things
“If the world is crumbling down; I don’t want to be alone; No, locked up in this place...”
O.A.R., “Heard the World”
--
“Remember two things,” Bail Organa smiled, placing a hand on his daughter’s cheek as they stood together outside of the Tantive IV. “You are a strong woman, Leia, so never let anyone make you feel otherwise.”
Leia offered her father a smile in return. “Was that one or two, Father?”
“One,” he replied. “The other, my little girl, is to remember that I will always be with you.”
They would be the last words that Leia would ever hear from her father. As if by some force, some premonition, Bail had chosen his advice to his daughter wisely, perhaps to offer her comfort if anything were to happen while she was away on her “diplomatic” mission to retrieve the plans to the Empire’s newest battle station.
But of course, something did happen. And as the last fragments of Alderaan and her family floated off into the abyss of space she did not think about her father’s last words. She refused to allow Bail’s face to enter her mind because doing so would only be the crack she needed in her armor and she would not let herself cry while surrounded by Imperial presence. So instead she returned to her holding cell and stretched out on the cold slab and closed her eyes and only willed the hour of her execution to come quickly.
It was not until later, much later, that she began to rue the interruption of her scheduled death by a blue-eyed farm boy, a not-so-heartless mercenary, and a walking carpet. It was after the Battle of Yavin, after the awards ceremony, when she was finally given a moment alone in her quarters on the remote moon that her father’s words found their way into her thoughts. The words entered her mind and wrapped themselves around her memories and suddenly she found herself doubled over in the ‘fresher, vomiting violently, as if her body was trying to rid itself of the overwhelming guilt and despair that now consumed her.
She thought maybe her eyes had gone dry, that she would forever be unable to shed a tear for any reason. But she was wrong. As she leaned her head back against the cool wall of the ‘fresher, she noticed that she had been fortunate enough not to get sick on her ceremonial gown. And then she realized that the gown was one of her few remaining possessions from her home planet.
And then she felt one hot, stinging tear fall from her eye and down her cheek, dropping finally to the floor beneath her.
Quickly, Leia brought a hand to her face and wiped the track of the tear away. She felt that she did not deserve to mourn yet, that she would ever deserve to mourn. She had failed them all.
“You are a strong woman, Leia, so never let anyone make you feel otherwise.”
What had she done? She had already failed her father as Tarkin gave the order to fire, but she was failing him all over again by sitting there on the ‘fresher floor and allowing the guilt to plague her.
For a moment, she wished that Luke had never opened the door to her cell.
As she sat there, eyes shut tightly in a losing battle against her emotions, Leia was vaguely aware of voices floating from the commlink in her bedroom. She caught snippets, but mostly she tried to block out those sounds as well. She hoped that maybe, if she stayed there long enough, the Alliance would forget about her and she could just fade away into the jungle of the moon.
The Rebels, of course, would never forget about her, and she was finally startled from her cocoon by an insistent banging at the door of her chamber. Before she could think to move towards the offending noise, she heard the door slide open and hurried footsteps making their way towards her.
“Princess?” A voice called, and she felt her eyes widen in surprise. She knew that voice, but had only just learned it. It was a voice that for some reason, against her best judgement and depths of emotional pain, caused the tiniest of flutters in her stomach that had nothing to do with grief or anger. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow that voice filled her with hope.
The owner of the voice found her shortly, right where she had been on the ‘fresher floor. The space pirate. The heartless mercenary. The gruff and scruffy smuggler. Han Solo. She had seen so many expressions cross his handsome face in the mere hours that they had been acquainted, but the one on his face now was new. Concern. Worry. Care. The emotion that she found in his eyes surprised her a little, even scared her. He had proven to her quickly that he was not the hot-headed nerfherder she had originally judged him to be in the din of blaster fire. He crouched down low next to her and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Your Worship, are you all right?”
Leia swallowed hard and nodded in reply, her eyes offering unconvincing corroboration.
“Well, look,” Han began, obviously not buying her act, “Command’s been trying to comm you for the last hour. They’ve tracked Star Destroyers entering the system and we have to evacuate real quick-like. Luke and the Squadrons have already left, and so have most of the transports. They’re holding one for you, but only for about two more minutes.”
“And why are you here?” She asked, sounding a little more cold than she intended. If he was hurt by her question, however, he didn’t show it.
“Well, since you left the celebration early, I wanted to see if you wanted to share a bottle of Whyren’s Reserve with me,” he said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.
Leia tried to come up with a retort, but found her mind too exhausted to form any coherent thought. So instead she shook her head and cast her gaze back to the white of the ‘fresher floor.
“Ah, come on, you don’t think I’m gonna let you stay here now do you?” His voice was a little softer, now.
“It’s not your concern, Captain Solo.”
That remark, however, seemed to hit a nerve. Any softness the captain had displayed melted immediately. She felt his grip on her shoulder tighten slightly and was sure she saw a signature finger wagging from the corner of her eye.
“Now look here, Princess, I just risked a hell of a lot for your little Alliance and I’ll be damned if I saved you from the Death Star only to let you commit suicide by staying here. I’m getting you out of here whether you like it or not.”
She could not say a word. Mostly, she was stunned at how easily the Captain had read her reluctance to move as a death wish. But she had no time to ponder that thought because Han was swiftly and suddenly scooping her off the floor and throwing her over his shoulder. He was sprinting out of her quarters before she realized that he had hoisted her like some sort of dead animal and she was hanging upside-down, rather ungracefully, and being forced off the base. Finally, thoughts returned to her mind and she managed to wiggle in his firm grip.
“Han!” Leia screamed, punching his back, “Put me down right now!”
“No,” came his equally firm reply. “This way, I know where you are all the time.”
They were rounding the corner to the hangar bay and she felt Han’s pace quicken at the sound of a roaring engine. Leia stopped squirming, realizing that the sound she heard was the last transport off base.
“Shav!” Han shouted as they reached the hangar in time to see the Mon Calamari cruiser take off. Only then did he dare set the Princess on her feet. She was wide-eyed, almost horrified at the fact that her colleagues had stranded her on the base.
“But-but-” she sputtered, incredulously, but again Han was acting quickly. He grabbed her hand and began to sprint again to the Millennium Falcon in the far corner of the bay, her engines already started. She followed him blindly up the ramp of the ship, not noticing that he refused to let go of her arm until the door was securely shut. Still, she followed him, numbly, taking a seat behind him in the cockpit where Chewie was waiting impatiently.
“Come on, Chewie, let’s get the hell outta here!” Han bellowed as he slid into the pilot’s seat.
Leia wondered for a short moment if the bucket of bolts would work well enough to get them off the moon, but her thoughts were answered as she watched the jungle of Yavin IV speed past them and the ship was quickly enveloped in a blanket of stars. She heard Chewbacca growl sharply and point at a blinking light on the control panel.
“Yeah, I see ‘em,” Han replied as he continued to press buttons so quickly that Leia mused that he might just be showing off. “But they’re not going to get close to us.” And with that, he pushed the lever and the light of the stars began to streak across the sky and suddenly they were safe from any approaching Star Destroyer as they entered lightspeed. Leia exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, and Han turned around to greet her, smugly. The expression on his face changed instantly, however, when he got a good look at the princess sitting in front of him.
“You’re bleeding!”
She took this news as a surprise and looked down to see that she was, in fact, bleeding at her abdomen. Immediately, she remembered the hells she had endured a few short hours ago on the now-extinct Death Star. Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers had sent hot knives into her body every time she refused to tell him the location of the Rebel base. This had only come after the needles and the mind probe, and had been particularly humiliating because they had stripped her down to do it. The Sith lord had been somewhat considerate enough to toss a few bacta patches her way after he’d decided that this torture would again get him nothing but a dead princess. The patches had helped, but when Leia removed them later as she was getting ready for the medal ceremony, she found that the five wounds on her side were still bleeding.
What upset her more than pain she suddenly felt, however, was the fact that the blood had seeped through her ceremonial gown. One of her last remaining possessions from Alderaan was ruined.
As Leia sat in what Han perceived to be stunned silence at the fact that she was suddenly wounded, Chewie had left and returned with a medical kit and a canteen of water for the princess, and then left again to let Han tend to her injuries.
“Hey, Princess?” He asked quietly, bringing her back from her daze. She looked up at him, as if surprised to see him still sitting there. “Listen, Leia, Chewie’s gone to get you some spare clothes for you to change into, but I need to see what’s making you bleed.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, not wanting to admit to him what she had gone through. He put a tentative hand on her shoulder, his eyes searching hers, wondering if it was he that had caused this. “Just a recent cut that reopened,” she added, reassuring him.
“Look, Your Worship, I’m no expert, but that looks like a lot of blood for just one cut. Let me take a look.” He smiled. “I promise I won’t look anywhere but the injury.”
Leia raised an eyebrow and Han handed her the canteen of water, motioning for her to take a sip.
“Besides, Princess, I’ve been in a lot of fights in my day. Chewie and me got some great stuff for bleeding. Better’n bacta. Came from Tatooine.”
Reluctantly, she agreed. After taking another drink of water, she set the canteen down and pushed the shoulders of her dress down her arms, slipping the gown down to her waist. Han let out an audible gasp, not because he was excited to see so much of her exposed skin but because of the gruesome sight of the right side of her abdomen. She had five inch-long cuts between her ribcage and her hip bone, raised and inflamed and trickling blood down her body. He saw evidence of bacta treatment, but apparently the patches had dissolved away and allowed the wounds to reopen.
“Gods, what happened to you?” Han sounded scarily angry, as if he wanted to strangle the person that did this to her.
Leia focused intently on the green gel that he was spreading over her cuts, surprised that the concoction instantly numbed the pain she felt, but would not look at him.
“Just another Imperial interrogation technique,” she mumbled.
His hand flinched at the thought, but he didn’t say anything at first as he took a white bandage from the kit and placed it over the treated cuts. Then he reached for a white shirt, similar to the one he wore, and a pair of gray thermals that Chewie had left in the cockpit and handed them to her.
“If you’ll bring me your dress when you get changed, I think we might be able to get the blood out.”
She nodded and Han quickly left her alone to don her new clothing. The v-neck of the shirt came low enough to graze the top of her bra, but it had claps that she was able to button and preserve some of her remaining modesty. Both articles were much larger than she, but she was able to roll the waist of the thermals over to make them stay on her hips as she walked. Han and Chewie were in the galley, and Leia could hear him mumbling to his friend about her torture. They quieted when she entered and Chewie immediately took the gown from her and began to clean it. Han motioned for her to sit at the holotable and handed her a glass of blue milk.
“Drink,” he said, sitting next to her. “How are you feeling?”
Terrible, she thought. Alone, guilty, so desperately, desperately sad.
“Better now, thanks,” she said.
“Was Alderaan another Imperial interrogation technique?” Han asked, finally, quietly. Leia felt the sudden rush of tears to her eyes at the name of her home. It just couldn’t be gone.
She managed to say yes, but then shut her eyes tightly, refusing to let this strange man that had already saved her life twice and infuriated her at least three times more than that to see her cry, see her at her most vulnerable. But Han Solo, who just continued to surprise her, did not want her to cry, to feel the sadness that he knew must have swallowed her whole. The princess before him was a paradox personified, so beautiful and yet so marred by pain, so strong yet so incredibly fragile. He took her hand in his, the one that was not clutching the glass of blue milk, and began to stroke her palm with his thumb. He wanted desperately to make her feel better.
“Tell me about your family,” he said suddenly, surprising her yet again.
“What?”
“Tell me about your family,” he repeated, shrugging. “It helps with the losses.”
“You’ve lost your family?” Leia was genuinely concerned over his half-revelation, but even more so she did not want to talk about her family. She felt that she didn’t deserve to have the memories.
“Yes, but we’re not talking about me. You’re the princess of Alderaan, so that makes your father Bail Organa, right?” She nodded. “Tell me about him.”
“He was my best friend,” Leia said without realizing that she’d done so. Han gave her a crooked grin, urging her to continue. And she did, suddenly comfortable in his presence. “He was so caring. I was adopted, but he and my mother never seemed to think that mattered, that I was their little girl despite how I came to be in their family. He was one of the founders of the Alliance, and he started bringing me with him on missions and meetings after my mother died.”
“How old were you?”
“Young, six. She was very sick for as long as I can remember. Father gave me this little stuffed baby nerf doll right after she died and said it was from Mother.” Leia smiled sheepishly, but it genuine and made Han’s heart leap a little at her small joy. “I slept with it every night, but it was on my ship when we were captured by Vader, so I guess it’s gone now.”
Another loss. It wasn’t even a person, but her little, worn nerf doll named Sellen had been a comfort to her for so long. The loss of the toy saddened her almost as much as the loss of her father.
“Anyway,” she continued quietly, “I joined the Alliance because I wanted to be just like him. I ran for Senate when I turned eighteen and was able to use my position to run secret missions for the Rebellion under diplomatic cover. That’s what I was doing...well, you know the rest of the story.”
“Some of it,” Han agreed. “Were you able to see him before you left?”
The last words Bail had said to her flooded her mind once again as she nodded.
“He walked me to the ship. He told me to remember two things.”
“What?”
“That I was a strong woman.”
Han laughed. “No argument there, Your Worship.”
Leia rolled her eyes and continued. “And the other was that he’d always be with me.”
They were quiet again, each pondering their on faith in this. Leia seemed to believe it wholeheartedly, even though it appeared to Han that she struggled to find solace in the thought. Han, for his part, had faith in little more than his blaster and had always placed very little stock in religions and thoughts of an afterlife, but he knew that now was not the time to enter a philosophical debate with the princess. Besides, she was still so sad, so worn. She needed to rest.
Finally, Han let go of her hand and pulled a small purple pill from a vial in the medkit still open on the table.
“Take this,” he said, offering it to her. “We have another twenty hours or so before we meet the rest of the fleet.”
“What is it?”
“Sleeping pill. You need your rest and you don’t strike me as the kind of girl that’s just gonna relax. Might as well take advantage of a few hours with nothing to do.”
Leia hesitated, so he took her hand again and placed the pill into it.
“C’m on. I’ll wake you up in enough time to get all pretty for your Command meeting.”
Sighing, Leia put the pill to her mouth and swallowed it quickly. Han motioned for her to get up.
“Chewie made sure the extra cabin is habitable. But you better hurry, Princess, because that thing acts quick.”
Leia stood up, already feeling her eyelids grow heavy. She smiled to herself as she realized how badly she had misjudged the scruffy captain walking in front of her. She didn’t know if he’d stick around with the Alliance once he got her to the rendezvous point, but she recognized that she had made a very fast friend in this handsome man that she thought cared about nothing but money...
Han turned around in enough time to catch the princess before she fell to the floor, fast asleep. He lifted her gently and cradled her as he would a child, carrying her to the extra cabin. Chewie had put sheets on the soft bunk recessed into the wall and added a few extra pillows in case Leia required more creature comforts than either pilot. He placed her on the bed and pulled a thick blanket up to her chin. She moaned quietly and settled in to a more comfortable position, and Han found himself struck by how her tiny movement caused his heart to expand in his chest. He began to hope that the beautiful young princess before him would never have to hurt as she had in the past few days ever again.
“Sweet dreams, Princess,” Han whispered, and the door slid shut silently behind him.
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/11 8:37am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
- Date Edited:
6/11 4:26pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
LASOS
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DarthIshtar: Hey wow, that's awesome that you posted so quickly! Thanks! 
Chapter Two: The Truce
“My life is different now, I swear; I know now what it means to care; About somebody other than myself; I know the things I said to you; Were untender and untrue; I’d like to see those things unsaid...”
The Avett Brothers, “Shame”
--
When they arrived at the rendezvous on the mountainous planet of Santee, Leia said a a short thank you to her rescuer and exited the ship quickly for a meeting with several Alliance leaders that had started fifteen minutes prior to their landing. Han was slightly taken aback by her rapid retreat, but deemed that she was too polite of a person to let him leave without giving him proper thanks. Satisfied that she would be back, he decided to leave the Falcon alone for a bit and find Luke and some of the other Rogues.
Though he saw nothing of the princess after she fell asleep until he woke her thirty minutes before entering the system, her presence on his ship for the second time in as many days was beginning to tug at his mind. He found her beautiful. That much he could admit to himself because he was sure he was not the only man in the galaxy that had ever had such a thought. But there was something else about her, something that struck him immediately despite a barrage of blaster fighter, and he had only been half-joking when he had asked the kid about the possibility of the two of them together. And as he learned more about her, even just the few snippets she had given him, he found himself even more intrigued. He marveled that she had lost so much not long ago but was willing, almost eager to continue to serve this war that had taken everything from her.
Leia’s zeal for the Alliance made Han wonder if it was something that he, too, should consider joining. Her faith in the cause was inspiring, particularly to a man that didn’t believe in anything.
That thought surprised him as it entered his mind. Of course he couldn’t join the Rebellion. He already had one death mark, he certainly didn’t need any more. Plus, he didn’t do well with people barking orders at him all the time (much like the little princess). And even if he did decide to join, there was the not-so-small matter of his record in the Imperial Navy. Could they even trust him? Certainly he had no allegiances to the Empire and he was sure he had proved as much by returning to help Luke fire on the Death Star. But he still wondered if his past would be taken lightly.
“Han!” The youthful, exuberant voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned to see tow-headed Luke bounding towards him with a smile stretched across his face. “You’re here!”
“Yeah, Kid,” he replied, clapping Luke on the shoulder. “Her Worshipfulness was being a slowpoke back on Yavin and I’m too nice of a guy to just leave her there.”
Luke raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
“Are you staying?”
Han looked at Luke and then past him as he saw Leia leaving the room she had just recently entered, talking quietly with General Carlist Rieekan. He was silent for a moment and the younger man turned to follow Leia as well. She noticed both of them watching her and offered a small smile as she and Rieekan began to walk in their direction.
“I don’t know yet, Kid.”
“Captain Solo!” Rieekan smiled and extended a hand that Han shook as the duo reached them. “We must thank you for returning one of our most important leaders to us not once but twice.”
Han offered a crooked grin as Luke looked a little hurt that he wasn’t included in one of the rescue operations and Leia looked indignant that she had been included at all.
“It wasn’t easy, General. She’s as stubborn as a bantha. I had to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.”
Rieekan chuckled, but Leia’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“I merely found the prospect of traveling with you again, Captain, less than exciting,” she retorted, cooly.
Luke smirked and Rieekan took that as his cue to leave. He saluted the two younger men and gave Leia’s shoulder a squeeze and then began to walk away. As Luke and Leia moved to hug each other, Han found that his feet were moving in the direction of the General. By the time his mind finally caught up with his body, all of his faculties for reason had left him and he knew that there was no stopping what he was about to do.
“General Rieekan?”
Rieekan stopped and turned back to Han, looking as if he halfway expected this.
“Yes, Captain Solo?”
Han hesitated for a moment, then forced himself to speak.
“I want to help. For a while. I can’t stay forever, but I’ve held Jabba the Hutt off for this long, so I don’t think that a few more months will really make a difference.”
“Well, Solo, we could certainly use a pilot of your caliber. You were a great help to us at Yavin.”
Han nodded.
“But, sir, I think that I should tell you that I was a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy. Carida.”
The general was silent as he waited for Han to continue.
“Dishonorably discharged, sir. They wanted me to skin the Wookie.”
Rieekan grinned.
“Solo, dishonorably discharged from the Imperial Navy is exactly what we like to hear!”
Han returned the grin and then shifted a little, as if he was forming his next sentence very carefully.
“There’s more, General. My reward credits...I’d like to give them back to the Alliance. It just doesn’t feel right to take them from you.”
Rieekan raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The General put a hand on Han’s arm.
“You’re a good man, Solo.”
Across the hangar bay, Leia was quietly watching the exchange between Han and Rieekan, half-wondering and half-assuming what they were discussing. Luke was excitedly describing to her their escape from Yavin and hyperspace trip to Santee, but she could barely bring herself to find the journey interesting. Han was proving himself to be even more of an enigma, and it both excited her and drove her crazy.
Finally, Luke nudged her with his elbow.
“Hey? How was your trip? Why didn’t you leave with the rest of the fleet?”
Even though she had only known Luke for a few days, she felt as though they had been friends forever. They had an instant connection that she couldn’t explain, but he was so familiar to her, a strange case of imagined déjà vu. Leia knew that she could trust him.
“I wanted to die there, Luke,” she admitted, quietly. “I felt like I betrayed them all and that I didn’t deserve to go on living.”
“Oh, Leia,” Luke said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“I know,” she replied. “And I don’t so much now. Han and I talked about it a little bit. Your friend really is a strange man,” she added, nodding towards the captain that was now swaggering back in their direction.
“Well, Princess,” Han greeted with an arrogant smile, “I don’t know what you did, but I guess you got them to convince me to stay around a little while longer.”
“I did nothing of the sort!”
Luke stepped back. Leia was getting angry quickly and Han was poking the bantha with a stick.
“Oh, please, Your Highnessness. You’re telling me you didn’t plan this whole ‘damsel in distress’ routine just so I would keep fighting your little war? Are you that desperate for me to stay?”
“You flatter yourself, Captain,” Leia snapped. “Clearly, you’re too dimwitted to realize that I pay no mind to your presence here.”
“Ah, come on, Princess. I think I know you a little better than that by now.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. “You’ll save yourself a lot of sleepless nights if you just admit how much you want me around.” He stepped closer to her now and leaned in to her ear, whispering huskily. “Then again, I could think of a lot of things to do during those sleepless nights.”
The princess jerked away and flushed scarlet, but Han and Luke could not tell if it was from anger or embarrassment. Fire flashed in her big brown eyes and Han could not help but smirk at the reaction he had elicited.
“I can assure you that you will never have anything to do with my nocturnal habits. You have your credits, Captain. Why don’t you just go?”
“I don’t want your money!” He spat. “I gave it back.”
“Then what are we? Your charity case? We have everything we need!”
“Last time I checked, Princess, you were hurtin’ pretty bad for soldiers. I’d think twice before letting someone like me get away.”
“I wouldn’t give it a second thought!”
Their voices had escalated now to the point where most people in the hangar bay had turned to watch their verbal sparring match. Luke, for his part, could see that the pair was getting angrier by the minute. Someone’s ego was about to be checked in a bad way, and he was certain that was not what needed to happen. Han had shoved a finger into Leia’s face as Luke had seen him do at least once before and had the look of someone about to deliver a killing blow. That was when Luke stepped between them.
“Enough!”
Two sets of eyes flew coldly to Luke, but he refused to back down.
“That’s enough.”
The three were frozen for a moment, but finally Han sighed in frustration and stalked back to the Falcon. Leia watched him leave, her face as hard as Luke had ever seen, before finally turning back to her friend. The low buzzing hum of activity had returned to the bay as their audience returned to work. Leia shut her eyes tightly and shook her head.
“Leia, do you realize what he’s done?”
“Are you taking his side?” She shot back, incredulously.
Luke frowned.
“I’m not taking any sides, Leia. But I am asking if you realize what he just did for us.”
“No. What did he do?”
“He’s got a price on his head and he had the money to pay it off and he didn’t take it. He gave it back to help us.”
She was silent for a moment longer and then rolled her eyes and sighed as her shoulders slumped, defeated.
“Shavit...”
Luke laughed at the swear word that escaped her mouth, surprised.
“Leia! I...how did you know that word?”
She smiled.
“I’m a politician, Luke.”
Though Leia had, albeit somewhat reluctantly, come to her senses, Han remained angry and knew how to hold a grudge, so he made a point to stay out of her sight for the next week as they settled into the new base and he received his assignments. Chewie, much to his surprise, had not been angry about his deciding to stay without talking to the Wookie first and had growled something almost inaudible as he walked back to the Falcon to grab their things. Han couldn’t be sure, but he thought he caught the Shriiwook words for “it’s about time.”
He had just left a pre-lunch meeting with Rieekan and was walking rather quickly towards the mess hall, hungry for even the Alliance’s meager slop, when he collided ungracefully with the one person he had been trying to avoid. As they had both been walking fast and not paying attention, he caught Leia more than just a little off guard and she stumbled backwards. Han reached out an instinctive hand to steady her, and to his surprise, she didn’t shrug it off immediately.
“Er, sorry about that, Princess,” Han smiled, uneasily.
Leia bristled a bit, then her features softened. She returned the smile.
“No apologies necessary, Captain. I should have been paying attention.”
“Yeah, that way you could have avoided me.”
Han began to mentally punch a wall for letting himself say the wrong thing yet again. A stern look crossed her face, but there was still a small smile in her eyes.
“I don’t believe I have been the one doing the avoiding, Captain.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Ah, c’m on, Princess! Why do you insist on calling me ‘Captain?’”
“I will for as long as you insist on calling me ‘Princess.’”
“What if I started calling you something else, like ‘Your Highness?’”
Leia pursed her lips.
“We’ll see.”
They were silent again for a moment until Han finally nodded his head and began to move past her.
“Han,” she said quietly. He turned back to her, a little surprised that she said his name.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Leia.”
It was all that needed to be said for now.
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/11 8:40am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
- Date Edited:
6/11 4:24pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
LASOS
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Han barely noticed as a young medic rushed by him hurriedly, casting a sad glance in his direction. The smell of the place was sickening, so clean, so sterile. A wave of nausea crept over his body but he couldn’t be sure if the smell was making him sick or if it was the thought that he should have gotten her there sooner. The events played in his mind like a holovid stuck on repeat and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake them. She had been shot, but claimed it wasn’t bad and kept on fighting for him. Why the hell did he let her follow him to the forest moon? Why didn’t he do something more to protect her? He had been a fool to let her come and should have considered that she had something to tell him that she hadn’t been ready to share before the battle. He knew it. On some level he had known it since he held her in his arms on the sand skiff but had been so afraid to ask.
He opened his eyes and found the clean, bright hallway swimming in his tears that he refused to let fall. He wanted so badly to see her, to touch her, to take her pain away and feel it all himself.
“Leia,” he whispered, so softly that her name died on his lips.
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
6/11 9:02am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
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I loved the trip to Santee and Han's empathy, but Leia seems a little hot-headed. Also, can you make it clear what parts are flashbacks and what are in the same timeframe as the first post of the story somehow? It's a little jarring.
I'd ask for PMs, but you've posted four times in less than an hour. I'll just keep an eye on this.
-----signature-----
"I feel like a more down-to-earth Pink 5 when I'm writing Leah. Same attitude, less lip gloss." ~Me on how to get in the right mindset for Twilight fanfic.
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/11 4:30pm
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
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DarthIshtar: Thanks for the idea! I hadn't thought of that. I went back and italicized them and they will be from now on. Also, those were the only chapters that I have completed so far, which is why I posted them so quickly. I'll pm you next time I get one up. Thanks for reading!!!
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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JediKaren
Registered:
Apr '07
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Date Posted:
6/11 7:09pm
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU sort-of, spanning OT, H/L, Luke, Vader, Mace Windu, Yoda
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ohh this is goooood! make or add me to your pm list!
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JediNat
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
6/13 9:20am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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Whoa, fantastic story!!!! Your writing is very vivid!
PM list PLEASE!!!!
-JediNat-
-----signature-----
May the Force be with you!
I'm a little teapot short and stout here is my handle and here's a note from my shrink he says I'm getting better. Last week I thought I was a toaster oven *crazy laughter* -Dot
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/13 10:21am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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JediKaren: Thanks and you're added!
JediNat: I do appreciate it and you're definitely on the list!
--
Chapter Three: Before the Storm
“I’ve seen the bad moon rising; Revealing the beauty of night; Baby, you and I both know; That maybe I should let this one go...”
MiKE WiLLiS, “Let This One Go”
--
Leia glanced wearily at the chronometer on her wrist. 0325. They weren’t scheduled to arrive at Ryquin for another five hours, but her mind was swimming and she was certain that sleep would yet again elude her if she attempted it. Sighing, she shut off her datapad, shrouding her cabin in darkness. She lay back on her bed and ran over the details of the mission. The northeastern hemisphere of the grassland planet had been ravaged by weeks of terrible storms and was in desperate need of food and medical supplies. Although Ryquin was under Imperial control, the Empire had refused to offer any aid to the struggling human population. Leia had to fight hard to get a small squadron of Alliance fighters and five medics, along with the necessary provisions, to be released from regular duty for one standard week in order to provide the help the Ryquins so desperately needed. Rieekan had been on her side, but Mothma didn’t seem to think that the Alliance could spare the numbers for any period of time.
Leia finally got her to agree when she accused the older woman of having no more compassion for civil rights than the Emperor himself. She was rewarded with a stern warning from Rieekan and a chilly relationship with Mothma, but got what she wanted nonetheless.
She had hoped Luke could join them on the mission; he had an ability for empathy that was unmatched among most others within the Alliance. But the Empire had engaged them in small-scale battle in the Middle Rim and he was called out to fight before she had been able to assemble her team. Instead, she recruited Han and Chewie, as well as the Falcon as escorts for the medium transport she had secured for the trip. The Empire paid little attention to the goings-on at Ryquin, but Leia still thought it would be better to have a little bit of protection on their humanitarian mission, just in case.
Weary of the details, she turned on her side and attempted to focus on other things. Her cabin in the Falcon was suitable, but she noted that it smelled vaguely like burned circuitry and stale kaffe. And it was cold. Han kept the environment control cooler than most ships on which she had travelled because Chewbacca was more comfortable that way. All that fur provided unnecessary insulation for the enormous Wookie, but Han had mentioned that he was a little to vain to get a short haircut for comfort’s sake. Instead, everyone settled on wearing an extra layer of clothing.
She glanced at her chronometer again. 0337. No, sleep would not grace her right now. Instead, Leia pulled a robe over the the thin material of her sleeping gown and padded quietly to the galley, searching for a cup of kaffe. As she passed by the cockpit, she noticed a faint blue light and paused, peeking inside. Han was sitting the pilot’s seat, idly watching the speeding light of the stars passing them by. If he noticed her presence behind him, he didn’t show it, and Leia wondered whether or not she should intrude. She stood there, silently, weighing the situation. She and Han had known one another for nearly a year, and despite their unspoken truce days after their meeting, they had found themselves in shouting matches more than just a few times over the last ten months. Still, she considered him a friend, even as she tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach that plagued her every time he was near. If she were honest with herself, Leia would admit that their arguments had little to do with Han crossing any lines and everything to do with her fear of getting too close to him.
Of course, she would never be honest with herself.
Finally, she pulled the robe a little more tightly around her neck and plopped unceremoniously into the seat usually occupied by Chewbacca. He was her friend. And besides, what else was she going to do at this hour?
He regarded her carefully but didn’t say anything, so she decided to speak first.
“You’re up late.”
“So are you.”
Leia couldn’t argue with that, but she fell quiet anyway.
“Are you okay?” She asked, finally.
He turned his chair to face her fully for the first time since she entered.
“Yeah. Thanks. I just don’t sleep much on these trips.”
She shrugged.
“What’s your excuse, Princess?”
“I just don’t sleep much in general.”
“So I hear.” A pause, then, “Are you sure you want to do this? I hear it’s pretty bad out there.”
Leia raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. I believe in helping those in need.”
Han nodded and they fell silent again, too tired to make conversation but too awake to do anything else. Leia mused that it was a comfortable silence, as if they were just old friends taking in the scenery and had no reason to force idle chat. She studied the blue light of hyperspace, hypnotized by its calming motion. Her eyelids grew heavy and by the time she realized that she had dozed off, it was 0600 and Han had covered her with a light blanket. She looked around the cockpit and blushed as she saw him watching her with a small smile.
“Mornin’ Princess.”
She covered her eyes with her hands.
“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled.
He laughed.
“Don’t be. I’m always of service to bore you to sleep.”
Leia shook her head, clearing sleep from her mind. “I guess I’m not great company, either.”
He rolled his eyes and looked around the cockpit.
“She’s my girl, you know.”
“What, this bucket of bolts?”
“Yep. You wanna fly her?”
The laugh that escaped her lips was one of pleased surprise and was not at all haughty.
“Are you serious? You would trust me with ‘your girl?’”
“I’ll be right here the whole time, Princess. I don’t trust you that much, yet.” That signature crooked smile crossed his face. “Go get ready for landing. There’s fresh kaffe in the galley, too. Be back in an hour.”
Leia, surprisingly, did as she was told. She was pleased to find that Han had a water shower instead of a sonic shower installed in the tiny ‘fresher. After donning her signature white gown and a pair of tan nerf-hide boots, she plaited her hair into a loose bun. Then she wandered to the galley and fixed Han and herself mugs of kaffe, having not seen the pilot in possession of one earlier. Chewie was in the copilot’s seat when she returned, so Han quickly vacated his chair for the one directly behind it, offering her the pilot’s spot.
“Wow,” she said, handing him the kaffe. “You sure about this?”
He nodded towards a little green light that had begun to blink on control panel.
“That signal is telling us we’re going to be moving out of hyperspace in less than a minute. When we disengage, put your hand here,” he took her hand and placed it on the steering controls with a touch that sent an involuntary shiver up Leia’s spine, “and make sure to hold her steady.”
Leia, who had never been allowed to pilot any more than a speeder, tried to do just that, but the ship lurched violently as it dropped from lightspeed. Chewie let out a frustrated growl as he corrected her mistake on his controls, but Han waved away the Wookie’s protests.
“Give her a chance,” he said, both to Chewie and to the Falcon. “She’s learning.”
And indeed, she picked it up quickly, guiding the ship more smoothly now in the direction of Ryquin. Han leaned in behind her, murmuring directions so close to her ear that she could feel his warm breath on her neck.
“That’s it...Don’t push it too hard...Just a light touch...A little to the right...There you go. Perfect.”
Though she didn’t realize she had done it, Leia tilted her head in the direction of Han’s mouth.
She held the ship well as they entered the atmosphere, but as they drew closer to landing her control became shaky, so Han snaked his arms around hers, holding her hands and showing her just how to land the ship gently.
“The key is to allow her just the right amount of give. She’ll land evenly if you don’t force it.”
She found his touch electrifying. He let go as soon as the ship was firmly on the ground, and she couldn’t help but feel a little chilly as his hands left hers. Chewie grumbled something, and though she didn’t understand Shriiwook, she recognized the reluctant praise coming from the Wookie’s mouth. Leia grinned, happily.
“Thanks, Chewie.”
He stood up and patted her shoulder, moving towards the exit. She stood up as well and turned to face Han, who was regarding her with what Leia swore was pride on his face.
“Well, Captain? How did I do?”
He extended a hand which she shook, firmly.
“Very well, Princess. Maybe you have a future in smuggling if this politics thing doesn’t work out.”
Smiling, she shook her head and walked towards the hallway.
“I don’t lie very well.”
Han got the distinct feeling that that wasn’t true.
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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JediNat
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
6/13 10:26am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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Great update!
(sorry can't say more got stuff to do!)
-JediNat-
-----signature-----
May the Force be with you!
I'm a little teapot short and stout here is my handle and here's a note from my shrink he says I'm getting better. Last week I thought I was a toaster oven *crazy laughter* -Dot
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
6/13 11:54am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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*fans self.* More?
-----signature-----
"I feel like a more down-to-earth Pink 5 when I'm writing Leah. Same attitude, less lip gloss." ~Me on how to get in the right mindset for Twilight fanfic.
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JediKaren
Registered:
Apr '07
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Date Posted:
6/13 6:22pm
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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ohh very nice. Keep going!
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LASOS
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/14 8:52am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
- Date Edited:
6/14 1:02pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
LASOS
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JediNat: Thanks and hope you got the stuff done!
DarthIshtar: More? Why not? 
JediKaren: Thanks! Here you go!
Also, a moment of pause to remember Tim Russert. He was a wonderful person and he will be sorely missed.
--
Chapter Four: The Destruction of Ryquin
“And I would have stayed up with you all night; Had I known how to save a life...”
The Fray, “How to Save a Life”
--
The small band of Rebels were only afforded one standard day on Ryquin, so they set about immediately unloading supplies. The five medics erected a makeshift clinic for people in desperate need of medical treatment, but they brought with them enough vaccines to be distributed all across the northeastern hemisphere at their departure. They had also brought with them copious amounts of ration bars and clean water, but the most grim provision was dry firewood for funeral pyres. Tuck Ello, one of the young Corellian medics, had noted before they left that the bodies of those that perished in the storms would be harboring diseases and could contaminate freshwater sources, so they would need to be burned. What of Ryquin had not been leveled, however, had been flooded, and they were left with no way to dispose of their dead.
Han was thankful he had not been put to the gruesome task of erecting the funeral pyre and locating bodies. Instead, he helped distribute rations. Leia had given him a datapad with the information of all humanitarian aides that would be meeting them upon landing with speeders ready to be loaded with supplies. It was his job to ensure that everyone received their carefully allocated rations. She had warned him that he might encounter a food riot, but the Ryquins so far proved to be more concerned about their welfare as a whole, which Han found admirable.
Leia, for her part, served her role as a diplomat well. She went out into the most damaged areas with Chewie as her escort, meeting with the Ryquins and learning more about their plight. She was outraged to discover that the Empire had not equipped the planet, known for its terrible storms, with any sort of weather tracking system that could have sent an early warning and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The Ryquins were agrarian settlers and most of their crops, a year’s supply of food, had been destroyed. Leia assured them that she would negotiate a return with additional food supplies until the crops returned the following year. She also made a mental note to request several weather tracking systems from Mon Calamari. As the Alliance’s biggest supporters and champions for civil rights, she was certain she could appeal to Admiral Ackbar’s constituents and secure the desperately needed equipment.
The destruction was mind-boggling. Ryquin was by no means as industrialized as many of the other planets she had visited, but it still had been organized into carefully planned townships that were now unrecognizable except for piles of mangled and twisted durasteel. The floodwaters had receded in the past week, leaving behind dirt and mud and flattened grass that extended for miles. But it was the loss of life that struck Leia most. Hundreds of thousands of ill-prepared Ryquins had been ripped from their homes by rushing flood waters that pulled them into the deep rivers and tributaries, rivers now choked with the corpses of the dead. The smell was sickening, but the grief on the survivors’ faces was even more so.
The princess made her way down to the shoreline, walking along the winding rill that now appeared so tranquil. It was bitterly ironic. The main river, Rhas, flooded every year, a controlled flood that deposited silt on the farmlands and made the soil fertile. But the recent floods were not life-giving as they had once been. As she surveyed the banks of the river, Leia heard the sobs of a Ryquin woman that had collapsed at the water’s edge. She approached the grief-stricken woman cautiously, observing that the raven-haired Ryquin was not much older than herself. Leia sat down beside her, and only then did she notice that the woman was clutching the body of a lifeless infant. She put a careful hand on the woman’s arm, and the Ryquin responded by burying her head into Leia’s shoulder, desperate for comfort. Leia hugged the stranger tightly, her own heart breaking at the woman’s devastation.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
As the Ryquin woman wept, and old man watched intently, hidden by a bush on the opposite bank. He wore a dark brown tunic and was clearly not a Ryquin himself. Instead of the distinctive black hair and snow white skin the Ryquins shared, this man’s skin was a light brown, and he had no hair at all. He was a visitor, a medic himself that traveled to planets in need, offering what services he could.
But he was something more.
He had been startled by the strong Force-presence that had appeared suddenly on the small planet and followed it until he found the beautiful young woman with long brown hair and an immensely kind spirit. Her mark was unmistakable. It was so similar to the mark he’d felt more than twenty years earlier when the young slave boy first crossed his path that there was no denying who she truly was. He could only wonder if her enemies were aware as well.
As similar as her presence was to that dark shadow, there was something different about her, and the old Jedi named Mace Windu knew, just knew, that she was capable of bringing about the good that the universe so desperately needed. He closed his eyes and stretched out in the Force, brushing her mind with his own. He saw her torture at the hands of Lord Vader and the overwhelming sadness that still plagued her over the loss of Alderaan. He saw her friendship with another unmistakable Force-presence and a tender spot for a seasoned fighter. He saw her future: joy, then pain.
Windu’s eyes flew open to Leia and the young Ryquin woman that was holding her dead child. He knew the future was always in motion, but he had a sinking feeling that he was watching foreshadowing of the cruelest sort. He rose to his feet as the three suns over Ryquin were beginning to set, in search of the ship on which Leia had come. The Force had spoken to him. She needed to be protected, and it was up to him to help.
Leia did not notice Windu’s departure, but she did notice the setting suns and realized that she needed to get back to base. The Ryquin woman, whose name, she learned, was Pax Owren, had requested to go with them, to join the Alliance herself, because there was nothing left for her on the planet. Leia agreed and Chewbacca escorted them back to base. Leia gave Owren a moment alone at the funeral pyre with her child and found Tuck Ello, who was in charge of the crew on the transport. She explained the situation, then bid him safe travels and made her way wearily back to the Falcon. Ello watched her closely. Leia’s face was pallid and she looked so drained of any energy she had left in her tiny form. It wasn’t a good sign. The medic motioned for Han to come talk with him.
“Here,” said Ello, handing Han a capped syringe and a vial of medicine. “She’s not well. I’m worried about the contagions on this planet. She refused the required antimicrobial vaccine--”
The other Corellian raised his eyebrows, shocked.
“She refused the vaccine? Why?”
Ello shrugged. “She wouldn’t say. I told her it wasn’t wise but she didn’t seem to care. Listen, Solo, if she develops a fever, give her 15 ccs of that and let me know. Immediately.”
Han nodded worriedly as he pocketed the medicine, then hurried after Leia. He found the princess in the seat behind his own in the cockpit, her knees pulled to her chest and her head buried in her arms. The captain hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should give her some time alone. But then Chewie came up behind him, grumbling softly and telling him that they needed to go. Han placed a gentle hand on Leia’s back. She did not move.
“Hey, Leia?”
No response.
“Chewie, do you think you can manage takeoff yourself?”
The Wookie growled and nodded. Carefully, Han lifted a sleeping princess from her seat and took her back to her cabin, placing her on her bunk. He removed her boots and then pulled the covers around her body. She looked more fragile than he’d ever seen her, and though she was sleeping, her face was twisted in a look of anguish. Han remembered what Ello had ordered and ran quickly to the galley to find the medkit and vitals sensor.
“Kriff,” he muttered. The vitals sensor was broken and had been for some time. He dropped it on the floor and went to the cool storage unit for a canteen of water and a cold pack. Leia began to moan, loudly, and Han quickly gathered everything and sprinted back to her cabin. He studied her for a moment, then bent down and placed his lips firmly against her forehead. For a brief moment, Han mused that he would have at least one black eye at this point had the princess been conscious, but she wasn’t and this was the most effective way for him to gauge her body temperature without a sensor.
Han jerked back. Leia’s forehead was burning up and she was beginning to talk in her fevered delirium. He pulled the syringe Ello had given him from his jacket pocket and began measuring out the medicine.
Leia’s sat straight up, her eyes wide with fear. She was breathing heavily, but staring at nothing.
“Stop it!” She cried. “Don’t let it happen!”
“Leia!” He was at her side in an instant, a gentle hand cradling her head. She looked at him with alarm, as if she didn’t recognize him.
“Make it stop. Make it stop, please!”
“Shh, Leia, shh. There’s nothing wrong, nothing happening. Listen, I’m going to give you a shot in your arm, okay? It’ll make you feel better.”
Her eyes flew to the syringe in his and and she pulled away from him, pushing herself as far away from him into the corner of the bunk as she could. She shook her head and began to tremble.
“No! No, no please. Not again. Don’t do it again!”
She tried to get out of the bed but Han caught her in his arms. He began to stroke her hair, looking her squarely in the eyes with the most comforting gaze he could muster.
“Hey, hey, Leia, shh. Shh, Sweetheart. It’s okay. It’s Han. You remember me, right? I’m not gonna hurt you, Sweetheart. I promise. You know that, right?”
Leia’s eyes softened as she began to recognize the man in front of her, but she was still shaking violently. Slowly, she nodded, then her features fell as she suddenly began to cry. He pulled her into a tight embrace and she clutched at his shirt, burying herself into his chest. Her body heaved with shuddering sobs.
“I--I can’t take anymore, Han. No more.”
“Shh.” With one free hand, Han continued to stroke her back, reassuringly. With the other, he pulled the thin material of her dress down her shoulder and quickly injected her with the medicine. It was over in an instant, and if Leia noticed the prick in her arm, she did not show it. “Shh,” he continued. “It’s okay, Leia. Relax.”
Her sobs became quiet whimpers and finally Han lay a sleeping princess back onto the bunk.
“Gods, Princess,” he whispered, stroking a stray hair from her face. “What the hell did they to do you?”
-----signature-----
I can engage in lightsaber duels with my 5 year-old nephew while playing catch with my 2 year-old nephew.
Wearing stilettos.
Take that, Luke Skywalker.
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JediNat
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
6/14 9:42am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
|
Great update!
And Mace is ALIVE?! 
Han is such a sweeite to Leia! 
-JediNat-
-----signature-----
May the Force be with you!
I'm a little teapot short and stout here is my handle and here's a note from my shrink he says I'm getting better. Last week I thought I was a toaster oven *crazy laughter* -Dot
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
6/14 11:03am
Subject:
RE: My Once and Constant Savior, AU spanning OT
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Ha! Many different delights there are that I could mention, such as Leia's empathy, the semi-mysterious man watching Leia, etc. Great job.
-----signature-----
"I feel like a more down-to-earth Pink 5 when I'm writing Leah. Same attitude, less lip gloss." ~Me on how to get in the right mindset for Twilight fanfic.
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