Saga Sleeping And Dreaming (AU)---Han In Carbonite--update 8/28, "Ending and Beginning"--Finished!

Title: Sleeping And Dreaming
Author: leiamoody
Timeframe: Between ESB and ROTJ
Characters: OC?s, Han, Luke and Leia in supporting roles
Genre: AU, Angst
Summary: A young woman meets Han in the dream world while he is in carbonite.
Notes: This story should be the first in a long-simmering series of AU stories.
Disclaimer: George Lucas created this dreamworld playground. I'm just wandering around in it. Don't sue, please.


Into The Darkness

Dream World: Cloud City
She saw a chamber...and there was a woman, dressed in white, with grief and pain cast upon her face. And the man...his wrists were bound with manacles. He was standing on some kind of platform...staring across at the small figure of the woman.

Damned stormtroopers ripped me away before I could tell her... All of this time, I wanted to say the words..."I love you"... She said it!..."I know"...that's all I could tell her?...I wanted to say more!

But there was no time to say anything else...

Now the man was descending into some kind of pit...there was a loud sound...and then...the heavy cold...pouring down and down without end...

Why can't I push it away?!

He was taken into total darkness?and then came awareness?

Can't breathe...Why?!...Wait?I?m trapped...in the carbonite? I can feel it! How do I stop this? What do I? hide from it?run away?find a deeper place...it?ll be safe there?I won't have to know that I?m in here?hurry, go into the dark?

He slipped away into oblivion.

Real World: Aeithera
She was falling...out of the sky, out of another plane... there was the sudden sensation of landing back in her body?then dim blue light and blackness. And the sound of her rapid breathing.

Nalieza closed her eyes, and opened them again. The same combination of blue light from her wall lamp and darkness from outside confirmed that she was in her bed, and it was the middle of the night.

So it was only a nightmare.

Then how come her heart was beating so fast? Could a phantasm from the abyssal mind strike so much fear into her?

She doubted that was possible.

She needed to collect her thoughts, and try to gain some perspective on what had just happened. Maybe drinking something and spending time sitting on the porch would clear her head so she could get back to sleep.

She got out of bed and shuffled through the living room into the kitchen.

With an open palm, Nalieza lightly pressed the illumination panel on the wall. The overhead light came on. Then she started towards the cupboard...

...the pain, sudden and sharp, ran through her chest. As if someone had ripped out her heart.

It had not been a dream. Or even a nightmare. It was...real.

What had happened to this man? He seemed to know about being frozen in carbonite...wait...What? No. That couldn?t be true. That was too?horrifying. No, no, absolutely not. It didn?t happen.

But what if?he had been?in carbonite? If that were true, then was he even alive?

And who was he?

None of it made any sense.

 

Wow, I really like this, and I think that it?s a really interesting idea.
Keep up the great job leiamoody .

Oh, and could you pm me when you update, thanx.

 

Great start! I like it. Keep going, please.

 

Interesting idea, especially in how you will end up linking your OC with Han.

I always wondered what Han was going through in the carbonite. I used that for my own story for the Song Roulette Challenge.

 

Clues To The Mystery

Real World: Aeithera
It wasn?t until near the end of breakfast that Nalieza finally called up enough courage to tell her friends about the dream.

The same sequence of images had continued showing up while she was asleep for the past eight days. When she had awoken that morning with the feeling of being trapped in cold metal yet again, Nalieza decided to forgo breakfast at home, and headed out for the Laseto Boarding Establishment. Two of her friends rented rooms there. Her third friend would definitely be there, as it wasn?t a long walk from the boarding house from his small apartment several blocks away.

With the other student boarders gone for the day, it was safe enough to talk about without having to worry about who might hear the discussion.

"What did you say happened to this man again?? Josym asked. He took the last graincake from the serving platter and put it on his plate.

Nalieza drank some of the kahve in her cup, even though it had turned cold some time ago. ?It was...he...he was put in carbonite.?

Meaithe leaned her elbows on the table while finishing a piece of toasted ishfa. ?That can?t be right. No one would still be using that as a means of torture anymore.? She hesitated. ?Unless they were truly barbaric.?

?I saw stormtroopers there. We all know who they work for.?

Josym sighed. ?Yeah. And they have founders? rights on performing random acts of sadism.?

?And it?s more than just that I saw him being put into carbonite. I actually felt what it?s like to be frozen. He was aware of the whole thing?and if what I saw is really true, he could feel everything.?

?Feel what exactly?? Civriel gently stirred a spoon in the cha mug that sat in front of him.

?That he was trapped in it. That he wanted to breathe, and he couldn?t. Being frozen, he could feel how painful it was. And it does hurt, terribly. And he could feel himself trapped in that stuff. And he can?t move or do anything else but think. Yet?he can still feel everything. That?s got to be the worst part for him?feeling helpless??

The conversation came to a standstill at that point, until Arah, the owner and namesake of the boarding establishment, entered the dining room carrying a serving tray with a fresh pot of kahve and five pottery cups on it. "Perhaps the man was trying to reach out with his mind," she commented, setting the tray on the table. Then she began removing the empty breakfast dishes and taking them over to the sideboard.

"Or the pain was so intense that his conscious and unconscious split in two," Meaithe said.

"What do you mean?" Nalieza asked.

"The pain and shock of being frozen caused his mind to temporarily lose its balance between conscious and unconscious. And the unconscious part was what you came into contact with."

?But why did I have to feel it? I don?t even know who he is.?

Civriel leaned across the table and picked up the kahve pot from the tray. "Could all of this be some manifestation of the Force?"

Meaithe shrugged. "There's so much that isn't known about how the Force works. Every record of it seems to have been destroyed or appropriated by the Emperor. It's even difficult to find material on other mystic traditions if they resembled the Jedi in any way."

"Do you remember anything else?? Arah picked up the serving platter with one hand while using the other to grab the last empty mug off the table.

"Well, there were stormtroopers. And there was the woman that he thought of..."

"Wait, you're saying that you could read what he was thinking?" Josym asked.

"More than that. I think our minds actually merged. He was trying to keep his head together, because he didn't want Leia to get hurt..."

Arah almost dropped the serving platter on the floor. She quickly recovered her composure, then asked, "Leia? Are you sure that was the name he was thinking of?"

"Very sure." Nalieza paused. She tapped her finger on the table. ?The name sounds familiar, but I couldn?t place it. I still can?t.?

"That name certainly i

 

The Meeting Of Two Strangers

Dream World: Cloud City and Nothi Sautn
She was standing in a forest. Guenfers and iilis towered all around, their leaves glowing with the deep red and gold of woods in late autumn. A varakai called sweetly as it flew overhead in the bright afternoon sky. From somewhere nearby, there was the sound of flowing water.

This was a peaceful setting. But not one that was familiar. It was not a dreamscape of her creation. It meant something to him.

She felt a calling. There was something pulling her towards the water-sound.

She took one step, then another, and walked down a long path that was surrounded by an ascending canopy of leaves. They twisted and intertwined together, forming a dome against the sky. Brief glimpses of sunlight came through the leaves, and shone her way.

The path stopped at a river.

She stood at the edge. What next?

The calling came again. She stood up, and walked through the water across to the other side. There was another path to follow...long, and curving upwards around a bend.

It ended at a clearing surrounded by a towering grey stone wall that encircled the space.

A man was in the middle of the wall. His face was contorted into an expression of desperate pain, and his hands thrust upwards from the stone as if he were an animal trying to claw out of a trap.

It was Solo.

Nalieza felt cold. The sensation wasn?t coming from outside, but rather from within herself.

She drew out a long breath, then approached the figure in the wall.

Seeing the pain in his face up close was an intense reminder of feeling frozen in the dream. But now wasn?t the time to focus on that horrible memory. There was something of urgent importance that needed to be done.

She reached out a hand and traced her fingers across one of the outstretched stone hands. Cold and still. Not a surprise?what was she hoping to find?

Life. Any kind of proof that within this entombed body there might be some measure of a living presence.

A thought floated across her mind?yes, why not try it?

She reached out her hand again, but this time she pressed her fingers against his right wrist.

Something subtle throbbed within the stone. It could barely be felt. Yet it was still there, flowing and persistent. A pulse.

The forest around her dissolved into itself, the stone wall and the clearing seemed to fold inward and disappear. And she was folded right into them. Slowly, at first, then with a quickness that was puzzling. Yet, not frightening.

As the scenery around her dissipated, Nalieza saw a rising black curtain take its place. And even as it was forming, it was also melting into another background; a completely different setting from the forest. As it gradually took shape, she began to recognize this new set of surroundings.

It was the carbon freezing chamber.

She lowered her hand, and began to walk about.

The chamber was dimly lit in midnight blue and smoky orange. Underneath her feet was a circular metallic floor, upon which her shoes lightly tapped as she moved about. Drifting tendrils of steam floated in the chamber, as if a freezing had recently occurred.

A freezing?oh, no?

Something made her look up to the ceiling. There was a large claw suspended above the platform. A claw that would be used to remove a frozen item out of the pit.

The pit. She had to find the pit. But why?

?Who?s there?? A man?s voice.

Nalieza stopped. That was him.

She made a quick study of the room. He sounded very close by, but there was no one that she could see standing within the vicinity.

?Who?s there?? Solo asked again.

She felt nervous. How much more insane could this situation become? How could she find the disembodied voice and its owner?

Wait?that sudden feeling of needing to find the pit?could he be in there?

?Where are you?? she called out.

?Down here. In this hole.?

Hole? So it was the pit.

?Keep talking so I can find you.? She started walking again, looking down at the floor as she moved.

 

Now this is interesting . . . I've played with the "What Dreams May Come" theme myself, and I've always liked the freedom to use very sensory ways of exploring a character's feelings without having to have them "make sense." The outside world very seldom mirrors our inside one--which can a nice wellspring of angst in itself; for instance, it was a sunny, blue-sky day on Tattooine when Anakin brought his mother's body home to the Lars moisture farm. (Actually, that wouldn't be a bad first line for a bitterly ironic angstfic.) Still, sometimes you can create a very nice, dreamlike mood piece by giving a character's emotions a kind of external reality. (I'm *assuming* that your OC has an independent existence outside of Han's mind, but it would be perfectly consistent with the theme if she didn't.)

Since this is AU, I don't know what role Leia will play in this drama (if any), but I'm curious to find out what you will reveal about Han's character through his ordeal and his connection with Nalieza. This seems to be the kind of angstfic that shows us things in a new light, and that's my favorite kind.

 

This story is being locked. To those four who read it, thanks.

EDIT: I'm going to delay having this locked for now. Just need to figure out if it's worth continuing.

 

Locked? Ah, don't give up so soon!

I was really enjoying the angle you were taking with this story. I like your attention to detail and the characterization of Han, plus the explanation of how your OC can communicate with him. It's a novel approach.

 

Don't you dare lock this treasure, girl. It's excellent. Every word leaves me hungering for more. What is Naeliza's connection to Han? Is she a long-lost relative? His sister? That kind of a force bond is rare. Him being trapped in the unconscious world is really creepy. There has to be a reason why. I loved how they interact.

 

Whoa! Don't give up on this so soon. It's very original and imaginative. The dream/unconsciousness sequences are really thought-provoking, and you capture the dream feeling well.

Nalieza seems like a really interesting OC. Force abilities perhaps? I'm very interested to see how her 'interactions' (for lack of a better term) with Han play out.

Line of the night:

?I?m not lying.?

?No, you?re just making stuff up.?

On spot Han!

*P.S. remove one particular sentence from your Title's notes...its inacurate.

 

A very interesting and well executed concept! You should have more faith in yourself.

JPS

 

Oh don't lock this one, it is so interesting. Please!!!!

 

Please don't lock this! It's just beginning, and it's very interesting.

 

AHHHHHHHHH!!

It's HAN!

Sorry, slight obsession with Han, and Leia, especially together. Anyway...

From this perspectivie, its extremely interesting. The style is very fresh and enlightening- I haven't seen much like it before, if anything. The dream sequence makes it feel like an almost out of body experience- a perfect feeling a chapter should have since it is a dream. It's really absorbing and takes a person in a lot. I hope to keep reading this- I like pieces that are different from the rest.

 

Thanks to everybody for coming in, taking a peek, and leaving some reviews!

All of the comments mean a lot. Really. I don't want anyone to get the impression that their review or comment is less valid than anyone else's if it wasn't in-depth. One line can hold the same significance as twenty. I'm going to attempt to answer some of the more specific comments that came up. It's not a matter of playing preference, it's just to make the story a little more clear to the reader.

Chewie-Fan:
The concept of what Han was going through in carbonite has always interested me. When I first read the ROTJ novelization, those few paragraphs where Kahn provides some details about the experience really caught my attention.

ophelia:
Nalieza certainly does have an independent existence outside of Han's mind. Though the idea of her being a figment of his imagination...hmm...well, that would require a massive rewrite.

But seriously, she's got her own life that gets massively sidetracked when this whole experience with Han starts.

Leia does play a role (she shows up later, but is also a background element too). I couldn't knock HER out of an AU. Hey, even Luke shows up.

ZebulaNebula:
Nalieza's connection to Han is explained in the next installment. It's nothing so interesting as a long lost relative. Instead, I had in mind the notion of the Force actively matching her up with his mind because she comes from a culture where some people can enter and interact in other people's dreams. I guess what I really wanted to do was take the concept of something extraordinary happening to an ordinary person. In a way, it matches what happened to Han in the OT. A regular guy gets pulled into irregular circumstances, and comes out of the experience changed.

correllian_ale
Nalieza does have Force sensitivity, and the previously mentioned dream entering ability.

I would like to continue this story, seeing as how there are people interested in it after all. If anyone would like to be notified by PM when an update gets posted, just zip me a PM. Or just keep looking at the link in my sig once a week. Whichever works for you.

Thanks again.

 

This is very interesting and very well done! Please PM when you update, otherwise I'll get hopelessly behind.

 

This was great, sorry that I missed it, I was hoping that you could pm me when you did update but it doesn?t matter. Please post more soon cuz I can?t wait to see how this will go.

 

Hey! I'm still reading! Don't you lock this...

I think this entire concept is really interesting, and I always like stories where Han is in carbonite, but aware of things anyway. Keep going.

 

You can PM me when you update. I find this idea fascinating, keep it going, please.

 

A Higher Calling

Real World: Aeithera
Nalieza tapped her thumb on the datapad viewscreen. She had spent the better part of an hour trying to get through the prologue of Tinkin?s Progress. But so far, she was only up to screen five.

She pressed the forward button on her datapad. ?Is it still gloomy out there?? she asked Josym, who was sitting by the window.

He turned around and gave a look out the window. ?Same as before. Too much water for one day.?

?That?s what winter is like around here. A lot of rain comes down, and makes everything dreary.?

Josym shrugged. ?You might have a point. And it could be worse, right? It could be snowing.?

?Now you could say that?s too much water.?

?Either way, I still can?t trust a planet with this much precipitation falling out of the sky.?

?Is the weather any worse than having to read this stuff??

?You have a point there,? Josym responded, getting up from the windowseat to join her on the couch.

Nalieza moved over to the right. ?You can?t get through this stuff, either??

Josym leaned back and rested his elbow on the armrest. ?Who could? It?s boring enough to cure insomnia.?

?It certainly didn?t help my case of it last night.?

He stared at her. ?Wait, when did we suddenly switch to that topic??

She held his gaze for a second, and then decided to study the carpeting. Something better to do than give Josym any hint that something was bothering her. ?Well, you mentioned it first.?

?You?ve been having those dreams again,? he said.

She shrugged, and kept staring at the floor. There was a worn spot in the carpet that drew her attention. Maybe the circle of gradually fading blue patchcloth could absorb anything and swallow it completely, like a black hole. If she concentrated hard enough, it could swallow all of her thoughts and take away any memory of last night?s dream?

?When did they start up this time??

?They haven?t started again.?

?Stop being evasive. Tell me.?

She sighed. ?This one was different.?

?Different in what way??

Nalieza hard. ?I talked to him last night,? she said softly. ?It?s?? she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, ??well, I don?t know what to call it. But the dream happened. That?s the only part I?m sure of.?

?You spoke to him.?

?Yes.?

?Exchanged words. The both of you.?

Nalieza felt as if she were being regarded as only slightly less insane than a street prophet. ?You don?t believe me. Great.? She tossed the datapad onto the floor with a frustrated flip of her hand. ?I?m sorry.?

?Sorry for what??

?Telling the truth.?

?Are you sure??

?Sure that I talked to him? Of course.?

?But that can?t be possible.?

?Again, sorry. But that was my dream last night.? She tucked her knees up to her chest and stared at him.

?It just sounds bizarre, that?s all.? He leaned forward and put his hand over top of hers. ?Look, I?m not trying to doubt you. You aren?t lying.?

?Okay, maybe I?m crazy.?

?I wouldn?t call it crazy. More like gifted.? He picked up the datapad from the floor and placed it on the arm of the couch next to him. ?Okay, tell me everything. How did the dream start? What did you guys talk about??

?It started in a forest. I found him trapped in a stone wall. I think the place might mean something to him. I never got the chance to ask him about that. The scene shifted, and when everything stopped moving, there I was in the carbon freezing chamber.? She dug her fingernails into her leg before continuing. ?He was standing in the pit. Looking up at me. Confused.?

?How did he get in there??

?I don?t know. He doesn?t know either. That was just where I found him.? She sighed. ?I?m talking to a dead guy. Why is this happening to me??

?Why you?ve had these dreams, the Maker or the Creatrix or even the Force only knows. But if they?re going to keep happening, which seems likely, then you have to try and understand them.?

She raised her head to look up at him. ?Are you suggesting that I might be doing aident duty??

?Mayb

 

Hmmm. So she thinks she 'talking' to a dead guy. Poor Han. He can't get any breaks, even from someone Force-sensitive that might be able to help him.

 

This is very interesnting, keep it going,please!

 

Interesting background you've got going . . . I'm curious about what "aidants" and "tshauds" are, and how they're related to the Jedi.

The idea of a man trapped in a stone wall is indeed very eerie and nightmare-like--I can believe that's what it feels like to be frozen in carbonite, too.

I liked the detail about Nalieza trying to kill unwanted thoughts by figuratively glaring a hole in the carpet . . . I've done that, and I suspect a lot of other people have, too . . . at least several people commented on it when I once had a character do something similar. Anyway, it was a nice, realistic touch that evoked a kind of helpless, obsessive distress.

I got a kick out of this line, too: ?Either way, I still can?t trust a planet with this much precipitation falling out of the sky.?

Reminded me of my state. They say Michigan has two seasons: winter and construction. Lots, and lots, and lots of stuff falls out of the sky during winter. They must be someplace like this.

This story has a really different take on things--I'm interested to see where you go with it next.

 

I was wondering what an aidant was too. This continues to be an interesting concept that you are exploring. Looking forward to more.