This piece originated as a fic request from a reader hoping for a Han/Leia genderswap AU. It's a bit different from what I normally write, but I thought it would be an interesting challenge. ObeliskX, I hope you enjoy this! It took way longer than I'd planned to get it done, but hopefully it was worth the wait.

A note: Han and Leia's genders are swapped, but all others remain the same.

Hana and Lei: Tatooine

Hana: In Dreams

Hibernation wasn't like being asleep. Not like being unconscious, either. It wasn't dreaming, or oblivion. It was a horrible no-being's-land somewhere in between. Neither, and both.

Lei told her, once, some of what he knew about dreams. That our brains are hard at work even as we sleep, organizing and processing and cataloguing all the information gained, the memories made, the sights and sounds and feelings experienced. That sometimes our dreams are a way of understanding what's already happened to us, that the brain is trying to organize things into a kind of sense. That all the people in our dreams are us.

When he told her this, Hana was astounded that he could speak at all. He was pale and sweating, panting, sitting up in the bunk after she'd finally managed to pull him out of the nightmare that had made him a frantic, screaming mess. He'd been thrashing around, kicking his way out of the covers as if held by an unknown assailant. Hana all but lay on top of him, her voice loud but calm to be heard over the turmoil in his head: "Lei. Lei. It's me. Hana. Wake up. You're safe. I'm here. You're okay."

After his brown eyes had finally sparked with recognition, he let her help him sit up and catch his breath. He didn't like being touched after a nightmare like that; the memory of what he'd faced on the Death Star was still too close. So Hana sat with him, and from somewhere in his princely-educated brain spilled out all of these facts about dreams.

There aren't dreams in hibernation; the body's too busy trying to preserve itself at the lowest level of function to waste energy on that. Instead, Hana had a vague sense of movement, orientation, and location, and random impressions from the last hours before. Chewie's desperate yowl. Lando's look of regret. Smoke or steam or whatever that was in the chamber. Lei. The prince. His lips. His voice. His face.

Hana couldn't put enough thoughts together to get a sense of time, of how long it had been since she'd felt the puff of cold and had instinctively tried to get away—and then felt nothingness, but not. Not quite. Just the whispers of the last thoughts she'd had before she'd dropped into the chamber, repeating themselves on a loop.

He loves me. He shouldn't love me. I'm only going to get him into trouble. I've already gotten them all into trouble. Him and Luke—at least they have each other now. I hope. And Chewie will help them. If they get away. I hope they get away.

I wasn't supposed to love him. I wasn't supposed to love anybody. I was supposed to get paid.

Gods, I love him.

Lei: Patience

Chewie helped Lei figure out all the ins and outs of this getup: the tunic, belt, holsters, mask, voice modulator, hood. The inside of the mask smelled indescribably bad. I think Boussh must have died in this thing. The relentless heat outside wasn't helping; it was cooking the smell into the helmet. Lei realized that if it had been back in his palace days, or even in his time in the Imperial Senate, he probably would've been vomiting uncontrollably from the stench by now.

I guess I'm not that boy anymore.

Lei took a deep breath and tried to think of the smell as a sort of background noise instead of the distraction it was. I'm good at this, he realized, pretending something isn't bothering me as it's swiping at my brain. He shook his head wryly. It's probably the thing I'm best at.

It seemed almost too lucky, to have found a disguise so perfectly sized for Lei, something that would allow him to pass easily, to look like he belongs in Jabba's palace. He's short, for a human man, not even quite as tall as Luke, and at least a head shorter than Hana.

Hana. My beautiful scoundrel.

He shook his head to will the thoughts away. No use getting lost in my head; we have a mission. We're getting her back and getting out. At last.

Lei had thought he was lonely before, after Alderaan, with everyone he loved blown into stardust. But that was nothing compared to the last few months without Hana. To be so suddenly deprived after spending weeks wrapped up in one another, literally and figuratively, was a loss he could not have imagined before.

Well, he had imagined it. That's why it took me so long to let her in. He'd thought that maybe if he shut Hana out it wouldn't hurt so much. And then at some point he'd said, Oh, what the hell.

He'd become himself again with her. He didn't know how she'd found Lei, hidden under layers of duty and hurt and intellect and fight and the cause and thirst for revenge and shame for thirsting. I couldn't even find myself anymore, until she did. And maybe this Lei wasn't very "prince-y," but he knew that if Bail and Breha were here, they would recognize him immediately as their son. They might be surprised at the Corellian whiskey and the sabacc playing and the swears, the dilapidated ship where Lei felt most at home now, and the lovely smuggler captain sharing her bunk with him, but they would know him. See him. Like she sees me. Saw me.

We're getting her back, we're getting her back. Patience, as Luke would say. They got in the speeder, Chewie and Lei, and were on their way.

Hana: Drowning

It wasn't like waking up, because how do you wake up when you're not actually asleep?

It was like drowning. Like the world was turned back on in an instant, and it was all feeling and sound and air and thought and…so much so much so much….

Hana put her hand out just in time to hit the floor. Panting and shaking and sweating and am I dead? Which one of the nine hells is this?

There was someone with her. They dragged her off the floor, turned her around so that she was sitting, leaning on something. Hana coughed. She kept blinking her eyes, but the fog wasn't clearing. Hana wasn't cold, but she was shivering.

"Just relax for a moment," said a strange voice. Clipped. Metallic. "You're free of the carbonite."

I feel terrible. This might be worse than the nine Corellian hells.

"You have hibernation sickness." The metallic voice again.

The blinking still wasn't helping. "I—I can't see."

"Your eyesight will return in time." Well, you're not trying to kill me right away, so I guess I should be thankful? No idea what you are, though. Too much personality to be a droid, though your voice sounds like one.

"Where am I?" Maybe that will be a clue.

"Jabba's palace." Oh, kriff me. Not exactly how I'd planned to come back here. Hopefully whoever you are, you're not working for someone with a grudge. Unfreeze me to kill me, something like that.

Well, here goes nothing. "Who are you?"

There was a sound of rustling fabric, and finally, the rich tones of a voice Hana thought she'd never hear again: "Someone who loves you."

"Lei," she gasped gratefully, and his lips were on hers. Oh yes yes yes yes my love, my prince. You came for me.

Lei pulled away and pulled Hana up. "I gotta get you out of here."

Then they heard the sound she'd hoped never to hear again. Jabba's laugh.

You never should have come for me.

Lei: Caught

Being licked with Jabba's tongue definitely made Lei's list of Unique Experiences He Hoped Never to Have Again.

They shouldn't have caught us, he scolded himself. They should have been out of the palace by now, on their way to meet Luke at the rendezvous point. But no, I just had to make out with my just-unfrozen girlfriend, didn't I? As it was, Lei had arrived to unfreeze Hana later than they'd planned; the party had gone on longer than Lando said they typically did, and Boba Fett kept trying to come over and either talk shop or glare at Lei.

It was probably Fett. He's probably the one who told Jabba something was up. Maybe I make a shitty Boussh impersonator. Maybe he was just jealous to have been bested in capturing Chewie. Who knows.

But they had a failsafe in case they got caught, too. Lando was their man inside. He was going to take them away, put them where they could get ready to escape together. Soon as everything settled down, they'd be out.

But before Lando could take Lei away with Hana, Jabba ordered Lei brought to him.

Chewie had said they'd have to be careful. He'd said that Jabba had a knack for figuring out what you valued most, and taking it from you so he could enjoy watching you lose it. That he was into humiliation. Especially if you'd tried to make of fool of him. Nobody made a fool of Jabba.

Chewie didn't tell them that Jabba had a weird thing for royalty. And neither Chewie nor Lei knew that he'd just fed his latest favorite slave dancer to the rancor.

Which is how Lei found himself being relieved of his disguise, and the rest of his clothes, in front of a harem of Jabba's dancers. Most of them were females of various species, and they looked at Lei with wonder as the leader stripped him down.

Lei was torn between wanting to have an out-of-body experience, so he didn't have to be there watching this happen, and praying that this didn't trigger any kinds of flashbacks or memories of the Death Star.

The experiences were not dissimilar, and Lei was afraid that that was about to happen again until he realized that his private humiliation was of no use to Jabba. Jabba needed Lei as an example. If anything was going to happen to him, it was going to happen in public.

Lei looked down at the outfit they'd forced him into. If you could call it that. A metal codpiece-like contraption, with a short bit of a skirt to it. An armband shaped like a snake. And a collar for around his neck. This is going to be humiliating, all right.

At least Hana was still blind.

Hana: Down Below

Well, Solo, kriffed up real good this time, didn't you? Hana thought, as they hauled her down to the dungeons below the palace.

You never wanted to go downstairs in Jabba's palace. The only people who went downstairs were prisoners, or beings granted the opportunity to take advantage of the prisoners in various ways. And the prisoners themselves never lasted long—either they became food for the rancor, or eventually dissolved into shadows of their former selves, part of the landscape of abuse and exploitation that was a constant within Jabba's realm. Fuel for Jabba's amusement.

One of the hazards of working with Jabba.

Not that Hana'd had much choice. In some sectors, Jabba was pretty much the only game in the system, if you wanted to actually make any money smuggling. He was disgusting and abusive, but if you had a fast ship and came through for him, he didn't give a shit if you were a human woman or a Togruta male or what. You got paid just the same, you got jobs just the same.

Which was more than Hana could say for a fair number of other operations out there. She'd had a good chat with Sana about that once, first time they met. "I could move twice as much cargo if these bastards would quit thinkin' I was trying to lift it with my damn tits," she'd complained, and Hana drank to that. They drank to a lot of things that night; Hana woke up on the floor of Sana's ship in the morning with a headache like a board shoved into her skull. All her clothes were still on, though, that time.

After that, the two of them ran together, for a while. Sana and Hana, it rhymed. "Lady smugglers have to look out for each other," Sana had joked once, and Hana had told her she was a lot of things, but a lady wasn't one. Sana had arched one of those delicate brows and asked whether she'd be interested in doing some unladylike things together.

That was a good night.

They were good friends, and occasional lovers, and even technically sort of married once, as a scam, though when Hana ran off with Sana's part of the haul, that kind of took care of that relationship.

I'll admit, that was a dick move. But I expect she would've done the same to me if I hadn't done it first. We weren't that good of friends.

It had been a relief to hang with Sana; a nice break from the males who dominated the business. Not only did they assume you couldn't do shit, or fly for shit, or that you fucked your way into a ship (Seriously. No one is that good), but they could never damn well leave you alone. Some of them couldn't wait to see if they could break you, make you think they were in love with you or scam you, decide they were going to take the parts of your body they felt entitled to, whether you were up for it or not.

Soon as Hana started flying and had two credits to rub together, she made sure to get the good contra shots, then the implant. I wasn't becoming some gangster's moll or putting some asshole's baby in my belly so they could prove what a damned man they were, prove how hard they could fuck you over. Hell no. I just wanted to see the stars, drink a little whiskey, have a little fun. Be free.

Hana scoffed at herself. Yeah, how'd that work out for you?

The room they threw her into was cold. A cold room on Tatooine. Huh. That's a new one. Still couldn't see, though she was getting used to the assault on her other senses and the thoughts racing through her brain.

The smell and the sound of the low growl hit Hana both at once. There's something in here with me.

She heard the growl again, and, holy hells—"Chewie?"

She could feel him at her side almost immediately, talking a mile a minute, assuring her that it would be fine, that Luke would just have to do the last part of the rescue after all.

Hana still wasn't sure she'd heard him right. Luke? Is going to rescue us? Hell, the closest Luke had come to rescuing anybody was talking Hana into going to rescue the Prince, and frankly, Lei had pretty much taken over that rescue soon as they'd opened his cell door.

"A Jedi Knight? I'm out of it for a while and everybody starts getting delusions of grandeur," she said, her voice shaking a little. Now she was cold.

Hana's newly-woken brain was racing, as she did everything possible to try not to think about Lei and what they might be doing to him right now. Jabba had some weird tastes, and he wasn't going to take an attempted rescue well.

Finally, she felt Chewie's fur all around her, as he held her and patted her head. "I'm all right, Pal," Hana tried to assure him. "I'm all right."

Lei: Prayer

It had been a day and a half. Lei was starving; Jabba's idea of what constituted food was…not food. For humans, anyway. He'd had a few small bites of something, just enough to keep him from falling over as he sat in front of Jabba.

It was dark, and Lei should have been sleeping, but that seemed like the worst idea possible at the moment. That's all I need, to fall asleep and have a nightmare right now. But everyone else seemed to be sleeping, so Lei let himself lie back across Jabba to rest. He tried not to think about the slimy folds of skin against his back.

His clothing, if you could call it that, was supremely uncomfortable in any position, particularly the collar fitted closely around his neck. Jabba had already pulled him abruptly backward a few times, and Lei felt it whenever he swallowed. He tried to remember the breathing exercises that Luke had shown him, a calming meditation that seemed to help when the nightmare was over but the anxiety wasn't. It went well with the prayer he'd learned, and learned to keep secret, as a small boy: I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force and the Force is with me…

He must have drifted off; he lost a little time before hearing the scuffle upstairs. Jabba had ordered Bib to keep everyone out, but here Bib was leading a black-cloaked figure into the room—

Luke.

Luke's face betrayed no recognition, registered no surprise at Lei chained to Jabba's throne, but Lei heard his confident reassurance in his head: Don't worry, I've got this. You'll be out of here soon. Jabba woke up with a jolt, Lei pulled back again on his chain.

[I told you not to admit him!] Jabba shook with anger, and Lei leaned back to avoid being tugged further.

"I must be allowed to speak," Luke said with an eerie calm.

"He must be allowed to speak," repeated Bib.

[You weak-minded fool!], Jabba raged, shaking the chain again and shoving Bib to the side. Lei was exerting significant effort to stay balanced and calm on the throne. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me…

One minute Threepio was translating Jabba's words to Luke, Luke maintaining his unnatural calm throughout. Then all of a sudden Luke used the Force to pull a blaster from one of the guards, and Jabba opened up the grate in the floor, leaving Luke tumbling down to—the rancor.

Lei ignored the groping hands of the denizens of Jabba's palace and focused his energy on Luke. Jabba had let out Lei's chain, evidently pleased to watch him as he witnessed his friend's grisly death.

Now Lei's prayer was for Luke. He is one with the Force, the Force is with him….

Hana: Together Again

There was a commotion above them, then the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs. Chewie helped Hana up from her position on the floor, where she'd just finished puking her guts out for the third time.

[You all right, Cub?] Chewie asked, holding her firmly.

Hana straightened up and shrugged off Chewie's grasp, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Great. Fantastic. Why'd you ask?" she snarked.

Chewie chuckled. [Well, at least we know the smartass part of you still works.] The footsteps and shouts got progressively louder. [Look alive. I think we're about to have company.]

Hana still couldn't really see anything—there was a sort of general blur in front of her eyes, and she still kept blinking in a subconscious effort to clear it. But she heard the cell door clang as it opened and felt the guard putting her hands behind her back. Chewie was lowing beside her.

"Relax, trust me," the guard said under his breath. Wait—Lando? Lando seemed to realize that he'd just asked for trust from the woman who had been turned over to a bounty hunter the last time she'd trusted him. "Or trust Luke," he corrected. Yeah. That's a bit more likely, buddy. Though Chewie did say you'd been helping them…

When they got upstairs, Hana was being led by a different guard and was nearly thrown into the room. She'd just righted herself when she heard a familiar voice beside her.

"Hana!"

"Luke!"

"Are you all right?"

"Fine." Not really, but…at least you're here? "Together again, huh?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Man, the kid's getting to be almost as much of a smartass as me, she thought, almost proudly.

They hadn't stopped moving the whole time, the guards shoving Hana along, down the stairs, she assumed right to Jabba. Hana wasn't sure whether this was a good sign or not. "How're we doin'?"

Luke's reply was wry. "Same as always."

Well, shit. "That bad, huh?" She was able to keep up the banter well enough, but all the sudden Hana was desperately missing her touchstone. "Where's Lei?"

"I'm here," came a tight reply from in somewhere in front of Hana. Shit. If Lei was up there, that meant he was likely…right by Jabba.

Kriff. Jabba always did have a weird thing for royalty, and nobody was going to forget about the Last Prince of Alderaan.

Okay, Chewie told you to be cool, so try to be cool for once in your damned life, Hana.

Then she heard Threepio's voice, explaining the fate that awaited them at the Pit of Carkoon. Kriffing droid. Figures that I'd have to listen to you announce my damned execution. I should've spaced you before we got to Bespin. Hana almost laughed at the memory of how many romantic interludes had been interrupted before they'd put Threepio on near-permanent watch in the cockpit.

Then Luke was talking again, in that maddeningly calm tone he seemed to have adopted with Jabba. "You should have bargained, Jabba. That's the last mistake you'll ever make."

Hana hoped Luke was right. But she doubted it.

Lei: Pull

It was just…gross. That was really the worst thing about it, Lei reflected. When Jabba wasn't moving a slobbery tongue over him, he was yanking the chain or stroking Lei's hair like he was a kriffing lothcat. Jabba's slimy body was gross, the live frogs he was eating were gross, the creepy bounty hunters and lackeys running their hands up Lei's legs and over his chest were so gross.

If I die, I hope the Force has one hell of a shower, Lei thought.

But aside from his disgust, it was maddening not to be able to really see anything. The inside of the sail barge was dark, with only slats of light peeking through, and there was a crowd gathered in front of the hatches. Sure, Lei couldn't really do anything to help from his position, especially considering that he was still chained to Jabba. But it was almost more horrible to have Hana's, Chewie's, and Luke's executions happening one room over, his knowledge of them limited to what sounds he could hear from outside.

Suddenly, Jabba shoved Lei forward, giving him a long slack in his chain and directing him to one of the hatches. He wants me to watch, Lei realized. To see them die.

But maybe not. Luke had been supremely confident that they would beat Jabba and get Hana back. And either he just enjoyed verbally taunting angry crime lords on his deathbed, or he had confidence in their plan. In his plan. Please have a good plan, Luke.

Lei bit his lip as Luke stepped forward onto the plank above the Sarlacc, turned toward the barge, and gave a solemn yet jaunty salute. Then he went off the plank, and—

And all hell broke loose. A green lightsaber blade, bodies hurling toward the Sarlacc, Hana fumbling around for something to help Lando, a disgusting burp from the monster below.

Inside, it was pandemonium, too, with half the people screaming and rushing to do something, stop him, now! and the other half scrambling to the hatches to see a real kriffing Jedi, can you believe it? Jabba was apoplectic with rage, and Lei suddenly realized something.

Nobody is paying attention to me.

He'd learned in the Rebellion not to wait for another chance in a fight like this. Quickly, but with methodical precision, Lei both made up and followed the steps of his task: Gather the slack. Knock. The chain. Against. The lights. Until they're out. A quick hop onto the platform, toss the chain around the neck. Like a carnival game. A game of strongman. Pull, keep pulling, pull harder, ignore the chains cutting up your hands as you pull. Just pull. Jabba struggled, but Lei remained firm. Pull. Lei closed his eyes, called on the Force for help. Probably not what it's for, but—I am one with the Force, the Force is with me….

The gagging stopped, the Hutt slumped, and somehow Lei knew it was over. He panted with relief.

Now he could hear the fight outside, but it was nearly impossible to tell how his friends were doing. Get out. Help them. Get away. He struggled with the chain, until Artoo appeared to cut it for him. "We gotta get out of here," he told the little droid, before running to join the others outside.

Hana and Lei: Sand

Sand was everywhere. They were going to have to take a vacuum to every crevice on the Falcon after they got back to the fleet. It was in the wrap that had covered Lei's codpiece and his sunburned skin, in the goggles Hana had taken off and tossed onto the 'fresher floor, in their boots, coating the handle of the bolt cutters that had removed the neckpiece of Lei's collar. It was beneath them, now, in a small pile sliding toward the shower drain, as the water rushed down around them, roaring in their ears.

But the sand was all but forgotten for them. Now, it was gentle hands soaping and rinsing away the grit, tender touches on sunburned flesh, blind kisses soothing an bruised neck, a strong hand running over the marks left from Bespin, from the torture before the freezing. His hands holding her firm when she trembled, when a spasm broke free and shook her body again. Her soft reassurances in his ear, This all right? Okay, stay with me, sweetheart, stay here, I've got you. Promises whispered on each other's skin, soothing where the sand had stung. Together again. Same as always.