look at all the stars that have fallen
Leia is woken in the night to the sound of screaming children. She bolts up in her bed, waking Han in the process.
"What's the matter?" He slurs sleepily. He turns out the light on the table, illuminating her horrified face. "Leia?"
He reaches for her and she slumps back down, grasping towards him but seeing something that he can't. He holds her hand as the sensation passes.
"Luke," she breathes, releasing him from her trigger-calloused grip and lunging towards the cabinet at the other end of the room. She pulls a satchel out and tosses it to the ground before throwing herself down, too. Han scrambles out of bed and kneels at her side. She thinks she can hear his heart pounding. Leia pulls out her holoprojector, fumbling with the buttons as silent tears stream down her cheeks. Before she is able to make any calls, blue light bursts forth from the small projector.
She'd last seen Luke the previous year when she and Han had flown out to visit Ben on his birthday. He'd looked anxious then, but had laughed when she pressed a hand against his cheek and teased him about his beard. But through the blue haze of his holo and the sadness in his eyes, he suddenly looks very old.
"What happened?" She cries, grasping at Han's arm again. She looks at her brother's horrified expression and knows that it mirrors her own. Something unimaginable has happened.
Luke's mouth drops open and he shakes his head. He turns from Leia to Han, something horribly akin to sympathy in his eyes.
"Luke," Han growls, throwing an arm around Leia's shaking form.
Luke swallows and turns back to Leia. "There's been an accident." His voice is slow and thick with tears not yet shed.
A thousand images flicker behind Leia's eyes. Ben, who had become so reckless, hurting himself in some foolish dare. Ben, who had become so ambitious (a trait that made her proud), pushing himself too far while practising his use of the Force.
Ben, her troubled, clever, beloved son. Dead.
Luke's ghost-like image flickers for a moment, and he sighs. "Not an accident," his voice breaks. "My students… they've… these children. They've been murdered."
Leia cries out and keels over. The arms that Han had wrapped around her begin to tremble. When she looks up again, Luke's face is shimmering in the holo as his tears begin to fall. She clenches her teeth and forces herself to rise. Han doesn't let go.
But wait.
There's more, she suddenly knows with clarity. An image of Ben's staring up at the stars is replaced with a flash of red.
"He's not dead," Leia insists. She hears Han take a sharp breath and she turns to meet his hopeful eyes. "I would know."
He's not dead, and yet something inside her tells her to quell Han's sense of relief.
"Who?" She asks Luke fiercely, suddenly more of a General than a grieving mother. "Who murdered these children?"
He looks back at her, and though they are separated by planets, Leia suddenly as connected to him as they were in the womb.
"No," she says, choking on a bitter laugh. Her eyes well up, and she begins to cry again.
Han releases her and steps away.
"I'm sorry," Luke bows his head. "I've failed you."
"Somebody better tell me what the hell's going on," Han interrupts, his voice tinged with fear.
Leia squeezes her eyes shut and wills herself to wake up from this living nightmare. She steps away from Han, afraid that he'll touch her again. The idea of contact makes her feel ill.
"Tell him," she commands Luke. He flinches like she's punishing him. Perhaps she is.
"Ben," Luke admits hoarsely. "He killed them while they slept."
"No," Han insists. Leia still isn't looking at him, but can hear in his voice how he trembles like she does. "Not… not Ben, not our Ben."
Luke takes a steadying breath and Leia can see the Jedi Knight and the doting uncle inside him fighting for dominance. "He has been raging against the Jedi Order for weeks, and disappearing for days on end. And now…"
"Where is he?" Leia finally looks back at Han when he starts to speak. His face is white and his hands are shaking. "Have you restrained him?"
"He fled," Luke admits. "And so have I."
"What?" Leia cries.
"He wants to destroy the Jedi. There has to be a way to start over, Leia, but that can't happen if I'm dead."
"What about our son?" Han demands.
"I don't know," Luke replies softly. "He's always had the Dark Side within him, you knew that. But now I fear it's swallowed him whole."
He turns back to Leia. "You should protect yourself. He could be coming for you, too."
She raises her chin, even as silent tears spill down her cheeks. "He wouldn't dare."
"Please don't try to find me," Luke winces, as if his words are hurting even himself. "It will be safer for all of us. I'll send a sign when it's time."
"How will we know?" Han manages to say.
"You'll know," Luke says, not taking his eyes off of Leia. "What will you do?"
"There's been movement in the Dark Side," Leia pleads her voice to stay steady even as her heart breaks. "Slaughtering children, that is an act of war. I will do what I must. Stay safe, brother."
She leans over and turns off the holoprojector before Luke can say anything else. Sinking to her knees again, she buries her face in her hands and begins to sob until she fears she'll make herself sick.
Han stumbles towards her as if he were drunk. He reaches for her hand but she pulls it away. Han recoils.
"I'm sorry," she gasps. "I can't…"
"I get it," he lies, his eyes filled with pain and fear. He gets to his feet and all but flees the bedroom, leaving Leia to be engulfed by loneliness.
Thanks for reading! I've never written Star Wars before, and I'd like to write lots. Consider this me dipping my toes into these uncharted waters!