Title:Intertwined Tales
Author: Deja Vu
Summary: Luke tells his sister's children the story we know and love, but he puts a "Rapunzel" twist on it. Unfortunately, his side of the story doesn't have a fairytale ending . . . . Or does it?
Rating: No language, a little violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, but this story is mine.
"Bedtime story! Bedtime story!" the three Solo children chanted. All three of them had piled into Anakin's bed, which was fortunately just barely big enough to hold them all. They had been sleeping together for the past few weeks due to an unfortunate parenting faux pas. Why Han had thought it was a good idea to let them watch "It Came From Beneath the Bed Part II" on the holovision was beyond Luke. He had been required to check under the bed three times before they had been willing to go near it.
Still, there was a part of him that was amused at the situation. As their doting uncle, he had been given the glorified position of babysitter while Leia and Han took a relaxing trip to escape the stresses of parenthood. Even Chewie had been given the opportunity to get away, taking a trip to Kashyyyk to see his family. Now Luke was required to wipe runny noses, make engine noises while flying model ships through the air, and tell interesting bedtime stories. The last task was perhaps his favorite.
As the Jedi Master taking reigns of a new order, Luke had often felt it incumbent upon him to tell his nephews and niece stories of the brave Jedi Knights of the past. Tonight, however, he wanted to put a twist on things.
Smiling at the trio of youngsters, he said, "All right, all right," and then he cleared his throat.
"Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman. They were married and loved each other, but they were both very sad because they had no children. The man was a great Jedi Knight, and his wife was very beautiful and strong, but they had no children, and so they couldn't be completely happy.
"One day, the husband stood looking out the window. He thought about all of the Jedi and how much more powerful he was than them. He felt like they were holding him back, and he wanted to do more. This desire for more power grew every day, and because he knew he could not quite get what he wanted, he became very angry. His wife grew worried.
"'What's wrong?' she asked him one day.
"'It's the Jedi,' he said. 'They're holding me back. They don't understand me.'"
A wide-eyed Jacen looked at Luke. "The Jedi were bad mens?"
"No, no," Luke said, smiling. "He only thought they were. In reality, evil was growing within him, and it tried to deceive him."
"Ooooh," Jacen said with a frown.
Luke continued: "One day, an evil Sith Lord came to him and said, 'I can give you power unlike anything you've ever imagined, but only if you give me the little girl that your wife will soon bring into the galaxy.'"
Jaina gasped. "Oh, no!"
Luke suppressed a smile and continued with the story. "The husband was very sad, for he really wanted a daughter. But he wanted power even more, so he agreed to what the Evil One had said."
"Bad mens," Anakin murmured, putting his thumb in his mouth.
"Soon, it turned out that the man's wife had not one child, but two—a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, she was very sick, and she sent away the boy to a faraway planet so that the Evil One would not have him, and she died shortly afterwards. The man didn't know that he had a son, but he knew about his daughter, and he sent her away to be with the Evil One. He then received the power he had wanted, and he did whatever the Evil One asked of him. His daughter grew up to be very beautiful—so beautiful, in fact, that the Evil One shut her away in a tall tower in the middle of a forest. This tower had no stairs or doors, and at the top of it was a small window.
"Whenever the Evil One wanted to get into the tower, he called out: 'My beautiful child, let down your long hair.'
"The young woman would let down her long brown hair, and the Evil One would climb up it, for there were all sorts of devices surrounding the tower that prevented anyone from flying up to it by machine. The only way to get up was by her hair, and this was how they lived for several years.
"Meanwhile, the boy grew up on a faraway planet in the middle of nowhere. Yet he could not wait to leave, and one day, he was finally able to do so. He left the planet in the ship of a Prince who was disguised as a smuggler. They came across the planet where the young girl was, and as the Prince went exploring, he heard a voice so wonderful that he stopped and listened."
"Girl!" Anakin exclaimed. Then, looking sheepish at his outburst, he stuck his thumb back in his mouth.
Luke smiled. "The girl was very lonely, and she was singing to make the time pass by. The Prince wanted to speak with her, but he could not figure out how to reach her. He began to leave, but then he saw the Evil One approach and call out, 'My beautiful child, let down your long hair.'"
"Mommy has long hair," Jaina noted matter-of-factly.
Luke's blue eyes twinkled. "Yes, she does, Jaina," he acknowledged before he slipped once more into his storyteller voice. "And so the young girl let down her long hair, which was just like your mother's, and the Evil One used it to climb up the tower. The Prince saw this, and he decided he had to try it as well.
"When the Evil One left, the Prince went to the foot of the tower and cried out, 'My beautiful child, let down your long hair.' When she had done so, he climbed up.
"The girl was frightened at first when the Prince came in, for she had never seen such a man before, but the Prince spoke to her kindly and told her that he had heard her and decided he had to come see her. Soon, she forgot her fear, for she was never fearful for very long, and she felt something for him that she had never felt before.
"I will help you escape from here,' said the Prince. 'I will leave and come back with a rope for you."
"After he left, the Evil One returned and climbed up her hair. When he began to speak with her, the girl revealed that she had seen another man. He was very angry, and he had the girl's father climb up and cut off most of her hair. Though she begged them to stop, they did not listen to her.
"When the Prince came, he called out, 'My beautiful child, let down your long hair.'
"Immediately, the girl's father threw down the long hair that had been cut, holding on to the other end of it. The Prince climbed up, but he found the Evil One and the girl's father waiting for him. The girl cried out for them not to hurt him, but the Evil One told her father to place the Prince in a slab of carbonite, and so he did."
"Like daddy!" Jacen squealed.
"Yes, like your father," Luke said solemnly. "So the Prince was stuck in carbonite. Fortunately, however, the Prince's friend, who had become a Jedi Knight, climbed up the hair which was still hanging down the side of the tower. The girl's father drew his lightsaber and had a duel with the Jedi Knight. When the girl's father realized who the Jedi was, he revealed that he was the boy's father, and everyone was surprised.
"The Jedi Knight knew he could not kill his own father, and so he threw his weapon aside. The Evil One got angry because he had thought that the boy would become his new apprentice and replace his father. The Evil One started to kill the boy, but he was killed by the boy and girl's father, who sacrificed himself to save him."
Anakin sniffled loudly.
"The boy was very sad that his father had died, but he knew the sacrifice had been the right one. His sister went over to the slab of carbonite and brought the Prince out of carbon freeze as quickly as she could. He was blind, but he was still very happy to hear her voice. The girl, saddened at the loss of his eyesight, threw her arms around him and wept, and two of her tears touched his eyes. In a moment, they became quite clear, and he saw just as well as he ever had. Then the Prince led the girl to his kingdom, where they were welcomed with great joy. There, they had three beautiful children and lived happily ever after." Luke's voice got softer at the end.
"What happened to the Jedi?" Jaina asked sleepily. Her brothers were opening and closing their eyes in an effort to stay awake, but soon their eyes had closed completely. "Did he have a happily . . . mmm . . . ever . . . after?"
"That remains to be seen," Luke said quietly, but Jaina had already fallen asleep. He brushed a hand lightly over her forehead, moving a stray strand of brown hair out of the way. Would he ever have children of his own? He didn't know. Most of the time, he thought it was impossible. There was always just too much for him to do—too many burdens placed upon his shoulders for him to take such time for himself.
Feeling fatigue touch him with its wispy fingers, Luke rested his head upon the bed. Just for a minute, he told himself, feeling his eyes close. I'll rest for just . . .
Han and Leia stood in the doorframe, fondly gazing upon four sleeping figures. Though they had enjoyed their time away, they had been anxious to return to their family, so they had come home earlier than they had expected. They had even managed to catch the beginning of Luke's story. The children had seen them standing by the door, but a finger against Leia's lips was enough to convince them not to say anything.
Han was surprised, actually, that the Kid hadn't sensed them. Still, Luke had been rather exhausted lately, and it wasn't just because of the children.
A roguish grin on his face, Han put his arm around his wife's waist and said softly, "My kingdom, huh?"
Leia smiled, shaking her head in amusement. Her voice was just as soft. "Maybe it's more appropriate for me to call you 'Your Highness.'"
The ex-smuggler shook his head. "Nope. Much more fun when I do it to you."
Leia's eyes twinkled, but as she turned to look at her brother, the sparkle faded. "You think he'll ever find someone?"
Han gazed at his sleeping brother-in-law, a grin still on his face. "With Luke, things usually tend to find him. I wouldn't worry about it too much, Princess." The grin mostly faded, and he looked a little more seriously at his wife. "I don't think it's so much 'finding' as realizing." With that, he removed his arm from his wife's waist and left his position at the doorframe.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Leia asked, her voice raising a little as she followed her husband.
In the bedroom, vivid blue eyes set in a childish face opened and blinked in the quiet darkness. Chubby hands came together, and a quiet prayer was said. At the end, the child said, "Please let Uncle Luke be happy ever after. Amen." Blue eyes closed, and silence enfolded the dark room once again.