Well, I made this for Veterans Day and September 11th… anyway, I decided this was something I needed to write.
Disclaimer: I own not.
Luke Skywalker took his time to walk down the durasteel hallways of Yavin VI. His eyes were glazy and his hands were wrapped around the shiny new gold medal hanging from his neck. The hallway was empty, a perfect place to give the boy time to think about the recent occurrences in his life. In the past few days alone, his entire world had been turned upside down, for the good and the bad. He was taken away from his family, told he was a Jedi, paraded around the Death Star to rescue a princess, joined the Rebellion and destroyed the Death Star. Not to mention made friends with an old wizard, a prissy droid, a droid with an attitude, a Wookiee, a not- so- heartless- mercenary and a malnourished, overworked, highly depressed, homeless princess.
It had been a busy week.
This was one of the last remaining quiet hours before the evacuation of the base. Since the Empire knew where they were, it was really only a matter of time before they were ambushed. Luke had only been at Yavin for a few hours before the attack and had nothing to pack, so instead of being in the way of everybody else, he decided to take a walk.
The party was going over in the West Wing mess hall, but Luke had no desire to get drunk with his newfound smuggler friend, as much as he liked Han. No, he wanted to use this time to think.
'Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion,' he read again to himself and smiled a bit broader. 'HERO of the Rebellion. I wonder what Uncle Owen would have thought of this…' Turning a corner, he was startled out of his musing by a small cry. He listened again and felt a small tingle in his brain, a small almost distant sadness. Obi-Wan had said that it could happen when someone that you trusted had strong feelings.
He didn't know anyone here long enough to possibly gain any trust for yet. Except maybe…
He felt the tingle again. It felt nearby. When he heard the cry again, he turned around to look for where it came from. Using a bit of deductive reasoning, he found a small datapad cupboard. Opening it he found a small girl in white with her hair all strewn about and tears falling down her cheeks like small pearls. The white dress had dirty scuff marks around the bottom where she had stepped on it. What had once been an elaborate hairstyle was now hastily undone. It was the one person who Luke had thought to be unbreakable.
Princess Leia.
In her hand she clutched a datapad seemingly filled with names.
"Eowth gwyo decur nheau amorthra infindium… da iorum virgum… vlars evar qesthem…" she murmured to herself in her native tongue. "Aotha Ghyr… Arogeth Jorph…" she began to read off names, unaware of the interruption. Luke recalled hearing these two names mentioned on the wall honoring members of the Alliance stationed on Alderaan when it blew. While he thought about how to comfort her, she began to rattle the names off. "Benor Uotha… Bymar Kyra…" It had seemed she was reading them again to herself, praying.
"Leia?" he asked quietly. Leia didn't acknowledge his presence at first, but after a few more names, she looked up. The light from the opened door silhouetted her face. Her jaw set in and one of the hands previously folded in prayer reached up to dry her face.
"What is it, Luke?" she responded in the same quiet tone. "Why aren't you at the party?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he answered evenly.
"I just want to be alone for a while."
"No." Luke stepped in the cupboard and moved to sit next to her, but not before turning on a light. She scooted over reluctantly. "What's wrong?"
She gave him a skeptical look and frowned. "Go back to your party, Luke."
That set him off. Although he was mad, he took a deep breath and stared back at her. "Why should I?"
"Because I don't like people. And you," she sniffed. "are a person. I want to be alone. You'd better just leave."
Luke leaned his head back into the wall and stared at the ceiling. "I don't want to. Listen, I know you must want to push everyone away but sometimes the best way of coping with loss is to let someone in." He put a comforting arm around her and tried to give her a little smile.
She wrapped her own arms around her knees. "That's what my father always told me. He's the last person I need to think of right now." A determined look fell upon her face and she stood up, swaggering a little. In her place Luke noticed a small bottle of alcohol. He recognized the bottle and frowned again. She saw his look and sighed. "Han gave it to me."
Luke rolled his eyes and stood up next to her. "And you drank it?" He turned her around to face him. "I'm not going through what you're going through. Not even close. But I know enough that working, and drinking," he added with a nod to the bottle, "yourself to death won't help anybody."
"Yes it will," she whispered. "It will prevent others from suffering like…" with that she turned away from him.
"Like you?" Luke finished for her. "I may not be a senator, or royalty, or anything in particular, but I know how important it is to have friends. No matter how hard it gets, just realize you always have a friend in me." He pretended to think it over then added, "And Han. And Chewie, Wedge, and the entire Rouge Squadron. Try to take some time for yourself, you deserve to be happy."
Luke could tell from her expression that she didn't believe him. "Thanks Luke. But my happiness really isn't relevant right now." She looked at her feet. "My job is to make sure that other people are happy."
"But it would make me happy for you to be happy."
Leia smoothed out the wrinkles on her dress. "Yes, but sometimes the happiness of one needs to be put aside for the good of the galaxy."
Luke shrugged. "As long as you realize what's important." She nodded and Luke bent down to give her a hug, one she returned but only briefly.
"Go back to your party, Luke," she whispered into his shoulder.
He let her go and looked at her. He gave a sad smile and went towards the door. "Good luck, Leia."
I get really embarrassed when writing SW so that's why I hardly ever write it. If I do it's mainly Luke and Leia. I SO NOT ship. NOT NOW NOT EVER.
Anyway, I lived in New York and was inspired by all the lives lost.