"Watch his face," Leia commanded as she peered at her friend on the surgical table. Two medics looked over to their officer and nodded in silence as they peeled the clothes off of young Skywalker, layer by layer, revealing pale pink and shriveled skin. As they stripped him of his jacket and undershirt, Luke shivered in response to the natural cold. Leia knelt down and gripped his hand tightly.
Han Solo and Chewbacca waited outside in the tank room, waiting for their friend to be submerged. The princess wanted to be with her friend the entire way, staying by his side the second Solo brought him back to the base, cradled in his arms. Letting out a small sigh, she examined him with curious and worried eyes. Something about this kid brought out a feeling in her – a loyalty and endearment to the youth that piqued her curiosity but also made her wonder; as if she were being called, led to his side. She believed in The Force, too, and wondered if that's what this sensation was – destiny.
There were several reports of ice monsters in the wastes of Hoth, swiping and pillaging through Tauntaun's throughout the night, though this was the first time an actual member of the Alliance was attacked. "I hope he'll be alright," Leia murmured as she delicately squeezed his resting hand.
"The attack was mainly superficial, Princess Leia. There's been damage to his nose but the cuts should heal right up the second he gets submerged in the bacta and only leave small scars," one of the medics replied to calm her worries, simultaneously pulling off Luke's boots and pants, leaving him fully bare to the cold. "The amount of time he spent in that freezing weather is the more pressing concern. Please, if you can, can you slightly hold up his upper body? We are going to apply the harness."
She nodded and wrapped her arm around his neck and shoulder, lightly tugging him up to her breast. His face twisted in response as she held him close, wrapping her arms around his chest. "I'll keep you warm," Leia whispered, lifting an arm to comb her fingers through his hair. Luke flinched in response as she crept closer to his hairline, her finger dangerously close to the open wound above his eye. "I'm sorry," she pleaded, bringing her arm back down and caressing him soothingly.
"It's time, Princess," one of the medics said as they pulled Skywalker off the table and carefully clipped the anchors of the bacta belt around his underwear, hoisting him up and suspending him in midair. He was lifted above and dangled over a wedge between the two rooms, slowly drifting away into the other. Luke looked like an angel in that moment – though, thinking back to the first time she saw him, basked in white, maybe he always was. As she followed him into the other room, Leia nodded and decided she would be his angel in turn too.