Han sat alone in his cell. The one guard left on duty had fallen asleep a long time ago. A lesser man than Han would have been defeated by now. His heart and mind had been tampered with countless times during the past few days and he was exhausted.
Now all he had to do was wait.
He just hoped Luke and Chewie knew what they were doing. But it wasn't them he was really waiting for.
In short of a few hours, the princess, his princess would be walking down the aisle towards another man. Han was no longer angry. He hadn't the strength to be mad. There was nothing he could do while sitting in the cell.
Han went on alert when he heard a distant noise. He listened intently. They were footsteps and they were growing nearer. He sat up a little straighter. The guard hadn't heard and was still snoring quietly in the corner.
The footsteps stopped when the person reached the bars of Han's cell. He remained sitting, trying to determine who the person was while squinting in the dark.
Her voice was barely a whisper when she spoke.
"Han?"
Relief poured through him. He quickly stood up.
"Leia? Are you alright?"
He searched her face.
"I'm fine, but what about you? Oh, Han, I'm sorry!"
Tears flooded her eyes, but Han reached his arm through the bars and wiped them away.
"It's alright, sweetheart. You had to do it."
Leia looked at him, surprised.
"How did you know?"
He smiled.
"I'm not as dumb as you must think. I knew it was an act, but I needed to make sure they hadn't done anything to you."
"That's why you wanted me to look you in the eyes?"
She returned his smile.
"Once I saw that you were still yourself, I figured it was all part of the plan. How did you get down here anyways?"
They were holding hands through the bars.
"It was very simple, actually. I told them that I was exhausted and needed to sleep before my big day. They were all so concerned with reaching their deadline, they barely put up a fight."
"I'm surprised they weren't guarding your door."
"They were."
"How'd you get past them then?"
Leia smirked.
"There were only two of them, so I yelled from the bathroom and when they came running, I locked them in there and came down here."
"Good woman!"
"Now we need to figure out how to get out of here. Han, I was thinking."
"Yeah?"
"I think we need to get out of here. We should find a ship and fly far away."
He shook his head.
"I appreciate the offer, sweetheart, but I don't think you could ever just turn away from the Alliance. Besides, they're not acting like themselves. We'll fix it."
"How can you say that after all that has happened? It's not fair!"
She was crying openly now, all of the frustrations of the past few days spewing out.
"Because we've dealt with far worse before. Let's just focus on getting me out of this cell first then we can try to meet up with Luke and Chewie."
He gave her a moment to compose herself, holding her as best he could through the bars.
"Ok, hotshot. Let's get you out of here. I'll try to get the key from the guard."
He nodded, but when he looked up at the guard sleeping in the corner, the man was gone. They were both startled when a voice spoke next to them.
"P-princess."
Leia froze.
"Yes?"
"You do love General Solo?"
"Very much so, yes."
"Then what in all hells is going on here? All of the Alliance members are acting crazy, claiming you're about to marry this prince, when the rest of us thought you were with the general. People are scared not knowing what's going on. And the looks in all of their eyes! What's wrong with everyone?"
Leia smiled and Han let out a sigh of relief.
Han spoke first.
"It's good to see that someone doesn't hate me."
The guard looked astonished.
"Hate you? You're our hero!"
But then he blushed.
Han was uncomfortable but also a little proud.
Leia rolled her eyes, but smiled.
"Can you help us get out of here then? We'd like to fix the crazy."
"Of course! But uh, could you like, stun me or something? I don't want people thinking I helped you just in case. You know?"
"Yes, but are you sure you want to be stunned?"
Han chimed in.
"It hurts like hell, kid."
"That's ok. I think I can handle it."
He looked doubtful, but determined. He unlocked the door to Han's cell and watched as the pair threw their arms around each other.
Han looked at the guard.
"Thanks, kid. And uh, sorry about this."
The guard went down stunned.
"Han! You didn't give him any warning."
"Best not to let him dwell on it. Let's go!"
"We're almost there, Chewie. I can feel it."
"Can you sense who it is yet?"
"No, the visions are still unclear, but my feelings are growing stronger. I'm not sure the effect this person's power will have on wookiees, Chewie, but just stay alert."
"You too."
Luke stopped and smiled.
"What is it?"
"Leia got Han out of the cell. I'll tell her to meet us here."
"Is that safe?"
"I think Han will like a shot at whoever is behind all of this, don't you?"
"If the princess doesn't get to him first that is."
Luke laughed quietly.
Just then, a group of security guards swarmed past them.
"Princess out of bed! General has escaped! Everyone be on the lookout. If you find the general, shoot to kill!"
Luke and Chewie stared at each other in panic.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Leia was torn between meeting Luke and facing the person who was behind all of this and running out the headquarters' doors. Han walked in front as they both had their blasters drawn. They had decided only to shoot when they absolutely had to, but it was still a difficult decision considering the enemy wasn't really the enemy.
They had pulled over into a corner of a dark hallway when they heard the orders to shoot Han to death. He had slumped against the wall, while Leia's knees buckled against him.
They spoke in a whisper.
"Sweetheart?"
"What?"
"I think you should go on your own."
"What? Why?"
"Cus if someone is gonna get shot, I don't want it to be you. In fact, I won't let it be you."
"And you think I want you to be shot? No way."
"If you can get to Luke, you guys can figure things out. I'll go the opposite way and distract them."
Han felt her shake her head against him.
"No. We're not separating again."
"Leia, please."
"No."
"It might be the only way."
"We'll both go."
"They know I've escaped. There are guards everywhere. They'll find us and when they shoot me, if one of their bullets missed-"
His voice caught.
"They're not the brightest people. The guy made me stun him."
She turned around so that she was facing him. She threw her arms around his shoulders and lifted herself up so that she could kiss him. She tasted her own salty tears against his lips. Lingering longer than she should, she pushed her mouth against him a little harder.
"This isn't goodbye," She whispered to him before turning around and creeping out into the hallway.
Han expected her to try and remain conspicuous, but instead, she walked to the center of the hallway and called everyone to her attention.
She was yelling now.
"Excuse me!"
Everyone halted at the voice of the princess.
"Stop! I've just learned that the captive has escaped outside of headquarters grounds and is now heading for the landing tarmac. Everyone is to go there immediately and try to prevent him from leaving."
They looked at one another perplexed, but began to shuffle out, listening to her orders.
"And no one is to shoot anyone!"
As they filed out, Leia pressed herself against one side of the wall. When the last person had exited, Leia turned back to the dark hallway.
"Ready?"
He smiled at her.
"Genius!"
"I know."
They ran to find Luke.
Luke breathed a sigh of relief. Chewie was getting annoyed that he wasn't able to tell what was going on.
He growled.
"What?"
"Leia derailed them. All of the guards went looking for Han on the tarmac."
Chewie whooped.
"Are they on their way?"
"Yes, but I don't think we should wait any longer."
"Why?"
Luke pointed to the end of the hallway where only one small light shone.
"The person we're looking for is in there."
They crept down the hallway, not making a sound. Luke and Chewie stood on opposite sides of the door.
"Chewie, when I open the door, raise your blaster but don't shoot. We need answers, ok?"
Chewie nodded.
When Luke threw the door open, he found himself standing face to face with someone he thought he had known very well.