Here I am! First, I would like to say thank you to those who have written reviews and sent me PMs to say you miss me, ask when I will be back, and specifically about this sequel to Dawn to Dusk. I hadn't planned to start posting again, but you guys have guilted me into it lol. That said, I am still really busy and I have to edit each chapter before I post it. I have edited the first chapter, but I don't have a lot of time, so I will not be able to update as often as I usually do. I apologize for that and would appreciate your patience.

So, here is the sequel to Dawn to Dusk. It begins during ANH, 3 years after Dawn to Dusk. Thank you everyone for reading!

Dawn to Dusk 2:

Sunrise

by Dant Solo

Staring out at the swirling emptiness of hyperspace, Han Solo was flooded with memories of their destination. With these memories, came a swell of forgotten feelings inspired by a girl for whom his age had been far too high and his station in life had been far too low.

The last and only time he visited Alderaan, he had been bombarded with a plethora of emotions he had never felt before. Over the past three years, he had tried to forget her. More often than not, he was successful. But, sometimes, late at night, when his thoughts drifted aimlessly before succumbing to sleep, her smile would flicker in his mind, brightening the darkness as she had temporarily brightened his life. No one had ever had such an effect on him. And no one had stuck in his mind quite like she had.

How old must she be now? Nineteen? Not too young anymore, but still a princess, still far out of his league. He was quite certain that any girlhood crush she may have had on him was a distant memory she could barely recall. He probably never entered her mind.

Now, he was returning to Alderaan to deliver the boy, the old man, and their droids. Judging by the harrowed departure from Tatooine, he had probably made a mistake. Oh well, too late now.

His chances of running into the princess were slim-to-none, but he couldn't keep the thought from running rampant through his mind. How likely was it that she would be slumming at the spaceport? He smiled grimly at the ridiculousness of his thoughts. Wherever the old man needed to go to collect Han's 15,000 credits, he doubted it would be anywhere near the Royal Palace. And, by now, she might even be a senator, as she intended. She could be on Coruscant, or anywhere else, right now, for all he knew.

Come to think of it, he could look her up on the holonet and find out. It had never occurred to him before. Maybe after this trip he would do just that.

On the other hand, maybe not. Did he really need a visual reminder of the only female to ever affect him to the point of sheer distraction? No, best not to stir all that up again. Journeying to Alderaan was enough to taunt him with memories of what might have been.

He had to put her out of his mind, before he went out of his mind. Enough reminiscing. He should go see what the old man and the boy were up to, so they could show him gratitude for safely escaping the Imperials. At least he had shown them that their credits were being well-spent.

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Hidden and still inside the Falcon's smuggling compartments, Han spit Wookiee fur out of his mouth and turned his head in the other direction. It was stifling and cramped and the only thing distracting him from his discomfort was the awestruck wonder left in the wake of Alderaan's destruction.

An entire planet. The Empire had destroyed an entire planet! All those people…had Princess Leia been on-planet? Her father, the Viceroy? Her mother? It was unreal. Somehow, the thought of her floating amongst the space-debris of Alderaan made him shudder. He had seen a lot of death in his time, and not much moved him anymore. But, the thought of that young woman, so full of spark and fire, ready to take on the galaxy…the thought of her light being extinguished…it filled him with a hollow feeling of loss. That emptiness felt somehow familiar, as if it were a link to a distant strand of memory that he couldn't quite grasp. He let it dangle and drift off into the recesses of his mind, refusing to remember.

In the darkness, he saw her smile, her real, genuine smile that was reserved for those closest to her. The way her eyes brightened and twinkled; how her cheeks, with a rosy blush and still rounded with youth, widened and framed a radiant smile that instantly sparked his own. He could see it now, more clearly than he had in a long time.

Hopefully, she had been off-planet. The alternative was unthinkable.