Chapter 4
What happened? Leia thought. Where am I?
She looked around. All around her was a black nothingness. There was only a faint light in the darkness, but it still allowed Leia to see. She looked around, and saw her body floating beneath her.
What? If I'm here, how could I be looking at my body? What's going on? She thought frantically. All she could see all around was blackness, nothing else.
Han! Luke! Leia called out, but no one answered her. I'm all alone.
Suddenly, far ahead of her, a light appeared. It began small at first, but became much brighter and larger. It was as if it was a beacon, guiding later to safety.
That light, Leia thought. It's so bright, so warm.
Not knowing if she was doing it on her own accord, or if something was magically pulling, she went toward the light. The closer she got to it, the brighter and warmer it became. Leia basked in the glow of the great light. When she was nearly near it, Leia heard another voice.
Leia, the voice whispered. Princess. At the utterance of the final syllable, the voice made a slight sibilant whisper. Princess.
Hello?
Leia called out nervously, not knowing where the disembodied voice
came from. Who's there?
Princess, the voice continued,
getting louder. Leia.
What do you want? Leia cried out, scared of what was happening.
Princess. Leia. The voice continued to talk getting louder. Leia. Leia. Leia! Leia!
Without realizing it, Leia had finally reached the light. It seemed to glow even brighter than it had before.
Princess! Leia! The voice continued to call.
What do you want with me? Han! Luke! Help me!
The light burned more brightly than before, and before long, it enveloped Leia in a searing warmth.
Princess…heart.
-
Leia woke up with a start, disoriented as to her new surroundings. She was in a clean and spotless white room, in a hospital bed. She heard machines running and monitoring her condition.
"What? What's going on?" She asked, and then noticed her husband beside her, kneeling at her bed side, his head down. "Han?
"What? Leia? You're awake?" Han instantly lifted his head up, a look of surprise on his face. "Finally, hey Luke! Leia's awake!"
An instant later, Luke Skywalker entered the room. He went over to her bedside as well and sat on her bed.
"Han," Leia asked. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," He answered. "All you did was come in and you fainted. We got you set up here and you've been sleeping for the entire day. Leia, we were so worried about you." He said. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Leia said. "It was so strange. I was floating, or at least my body was. I was…somewhere else. I was surrounded by darkness; I could barely see anything at all, and then a bright light appeared out of no where. I went over towards it, and I heard a voice call my name. It called me 'Princess'. It was so frightening." Leia shivered.
"Leia," Han soothed her. "It's all right. That voice you heard, it was me calling you."
"No, no Han it wasn't." Leia answered with a slight twinge of panic in her voice. "That wasn't your voice. No, this voice sounded…evil."
All three of them look stunned by this remark. They remained silent, not knowing what to say in response to this.
"Han," Leia said, interrupting the silence. "Where are those people you found? That kid and those two aliens?"
"I'm even sure those other two are aliens." Han replied. "But they're in the waiting room with Threepio and Artoo. They've been healed so they can go, though I still can't understand the duck. But I think we should keep an eye on them for a while."
"Yes, I agree," Leia said. "I have a feeling they know more than we may think."
"So," Sora asked, banging his knuckles on Artoo. "You're a robot, huh? You seem pretty small for one."
Artoo responded with a series of bleeps that sounded angry.
"And loud." Sora added.
"Now Artoo," Threepio said. "That's no way to talk. Excuse me sir, I'm terribly sorry, but sometimes Artoo says things he shouldn't."
To this, Artoo let out a sharp blat towards Threepio.
"Artoo!" Threepio cried.
"What he say?" Sora asked.
"I think it better I not tell you, sir." Threepio said. "Come along Artoo. We shall have no more of you speaking such mean things."
Reluctantly, Artoo wheeled away with Threepio, but no before spitting out a series of bleeps that seemed to upset Threepio.
"That's sure one strange little critter." Goofy said, behind Sora.
"You said it, Goofy." Donald added.
The three of them were in the hospital waiting room. They did not know what happened. That woman had come in, what was her name? Leia? And had fainted an instant later after only seeing Sora. Then sometime later that guy, Luke Skywalker, had come in with his droid R2-D2. Luke did not say much to Sora and just went in to check on Leia, in such a rush it seemed like Leia was his sister or something. Now it was night time and Sora was getting tired. He yawned.
"I hope they don't take much longer." Sora said, and almost as if in response to his statement, Han entered the room.
"Sora, Donald, Goofy," He said. "We need you in here. We have some things to discuss."
The three of them entered the bed room. Lying in the bed was Leia, and standing on either side of her was Han and the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. He began speaking.
"Sora, Donald, Goofy, I'm afraid we have not been formally introduced. My name is Luke Skywalker."
"Pleased to meet you." Donald and Goofy said.
"Hello, Master Skywalker." Sora said, a little intimidated of being in the presence of such a powerful person.
Luke smiled. "Sora, please, call me Luke."
"Alright, Luke." Sora smiled back.
"And this," Luke continued, indicating the woman in the bed. "Is my sister, Chief of State Leia Organa Solo." Sora turned his attention toward Leia.
"I am very happy to meet you, Sora," she said smiling. "And your friends as well. But right now, we have many things to discuss."
For the second night in a row, Luke got up out of bed and walked out onto the balcony. He had much on his mind. Sora had told him and Leia about his travels with Donald and Goofy and about the Heartless.
That kid has a lot of work to do. Luke though to himself, knowing what it is like when you have a world to save. After all, he himself had faced down a Death Star, two Dark Lords of the Sith, and even more horrors than he would like to remember.
Luke shivered, and looked up at the night sky. Above him, the stars twinkled, each there own little world, shining lights in the darkness.
But something strange was happening. As Luke watched the stars, some of them seemed to fall. Not one or two falling stars, which are not actual stars but meteors burning in the atmosphere, but hundreds of falling stars. Hundreds of falling lights were raining down onto Coruscant, and what was even stranger was that it was impossible for any meteors to fall on Coruscant because of the planetary shield. It was beautiful and wondrous sight to behold. But still Luke could not shake the feeling that something was happening. Something big.
But whatever it was, it could wait until morning. Even all powerful Jedi Masters needed sleep. He returned back to his bed, were his wife slept soundly, well informed by Luke of the days events. Well after he was back asleep, the stars continued to fall.
Once again, Leia woke up suddenly. She had just been asleep in her own bed, allowed to go home after the hospital declared her healed. Beside her, her husband slept soundly. She had heard the voice again, in her dreams, with the sibilant whisper. She felt cold, though she was well huddled up underneath her blanket. She shivered.
She suddenly turned her head toward sharply a peered into the room. She thought she heard a sound, in the shadows. And then another, at a different part of the room. She looked again, but could once more see nothing.
Something fell over off a shelf, and she turned her head toward the noise, her eyes wide with fear. There was nothing there in the darkness, but Leia could swear that she saw two pale yellow eyes appear briefly and look at her in the shadows and then disappear. This time, she reached out with the Force, but while only finding her husband's life energy, Leia felt nothing from where she heard the noise.
Only darkness.
Not completely satisfied that there was nothing there, she went back to sleep, but huddled close to Han and pulled the blanket further over her head.
In the darkness, the yellow eyes continued to stare at her.
