It's me again, back with another chapter for all you lovely people! Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited or just read the story in the last week - means a lot.
Shout-outs: Thank you to SerenityMoonPrincess for reviewing, and a cookie for being the only one this week!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
Silence fell as the recording ended and the woman disappeared. Luke seemed slightly stunned. Ben was thoughtful, gazing into the middle distance, his eyes clouded. Alice leaned back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. "If this is a dream," she murmured, more to herself than the other two, "it's a really bloody long one."
"Well," Ben said, turning towards Luke with a smile, "You must learn the ways of the Force, if you're to come with me to Alderaan."
Alice bolted upright, "Don't go without me."
"Alderaan?" Luke said, sounding as though he was the one who'd suddenly found himself in the middle of a long and ridiculous dream, "I'm not going to Alderaan, I've got to get home, it's late and I'm in for it as it is, bringing a strange girl back home."
"What's the matter, Luke," Alice asked, in a feigned sultry voice that made her sound like she was suffering from a severe head cold, "never brought a strange girl home before?"
"I need your help, Luke," Ben said firmly, "she needs your help," he tipped his head in Artoo's direction, presumably referencing the woman from the recording, "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."
Alice could see Luke was tempted; by all of it. It was obvious he wanted to take the lightsaber and leave this planet and meet the mysterious woman who was calling for help.
But instead of agreeing, he burst out, "I can't get involved, I've got work to do! It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it right now! It's all such a long way from here. Alice, you understand right?" And he turned his pleading eyes towards her.
"Uhh…" No?
"That's your uncle talking," Ben said.
Luke huffed, and turned away from them sulkily, "Well, my uncle's right."
Alice waved a hand at Ben, unconcerned, "Chill, Ben. There are another two movies after this one, I'm pretty sure the story must go somewhere from here."
"I beg your pardon?" Ben said, raising his eyebrows in a very stern sort of way that made Alice feel instantly guilty. What I say?
Luke didn't seem to care that Alice was possibly in trouble with Ben, and rounded on her, looking upset, "Not you as well."
Uncomfortable, Alice dropped her eyes to the floor, "I'm sorry, Luke, I didn't mean that you had to go or anything."
"But what do you think I should do?"
Alice blinked. He looked pretty earnest – did he actually want to know what she thought?
"Um…well, just as a disclaimer, I am the least qualified person in this room to give advice on this subject, but…oh, I don't know, Luke. I mean…you do want to help her, right?"
He hesitated, "Yes…"
"Great," she said, throwing her hands up a little helplessly, "so do I! And since Ben is going anyway…he'll look out for us and you'll be back before you know it."
Luke smiled tentatively and Alice latched on to it, too pleased that she was convincing him to recognise that she should probably quit while she was ahead, "And hey, you never know, this could be the start of a crazy awesome journey that takes you all the way across the galaxy on a heroic quest to vanquish evil and restore justice! That sounds way better than spending all day fixing droids and…whatever else it is you do, right?"
The smile on Luke's face vanished at once, "But what about my aunt and uncle, they need me! How would I ever explain this to them?"
Alice winced. Almost stuck the landing.
"Learn the ways of the Force, Luke," Ben said, taking over from Alice, "there is a destiny awaiting you, and it lies beyond Tatooine."
He stared at both of them, and for a second Alice thought that he was going to agree, though she still wasn't absolutely sure just what he was agreeing to, or whether she even wanted him to say yes. But then Luke shook his head and moved to the door, "Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going."
Ben looked disappointed, "You must do whatever you feel is right, of course."
Luke nodded once, and left the room to get the speeder ready, leaving Alice and Ben alone. Which was instantly awkward and uncomfortable, and inspired in Alice the instant desire to put herself somewhere else, "So…"
"Not so fast," Ben said.
Feeling as if she'd done something naughty and was about to be told off by a strict teacher, Alice turned to face him.
The old man was staring at her shrewdly, his eyes narrowed. "You are quite the mystery, Alice Miller. As far as I can tell, you have no training in the ways of the Force, and yet just now you seemed to be predicting the future. I think perhaps it's time I had a full explanation of who exactly you are, and where you come from."
Alice shuffled uncomfortably on the spot, "Well, you see, that's…it's a little difficult to explain."
He raised his eyebrows, "I believe I can handle it."
She laughed in surprise, covering the noise behind a slight cough when his eyebrows raised even further. "Right. Well. Yes. I'm Alice Miller. Hi. Hello. I'm from Surrey, England. Europe. Earth. The Solar System. The Milky Way. I'm nineteen and I live with my mum who is the best woman in the world and I've quite possibly gone crazy, because, and I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you're not real."
Ben considered that for a moment, then said, sounding just as calm as ever, "What do you mean by saying that I am not real?"
"It's not just you," Alice said, feeling rather upset all of a sudden, "it's Luke and Artoo and Threepio and that lightsaber thing and all of it. I don't know how to say this…but you guys are characters. In a story. A story that has somehow magically come to life, and I, for god knows what reason, have been dropped in the middle of it!"
"Do you know our story well?"
"Well…no, not really, no…I mean, I never actually, you know, watched the movies or anything…"
"Do you know how it ends?"
"Er…well, I could probably guess…"
"Do not," he said, suddenly stern.
"Alright!" Alice said, holding up her hands up defensively.
"You must understand," he went on, somewhat more gently, "I speak as one who knows the danger of trying to interfere with the future. You cannot possibly know the effect your actions will have, to such an extent that, in trying to bring about a certain ending, an event opposite to what you intended may take place."
"You mean, like a self-fulfilling prophecy?" Please say he's never done an Oedipus.
"Exactly," Ben said, that odd shadow of old grief passing over his face again, "that is the first thing I must warn you about. The second is this. While these events may once have been a story to you, they are now real. You can be hurt. You can die. And what you do may alter the outcome of this tale."
"So why am I here then?" Alice demanded, "If so much is at stake, why did Fate or the Force… or whatever choose to dump someone as useless as me into this stupid story?"
Ben paused and studied her carefully, "Why do you believe that you are useless?"
She spread her hands wide, gesturing at herself as a whole, "Well, I mean, I'm a school girl for goodness' sake. Can't fight, can't speak any other languages, can't…fly a spaceship or, whatever. All in all, I'm not the best candidate for this whole saving the universe gig."
The old man shook his head slowly, and when he spoke, his voice was solemn, "And yet there must be some reason for your presence in this world. Perhaps you were sent here to learn something that you could not in your own world."
"So…" Alice said slowly, "all of a sudden, plucking a girl out of her own reality and chucking her down somewhere else is the universe's idea of a learning experience?"
He smiled briefly, "It could be. But now you must promise me that you will not tell Luke any of this. Knowing how the story should end puts pressure on you to make it happen; that responsibility will weigh doubly on Luke."
Alice nodded, "Alright. I promise. If you promise that you won't leave me behind anywhere on my own. I wouldn't last a day. Like seriously. I couldn't even open the door to your food store."
"Very well," Ben said, "I will do my best to keep you with us. But," a little twinkle of amusement came into his eyes, "I think you will find that young Luke will be unwilling to abandon you anyway. He holds all his friends very dear, I believe."
"Yeah, well," Alice said, a tad nervously, "I'm not his friend yet. I'm just a mad stranger he happened across by chance. Why would he want to keep me around?"
Ben didn't reply. He just smiled at her.
"Ben, Alice? The speeder's ready."
Luke leaned in through the doorway. Alice saw that he had clipped his father's lightsaber to his belt and felt an odd mixture of guilt and excitement flash through her. Pushing it away, she said, "Can someone just remind me again what we're doing?"
"We're going to drop Ben in Anchorhead, then I guess I'll take you home."
And then I'll stay there until…what? Until I die? Just settle down with a new family in the middle of a desert? What if the only way for me to get home is to make sure we do the whole story properly? That thought was enough to make up her mind. Okay, it's decided, I am not going to let Luke just keep me here for the rest of my life. We're going with Ben.
"Okay," she said, "hey, Artoo, race you to the ship." The droid shrieked and trundled after her as she sprinted out of the door.
Somehow, Alice managed not to get lost as she dashed madly through Ben's house. She did, however, lose Artoo, and found him waiting for her by Luke's speeder, radiating smugness. "How did you do that?" Alice asked, panting, "There were stairs! How did you get up the stairs?"
Artoo whistled, and Alice waved a hand at him, "Fine. You win this round, you glorified Dyson."
Luke and Ben followed them at a more sedate pace, Threepio trotting along behind them, and Alice, though she had technically lost the race, couldn't resist the urge to gloat. "Come on, slowpokes," she said, rolling her eyes as they came into view, "while we're young."
Luke laughed, and patted Artoo on the dome as he vaulted neatly into the speeder. Alice clambered in behind him, saying, "So, where's home, Luke?"
"I live on a moisture farm with my aunt and uncle."
'Moisture' farm? In a desert?
"Huh. Well, that sounds great. Sounds super exciting." She glanced at Luke out of the corner of her eye; he was watching Ben as the old man closed the door to his house and presumably locked it. "I hope Ben will be okay getting to Alderaan on his own. I don't even know where it is, but it sounds far away."
Luke hummed distractedly, an indecisive expression coming over his face.
"What was that, young Alice?"
"Nothing, old man," she said, giving him a hand into the cockpit, "just discussing the plan of action. Right, Luke?"
The farm boy started slightly, and shook his head as though dragging himself back to the present, "Yeah. Sure. Well, if everyone's on board…Artoo? Threepio?" There was a bleep and a slight groan in response. "Then I guess we should go."
He leaned forward and flicked several switches on the speeder's control panel. The engines revved, and they rocketed forward, the wind of their speed whipping back Alice and Luke's hair, which prompted a burst of giggles from Alice and resulted in Luke asking for the rest of the journey what was so funny.
"Seriously though," Alice said, practically choking with laughter, "you look like a L'oreal model."
"A what? Alice, I don't get it-"
"Wait, Luke, I just thought of something-" her words were cut off for a moment by an unsuppressed stream of giggles before she managed to continue, "could you say: 'Because I'm worth it'. Please. Just say it. Just once. For me. Pleeeease..."
"Because I'm worth it," Luke repeated, blinking in utter confusion as Alice exploded into gales of laughter at his words.
"Oh," she gasped, "oh, oh, stitch. Oh, it hurts. Ouch…"
"Luke." Ben's voice, sharp and grim, cut through Alice's laughter.
"What?" She asked, puzzled by the sudden silence from her two companions, "What's- oh, god."
There was smoke ahead of them, rising from the hulking wreck of what was presumably some kind of spaceship. As Luke cut the engine immediately, Alice fumbled her safety belt open and leaped out of the speeder, landing surprisingly gracefully, her feet throwing up little puffs of sand.
All around her, large chunks of metal simmered in the bright sunlight, the heat they gave off almost overpowering her. In what was perhaps one of the stupidest moments of her life, Alice stretched out a hand and touched one of them.
The pain was instantaneous, and Alice jerked backwards reflexively, hissing.
"Alice?"
She turned away from Luke, cradling her burnt hand in front of her. Well, that was idiotic. Mental note. In future, do not touch hot metal space rocks.
"What happened?" He said, touching her tentatively on the shoulder.
"Burned myself," Alice said sheepishly, "it's fine." She stepped warily around another hunk of debris and said, "So what is this then? Spaceship crash?" She looked around for a sign of another ship, "Hit and run, maybe?" She lifted her foot to take a step forward, then stopped, her eyes stretching wide in horror, "Oh my god…Luke…is that…?"
Luke's face twisted as he gazed at the small body lying on the ground. Alice swallowed thickly, suddenly all too aware of the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh in the air, which up till now had been masked by the smoke. "Okay," Alice said, her voice wobbling slightly, "that's...phew. I do not feel well."
Luke took her by the arm, hurriedly turned her away from the body and guided her back towards the speeder, "Just…um, stand over here. Don't look, okay?"
"Okay," she said, looking fixedly at the horizon and trying not to breathe through her nose. Luke laid a comforting hand clumsily on her back, then picked his way through the smoking minefield to join Ben. She heard a mournful warble beside her and felt Artoo nudge against her leg gently as if in comfort. Without looking down (just in case), she put her uninjured hand on the top of the droid's frame, steadying herself against the cool metal.
"Well, this is unpleasant," she muttered under her breath. Perhaps staying with Luke's aunt and uncle wouldn't be so bad after all. I could learn how to…knit.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luke and Ben moving around and heard Luke say, "It looks like the sand people did this. Look, there's gaffi sticks and bantha tracks everywhere." She saw him pick up a stick, like the ones the sand people they'd encountered earlier had been carrying, and thrust it into the sand, "I've never heard of them hitting anything this big before."
"They didn't," Ben said calmly, as if he was the head of Alien CSI, "but we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side by side, sand people always ride single file, to hide their numbers."
"Hang on…these are the same jawas that sold us Artoo and Threepio."
"What are jawas?" Alice called, not trusting herself to look at them.
"They're…" Luke hesitated before saying, "they're the bodies."
"Oh," she groaned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, "right."
Ben pointed at something else, saying, "And these blast points. Too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial storm troopers are so precise."
"But…why would Imperial troops want to slaughter jawas?"
"That's bad, right?" Alice said to Artoo, "Imperial troops are bad."
"Indeed," Threepio said severely, "a group of mindless killers."
"Yeah, thanks Goldilocks, I wasn't asking you," she said, archly.
Artoo looked between the two of them and whistled anxiously.
Threepio sniffed (who in the world, she wondered, had programmed a robot without a nose with the ability to sniff in disdain?), and looked away, "I was merely confirming your statement."
"Well," Alice said, forgetting her queasiness in her irritation with the droid, "I think- Luke? What's wrong?" Running at full pelt, he skidded past her and jumped into the speeder, his hands going straight to the controls. "Luke! What is it?"
Behind her, Ben was shouting too, "Wait, Luke! It's too dangerous!"
Without a word to either of them, Luke slammed the craft forward and accelerated away, skimming low over the sand dunes.
Alice spun to find Ben walking slowly and sadly towards her, "What did I miss? Ben? Where's he going?"
"He suspects that the Imperial troops will have found out from the Jawas who exactly bought those two droids – and gone to look for them there. In this case, the buyers were Luke's aunt and uncle."
"So?"
He gave her a very serious look, "You should know that Imperial troops are bred to be perfect soldiers. They have been genetically designed not to question authority or to defy it, a genetic predisposition that has only been enhanced by the ruthless discipline of the Empire. Their orders were to find these droids, and if they do not find them at Luke's home, they will have no qualms about torturing or killing whoever is there at the time."
Alice blanched, "So Luke's aunt and uncle…they're…?" Ben nodded slowly, and she raised a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror and anger, "But…but he's already lost his parents! That isn't fair!"
"No," the old man agreed grimly, "no, it's not." He sighed, "Come. We should give the last rites to these jawas."
"What does that…entail exactly?" Alice asked, feeling a little of her queasiness return.
"We will burn their bodies, so that they may become one with the Force."
"Right," she said, feeling a little faint, "okay. I'll be with you in just a second." Ben patted her on the shoulder far more condescendingly than Luke had done, then headed back to where the little bodies of the Jawas were all scattered around.
Come on, Alice, she thought, you're not going to get very far in a film entitled 'Star Wars' if you can't handle a few bodies. So just grow up and help him.
Steeling herself, she took a couple of deep breaths (still through the mouth) and joined him.
Together, they created a small pile of bodies – though Ben did more of the actual lifting than Alice, seeing as she couldn't use her left hand – which Ben then lit using some kind of gadget to concentrate a beam of light on the topmost jawa's robes; much like small children on Earth used magnifying glasses to scorch the ground. The fabric smoked then suddenly burst into flame. Staring at the slowly kindling fire, Alice didn't feel revulsion, she felt sadness. The jawas were so little, like children. It was unfair that they had died just because they'd come into contact with Artoo and Threepio.
"So, I guess that they want Artoo because of that information the rebels put in his hard drive, or whatever," Alice said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically bleak in her own ears.
"Good," Ben said, with an approving nod, "you're keeping up."
"Thanks," she said, though she couldn't tell if it was really a compliment, and didn't feel particularly flattered even if it was, "I'll ignore your tone of surprise. And now what, we just wait for Luke to come back?"
"We hope that he comes back," Ben said. Alice looked at him in disbelief, but his steady gaze told her that he was perfectly serious: he really thought that Luke might not return.
"Oh, well, don't be too optimistic. Gosh, what is it with old people and a constant sense of morbidity? Honestly, you're just going to depress me if you keep on saying things like that."
Ben smiled a little, but Alice didn't feel better. Obviously, he could tell – probably reading my emotions with the 'force', was Alice's first, slightly sour thought – and when he spoke again, his tone was gentler, "My apologies. I suppose the world you come from is a peaceful one, far removed from war. I'm afraid I've lost too many companions over the years to be able to see things the way you do anymore."
"Oh…" Well, that made me feel jerky. "I see."
He watched her carefully, "However, that is no reason to chide you for hoping. Luke is a bright boy, and he certainly knows the wastes better than any imperial troops he may encounter. He'll be able to get himself out of any trouble he gets into."
Alice wasn't sure how he managed to sound so convincing when two seconds ago he'd been doubtful of Luke's survival, but something about his voice made her relax, almost against her will. She nodded once, and turned to look out at the horizon again, shielding her eyes against the setting suns, "That's our boy."
Silence fell between them, and for a while there was only the dry, rustling sound of wind as it changed direction, sending the smoke from the jawas' funeral pyre curling in their direction. Alice took a few steps forward until she was downwind of the pile, waiting while Ben followed her, getting up her courage until finally, she blurted out, "Ben?"
"Yes, my girl?"
"Do you think I'll ever be able to go home?"
He sighed, "I cannot say. And even if I thought it were possible, I do not know how it could be done."
"But…so what happens if we go with you to Alderaan? What happens if we live the story exactly and we get to the end and then…then I just stay here?"
There was a brief pause. "I'm sorry, Alice, but I cannot answer your questions. All I can tell you is that the Force converges around you – and so I do not think that what has happened was by accident."
"It does?" She blinked, startled, "Is that a good thing?"
Ben laughed. The sound echoed a little, made louder by a sudden drop in the wind, "Who knows? It may prove to be."
"Well…yay for that, I guess." She turned to look at him, "Can I say something? About Luke's dad?"
He gazed at her cautiously, "I suppose."
"…I know that Darth Vader is his father."
He jerked away from her, his eyes narrowing. Alice waited, feeling smaller and smaller the longer Ben stared at her. He didn't exactly look pleased.
"So, you were telling the truth."
She shuffled her feet a little, "Yeah…why didn't you tell him?"
Ben's mouth twitched, turning into a hard, firm line. Suddenly he looked very little like the genial, uncle-like figure who'd looked after them at his house; instead, Alice found herself remembering that this man had fought in wars that had destroyed his dearest friend and survived. "Believe me, Alice, I will tell him. But the time is not yet right for him to know."
"Um, but why-?" She answered her own question as understanding dawned, "You think that if you tell him now he won't come with you."
He looked coolly impressed at her deductive reasoning, "Exactly."
They stared at each other, at an impasse. Alice guessed that Ben was waiting for something and wouldn't back down until he got it. "…And you don't want me to tell him, either."
"I believe that Luke may be able to do a great deal of good if he accompanies me on this journey, and moreover, that he must discover the truth himself. To hear it from anyone else…" He trailed off, leaving her to imagine Luke's appropriately devastated reaction to finding out his father was a part of the greatest evil the galaxy had ever known.
"Alright. I won't tell him," she said, hating herself a little for saying it, "but if he finds out…"
"Thank you, Alice."
Alice grunted as she turned back to stare across the horizon, "I'm probably going to regret that, aren't I…?"
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