Hey guys! I hope you all had good Easters and ate lots of chocolate. :)

Shout-outs this week go to: crossMIRAGE19, Undertaker's Hattress, Katyperry22, Lywick and as always, Taboo22. Thanks so much for reviewing - it really makes my day.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.


We're having a tea party with Darth Vader, Alice thought, slightly hysterically, as storm troopers shepherded them forwards. At the opposite end of the room, the black robed figure waited, the masked face coldly blank; another person, this one entirely dressed in armour in a minty green colour, including a matching helmet, waited at his shoulder. Huh. A little less threatening…

"Stay close to me," Han muttered, resting his free hand on Alice's shoulder – his other was wrapped around Leia, keeping her pressed firmly against him.

"Gladly," she replied, shuffling backwards, only to find each elbow being grabbed by a stormtrooper, separating her quite deliberately from the others. "Han?!"

Vader rose smoothly to his feet, his cloak whispering around his legs. "Silence," he commanded, his voice echoing harshly in the silent room. Silence fell. He turned his head slightly, and thoughit should have been impossible to tell, what with the way his mask concealed his eyes completely, Alice knew that he was focused directly on her, "You. I will speak with you first."

"What?" Han sounded stunned, "Why do you want to speak to her?"

"You underestimate her value, Captain Solo," Vader said to Han, and to his soldiers, "bring her."

Alice couldn't speak – she was simply too frightened. But she met Han's eyes, and hoped he could see the mute appeal for help in her own.

"Alice!"

The storm trooper pushed her after Vader, and she was shoved from the room with Han and Leia's desperate calls echoing in her ears.

Alice stayed deathly quiet as they led her down several levels, into a dim, windowless room, lit only by the light that filtered through the barred ceiling above. She could feel tears prickling at her eyes and forced them back. Somehow, she didn't think Vader was the type to be swayed by a crying girl.

"Put her in the chair," Vader commanded, waiting in the corner of the cell as his soldiers did as they were told and forced Alice into a high-backed chair in the centre of the room. There were cuffs on the arms, but they didn't tie her up – maybe that was a good sign.

I have no idea what's going to happen, she realised, as Darth Vader billowed into her line of sight. No idea at all. I could die in here.

"You," he said, slowly, as if puzzling her out, "I sensed your presence on Hoth. Your fear. What is your name?"

She swallowed, "A-Alice Miller."

"Where were you born? Who are your parents?"

Alice hesitated.

Vader leaned forward slightly, and when he spoke again it was like there was something else in his voice, something which awoke a terrible compulsion in Alice to obey, "Speak."

Unable to resist, she blurted out, "Tatooine. I'm from Tatooine."

He paused, cocking his head on one side. She waited, her fear mounting with every rattling breath he took. Eventually, he spoke again, "You're lying. Foolish girl, did you think I would not be able to tell? Attempt to deceive me again and the repercussions for your friends will be…severe."

Alice didn't doubt it. Vader let the silence stretch, allowing her to contemplate her options.

"Now, think carefully of your friends, and speak truthfully this time: where were you born?"

"Earth," she mumbled, not daring to look at the hideously blank mask, "you probably haven't heard of it."

Sarcasm didn't really count as bravery, but it was the best she could do right now.

"And your history? Your family?"

She was probably really pushing it, but she gritted her teeth anyway and forced herself to ask, "Why do you care?"

Instead of an answer, the pressure to speak descended upon her again, stronger this time; for every second she resisted, the pain got worse. It felt like a dazzlingly horrible combination of stomach cramps, a migraine and growing pains all at once. I suppose interrogations are easier when you can just make people do or say whatever you want. The amazing power of the Force, folks.

Unable to stop a low whimper, Alice had to yield to the pressure – the second she began to speak, the pain lessened, "My mum's a doctor, my dad's a businessman. He left us. My mother..." The pain flared up again and she choked back a sob, "She doesn't know where I am…"

The compulsion vanished, and she let out a gasp of relief at the sudden absence of pain. Vader was behind her now, but she didn't want to turn her head and look at him. The sense of longing she'd felt for Luke earlier was doubled now.

"What do you know of the Force?"

She thought of Ben, the way he'd described the Force to her and Luke sitting in his living room before any of this had started; before he'd been killed, by the man standing before her. Anger flared hot within her, but this time she knew better than to speak.

Darth Vader, it appeared however, could tell, "Ah, yes. You were a friend of Kenobi's. My old master, Obi-Wan Kenobi…"

She knew that too, from that brief period on Tatooine, when Ben had told them about his old apprentice….and Luke's father. Anakin Skywalker…

Very suddenly, Alice felt a hand close around her throat and begin to squeeze, though no one was physically touching her. That on its own was terrifying – suffocating was a close second. She gagged, her eyes bulging as her air was reduced, slowly and methodically, little by little.

"Ah, I see you know something of my history," Vader said, appearing in front of her, his hand clenched into a fist, not even sounding vaguely disturbed by the fact that she was currently choking to death, "and of my son. Tell me. Where is he? Where is Skywalker?"

"I…" Alice gulped, trying to get enough breath to speak. She felt sick and woozy, and was it just her or was the light in this room getting dimmer? "I don't… Please…" For one frightening moment, the invisible hand closed, cutting off her air completely. She was screaming inside her head, her lungs bursting, desperate to take a breath.

Then, in the next instant, she was released, and she dragged in a huge lungful of air, only to whine in pain as the air rasped over her swollen throat like sandpaper.

"It does not matter," Vader said, taking a step backwards, "Skywalker will be here soon. Captain."

One of the stormtroopers in the corner of the room stepped forward, "Yes, sir."

"Bring Solo to me at once. The more they suffer, the quicker young Skywalker will rush to save them."

Oh god, no.

"Yes, Lord Vader," the stormtrooper said, adding, "he's been causing problems, sir. Demanding to be taking in exchange for the girl."

"Then he should not be kept waiting. Go."

The stormtrooper bowed and left the room with one of his fellows at his shoulder.

Vader turned back to Alice, "Think yourself fortunate to have such willing friends – the pain you have suffered will be nothing compared to what Han Solo will endure."

Hate…you.

"I am well aware. Put her with the princess – and make sure Solo sees her."

The last stormtrooper, standing ready, dragged Alice to her feet, and out of the door. She was dizzy, and the floor kept tilting as if it deliberately wanted to throw her off balance. Distantly, she heard someone shouting her name. She shook her head to clear it, then realised that the reason the voice sounded distant was because it was. Han was being marched towards her down the long stretch of corridor – he had seen her, she could tell from the way he was struggling against the soldier holding him. "Let me go! Alice! Kid, are you okay?"

'The pain you have suffered will be nothing compared to what Han Solo will endure.'

Tears threatened, and this time she couldn't stop them, "I'm sorry," she sobbed as they reached each other, "I'm so sorry."

"What? Wait, let me speak to her- Ally!"

His voice was cut off as he was forced through the doors of the cell Alice had just left.

"Alice?"

She squinted through the fog of tears to see Lando standing hesitantly in front of her.

You…

Instantly, Alice lunged forward. Caught off-guard, the stormtrooper lost his grip on her, and she managed to get one solid punch straight into the middle of Lando's face. He staggered back, looking severely startled. "Ah!"

Damn, that felt good.

"This is your fault," she shouted at him, the sound coming out as a pathetic tear-choked rasp from her damaged throat. Taking advantage of her distraction, the stormtrooper grabbed her arms and forced them behind her back.

"Get a move on," he growled, pushing her past Lando. He dragged her down the corridor, and slamming open a door to the right, thrust her inside. She staggered, and almost fell, but caught herself on the wall as the door shut again behind her.

"Alice!"

Alice let out a huge, ugly, hitching sob as she recognised Leia's voice; she couldn't reply, could only hide her face in her hands as Leia put her arms around her and pulled her into a comforting embrace. She waited patiently as Alice struggled to get her breathing back under control, eventually managing to force her tears into the occasional hiccupping sniff.

Leia studied her for a second, as though to check if she was really done crying, then said, carefully, "What happened, Alice? What did Vader ask you?"

Alice took a shaky breath and tried to speak; but her voice was no louder than a whisper, and Leia had to bend her face close to listen. "About…my family, where I'm from…he asked where Luke was."

Leia's face went white, "What did you tell him?"

"I said I didn't know," Alice rasped out, "but I don't…think he cared. He said…" she stopped, unable to speak – she could feel herself tearing up again and the lump in her throat made it nearly impossible to get the words out, "Leia, he's hurting us to draw Luke here, to make him come and rescue us. It's a trap."

Leia seemed to understand; she shushed Alice, stroking her back gently until she'd calmed down again. As soon as she could get the words out, Alice said, "Leia, I'm so sorry…"

"What for?"

She dashed a few tears away and croaked, tentatively, "Vader brought Han in, straight after me. He's going to…"

"I know," Leia said, quietly, gazing grimly at the far wall of the cell, "Vader tortured me when I was on board the Death Star. Trying to get information out of me about the Rebel base on Yavin Four."

The princess went silent, and Alice wished she could say something – anything – that might comfort her, but the pain in her throat had only gotten worse with the effort of talking and crying. She cupped her throat, her face screwed up as she fervently wished for the pain to just go away.

Leia caught her at it, and surprised Alice by spitting out a curse as she reached out and gently tilted Alice's head back so she could see her neck, "Damn it…are you alright?"

Alice wheezed out a laugh, "Been better."

Behind them, their cell door was suddenly flung open, and two guards in grey suits, not storm troopers, appeared at the door. "You two. Get up. You're moving."

"Moving where?" Leia asked, defiantly.

"You don't get to ask questions," he answered coldly, "Up. Now."

Leia stood up first, and then helped Alice to her feet. They stuck closely side by side as they were escorted down the corridor and brought to yet another cell. Alice flinched as she was shoved inside, and Leia put an arm around her, giving the two guards a glare fierce enough to set the whole of Cloud City ablaze. They didn't stick around to hurl any more insults.

"Who's there?"

"Han!" He was lying on a small shelf of rock that jutted from the wall, looking paler and weaker than Alice had ever seen him. Chewie was crouched next to him, hovering over his friend like an anxious mother.

They hurried over to him at once, Leia on one side of the bed and Alice on the other.

"Are you okay?" Alice tried to say, though her voice completely disappeared halfway through.

Leia looked up at her and said gently, "You don't have to speak if it hurts Alice." Alice hesitated, but eventually nodded her acquiescence. Leia looked down at Han, "What did they do to you?"

"You don't need to know," he said softly, "areyou two alright? Alice?"

Alice shook her head fiercely at Leia before she could say anything. She didn't want Han to know what Vader had done to her – in fact, she never wanted to think about it again.

Leia held her gaze, her jaw trembling with rage, but she nodded, "We're fine. Did they ask you any questions?"

"No. I don't know what their game is."

Leia glanced at Alice, asking whether they should tell Han about Luke or not. Alice shook her head slightly; Han was weak and a little delirious right now, and if he knew that they were being used as bait in a trap for Luke, there was a very good chance he would get himself killed trying to get out.

Leia shifted, moving until she was cradling Han's head almost in her lap, carding her fingers gently through his hair. Alice's heart suddenly ached as much as her throat did, and she reached out to brush Leia's knee. Her friend acknowledged the touch with a smile, and fighting the pain, Alice managed to rasp out, "I'm glad you two are okay," she said, as strongly as she was able.

Chewie whined, towering over Leia's shoulder, and Alice smiled up at him, "You too, furball."

"And you, kid," Han said, taking her free hand in one of his, the other curled loosely against his heart, as though that were the source of the pain.

Suddenly the door by which Leia and Alice had been brought in slid open. Alice turned, and let out a wispy approximation of a short, unkind burst of laughter as Lando, his nose swollen and starting to develop a black eye, walked into the room.

"Well, well," Han said, sitting up, "what happened to you, Lando, old buddy?"

Alice waved a hand at Leia, who folded her arms, looking satisfied, "Alice did."

The smuggler grinned, and gave her a nod of approval, "Good one."

"Shut up and listen," Lando snapped, shooting a glare at Alice, "Vader has agreed to turn Leia, Chewie and Alice over to me."

"Over to you?" Han said, riling up at once.

"They'll have to stay here, but they'll be safe."

Alice made a face. Stay here? With the guy who betrayed us?

"What about Han?" Leia asked, quickly.

"Vader's given him to the bounty hunter."

Leia frowned, "What bounty hunter-?"

"Boba Fett," Han cut in, looking grim, "the one in the Mandalorian armour. So ole Jabba finally tracked me down. But why hand the rest of you over? Why not just kill you all if that's what he wants-"

"He doesn't want you at all!" Lando snapped.

Han threw a glance at Leia, his brow furrowed in confusion. Then his eyes widened suddenly, and Alice knew he had figured it out, "Luke."

Leia's face was drawn and tight as she agreed with him, "This whole thing was a trap to draw him in."

Lando was watching the four of them with something that might, in the half-light of the cell, be mistaken for pity, "And you're the bait."

Chewbacca growled into the tense silence that had fallen.

"Well, perfect," Han said, his voice dangerously low. Alice blinked in alarm as the smuggler staggered to his feet, lurching threateningly towards Lando, "you fixed this all really well, didn't you, my friend." He drew back his arm and punched Lando in the face – luckily for him, however, it landed across his face rather than directly into his nose, otherwise it might have been broken entirely thanks to Alice's earlier efforts. What wasn't so lucky was the fact that Lando was accompanied by two guards, one of whom struck Han hard in the back of the neck in retaliation, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Hey!" Alice tried to shout and only managed to force out a dry croak of indignation.

"Stop!" The man paused as Lando straightened up, his hand pressed to his swollen cheek, "I've done all I can. I'm sorry I couldn't do better, but I've got my own problems."

"Yeah," Han rasped, looking up at him from the ground, his voice thick with sarcasm and pain, "you're a real hero."

Lando glared at him and left without saying a word.

Alice pointed at the closing door, "I don't like him!"

"He certainly has a way with people," Leia said sarcastically as she helped a heroically wincing Han to his feet.

"The worst thing is that Luke's on his way, and there's nothing we can do to let him know that it's a trap!"

Chewie roared in agreement and shook his paws angrily at the ceiling. "Pipe down, you two," Han said, as Leia set him down, "We'll get out of this somehow."

"Oh, you know that, do you?" Alice asked, spinning to face him.

"We always do, don't we?"

"That's a rubbish argument."

Silence fell. Leia and Han gazed at Alice, and she turned away to face the wall, gingerly massaging her neck. It hurt.

Well, this is dismal. Ben, care to make any helpful comments? Luke's already here and he's coming to save us straight away instead of falling into Vader's trap first? Or perhaps he's chatting with Vader now and they're bonding over the whole father-son thing. Nope? Thought not. Damn it.

She could hear Han and Leia murmuring together behind her, plus some clunking noises from Chewie's general vicinity as he worked on Threepio – whom for some reason, the stormtroopers had allowed the wookiee to hang onto – but she didn't really feel like talking, even if her throat didn't feel like it was on fire.

About half an hour later, more troopers came to fetch them from their cell, and the way they kept insisting on shoving them around as they walked wasn't helping her mood. Neither was Threepio for that matter. Chewie had managed to reattach the droid's arms, and get him talking again, but this didn't cheer Alice up as much as she expected, mainly because all he was doing was complaining: at Leia, at the absent Artoo for not being there, and at Han for getting them into this situation in the first place. Alice was able to derive some small pleasure from the fact that Chewie hadn't quite gotten around to reattaching Threepio's legs, which meant that he was currently trussed up in a sling on the wookiee's furry back – but the fussy protocol droid even managed to ruin her slightly malicious enjoyment by whining consistently about how undignified it was to be carried.

As if the rest of them weren't in just as bad a position, if not far worse – Han had been tortured, and every breath she took was painful. Her voice was a bit stronger after her period of sullen silence in the cell, but it kept cutting out at odd moments, leaving her sounding like a skipping CD or a radio with patchy signal.

"Alright, Threepio, we get it," Alice snapped, after a particularly mournful sigh from the droid, "you're not happy. Funnily enough, none of the rest of us are either. Please, try to remember that all of this is a great big, terrible, horrible, no-good very bad trap for Luke, who is probably on his way here right now. Remember Luke? Your friend?"

Threepio hesitated, his eyes dimming a little, then he replied, sounding a little sniffy, "Well, of course I remember Master Luke. He is my friend, and I might point out has been so longer than yours. Hm."

Alice stared, not quite able to believe that Threepio had just pulled the 'I was his friend first' card on her. She was trying to think of a good sarcastic comment, but then, to her right, she thought she saw a flicker of a smile cross Leia's face, and that was enough for her. So instead she rolled her eyes as hard as she could and let the matter rest as they were led into a room apparently lit in red, with a big, ominous, smoking hole in the middle of the floor. Their guards positioned them right on the edge of this chasm and they waited.

A moment later, Vader entered, like a true diva: down a staircase with his cloak fluttering behind him. It was vaguely reminiscent of those singing competitions on TV when the contestant enters elegantly descending a spiral staircase with a wind-machine blowing, whilst warbling a love ballad…except there was a lovely edge of mortal danger thrown into the mix. Alice, who was feeling pretty reckless by this point, wanted to shout something disparaging at him, but luckily, didn't have the voice power to do so.

"What's going on, buddy?" Han muttered, in a very unfriendly manner to Lando.

Lando barely moved his lips as he muttered, "You're being put into carbon freeze."

"What's that?" Alice asked, anxiously.

"Imagine me, but in a big chunk of carbon, unconscious, unable to move or speak."

"Doesn't sound too bad to me," Alice joked weakly.

Han shot a sideways glare at her, "That's the best-case scenario, kid."

Her stomach sank, "And the worst?"

His silence was all the answer she needed.

"This must be Boba Fett's clever idea to take me back to Tatooine without any trouble."

"And Boba Fett is?"

Han jerked his head at the man dressed in green, "Jabba the Hutt's favourite bounty hunter."

As if cued to speak by Han's introduction, Fett turned to Vader, his voice sounding like it was being transmitted over an intercom, "What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me too."

"The Empire will compensate you if he dies," Vader said dismissively. "Put him in!"

Chewie roared, and immediately started bashing away the storm troopers as they tried to grab Han.

Oh, Chewie…

"Chewie!" Han yelled, "Chewie, stop! Stop! Chewie, this won't help me!" From behind them came the sharp clicking of blasters being cocked, and she realised they were now completely surrounded by cautious storm troopers, their weapons raised. "Chewie!"

At the sound of Han's voice, the wookiee gradually quietened, his head tilted on one side, his brown eyes fixed mournfully on his friend.

Han gripped the wookiee's arms, looking up into his face, and though his voice was urgent, his expression was astonishingly composed, "Listen to me. Save your strength. There'll be another time. You have to take care of Alice and Leia, alright? You hear me?"

Her eyes smarting, Alice stepped forward, and rested her hand lightly on Chewie's arm as the storm troopers cuffed him, instinctively knotting her fingers through the thick fur. "It's okay. We're okay." Chewie groaned but seemed to give in. Evidently relieved, Han turned to Alice. Unable to speak because her throat was tight with tears and swollen with Darth Vader's finger marks, she nodded jerkily.

The smuggler gave her a tight smile in response, and a quick kiss on the forehead. "Proud of you, kid."

Then it was Leia's turn, and Alice could have cried at the look Han gave her. It was apologetic and scared and loving all at once. And when they kissed, she genuinely thought her heart might break. Two storm troopers moved in and pulled Han away.

At once, Alice reached out and took Leia's limp hand in hers, hoping to give some facsimile of comfort. For a moment, Leia did nothing, then slowly her fingers curled around Alice's. The princess leaned forward, her eyes fixed on Han, "I love you."

"I know," he replied, as the circular platform he stood on was lowered into the floor. Alice bit her lip. She could still see his face, just, through the steam that was billowing through the vented floor. Then one of the little gnome-like creatures that she had seen wandering the hallways pressed a button, and Han disappeared entirely.


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