AN: I've wanted to write this for over a year now and I'm excited to finally be getting the chance to share this with you guys. Fair warning, I don't know...a LOT about Star Wars (I've seen the Original Trilogy, two thirds of the Prequels, two thirds of the Sequels, and a little of The Clone Wars and Rebels, along with some cutscenes from Fallen Order and the Lego cartoons), so you'll have to forgive me for any errors, but I hope you can enjoy this little project of mine regardless 3
Prompts are taken from FairyRunes 100 themes Challenge.
1. Introduction
Gale Bryce lived a quiet life, keeping to himself for the most part. He barely had acquaintances, let alone friends, so the knock on the door was surprise enough. Opening the door to reveal a child on the other side-well, that was downright shocking.
"Hi," the boy says. "Are you Gale Bryce?" He hesitates slightly, saying Gale's name.
Gale eyes him. Wonders if boy scouts are still a thing people do, because that's the only explanation he can think of as to why a random kid would show up at his doorstep. "Yeah, I am," he says. "Who are you?"
"I'm Luke," the boy introduces himself. He grins. "I'm your son."
And before Gale can process that, the boy ducks past him into his apartment. "Nice place you got!" Luke calls out.
Gale decides not to call him out on the obvious lie. Not on that one, anyway. "Kid," he says. When Luke doesn't show any signs of having heard him, he raises his voice. "Kid! I don't have a son."
Luke turns around and actually rolls his eyes at him. "Yeah, you do," he says. "And a daughter, but she's busy right now and couldn't come."
"What?"
"Her name's Leia," Luke says, and Gale wants to laugh, because, seriously?
"Luke and Leia?" He asks. He can't help an incredulous chuckle from slipping out. "Like, from Star Wars?"
Luke nods fervently. "Yeah! And you're Anakin."
"Anakin." Gale repeats. "Anakin Skywalker?"
"Uh-huh. That's your real name. You just don't remember because you've been cursed. Now come on, it's a long drive home, and I'd rather get back before Mom gets really angry."
"Hold on," Gale says. "Your mother doesn't know you're here?"
Luke shrugs. "I mean…not technically? But I didn't have a choice! And, anyway, Mom will understand once the curse is broken."
"Oh, for-," Gale runs a hand over his face. "What is this 'curse' you keep mentioning?"
"The Curse," Luke says, like that explains everything. "It whisked all the fictional characters away from their homes and brought them over to the real world. Now almost none of them know who they are and it's up to us to help them remember again."
"Oh, kid," Gale's shoulders slump. "You've got problems."
"Yup," Luke agrees brightly. "And you're gonna fix them."
He sighs. "Give me your mom's number."
Luke blinks. "Why?"
"So I can let her know her son hasn't been kidnapped," Gale says, and if his voice is a little sharp, well, he thinks he can be forgiven considering the circumstances. "Kid."
Luke looks at him for several seconds, then shrugs and lists off a set of numbers. Tapping them into his phone's keypad, Gale brings his phone up to his ear and waits.
He's annoyed but honestly not surprised when he goes straight to voicemail. He tries again, and then again, until finally he's greeted with a frustrated, "Who is this? What do you want?"
"Sorry to bother you," he says. "But do you have a son named Luke?"
"Luke?" The frustration leaves her voice and is replaced with a desperation Gale has seldom heard. "Luke's there? Who is this? Let me talk to my son!"
"This is Gale Bryce," Gale says. "Your son's right here. Don't worry, I didn't kidnap him or anything, he just-"
"Excuse me?"
Gale winces. "Sorry, that…that came out wrong. What I meant was, he just showed up here a few minutes ago. But he's okay, he's totally fine."
"Then let me speak to him."
Now the desperation is gone, in its place a steely fierceness that can only belong to a parent missing their child. The promise of retribution should any pain befall them.
(A small part of Gale wonders what it'd be like, to have someone sound like that on his behalf-)
Gale passes the phone to Luke. "Your mom wants to talk to you."
Luke takes the offered phone, presses it against his ear. "Hey, Mom," Luke says. "No, I'm-Mom, calm down, I'm fine. I promise. I just-"
His mother's voice on the other line rises in volume, cutting him off from whatever he was about to say next. Luke frowns, annoyed. "Mom," he tries to cut.
"Mom-"
No luck.
"I went to find my dad, okay!?"
With that, Luke shoves the phone back into Gale's hand and storms off to sit on the couch. He crosses his arms and ducks his head, radiating anger. Gale debates for a second whether to go to him when he remembers he still has someone on the line and promptly holds the phone close to his face.
"Hey, yeah, so, funny story." He laughs nervously. "Your son apparently thinks I'm his father."
"He…what?" She's baffled. "Why would he…"
"I was kind of hoping you could tell me," Gale says.
"I can assure you he's mistaken," Luke's mother replies. She doesn't go into detail; Gale doesn't press. "Now, would you mind giving me your address so I can come get my son?"
"Let me bring him back."
The words are out before Gale can stop them. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Luke perk up, anger forgotten.
Luke's mother begins to protest, "Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that-"
"It's no trouble," Gale's mouth moves without his permission. "Really. Where do you live?"
Silence. "Hello?" He prompts her.
"…New Unity," She answers. "504 Mifflin street."
"Got it," he nods. It's a little on the longer side of what he'd been hoping (about a two-hour drive) but he can't find it in himself to take back his offer to help (More than that, though, he has the inexplicable desire to meet this woman. Just the sound of her is like a deep breath of fresh air, and he wants to keep breathing.) "Don't worry. I'll get him back safe."
He hangs up without waiting for her response. Turning to look, he warily but unsurprisingly registers Luke's excited expression.
"You're really coming home with me?" He says.
"Don't get too excited, kid," Gale says. "I'm just going to drop you off home. Then I'll be on my way."
Luke's smile widens. "Sure you will."