AN: Thanks as always to the readers and reviewers!

"Without a Heart"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 10

Luke Skywalker's daughter.

Of course Han had suspected Rey was his niece the entire time – she looked exactly like Luke's little girl and shared the same name, after all. Still, the confirmation that Snoke knew who she was sent a shiver through his body as he stared at his son's emotionless face.

Did Ben know who Rey was?

Then he remembered that Ben could read his mind.

Maybe Snoke could too.

He was putting Rey in danger just by thinking about her.

Okay . . . so just don't think about her . . .

Think about something else . . .

Like . . . how weird it was to be touching his wrist without a hand attached.

He squeezed his stump harder, his fingers pressing down through his sleeve. It felt hard, boney, wrong. What happened to his hand after the stormtrooper finally took it away? Was it simply thrown out, or was Ben keeping it as a trophy? Rey was still in the back of his mind, so he tried to imagine his hand on display in Ben's chambers . . .

"Trying to hide your thoughts is useless," said Snoke.

Han flinched as if his privacy had been invaded, even though Ben had probed through his mind at least twice in the time he'd been a prisoner.

"My cousin is strong with the Force," Ben said, speaking for the first time, not taking his eyes off his father. "I will teach her the ways of the dark side and she will become a valuable ally."

"You do know she thinks you killed me, right?" Han responded, looking into his son's eyes. "What makes you think she'd join you after that?"

Ben smirked. "She is full of rage and uncertainty. She will be easy to sway."

"With both of Darth Vader's grandchildren by my side," Snoke added, "your pitiful Resistance won't stand a chance."

"She won't join you," said Han, though he couldn't keep his raspy voice from faltering a little. There was once a time when he would have said the same thing about his son.

Ben stared at him, his face empty. "Even after what her father did?"

Han swallowed, a feeling of numbness going through his head. "Luke . . . had his reasons for what he did." It sounded feeble – it would probably sound feeble even if he had his old voice – but it was all he could say.

Ben glared at his father. "Even now you defend him, Han Solo?"

Han looked into his son's eyes, searching as always for some bit of the old Ben. "You used to call me Dad . . ."

Why did he choose now to say this, when his son had been calling him by his full name this entire time? He couldn't tell, but now Ben was looking back into his father's eyes, blinking like he had on the bridge, as if something inside him had suddenly awakened.

"Ben, it's not too late," Han whispered. "You can still come home."

Ben just kept staring, blinking, looking like he wanted to say something, but before he could, Snoke's voice echoed around the chamber.

"Take him away. I will want to see him again later."

. . .

Rey stared into the foggy mirror as she dried her hair, still seeing that chamber in her mind. There was Han – hurt, weak, but alive. Her heart was racing. Could she trust the vision or whatever it was? Even if the vision was true, what could she do about it?

She exited the refresher still in a bathrobe and with her hair still wrapped up in a towel, making her way down the hall with no destination in mind. After a few minutes she found herself in front of the open door of Pooja's study, where the chancellor could be seen reading on a couch with R2 next to her.

"Rey?" Pooja asked, looking up from her datapad.

Rey gulped, taking a step backward. "I-I'm sorry, Chancellor."

"No, it's all right," said Pooja. "Come on in."

Rey gulped again as she hesitantly entered the room, her bare feet sinking into the fluffy carpet. R2 beeped a friendly hello when she reached the sofa.

"Hello, R2," she said softly, sitting next to Pooja.

"What's on your mind?" Pooja asked.

Rey pulled the robe tightly around her. "Chancellor . . ."

"Oh come on Rey, we're family, you can call me Pooja."

"Pooja," Rey stammered, "I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to all this. A month ago I had no family at all and now . . ."

"I understand," said Pooja, giving a grandmotherly smile. "There must be a lot on your mind, isn't there?"

Rey licked her lips. "In the bath . . . I think I saw my uncle." Somehow calling Han her uncle was much easier than acknowledging her other family members. "I don't know exactly where he is . . . but maybe we could find him if I combine my Force senses with my aunt's and . . . my father's . . ."

Pooja gave her an awkward smile. "Rey, sweetheart, you know our priority needs to be finding Snoke, not Han. We don't even have any proof that Han's alive."

"I think he is alive." Rey's voice came out louder than she'd intended. "But he's suffering . . . like Leia said. He could die for real if we don't find him."

Pooja sighed through her nose. "You inherited your grandmother's spirit along with her looks – I'm sure she'd be proud of you." Her eyes slightly lowered. "Rey, I miss your uncle too and I'd love to believe that he's alive, but the fact remains that we can't send our limited troops on a wild bantha chase to find someone who's most likely dead when Snoke and Kylo Ren are still out there."

"But what if he's with them?" Rey pressed.

"Then we'd find Han when we find Snoke," said Pooja. "No matter how hard it is, we have to look at the bigger picture here. Defending the galaxy as a whole is more important than rescuing one individual."

Rey's fingers started fiddling with her bathrobe cord. "So I guess you think your cousins are wasting their time then?" Her face slowly morphed into a glare at her cousin. "Didn't they once leave the Rebellion to rescue Han?"

"Yes, but that time they knew Han was alive."

Rey's glare hardened. "You think he's dead, don't you?"

The chancellor let out a long, tired sigh. "I don't know."

. . .

The stormtroopers dragged Han back to his cell with Ben following close behind, as if he somehow thought his father would be able to escape in his condition. Once they reached the cell, the troopers eased Han back onto the bed in a surprisingly gentle manner.

"Sir," one of the troopers said to Ben, "should we strap him down again?"

Ben looked down at his father with that blank expression, as if he were pondering how pathetic Han looked. "No," he finally said, "he's too weak to move."

With that, Ben turned and left the room, the stormtroopers following close behind.

Once he was alone, Han wanted to let out a long exhale, though of course he couldn't. His entire body was sore from being moved around for the first time in weeks and his eyes were drooping, but he wasn't strapped down. Even though Ben was right and he felt nowhere close to being strong enough to get out of bed, just being able to move a little bit felt like a glorious luxury.

"Hey Leia," he whispered. "You'll never guess what just happened. Well, I got good news and bad news. The good news – I ain't strapped down anymore. I can sleep on my side now." A tiny smile formed as he inched his body to the side. His teeth gritted at the soreness, but he succeeded in rolling to his side, though his torso felt strangely heavy with the machine inside, as if it wanted to pull his body forward. He folded his arms as his eyes closed, his stump digging into his elbow.

"Okay . . . now the bad news," he said. "Leia, Snoke's after our niece – he wants her to be like Ben." He swallowed. "I dunno just how he plans on doin' that, but it can't be good. Does she know Luke's her dad?"

His center of consciousness was sinking down. His mouth opened as if yawning even though he couldn't breathe a yawn. "Leia . . . I'm so tired . . . I keep tryin' to help Ben . . . I dunno what I'm doin' wrong . . . I miss you both so much . . . I'm so damn tired . . ."

As sleep gradually overtook him, he kept randomly whispering to his wife, some irrational part of him wanting to reach her for real, to hear her beautiful voice respond and give him the strength he so desperately needed.

. . .

Leia hadn't slept since she dreamt of Han's severed hand. The woman who once had trouble meditating for five minutes now sat in meditation for hours, desperately searching for her husband's life strand in the endless cloud of the Force. That was where she was now, sitting cross-legged on her bed, unmoving, focusing on her memories of Han.

But even her desperation to find her husband couldn't overtake her biological needs. The two days without sleep were finally creeping up on her, pulling her down. At first she tried to fight it, her mind calling out No! You can't sleep! Not until you find Han! However, the fatigue grew stronger, stronger, pulling her body over to the side, making her collapse across the bed.

She was asleep.

. . .

The Jedi often said the Force worked in mysterious ways. A Jedi could spend his or her entire life studying the Force without understanding everything about it. Indeed, a Jedi might be quite confused about what was happening right now.

A husband and wife, connected through the Force.

Each reaching out to the other as they fell asleep.

Once in their subconscious, their souls following the Force, feeling their connection.

A connection so strong that in this moment at least, it could penetrate a dark side shield.

"Leia . . ."

"Han . . ."