So I was just looking at one of my favorite FanFictions, and I realized that I have more reviews and Followers than what is literally the best Luke/Leia/Han story on FanFiction. Rather than being excited, I was like "That is not fair! That one is so much better than mine!" So check out "Renewal" by Ivylore! Let the author know who sent you! She's super talented - its literally the quality of a legit Star Wars novel.

- - - - - Millennium Falcon - - - - -

Tess let the blue milk swirl around her cup. She watched it coat the sides, then slip down until there were only a few droplets left there. Part of her wanted to set the cup down, curl into a ball, and sleep for days. Another frightening part of her wanted to throw it across the room and scream as loud as her lungs would permit her.

"It was the Force, Tess," Luke explained. After carrying her inside the ship, he gently sat her down at one of the booths inside the Millennium Falcon and put a blanket over her lap.

"What?" Tess had to have heard him incorrectly. "But I can't use the Force. Jedi use the Force. I'm not a Jedi!"

"Not yet," Luke corrected. Tess' jaw dropped.

"Not yet?!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean?! I'm just…I'm not…"

Luke knelt in front of Tess and placed a friendly hand on each of her knees. He waited until he was sure that she looked directly at him.

"Tess, I need you to listen to what I have to say right now, okay? It's extremely important," Luke began carefully. Tess managed a slow nod, and only then did her friend continue. "The Force is an energy that flows through all life in this galaxy and beyond. It had two sides—the light side and the dark side. The light side is based on wisdom, logic, and healing; but the dark side is driven by anger, selfishness, destruction, and sometimes fear."

Luke took a moment to make sure Tess understood. He took her hands in his own.

"What you experienced in that room—it was not your fault," he explained slowly. "You have not harnessed your power yet, but you will. You—"

Tess jumped to a stand.

"Wait—no!" she blurted. "I don't…I'm not like you!"

"You are," Luke insisted, standing up as well and taking her by the shoulders. "And don't worry—I can teach you how to take control of this power you have."

A sudden realization stabbed Tess in the heart.

"He told me I was a creation. And that was not the first time I've heard people say that about me. He told me I wasn't real—I was an experiment that nobody cared about once it came out wrong. And…I just wanted him to stop talking," she reflected quietly. "I was more afraid and angry in that moment that I was in my entire life. And then...his jaw...it just..." Her voice trailed off. Tess was terrified to ask the question on her mind. "Fear…anger…did I use the dark side?"

"Tess—"

"I did!" Tess snapped. "Don't deny it! I…no…oh, no…I…"

"It's not your fault," Luke insisted. Tess blurted out a laugh.

"Not my fault?!" she said with exasperation. "How is ripping a man's jaw off with my magical powers not my fault?!"

"Tess, I will teach you how to control your emotions," Luke promised, taking her face in his hands so he could force her to look at him. "I will teach you how to use the light side of the Force. I promise. But right now I have to go."

"But—"

"Stay here," Luke cut her off, sitting her back down in the chair behind her. "Wait here in the Falcon. Han, Leia, and Chewie will escape soon and you can all get away from here."

Luke gave Tess a kiss on the forehead and spun around to disembark the Millennium Falcon.

"What about you?" Tess called after him worriedly.

With a poise of a sort of wisdom beyond his years, Luke turned to face the girl.

"The Jedi's constant duty is to battle the dark side," he elucidated. "Be it among the outside forces or within the Jedi himself."

Anger. Fear. Hate. The Dark Side.

Peace. Wisdom. Kindness. The Light Side.

Tess knew that her current emotions were anything but the emotions of the light side of the Force, but she tried to ignore it. If she really was Force-sensitive, that battle Luke was talking about was definitely not a tale to scare little Jedi to the light. If it was real—if Force-sensitivity was the explanation she decided to believe in—then that looming dark side presence was inside of her.

Tess was sitting up in what had become known as her bunk on the ship—a single bunk behind the lounge seats and the hologram board. There were also two triple bunkrooms on the Millennium Falcon, but they were closer to the cockpit and things could often get loud in there.

Lando Calrissian, Leia, and Chewbacca were in the cockpit as far as Tess knew. Artoo was across from Tess' single bunk at the technical station, plugged into a wall to do whatever droids do. Threepio—who was only a torso and head at this point—was powered off and secured into one of the lounge seats to prevent further damage if they were to meet any turbulence.

Normally, Tess would have made her way into the cockpit by now, but she could not imagine bearing the subtle stares from the others. Every time she caught their eyes on her, she felt an immense burden of guilt.

Even though her travel companions would never say it to her face, Tess feared they blamed her for what happened to Han. If she had only turned around as soon as she heard the danger they were in. If only she had reached them in time. Tess may have been able to initiate a timely escape if she had not been so stupid.

A familiar Wookie growl snapped Tess out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Chewbacca. He held up two stacks of Pazaak cards in his huge, furry hands.

"Haven't I taken enough of your credits?" Tess smirked lightly. She appreciated Chewie's attempt to cheer her up, but she was not in the mood for it. Even though he acted friendly, Tess still feared that he at least partially blamed her for their circumstances.

As if Tess was the popular one on the Falcon today, Leia was the next to come see her. The princess gently dismissed Chewbacca, and then joined Tess at the end of her bunk.

"I can't remember the last time I was in one of these things," Leia admitted, referring to the bunk. She glanced about the semi-alien surroundings. "I normally just grab a blanket and doze off in one of the cockpit seats. It's the only place on the ship where you can't hear Han's snoring."

Despite the uncomfortable mentioning of the man Leia loved, the princess surprised Tess with a soft smile. The fourteen-year-old was not quite as strong. She lowered her eyes and picked at the bandages around her more injured wrist. Leia must have noticed her aversion.

"You miss him?" the princess asked softly. Rather than bear another unsuccessful reassurance that their most recent marathon of horrible luck was not her fault, Tess simply nodded and played along. After all, she did miss Han—it just was not the main thing that was bothering her.

"I don't know how you can handle it so well," Tess admitted, avoiding Leia's eyes. "I mean, you two were close. More than close. You loved—"

"Luke."

Tess' eyebrows shot up as she met Leia's sudden trance-like stare.

"You're in love with Luke?!"

Leia's face did not change. It froze to a blank, yet somehow a knowing expression—like something had just become unbelievably clear. Tess did not know how to react. She interpreted the sudden clarity on her friend's face as a sudden realization of love for Luke.

"You are!" Tess gasped. "You're in love with Luke!"

Tess' assumption snapped Leia out of her trance that time.

"What?" she asked, making a face at Tess as if the conclusion she reached was absurd. "No," Leia corrected quickly, rising to a stand. "Han."

At that, the princess raced in the direction of the cockpit with Tess following close behind.

"Han is in love with Luke?!"

Leia practically plowed into the back of the pilot seat that Lando occupied, nearly prompting him to reach for his blaster in surprise. Tess had matched Leia's speed to catch up and subsequently rammed into the princess. She suddenly understood how it was not completely ridiculous for someone to run into a parked speeder.

"We have to go back," Leia told Lando and the Wookie.

"Because Han is in love with Luke, right?" Tess asked. Lando and Chewie sported expressions of absolute confusion.

"No!" Leia shot back readily.

"Then I was right the first time!" Tess concluded. "You're in love with Luke!"

That time, Leia was the one getting stared at from their substitute pilot and the Wookie.

"I am not in love with Luke," she established definitively, holding up a finger to Tess in hope of stopping any further interruptions. "We have to go back," Leia repeated. "I know where Luke is."

She reached towards the controls as Chewbacca promptly obeyed her. A harder-to-convince Lando pushed Leia's hand's away.

"But what about those fighters?" he interrupted. Chewie looked up at the princess questioningly. The danger they faced made the Wookie second-guess their unexpected detour.

"Chewie, just do it!" Leia insisted. That was all the Wookie needed, and all he had to do was growl at Lando to get their substitute pilot on board with the plan as well.

Tess planted herself in the seat behind Chewie and fastened her acceleration straps. Leia did the same in the seat behind Lando.

"I'm in love with Han. No one's in love with Luke," the princess established quickly. Tess twisted her face into a playful wince.

"Wow, no one? Ouch, he's gonna need a medpac for that burn."