No. 4 – Trust Fall
"Do you trust me?" | taken hostage | pushed
Luke froze. The room was full of armed guards, scattered with a few B-2 battle droids and droidekas. Mara stood right in the middle, and Luke was pinned at the edge of the room. They could fight back, but with how Mara was surrounded, she would never be able to fight them all off. She would be hit, probably killed, and his world would end. And they hadn't even figured out who was behind this trouble yet, either.
"Surrender, Mara Jade, and your life may be spared," one of the armed guards said. "You may live, and Skywalker will carry your demands to his sister and the government she cares so much for."
"It's Mara Jade Skywalker," Mara corrected. "And the answer is no."
Luke's heart thundered, a prickling in the back of his shoulders and neck warning him of danger. "Wait. How about you take me instead?"
Mara and the armed guard whipped around and stared at him.
"What?" Mara exclaimed.
Luke ignored the fiery glare Mara was boring into him. "Take me as your hostage instead of Mara and send her with your demands."
The armed guard tilted his head. "You would give yourself for your wife?"
Luke nodded.
The armed guard stayed silent for a few seconds before nodding. "I accept, Skywalker. Take him."
"No!" Mara cried.
Luke didn't resist as two B-2 battle droids seized his lightsaber from him and then held him tight in their grip.
Mara brandished her own lightsaber.
"Ah, ah, ah," the armed guard said. He gestured to a large human guard, who held a blaster to Luke's forehead.
"Go along," the armed guards said. "You'll be given the demands on the way out."
"You'd better be alive when I get back, Farm boy," Mara said. She followed the prompting of the guards and left the room.
The armed guard that seemed to be in charge stepped forward. He pulled stun cuffs from his belt. "No hard feelings, Skywalker."
"Of course not," Luke said mildly. Stun cuffs were uncomfortable and painful, but only to be expected as a hostage.
The guard snapped the cuffs around Luke's wrists, securing them behind his back. He pulled a strip of cloth and tied it around Luke's eyes.
Luke gritted his teeth. Without his sight, he could gather a lot less information about his captors and their goals blindfolded. But at least he still had the Force and could investigate with that.
The super battle droids marched Luke through rooms or hallways empty of people except for his captors. After perhaps twenty minutes of walking, Luke's boots echoed on metal, walking up what could have been a ship's ramp.
The Force disappeared. Luke stumbled, his perception of his surroundings gone.
They had managed to acquire ysalamiri. That was not good. They were hard to get and obviously meant for a Jedi target.
The super battle droids shoved Luke down. His knees thudded against hard metal. He swayed, automatically tugging at his stun cuffs to steady himself. A painful pulse shot through his body. His muscles weakened, his mind fogging.
A booming voice spoke up in Huttese. Luke took almost a minute to translate in his mind. It had been so long since he'd heard the language and the stun cuffs had half-paralyzed him.
"Skywalker, so nice to host you in my humble abode," the Hutt said.
"Hello," Luke said.
"I'm sure that with time we will get to be great friends, you and I," the Hutt said.
With time. That indicated the Hutt never intended to let Luke go. Cold bit his skin. He trembled.
"Prepare him for his new station," the Hutt ordered.
The blindfold had been replaced by a helmet that locked around Luke's head. The stun cuffs were linked to thick chains that pinned him to the Hutt's platform. A chain around his neck connected to an ysalamiri in front of his knees. He wasn't allowed to feed himself. A visor was lifted on the helmet that revealed only his mouth and a droid fed him. The helmet wasn't even removed when he was taken to the 'fresher what he guessed was once a day. Either the dais was large or the Hutt he was chained next to—or chained to—was small because he hadn't felt the touch of anyone besides the cold hands of droids.
He clung to the thought that offering himself up had saved Mara from this. No matter how much he craved the soft touch of Mara's hand, a tight hug from Leia, a clap on the back from Han. He even wanted the slimy touch of the Hutt next to him if only because it was real. He wanted to pop the stun cuffs off, not be prohibited from struggling unless he wanted live in a perpetual haze. He wanted to touch the Force again. But this could have been Mara. She could be kneeling here, suffering. And she wasn't. In some way, that made this worth it.
"Tell me, young Jedi, what was it like to have Darth Vader as a father?" the Hutt asked.
Luke curled his hands into fists, jutting out his jaw. His life was not a holofilm to be bared to the galaxy. His relationship with his father was incredibly personal, not something to be shared with any crime lord that demanded to know.
The chain rattled, his stun cuffs biting into his hands. "Speak, Jedi."
Luke took a deep breath. Keeping hold of his temper was much harder now, though whether that was due to his lack of the Force or his circumstances, he couldn't be sure. "I'd rather not, thank you."
Pain seized his body, his helmet vibrating. He screamed, bending forward, almost passing out. The stun cuffs sent a pulse through him, driving buzzing through his head. The ysalamiri pressed against his knees, wrapping its tail around his leg. The Hutt, presumably, yanked on his chain, pulling him upright.
"Tell me about you and Vader," the Hutt demanded.
Luke shook his head, trying to gather his ragged thoughts together. "It was hard. But I…I knew there was good in him…and he saved my life."
The Hutt laughed. "Daddy's not here to save you now."
Luke slumped, the leftover ache from the punishment and the stun blast overcoming him. A waking dream imposed itself on his mind—Vader storming in, cape flaring, brandishing his lightsaber. Freeing Luke.
He wouldn't have complained if it happened. But it just wasn't possible. He was stuck here. Alone.
"Hey, my big man!" a man called. "How ya doin'?"
"Beren, my favorite bounty hunter!" the Hutt boomed.
"You still got that Jedi here?" Beren asked.
The words bounced around in Luke's head. "You still got that Jedi here?" He was becoming a feature here, blending into the landscape. How long had he actually been here?
His breath quickened. He'd lost count of his meals and 'fresher visits. He couldn't picture Mara's entire face anymore. He could see her fiery red hair, her gleaming green eyes, her freckles, her smile. But he couldn't picture them all together. He couldn't conjure up the sound of Leia's voice or the feel of a backslapping hug from Han. He could barely pull up the rushing water of the fountain near the Imperial Palace he loved to meditate at or the excited beeps of Artoo.
He was losing himself. Slowly, piece by piece, he was flaking away, until all that would be left was a shell, blind, helpless, perpetually kneeling by the side of a Hutt he still didn't know the name of.
He pulled at the cold cuffs around his wrists. "Let me out. You have to let me out! Please, you have to let me out!"
The cuffs cut into his wrists. Blood trickled down his hands. Wave after wave of stun blasts wracked him until he was barely conscious. He knew lashing out was a mistake, that he was only hurting himself with his loss of control.
But every time he came to full consciousness, he lashed out again anyway.
Blaster fire broke through Luke's perpetual haze. Voices he should remember but couldn't quite recall shouted demands and insults at the Hutt. The hum of a lightsaber slashed near his head. He flinched, but no pain followed.
Two pairs of soft hands settled on his arms. Luke ripped himself away from the strangers' grip, falling back on his still-bound hands. "Get away from me!"
"Luke…" a woman, one of the strangely familiar voices, pleaded.
"No! Stay back! Don't touch me!" Luke's heart pounded furiously. He couldn't take any more of this. He just wanted to go home.
The lightsaber hummed, the pressure around his throat easing. His ysalamiri was lifted away.
The Force flooded into Luke, sensations he hadn't felt in far too long. Too many sensations to process. He built fortified shields, blocking off the Force from his mind.
Two gentle presences pressed against Luke's shields, presences he knew. The names of the voices she'd heard flooded into his fogged brain. "Leia. Mara!" Tears pricked his eyes. "You found me. You came for me."
"Of course we did." Mara's voice was choked. "Here, let's see if I can get that helmet off you."
Luke flinched, cringing back. He hadn't felt human touch in so long, he wasn't sure he could bear it anymore. "Stay back, please." His voice broke.
"Here, if you would allow me," the droid that dragged him to the 'fresher said. "I am instructed in how to remove the helmet."
Luke cringed. Sometimes visitors to the Hutt would want to rough him up and the Hutt would instruct the droid to step in as a liaison and beat him up for them, so they had their fun and Luke didn't get to feel genuine touch.
"Now, esteemed prisoner, hold still," the droid warned.
Luke obeyed as the droid's cold metal hands settled on his neck. He knew better than to fight the droid by now.
"I must warn you, he has not been allowed to see for quite some time, so he will need along time to adjust," the droid said.
Luke swallowed, his heart thundering. The helmet was actually being removed? His breath quickened, rapidly spiraling into hyperventilation.
The helmet unlatched, hissing. The droid lifted it off. Luke's eyes automatically flew open. Burning light pressed in. He screwed his eyes shut.
The stun cuffs around his neck. He brought his wrists in front of him and rubbed them. "Thank you."
"I simply do what I am ordered," the droid said.
Luke shuddered. "I know."
"May I touch you?" Leia asked.
Luke shuddered again. "I guess so."
A soft hand settled on his arm. "Mara and I will bring you to a medical bay, all right?"
Luke nodded. He didn't exactly have much of a choice.
Leia's heart broke as she led her twin brother down Frantus the Hutt's ship corridors. He still had his eyes squeezed shut. He hadn't opened them once since the Hutt's droid had removed his helmet. He shuffled along with small, mincing steps as if he wasn't used to walking.
Mara trailed behind him, her arms out, ready to catch him if he fell, but not touching him. Her face had crumpled when Luke drew away from her. Leia knew she had blamed herself ever since Luke took her place as hostage, almost convincing herself that he'd hate her for what he'd suffered. Which was ridiculous, Luke never could hate her. But his trauma could send her the wrong message.
Leia led Luke down the ramp of the Hutt's ship, across the hangar in Nal Hutta it was parked in, and into the nearby medcenter Han had preemptively commandeered, installing Cilghal and a group of 2-1B medical droids.
"Here." Leia tugged Luke to an exam table. "You can sit down here."
Eyes still screwed tightly shut, Luke felt around for the table, then slid onto it. He tensed, hunching into himself. The lines of his body—and his bond with her, though as soon as he'd gained access to the Force he'd practically shut it down—radiated that he was preparing for a blow.
Leia caught Cilghal as she stepped forward to examine Luke. "He doesn't want to be touched and he had problems recognizing us."
Cilghal nodded. Leia released her. She drew her sister-in-law into a hug.
"It'll be okay," Leia whispered.
Mara wouldn't tear her eyes from Luke, but she wrapped her arms tight around Leia.
Cilghal held up a scanner. "Luke, can you tell me if you're feeling any pain?"
Luke frowned. "I…I don't know."
"Do you feel uncomfortable opening your eyes?" Cilghal asked.
Luke nodded.
"Can you tell me why?" Cilghal podded. She set the scanner down and pulled out some bacta wraps.
Luke trembled. "They put a helmet on me when I was captured and they never took it off. It hurts to see."
Leia drew in a sharp breath. He'd spent the entire captivity completely blind? No wonder then, blind and without the Force, he was so traumatized. Her poor brother.
"I imagine it would," Cilghal said. "I have something I think might help." She stepped over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a pair of dark goggles.
"How…how long was I captured?" Luke's voice shook.
"About seven months," Cilghal said.
Luke flinched. He hunched in on himself even more and rubbed his wrists.
"It's all my fault," Mara whispered, probably to herself.
"No, it's not." Leia rubbed Mara's back. "Luke doesn't blame you. He's just hurting right now."
"Now, Luke, I have in my hands a pair of goggles designed to help pilots with eyes damaged in an explosion heal. They can let in progressive amounts of light as your eyes begin to heal. I'm currently setting it at the lowest setting. Are you interested in using these?" Cilghal asked.
Luke bit his lip, then nodded. "I think I'd like that."
Cilghal laid the goggles in his hands. "Why don't you try those on?"
Luke pulled the goggles on. He glanced around. The tension drained from his muscles. "This is much better. Thank you."
"Are you comfortable with me bandaging your wrists?" Cilghal asked.
Luke shuddered. "I guess so." He held his wrists out.
"Thank you for trusting me." Cilghal quickly wrapped Luke's raw wrists in bacta wraps.
As soon as she was done, Luke drew his hands out of hers.
"Now, you have some contusions, but they aren't too serious and should fade in a couple weeks. You're partially stunned from the cuffs, but that should wear off in a couple hours. You are malnourished and you will need to strengthen your muscles with some exercises, but we can go over those back on Yavin 4 when you're feeling up to it. You are free to go!" Cilghal said.
"Go? Go where?" Luke asked.
Cilghal's shoulders slumped. "Anywhere, Luke. You can go anywhere. You're free now. You can do whatever you like."
Leia flinched, pain stabbing into her heart. She should have found Luke sooner, drummed up a rescue sooner. Her brave, confident, independent brother should never have become so unsure of making his own decisions.
"Mara?" Luke's voice was small. He reached out a hand.
Mara moved forward and grabbed his hand. "Farmboy."
"Are you okay?" Luke asked.
"Am I okay? Am I okay?" Mara pressed. "You've been imprisoned by a Hutt for seven months and you want to know if I'm okay?"
Luke shrank into himself. "It was just a question."
"Why did you give yourself up for me?" Mara demanded.
"Because I love you," Luke said. "I don't regret it. You're the only reason I didn't…" He hung his head. "No matter how bad it was, I knew you were okay." He shivered again and pulled his hand out of hers.
Leia stepped forward. She knew Mara needed to know but might never ask herself. "Why do you keep…doing that? Luke, are you okay?"
"I…it's been so long…" Luke gasped. "Since anyone touched me…except that droid…I thought I'd give anything…to be touched again, but…now that you're here…I can't stand it!" He broke down in sobs. "I'm…I'm so sorry!"
"No, no, it's not your fault, Luke," Leia said. She automatically reached forward to lay her hand on his shoulder, but stopped herself just in time. "It'll be okay, Luke. Just take your time. You just need to heal. You'll be okay."
But Luke sobbed harder.