6. DAY 11 – Part I
It was three minutes to midnight when a scream pierced through the quiet ship.
In a fraction of a second, Han Solo reached the hatch to Princess Leia's cabin, only to bump into See-Threepio and barrage him with Corellian curses. Chewbacca joined him a minute later. They hesitated by the door for a moment when a second shriek reached their ears and the three of them at the same time palmed the door open. Unable to respond to three inputs at the same time, it remained shut. Cursing again, Han finally got it to open.
Leia Organa lay in her bunk, entangled in the covers, crying, fighting against some invisible enemy.
Han halted dead in his tracks, entranced by the sight of her naked legs emerging from the mess of sheets and blankets. Chewie pushed him in, breaking the spell, and he rushed immediately to her side. Sitting on the bed, he pulled her into a sitting position too.
"Go away!" She shouted with all her might, trying to free her arms from Han's hold. "I won't tell you!" Looking around without recognizing him or Chewie, her face suddenly assumed the expression of a little child. "Please, don't hurt me anymore," she begged softly. The tears running down her cheeks and the way her hair was arranged, in two simple long braids, added to the illusion.
"Mistress Leia, you're scaring me!" The golden droid started. "Shut up, Goldenrod," Han menaced.
"Leia, wake up!" The Corellian shook her gently by the upper arms in an effort to bring her to reality. She suddenly sobered, an indescribable cold creeping into her eyes and in her voice. "Who are you?" She asked before reaching up with her hand and scratching Han's face.
More surprised than hurt, Han released her and she jumped like a spring towards the hatch, knocking down the only chair in the room in the process. Chewie caught the Princess by the waist in the middle of her leap and brought her back to the bed. She didn't try to escape again. Embracing the Wookiee, she started to cry again with heartbreaking sobs. "It's gone! Everybody's gone!"
Han Solo placed a hand on her back while his first mate kept holding her and so the three of them stayed for a while. See-Threepio watched, puzzled.
Leia calmed down after a while and for a minute, she seemed to sleep again. But a moment later she opened her eyes and realized that she was not alone.
"Wha... what are you doing here?" She asked. Chewbacca loosened his embrace and she retired to the corner where the bunk met the walls, pulling the sheets all the way up to her chin.
"You had a pretty bad nightmare, sweetheart," Han said tentatively. The Wookiee supported him, growling gently. The Princess pressed her palm against her sweaty forehead. "Yeah, a nightmare. I wish it were only that." The Corellian swallowed hard and squeezed her foot over the covers. "Get dressed and come out."
"No, Han, I don't want to..."
"I'm the Captain, remember? C'mon, I'll fix you something to eat. Chewie, let's go." In his way out, he put the chair back in his place and handed her her clothing, trying to ignore the best he could the still humid Alliance-issue underwear on top. He was too worried about her to notice that in the process he blushed as if he'd never seen a bra before. "You know you won't sleep anyhow. And an empty stomach is the best thing to attract nightmares," he kept saying. Cracking a half smile, he added, "If you don't come out in ten, I'll come in, so be warned."
Twenty minutes later, she exited her cabin, only to find Han leaning on the wall in front of it. "It was about time, your Highness," he commented dryly. She followed him to the lounge and both seated by the holo-chess table. "So, what would it be? A soup? Stew? Something sweet?"
"Why are you so obsessed with feeding me?" Princess Leia shot back. But there was no aggression in her voice, just a tiredness that made her sound much older than she was, in blatant contradiction with her childish look. She was wearing her whole uniform, jumpsuit, snowjacket, boots and even the gloves, but she hadn't bother to straighten her hair. It still clung in two loose braids, framing her face.
"I'm not obsessed!" Han protested. "But Rieekan will kill me if I deliver you in skin and bones."
"So, that's what I am to you, a cargo to be delivered in good shape."
"No! That's not it!" Han stopped on his tracks when he recognized the familiar path. No, he couldn't do that now. He had tried to lighten the air, but it had been the wrong turn to take. She hadn't even lifted her face to answer him. Maybe the straight approach will be the best. "It was that holo-vid, wasn't it?"
She raised her head immediately. "How do you...?" She started, but could not continue. "Never mind..."
"Yeah, it does, because it's my fault. I should have erased that vid." That would make her react.
Her head shot up and he saw the fire in her eyes.
"You erase that and I kill you, I promise."
A roguish grin came to his lips, authomatically.
"Well, that's the Princess I know. Better?"
The smallest of all smiles bloomed in a corner of her mouth. He motioned to take her hand, but she avoided it, brazing herself like if she was cold. "Not now, Han. Please," she asked, evidently forcing the words out and turning her face from him.
Suddenly, it hit him.
He recalled the gossips that had run around all the bases where she had stayed. The talking about her nightmares and what was the cause of them. Some people said that losing her planet, her people and her family in a single blow was enough. Others, just shook their heads and said nothing, but tried to make her life as comfortable as they could.
As for himself, he did not know what to believe. She'd never had a nightmare (that he had noticed) when they had gone on missions together. And, of course, her debriefing had been labeled top secret and available only to the High Council, not even his most charming smile had granted him a copy. She always seemed so in control, that he at last had discarded that suspicion and ascribed her growing thinness and bad temper to mourning. Hey, she was a Princess and a Senator, after all, right? They wouldn't treat her like that, right? Execution, yes, but torture? And if they had gone that far, they couldn't have been too harsh, she would have talked and they wouldn't have needed to put a tracking device on the Falcon. Besides, she looked in perfect shape when they met on the Death Star.
After a while, she had regained some weight, the nightmares receded something and the whole Alliance breathed again. Even then, the only time her cheeks became something near colored were when he got her all riled up, so he kept doing that. Besides, she started it half of the time. Any other time, Ice Princess was a name that fitted her perfectly.
But now, after hearing those blood-freezing screams and what she'd said in her dream, he wasn't sure anymore. "What the hell did they do to you, Princess?"
Truth be told, he did not expect any answer, it was more a rhetoric question spoke aloud.
"Twelve Hells. They used Twelve Hells on me," she deadpanned.
Han Solo wondered how much out of the protocol was to throw up in front of the High Princess of Alderaan.