48 HOURS EARLIER

Cold...So cold...Expressionless...An inanimate void...Hazel wells never to see again...Han...HAN...The scream I long to let loose cannot get out...This emptiness fills my lungs and veins, choking me, smothering me, shackling my mind...I have lost all control over my body...Lying here, staring at everything and nothing, all reason to think, to feel, to move gone, dead, lost in the gaping void, the void I long to throw myself into...Cold...So cold...Expressionless...

"Leia." The voice rang through my stupor, echoing strangely, magnified by my grief. "Leia, you have to get up now." Only that dark voice could have pulled me from the hazy fog I had been living in, the seconds blending into minutes, the minutes lengthening into hours, the hours as unbearable as years. "Leia..." Fear spiked through me. Of their own accord, my eyes shifted into focus and were drawn up towards the mask I knew so well. The dark figure – my father, some part of me remembered – nodded approvingly, seeing my motion. Gently, he put one hand under my back and the other under my knees, and lifted me as if I weighed nothing. He carried me from the cabin into the main body of the ship and set me upright in a chair. Still listless, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the man now crouching in front of me. "Leia..." he said again, only this time, his voice touched something deep within me. Now he sounded two-toned, at once a rough baritone and a mechanized bass. "Leia, speak to me," he said.

I closed my eyes, feeling in the dark for that something deep within me. Groping, I finally found it; stroking it, letting it run through my fingers, I became more and more aware. I opened my inner eyes and saw the other familiar figure – who was the same person – standing before me. His hair was tousled and unkempt, his eyes both stern and kind. He held out his hand to me. That simple act broke the dam separating me from my emotions. Tears began streaming down my cheeks, and I ran as fast as I could into his arms. Our bond sang with the griefs we both had, mine a new and raw wound and his an old ache grown more powerful with every year that passed.

Dad, I screamsobbed.

Sweetheart, he answered, his grief one beyond tears.

I lost all concept of time in that special place between him and I. When I was all cried out – or as much as possible at one time – I opened my physical eyes. My father stood, looming over me; he bent down and cupped my cheek in his leather-bound hand. I leaned into it, my feelings for him beyond words.

Gently, he lifted my chin up. "Do you want something to eat?" he asked quietly. I nodded, my tongue still partially imprisoned by the grief. He bustled around the kitchenette, putting a can of soup to warm on the stove. Silently, I watched him. His presence flickered with the static of exhaustion.

How long was I out? I asked him.

"Forty-eight hours," he answered out loud. "We are less than a day from Coruscant now." He paused, something hanging deep within his mind. He turned to me, stopped again, and said slowly, "Do you want to kill the Emperor?"

A roaring filled my ears. The Emperor. The one who had imprisoned my father in the worst cage imaginable. The one who had ordered my home destroyed. The one who had ordered Han killed. I knew at that moment that my eyes changed color from innocent brown to harshest red. More than anything, I growled, my teeth clenched.

My father nodded acquiescence. I stopped short: his Force sense was...clouded. He was at once Darkly satisfied and regretful. The regret had sparked into greater life when my eyes changed, and now, he was wrestling with it. I filed it away as a topic of conversation for later.

I took a deep breath in, getting the darkness coursing through me under control, before meeting his eyes. So, I said. What's the plan?

VVV

Hi everybody! I hope your holiday was a joy-filled one! I'm sorry to hear that some people don't understand the concept of a 'break' and that some people have that remarkable kind of vision that does not allow them to see beyond their own nose. I feel bad for them and hope they come to see that I am not writing this story for them but for me.

Thank you, everyone for your wonderful reviews! Overall, I am excited to continue this story and can't wait to hear your feedback!