From a Certain Point of View
Chapter Thirty-One
"No!"
The blood curdling scream came from Zacari as the lightsaber landed firmly in Roman's hands. Han watched as the young boy's eyes flashed in fury and then he held his hand out to Han and shot lightning through his fingertips, hurling him back against the wall of the underground room.
Han writhed on the floor in agony, clutching his stomach and rolling up into a ball against the cave wall. His teeth clenched together in a vice against the pain, the familiar convulsion of his muscles as they rode through the spasms of voltage pulsating through his body brought the memories of his distant torture back full force. A dark halo of unconsciousness beckoned to him, his brain's ingrained reflex to protect itself urged him to surrender to the peaceful darkness, where he would be free of the pain.
He fought against the blackness that infringed upon his mind, concentrating on Leia and their unborn child. Whatever strength he had drawn upon to survive his previous torture - when he had been alone and without much to fight for - he had to find that same strength now, now when he had so much more to fight for and to live for. In the distance, under the murky water of his wavering consciousness, he heard screams and the crackling of lightsabers and he struggled to lift his head up and look around.
Zacari was standing, feet splayed apart and his hands outstretched towards the ceiling as he began to morph into a decrepit old man, lightning shooting at the ceiling causing the stalactites to tremble and fall and the walls and ceilings all around them to shake.
Roman had begun to fend off the hag, gaining ground on her and pushing her away from Leia. Leia! The word ripped through his mind in a terrified scream, piercing the veil of darkness that had almost engulfed him. She was no more than a mound of clothing, flesh and bones and the sight of her lifeless body yanked Han back into action.
He crawled along the edge of the canyon scurrying quietly on his forearms and knees. He could vaguely make out the figures of Roman and the hag dodging debris and battling with their lightsabers. Out of the corner of his eyes a flash of white streamed across the room and threw Roman against the wall, catching the hag off-guard and flipping her end over end onto her back as her lightsaber skidded across the floor.
Han scooted along the wall as he watched Zacari scamper, hunch-backed and deformed now as he scooped up the hag's lightsaber and moved towards Roman.
"Get me that child!" Zacari yelled at the hag, her listless figure flinching at his words.
Han spotted his blaster a few yards out of the way and crawled towards it as he watched the hag stumble towards Leia and Roman rise unsteadily to his feet.
With Roman now battling Zacari in the background, Han made his way toward Leia, blaster in hand. The hag was hunched over Leia's body, one hand holding her at the wrist and one hand trailing her long, bony fingers down Leia's stomach as Leia's body jumped and trembled in response.
"Kill him!" Zacari yelled to the hag.
Han was just yards from her, her head had been down in concentration as she tended to Leia. At Zacari's words, the hag lifted her head and looked straight at Han as a blaster bolt tore straight through her forehead. The hag collapsed onto Leia's body and Han shoved his blaster in its holster, got up and ran over to Leia.
"No!" Zacari yelled again and then Han heard a muffled sound as Roman must've taken advantage of Zacari's split attention.
Zacari screamed and lunged at Roman as Han flipped the dead hag's body off of Leia and lifted Leia's head into his hands.
"Leia?" He whispered as he caught her tears with the backs of his finger. Her eyes were clamped shut.
And then the numbness of his lingering pain slipped off of him and his heartbeat, his breath, his very being froze in the fraction of that moment. The noise and the movement of the falling rocks all around them, of the screams from Roman and Zacari and the hissing and crackling of their lightsabers all fell away as Han leaned his face down against Leia's and whispered, "Sweetheart?"
She coughed and curled her body up in a sign of pain, twisting to lie on her side as she opened up her eyes and looked at him.
Time began to move again as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into an embrace. "It's alright, baby. We're gonna get you outta here."
Remaining low to the ground, Han began to move her away from the edge of the cliff and toward the exit, crawling around pieces of the collapsed ceiling and dodging falling debris. They were halfway to the exit when the walls shook again and another flurry of stalactites and rocks came crashing all around them. Han threw his body over Leia, shielding her from the onslaught as his already battered back took the brunt of the attack.
When the rock storm subsided, he pulled away and looked down at her.
"I'm sorry, I tried to find you," she said, her eyes more fully awake now. Then grimacing, she added, "But I couldn't run."
"That was my fault," he said, as he crouched down next to her and prepared to lift her, wincing in pain as he readied himself.
She looked at him questioningly.
Han paused for a moment, bent down quickly to kiss her on the lips as he explained with a crooked grin, "I told you to stop running." He lifted himself to his feet, doing his best to ignore the shooting pain that exploded through every single nerve cell he owned. Carrying Leia against his chest, cradled in his arms like a small child, he added, "At least this time…you were running towards me."
She pressed her head against his chest as he staggered out of the cave. Han set Leia down in the outside corridor and propped her up against the wall. He took a minute to catch his breath and began to inspect the two gashes on her bicep and her thigh as Leia once again doubled over in pain. "We need to get you outta here," he said, looking down the hallway.
"No. I'm fine. Don't leave Roman," Leia said through gritted teeth.
"Leia, you're not fine. You're losing a lot of blood."
"Alright, I'm not fine, but you're not leaving Roman or Zacari. We've got to finish this."
"Let me at least wrap 'em," Han said, indicating her wounds as he began to shrug his jacket off.
"Han."
"Wait a minute," he replied absently and began to rip the sleeves of his jacket at the seams to fashion a few bandages.
"Han." The way she said his name snapped his attention to her. She continued, "It's not my arm or my leg that's the problem."
His hands stilled for a moment. "What? Then what-"
Leia clutched her stomach. "They did something to me…the baby's coming."
"What?" Han's hands went back to work in overtime as he quickly tightened two strips of fabric over Leia's opened wounds. Moving to scoop her up again, he said, "That's it. I'm getting you outta here."
"No. Han, they want the baby, don't you see? We'll never know peace if you allow, that, that thing to live." Leia cringed and Han couldn't tell if it was because she was thinking of what Zacari and the hags had planned to do to her or if it was from the pain. "I will not leave this planet until they are all dead, even if I have to fight him myself."
Their eyes locked on each other and Leia added, "Han, please. Trust me on this, it has to be done."
He helped her to her feet and she stood hunched over, cradling her stomach with her bloodied arm, while steadying herself against the cave wall with the other.
"Can you walk?" He asked her, not liking where he was going with the conversation.
"Yes," she hissed back as she dug her fingernails into the rocky wall while another shot of pain ripped through her.
"Go," Han said, tilting his head toward the exit. "Don't wait for me. Chewie should be out there. Take off and get to a med center."
She looked at him. "Han."
"I promise you, I'll take care of this. Now you promise me. Don't stop. Don't look back."
He leaned into her and kissed her as she breathed out, "I promise."
Han crept back into the cave. Roman and Zacari were at a standoff on the other side of the large opening. Zacari's back was to Han, he was without a lightsaber, his feet dangerously close to the edge of the cliff as he was shooting lightning out of his fingers with Roman absorbing it with his lightsaber blade.
Roman's eyes flicked to Han and back almost imperceptibly. Han froze in his tracks, still crouched down on his hands and knees. Something about Roman's demeanor told Han to wait.
Roman leaned forward with his lightsaber, pushing the Force energy back toward Zacari. Zacari leaned further toward Roman, doubling up the effort on the Force lightning. And then Roman dropped his lightsaber and raised his hands as if in surrender, taking the brunt of the Force lightning to his chest. The sudden release of tension rocked Zacari on his feet and the old Sith Lord stumbled back and scrambled for his footing as he slipped off the edge of the chasm.
Han jumped to his feet as Roman was flung back against the wall behind him with a deadening thud. Zacari screamed and stretched his body out as he flung himself toward one of the sharp stalagmites protruding from the depths below, hugging onto it for his life. Han stumbled toward him as Zacari slid a few feet down and then caught himself and watched Han approach him.
Slowly, sickeningly, Han watched as the monster morphed back to the young boy that had greeted Han upon his arrival on planet. The little boy cried, "Captain Solo!"
"Shut up," Han yelled as he leveled his blaster and aimed it at the boy's head. Blinking back the image of the innocent child before him.
Zacari's voice deepened, and he began to lose his childish looks. "I'm unarmed, helpless. You cannot strike me down. It is not the Jedi way. It's of the Dark Side."
Han swallowed and then squeezed the trigger of his blaster, making perfect contact with his target. Stumbling toward the edge of the opening, Han watched as Zacari fell, the silence of his dead body drifting down into the expanse seemed almost surreal. Han hitched his blaster into its holster and whispered, "I'm no Jedi, Zacari. I'm only in love with one."
Han made his way around the ledge to where Roman lay. He bent down next to the Jedi and put his fingers to his neck and found a faint pulse.
"Leave me. I won't survive," Roman coughed and sighed.
Han sat back on his haunches, his ankle screaming in protest as he looked at the battered Jedi. "Survive or not, I have a feeling if I show up without your body, I will be Dark Side fodder."
Roman's mouth turned up in a half-smile, half-grimace and Han found it hard to hate the guy much anymore. Who could really blame a guy for falling in love with Leia?
"C'mon, you're not much heavier than a pregnant Alderaanian Princess," Han said, as he wrapped Roman's arm around his shoulder and bore the brunt of the injured Jedi's weight.
When Han and Roman emerged from the temple, the Millennium Falcon was resting on the clearing where the transport had sat, its repulsors whining in idle.
Chewbacca ran toward Han and took the burden of Roman's weight from him.
"Where's Leia?" Han asked as he followed Chewie, the pain from his ankle, his ribs and his head, increasing as he approached the ship.
[In the med bunk.]
"Where's the nearest medical center?" Han stopped at the edge of the Falcon's ramp, steadying himself against its struts.
Chewie kept walking up the gangway as Han hobbled up behind him and stopped to lock the ship. He heard Chewie answering him, [We can make it to Kashyyyk.]
Han limped into the lounge, braced himself against the bulkhead and found Chewie strapping Roman onto the banquette. "Kashyyyk? There's nowhere closer?"
[Don't you trust me to have looked? The safest, closest planet is Kashyyyk.]
The pair began to make their way to the cockpit as Han asked, "How long?"
[Twelve hours,] Chewie replied as he stopped, spun around to look at Han and said, [I've got this, you go to the Princess.]
Han entered the med station and made his way to the med bunk. Steadying himself against the bulkhead, he looked down at Leia who met his eyes and offered him a weak smile. He glanced at the med scanner that she was hooked up to and watched as she steadied herself and breathed through a contraction.
Han sat down next to her and pushed the hair off her forehead and out of her face. Ignoring his own pain as it began to flourish with a fury as his adrenaline rush subsided, he smiled and whispered, "Just don't push, no matter what you do."
"Han." She answered, her voice quivering in fear.
"It's okay, sweetheart," he answered confidently as he felt his ship slide into hyperspace. "Chewie?" Han yelled over his shoulder and down the corridor, his frantic call for his copilot betraying the worry laced within him.
He looked back down at Leia and she whispered, "What if the baby comes?"
"Then I'll…deliver a baby."
She swallowed and looked at him skeptically.
"Hey, weren't you the one saying you wanted to do something with me that I've never done with another woman?"
Her face contorted as she fought through the pain that the threatening laughter was wrecking through her body and she squeezed Han's hand in a silent reply. Han watched her and offered her the best support he could, through his eyes, his hands, his thoughts and through the Force if he could manage it.
She steadied herself and growing serious, she whispered, "Han?"
"Yes, sweetheart."
"Remember when I told you that I was never looking for a hero?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to know what I was looking for?"
He hesitated, remembering that she had said that it didn't count if she had to tell him. But then he shook his head and said, "Yes."
"You." Her voice broke as she said it and another contraction took its hold. The tightening in Han's chest seemed to match hers.
Chewie walked into the med station with Roman hobbling alongside of him.
Leia turned toward them and asked, "How is he?"
[He'll make it,] Chewie answered as he lowered the Jedi to an empty bunk and began to tend to his wounds.
Han studied Leia's med scanner and then said, "Leia, the med scan is saying I should sedate you to try and slow the contractions."
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
Han found the appropriate medication and then sat next to her on the bunk. "I'll be right here, sweetheart," he said as he pressed the hypo against her neck and released the medicine.
She grabbed his wrist and squeezed. "Remember what you promised me."
"I remember. But I promise you, I'm not going to let anything happen to either one of you."
Her eyes fall heavily.
"Leia?" Han said, as he grabbed her hand and held it in his.
"Uh-huh?"
"Will you marry me?"
Her eyes widened as she seemed to grasp at the last bit of consciousness available to her. "You're asking me this now?"
"Yeah, I figure my best shot is while you're at your weakest…plus," he jerked his head toward Chewie and Roman, "I have witnesses."
Leia swallowed and her eyelids fell heavily. As she fought to open them, she looked in his eyes and said, "Yes, Han Solo, I will marry you."
Han grinned, the widest, most lopsided grin he had ever felt stretch across his face in his entire life. And then he watched as Leia succumbed to the sedative.
[You know she can always blame it on the medication later,] Chewie snorted from the other side of the room.
"Keep your opinions to yourself, ya oaf," Han replied, his eyes never leaving Leia.