Hey there everybody!

Yes, yes I know it's been a while, but here I am. You know vacation, then a 4-day meeting with Tolkien society Gil Galad, and then weeks of writers' blockade. You know the usual :D

First of all, I'd like to say a big thank you to everybody who has reviewed this story. Anonymous or not anonymous respond – it doesn't matter, it makes me very, very happy. So thank you all.

I've been thinking about this chapter for a really long time, so what can I say… I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Sadly we have to inform you that fanfiction writer known as Alderaan Girl still doesn't own Star Wars. Thank you for your understanding.

Chapter 10 – Alderaan Lullaby

She was led down the corridors. Her mind was blank and numbness overwhelmed her as soon as she left the observation deck. Her feet moved without her knowledge and when at the times her captors decided that she walked too slow, they pushed her forward. She nearly fell a couple of times, but she didn't care. Violence of her enemies seemed somehow distant. She didn't hear anything or see anyone... Until…

"I'll take it from here" said a familiar voice behind her.

The group which was escorting Leia stopped. It consisted of two soldiers in black armor, six stormtroopers and Lieutenant that led them. Commander Solo saluted the latter and he greeted him with a nod. Lieutenant moved aside and Han was just about to take his place…

"How could you?" Leia attacked him immediately. She struggled to break free just to get stopped by her guards.

"Let her go" ordered Han.

Leia rushed at him and punched him in the chest with her wrists still tightly bound. She didn't have a slightest clue what she wanted to accomplish by hitting him, but she did it anyway. "How could you?" she repeated half screaming and kept hitting him.

Leia's escort and other Imperial personnel that just happened to come by observed what was going on. Most of them were highly amused, but Leia couldn't care less how that must have looked like.

"You told them" she yelled. "You knew about Alderaan."

Han barely felt Leia's fists. He didn't know what to do and he just stood still as the crowd around them kept getting bigger and bigger.

"Return to your business" spoke Han his voice commanding. "You two" he then addressed the two soldiers in Leia's escort. "Would you mind preventing Her Royal Highness from killing me."

A few chuckles came from the crowd which was now parting at last. Soldiers grabbed a hold of Leia and this time she didn't resist. She just stared at Han, anger clearly visible on her face.
"Wait Lieutenant" Han called after the man he dismissed earlier. "Escort Her Highness to her new quarters. Apparently she finds my company unsuitable."

Darth Vader was meditating in his chambers. He gave strict orders that he wanted to know everything that was going on with the Princess, so it was not long after the incident with Commander Solo that he was informed about it. The fact that young Organa attacked someone wasn't really a surprise. As a suspected rebel sympathizer and a daughter of one Vader watched her intensively in the senate and at some other occasions. He remembered first seeing her when she was still just a child and even then she was wild, stubborn and rebellious as she ran through the palace in not very princess-like way, barefoot. And moreover, he himself had stopped her from attacking Tarkin.

But it was Commander Solo she attacked this time and her accusations, that one of his men reported to him word for word, were most strange.

Something isn't quite right here, though Vader. "How could you?" Leia's words echoed in his mind. Why was she blaming Commander Solo for destruction of her home planet? Or maybe that "you" wasn't even Commander Solo but Imperials in common. And then "You told them" was still a complete mystery to him. Told what? And to whom? Something truly wasn't quite right here.

Vader turned on his comlink. "Admiral Motti" he spoke.

"Yes Lord Vader?" came a response from the comlink.

"Have your men completed my orders?"

"Yes, they have installed the surveillance camera in cell of Princess Leia Organa as you wished. It is already operational."

"Good" growled Vader and turned off his comlink.

Leia was roughly shoved into her new cell. The second the door closed behind her everything fell silent. This can't be happening. This isn't true. She closed her eyes and at that moment she knew that it was a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.

She clenched her teeth wishing it could all just go away. The pain settling in her hearth was just unbearable. She couldn't stand it anymore, she had to do something. She opened her eyes which were now flickering with hot tears of anger. She hated them. She hated Tarkin… and Vader… and Commander Solo … she hated Empire. They destroyed her home, her family, her people. They destroyed her world and in that moment she only wished she could strangle them all. She started hitting the wall near the door with her right fist. She hit it over and over again. She screamed in rage. After several punches her hand started bleeding but she didn't stop. She didn't feel the pain, but she wished she had. This way the pain filling her heart would be somehow less agonizing.

She kept screaming and hitting the wall, but it wasn't any better… Rage traveled through her veins like boiling water. There was no such thing as time. When she at last, after what could have been hours, gained some self control, she noticed that the wall was covered in blood.

She half collapsed half slid to the floor and breathed heavily trying not to cry. After several minutes she finally calmed a bit and looked at her surroundings. Her new "quarters" were very much alike her old cell. Steel floor and steel walls. But there was a difference and Leia was utterly astounded when she noticed it. It was a glass that replaced the wall opposite to the door. She stood up and approached it. And there it was… or better, there it should be. She saw a big grey spot left from the explosion where Alderaan used to be. The only thing left from her home planet, world that was once filled with life, were rubble and dust floating in the space.

He felt her rage. The message in the Force wasn't as clear as when Alderaan was destroyed, but Darth Vader felt it anyway. Leia Organa was angry. He turned on the view screen and an image of grey cell appeared on it.

He observed Leia's white form as she raged and yelled. She was strong with the Force, no doubt, and her anger made her strong, but she was untrained and as such no more than Vader's point of interest. And yet he couldn't deny it that he was curious about her. He turned on his datapad in order to search for some information. Some typing later he had everything he needed right in front of him. The first thing that caught his attention was a holograph of Leia in the Senate. He only gave it a glance and then started to read what was written underneath.

Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan was born in the year of foundation of Galactic Empire. She is a daughter of former Senator Bail Organa and Queen Breha of Alderaan. She served in Imperial Senate since she was 18, making her the youngest Senator in history. Senator Leia Organa is known for her idealistic nature and determination considering her political program Inalienable rights. Because of it Drost Elegin, head of the Ancient House Elegin and a notorious figure at Emperor's court, mockingly referes to her as »Little Miss Inalienable Rights", providing her with a nickname that is oftenly used by media.

Suddnely anger conssumed him and it was not Leia's. He noticed that the hand, in which he held his datapad, was shaking. He hurled it away and it broke into pieces.

Leia now understood the meaning of Tarkin's words about providing her a nice view. Was there anything more cruel than what that man has already done to her?

Anger was long gone, replaced by sadness and realization overwhelmed her entirely. It was gone. Alderaan was gone. Gone forever and nothing, no matter how she wished it, could bring it back.

Leia pressed her injured hand to cold window glass, almost touching what was once Alderaan. When she caught a sight of blood covering it, she immediately withdrew it. There was so much blood on her hands and it wasn't hers. It was her people's blood. I killed them, she thought bitterly. It's all my fault.

She knew it would have been better if she would just look away from remains of Alderaan, but she couldn't move her gaze. Space has never been so cold and Leia felt the same way, cold and alone. She pressed knees to her chest trying to stop herself from shivering which had nothing to do with the temperature of her cell.

Memories flashed before her eyes. And before she could prevent it, one came into focus of her mind. Her father sat on her bed and whispered her a lullaby. He never sang it though he knew the melody, but Leia liked it this way. It made it sound special, like a secret. And as if he was right there beside her, she heard him whisper:

Sleep well my little child,

Fear not, I am with you,

When night is dark and storm is wild,

I'll hold you tight and get you through.

But if we are far apart,

And you can't seem to find me,

I am in your heart,

And I always will be.

So you see, I'm never far,

Even when your hopes are few,

Gaze upon the brightest star,

It shines for me and you.

This time Leia couldn't stop her tears. She embraced her knees even tighter to herself and cried until she finally drifted to what she thought would be soothing unconsciousness of sleep.

This is all for now and I hope you liked it. I can't tell when the next chapter will be up, because I'm starting my first year at college in a week, but I can give you a tip what's it going to be about. Let's just say that there will be a whole bunch of rebels joining our story.