Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

32: Desperate

Luke Skywalker felt numb.

He barely even acknowledged the stormtroopers guiding him towards the shuttle, and in the blink of an eye he was inside a cold dark steel cell. He just curled into a ball and laid his head on his knees, feeling simultaneously like he was about to explode and also disintegrate. It was as if his mind was incapable of fully digesting everything that had happened to him in the last few hours, so instead it just shut down.

The shuttle landed with a clang inside what he assumed was a Star Destroyer, and the cell door opened to reveal Darth Vader standing above him. Luke looked blankly up at the man.

"Son." He greeted, not harshly but not gently either. The word made Luke wince. "Come with me."

Luke slowly stood up and walked on exhausted, wobbly legs towards the Sith Lord. He followed close behind, his surroundings blurring into nothingness yet again, until he was inside yet another room but instead of a cell it looked like a comfortable medical room.

"Sit. A medical officer will be here to treat you shortly." Vader commanded. Luke stayed standing and staring at the bed emotionlessly until his father finally turned and started to leave.

"Don't hurt them." The young man's chin wobbled slightly, his voice hoarse from misuse. "Please."

The Sith Lord stopped at the doorway and looked back at his son. His fragile, beaten, bloody son. Then kept moving.

The door slammed closed with a loud thud, sealing Luke inside the room. He looked around and suppressed a shiver.

He honestly preferred the cell beforehand; this was just a pretense of a cell whereas at last that one wasn't a lie.

Luke stumbled into the 'fresher and looked at himself in the mirror, feeling a surprising spark of shock given the amount of numbness it had to have broken through to reach the surface of his whirlpool of a brain. He could feel before that parts of his face were swollen and bruised, but that wasn't even half of it. Cuts appeared all over, and his hair was stained red with a bit of blood and stuck to his forehead which was bruised. One of his eyes was swollen and his lower lip was inflamed as well.

And finally, after avoiding it ever since it had happened, Luke gained the courage to look down at his stump. But as soon as he did all the memories came flooding back like salt in the wound and he wasn't strong or numb enough to hold them back anymore.

Luke collapsed against the wall, his legs too tired to hold his heavy heart. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't move. All he could do was look up at the ceiling and let the tears come.

:-:-:-:

Han Solo felt a bit of hope as he saw the Falcon for the first time in awhile, but it didn't last long. The door to the landing pad they were sprinting towards closed with a clang much to everyone's dismay. "Well great." He growled, whipping around to see a dozen or so stormtroopers chasing after them. "Lando, you'd better get that thing open fast!"

"The security codes have been changed!" He replied frantically.

"Oh dear, if Artoo were here he could tell the computer to override the security system." Threepio declared in distress. Meanwhile Lando inputted a code and took out a comm.

"Attention. This is Lando Calrissian. Attention. The Empire has taken control of the city; I advise everyone to leave before more troops arrive." He declared over the intercom.

Han jumped as Chewie yanked his paw out of the socket with a yelp, revealing singed fur. "That's a no go, Lando!" Han exclaimed towards the man.

"Right... This way!" He took off down the hall with Han and Chewie right behind him. Chewie growled angrily at Threepio who said something about not knowing what the difference was between a power socket and a computer terminal.