What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

I Know

       Leia

       "That's not true!"

       It couldn't be. Leia wouldn't allow herself to believe that her father was lost in the attack. He had always been that one person she could rely on. If he was still standing, the fight could still be won. And if he wasn't? She forced the idea out of her head. She had to have a clear mind if she were to see the truth hidden among the deception of this soldier boy.

       Dad... please. Where are you? Why didn't you come to Felucia? Why aren't you here now?

       Leia felt him. His presence was distant but he was alive. Wherever he was, he was surrounded by pain. She closed her eyes and felt the Force tap into her thoughts. She saw images. Short and elusive ones of her father. He was alone. He was sad. Tears fell from his eyes. Leia had never thought she would see her father cry. Was this the past? Was he already dead? She could see her mother as well. She was somewhere surrounded by pain. Death. Loss. She was tired and worried but she still had her chin up. Her mother wasn't the kind of person to lose hope. Finally she saw Luke. He stood in a city overgrown with green. It was if someone had placed a jungle overtop a city. Shadows cast over him and hid his face. Leia could feel conflict within him. He was angry. He was afraid. Was this really Luke? Although it looked like him, Leia could not feel the familiar presence of him. His boyish grin. His confidence. The light in his eyes.

       When Leia opened her eyes she felt dizzy. The floor shifted under her feet and her legs were suddenly too weak to hold her up. Out of breath, she knelt down to her hands and knees and tried to force the visions out of her mind. Were these visions of the present? Or were they what lied ahead for her family? As Leia attempted to make sense of her disturbing revelations, Blast stood over her and chuckled deviously. "Poor little Leia... I guess Daddy isn't going to be able to save you this time," he said mockingly. Leia felt her body tremble as sweat fell down her cheek. "It- it can't be..." she whispered to herself. She didn't want to believe that her visions were true.

       Blast tapped a button on the control panel and the purple field swallowed her up once again. Its electronic murmur made her skin crawl. She sat up again and pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face to hide the tears forming in her eyes. Blast stood in the doorway and watched her triumphantly for a moment. "Get comfortable. The trip to Onderon will be a while."

       Onderon. Luke. Oh Luke, please be okay...

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       Minutes or hours passed before Leia heard anything else but her own rigid breathing. She made a deal with herself that the crying would end here. If her visions were real, then her family needed her. They needed her to be strong.

       The buzz from the egg-shaped force-field around her was cut by the sharp hiss of the steel door sliding open. A masked navy trooper marched in with a blaster clamped in his tight hands. Leia watched him curiously. They hadn't placed a guard in her cell for the entire trip. What caused them to send one now?

       The soldier set the gun down on the control panel and began fumbling with buttons. The lights flickered, then the ventilation turned on and off, and then the monitor lit up a number of times. He seemed unaccustomed to the technology displayed before him. A rookie, Leia thought to herself. After a few more tries at a handful of switches, the clumsy trooper finally found the button he wanted and the glowing magenta field around Leia collapsed  around her.

       "Quite handy with the controls," she remarked, looking the trooper up and down. His armor didn't seem to fit right either. A size or two too small.

       "Aren't you a little tall to be a trooper?"

       "Not too tall to be a pilot."

       The soldier pulled his helmet off his head and shook out his shaggy brown locks. Leia's eyes widened at the young man looking down at her. Not with steely silver eyes but with soft hazel ones and a crooked smirk. He stepped forward and held out a hand to help her up.

      "Long time no see, Princess."

       Han pulled Leia into a tight hug. His arms swallowed her up against his tall frame as she savored his unexpected presence. His armor smelled of sweat and durasteel but underneath that, Leia could still detect the scent that she knew to be his own; a combination of Corellian spices and cockiness. This was Han's smell. This was Han.

       She let go of him for a moment. Confusion caused her eyebrows to rise curiously. "How did you get here?" she asked. Han grinned slyly. "Well after bailing from my ship before it crashed into Mandalore, I got picked up by some members of Death Watch- buddies of mine, scoundrels, you'd like 'em. Anyways, they owed me a few favors from way back when so I had them smuggle me into Rett's base. Guess I'm still a stowaway."

       Leia felt a smile creep onto her face. His charming smirk was no different than the one he gave her the second time they met. Back then, he had snuck on board her own ship and along the way, snuck  his way into her heart too. How distant the memory seemed, yet still so fresh in her mind. "Lucky for us you are," she replied softly. Leia felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked up into Han's sparkling hazel eyes. Han wiped away her tears with her thumb. "It's okay Leia. I'm here now. We're okay."

       Han leaned down so his lips could meet with hers. He kissed her deeply over and over again as if to prove that he wasn't just her fleeting imagination playing tricks on her. He held her all the more tightly like he too was afraid that she would slip between his fingers and vanish into thin air. It was then that Leia could feel his veritable relief that he had made it back to her, his pure thankfulness to hold her once more. Quite possibly, he hadn't expected to ever see her again.

      Quite possibly, that was why he had said "I know".