Divided Loyalties

Prologue

Dedicated to my official Grammar Counsellor KaitoDetective1412  (-;
Thanks to -skywalkerxs for the absolutely stunning cover!

Little more than two hours had passed since midnight according to the standard time of the Rebel fleet.

Wrapped up in her white dress, Leia was walking down the corridors of the main ship, feeling cold, after an important meeting. The only sound was the clatter of her soft steps, the rest of the Alliance was sleeping; since the fleet was located in a safe place, the sentry rounds had been suspended.

After a long walk, Leia arrived in the wing where she could find the pilots' bunks. She opened carelessly the first door, without knocking.

As she was expecting, she found Luke awake, concentrated on some old document, his head leaning on his right hand and a pencil swinging between the pointing and the middle finger of his left. Most likely he was working on that lightsaber he desperately wanted to build; he was really spending all his energies on that weapon.

"Oh, hi Leia" the boy said, slightly confused, as soon as he saw his friend entering his room. "Do you need anything?".

Leia closed the door behind herself. "You need to sleep. I just want to make an offer" she retorted, raising one of her eyebrows.

Luke puffed, put the pencil down and turned around to face the princess. "You know I can't sleep".

"I do".

A long silence fell before Leia decided to speak. "I managed to persuade the High Command. They assigned you to an important mission" she announced, directing to her friend a luminous smile.
Luke seemed to burst out of joy, something that hadn't been happening for almost three months. "Really?" he asked in a whisper, receiving a happy nod from the girl.

Since the Bespin disaster, no one had ever assigned him to anything important, just small missions as a pilot, probably because flying it wasn't a forgettable ability. Initially, during the therapies due to the loss of his hand, Luke had thought that the problem was the amputation itself: logically, who would send in a vital mission a half-compromised pilot?

Weeks had passed, and Luke had realised that there was more: since he had declared to the generals that in his report he had willingly omitted part of the facts which had taken place on Bespin for personal reasons, the High Command didn't trust him as it used to.

That's why an important mission meant that much to him.

"What's that about?" Luke asked to Leia, curiously.

"The mission is an infiltration" the princess explained "some spies referred about a massive extraction of Kyber crystals, like what happened during the construction of the Death Star. You and I will go to investigate".
Luke quickly stood up with a radiant smile. "Will you come with me?" he asked, speaking a little louder, almost giggling.

Leia nodded her head and smiled sweetly. "They chose me, then they conceded me to bring just one person" she said softly.
Luke couldn't help but hug her, as close as she was, even if his gesture made her a bit startled. "And you asked for me to come with you? Really?" he murmured into her shoulder.

Leia pulled back and chuckled. "Do you need to ask me? I trust you!" she exclaimed, shaking her friend's shoulders. "What happened to your self confidence? Did you throw it into the hyperspace?".
Luke smiled, shaking off the real reason which had brought his self confidence to decrease so drastically.

"When are we leaving?" he asked, mainly to change the topic.
Leia picked up her datapad and checked the time. "Tomorrow at six in the morning" she confirmed. "Try to sleep tonight, it'll be tiring. And dangerous" she said, leaning a gentle hand on Luke's arm.

"I've been trying for three months, Leia. If I sleep, it only gets worse, Force induced nightmares are truly horrible. I hope you won't ever have them" he replied vulnerably, lowering his gaze.

Leia smiled encouragingly. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me what else happened on Bespin?" she asked, and it wasn't the first time. She didn't want to sound so insistent, but she had to.
"I'd like to, but I can't" Luke answered, his azure blue eyes sad and already wet.

Leia nodded her head. "When you are ready" she said gently. She took a step back and smiled as she disappeared behind the door. "Goodnight" she whispered.

"Hey" Luke interrupted "I'm sorry for being so difficult, it's that I truly feel... bad. Don't think I don't care about your problems".
Leia smiled genuinely. "No need to worry. Sleep well" she repeated. Luke managed to make a bitter smile before closing the door.

Prey to his emotions, Luke threw himself on the bed and stayed there, staring at the ceiling. A part of him was happy because of the trust the High Command had shown for him, another was terrified. Especially because he would have a chance to meet Vader, his... father. After three months, he wasn't at peace with the truth, not yet. Even without falling asleep, he often had visions of the reveal, and every time he ended up falling in a panic attack or something else.

Irritated by these thoughts Luke rubbed his face, moaning slightly, as if he could alleviate the suffering of his anguished mind by doing so. He ducked under the sheets and turned the lights off with the Force, hoping that night would be better than the last one when he had tried to sleep, about a week before.

Controlling his breathing through the Force he obliged himself to sleep - for a mere physiologic need - and sled in a tormented sleep, populated by the phantoms of his recent past.

Meanwhile, Leia was quickly handing towards her quarters, her steps light in order not to wake anyone, and once she found the door she literally ran under the blankets. To say that she was exhausted would be an euphemism.

The whole day had been a disaster: she had spent the morning by the communication service, then in the afternoon she had met a former senator so that the Alliance could get some funds, and in the evening the organizing reunion for her and Luke's mission had taken place. Persuading the generals and obtaining the permission to take Luke with her had been more difficult than leading a galactic civil war, but the princess had gotten what she wanted.

Now she only had to hope everything would go smoothly.

Leia slowly fell asleep, the face of a handsome corellian smuggler dominating her dreams.

Hello! This is the first chapter of my monumental experiment: translating into English the second fanfiction I completed in Italian. I hope you'll appreciate it, let me know! Also, tell me if you find any mistakes; my official Grammar Counsellor answered my questions, but she didn't see the whole chapter.
Enjoy!
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