(no subject)

[haveyourmoments]

I’m on my way to Jabba’s palace on Tatooine, dressed in a godforsaken dead bounty hunter’s suit, complete with a stifling mask that makes me feel like I might actually faint. Or maybe that’s just the smell of old alcohol that came with the suit. At any rate, I’m petrified, not at all convinced that Han has survived the carbon freezing, especially not after all this time.

I walk inside the palace, my fingertips grazing over the thermal detenator in my pocket, holding Chewie’s leash with my other hand, and thinking that at least if Han is dead, I can wind up with him in the end.

Comments

[going_solo]

I have no concept of time or space or anything, I can’t hear the intruder or even know of their presence until I’m falling forward into their arms, quickly trying to scramble away.

And I can’t see, I’m quick to realise.

[haveyourmoments]

Chewie is taken from me, of course, and the Falcon is hidden away in a junkyard, so if Han doesn’t wake up, I will truly lose every single piece of him. I sneak down into the main room, banging the damned helmet on some…wind chimes? Gods. I walk swiftly and hopefully silently over to where Han is being grotesquely displayed and fumble with the buttons until he’s warming up and dropping unceremoniously onto the sandy floor.

[going_solo]

I’m breathing in sand and start coughing hard, trying to look around but only seeing dark. “Who’s there?!”

[haveyourmoments]

“Sshhh,” I say desperately, looking around before turning my attention back to him.

[going_solo]

“Leia?!” I demand, before lowering my voice. “Where are you?”

[haveyourmoments]

“I’m here,” I say, my fingers running through his hair nervously, hoping like hell that he’s asking because he wants me to be there with him.

[going_solo]

“I can’t… I can feel you,” I say, leaning into her touch. “But I can’t see anything.”

[haveyourmoments]

“It’s probably from the hibernation sickness,” I say, having done as much research as possible but still not confident because, well, no one has ever been frozen in carbonite by a Sith Lord for nearly a year before. “Come here, I’ll help you up.”

[going_solo]

I hesitate, but then realise I have no real choice but to trust that it’s her and let her help me up.

[haveyourmoments]

I can sense his apprehension, and I know it’s not much help that I’m wearing gloves and unfamiliar clothing. I lean in and kiss him, tears springing into my eyes. “It’s me, Han. I’m here now.”

[going_solo]

“I should have known you would come for me,” I say, setting against her. “Couldn’t keep up you out of trouble if I tried.”

[haveyourmoments]

“Hey!” I say, laughing softly and pretending to be indignant. “You’re the one whose middle name is trouble, not me.”

[going_solo]

“I don’t have a middle name,” I correct. “But trouble does seem to follow me.”

[haveyourmoments]

“Let’s see what we can do about finding us both some peace and quiet,” I say, carefully helping him to his feet.

[going_solo]

I cling to her like a lifeline, putting trust in every step.

[haveyourmoments]

I wrap my arm around his waist for support and guidance, and we’re halfway out of the room when I hear a horrible laugh and the lights come on.

[going_solo]

“Oh, goody,” I say, immediately reaching for my blaster which of course isn’t there.

[haveyourmoments]

I help turn Han around as Jabba speaks, entirely clueless, though thankfully Han is fluent in Huttese. I clutch at his belt tightly, looking up at him, though it’s not long before they’re dragging us apart.

[going_solo]

“Leia!” I yell, grabbing blindly at her hands and starting to panic.

[haveyourmoments]

I claw as the creatures holding me back from him, kicking and screaming, but it only seems to give Jabba a perverse sense of enjoyment, so instead I yell: “Han! It’ll be alright, trust me!”

[going_solo]

“I - okay, I trust you,” I shout back,” even though I’m terrified by her absence and my blindness.

[haveyourmoments]

I can see that they take him to where Chewie is, which is a relief, though everything else that happens the rest of the day is something that I don’t think will ever be relieved in my memory. Luke arrives, and everything goes predictably off the rails, and I try not to let his newfound Jedi zen annoy me as I sit wearing nothing but metal and scraps of fabric, leashed to a giant slug.

[going_solo]

Chewie hugs me like never before and for once I give into the affection, grateful for the familiarity. “We have to save Leia.”

[haveyourmoments]

Chewie rumbles in agreement, and of course the first thing those two do is come to rescue me when I’m still in the middle of rescuing them. I’m humiliated, in this slave outfit, and almost grateful that Han can’t see, though I know he can feel a certain lack of fabric when he pulls me into his arms and towards safety.

[going_solo]

I still can’t see but I hold her close, evading our capturers even without a blaster or a saber somehow.