This is the first in a series of short stories that span across the Multiverse, covering nearly all mainstream movies and TV shows, with some sneaky videogames, anime, comics and even podcasts added in. In a moment frustration at my lack of vision f...
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General Leia Organa crashed into the chair of the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. She buried her head in her hand. She and what was left of the Resistance had lost almost completely and had escaped her traitorous son and the First Order by the skin of their teeth. Luke, her twin brother and last hope of the Resistance, was dead – as was her late lover, Han Solo. They were on their way back to Ahch-To, the primarily oceanic and largely Force-sensitive planet, to have a proper funeral for the two of them. She was now surrounded by the whole of her organisation; there were barely thirty of them. Rebel allies from the outer reaches of space were set to come and help them in the Battle of Crait. Yet no one came. She had never felt so alone since 35 years ago, when she had been taken by Darth Vader and the Empire and imprisoned in the first Death Star, where she had to watch Alderaan be destroyed by the deadly green blast. Her entire adoptive family had perished that day. But, luckily, that was the same day she met Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and her new life as a Rebel leader had begun. But no one had come to save her this time.
She heard a deep, inquisitive huff from in front of her. She looked up to see the tall, furry mass of Chewbacca the Wookiee – also bereaved of Luke and Han. He turned his hair-ridden head like a confused puppy at Leia's expression. He let out a short, purr-like noise and, despite the inability to speak, said every word he needed to in the look in his eyes. "I'm okay," she sniffed glumly. He put his soft, paw-like hand on hers. She gave him a watery smile and squeezed his hand.
The lucky golden pair of dice swung in their place on the top of the front cockpit window as the ship shook on entering the space over Ahch-To. The blue and black cloud-like shapes that passed them in hyperspace slowed and morphed into lines of zooming stars that distorted weirdly until seemingly freezing by the time the Falcon had slowed into the regular speed for space travel. The nearly ocean-filled planet of Ahch-To sat below them, a mammoth ball of deep blue and white cloud.
"We're here," said Leia, sniffing one more time and catching her building tears in her elegant sleeves. She stood up and waltzed out of the cockpit, through the curved cylindrical corridor and into the main lounge area, where she met Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, BB-8 and Rose Tico at the door and saw the rest of the Resistance accumulated around the holographic games table, where Han and Luke had played games together countless times before. She couldn't bare seeing someone else in their place.
"Are you alright?" she heard someone say. With a start, she looked around at who said it, so absent-minded that she had hardly heard what they'd said. She looked to her right to see the young, pretty face of Rey, looking quite concerned. "Leia?" she said, a little louder. She could hear her now. "Are you alright." Poe Dameron's equally concerned face peered over Rey's shoulder, his hands on his belted hips.
"Yeah-yes, I'm fine," Leia replied. Her mind felt odd, it was like her neurons were being replaced by cotton wool. The backs of her eyes were begging to ache. She needed to sit down, but she couldn't she needed to speak to the Resistance, she had to tell them what's happening, when the funeral's going to happen, how it's going to happen, what they're going to do afterwards, where they're going to go, what they're going to do, how they'll avoid the First Order, when they're going to meet up with the Outer-rim Rebels, if they're going to meet them, who's going to take the places of leadership after her, what's going to happen if they are found by the First Order, how they're going to protect themselves, when they're going to start getting more recruits, risks they're going to have to take, cuts they're going to need to make, financing, leadership, survival...
"Leia!" Finn exclaimed, his hands vigorously shaking her shoulders. She blinked. Everyone had now ceased their conversations and turned their attention to her. They were all looking at her. Every eye she recognised. Every eye but Luke's and Han's which were now nothing but blank spaces in the corners of these rooms. She expected a snarky comment from her husband, or a supportive one from her brother in the nostalgia of these walls. But nothing came, only the suspended, concerned gazes of her followers.
Rey took a glance at Finn, and Rose behind him. He read the look in her eyes and nodded. Rey turned around and placed a hand gently on Poe's arm. "Poe," she said. "Can you do the briefing?"
"Sure," he replied confidently. They shared a short look in each other's eyes and Rey turned away. She put her hands on Leia's shoulders, asked her to come with her and guided her to the cockpit. Rey looked back as the door automatically slid shut just in time to hear Poe's first word of the brief to the rest of his comrades. Leia sat back down in the seat behind the one Chewbacca was sat in, whilst he was flicking several switches and pressing several buttons getting the ship ready for landing. Rey sat opposite her.
"Are you okay?" she asked hurriedly.
Leia's lip trembled and her eyes glistened as she shook her head, every ounce of her strength and hardness seemed to slip away. She closed her eyes and a tear trickled down the side of her face. "It's my fault," she sniffed, her throat contracting as she tried her hardest to hold back her tears. "Luke, Han, Holdo... Ben. All of it, they're all gone. And it's all because of me."
"No it's not!" Rey persisted. "Han, Luke and Holdo sacrificed their lives for us. Ben-" She broke off slightly. "Ben made his decision, and he made the wrong one. He let us all down, he betrayed us."
"He's my son!" she sobbed. "What son would do that sort of thing if they hadn't- if they hadn't had the right guidance in the beginning?"
"You blame Luke for that?"
"No."
"Han?"
"Of course not."
"Then why are you blaming yourself?! You know it was because of Snoke. Ben had the best childhood anyone could have asked for and he threw it back in your faces. There's no way this is your fault."
"I'm the one who decided to have a child with Han! Me; with the Sith blood coursing through my veins! I should have known from the start that we were making an enemy by having a child."
"Don't say that!"
"Why do you think Han and I were on the rocks before he died?"
"But Anakin was turned; he saw the light, he helped his son and he over-threw the Emperor."
"Ben doesn't have a son."
"Anakin didn't have a mother, not since he was young at least."
"It's not the same. He- he had his chance to return to the light, and he destroyed us all anyway."
"It doesn't have to be like this!"
"Yes it does Rey! Yes it does! This is all it has been like for hundreds of years! Wars and treason and lies and death! That's all this galaxy's known for millennia! And we still have the naivety to say 'may the Force be with you' every time we part! Tell you what, I am sick. I am sick of the fantasy they've been feeding us since the beginning of time! That there is hope and good in this universe because there's not. We might put on a brave face, swear in the face of evil and call ourselves 'Rebels' but we're no angels. We might look like the good guys, Rey but we're not. We're all killers! And so are you. Excuse me." She exited the cockpit, leaving Rey speechless.
Leia stormed into her quarters and locked the door behind her. She fell against the wall and slid down it, pulling the bottom of her dress over the bottoms of her legs. She screamed at her ceiling, the Force uncontrollably pushing all the objects around her away. Then sobbed into her hands, seeing only Han and Luke behind her eyelids.
