Luke and Leia - Twins [1]

18: Trash Compactors and Further Disasters

"What?" Han asked, his confidence noticeably more shaken. Chewie looked more scared now as well, growling anxiously and starts to beat on the door. Leia's stomach clenched as she felt the fear radiating from the other three, and wondered if any of them felt it as strongly as she did.

Something jolted inside Leia's mind, and before she could figure out what it meant the thing Luke had mentioned slithered around his leg, and to her horror it dragged him under the surface.

"Luke!" Both Han and Leia yelled, with Han digging through the water frantically while Leia stood frozen in fear. Her brother had just gotten dragged underwater by some... thing, and as the seconds ticked by slowly her heart squeezed more and more until she couldn't breathe.

Suddenly, when both Leia and Han thought all hope was lost, Luke broke through the surface like an explosion, writhing around and coughing nonstop.

"Luke!" Leia exclaimed relievedly, but her relief didn't last long when she realized that a tentacle was now wrapped around her brother's neck.

Leia thought fast, grabbing a long pole near her. "Luke, grab hold of this!"

"Blast it will you; my gun's jammed!" Luke gargled through the water in his mouth and the tentacle squeezing his throat.

"Where?!" Han asked in a panic, attempting to hold onto Luke while still holding onto his blaster as well.

"Anywhere!"

Han let out a few desperate shots but it was too late. Leia watched in horror as Luke tried to stand up and was immediately rushed back under, with Han crying out his name and digging frantically.

The seconds passed by again, and Leia heard Chewie give a low, mourning grumble. She felt tears start to rise at the corner of her eyes, and she angrily pushed them back. Luke was alive still; she didn't know how she felt it but she did, and she knew with all her heart that he'd come back up any second. Or at least, she wanted to believe he would.

But a loud noise from inside the trash room jarred her thoughts, and she shared a worried look with Han. This noise was much louder than the last, and it made them both extremely uneasy. Chewie was growling fearfully at this point, his attempts on opening the door becoming more frantic. The entire room was charged with anxious energy as the trio waited for Luke to reappear while simultaneously wondering what the noise was.

A few agonizing seconds later Luke came blubbering back up, coughing and flailing around again as his senses started to recover now that air was in his lungs.

"Help him'" Leia demanded to Han, then turning to Luke. "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" Luke exclaimed breathlessly, coughing as Han helped him up. "It let go of me and disappeared!"

Leia was extremely relieved that her brother was alive and safe, however she couldn't help feeling a bit worried that the creature had let go of him so soon. She somehow knew it was no longer in the garbage with them, but why did it leave? Did something scare it off?

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Han voiced Leia's own worries while Luke continued to cough and recoup from almost drowning, but the group didn't get much time to rest as a low rumble within the walls answered Leia's questions for her, and she exchanged worried looks with Han and Luke before looking back at the door to see it still hadn't budged at all.

Leia looked around, still worried about what scared the monster away but too tired to dwell on it too much. However, her eyes snapped wide open when the trash started moving around her.