Darkness {4}

Chapter 31

Luke could still hear ringing in his ears, and at this point it almost gave him comfort because at least it wasn't dead silent. The cell was actually not the most uncomfortable, and he realized with a scowl that he could now say he'd been in both a New Republic and an Imperial prison.

He sighed, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. Luck didn't seem to favor him all that much, or really anyone else he was around. But somehow his friends always found a way to make it out alive, something that both amazed him and terrified him because he didn't know if it would happen again.

There is no such thing as luck. Ben's words came to him, spoken a decade prior to him when he was still a naive teen out in the stars for the first time. At the time Luke had no idea what Ben meant, but now he understood. There was always more to it than being lucky.

Luke's cell door opened, causing him to open his eyes and look up. His stomach lifted slightly as Kira entered into the doorway, a scowl on her face. "Eat up." She commanded, tossing him a ration bar. He took it silently, and didn't fail to notice how another one 'slipped' out of her pocket as she turned and walked back up the stairs out of the cell.

Using the Force to catch it, Luke finished his first one and decided to save the second, not knowing when he'd need it next. It wasn't as if he was undernourished here; he'd been here for about a day or so and had been given three, one for each meal. But a little extra food never hurt anyone.

So far Luke had been rotating between boredom and anxiety, wondering what exactly the Kirma planned to do with him. The Empress definitely wouldn't kill him because he was valuable, then again at the moment the New Republic probably didn't think extremely highly of him.

Luke tossed the ration bar up in the air and held it there, feeling a bitter resentment in his chest. Even when he'd fought so hard to protect the Rebellion and New Republic he was still framed for assassinating a woman he'd been around multiple times beforehand. He didn't understand what anyone thought his motive would be, but...

Luke's eyes opened wide and the ration bar lowered back to the ground and he sighed and unclenched his fist. Of course they would think he'd do anything for his sister, and if she wanted to be chancellor there was his motivation. He groaned and laid back down after sitting up quickly due to the revelation, squeezing his eyes shut. It was as if the evidence of his guilt was growing in front of his own eyes, and he was just a bystander.

If only to ease his mind and have something to do, he checked on his prosthetic, peeling back the flaps of skin and peering into it. He moved his fingers separately, and observed how each different rod and nail went up and down as he did so. He then rolled up his sleeve and observed the circumference of the scar around his arm where flesh met metal, one he didn't intend to show many people. The only one who had ever seen it was Leia, and that was because she was there when his prosthetic was attached.

Luke's heart squeezed when he thought of his sister, thinking of how they were both so preoccupied and how the galaxy seemed to enjoy keeping them apart. They had been separated for nineteen years, and then when they'd finally reunited it was under less than optimal circumstances. And then they'd been separated for three more years, operating separate bases and dealing with Imperial attacks on their own, Han and Leia being together on one system while Luke and Leena were sent to another to operate a base while also juggling building a new Jedi order.

He'd missed her terribly sometimes, and he could tell she felt the same because there would be moments when he felt his twin reach out to him and intertwine her mind and feelings with his for a few brief seconds before the distance became too far and she had to retreat. And now they were reunited only to be separated yet again, with Mon Mothma's assassination branding him a traitor and leaving her with an even bigger role than before.