Fic: White Rabbits (Star Wars, 34/?)

[butterfly]

A note or two about this fic -- it's a lot bigger than I thought it was when I started it. It's still going to the same place, but it's become much more complex, and for a very simple reason. As conceived, it was from just two points of view, Anakin and Luke. But very early on, I realized that I wanted to give voice to the other characters as well. And they complicated things (also, as noted earlier, I thought it was going to be a PG-13 rated fic at the most, simply because I figured on primarily following Luke's point of view, and we all see how that turned out). So, this fic is a curious mix of the planned and the off-the-cuff, and will likely continue to be so.

Title: White Rabbits
Part: 34/?
Author: Diana Michelle (butterfly)
Warnings: Spoilers for Revenge of the Sith. Movie-canon only.
Pairings: Anakin/Obi-Wan; Leia/Han.
Rating: R/NC-17
Summary: Leia and Luke get a chance to explore their past.
Disclaimer: Not Lucas, don't own a thing, not making any money.
Chapter Index

Chapter Thirty-Four -- Old Wounds

Leia watched Luke carefully – she could feel him weighing the knowledge of Anakin’s time as a slave. Leia wasn’t entirely sure why it made so much of a difference. Obviously, Anakin hadn’t been a slave for too long – that Jedi that Luke had mentioned, Qui-Gon Jinn, had saved him. Yes, the scars of being ordered around might last a while, but Leia wouldn’t stand for Luke building up a case for forgiving Anakin because of that.

 

Leia shivered a little, her mind casting up the memory of Jabba the Hutt, leering down at her, his tail wagging suggestively.

 

But Vader’s slavery wouldn’t have been anything like that, in any case.

 

“You were going to show us something,” Han said, interrupting the quiet of the moment. Luke glanced over at him, and nodded. Then he looked over at Threepio, and Leia could feel a depth of caution that she understood, now.

 

“Threepio, you’re the one here who can tell us the most about what we’re going to watch,” Luke said. “I’m counting on you.”

 

“I will do my best, Master Luke,” Threepio said, solemnly. He didn’t look any different – he was still Threepio, but knowing that he’d been created by Vader… it changed things.

 

“Thank you,” Luke said, and he restarted the data chip. Leia placed the vaguely familiar voice as Juria Lelen, one of Mothma’s most trusted aides, and a very intelligent young woman.

 

“Of particular interest is this glimpse at a young Anakin Skywalker, who was to be one of the heroes of the Clone Wars.”

 

Hearing the slight awe in Juria’s voice, Leia wondered, and not for the first time, if she should tell the New Republic that Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight. Mon Mothma was a great leader, but she was instilling a certain amount of mysticism in her pupils that Leia wasn’t entirely comfortable with. But as it was, Mothma was Luke’s greatest supporter in the New Republic. That might not be the case if she knew the truth.

 

A holorecorder image sprung up now, of a child about eight or nine standard years old. An old-fashioned training braid hung behind one ear, and he was dressed in the same loose robes that the Jedi always seemed to wear in the pictures Leia had been shown.

 

Anakin.

 

His face was round-cheeked and his eyes were sharp, and he didn’t look mistreated, though he looked oddly fragile. His voice was child-high and strained, but for all that, he had a flat undertone in his voice that sharply reminded her of… well, Vader. The part of his voice that would remain intact, through whatever vile technology he’d used to keep himself alive, was already present in this younger version.

 

And that helped Leia remember that this wasn’t just any child.

 

“…by Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who brought me before the Council and asked that I be made his Padawan. The Council refused then, but due to exten-extenuating circumstances, I request now to appeal that decision and to be permitted the rank of Padawan Learner under Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

 

Luke halted the recording, freezing the image of the young Anakin, his face pale, blinking back tears.

 

“Qui-Gon must have died sometime before this recording was made,” Luke said, thoughtfully. “Threepio, how old was Anakin when he left Tatooine?”

 

“Well, I’m certain that I don’t know,” Threepio said. “But he was around the same age he appears to be in that hologram.”

 

“Wait, he made you before this?” Leia asked.

 

“Yes, for his mother,” Threepio answered.

 

“He built a droid when he was nine,” Leia said, not quite able to believe it.

 

“So, he only knew this Qui-Gon Jinn for… a year at most,” Luke said. “Maybe two if he aged slowly.”

 

“No one ages slowly when they’re that young,” Leia said.

 

“It was less than a year,” Han said, abruptly. Leia turned towards him, noticing that he looked unusually grim and guarded. “Jinn died at the battle of Naboo, Kenobi and Skywalker’s first fight together.”

 

“Why-“

 

“Why didn’t I say this earlier,” Han said, cutting Leia’s words off. “Because I just didn’t remember, okay. I’m not trying to hide things. I just…”

 

“You weren’t ready to think about it yet?” Luke asked.

 

“Maybe,” Han said.

 

“Are you ready now?” Luke asked, and he and Han shared a long glance that Leia couldn’t quite read.

 

“I honestly didn’t remember,” Han said finally, with a shrug that was probably supposed to look careless. “Like I said, Kenobi and Skywalker were kid stuff, pre-Empire stuff. Afterwards, they weren’t important. Hell, we all thought they were dead. After a while, we figured that they were lucky to have died, not to see what’d happened to their Republic.”

 

Han scrubbed a hand over his eyes, lips tight and bloodless.

 

“Do you know anything else about Qui-Gon Jinn?” Luke asked, gently.

 

“I just knew that he was Kenobi’s master. Never even heard that Skywalker wanted to train with him,” Han said. He moved one step toward the projector, staring at the image of Anakin. “He died more than ten years before the First Clone War started, which is when Kenobi and Skywalker started making the HoloNet. Anyway, Jinn was just another Jedi. Nothing special.”

 

“Wait, you said that he was Obi-Wan’s teacher?” Luke asked. Han nodded. Luke bit his lip, looking reflective. “I wonder why Ben never mentioned him. He only told me about Yoda.”

 

After a moment, Luke reached out and restarted the recording.

 

A young Obi-Wan Kenobi, probably around Luke’s age, appeared at the side of the hologram, coming forward to speak to the child Anakin. Leia tilted her head after a moment – Obi-Wan made no attempt to get on Anakin’s level and his sole comfort to Anakin was a light touch on the shoulder. It didn’t seem adequate, not when Anakin was clearly on the edge of tears.

 

So at first, it was a bit of a relief when the recording ended, and Juria’s voice came in again.

 

But the audio that followed left Leia breathless.

 

“I suppose that I really do feel that he killed her.”

 

“I need to speak to Juria,” she said, immediately. “If I can talk to her, I might be able to get the name of that woman out of her. And if a relative of Obi-Wan’s is alive, his sister-“

 

“It won’t mean anything,” Luke said, and she could feel a weariness in him. “You heard the recording, Leia. He never tried to contact his mother. Not once.”

 

“But if he knew he had a sister still alive, wouldn’t that change things?” Leia said. “If he knew for certain that he had family, maybe that would help him.”

 

“So, we tell him,” Han said. “And leave the choices up to him.”

 

And that made enough sense to all three of them.

The security holo that was next on the data chip caught Leia’s attention when her father was mentioned. He’d always spoken highly of General Kenobi, but to see that respect so clearly returned… it warmed her heart.

 

And here, Anakin and Obi-Wan looked much as they did in the flesh – Anakin didn’t have the braid he’d had as a child, and Obi-Wan had a beard. But when she looked carefully, she noticed a scar over this Anakin’s right eye. And that was an accessory that their current Anakin did not have.

 

What could have happened to him that would have left a scar? Or had he chosen not to have it healed?

 

Leia was still running possibilities over in her mind after the holo had moved on, but then Han told Luke to ‘shut that blasted thing off’ and she looked up again, to see the half-hidden face of the Emperor.

 

“Han-“

 

“Look, Luke, I’m tired,” Han said, but he sounded a lot closer to angry than tired. “If you want to watch that thing, go ahead. I’m going to go to sleep.”

 

He turned and headed out of the cargo bay, and when Leia reached out to him, he just shook her hand off and kept going, not saying a word.

 

Leia just stood there for a moment. Han hadn’t seemed to want company, but that was sometimes when he needed it most. On the other hand, Luke wasn’t the image of happiness right now either.

 

And she wasn’t thrilled either, to be perfectly frank.

 

“I recognize this recording. It’s the Emperor’s announcement of the possible Wookiee rebellion,” Leia said, softly. “He used it as his excuse to kill and enslave most of the population of Kashyyyk.”

 

“So, let’s not show the holo to Chewie, then,” Luke said, leaning back against the wall, and reaching out to shut down the projector. Leia walked over to him, wrapped an arm around his waist. He welcomed her touch, as always. “How’d this get so complicated?”

 

“I wish I knew,” Leia said, leaning her head against Luke’s shoulder. Luke’s arm slipped around her back, and they just stayed there for a moment, together.

 

“Princess Leia,” Threepio said, breaking the stillness, and Leia glanced over him, surprised. The three of them had gotten so involved in talking at each other that that she’d forgotten that he was even there – she’d never known him to be quiet for so long. “I almost forgot to tell you -- Senator Reilia said that she would be pleased to meet with you. She’s on Coruscant now, and will be for the next three weeks. She said that she would be more than willing to meet you in between appointments.”

 

“I expected as much. Alderaan had a very close relationship with Naboo,” Leia said. “And now I know why.”

 

“Naboo?” Luke asked, and Leia could feel a hope start to fill him up. “Is this… is this about our mother?”

 

“It is,” Leia said, grinning up at Luke. “I’m hoping that some of her family is still alive.”

 

“They are,” Threepio said, and then he cringed back when he received the full force of Leia and Luke’s intent stares.

 

“Of course, you remember her now,” Luke said. “Tell us about her.”

 

“Everything that you know,” Leia added eagerly.

 

“That could take some time,” Threepio said. “Master Anakin lent me to Miss Padmé soon after he reclaimed me, and I was in her service for three years.”

 

“We have time,” Leia said.

 

“We have all night,” Luke said.

 

“I suppose that I should start at the beginning, then. I do seem to be telling quite a few stories recently,” Threepio said. Leia shared an amused glance with Luke before turning her full attention back to Threepio. “Well, Miss Padmé was the first person that I ever introduced myself to, and I will never forget what she said – she told Master Anakin that I was perfect! She was a woman with wonderful taste, even at so young an age.”

 

“How old was she?” Leia asked.

 

“What did she look like?” Luke asked, at the same moment.

 

Leia laughed softly, her joy uncontainable. When she looked up at Luke, he was smiling, that joy in his eyes, too. In this moment, they were just the same, as if they hadn't grown up apart at all, and Leia couldn’t imagine being this close to anyone else.

 

And when Threepio started talking again, they turned to him as one, full of questions.

 

Answers finally within reach.

~end chapter thirty-four~

Comments

[pershin.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!! I can't seem to get tired of writing/saying that ^^

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

And I have to admit that I don't get tired of hearing. Every time is like the first time.