Disclaimer: I do not own any of this! Star Wars is not my idea and belongs to its rightful and respected owners. Enjoy!
Ch. 20
(Han's POV)
"Luke!" I screamed as the wilderness around all of us exploded along with the giant spider. As leaves and branches flew in every direction, I tried to find the kid, but all I could see was dirt.
"Luke!" Leia shouted. She must have been trying to find Luke as well.
Then suddenly, everything went still. Twigs stopped mid flight; rocks and trees hung in the air. The sudden quiet filled the space around Leia and me eerily. Peeking out from behind the Falcon, I found Luke lying unconscious on the hill he and Yoda had been standing on.
"Wise to leave now, it is," Yoda's tight voice came from nearby. "Here early, Vader is." Looking behind me, I saw the creature, glaring towards the far part of the forest.
"Alright, just let me get Luke," I said as I walked out from behind the Falcon. But just as I began to make my way over to the Luke's spot, a wall of Force slammed into me, sending me onto my stomach.
"Luke is not going anywhere," a disturbingly familiar voice rumbled. Shifting my head off the ground painfully, I watched as Darth Vader stepped out from behind the trees.
"Dangerous that was," Yoda hissed, gesturing to Luke. "Killed your son, you could have."
"I know perfectly well what I can and can't do," Vader replied, just as icily. Then, taking out his lightsaber, he got into a stance. "Perhaps you need to be reminded of your limits."
"Unwise it is, to challenge me," Yoda pulled out his lightsaber. Suddenly, I found myself being lifted to my feet. Once I was standing up, I heard a faint sigh from Yoda.
"Go," Yoda ordered, a slight strain in his voice. "Away from here, Luke must be."
"Be warned Solo," Vader rumbled. "Stormtroopers are on their way. Luke will be turned to the Dark Side. Help me now and I will not hurt you and your princess."
For a moment, I seriously considered Vader's offer. I was tired of running. I was tired of being in constant fear. So what if Luke was trained by his dad, he would still learn about the Force, wouldn't he?
"Solo!" Yoda snapped. "Influencing your thoughts, Vader is!"
"My thoughts…" I trailed off, when I saw Leia suddenly leap from behind the Falcon. As Yoda, Vader, and I stared at the princess dumbstruck, she quickly grabbed Luke and began to lead him away from the scene. Without me!
"Hey wait!" I shouted. "I'm coming too!" Before Leia could get very far, I scurried up the hill, leaving Yoda and a very angry Vader alone.
"Wait Leia!" I yelled, as I saw her staggering hurriedly with Luke slung over her back. "The Falcon is the other way!"
"Someone else was coming," Leia replied as she stumbled over a puddle of mud. "Someone worse than Vader."
"The Emperor?" I asked.
"No," Leia shook her head. "Remember what Yoda said? It's his son. His son's almost here!"
"Never knew the Emperor had a son," I thought of as the unpleasant image of…
"Ew," I muttered.
"Oh would you stop dilly-dallying," Leia hissed quietly. "Help me find some cover."
"It won't help," I replied. "Vader can sense Luke's energy, remember?"
"Not if Yoda's hiding it," Leia responded as we continued to run through the undergrowth.
"Yoda is shielding the kid?" I asked.
"I don't know if it's Yoda's shielding or the planet itself is distorting the Force. But whatever it is, Vader can't sense Luke," Leia said surely.
"And how do you know all of this?" I questioned, wondering how Leia knew so much.
My last question made Leia stop short.
"I don't know," she mumbled, looking at Luke anxiously. "But I just…feel it. Please trust me Han. I can't save Luke without you."
As I looked into Leia's eyes, I saw the fear inside them. I saw the fear of me leaving her; of going back to Vader and helping him. Because she knew I had considered his offer.
"Please," I scoffed. Then, more gently, I spoke, "I'll stay with you until my heart stops, princess."
SSSSSSSSS
(Luke's POV)
Pain. Pain was the only thing I could feel. The only thing that my brain recognized. As I breathed in heavily, my mind was bombarded with harsh, burning light, and then cold, horrible darkness. The Force wheeled inside me, making me want to vomit. But to vomit, I had to be awake, and in some strange way, I knew I wasn't awake.
*Yoda!* I cried through the Force. *Help me!*
But my pleas for help were only lost in my weak connection I still had to the energy field.
"Luke!" a voice called. "Luke, get up!"
The light came rushing at me again as I tried to open my eyes, making me shut them painfully.
"Luke!" the voice called again. "Please, we don't have much time! You need to be strong Luke!"
I wanted to wake up; I wanted to open my eyes so badly. But I didn't have any strength left. The Light and Dark were swirling around me, refusing to stay in my grasp long enough to use either of their power.
*Your heart, young one,* a voice entered my mind. *Focus on your heart.*
My heart? Desperately focusing on my heart in my body, I noticed how solid it felt. While the rest of my body was rushing with pain, my heart was still beating. Still giving off Light. Still giving off strength. Latching onto that strength, I let the Light guide me out of my own subconscious nightmare and back into reality.
My eyes flew open, devouring the sight of Leia and Han knelt before me.
"Luke!" Leia cried happily, embracing me in a gentle hug.
"Good to see you kid," Han smiled, patting me on the back.
"Han," I croaked. "Leia."
"Everything's going to be fine, Luke," Leia assured me, taking my hand. "We're going to protect you. You have nothing to worry about."
"My father," I replied, remembering my father's presence right before I had blacked out.
"Your father's here kid," Han answered, looking over his shoulder. "He and Yoda have been fighting it out for a while now actually."
"Can't sense," I breathed.
"It's the planet," Leia explained. "We're not sure why, but Force signatures are hard to read here. That's why you should be safe."
"Safe," I smiled.
"Luke," Han wrapped me in a hug. "You'll be safe now. I promise. Leia and I are going to make sure that you are and stay safe. You're too important to us to lose."
"That's right," Leia chimed in.
While Leia and Han's promises made me hopeful, something seemed…off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something was just…not right.
"Once we get out of here, Luke," Han continued. "We're taking you to Tatooine. They'll never find us there. We'll even take the green guy, so he can train you to become a Jedi. Sound good?"
"Yeah," I replied, but my mind was focusing on that off feeling. Something definitely wasn't right. There seemed to be too much dark in the Force for Dagobah. Too much dark power to only belong to my father.
"Luke, is everything alright?" Leia asked.
"I'm not sure-
Suddenly the cavern wall next to me exploded, just as Han and Leia were sent flying away from me and into the opposite side of the room. My heart stopped as I saw a big, black boot step out from the rubble, connected to a dark menacing presence that quickly filled the room. My eyes widened as the figure turned to face me, his red eyes almost seeming to glow with power.
"Hello Luke Skywalker," the figure smirked. "I am Darth Valens. I am the greatest Sith Lord of this Era. I cast a spell and absorbed the lives of an entire planet, I bathed in the Pool of Knowledge, Drank from the Font of Power. Raised to a level of power that a Force sensitive could only dream of and took on an Apprentice who found his own level of mastery, still however I feel as though I'm missing something, something I find hidden when I look at you."
Okay, okay, I'm really sorry guys that I wasn't able to update this sooner. Like, really really sorry. If I could, I would change the fate of time and stop my computer from crashing. But anyways…this is the end of Twisted Fate…sort of. I am going to continue to update this story with new chapters, etc. But I am also going to do…sort of like an alternate story (cowritten by HubrisP (just sayin, that guy's a genius, he sure knows how to invent characters and plots and he has all rights to the character of Darth Valens) ). The alternate story is going to focus more on Luke and Darth Valens and have a bunch of new characters and places and ideas…but it will still have Han, Leia, Darth Vader, the Emperor…etc. So whichever story you guys choose to read is fine with me. I mean…you could choose none at all, but that would make me super sad :( I'll be starting the alternate story soon and I'm going to try to alternate updates between Twisted Fate (kind of staying with traditional SW) and the other one (haven't come up with a name for it yet).
So please review, and I hope you guys enjoy my update as well as my future stories!
p.s. the quote at the end is HubrisP's, don't know if I should say that or not, but I just did so…
Bye!