Room 317 [after workshops]

[tatooine_doofus]

After his workshop with Mr. Winchester, Luke came back to his room to convince Artoo that Leia had gone home.

Artoo, still in the closet, remained unconvinced.

"I wouldn't lie to you about this," Luke told the door, rolling his eyes. "She came, she saw him, she had ice cream, she went home. Really."

Artoo let out a mournful whistle.

"Fine," Luke said, flouncing back to his bed. "I'll be over here, practicing levitation with Yoda who's a turtle again, thank the Force."

Yoda? Not thrilled by getting spun through the air again, but he couldn't talk any more, so no one cared.

The door was cracked open.

[OOC: Conversation between Luke & Rikku is locked to them and the topic is NFB, thanks!]

I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow

Comments

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"He knew my father had been Jedi," Luke said softly. "And the Emperor--specifically, Vader--we killing all of the Jedi. I think he was hoping that if he never mentioned them, I'd never hear about them. He was protecting me. I didn't see it like that then."

[the_merriest]

Rikku nodded slowly. "It's hard, I guess. I mean. They had to be worried about you, if the Jedi were being killed off. And you're a Jedi, you said, so that's dangerous. Maybe they were hiding you."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"They were definitely hiding me."

With his father's last name. On his father's home planet. Way to be passive-aggressive, Obi-Wan.

He shrugged. "So I followed Artoo and Threepio, we ran into Ben and Artoo ran this tape from Leia begging for help. She was on board the Death Star and had included the schematics of how to make the thing explode in Artoo. We had to get them to her father on Alderaan." He blew out a breath. "Of course, the Empire was tracking the droids, too. Back home. When I arrived, the farm was on fire and everyone was dead."

[the_merriest]

"Leia, your sister," Rikku nodded. "Is that how you found out about her?"

And then she heard the rest of it and flinched. Sand dunes, lit up by your home in flames ... she knew only too well what he must have felt right then.

After a few moments, she got up, went over to Luke, and sat down next to him, placing one arm tentatively around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "Y-your aunt, and uncle?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke stared out at nothing. "It was just the start," he said hollowly. "But I didn't exactly have a reason to stick around. Ben said if I'd been home, I'd have died too." It was clear that wasn't much of a comfort to him.

"So we went to find a ship to Alderaan, but by the time we got there, the entire planet had been destroyed by the Empire in an effort to get Leia to talk." His mouth thinned. "It didn't work--of course it wouldn't work-so they slotted her for execution."

[the_merriest]

Rikku closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Luke, they ... m-my home is gone, too. They were looking for Yunie and they b-burned it to the ground. I got there just in time to see. Most of us ..."

She shook her head. "I keep feeling like it's my fault or I should apologize to all the people, but ... it's not your fault they're gone, any more than it's their fault they are. You're here. You have to make that mean something. Yeah?"

She took a deep breath. "They ... her whole planet?! You can't ... oh. They ... they were in power, and they can do ... anything they want. Oh, Luke." She felt heartsick. "Is she ... how do you even ..."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke leaned into the hug. "You don't think about it," he said. "The number just...numbs you. Leia's so much stronger than I am," he said. "She gets out of bed in the morning and keeps moving. I don't know if I could do that and I don't even like Tatooine all that much."

[the_merriest]

Rikku leaned over for a long squeeze. "It's ... you can't think about it. All the deaths, all the ... you can't. You'll go crazy. She must be pretty strong, yeah. Or maybe ... maybe she has to keep moving or she will think about it."

She shuddered. "So they were gonna execute her. Did they even bother with a trial?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke snorted sarcastically. "Oh, sure. Nah, they just tossed her into a cell. We got sucked in by the Death Star's tractor beams and while Ben was off taking them down again, Han and I sprung Leia out. They were going to execute her! I didn't even know she was my sister. She was just in trouble."

And good looking, but he didn't really dwell on that part of his many, many neuroses.

"We got her out just as Ben was coming back from fixing the beam, but then he ran into Darth Vader."

Deep breath. "Who'd been his apprentice. Vader cut him down without really having to try."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shook her head. "They're in charge, they just get rid of people who cause trouble. That's ... they don't need a reason. They spread lies and tell people you never existed."

And took a breath sharply. "Cut ... cut him down? He ... he got ... hurt?" She really, really didn't think so.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke gave her a watery smile. "Not exactly," he whispered.

[the_merriest]

Rikku swallowed, hard, and leaned in for a long moment. There wasn't anything to say, some times.

"You, uh. You saved her, right? You did it. That's ... you did good. You know that, yeah?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Ben knew it was coming," Luke said, seeing the scene play out in front of him again. "He gave Vader this smirk, then looked at me and surrendered to the Force. His body disappeared before his 'saber hit the ground." He wiped his hands across his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "So yeah, we got back into the ship with the droids, the plans and the princess, and got the hell away from the Death Star."

He rolled his eyes. "Which, of course, followed us."

[the_merriest]

"Princess? Whoa. Your sister's ... wait, are you a prince, then?" Rikku shook her head. "I don't get it. He ... let Vader hit him? Why? Was it ... did it give you guys time ... to get away?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"She's a princess because her adoptive family ruled Alderaan," Luke said with a small smile, "not because of anything Skywalker. And he let Vader hit him...I'll get to that. Basically, it's because Jedi don't fear death. So we saddled up all of our ships--which wasn't a lot--and went after the Death Star. There was a three-meter hole in it that would blow the whole thing. I hit it."

And if that wasn't a shot in a lifetime, nothing was.

[the_merriest]

"Oh. Okay. I mean, there's not fearing death, and then there's going, 'Hey, you know, what the heck.'" She facepalmed. "That so wasn't supposed to be .. that kinda came out ... never mind, please?!"

"The Death Star thing ... wait, you mean airships!? You were up there in airships aiming at something ... how could you even see it!?" She gaped at him. "We had to get out of our ship and stand on the roof and hope Pops didn't swerve just to hit stuff that small! And that was us, not the gun!"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"The starfighters had navigational help," Luke said, blowing past the bit about Obi-Wan as fast as possible.

The denial ran strong in him, oh yes.

"And the guys who, um, didn't make it who went before me helped too," he said quietly. "I knew where to hit."

[the_merriest]

Rikku looked over at him. "The guys who ... oh. You mean ..."

And then she smiled, a little sadly. "It's kind of nice to know, isn't it? That they're out there, helping. Somehow. Yeah?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled ruefully. "The Jedi take it to a freakishly literal place," he said. "I heard Ben telling me when to shoot. Needless to say, the Emperor and Vader weren't particularly pleased to have their favorite new toy blown up, so after a few more battles, the Rebellion sent me here to get out of their way."

He sighed. "And Vader found out and followed."

[the_merriest]

Rikku nodded. "They were with you. That's ... that's really something, you know?"

And then shook her head again. "Here, you mean Fandom!? Why did they let him teach?! I thought this was supposed to be safe, didn't he ... wasn't he trying to ... are you okay!?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Principal Washburn had her reasons, too," Luke said sadly, flexing his gloved hand. "And of course he was trying something. Just not exactly what the Emperor'd had in mind."

He blew out a breath. "A Jedi has two paths in front of him: serve the light or take the power he has in the Force and twist it to serve his own ends. Darth Vader had taken the second path...and he wanted me to join him there."

[the_merriest]

"Were they good reasons!? Had she hit her head!? Luke, they let Hades be the vice-principal and he tried to get my soul and maybe he was kidding but I don't think he was!" there was a lot of flailing to accompany that, and then Rikku took a deep breath.

"Whoa. Sorry. Kinda freaked all over your story. Okay. So ... Jedi aren't always good? I thought they were about balance and all that. And ..." She shook her head, almost laughing a little. "I guess he didn't know you very well, huh? I can't see you tempted to the whole evil thing."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"...you're going to tell me about the soul thing some time soon," Luke said, and it wasn't really a request.

"And the reason Principal Washburn let Vader be here was pretty much the same reason he thought I might go along with his clearly insane plan. Um. After he made me think everyone else I loved was going to die and chopping off my hand," Luke said, taking a deep breath.

"He was my father."

He winced, waiting for the fallout.

[the_merriest]

"Totally," Rikku said, nodding, to the first part. "Long story and it's okay now, I talked to your dad about it and it's all good."

And then she sat waiting while the rest of the story unfolded itself and ...

Couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"Your ..." She shook her head. "It ... no, Luke, I met your father, right? And he's really nice and ... and he's a Jedi, and you said ... this guy was evil, yeah? That can't be right."

She stared in disbelief. "How did he ... why would he think that he was ... how ... why would he say that? It ... doesn't make any ... sense."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't mean it wasn't true," Luke said softly. "He'd been a Jedi, he chose the Dark Side, and the fall...was catastrophic. That's why Leia and I were separated, why she was hidden, why Ben let himself be killed...."

By his former best friend. Nicely done, Obi-Wan.