STAR WARS - The First

The First
by Nic.
17 October 1999 - inspired by real sadness.

Disclaimer: George Lucas created Star Wars, and without it my life would be very different indeed.. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warning: This vignette was inspired by the new novel "Vector Prime". Which means it contains a huge spoiler for the book (but no details). If you don't want to know what happens then run away now.

The First

The morning is still, quiet. Empty. And she knew, even without opening her eyes, that nothing would ever be the same again.

Oh, she had seen friends die before. Death was almost the one constant of the universe, war and death, a cycle that seemed to repeat itself time after time even as the Jedi grew stronger. Some said the darkness had to balance out and on days like this, Leia was tempted to believe it.

She did not want to get up. She was tired, and she was getting old. It was time to face the fact that even with her power, her
prestige, her fame, she wasn't going to stay young forever. Her children were practically adults. And her husband, her beloved Han, no longer quite managed that roguish swagger that had stolen a little piece of her heart.

Their time, as bringers of hope and justice, guardians of the New Republic, was drawing to a close. And that knowledge was brought home with profound sorrow, for the first of them had died.

Leia's heart constricted painfully yet again. They were supposed to be immortal. They were heroes and heroes never died. Not in this galaxy. It wasn't right.

For almost a quarter of a century they'd been together. Was it really that long?, Leia found herself wondering. It seemed only
yesterday that she'd been broken out of the Death Star detention cell and made some rude comment about a walking carpet.

It had been the first time she'd met them - the three who were to change her life forever, their destinies becoming intertwined so strongly that nothing could ever separate them. Even when duty or fate took them far apart, she could still count on them to be there for her when she needed them. Luke, Han and Chewie. Three she'd met one fateful day on a harbinger of death, the three she would spend the rest of her life with.

But now there were only two. And even as the knowledge hurt her once again, she felt a pang of even deeper sorrow as she imagined what Han must be going through. Han, who'd known Chewie forever, or so it seemed.

He wasn't with her now and Leia surmised he'd gone out walking. Or perhaps he'd returned to the Falcon, to stare at the empty co-pilot's seat....

A tear trickled down Leia's cheek and she resolutely pushed it away. There was no sense in wallowing in the memories but she couldn't help it. She remembered the asteroid field, she remembered his comforting embrace at the freezing chamber (a memory she still shuddered at even now), and she remembered the look of joy on his face as he partied with his new Ewok friends.

A thousand memories of a thousand special times. Yet now, it seemed she had never appreciated each moment. Had she ever told Chewie how much she loved him? How much his being there - for Han, for herself, and her children - meant to them all? He'd been almost a doting grandfather to Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, and Leia knew they grieved as much as she did.

How were they all supposed to go on now the first of them was gone? And who would be next? Suppressing a small shudder, Leia knew she didn't want to go down that path. But how would she ever go on if Han died?

Just as bleakness threatened to overcome her, Leia felt the softest, gentlest brush against her mind. A comforting caress from
her brother, saying, "I'm here for you," and Leia was able to blink back the tears again.

She would go on. She was strong. She had seen much death and had always survived. But that didn't make it any easier. And it could not suppress the knowledge, the terrible knowledge, that they weren't immortal after all, for the first of them had died.

"I'll miss you, Chewie," she whispered, irrationally. He wasn't there to hear her but saying the words still brought some comfort. "We will all miss you." Forever.

And she imagined, that somewhere in Wookiee heaven, the Mighty Chewbacca rumbled a soft goodbye.

---
End.

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