For allbingo
Mar. 23rd, 2021 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: The Biggest Family In The Galaxy
Summary: Leia tells Shara and Kes about Vader.
Prompt: Free Space — Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It was Leia, when Ben and Poe had gone off to bed, who sat down with Shara and Kes. Han sat with her. It was Shara who said, “Leia, are you all right?”
Leia had had a PTSD attack, mostly thanks to something she’d seen in a holo that reminded her too well of the first Death Star (that probe, ripping apart her mind even as she tried to hold firm). It had taken Shara time to comfort Leia, to remind her she was there, safe and sound.
“I am.” Taking a deep breath, Leia said, “You already know about Vader, right?”
Shara nodded. “I never really blamed the stormtroopers for what they did. I don’t know where they came from, if they were drafted, what kind of lies led them so far from home. But people like Vader...Kes and I would see what he did, what Tarkin and Krennic and others did, and we couldn’t just sit back and watch.”
“Yeah. I know.” Leia had mostly been training for the Senate, but she knew too well how it felt. “Would you think less of me if I told you...Vader had children?”
She watched Shara’s lips part. No condemnation, just confusion there. “Who?” she said.
Leia couldn’t get over the feeling of being branded with something she didn’t want, didn’t ask for, when she said, “Luke and I are. I learned it before Han and I met the both of you. Luke...he wanted to save Vader from himself. Save him, can you imagine that?” She still didn’t know what to make of that, whether to admire Luke or smack him.
“Save him?” Kes said. “I suppose he felt some sort of obligation, but...I don’t know whether to commend him or be confused.”
Shara nodded. "It must have been hard for you both, learning it,” she said, softly.
“Yeah. But that panic attack I had earlier...did I tell you what Vader did to me on the First Death Star?”
Leia didn’t know why she was saying this. Maybe it was the fact that Shara and Kes had just been so overwhelmingly kind.
Even after everything that happened, Shara and Kes still accepted her.
“Vader...well, he tortured me,” Leia said, simply.
It wasn’t often that Shara Bey got angry, but Leia could feel Shara’s righteous anger rear up like a mudhorn defending her eggs.
"I heard whispers,” Shara said. “But I never thought that he would torture his own daughter. That anyone would do something so evil.”
“ ‘Evil’ is one way to put it,” Han said. Leia knew what he was thinking of, at least, how he had been tortured on the switchboard at Bespin. The electric shocks, short, but still impactful. And Shara and Kes...they never really made it obvious, but they had lingering trauma from the war themselves. PTSD, if in a more subtle form. It was a burden the heroes of the Rebellion carried as they tried to heal.
“Leia,” Shara said softly, “Don’t think this is your fault. It’s not your fault. Vader...he did terrible things.” A soft laugh. “I don’t usually like to call people ‘evil’, but there you go.”
“Hear hear,” Kes said. “We love you, both of you. Platonically, that is. What’s in your DNA doesn’t change that, or what someone did to you.”
It was one of those moments where Leia knew she was truly blessed by the Force to have Kes and Shara both. She couldn’t choose her genetics. That much was obvious. But she could choose her new family.
The biggest family in the galaxy.
Summary: Leia tells Shara and Kes about Vader.
Prompt: Free Space — Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It was Leia, when Ben and Poe had gone off to bed, who sat down with Shara and Kes. Han sat with her. It was Shara who said, “Leia, are you all right?”
Leia had had a PTSD attack, mostly thanks to something she’d seen in a holo that reminded her too well of the first Death Star (that probe, ripping apart her mind even as she tried to hold firm). It had taken Shara time to comfort Leia, to remind her she was there, safe and sound.
“I am.” Taking a deep breath, Leia said, “You already know about Vader, right?”
Shara nodded. “I never really blamed the stormtroopers for what they did. I don’t know where they came from, if they were drafted, what kind of lies led them so far from home. But people like Vader...Kes and I would see what he did, what Tarkin and Krennic and others did, and we couldn’t just sit back and watch.”
“Yeah. I know.” Leia had mostly been training for the Senate, but she knew too well how it felt. “Would you think less of me if I told you...Vader had children?”
She watched Shara’s lips part. No condemnation, just confusion there. “Who?” she said.
Leia couldn’t get over the feeling of being branded with something she didn’t want, didn’t ask for, when she said, “Luke and I are. I learned it before Han and I met the both of you. Luke...he wanted to save Vader from himself. Save him, can you imagine that?” She still didn’t know what to make of that, whether to admire Luke or smack him.
“Save him?” Kes said. “I suppose he felt some sort of obligation, but...I don’t know whether to commend him or be confused.”
Shara nodded. "It must have been hard for you both, learning it,” she said, softly.
“Yeah. But that panic attack I had earlier...did I tell you what Vader did to me on the First Death Star?”
Leia didn’t know why she was saying this. Maybe it was the fact that Shara and Kes had just been so overwhelmingly kind.
Even after everything that happened, Shara and Kes still accepted her.
“Vader...well, he tortured me,” Leia said, simply.
It wasn’t often that Shara Bey got angry, but Leia could feel Shara’s righteous anger rear up like a mudhorn defending her eggs.
"I heard whispers,” Shara said. “But I never thought that he would torture his own daughter. That anyone would do something so evil.”
“ ‘Evil’ is one way to put it,” Han said. Leia knew what he was thinking of, at least, how he had been tortured on the switchboard at Bespin. The electric shocks, short, but still impactful. And Shara and Kes...they never really made it obvious, but they had lingering trauma from the war themselves. PTSD, if in a more subtle form. It was a burden the heroes of the Rebellion carried as they tried to heal.
“Leia,” Shara said softly, “Don’t think this is your fault. It’s not your fault. Vader...he did terrible things.” A soft laugh. “I don’t usually like to call people ‘evil’, but there you go.”
“Hear hear,” Kes said. “We love you, both of you. Platonically, that is. What’s in your DNA doesn’t change that, or what someone did to you.”
It was one of those moments where Leia knew she was truly blessed by the Force to have Kes and Shara both. She couldn’t choose her genetics. That much was obvious. But she could choose her new family.
The biggest family in the galaxy.
