Invisible Smoke ➵ l.s. (editing)

sixteen

❝ I watched the world fall from your eyes ❞

Elara's eyes open to a dark, hollow cell. No Flynn, Leia, Han, or even Chewie. Just her, and a blurred figure in the corner. Her vision still proved blurry as she regained consciousness, leading her to believe at first it was a figment of her imagination.

"My love! You're awake! I thought you were never going to wake up." A familiar male voice chirped.

"What is this, Oliver?" she sat up from the metal slab where she'd been placed.

"One of the nicest cells in Cloud City, don't you think," he pulled the hood back off his head, "perfect for a fugitive of the Empire."

He cast a maniacal smile towards her, met by a glare overflowing with hatred.

"Why so hostile," He faked confusion to manipulate her anger, but instead she remained silent, "hello? I'm talking to you."

"I think you know why, Oliver."

"What? Because I'm Imperial now, while you still serve that pitiful Rebellion? Or is it because I'm still alive?"

"Yeah, let's start with that one," she folded her arms, "after all the trauma you put me through. Slamming me into furniture, berating me for something as simple as a lipstick. You took advantage of the fact I legitimately loved you, manipulated me and then you just spontaneously decided to fake your death at the hands of the Empire one day, all so you could join them?"

"Whoa now," he pushes out his hand, slamming her into the cold metal cell wall, "I think you've got it all wrong, my love."

"Oh do I," She tried to push back against him, unsuccessfully, "tell me, what do I have wrong? It's just a coincidence you showed up here with the Empire? After all these years of being 'dead'?"

He flicked his finger to the side, throwing her side into the metal bed. She emits a weak groan, and collapses onto the floor. "Let me tell you where you've got it all wrong, my love," he crouched next to her, drawing a lightsaber from his pocket, "you were right about the Empire thing. But I didn't do it to save myself. I did it for you. To save you from this stupid little Rebellion, I saw the path you were going down," he traced down her arm with the hilt of his saber, "and perhaps you forgot why I treated you the way I did. Someone had to teach you to watch yourself. You're quite reckless, you know."

"Mhm," she gritted her teeth, "that just confirms you're the piece of –"

"Shhh. You'll die trying to resist, my love. The Emperor wants you alive."

"What does he want with me?" She seethed in between breaths.

"He doesn't want you, per se, he wants that ditsy blonde boyfriend of yours, and you're simply the bait." He laughed, eyes catching on the glimmering silver necklace, the replica of her mother's that he'd given her, still dangling from her neck.

"So I'm just a bargaining chip? That's what this is about," Oliver grips onto the necklace, "let go."

"No. There's something more. He says there's something special about you," he twirls the necklace around his finger until he reaches the clasp, and removes it from her neck, "but he won't tell me what. Told me 'figure it out', so, that's what I'm gonna do."

"Give that back!"

"How about no, until you tell me what's so special about a girl like you. Until then, this is mine." He tucked the necklace into his pocket, letting it dangle to deliberately tease her, and ignited the crimson blade in his other hand.

Her breath hitched as she felt the blade's heat radiate on her skin. He leaned the blade closer and closer over her skin until it met it, scorching into her arm while she cried out for him to stop. "Stop! I told you I don't know!"

"You've always been good at secrets," he stood from his crouched position, lightsaber now pointed to her abdomen, "so how about we try this again? Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you, just a small wound."

She closed her eyes, wincing from the pain to her arm. She remembered something Luke had told her once, when they had crashed a shuttle on Tattooine; breathe. Don't focus on the pain. She stayed silent, focused her energy on her breathing, and opened her eyes again. She weakly raised her palms towards him in an effort to bargain with him, "I swear, I don't know."

As she puts her hands up, an accidental jerk of her pinky finger pulls the necklace from his pocket, and it flies into the floor in front of her. Oliver did not notice this, something else seemingly distracted him as he stared blankly at the hilt of his saber. He falters slightly, and withdraws the blade.

His eye catches the necklace in the floor, but them back to the scorched bit of shirt on her abdomen. A regretful look momentarily fills his eyes, before dissipating back into emptiness. "I-I believe you, now. I think I figured it out –why he wants you."

"Why is that?"

"I'll let you figure that out for yourself," he waves a hand, rendering her unconscious, and opens the cell door to two guards, "place her with the others, and be very careful. The Emperor doesn't want unnecessary damage."

•••

Leia Organa paced around the cell. Flynn sat motionlessly in a corner, while Chewie tried to repair a screaming Threepio.

"What do they want? They must want something," Leia thought aloud, speaking for the first time since they took Han, "otherwise we'd all be dead by now."

"It has to be something with Luke," Flynn rambles, "Ellie and I, we tried to run, but, Oliver, he caught us. I don't know how he's even alive, but he mentioned something about Luke being –"

The cell door's opening interrupted their conversation. A stormtrooper carefully laid an unconscious Elara down just inside the door, followed by two more violently tossing Han inside, slamming the door behind them.

Chewie ran to his captain's aid, lifting him onto a metal slab, while Leia momentarily checked out Elara, followed by Flynn. "What did they do?"

"This looks like a lightsaber wound if I've ever seen one."

a/n
hello! i know this is defo on the shorter side for my chapters (only a little over 1k) but it felt necessary to end it here? i just really wanted the majority of this one to be mostly the scene with Elara & Oliver that Luke actually foresaw, so.

anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and don't forget to vote & comment! <3

(unedited 1/27/21)