Luke and Leia - Twins [1]

22: The Ceremony

Leia rushed in and slammed the door shut, checking the window to make sure no one was following them. She swallowed hard and smothered her nerves before looking at Luke and letting out a laugh. "Force, they really like you."

Her brother climbed up onto his bunk and laid down on the bed with a heaving sigh. "Yeah, they really do. I mean, I did just destroy a space station, but still!"

Leia laughed again and crossed her arms. "Well, don't get too cocky. I don't wanna have to deal with two Hans."

"You don't have to worry about that, I'm not tall enough to be a Han." Luke sighed. "I'm gonna take a nap."

Right on cue, someone knocked on the door frantically and the twins exchanged a confused look before Leia opened it and immediately jumped out of the way as Han and Chewie practically ran in. Threepio was close behind them, muttering "Oh my!" as he walked in as well.

"Geez, those people have nothing better to do than chase us around!" Han exclaimed breathlessly. "You'd think that they'd all be planning the next move of the Rebellion, but no, all they wanna do is see us."

Chewie growled, and Han shot him a look. "Yeah, it had crossed my mind too, but I just think they like having a victory around for once instead of losing all the time. And they have someone to celebrate for doing it." He puffed out his chest, and Luke popped his head over the bunk.

"Don't forget who actually blew it up." He reminded the smuggler. Han jumped at the sudden appearance of a head above Leia, who was leaned against the ladder. Leia snorted at Han's wild expression, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hey Princess, if you'd been trying to escape people all day then you'd be a bit jumpy when you see someone outta nowhere too!" He exclaimed, masking his embarrassment with boisterous loudness.

Unfortunately for him, both twins saw right through it. "Well, the self-named hero of the Rebellion is actually just a moon jockey in real life." Leia mused, and a thud next to her sent her head turning to see Luke on the floor.

"Ow." He mumbled, wincing as he stood up and rubbed the shoulder he fell on.

Leia sighed. "Make that two moon jockeys."

Luke made a face at her and frowned. "I just realized I don't have any clothes for this fancy ceremony thing later today except for this one tunic." He gestured to himself. "And I doubt that it's even clean looking."

"You're right about that, kid." Han mused, and Luke groaned.

"Great."

"I'm sure one of the generals has something, Luke." Leia offered. "Don't worry."

"Nah, kid. Just come with me, I'll find you something in the Falcon." Han waved Luke over, and the teen shrugged and followed the older man out the door.

The halls were empty, which was a nice change from yesterday when they were all packed with celebratory and drunk Rebels. "At least there's no one to pester us this time." Han grumbled, and Luke nodded. Yesterday and today until now neither of them had gotten a break from everyone either congratulating them or waving at them. Luke was normally a very cheerful person so waving back with a smile wasn't hard, but Han was another story.

Luke personally enjoyed all the new attention even if it wasn't opportune. He was a hero if the Rebellion, which put a target on his back but also made his chest swell with pride. He belonged here, and it was nice to belong somewhere where he mattered for once.

Han was already used to fame, but not exactly the good kind. He'd swindled and killed enough people to have them populate a small moon, and he couldn't think of a system in the Outer Rim that hadn't heard of him. As a matter of fact, the only reason he'd even gone to Tatooine in the first place was to meet up with Jabba and discuss a bargain. And now here he was, named a Rebel hero when he wasn't even a Rebel.