Day Two: Visions of a Distant Past
Title: Visions of a Distant Past
Author: Patriciatepes (Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net and PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating: G
Summary: While Buffy’s away, Luke finds himself entertaining a most surprising visitor.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Wars. Buffy belongs to Whedon, and Star Wars belongs to Lucas. No money made.
Word Count: 1,902
A/N: This is the fourth-of five, OMG, I’m gonna complete it this month-in my Buffy/Star Wars series that began last August Fic-a-Day. The first three are Force of a Slayer, A Fair Trade, and A Slayer in Coruscant’s Court. And, although this is a series, each of these can be read standing alone. You miss out on a little of the surprise, but I do play catch up in each one-shot. But, if you want, you can read the complete series on TTH here. Please enjoy!
Visions of a Distant Past
Buffy had gone, vanished through that portal of white and blue. And like he had been warned, Luke had been left with the slayer’s fair trade. However, the crumpled figure lying just outside Willow’s circle of crimson candles was the last thing the Jedi-or Old One, as the people he had awakened around called him-had expected.
“Leia?” he asked incredulously.
His twin sister stirred, dressed in a white gown that draped from the shoulders and did not hug to her figure. A silver necklace fell from around her neck, and her brown hair was braided and wrapped about her head. He stooped, scooping her up.
“Luke?” she muttered, her chocolate eyes trying to find their focus.
Luke felt his heart skip a beat. He had no memory of what had happened to him, to bring him into this odd future on this unfamiliar planet. All he knew was that he had left to scout a site for the new Jedi Temple shortly following the destruction of the second Death Star-and the deaths of his father and the Emperor. He remembered arriving on an uninhabited planet, and then… nothing. He had woken up in the-what he could only assume was-hibernation chamber in the earthy place Buffy had called the Deeper Well.
Buffy had then proposed a spell, one that would send her to Luke’s time to learn more about what had happened, and she had told him that something would come in her place. As it turned out, that something was a someone.
“Luke!” Leia said, suddenly alert. She shot to her feet, wrapping her arms around her brother. “Oh, Luke!”
“Leia, what are you doing here?” he asked, gently prying her off of him.
She blinked at him, confusion in her eyes. Then her gaze drifted, taking in the cold stone walls and floors of the very aged castle-headquarters to a group of women known as slayers. No signs of any of the technology she knew were on any of the surfaces in the room. She shook her head.
“I-I don’t know. Where are we?” she asked.
Willow stood up, slowly approaching the twins. Gently, she tapped Leia’s shoulder, and she whirled.
“Hey. Hi,” Willow said. “Um, you’re on the planet Earth, and from what we’ve figured, you’re in the future.”
Leia turned back to her brother. “The future?”
She was understandably skeptical. After all, Luke had had trouble accepting the same fact. The world they had left had had technologies above and beyond what he had seen of this place. But he had encountered worlds less advanced than this, so he had taken it in stride. He nodded.
“Yes. Leia… what happened? Why are you here?”
She stepped back, sighing. “You’re asking me what happened? You vanished, Luke. You left to go find a site for the temple, but you never returned! We waited. We waited for a two standard weeks. But you sent no word. We tracked your ship to Yavin Four, but you were nowhere to be seen. We… we couldn’t find you. I couldn’t feel you in the Force anymore.”
She was deteriorating, slowly breaking down into tears. Luke wrapped his arms around her. He looked up to eye Willow, who was the very picture of sympathy.
“Let’s get you something to drink,” the witch said, tugging her away.
She and Luke guided her to a nearby chair, and Willow vanished for a moment into another room, returning with a glass of water. She set it before Leia, who muttered a “thank you” before sipping it.
A moment of silence followed, but finally Willow looked up.
“I know this is the last thing that you’re thinking about, Miss Leia, after being reunited with your-”
“Brother,” Luke completed.
“Brother. But, you see, we just sent my best friend back to wherever you came from. Can you remember anything about what you were doing or where you were at before you were here?” Willow finished.
Leia sighed, glancing back and forth between Willow and Luke.
“Um, I’m sorry,” she said finally. “But who are you?”
Willow laughed, shaking her head. “Sorry. I’m not really focus-y right now. I’m Willow.”
“Leia,” Leia replied. Willow nodded, biting lightly at her lips. “And I was on Coruscant before I was here. I was attending the first meeting of the senate of the New Republic.”
Willow nodded. “Did you feel anything? See anything? Willingly step into a portal of blue and white light?”
Leia blinked, shaking her head. “No. I don’t know.”
Luke held up a hand. “Maybe you ought to ease up a bit, Willow.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s just… the last time I did this spell, a demon came through that tried to rip me and everyone around me a new one. It kind of sparks my curiosity to actually be able to speak with the thing that comes through.”
“Thing?” Leia asked, incredulously.
Willow’s eyes widened and she shook her head and hands dismissively. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean, thing, per se. I meant, person. Traveler.”
Luke grinned, trying his best to hide it behind his hand. Shaking his head, he said, “Let’s try again. So, I just vanished?”
Leia turned. “You don’t know?”
He shook his head. “No. But, did anything happen after I disappeared? Anything at all?”
“No. Not that I can recall. I’ve been kind of preoccupied worrying about the brother I just found out I had. You don’t remember anything that happened to you, Luke? How are you here?”
“I woke up in a hibernation chamber in a place they call the Deeper Well. They call me an Old One.”
“But we’re not really sure he is an old one. For one thing, he’s humans. Old Ones tend to be a bit more demon-y,” Willow added.
“Demon-y?”
Luke shook his head again. “Um, yeah. Apparently their biggest threats in this world are demons and vampires.”
Leia shook her head. “Vampires?”
“Uh, not important right now,” Willow said gently.
Leia nodded. “Of course.”
“So what about you? Are you sure that nothing unusual happened before you appeared here?” Luke said, trying again.
Leia fell quiet. Her eyes were darting back and forth as she searched her memory for anything that could answer the numerous questions she had about this situation. Willow ran a hand through her short, fiery hair as she and Luke sat patiently by. Finally, Leia looked up.
“I had a dream. A night or two ago.”
Luke’s brow furrowed, and Willow looked between the two twins.
“I take it that dreams aren’t always dreams in your world either.”
Luke nodded. “Jedi dreams often mean something very real. I learned that from Obi-Wan early in my training.”
“I’m not a Jedi,” Leia said, and she sounded a bit defensive on the matter.
“The Force still runs strong in our family. Strong enough to send you a vision in your sleep.”
“It was a man that I didn’t know. He didn’t identify himself, but he said that I would get my wish. And then, the next morning, I was attending the senate… and now I’m here.”
Willow groaned. “Oh. We don’t like any phrases with the word ‘wish’ in it around here.”
That statement struck Luke as odd, but he did not ask her to elaborate. Instead, he cocked his head toward his sister.
“What was your wish?”
Leia’s eyes sparkled with tears as she turned to her brother. “To receive closure. To know what happened to you, and if you were all right.”
She folded into her brother’s arms, and Willow stood. She did not speak, but Luke could see it in the witch’s eyes. She was giving him some time alone with his family. She would never understand just how grateful he was for that. He hugged Leia tight, and the two did not speak for a long time. Finally, sniffling, Leia leaned back.
“The man in my dreams said something else too,” she whispered.
“What?”
Leia stared at him a moment, as if she was taking the time to memorize everything about her brother’s face. When she opened her mouth to speak, it was like she had taken the time to roll the words around her mouth to get a good taste for them.
“He said it would be limited. That you had a destiny to fulfill. That my wish being granted would be a kindness. Luke…”
Luke stood, putting his back to Leia. She turned in her seat, leaning against the wooden back of it.
“I don’t think I can stay. I think that’s what he meant.”
Luke sighed, his head hung low. “I know. It’s… part of the spell. For Buffy to return, you have to go home.”
Luke heard the legs of the chair scrap against the stone, and then he felt his sister’s arms wrap around him.
“It’s okay,” she said.
He felt her cheek press against his back, and lifted his hand to cover one of hers that had wrapped around to his chest.
“You’re safe. You’re alive. And if it’s true… if you have a destiny to fulfill here… then do it. You came through for all of us in the Battle of Endor, more than most know. I believe that you can help them in whatever they need.”
Luke turned. “How can you be okay with this? We just found our family… to lose it again?”
Leia shook her head. “It just feels right. This time… bringing me here. This was a gift. And now, I’m all right. I’m okay.”
Willow entered the room before Luke could respond, her mouth pulled into a deep frown.
“I’m sorry, but… it’s been a while. Something tells me we ought to bring Buffy back. And, that means…”
But Leia smiled. “That means I have to go. It’s okay.”
Willow nodded and returned to the circle of red candles in the far corner of the room. She sat crossed legged in the center of them, lighting them in turn. Finally, she sighed, staring up at the twins that stood over her. Luke’s eyes were shining, and he was doing his best to keep his emotions under control. Leia slipped her hand into her brother’s and smiled up at him.
“When the portal opens, jump into it, okay?” Willow asked.
Leia nodded. “Thank you, Willow. Take care of my brother, okay?
Willow grinned. “We will, promise.”
With that, she began to chant. After several chants of the Latin phrases, Willow’s cadence sped up, and soon a hole of white-blue began to open before the twins. Leia turned, hugging Luke once more.
“Be safe,” she muttered into his ears.
“May the Force be with you,” he replied. “I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you too.”
The portal was open now, and Leia took a deep breath. She went at a run, jumping into the light with barely any hesitation. The light seemed to explode, and both Willow and Luke had to shield their eyes. When their vision returned, Buffy was back, lying on the floor much as Leia had been. And Luke’s tears had escaped, despite his attempt to keep them under lock and key.
The slayer blinked and stared up at the Jedi. And Luke knew that she saw the sadness in his eyes.
“My sister,” he muttered.
Buffy sighed, resting her forehead on the floor. Something told the Jedi that she understood.
End Part IV
Author: Patriciatepes (Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net and PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating: G
Summary: While Buffy’s away, Luke finds himself entertaining a most surprising visitor.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Wars. Buffy belongs to Whedon, and Star Wars belongs to Lucas. No money made.
Word Count: 1,902
A/N: This is the fourth-of five, OMG, I’m gonna complete it this month-in my Buffy/Star Wars series that began last August Fic-a-Day. The first three are Force of a Slayer, A Fair Trade, and A Slayer in Coruscant’s Court. And, although this is a series, each of these can be read standing alone. You miss out on a little of the surprise, but I do play catch up in each one-shot. But, if you want, you can read the complete series on TTH here. Please enjoy!
Visions of a Distant Past
Buffy had gone, vanished through that portal of white and blue. And like he had been warned, Luke had been left with the slayer’s fair trade. However, the crumpled figure lying just outside Willow’s circle of crimson candles was the last thing the Jedi-or Old One, as the people he had awakened around called him-had expected.
“Leia?” he asked incredulously.
His twin sister stirred, dressed in a white gown that draped from the shoulders and did not hug to her figure. A silver necklace fell from around her neck, and her brown hair was braided and wrapped about her head. He stooped, scooping her up.
“Luke?” she muttered, her chocolate eyes trying to find their focus.
Luke felt his heart skip a beat. He had no memory of what had happened to him, to bring him into this odd future on this unfamiliar planet. All he knew was that he had left to scout a site for the new Jedi Temple shortly following the destruction of the second Death Star-and the deaths of his father and the Emperor. He remembered arriving on an uninhabited planet, and then… nothing. He had woken up in the-what he could only assume was-hibernation chamber in the earthy place Buffy had called the Deeper Well.
Buffy had then proposed a spell, one that would send her to Luke’s time to learn more about what had happened, and she had told him that something would come in her place. As it turned out, that something was a someone.
“Luke!” Leia said, suddenly alert. She shot to her feet, wrapping her arms around her brother. “Oh, Luke!”
“Leia, what are you doing here?” he asked, gently prying her off of him.
She blinked at him, confusion in her eyes. Then her gaze drifted, taking in the cold stone walls and floors of the very aged castle-headquarters to a group of women known as slayers. No signs of any of the technology she knew were on any of the surfaces in the room. She shook her head.
“I-I don’t know. Where are we?” she asked.
Willow stood up, slowly approaching the twins. Gently, she tapped Leia’s shoulder, and she whirled.
“Hey. Hi,” Willow said. “Um, you’re on the planet Earth, and from what we’ve figured, you’re in the future.”
Leia turned back to her brother. “The future?”
She was understandably skeptical. After all, Luke had had trouble accepting the same fact. The world they had left had had technologies above and beyond what he had seen of this place. But he had encountered worlds less advanced than this, so he had taken it in stride. He nodded.
“Yes. Leia… what happened? Why are you here?”
She stepped back, sighing. “You’re asking me what happened? You vanished, Luke. You left to go find a site for the temple, but you never returned! We waited. We waited for a two standard weeks. But you sent no word. We tracked your ship to Yavin Four, but you were nowhere to be seen. We… we couldn’t find you. I couldn’t feel you in the Force anymore.”
She was deteriorating, slowly breaking down into tears. Luke wrapped his arms around her. He looked up to eye Willow, who was the very picture of sympathy.
“Let’s get you something to drink,” the witch said, tugging her away.
She and Luke guided her to a nearby chair, and Willow vanished for a moment into another room, returning with a glass of water. She set it before Leia, who muttered a “thank you” before sipping it.
A moment of silence followed, but finally Willow looked up.
“I know this is the last thing that you’re thinking about, Miss Leia, after being reunited with your-”
“Brother,” Luke completed.
“Brother. But, you see, we just sent my best friend back to wherever you came from. Can you remember anything about what you were doing or where you were at before you were here?” Willow finished.
Leia sighed, glancing back and forth between Willow and Luke.
“Um, I’m sorry,” she said finally. “But who are you?”
Willow laughed, shaking her head. “Sorry. I’m not really focus-y right now. I’m Willow.”
“Leia,” Leia replied. Willow nodded, biting lightly at her lips. “And I was on Coruscant before I was here. I was attending the first meeting of the senate of the New Republic.”
Willow nodded. “Did you feel anything? See anything? Willingly step into a portal of blue and white light?”
Leia blinked, shaking her head. “No. I don’t know.”
Luke held up a hand. “Maybe you ought to ease up a bit, Willow.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s just… the last time I did this spell, a demon came through that tried to rip me and everyone around me a new one. It kind of sparks my curiosity to actually be able to speak with the thing that comes through.”
“Thing?” Leia asked, incredulously.
Willow’s eyes widened and she shook her head and hands dismissively. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean, thing, per se. I meant, person. Traveler.”
Luke grinned, trying his best to hide it behind his hand. Shaking his head, he said, “Let’s try again. So, I just vanished?”
Leia turned. “You don’t know?”
He shook his head. “No. But, did anything happen after I disappeared? Anything at all?”
“No. Not that I can recall. I’ve been kind of preoccupied worrying about the brother I just found out I had. You don’t remember anything that happened to you, Luke? How are you here?”
“I woke up in a hibernation chamber in a place they call the Deeper Well. They call me an Old One.”
“But we’re not really sure he is an old one. For one thing, he’s humans. Old Ones tend to be a bit more demon-y,” Willow added.
“Demon-y?”
Luke shook his head again. “Um, yeah. Apparently their biggest threats in this world are demons and vampires.”
Leia shook her head. “Vampires?”
“Uh, not important right now,” Willow said gently.
Leia nodded. “Of course.”
“So what about you? Are you sure that nothing unusual happened before you appeared here?” Luke said, trying again.
Leia fell quiet. Her eyes were darting back and forth as she searched her memory for anything that could answer the numerous questions she had about this situation. Willow ran a hand through her short, fiery hair as she and Luke sat patiently by. Finally, Leia looked up.
“I had a dream. A night or two ago.”
Luke’s brow furrowed, and Willow looked between the two twins.
“I take it that dreams aren’t always dreams in your world either.”
Luke nodded. “Jedi dreams often mean something very real. I learned that from Obi-Wan early in my training.”
“I’m not a Jedi,” Leia said, and she sounded a bit defensive on the matter.
“The Force still runs strong in our family. Strong enough to send you a vision in your sleep.”
“It was a man that I didn’t know. He didn’t identify himself, but he said that I would get my wish. And then, the next morning, I was attending the senate… and now I’m here.”
Willow groaned. “Oh. We don’t like any phrases with the word ‘wish’ in it around here.”
That statement struck Luke as odd, but he did not ask her to elaborate. Instead, he cocked his head toward his sister.
“What was your wish?”
Leia’s eyes sparkled with tears as she turned to her brother. “To receive closure. To know what happened to you, and if you were all right.”
She folded into her brother’s arms, and Willow stood. She did not speak, but Luke could see it in the witch’s eyes. She was giving him some time alone with his family. She would never understand just how grateful he was for that. He hugged Leia tight, and the two did not speak for a long time. Finally, sniffling, Leia leaned back.
“The man in my dreams said something else too,” she whispered.
“What?”
Leia stared at him a moment, as if she was taking the time to memorize everything about her brother’s face. When she opened her mouth to speak, it was like she had taken the time to roll the words around her mouth to get a good taste for them.
“He said it would be limited. That you had a destiny to fulfill. That my wish being granted would be a kindness. Luke…”
Luke stood, putting his back to Leia. She turned in her seat, leaning against the wooden back of it.
“I don’t think I can stay. I think that’s what he meant.”
Luke sighed, his head hung low. “I know. It’s… part of the spell. For Buffy to return, you have to go home.”
Luke heard the legs of the chair scrap against the stone, and then he felt his sister’s arms wrap around him.
“It’s okay,” she said.
He felt her cheek press against his back, and lifted his hand to cover one of hers that had wrapped around to his chest.
“You’re safe. You’re alive. And if it’s true… if you have a destiny to fulfill here… then do it. You came through for all of us in the Battle of Endor, more than most know. I believe that you can help them in whatever they need.”
Luke turned. “How can you be okay with this? We just found our family… to lose it again?”
Leia shook her head. “It just feels right. This time… bringing me here. This was a gift. And now, I’m all right. I’m okay.”
Willow entered the room before Luke could respond, her mouth pulled into a deep frown.
“I’m sorry, but… it’s been a while. Something tells me we ought to bring Buffy back. And, that means…”
But Leia smiled. “That means I have to go. It’s okay.”
Willow nodded and returned to the circle of red candles in the far corner of the room. She sat crossed legged in the center of them, lighting them in turn. Finally, she sighed, staring up at the twins that stood over her. Luke’s eyes were shining, and he was doing his best to keep his emotions under control. Leia slipped her hand into her brother’s and smiled up at him.
“When the portal opens, jump into it, okay?” Willow asked.
Leia nodded. “Thank you, Willow. Take care of my brother, okay?
Willow grinned. “We will, promise.”
With that, she began to chant. After several chants of the Latin phrases, Willow’s cadence sped up, and soon a hole of white-blue began to open before the twins. Leia turned, hugging Luke once more.
“Be safe,” she muttered into his ears.
“May the Force be with you,” he replied. “I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you too.”
The portal was open now, and Leia took a deep breath. She went at a run, jumping into the light with barely any hesitation. The light seemed to explode, and both Willow and Luke had to shield their eyes. When their vision returned, Buffy was back, lying on the floor much as Leia had been. And Luke’s tears had escaped, despite his attempt to keep them under lock and key.
The slayer blinked and stared up at the Jedi. And Luke knew that she saw the sadness in his eyes.
“My sister,” he muttered.
Buffy sighed, resting her forehead on the floor. Something told the Jedi that she understood.
End Part IV