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Chapter Text

The cold was all Luke had registered when he and master Yoda had landed in the frozen planet of Hoth. Of course it was, he was Tatooinian after all, and Naboo didn’t exactly have the coldest climate in the galaxy. 

The point is, the cold was what stuck out to Luke when they’d landed. Now, though? It was the head rush. 

The ceiling looked identical to the floor, icy stalagmites and stalactites - Luke had no idea which was which - and rocks the size of droids. He’d hoped a layer of snow would clie him in but the shelter the cave provided made that wishful thinking. 

Embarrassingly, it had taken about twenty minutes for Luke to figure out that he was quite literally hanging from the ceiling, arms hanging above his head, just barely brushing the floor. 

Of course, Luke would omit those details when he recounted the events to master Yoda - if he recounted the events to master Yoda. 

A noise resonated through the tight space but Luke only registered it after the first couple times it sounded. He must’ve been more injured than he realised. Ignoring the sound for now, Luke took stock of his various wounds.

Broken left hand, probable concussion, broken ribs. Luke’s legs were okay, though, and he still had one hand. Better that than nothing. 

The noise grew louder. Luke recognised it now, it was a growling sound, resonant but far more gravelly than a wookiee’s. The thought made Luke’s heart ached for his furry friend. He hasn’t seen Chewie and Han since that business in the Yavin system, almost a year ago. He wondered what they would-

It was there. It was right there, beady black eyes looking at Luke like a piece of meat. White fur, jagged horns, blood soaked fur. His blood, he realised dimly. Had he really lost that much?

Snapping to his senses with all the speed of a melting candle - did that metaphor even work? - Luke scanned his surroundings, if he could just find his lightsaber-

Stomp

One huge, flattened foot hit the ground, cracking the ice. The noise was quiet but loud to Luke’s ears. It hurt. 

He grew more frantic, where was his lightsaber-

Stomp

The creature’s nose raised to the air, the fresh blood leaking from his face, his side, his neck-

Stomp

There! It was right there! His lightsaber! Luke reached out with the force but it wouldn’t answer, not in his panicked state, not like this. No, he couldn’t die not like-

Stomp

It was only a few paces now, its stench invading Luke’s nose. He had to block it out, had to block everything out. 

Closing his eyes, Luke reached a hand out, searching for that familiarity, that part of his soul resting in his kyber, out of reach but not to his mind. 

In an instant, the cool metal hit the palm of Luke’s left hand and he activated it, green light filling the dark space. 

His eyes shot open and he slashed the saber in a wide arc at his feet, breaking and melting the ice. He hit the floor in a roll, shooting to his feet and slicing the air - and the wampa’s hand - throwing him off his balance with the momentum and the surprise that came with the fact that he’d had the strength for that. 

The creature’s roar speared through Luke’s ear; it reeled back, agony following it as it doubled over, wailing all the way. 

Luke could’ve killed it there. He could’ve slashed its throat or stabbed it through the chest. That would’ve been the smart thing. 

He turned and ran. The wampa had simply been hungry, Luke couldn’t kill it for that. Besides, the hand wouldn’t be debilitating; the creature preyed on Bantha not Kraayt dragons. 

Making it out of the cave, Luke ran as far as he could, legs moving one after the other with no input from his brain. If he could just make it back to the ship he’d be safe. 

The ship… Luke slowed upon realising he had no idea where the ship was and no idea where he was heading. He knew he had to keep going but now that he’d slowed down his body seemed to give up. He fell over, landing hard on his broken hand. He felt a bone sticking out the skin, the cold making it almost too numb to feel. Almost. 

Luke curled up; his robes were warm but not snowstorm proof. He really needed to get back to the ship. With no other idea of what to do, he reached blindly into the force, casting as wide a net as he could in his semi-delirious state. He called for Yoda, for anyone, as loud as he could into that power that usually came so naturally to him. 

His last thought before passing out was of how mad his mother would be with him. 

Chapter Text

Leia knew something had happened. It was faint, but she’d felt the gentlest tug at her bond with Luke. Curious, she’d tugged it back but no reply had come after that. She’d thought he was just bored, reaching out while on a scouting mission to Hoth. She was surprised master Yoda had gone along but, he had to teach his Padawan at some point; he couldn’t just sit at council meetings all day.

Pulling her train of thought back onto the tracks, Leia put in the coordinates to Mandalore, where she and Ahsoka would be meeting with the duchess. Apparently Obi Wan had known her.

Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with Luke.

Leia decided to comm him. He was far away and a snowstorm would interfere with the signal bit she should at least be able to check up on him, even if it was just to see that he was on world.

The comm didn’t ring. Apparently Luke’s comm ‘did not exist.’

Leia was starting to panic now. She knew she should center herself, feel for Luke with the force but she just couldn’t. She’d never been good with the more… abstract uses of the force; that had always been Luke’s thing.

Leia sat in a state of indecision, thoughts running a mile a minute. She should find him, she should reroute the ship, she should-

“Leia?” Ahsoka had gotten close enough to lay a hand on the back of her seat without her noticing. Leia cursed herself for her blindness.

“Yes, Master?” She responded, turning to face the Jedi, a look of calm descending over her face.

“Are you okay? I could feel your emotions from across the ship.”

“Apologies, Master, I’ll shield better next time,” Leia turned back to the ship’s controls, busing herself with various knobs and buttons. At most, she was turning the lights of in the back room.

“No it’s alright, I’m just concerned. You seem… fearful,” Ahsoka said tentatively, sitting down in the copilot’s seat. Leia took a minute to consider her options. She had no real reason to believe anything had happened to Luke, but something just felt so wrong- 

“Leia?”

”It’s nothing,” her hands were still now.

Ahsoka said nothing, letting Leia focus her thoughts. 

“I think Luke’s in trouble,” Leia said, at last. “I felt him- just barely. I tried to get a response out of him through the force but… I couldn’t. He never ignores me, never.”

”Have you commed him?” Ahsoka asked, folding her arms in contemplation. 

“Yeah, something’s happened to his comm though, I think it’s been destroyed,” Leia looked up to Ahsoka’s face, mistaking her consideration for doubt. “I know it’s probably nothing, but I just know something happened and-“

”Leia,” Ahsoka started, stopping the padawan’s beginning spiral, “trust your feelings. The force does not lie; if you truly feel something has happened to your brother then we’ll check it out, alright?”

”But what about Mandalore? The duchess-“

”Will have to wait,” Ahsoka turned to the controls, discarding the old coordinates and inputting new ones - coordinates to the Hoth system. “Come, let’s check on him. We’ll contact Master Yoda once we’re in the system.”

”Ahsoka?”

”Yeah?”

”Thank you.”

”Anytime.”

-~=_=~-~=_=~-~=_=~-~=_=~-

It was cold when Luke awoke. Freezing, even. It was dark and confined as well, so confined that the borders of the space clung to the silhouette of his body. 

He’d been buried in the snow. He was sheltered, at the very least, no longer facing the bite of wind in his face, no longer wet with blood but sticky with its dried remains. 

The padawan took stock of his injuries, getting a sense of deja-vu whilst he did. His ribs burned, his face stung and about half a dozen other places ached and pained him but what Luke was most concerned about was his right hand. Namely the fact that he could barely feel it. 

He tried flexing his fingers and got a twitch before the pain became too much. One of the bones in his wrist was sticking out slightly, the jostling of trying to move it reopening the wound and causing hot blood to drip down his sleeve. Gross. 

Shifting around, Luke cleared more space. He watched the blood drip down his arm to get his bearings of up and down. If he dug up, he’d get to the surface, but then he’d have to face whatever was up there. Screw him, but that sounded like a lot of effort and he was severely lacking in energy. 

Before he could decide, he felt his eyelids drooping. He couldn’t keep them open anymore, his body begging for rest. Luke clawed at consciousness, trying his hardest to remain awake but what started as an uphill walk, quickly became a cliff face. His injured hand dropped to the bottom of the ice hole and the pain was enough to knock the young Jedi out. 

Chapter Text

Leaving hyperspace, the frozen wasteland of Hoth came into view. Leia scanned the planet for any sign of her brother; it was a terrible idea, completely idiotic - she’d never be able to see him from so far away - but the thought that maybe, just maybe, he was down there gave her some peace. Her brother was there and Leia was going to find him. 

“Bring the ship into orbit, I’m gonna do a planetary scan for their ship. Should be desolate enough that it’s comms’ll ping, even if they’re switched off or frozen over,” Ahsoka said, calm as ever, while reaching to do just what she described. 

“Alright,” Leia complied. She brought the ship down gently, slipping close enough to the icy surface for the scam but far back enough that they weren’t pulled in by Hoth’s gravity. “Anything yet?”

”If you give me a minute, maybe,” Ahsoka replied, not looking up from the ship’s controls. 

“Sorry,” Leia focused back on the steering. 

“There!,” Ahsoka called after a minute or two. “I’ve got the coordinates of the ship, let’s go.”

Leia dipped the ship’s nose towards the planet. “What were they doing on Hoth?” she asked. 

“Supposedly, a research mission,” Ahsoka replied. 

“Supposedly? You think it was something else,” it wasn’t a question so Leia didn’t phrase it like one. 

“I don’t know. Not for sure, at least,” she paused. “The Force, it…” Ahsoka trailed off. 

“The Force?”

”There’s something unusual about Hoth. I can’t quite place it but I’m sure it’s got something to do with all this.”

”Well, let’s find out.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Landing on the icy planet was easy enough; there had been a storm a few hours ago but it had since cleared up. It was the walk to Master Yoda’s ship that Leia didn’t appreciate. She was Tatooinian after all. Thinking of her heritage made her wonder how Luke of all people had agreed to a mission on Hoth; he was probably the one person in the galaxy who hated the cold more than her. 

Back to the point: the walk was unpleasant. Irritating even. By the time they reached Master Yoda’s ship, Leia felt like her fingers had frozen off in her gloves. 

“The door’s jammed. Master Yoda?” Ahsoka called. After no response came, she pulled out her shoto saber. 

“You’re gonna damage the ship!” Leia tried to stop her master. 

“Calm down, they can ride in ours,” Ahsoka retorted, beginning to slice a hole in the door with her lightsaber. 

The inside of the ship seemed normal; a datapad on the table, robes in the closet, heating still on. Everything seemed just as it should. 

Apart from the missing Jedi. 

“Maybe they went out?” Leia proposed. She knew she was hoping more than thinking but they did have to consider all possibilities. 

“I doubt it,” Ahsoka was going through the ship’s logs. “Standard procedure is for one to go out and collect data while the other remains on the ship. It’s a safety precaution in case something happens to the ship; empty planets like this tend not to have spare engine parts. Master Yoda wouldn’t leave if he knew Luke was already out there.”

It sounded logical to Leia but definitely didn’t quell her panic.

”Then where is he?” She asked. 

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka switched off the logs, finding nothing. 

“What if…” Leia started, “what if Master Yoda left first. Maybe something happened to him in the cold and Luke went after him?”

”That would make sense. Master Yoda would know not to leave the ship and - Luke’s a bright padawan, don’t get me wrong - but he’s never been one to wait inside if something went wrong,” Ahsoka finished. 

The two stood in contemplation for a second. 

“So what do we do?” Leia asked. 

“We go find them.”