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Han rebuilt the Falcon in his head five times.
Relived every Kessel Run he'd made, calculated trips from Tatooine to Takodana.
Spent a really lovely day and night remembering all the sexual encounters he could.
Then, he gave up and turned on the holo channel provided to him as a prisoner of the First Order. He was expecting propaganda and the First Order did not disappoint.
By the end of the first day, he was wondering why Finn hadn't shot him on sight. Watching the accounts of the Rebellion played out on the tiny screen was jaw-dropping at first but rapidly moved through infuriating into hysterically funny. Events he had been there for had been completely rewritten. Darth Vader idolized, as he expected. Luke treated as a dangerous wizard, his blue eyes tinted an otherworldly color and things he had done so completely misshapen. The years of peace of the New Republic inverted into an era of repression. The troopers passing in their never ending shifts must think him crazy by now, as he laughed his head off almost hourly.
Well, leave an already half-crazy Corellian alone, to recover from death at the hands of his son, and this is what you get, he decided.
He had no real sense of how long he spent recovering, being put back together, with probably as bad a patch job as he had had to do to the Falcon on occasion. If he ever got out, maybe….
Aw, hell. Not like he was going anywhere.
He knew they’d succeeded in blowing up Starkiller – the doctors bustling around talked openly, as if they weren’t expecting him to live. He didn’t bother telling the bastards he’d come out of six months in carbon freeze and was commanding the strike team that took down the shields for the second Death Star less than two weeks later. They’d have to get up earlier in the morning to find things that would kill him.
He vaguely remembered the famous Captain Phasma stalking about, spitting mad, in various corners of the med bay. He wondered whose orders were keeping him alive and settled on Snoke. Probably to punish his son – and right now, fine. Until he could confront Ben himself, from a distance this time, staying alive seemed the thing to do.
So he occupied his cell and watched the Old Republic and then the Empire, inverted. Saw Padme Amidala in the background of old news footage, Obi Wan Kenobi too. Even Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear that he remembered from childhood. But this time, it was dismissed as a stage before he became the powerful Lord Vader. Learned about the greatness of Order 66, which he knew from the stories of slaughtered Jedi Luke uncovered. It began to make him ill.
How had Finn even broken free of this? Big Deal was tougher than he looked. He hoped Finn and Rey had gotten out. Hoped Chewie had gotten out. Hoped Leia was not grieving too much. Had they found Luke?
Maybe there was a chance the Skywalker twins would find him?
Hell. Probably none. They had to think him dead. He was going to molder in this cell until such time as Snoke wanted to make an example of him and execute him live on the Holonet. Or maybe just give him to Ben to finish off again.
He was contemplating his fun-filled future, lying on his bunk and looking at the ceiling when the door opened. He barely turned his head to see a stormtrooper.
Who was staring at him. By now, the trooper should have barked something at him. And this one…
Han decided to amuse himself. He had just seen the documentary on the evils he, Luke and Leia had perpetrated, bringing down the first Death Star. “Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?”
The trooper laughed. A very familiar…
Han sat up as the trooper took off his helmet.
"I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you."
The blue eyes were the same, but the long hair shot through with grey and the beard -- were the most beautiful things he’d seen in an age. He was off the bunk and into a bone crushing hug in two steps. "Thought I’d never see you again, kid.” He pulled him as close as he could, around the armor. Five years of loss was in the half-sob as he pressed his forehead to Luke's, then shifted and gently kissed him.
The Jedi master pulled back and looked up into Han's eyes as if he wasn’t real, his blue eyes wet. “You and me both, Han.”
"The map – they found you – I never stopped looking…”
"I know." Luke smiled and Han realized how much he had missed that dazzle, how much it was beginning to heal him. “A smart mouth kid in grey homespun carrying my old lightsaber came in the Falcon. Rey said you found her – what is it with you and desert children with the Force?”
"Beats the hell out of me. Force, it’s good to see you. Missed you, you don't know how much." Seeing Luke was like coming up for air after carbon freeze. He ran a hand over Luke's shaggy mane.
Luke ducked out from under Han's ruffle of his hair as always. "Me too. You and Leia –”
A voice brimming with familiar impatience preceded its owner into the room. “Will you two come on?”
Han pulled back from Luke to see Leia, in battle fatigues, her hair braided down her back. He was in her arms in a moment, finally kissing her as he had wanted to before Starkiller. Then, everything had been too brittle. Now, he wasn’t missing this chance. Her arms around him felt like home, brought life back to his heart. He was nearly in tears when they pulled back and she sniffled herself, the deep brown eyes he loved spilling over. She swiped at her tears with the hand that wasn’t holding a blaster.
"You nerf herder, I knew you were too tough to kill." She tugged at the thick beard he'd grown in custody. "Luke looks good in one, you look weird."
"Sorry. They won’t let me have sharp objects in here."
Luke came over and the three of them managed a hug around blasters and armor. “I missed you two so much," Skywalker said softly.
"You, Jedi Master, you are staying put now. No more running off without a word to us!" Han bashed the side of a fist against the chest plate. Luke gave Han the bright smile he'd fallen in love with years ago.
Another trooper poked his head in, then removed his helmet. "Will you three stop reminiscing and come on? Escape now, hugs later!”
"Aw, Big Deal. Good to see you too." Han grinned at the ex-trooper, and slung an arm around his neck.
Finn rolled his eyes even as he smiled. "How the hell did you three ever escape the first Death Star?”
And then the shooting started.
"You threw the jinx!" Han pulled Finn out of the line of fire as Luke pulled out his saber and tossed Han his blaster.
Solo shook his head and turned to Leia. “This is some rescue. You came in here, you didn’t have a plan for getting out?”
She shot him a look, then sighed angrily. “He’s the brains, sweetheart!”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Not this time.” The Skywalker twins looked pointedly at Finn.
Finn looked skyward as if imploring any deity listening for help. “Would you three shut up and get moving? C'mon!”
They started down the corridor, firing. Luke brought up the rear, deflecting fire with the familiar green blade.
“It’s like old times,” Han ducked around a pillar, then laid down a streak of fire.
The Jedi Master shook his head. “Yeah, bad as always.”
"I had everything under control until you decided to stop for a reunion!" Finn sputtered. He looked half bewildered, half furious, when the three of them started laughing. "It’s not funny!"
"No, but hell, we’re gonna die anyway. At least I’m dying with all of you. I was expecting an execution,” Han shrugged. “C'mon, Big Deal. What was your back up escape route?"
"This way." He led them around a switchback in the detention area, and they were in the clear.
A long trot through blessedly empty corridors found them above the hangar bay.
"So you didn’t come in the Falcon?"
"Nah. Stole a First Order command shuttle. Had to cuff Poe and Rey to a console to stop them from fighting over who was flying and insisting only they could." Luke grinned. "I told them when they could tell me which one of them flew Darth Vader's shuttle off the Death Star, I’d let ‘em fly here.”
"Where is here?"
"Small First Order base. Apparently whoever picked you up is keeping you quiet, away from Ben."
Han sighed. "I’ll thank your Force for small favors later. Meantime, let’s get the hell out of here."
Safely in hyperspace, they could finally talk.
"How the hell did you all know I was even alive to find?" Han had taken co-pilot at Luke's request.
Leia smiled from her seat at navigation. "Neither of us could feel you gone to the Force. We felt you die, but then it was like you were still there.”
"And I knew if anyone who wasn’t a Jedi could come back as a Force ghost, it would be you. Just to drive us crazy.' Luke added from the pilot's chair.
"Then a defecting stormtrooper said she'd seen you here." Leia said.
"They told you about me? Finn, I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me back when you met me. I’ve spent the last weeks watching our lives in First Order propaganda. We make the Emperor look like a social worker."
"I told them it was all a lie,” Finn said. “Then more of them, when we questioned them, said they’d seen you – Han Solo, the Rebellion general. We thought they were lying to us."
"But?"
"But neither of us could get the vision of you alive out of our heads," Luke said softly, looking at Leia.
"Then we had intelligence of a high security prisoner being held here, so we took a chance."
"I'm glad you did. Let's go home."