Chapter Text
nsomniac AU (part 1?)
{{ Insomniac au- Person A can’t sleep due to traumatic experience but shortly after they meet their new neighbor and end up in their apartment/house they fall asleep. Soon enough the only way they can rest is if person B is with them even if it scares them. }}
Above the skies of a planet in a galaxy far far away, lights could be spotted. The lights of explosions. Red and green ones clashing and causing explosions. But what the inhabitants of the planet didn’t know was the level of conflict that was displaying itself above, in the clouds.
Indeed, they did not know that in one of the x-wings flew one of the recently having become infamous rebel champions, Luke skywalker. Nor would they ever believe that Darth Vader himself was on his tail, getting closer and closer in his own, remodeled tie fighter. Yet what did they know, they were just simple people.
Luke, on the other hand, knew all too well what kind of trouble he was in. The young man had felt the presence of Vader as soon as he had entered the system and knew he was in for a long battle. The to be Jedi had been with the fleet since their last encounter on Bespin, slowly recovering from the shock of the news but also the wounds inflicted upon him. Indeed, Vader had done quite the number on him. It baffled Luke that he was never told about the truth of Vader by anyone, not Obi-wan, not his uncle or aunt. Not that he blamed them, had he known, Luke might have taken different, rash actions.
Yet the news and the fight had had a big effect on him, especially his sleep. His face told the story of that to anyone who saw him. He had become paler, there were bags under his eyes that seemed to be permanently glued on and his whole demeanor seemed to have changed from energetic and sometimes mischievous to someone that was constantly cranky and irritable.
Even Leia had asked what was going on with him, and he just told her “nothing” Or he’d chuckle and smile a little “I’ll be fine.” Was always the response he gave last, ensuring the conversation about it ended there. Of course, he now knew this had become a bigger problem than he could have imagined now that he was in a dog fight with Vader.
He could tell from the first moment they had entered into just the regular battle, Luke his reactions were off, slower than usual. Not only that but he actually missed shots he normally would have nailed. It was becoming a problem. Leia had seen it as well. “What is going on Luke?” She had asked through the communicator. “Nothing! Just warming up!” was what he had told her and continued the battle.
It wasn’t until Vader showed up that he realized he was in even bigger trouble. The cold, unmistakable force tendrils of Vader reaching out to him, almost as if they were trying to find a connection with him. Luke had fought those off as Vader and he joined into battle, both trying to shoot each other out of the sky, or so it seemed. Luke was surely trying to.
It was after a few moments Luke realized Vader had been trying to herd him towards the executor, the infamous flagship of Vader himself, and had only escaped that fate by a few parsecs. Turning towards the planet below them, getting closer and closer. He was determined not to get captured by the sith lord, whose presence grew with every second, the cold feeling in Luke’s gut increasing with it.
Spiraling towards the planet, they resorted to shooting at each other, and in a last ditched effort to not go down unless he took the sith lord with him, Luke turned around by flipping his ship and shot directly at Vader, getting himself shot in the process. What happened next wasn’t very surprising, as both ships lost control, and in huge clouds of fiery smoke, they spiraled towards the planet surface.
Luke tried to desperately get his ship to cooperate, and to not hit the fast approaching city on the planet surface, and succeeded, by only hitting a few acres of forest. His ship shook, and he did in his seat, his helmet protecting his head from the impact and the bumpy ride. He didn’t know what happened to Vader, but he didn’t need to know now, as his ship slowed down and came to a halt.
Smoke filled the cockpit, making luke cough. His comlink was dead, and he couldn’t see thanks to the blackness of the smoke. The rebel attempted to free himself from his seat frantically and got lucky as it released him without a hitch, the seatbelt being flung to the side.
Getting out of the cockpit proved a harder obstacle. It seemed to have become so dented Luke couldn’t open it. However, the force was with him once again, as he had constructed a new lightsaber from the artifacts the rebels apparently had with them.
Taking the green blade, he cut himself a way out and climbed out of his fiery wreck, and fell onto the forest floor, gasping and taking in the fresh air. That was a close one. Yet he still felt this ringing in his chest, as if the force was warning him. Telling him to get to his feet. Luke looked to his ship and then got up to his feet, running to the edge of the forest, but he didn’t get far before the ship exploded. Sending him flying.
His ears rung from the sound and he held them, groaning in pain. Small cuts covered his body thanks to the shrapnel that flew around, and he was sure he had broken a rib when he impacted a tree. Yet it was still not enough to get him to lose consciousness. And Luke wasn’t surprised by that even though he really felt tired, his head feeling more heavy than it had ever done, almost too heavy to pick up from the forest floor.
The inability to lose consciousness right now seemed a blessing but it had been plaguing him for weeks. He had tried everything to try and sleep too, from drugs to just plain hitting himself in the head at one point to just try and get a few hours of rest. The most he’d get every few days was 2 hours, way to little for someone with an active lifestyle like him. Yet even the medics he had spoken to didn’t know what to do about it. Trying drug after drug, without result. Luke had almost begged at one point for them to help him and the force to let him rest, but that might have attracted the attention of Leia, and she had enough to worry about.
Gasping, Luke his train of thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a dark force presence nearby, a very familiar one. Had his ears not be still ringing, he would have heard the even breaths of Vaders vocoder. Looking up, looks eyes went wide. “Vader.” He acknowledged him as he dragged himself to his unwilling feet, taking out his lightsaber.
Vader, his father, remained silent for a moment as he seemed to analyze him, his emotionless mask, trained on him. Vader, his steps were slow and methodical as he moved forwards. Luke noted that he did not look one bit damaged by the impact with the ground which was a disappointment. It might have evened out the playing field.
“Young Skywalker.” Vader finally greeted him back, coming to a halt not far from him, Luke stood his ground. “I see your ship has had to bear the brunt of your foolishness.” The sith lord commented, looking to his exploded x-wing. Luke gritted his teeth. If Vader hadn’t come after him neither of them would be here.
“However, it is of no hindrance to me. Surrender Luke.” He added before Luke could get a word in between, though he did not feel like talking much. He was having a hard enough time focussing on standing upright with his lightsaber, watching Vader’s every move. Vader had yet to get out his own crimson blade.
“Never.” Lukes response seemed to not even faze the sith lord that remained quiet once more, pacing a little from side to side. Luke could make out the darker force energy that was reaching out to him and did his best to push his shields up, not that it was much use at this point.
As he did so, his sleep deprivation suddenly hit him. As if all the hours of lost sleep suddenly dawned upon him and he had trouble keeping his eyes open. Luke staggered backward a bit, trying to uphold his balance, as the world spun around him.
“What are you doing!?” Luke spat at Vader, knowing he was indeed the cause of this sudden loss of control.
Silence filled the air once more, Vader’s breathing is the only thing that could be heard, together with the sound of the burning wreckage. “I am merely making you aware of your own weakened state.” The sith said, while surprisingly sounding victorious.
The heaviness grew and grew and grew, Luke trying his hardest to fight it off. Why now of all times to suddenly be tired!? “Stop!” Luke demanded after another bout of dizziness hit him, his body seemingly not responding to his commands to run.
Vader just took another few steps forward, raising his hand slowly, pointing it at Luke. “Sleep.” It was a simple command but one that had a huge impact on the rebel, as his eyes rolled back in his head and he hit the floor, no longer able to keep himself up. He dropped his lightsaber, it rolling far away from him.
The last thing Luke heard and saw was Vaders boots and cape closing the gap between them and that cold, methodical breathing that had haunted him since Bespin.
((Do I need to continue this or do you guys have a different writing prompt for me to try? Thanks for reading!))