Beauties and the Frogs, Part 7

Leia was about to rub the ring, her small trunk on the floor beside her, when the girls hurried into her room. “Mother,” Rey began, “we're not going to let you do this alone.”

“You don't need to come with me.” Leia hefted the trunk under her arm. “I know how you feel about the youths here. You should be able to stay with them and live your own lives. Luke and I can handle this.”

“No.” Rey shook her head and picked up her own travel trunk as Jessika took Leia's. “Mother, this is Snoke. You're going to need all the help you can get.”

Kaydel pulled her pale blue cloak with the white fur trim around her arms. “I wonder why he pushing through the blockades now? He could have done it years ago.”

“I think I can guess, but we won't know for sure until we get there.” Leia slid the ring on her finger. It was much too big for her, fitting loosely even on her thumb. “Get close to me, ladies, and hold onto your luggage. We're going to take the quick way home.”

Rey's eyes widened. “What do you mean? Mother, where did you get that ring? I've seen it be...”

A soft blue light sprang up suddenly from Leia's finger, enveloping the four women and their trunks. When the light subsided, the quartet were gone. There was nary an indentation in the carpet to prove they'd ever been in the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When the quartet reappeared, they found themselves standing in Leia's office. “Oh god!” Rey went to the window, pointing at the road to the palace. “Mother, look!” The shiny silver and black helmets of the First Order Clan swarmed around the road to the Millennium Palace. “We have to help them.”

Leia dropped her trunk on the floor. “Stack your trunks here, ladies. We'll attend to them later. Right now, I need to find my brother.”

They pushed into the hallway, past knights and demons battling soldiers and volunteer fighters from the villages and making an appalling mess of the furniture. Volunteers pushed back soldiers as they made their way across the hall. Kaydel noticed one familiar, mouse-like head trying to sneak out. Her mother noticed it, too. “Lieutenant Mitaka!” She ordered. The young man froze in his tracks. “Where do you think you're going?”

“That's right.” Kaydel smirked. “Where do you think you're running off to, hmm?”

“Uh, with the others.” Mitaka looked as if his hands had just been caught in the cookie jar. “Prince Kylo and General Hux already left. Snoke and I are supposed to join them after we turn Sir Skywalker into a toad...” He gasped, slapping his hand over his mouth. “I wasn't supposed to tell you that,” he added more softly.

Leia narrowed his eyes and grabbed the boy by the collar of his gray jacket, shaking him until his teeth rattled. “Tell me more, boy.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The audience chamber was a shambles when Leia and the girls burst into the room. Rey used her own light magic to carry Mitaka and make sure he didn't flee. Luke and Snoke had flung every bit of furniture into each other and the walls, with Clarence wailing in the background about that vase being a priceless antique, and oh, couldn't they be more careful with the queen's favorite chair?

“Enough of this!” Snoke threw out his lightning at Luke, sending him backwards into the wall. “You're beaten, Skywalker. You'll never walk out of this in your own skin.” He thrust the glowing red ball on his cane under Luke's chin as two demons yanked his arms behind his back. “Now, what would make you more useful? Perhaps I could change you into a pig, or a toad, or a...”

“Snoke!” Another blue light lifted the withered old head of the First Order Clan into the air as Leia rushed into the room, followed by the girls with a frightened Mitaka. “Release my brother this minute!”

The ancient wizard only laughed at her. “Your Majesty! What a surprise! I thought you were, er, out of the country. You're here just in time to see me make your brother into a new pet for my boys.”

“We know all about your plot!” Rey stomped up next to her mother, dragging Mitaka behind her. “He told us!” She yanked the boy's arm in the air. “You were going to turn Father Luke into some animal and take over the kingdom with Kylo Ren.”

“I'm beginning to think my wayward son isn't worthy of the throne.” Leia glared at Snoke. “Nor are you. You've caused us enough trouble!” Blue light shot out from her hand and Rey's. The flowers strewn on the floor from vases formed into garlands, wrapping themselves around Snoke.

Luke nodded, grabbing his blue sword, with its crystal ball on the hilt. “This kingdom has been in our guardians' family for generations.” The blue light he shot writhed around Snoke, who screamed like a banshee as the garlands tightened around his body. “You can't handle the healing light. You're made up of all things corrupt and wicked. The healing light purifies corruption and dissolves the evil.”

Snoke's hollow eyes glittered with a nasty light. “You think your little powers can hold me?” Thin gray lips narrowed into a smirk. “If you kill me now, Queen Leia, you'll never find out what happened to your dear husband and his wards.”

Leia lowered her hands, her eyes wary. “What did happen to him? He's alive, isn't he? I knew he wasn't killed by brigands!”

Sir Luke waved his sword as Rey waved her hand. The blue light tightened further, causing Snoke to gasp. “What did you do with Han?” Luke's gentle voice as as close to a growl as Rey had ever heard it. “Where is he?”

“Come to think of it, where are my son and the ginger-haired boy?” Leia lifted Snoke into the air. “My soldiers have told me that they rarely abandon your side.”

Snoke's slimy smirk grew wider, making him look more like a frog than Harold's wards. “I really do need to be going. My apprentices and I are inducting a few new members into our monster army today.” The ball in his cane flashed, sending a bright red light over the entire room and forcing everyone to cover their eyes. When the light subsided, Snoke was gone.

Leia and the girls ran to Luke's arms the moment he vanished. “Luke, are you all right?” Leia checked him over. “Did that bastard hurt you?”

“Threw me around a little, but nothing worse than bruises.” Luke hugged Leia and his daughters. “I'm so glad to see all of you! I missed all of my girls, and so did Clarence and Maz and Arthur.” He frowned. “I'm surprised the frogs let you go. That monstrous brown toad was the one who insisted you come in the first place.”

“His name is Finn, Father,” Rey quickly assured him. “He told me to tell you that he's sorry he scared you, but he thought it was the only way he could get any women to stay there.”

“We weren't really prisoners,” Jessika added. “In fact, we had a lot of fun. I learned so much about antique clockworks and machines!”

Kaydel kissed her father on his whiskery cheek. “And I learned some really lovely old songs that I think you'll enjoy.”

The queen shook her head. “Luke, the frogs and toads weren't monsters. They were nothing but kind to us.” She frowned, her face turning thoughtful. “Harold...the head of the group...they called him 'Master.' I don't think he was a horned toad. In fact, none of them were. Not even the furry fellow who served their food. You were right about the black magic there. It was hiding something...”

“Mother,” Rey said quickly, “remember the dreams?”

“Yes.” Leia saw the girl's eyes widen. “I found Han in the dream, but a sorcerer kept him in the shadows. He couldn't make a single sound or come into the light. Every time he tried, the sorcerer would attack me and take him away.”

“I'll bet that sorcerer was Snoke!” Jessika nodded. “And the boys were the frogs. Finn and Poe even had the same names.”

Rey growled, her nostrils flaring. “They were prisoners, all right. Prisoners in their own frog bodies! No wonder we couldn't find the princes. They were right in front of our eyes all the time!”

“Hey!” Kaydel noticed Mitaka tip-toeing out of the remains of the audience chamber. “Stop that boy! He's trying to escape!”

“Oh no, you don't.” Rey blocked his way as Jessika and Kaydel grabbed his arms. “Where do you think you're going?”

Mitaka gulped hard. “I have to join the others at Decard Manor. I sort of, uh, promised them I'd be there. I'm already late leaving!”

Jessika shook his arm. “Sorry, but that's one promise you're not going to keep.”

“Or maybe he will.” Kaydel sidled up to him, giving him her most alluring smile. “Why don't we take you with us? We wouldn't harm you. We're not like Snoke. We just want to know what he's going to do to King Han and those poor princes.”

“Well,” Mitaka began, visibly sweating under his heavy black cloak, “you see, Your Majesties, Snoke's planning to oust the king...”

~*~*~*~*~*~

They reappeared in the ballroom...but it was dark now. The harpsichord had been covered with a dusty cloth, and the chandelier no longer sparkled in the evening light. “That ring.” Luke inspected Leia's hand, his blue eyes wide with surprise. “Where did you get it? That's one of our parents' rings! The ones I gave you when you and Han were married.”

She'd just taken her hand off the insignia. “Harold...or at least, that's what he told me his name was...gave it to me. I wish I'd been able to figure it out sooner.”

Rey gasped as they heard screaming. “Mother, it's Finn! They're hurting him!” She dashed down the hall, her blue crystal sword at the ready.

Luke couldn't stop her from leaping into the pile of demons holding Finn and Snap to the floor in the hallway and running her sword through as many as she could. Jessika jumped onto the back of another, putting her hands over its eyes and letting it stumble around. Luke used his own white crystal sword to slash three demons to ribbons. Leia turned the remaining ones into flowers.

“Are you all right?” Kaydel helped the two frogs to their feet. They were battered and bloody and badly shaken. “Where's Poe, Chewie, and the Master?”

“They're...in tower....don't know about Chewbacca...” Snap gasped. “Snoke...going to take...master..”

“Don't know...how much longer...we'll hold out.” Finn's bulging eyes were already starting to look a little wild, and Rey noticed claws growing on the end of his webbed hands. “Snoke...wants us...to be...one of...them.”

“NO!” Leia screeched, rubbing her ring as hard as she could. “Take me to the tower room!” She vanished in a thin blue light.

Luke waved Finn off before he could weakly insist he was a toad. “We're all going up there. If she's dealing with Snoke, she'll need our help.”

“It's not...just Snoke.” Finn's voice was sounding more and more like a croak. “Kylo Ren...Hux...they're up there, too.”

“Ren wants...to rule alone,” Snap puffed. “Wants Master...out of...the way.”

“I knew he was a brat.” Rey turned to Luke. “We know where the tower is. We can take you there.”

The older knight nodded. “Lead the way, my daughter.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Leia appeared in the tower, just in time to see a blast of red lightning fling Harold into the bed like a rag doll. She answered with her own blue light, throwing the bed into Snoke. The elderly head of the First Order Clan hacked the bed in two with a beam of light.

“Hello, Mother.” Kylo Ren held his red crystal sword to Harold's neck as two demons held him to the ground. Another demon held Poe in the corner. “You've come just in time to see me get rid of a stumbling block on my way to becoming king.”

“Ben,” Leia snapped, “is that all Han is to you?”

Her son and the horned toad's heads both shot up in surprise. “How did you know?” her son asked, his jaw dropping nearly to the floor.

Hux grumbled from behind them as he glared at Kylo. “You said the spell you cast on the king and the princes was foolproof! How did she recognize him?”

“I'll explain that later.” Leia grabbed her son's hand. “Ben, put that thing away at once. I don't want to hurt you. I love you. I always have, and I always will. But don't you see what you're doing?”

“Yes, I do, Mother.” He coldly thrust the sword into his father's side. Leia gasped in horror, Chewbacca roared like a raging river, Poe let out an angry curse in his native Yavninian, and even Hux's icy amber eyes widened. “I just made myself king.”

“Leia,” Harold gasped, clutching his heavily bleeding wound. “I'm...I'm sorry...tried stoppin' him...was turnin'...into demon..anyway...”

A massive roar shook the room as Chewbacca leaped onto Kylo Ren and took hold of the apprentice's sword, trying to pull the glowing red ball off the hilt. Kylo threw his hands over it and wouldn't let go. “Hux,” he whined, “could you give me some assistance here?”

“Why?” The red-headed youth smirked as he leaned against the clothes press. “It's rather amusing, watching you fight over a ball with a giant ape.”

Leia rushed to Harold's side. She tore off part of her skirt to stop the wound in his side from bleeding. “It'll be all right, my love. I'll stop this. You'll see.” She looked up as Snoke as he held his cane over them. “That was you, wasn't it?” she hissed. “You were the sorcerer in my dreams. You held Han and the boys hostage, kept Han in the darkness and took his voice!”

“Of course.” Snoke's thin smile chilled Leia to her bones. “Did you honestly believe I was going to let him continue to run a kingdom? A former thief and scoundrel? If he was able to speak, you would have known the truth. He's far too persuasive for my liking. When he and those little fools tried to talk, my magic choked their throats and kept them from giving everything away.”

Leia wrapped the torn bits of skirt around her husband's side. Her pale hands were immersed in crimson blood. “I don't care what he was years ago. He made a better king than you could ever hope to be! The kingdom needs him.” Her voice softened, just enough for the toad in her lap to hear. “I need him.” Han gave her wide, crooked grin.

“No!” Kylo finally yanked his sword away, holding it to Chewbacca. Two demons grabbed the hairy beast's arms. “Mother, get out of my way! I have to finish this!” His face softened. “I never wanted to hurt you. Just Father and Uncle Luke. They're afraid of real power...but you, Mother. You're not afraid. You're not afraid of anything.”

His mother's face held indescribable sorrow. “I'm truly sorry it had to come to this. I don't want to choose between you and Han. I love both of you. Ben, I am afraid. I'm more afraid than I've ever been in my life! But even when you're afraid, you still need to do what's right.”

“Kill both of them!” Snoke nearly shrieked. “What are you waiting for?”

“But...” Kylo, for once, looked truly confused. “Mother...”

His hesitance would be his undoing. The moment Rey and the others appeared, she leaped on Ben, her sword at the ready. “Don't you touch them!”

“The balls!” Poe waved his flipper at the glowing ruby ball on Snoke's cane as he, Finn, and Snap doubled over. “You have to...destroy...them!” Horns were slowing growing from the top of his head, and his bulging eyes were turning a dark yellow.

Luke nodded. “That's what I was trying to do in the audience chamber back at the Millennium Palace. Those balls are the source of their power.”

“You don't need this kind of power.” Rey sent a blue light of her own over Kylo Ren. The black-garbed prince gasped as rose vines wound around his sword, cracking the crystal and shattering the ball. “There are other ways of proving your worth to your family!”

“Oh no...you don't!” Finn stepped in front of Hux as he was turning to flee. “Don't...even think...about leaving...this room...General.” He finally hit him as hard as he could in the nose. Hux crashed into the remains of the bed as Kaydel and Jessika grabbed Mitaka's arms to keep him from running out. Poe and Snap wound the curtains around both young men.

“You're...through...Snoke!” Han crawled to his leathery knees. “I have...no...magic...but I can still...defend...my kingdom!” He thrust his back against Snoke's, stabbing him with the sharp spines on his body before collapsing.

Snoke let out a screech and dropped the ball. Luke snapped the ball off his cane and handed Leia his sword. “Let's do this together, sister.”

Leia gave him her most wicked smile. “I would love to, dear brother.” The queen and the knight drove his blue crystal blade through the glowing scarlet ball, smashing it into a million sharp pieces around them. Red light blasted around a shrieking Snoke and a wailing Kylo Ren. When it subsided, Snoke's cape lay empty on the floor.

Rey yanked the robe away, revealing a squawking old crow with rusty black feathers. “Here's your First Order chief!” She grabbed the creature by its neck. “A bloody damn bird!” She thrust the bird out the window, letting it fly away. “He can do no more harm in that form, I imagine. At least, not to anything bigger than an oat plant.”

“Han!” Leia and Luke were at their husband and brother-in-law's side on the floor in an instant. “Han, don't leave us!”

“I'm sorry, Leia.” Luke took the horned toad's webbed hand, but he was looking at his sister. “His breathing is very shallow. He's not going to last much longer.”

“Han,” Leia took his other hand, “I love you. I do know. I've always known.”

“Yes,” the toad rasped, “Your...Worship. I think...I love you...too.”

Finn and Rey were in each other's arms, with Luke's arms around both of them, as Leia leaned over and gave her husband the most passionate kiss she could on his thin toad lips.

“I like that.” Rey took Finn's hand. “You're so sweet, and you've been so good to us. I think...I love you, too.” She kissed him, wrapping her arms around him.

“Oooh, great idea!” Jessika turned from her sister and yanked Poe into her arms. “I love you, too. I want to ride horses with you forever.” She gave him the biggest kiss she knew as Kaydel dipped Snap and kissed him.

A blast of glittering red light threw almost everyone in the room into the walls. The croaks of toads and frogs and roar of a furry creature were gradually replaced by five very human voices. When the lights subsided, five men in tattered shirts and trousers stood in the middle of the tower room.

“Han!” Leia rushed to her husband's arms the moment he appeared, kissing him for all he was worth. His silver hair was even more scruffy than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes. But the rest of him was exactly how she remembered, from the gash on his chin from a long-ago carriage accident to those long, slender legs that could out-run every member of the Austrian Empire, so long ago.

He gave her that familiar lazy grin. She never knew if she wanted to kiss it to death or smack it off his face. “Hello there, sweetheart. Miss me?”

His wife thought she'd never remove her arms from him again. “More than you know, Sheep-Herder.”

“Master Luke!” Big Chewbacca lifted his beloved friend and waved him around in the air. “Look at us! We're 'uman again! Ye did it, mates! Ye lifted that blasted curse!”

Luke could only gasp “Yes...we're glad...please put me down!”

“This is sickening.” Kylo Ren tried to shoot his magic at Rey...but all that came out was a soft beam of golden light. “No! I can't have light magic! I don't want it! This isn't powerful!”

“Yes, it is!” Rey waved a finger in his face, looking rather like a female version of Han. “Have you ever healed a sick person? Helped plants to grow in the spring? Nursed a bird back to health and seen it fly again? Become part of the Earth itself? That's real power, Kylo Ren.”

“Ben.” Han frowned. “His name is Ben. I don't understand what he has against it.”

“It's the name of a child,” Ben whimpered. “A pathetic creature no one loved.” He looked at his hands. “Snoke promised me power. He'd been promising it to me in my dreams for years. He said if I had power like his, I could get my parents to pay more attention to me than to affairs of state. He's the one who told me you didn't love me.”

Leia put her hand on her son's shoulder. “On one hand, it sounds like you were thoroughly taken in by Snoke's deceptions. Luke and Han and I should have paid more attention to what was going on with you.” She put up her own hand before her son could protest further. “However, that doesn't absolve you of what you've done. You chose to go with Snoke and further his reign of terror. You chose to become a dark magician. You chose to help him put a curse on your father and these young men.”

“He was going to let these...these useless brats,” Ben hissed, waving a hand at the princes, “rule the kingdom instead of me! He never loved me! I showed him what it was like to be ignored, to be too prickly or plain to be loved, to have your voice never be heard!”

Han crossed his arms. “I'd take you over my knee and spank you, boy, but you're way too big for that now.”

Rey held her fist so close to Ben's long nose, he ended up staring at it cross-eyed. “He's not too bloody big for this!”

“Rey, that won't solve anything.” Luke pulled her away.

“I know.” The girl made a face. “But it would make me feel a lot better!”

“I'm currently the queen of this land. Let me handle it.” Leia shook her own finger at Ben. “As of right this second, you are disinherited. The girls and their husbands are now next in line for the throne. You and your two so-called friends there,” she pointed at Hux and Mitaka, “will have to start over in whatever kingdom you choose, without Snoke's magic or our support, until you can prove you're worthy of the throne.” She sighed. “I want you to find a trade, Ben. Become a farmer or a soldier. Meet a girl you love for her alone, not just for her title.”

“But that's not fair!” Ben whined loudly. “I'm the oldest and your real child! I should be king!”

Leia gently touched his wavy black hair. “Life doesn't always work that way, my son.”

Jessika glared at him. “It's not fair that the King and these poor guys had to spend years and years catching flies around a lake, either!”

Finn frowned. “And what about our families? I need to get a hold of my Uncle Lando in Bespin. He probably thinks I'm dead!”

“I need to write my parents.” Poe nodded at Snap. “And he has to send a note to his mother.”

Rey smiled and took Finn's hand. “I'll go to Bespin with you. I've always wanted to see the Bespin Mountains. I've heard they're even more beautiful than the ones in Alderaan are.” Finn gave her a dreamy smile and another kiss.

Leia took Han's arm. Luke took her other one. “Come on, my boys. Let's go home.”

And indeed, they did. The Kingdom of Alderaan, having driven the First Order Clan from their land, was delighted to have its monarchs back. They lined the road, cheering long and loud as Han drove the cart over the bridge and up to the Millennium Palace. Leia and Han declared a special feast day to celebrate their return and the end of the First Order Clan. Everyone in the kingdom was invited. Kaydel and Snap played the pianoforte for the guests, and Luke and Rey demonstrated displays of light magic fireworks.

The trio of princes did court the lovely princesses of Alderaan. When Rey and Finn married, Han made Rey his legal heir. It was she who became Queen of Alderaan, with Finn as her gentle king, when Han and Leia stepped down. King Lando gave his gracious consent, delighted to unite their two kingdoms at last. Jessika and Kaydel did wed Poe and Snap and became the queens of Yavin and Wexley. Chewbacca remained devoted to the royal family for the rest of his years, as did Clarence, Maz, and Arthur.

Neither Prince Ben, nor Hux, nor Mitaka were ever seen again...but stories sometimes circulated, in the kingdom, of a trio of thieves who did nothing but bicker with one another. One was said to be especially light-fingered, making money disappear as if by magic.

As for Han and Leia, they never left each other's side again, remaining happily arm in arm, sometimes with Leia's brother and Han's dear friend Luke, for the rest of their lives.

The End