Ok so quick author's note, I don't usually do these so bare with - I might be bordering on some mature themes in this chapter, some dark and some not, but know that the intention is for a more in depth character study. Just thought I would warn you cus I know people sometimes find it uncomfortable but I promise it will all be resolved in the next few chapters so it will be worth it ❤️

"I'm not wearing that!" Leia protested as one of the guards threw an outfit that was little more than undergarments into her arms.

With a press of a button attached to the belt of the guard, Leia doubled over in pain as the shock collar round her neck activated and sent volts running through her entire body. She had heard of devices like these that were specifically made to pacify Jedi, they were rare but Maul insisted each crime syndicate should have a few in case Jedi like her dared to cross them, but as much as Leia had been trained to emotionally and physically absorb pain under pressure as part of her Jedi training, the agony the collar enduced upon her was the second most painful blow she had been delt in her whole life, coming in a close second behind Han's 'death'.

In the few seconds the collar was active, Leia had collapsed to the floor panting and hissing in pain which felt like an entirely before she finally regained her senses and she was looking back up at the guard who sneered at her before kicking her in the face so she fell backwards into the cell.

"Jabba requests a special performance of all dancers first thing tomorrow - so you best be really for him otherwise I will not hesitate to give you another jolt!"

With that, the Barr's of the cell fell down and promptly locked as the laughing guard followed the other soldiers who were patroling the slave cells.

Recovering from her bout of pain to launch herself at the bars, Leia was about to let out a rage filled outburst at the guard even though if she thought it through she would just receive another jolt, when a hand clasped her shoulder to prevent her from doing so.

"I wouldn't resist, newbie, it's not worth it."

Leia turned to look at who was speaking and to get a good look at the cell she had just been thrown into. Like most prison cells, it was dimly lit and had something rancid lingering around but it was not as stingy as she had originally believed. There were a few blankets and pillows skewn about on the sandy floor and a few decorations lines the wall. Small boxes of what looked like costumes and jewelry littered the edges with an assortment of makeup flowing out of one particular container. It was a circular chamber with a modest aura of comfort, at least at first glance.

There were only ten other occupants, all females of different species but with two fundamental things connecting them all - they were all adorned in skimpy, revealing garments that left little to the imagination, and they were beautiful. They did not look like typical prisoners, though they all had chains connected to them and their faces were sollem.

The person who had pulled her away from the bars was a Twi'lek with pale skin, almost like that of a pearl, who looked at her with a concerned look.

"So your Jabba's new favourite?" She asked softly, almost with pity as she wrapped her arms round her middle like she was either shy or intimidated by Leia's presence.

"My name is Leia." She replied, not knowing how to react to that title.

"Lyn Me," the Twi'lek greeted her with an incline of her head before she turned and gestured to the costume the guard had thrown at her, "You'll get used to it after a while..."

As Lyn Me went to pick it up, Leia backed away from it, shaking her head in protest as the other skimpy slaves either looked on in amusement, watched her sympathetically or tried to ignore her altogether.

"No no no no no, I am not putting that on-" Leia held her hand out even though she was too drained to do anything, especially with the force which she seemed numb to after experiencing her shock collar.

Seeing the new girl begining to panic and having just seen her been violently electrocuted, Lyn decided to take a step back to give Leia her space.

Leia had lost everything. Han was alive but not for long as he was scheduled for execution along with Chewie. With no way to communicate with her brother, even through the force now with her collar on, Luke was walking into a trap. And now she was here, incapable of escape and doing her best to deny the inevitable fact she was now a slave for Jabba's amusement.

"Go to the bars... Look out into the corridor on the right, tell me what you see." Lyn talked slowly and softly.

Leia eventually calmed slightly and dared to trust the Twi'lek. Finally acting on her instructions, Leia tentively approached the cell bars and peered out to the right, down the long corridor.

"Many guards... Laughing?" Leia looked back at Lyn who nodded sorrowfully.

"Now tell me what else you hear."

Leia strained to hear through the laughter but eventually her blood circled cold as she hear what sounded like women screaming. When Leia turned back to the pale Twi'lek with a look of horror upon her face, she couldn't get the words out, but Lyn nodded again, showing that He knew what Leia intended to say.

"They are dancers like us, but they have displeased him or otherwise have angered him..." Lyn explained sollemly before gesturing to the dancers in their own cell, "But we've all worked our way up to gain Jabba's favour, the other guards aren't allowed to touch us and we get regular meals if we behave, but it means resigning ourselves to the slug himself... I'd say it's the lesser evil... So, please, try and endure whatever he wants you to wear..."

"And if I refuse...?" Leia asked after a few moments thought.

"Do you have loved ones?" The Twi'lek answered simply, "Jabba will make them suffer along with yourself if you disobey him."

Leia thought back to Cloud City as Maul had watched her on the edge of her breaking point as he forced her to listen to Han's tortured screams. It had nearly shattered her then, and now, she couldn't bring herself to have to see Han hurt anymore, not after what he had just been through.

And she could not even fathom what fresh hell would be there for her if she ended up like the other dancers in that cell full of drunken guards and screaming girls.

After a few moments thought, Leia lunged forward and snatched up the red and golden outfit from Lyn Me's hands. The Twi'lek seemed both pleased and saddened as Leia lowered her head in shame and fear. Lyn may have been right to warn her not to resist, but that didn't mean she didn't feel sorry for Leia, it was always a harrowing experience when new favourites arrived.

Leia held the costume in her hands, examining what exactly she would have to endure and grimaced at the sight of it. The top - if it could be called that - of red satin and woven gold would barely even cover her chest and had only two flimsy strings holding it up at the back. The skirt was similarly held up by seemingly nothing as it split down both legs and had the same gold plated over it. That combined with the boots and matching fold jewelry, in any other context, Leia could almost believe this 'outfit' was beautiful.

Looking back up at the other women, Leia found herself unable to even fathom where to begin. Lyn noticed this and turned to the others.

"Give her a little privacy," she snapped at the others who all eventually complied and turned their backs or averted their gaze with Lyn following suit.

Still filled with dread and the aftermath of the shock collar, Leia stood there for a few minutes, still unable to move. Eventually, she bit her lip and accepted the inevitable.

Lyn and the others had obviously been here longer than her, perhaps for years so they were more experienced. If her combat training with Commander Rex back when she was a padawan taught her anything, it was that it was always best to value experience, so listening to her fellow slaves would probably be best.

With shaking hands, Leia began to peel away the layers of the Bounty Hunter's garbs. With each thing she pulled off, Leia felt considerably more terrified as she never dressed down this much, at least not for an audience.

Shimmying into the golden bikini, Leia dropped her head low as she wrapped her arms round her middle to cover what exposed skin she could.

Leia had never really been a shy kind of girl, in fact she had quite the reputation amongst the Jedi and Republic Military ranks as having a mind of her own, much like her father. She always held her head high and took everything in her stride but this was different. As much as she may act confident and snarky, in this costume, knowing what she would be forced to do, she crumbled.

"Come on, I'll help you with your hair, the suns rise in an hour or two and it's best to be ready before they come to collect us," Lyn explained as she sat herself down on one of the cushions and gestured for Leia to sit in front of her.

Sitting down gingerly considering the fact she felt exposed from all angles, Leia was greatful when the Twi'lek offered her a blanket to wrap around herself which she promptly did to give herself at least the phantom of her usual dignity. Avoiding eye contact with the other dancers, Leia sat in relative silence as Lyn loosened her messy braids and began to restyle it with golden jewelry to top it off.

"You're scared," she mused softly enough so that none of the others would be able to hear them as she began to braid Leia's hair, "I don't blame you. We all hate dancing for Jabba."

"I don't even know how to dance..." Leia admitted, "Is there like a routine or something...?"

Lyn stopped braiding and sat there in thought for a few moments before she finally replied.

"Some of us have specific dances that Jabba likes, but I wouldn't recommend sticking to something, that slug bores easily, better to make it up as you go along - go with the flow - the sexier the better."

"But I don't know how to do that..."

Leia didn't know how to be these things, she was the most rigid person she knew, she couldn't just 'go with the flow', she didn't even know how to be sexy. Of all the things Leia had taught herself over the years to train her for any situation, this was definitely not one.

"Do you have someone, Leia?" Lyn Me asked gently, hoping it wasn't a sensitive topic considering it would be for most people.

"What do you mean?"

Finishing the braid of Leia's hair and pinning it up with the golden circlet she had found in the costume boxes, Lyn shuffled around so Leia could see her subtle nod towards some of the other dancers.

"Greeata over there, her husband is running spice for Jabba. They got themselves in debt so now Jabba keeps ahold of her whilst her husband does his dirty work," Lyn Me mused at the Rodian woman at the far end of the cell before she gestured to another dancer, "Rystáll Sant, her girlfriend is a bounty hunter for Crimson Dawn, Jabba uses her as leverage against the bounty hunter... So do you have someone, Leia? Someone you love?"

"Yes..." The Jedi replied quietly as memories of Han invaded her mind yet again.

"What's their name?"

"Han..."

"Han Solo?" Lyn seemed skeptical, "That scrumrat smugglar? Thought he was dead meat, hung up in the throne room."

"I came here to rescue him." Leia added quickly, with a hint of venom in her voice at hearing someone call Han a scrumrat.

"You must love him to be idiotic enough to try and break into Jabba's palace," Lyn mused with a bit of pride in her voice.

"Did you know him, Han?" Leia dared to ask, not sure if she really wanted to know what Han was like before they met.

"Solo, yeah, he was one of Jabba's smugglars, used to come to the palace often - mostly to talk his way out of something. He is a typical scoundrel, not sure what you see in him-"

"Han is nothing like that," Leia interjected quickly and louder than she anticipated but she couldn't stop herself, "Han is kind, sweet and is always there to help others and yes, he may be smug and his record is less than clean but he is not a 'typical scoundrel'!"

Leia knew her small outburst had got the attention of some dancers around her but she pulled herself into a ball and looked away from them like a tantruming child. Never had she felt so protective over someone, but hearing someone call Han typical was anger enducing; and he may be a scoundrel, but he was her scoundrel, so only she could talk to him like that.

"Well," Lyn huffed in amusement after a few seconds of shock, "Never thought I'd see the day someone tamed that wild Solo... You really do love him, don't you?"

"Yes..." Leia said through gritted teeth, though she knew Lyn probably didn't mean any harm.

"Good. Think of him as you perform."

"What?" Leia retorted at the abrupt statement.

"Come on, do you really think any of us would dance the way we do for Jabba without thinking of someone else?" Lyn scoffed with a soft chuckle, "When you're up there, being forced to perform to someone who revolts you to the core, just imagine the entire audience is not there, and there is only the one you love in the room. For Greeata, she imagined it's her husband, for Rystáll Sant, it's the bounty hunter. It's the only way we can cope... You've got to stay confident and stick to it - Jabba doesn't like them shy..."

With that, the cell was thrown into silence as Leia processed the advice given to her. It was sound logic, thinking about the one you love whilst trying to act sexy made more sense that thinking about the reality that she would be acting that way in front of the slimiest slug in the galaxy and an entire throne room of criminals who would only value her for her body.

There was one problem. Leia didn't really know how to act sexy, it just wasn't a conscious thing she ever did.

Leia was a virgin; unsurprising considering she had never really had time for relationships what with her Jedi training and the fact she had been fighting a war since she was a teenager. It had never bothered her before, because she had never imagined herself ever to be in a relationship, let alone being captured and used as a slave. Leia loved Han, something she thought she was incapable of but there she was, but with their relationship still in its infancy, they had not been intimate.

Leia knew that Han had been ok with this back on Bespin, he knew that they would take it slow and not jump to anything, they were content with this, a kiss here and a hug there, it was fine. Han had been patient with her and never overstepped his bounds and she loved him for that, but still, Leia had barely any clue as to how to process these new emotions, let alone add onto that.

Thinking about Han, especially kissing him, made her a little weak at the knees and a little light headed - not that she would ever admit that. She had never particularly been an overly girly type of person, swooning over people they liked or acting 'cute' for someone.

Leia just wasn't like that, and Han had never expected her to be anything less.

Leia had no doubt that in his criminal days, Han would have persued many women - perhaps some men - but Leia knew that Han saw her differently. He had been by her side for three years and though he flirted with her nearly on a daily basis, he always remembered his bounds and never pushed her to do something she didn't want to. Even their first kiss aboard the Falcon, he had given her every opportunity to duck away from him and gave her space when he knew she needed it. It was the small things that he did for her which proved he did truly love her.

But intimacy, that was a different matter entirely. Leia didn't know how to act any different than she was. She did love Han and thinking about him rather than Jabba and his possie would be the best way keep herself sane, but she still didn't know what she would do.

Think about Han during her performance? That just left her back at square one, she barely knew how to act around him when she was genuinely happy and excited, let alone when she was just using him as an illusion and she was actually in front of an audience half naked.

Then again, Lyn had told her to also act confident. Leia should be good at that, she was always confident, even if it was just an act, but she was definitely not confident at this at all.

***

Before she knew it, the suns of Tatooine had already risen, filling the cell with a golden light that streamed in from the small hole in the wall that constituted a window. The bars on the cell lifted up and there stood Mara Jade and a few guards ready to escort them to the throne room.

All the dancers lined up with their neck collars exposed for their chains to be attached. Leia stuck close to Lyn Me but Mara yanked her forward so they were leading the group.

"I must say, I thought I would never see the day that you, the mighty Leia Skywalker, would be behind bars." The redhead sneered as she led them down the twisting corridors.

"And it's hard to think that my brother actually started to vouch for you."

Leia hid a smug smile as her statement had the effect she was looking for. The sith apprentice stopped in her tracks as she processed what the Jedi had just said.

"He did what?"

"Everyone in the Republic wants you dead, myself included... But Luke told me you were different than what we presumed, he doesn't want to kill you... Too bad he was wrong," Leia had given up acting passive as she allowed herself a sly smile as she could almost see the cogs turning inside of the sith apprentice's head, before Leia turned a corner, taking the lead, "It's this way, isn't it?"

Quickly recovering so as not to let the Jedi get the upper hand, Mara snarled slightly beneath her breath as she stormed past Leia, practically dragging the other dancers along with her towards the throne room.

Mara didn't need another Jedi getting inside her head - not that she would even admit to herself that Luke had gotten to her. She would give Leia over to Jabba and enjoy watching Leia have to struggle with her new position, then once they had captured Luke, she would watch the executions before reporting back to Maul; it sounded like a normal mission to her where she would have the satisfaction of seeing the dark side at work, but something snagged in her mind.

Luke Skywalker, the golden boy of the Republic, had actually expressed the fact he did not want to kill her. Out of everything she had been through during her life, this was something she couldn't understand.

She had tried to kill him, his family, the Jedi Order and the entire Republic on a regular basis, he should hate her. And yet that week of survival with him had led her to believe that Luke was not fueled by anger as she was; he was compassionate and kind despite her master's warning that Jedi were anything but. He had every right to hate her, and yet apparently he didn't - of course she was aware that his twin may be lying to gain an advantage but she didn't know what that would accomplish if she was.

Luke would be here soon, his message to Jabba had said so and even if he could sense there was danger, Mara doubted Luke would leave his sister and friends to rot in here, and would come anyways. When they would capture him, Mara would confront him personally and get answers, but for now, she had to deliver the slaves to Jabba's audience chamber.

Leia held her head high, trying to be confident just as Lyn Me had instructed, but as she saw the slimy slug atop his pedestal and the many vile lowlifes as their audience, Leia wrapped her arms around her middle again and avoided eye contact with everyone.

The long chains were handed over to Jabba who promptly ordered the music to start up with many cheers and hollars of agreement from the crowd. The band in the corner of the chamber roared into action, playing an exotic beat with every intention for the slaves to dance to.

Some of the dancers were told to told to stay with the band, probably just as background decoration and Leia wished she had been selected for that but was unlucky as she was pushed forward along with Lyn Me and Rystáll Sant into the middle of the throne room.

Jabba's booming laugh cut through the music as he ordered them to entertain him. Lyn and Rystáll immediately set off into their separated dances, each with their own unique sensuality to their movements. They had not even hesitated, showing just how normal this seemed to be for them.

What astonished Leia was how fluid and unwavering their movements were, one could almost mistake it for passion but if her conversation with Lyn had taught her anything, it was that all the slaves hated Jabba. The two seemed to twirl and twist their bodies to the music effortlessly as they smiled at the crowd and the slug with fluttering lashes as though they were enjoying themselves.

Leia was not dancing. She was standing there, shy and still as though she genuinely believed that if she didn't move, no one would see her.

The music stopped abruptly as Leia felt an agonizing jolt of electricity shoot through her entire body, originating from her collar again. Her legs buckled but the jolt was quick enough that she managed to keep her footing and not fall to her knees as she gritted her teeth in pain.

"Um... The mighty Jabba asks why you are not dancing for him?" 3PO translated for her in an uncertain tone - even if he was a droid - as Jabba rumbled something in Huttese.

"I can't..." Leia shook her head, even though she knew that was probably not the response that would keep her alive.

Leia sometimes hated always being right as before she even had time to recover from the shock collar, she was tugged aggressively by the chain around her neck. Stumbling forward with the chain, Leia barely had time to acknowledge the opening of what appeared to be a trap door beneath her feet.

The ground seemed to collapse from under her feet as she yelped in terror as she fell. The chain around her neck strained and almost violently made her head throw back as she found herself dangeling in a deep pit that led to force knows where, with the chain around her neck keeping her up but slowly constructing her to the point that her breathing was laboured. She saw Jabba looking over the trap door entrance, his head thrown back in a belly laugh as Leia spluttered and clawed at her neck to no avail.

She saw Jabba's mouth moving in what appeared to be words but Leia's blood was begining to pound at the lack of air. Instinct told her to reach other with the force to lift her to safety but with most of her energy burnt out from the shock collar, Leia could only stay there and wriggle.

3PO peered over the edge and though he was a droid, she could tell he was concerned as he seemed to be translating for Jabba yet again. She only managed to make out the vague idea that Jabba didn't want her to go to waste like this and would 'forgive' her is she danced this time.

Not really having a choice considering she was about to see red spots in her vision, Leia nodded as best she could in her position. Relief flooded through her as she felt herself being hoisted out of the pit and helped back onto solid ground with arms around her.

Coughing and spluttering for what felt like an hour, Leia looked up and saw Lyn and Rystáll next to her and Jabba in front of them, his head rolling back with each laugh and their audience of scrumrats following his lead.

Mara Jade stood at his side and Leia could have sworn she she actually saw something in her face that resembled pity, and not the usual kind of pity that the sith apprentice usually expressed, she could almost think it was sympathy. But then again, perhaps Leia was hallucinating from lack of air.

Mara had felt pity before, but never like this. She pitied her enemies as she killed them because her master had taught her that anything less than absolute power was a waste. But this was different.

Mara had encountered the Skywalker twins many times and though her usual duels were against Luke, Mara had developed a somewhat respect for both of them, the entire Skywalker family in fact. With Maul as her master, Mara had grown up with only him having more power over her, anyone else seemed weak compared to her. But Luke and Leia were surprisingly skilled, the only reason Luke had survived as many duels with her as he did was down to the fact they were matched in terms of skill and that sentiment extended to his sister.

Mara relied heavily on the force, she didn't even think she could imagine being without it, so watching Leia rendered basically powerless with the shock collar specifically designed to take the fight out of Jedi, it put many things in perspective. Mara may not usually be an honourable person but it just wouldn't be right for Luke or Leia to die at the hands of Jabba, especially when Leia was forced into such a comprising position.

Usually, watching others being brought down from their pedestal and ground into the dirt fueled her, the suffering of others had always been enjoyable as it left her to revel in the dark side. Maul had taught her that she was nothing without power so she should take all that she could. But in the last few months, many of his teachings had been proven to be wrong, so as she watched Leia struggle to her feet, Mara found herself compelled to actually help her - something she immediately stopped herself from doing.

Jabba ordered the music to start up again and warned that if she didn't perform for him, he would let her find out what was in the pit she had just been dangling over.

Leia glowered up at him, with gritted teeth, eyes half in shadow and her hands balled into fists so tight her knuckles were bone white and she felt the pain of her nails nearly piercing her skin.

She would kill him, Jedi code be damned, she would kill him.

Anakin had never really told the twins much about his childhood growing up in slavery. This was understandable given how grim of a topic it was and there no way to sugar coat it, but from what they had heard from him, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka was that slavery was never something to be taken lightly.

Leia would not end up like those dancers down the hall from her cell, she would rather die than become that. But in the meantime, she had revenge on her mind, she couldn't take the easy way out and refuse to dance just so that Jabba would kill her faster, Leia needed to find an opportunity to strike and take it.

Leia was patient when she wanted to be, she could wait.

But in the meantime, she still had to perform.

Helping Leia to her feet, Lyn gave her arm a reassuring squeeze before speaking quietly, "Just follow our lead, and think of him."

Not wanting to go through all that pain again anytime soon, Leia drew on what little patience she had left and tried to fall back on her most fundamental Jedi training, clearing her thoughts.

Though the force was distant from her due to her shock collar, Leia still knew how to clear her mind. Breathing deeply and closing her eyes, Leia drowned out the voices of the crowd around her; first went Jabba's belly laughing, then the shouts of lust from the onlookers, then finally anything else which would cause distraction.

But the music, she kept, she focused on the notes and melody.

In Jabba's place, Leia imagined Han, sitting in that very casual and nonchalant way against the pedestal, the way which Leia would never dare admit out loud that she found cute. He would be sat against the stone, his arms lazily by his sides, his jacket crisp and his face displaying his most dashing smile.

Leia had noted earlier that the 'outfit' she was wearing could probably be considered beautiful in any other context, and here it was.

It was just Han, the music and her.

Again, Leia had second guessed herself at trying to act sexy, she had never been that way before so she didn't know what to do, but as she noted with Lyn Me and Rystáll Sant, the movements would just come to her if she didn't think to much into it.

If Han was the only one seeing her in this beautiful golden bikini, then she would give him a show.

Han had never seen her in something so revealing, so she could almost chuckle as she tried to imagine his reaction to her. Would he act cool? Would he act flustered? Would he act shocked? She liked to think it would be a mixture of all of them.

Twirling and twisting her hips in ways even she didn't know she could do, Leia listened to the music and continued with her little fantasy, tuning out the fact she was in fact surrounded by thugs instead of just Han.

With each minute, however, it became increasingly painful for her to admit it was just a daydream as she wanted nothing more than to leap away from her stage and jump into Han's outstretched arms, only to remember it was just an illusion and that instead of her handsome ex-smuggler, Leia would find a vile slug in his place.

For a fraction of a second, Leia could almost believe she was beautiful, but as the music died down and the illusion slipped, Leia found herself back in reality where she felt cold and detached from her audience.

Looked around, the roar of the crowd returned, with many cheering and eyeing her up lustfully. Jabba was still sat atop her pedestal, his mouth stretch into a revolting grin as he repeatedly licked his lips and oggled her like the rest of the crowd.

She didn't feel beautiful, though many in the crowd would undoubtedly tell her otherwords; she felt dirty, like someone had just thrown her into a tar put and she would never be able to scrub it off.

Don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts and feedback.

Everyone makes fun of the Gold Bikini, but after writing this chapter, I just wanna give Leia a hug 🥺

Please tell me how you thought this chapter was 😔🙏