Summary: Where Luke would break down and scream, Leia takes certain "steps". ESB AU. Dedicated to gurnius.
Pairings: Han x Leia
Author's Note: A reviewer for Assassin told me they had read the title and thought it would be a story about Leia taking Vader out. While it wasn't, that review gave me a truly evil idea.
Dedication: Dedicated to gurnius for the idea.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
Leia edged further out, heart racing as the wind whipped through her braided hair and her grip on the blaster in her hand tightened, even as she struggled to maintain a hold on the smooth metal her body pressed against. If she fell, it would be all over.
She could still muster up the energy to glare at Vader as he approached, though, menacing as ever, a huge figure swathed all in black. Han's words and last desperate stare still burnt her flesh.
"Do you ever wonder what happened to your father?" There was an odd note to Vader's voice as he stared her down, something Leia couldn't quite put her finger on. If she thought hard enough, it almost sounded like want.
Her glare turned into a snarl, lip curled back. "I don't have to wonder," the Alderaani princess said coldly. "Your Death Star killed him."
Vader shook his head. "No, Leia. I am your father."
The pause that followed seemed to last a lifetime. Leia gaped, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, at Vader, who stood expectantly, waiting for her to react, to accept him or reject him.
And he had completely let his guard down.
The scream that followed, echoing through the air, was torn from no human lips. It left an epicenter of burning machinery and flesh through Vader's forehead, smoldering around the edges.
As he fell, Leia started to edge her way back towards safety, feeling no satisfaction, only drained, tired exhaustion. Her hands were numb. She knew she had been adopted, she knew there was a chance she had just committed patricide (but how could it be so, even if they were of the same flesh, when her real father had died a good three years ago with Alderaan?) and her voice was nearly lost to the cries of the wind all around.
"Like hell you are."