Hi all! I laid this down in about fifteen minutes, because I decided to not go away...I was listening to Owl City at the time - Vanilla Twilight - and I was busy ruminating how I always picture this heartbreaking post-Mara's death scene, when BAM! I've got Leia ruminating away... I hope you guys enjoy. I'm feeling kind of miserable. I just waited two hours in a waiting room at the doctors surgery for my doctor to tell me that he can't give me anything other than "gargle water with a little of salt every few hours". Great advice, eh? I wish the walls'd stay in place.
Disclaimer: As I always say, I own nothing but my favourite coffee mug (I've got a new favourite mug - it's massive, and red, and my mum's fiance calls it a bucket! - and a Train CD. Audit: thanks to treenahasthaal for pointing out my slip-up - the things being sick do to you...
In retrospect, it was a bad idea.
Such a bad idea. I didn't – don't – even know him, have no idea who is or where he came from. All I had is a few exchanged words, and acute knowledge of just how bad he was at surprise rescues.
Still, I panicked and kissed him.
I know I'm probably panicking too much – it was just a peck on the cheek, after all – but it was a stupid idea. But there we were, standing on that ledge and looking down at what seemed to be a bottomless pit of inky blackness when panic hit and a million thoughts rushed through my head. They say when faced with near-death situations, your life flashes before your eyes, but they're wrong – it's your regrets that you see. The things you hadn't done, and the things you'd promised to get around to. For me, it was romance. Boys and flowers, chocolates and kisses. I'd never let anybody court me, let alone try, because I was too obsessed with my attempt to change the galaxy. In that moment, with the knowledge of just how little fruit my attempts had borne, I would have given almost anything to be like all those other girls, the ones who had fallen prey to boys and flowers, chocolate and kisses. The ones who ended up in the backseat of those boys' speeders.
Normally, I wouldn't have thought that, or ever dreamed of acting on those thoughts, but the prospect of either falling to your death or being shot to death if Luke's crazy idea failed was strong motivation. So, feeling vaguely like a child, I planted one on his cheek. The minute I did, I knew it was a mistake, because Luke looked at me, bewildered. My instincts, bless them, kicked in and saved me before my irrational brain could do more harm. "For luck," I insisted, and he seemed appeased.
I guess it might not have been so bad. After all, things turned well. We escaped with our lives, save one casualty, and destroyed the Death Star twelve hours later. With a little luck, we might just win this thing.
Short and sweet oneshot, hope you guys enjoyed it.
Eb.
P.S. I'm thinking of changing my penname, so if my stories start coming up under a penname with something to do with carrots, it's just me...don't panic.