Title: I'm Here to Rescue You
Author(s): FelsGoddess
Timeframe: Post-FotJ
Characters: Leia Organa Solo
Genre: tragedy
Keywords: character death, challenge response
Summary: Princess Leia's final stand.
Notes: Death Challenge response. Leia was to die via drowning.

Blaster bolts blazed through the air. Shouts men and women fighting for both sides filled the air. The metallic smell of blood mingled with burning ozone. Heat from the fire blazing through the nearby buildings threatened to choke Leia Organa Solo. Smoke filled her eyes, causing them to water. She clutched her unlit lightsaber hilt in one hand. Her braids were falling down, dangling across her shoulders. Her shirt was ripped and pants singed.

"Grandma!"

Leia turned to the small child crouched behind her. Arin Fel's face was smeared with ash and soot. His hair was streaked with mud. A thin trickle of dried blood ran from the corner of his left eye to his jaw. A mix of determination and fear filled his eyes.

"Arin, stay down," Leia warned him as she felt a slight spike of danger in her already heightened senses. He crouched lower against the outer wall of the secondary hanger. An explosion sent vibrations through the ground. Arin whimpered in fear as the ground shook. Fragments of stone landed bounced off his back.

"They're getting closer," the boy whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to get you to your Mom and Dad," Leia told him firmly. She could see Jaina across the broken street. Her violet blade swung from side to side as she sent back blaster bolts to the snipers in the windows of the surrounding buildings.

The attack came that morning. Leia had met Jaina and her family on Chandrilla two days ago. She'd left Allana on Hapes to stay with Tenel Ka for a few extra days. Jagged was attending negotiations with the Federation. A group revolutionists attacked the conference, eager to kill both the leaders of the Empire and Federation. Leia was with Arin during the start of the attack. She promised Jaina that she would get the boy to safety.

"Princess?" a stormtrooper's voice called. Leia glanced behind her to acknowledge the trooper. He and two others were crouched in the alcove with her and Arin. Sworn to protect the boy, Leia knew they would do whatever was necessary. She appreciated that type of dedication today more than ever.

"Yes?"

"Onyx Squadron reports two groups heading in our direction."

"Thank you," Leia responded. She glanced up and down the street. The easiest way to save him would be to take Arin through the fountain square. Snipers were in the buildings. A large group was pressing from the front. They would be surrounded within ten minutes. She had to go now if she had any hope of saving her grandson.

"Arin," Leia said seriously. She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I need you to do exactly as I say. Use the fountain as cover. It will protect you. Captain Edel will go with you. No matter what happens, you run to your mother. Do you understand? Don't turn around. Promise me you won't."

The boy nodded solemnly, "I promise."

Leia kissed his forehead. She bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling. She stood up, motioning for the stormtroopers to move. Captain Edel moved closer to the boy. "Cover him, Captain. You two flank me. We need to distract them."

The order was unnecessary, she knew. The troopers were ordered to protect the Fel children at all costs. She needed to say it, though. Leia ignited her lightsaber and stood. She stepped out from the alcove. She could see the main group of revolutionists. She felt rather than saw the troopers take out another sniper. She sensed only two left. She took a step forward, tossing her tattered braids behind her. She reached out with the Force, nudging Arin to be ready. She took deliberate steps towards the group at the front of the town square. As she turned on her blade, the leader lifted his blaster.

One man shot at her. She reflected the bolt easily, and then another and another. She sent one bolt to the leader's foot and another to his shoulder. She was going to kill him, but she knew if she did it too soon they others would attack. She taunted him, daring him to move forward. He knew who she was. The entire galaxy did. He stepped forward, giving her a feral grin. His expression told her what she already knew: he wanted her to die and he wanted it to hurt.

Leia held her lightsaber high as he pumped blasts after him. She reached out to Arin and then plunged forward.

Arin Fel was terrified. At ten years old, he often felt like he had to be brave all the time. Only little kids were scared, he thought, like his younger cousins on Csilla. He watched in horror his grandmother approach the group of revolutionists. He knew she was tougher than she looked. He looked up at the trooper next to him. He could see the two others standing far behind Leia, shooting towards the snipers.

Arin could see his mother across the street. She was terrified that something would happen to him and Leia, but over that was a cool, steely resolve. He could sense his sister and brother with his father inside the building. He could sense that his father was on edge, yet he was determined to get his family to safety.

Go! Arin jerked as he felt his grandmother's command. He dropped to the ground and crawled along the edge of the fountain. He could hear blasters explode and a lightsaber thrum as he hurried across the square, the ornate carvings on the fountain wall providing some cover from the back with Captain Edel stood alongside him. He leaned as close to the edge as possible as he crawled. A blaster bolt gouged a hole into the wall above his head. Edel fired in that direction and a muted scream met Arin's ears as the sniper died.

A hand reached out and grabbed him. Arin tensed and relaxed just as quickly as he saw it was his mother. She pulled him to her, blocking a blaster bolt at the same time.

"Get inside," Jaina ordered. Arin turned to run inside but paused as his throat burned. He turned around, seemingly in slow motion.

"Mom!" Jaina screamed, stumbling slightly. She caught herself on the broken wall beside her. Her lightsaber never paused.

"Grandma no!" Arin gasped as the same time. He went to step forward, but was stopped by a Force field projected by his mother. She look at him with tear filled eyes and whispered, "Don't. Go to your father."

They were winning, Leia thought with grim satisfaction as she was pushed back towards the fountain. Arin was safe with Jaina. Leia had taken out many of the fighters, but she was losing strength. A bolt had already pierced her thigh and side and another grazed her shoulder. Blood oozed down her wounds, soaking her clothing. She swung her blade in an almost trace-like state; whether from the Force or the blood-loss, she didn't know.

A vibroblade flew towards her. She stepped over the fountain edge and stumbled into the water. She tried to stop it, but wasn't fast enough. The vibroblade pierced her throat. Leia collapsed to her knees. She fell to her heels, head lolling to one side. She coughed, desperate for breath. She crumpled into the water, choking on blood and water. She could feel her warm blood and the cool water filing her lungs. The pressure on her chest was unbearable. She was dying, she knew. She knew she should care more, but she didn't. She had completed her objective. Arin was safe.

Black dots filled her eyes. She could feel Anakin and Jacen reaching for her. She could feel Han out there, just out of reach. She knew that once she crossed that plane, she would be back with her beloved husband. She would see her sons again; her mother, father, Bail, Breha.

Leia reached out to her daughter and grandchildren one last time with the Force. She pushed as much calm, loving thoughts to them as possible and lost herself to the blissful black oblivion.

Later that night, after the revolutionaries had been stopped, Luke Skywalker approached the fountain in the square. He'd just landed on the planet when he felt his sister die. Luke told Jaina and Ben to stay inside while he retrieved Leia's body. Arin needed his mother desperately, and Luke didn't want to remind Ben of Mara's death, regardless of how old his son was.

The night air was cool and still. Bodies lay scattered through the square. Cleanup crews and investigators were finally able to start clearing the area. Luke could see that the water in the fountain was tinted pink, no doubt from his sister's blood. Jaina told him earlier how Leia had died. It was truly horrific and yet Luke knew that Leia was glad to forfeit her life for her grandchild. Luke hoped the act gave her some peace regarding her guilt at the deaths of her sons. It didn't matter what anyone said, nothing could take away the responsibility Leia felt towards the loss of her other two children.

Luke took a deep breath as he took the final step to the fountain. He felt that it was his duty to retrieve his sister. She wasn't a Master; there would be a body. He wished he had been able to rescue her one last time. He almost gagged at the sight of Leia's tore body floating in the water. Some of her hair was floating around her, giving her a somewhat ethereal appearance. Her face was at peace, though, as if she were locked in a blissful dream.

Luke stepped into the fountain. He glanced around for Leia's lightsaber. It had sunk to the bottom of the water. He pulled it out and clipped it to his belt. He didn't want someone to take it. He bent down to lift his sister's lifeless body to him. Blood and water flowed from the hole in her neck. Tears rolled down his cheeks. They dropped off his chin to Leia's body. He stepped out of the fountain, grateful the beings in the square left him alone. The stars and moon glistened above, casting a glow to the dead woman's skin. Luke carried his sister across the square into a building converted as a temporary morgue. He would clean her up before her only living child appeared.

Luke brushed his fingers over Leia's cheeks as he said, "Goodbye, dear sister. My only wish was that I was there to rescue you."