Darth Vader Goes to Therapy

Skywalker

"I'm pretty sure this is the weirdest timeline."

Luke laughed as Leia straightened out his collar. "I'm pretty sure it's the best timeline. Why do you say that?"

Leia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Let's list, shall we?" She began counting on her fingers. "My brother is a therapist for Darth Vader, who happens to be his father. Somehow, the therapy worked, and now Darth Kriffing Vader is an Emperor working to restore democracy. And! He got that job because the Emperor... accidentally" she said that word with air quotes, "blew up and was shot. Numerous times. By the Executor's guns. Not because Darth Vader ordered it, but because his crew loved their therapist so much that they wanted to protect him. But we leave that part out, even though I'm pretty sure the majority of the galaxy doesn't buy the accident story one bit."

But they were sticking to the story anyway. The real one was too bizarre, and Vader would never try his crew for treason, which was what the moffs who'd gained favor with the previous Emperor would have wanted. So, after Vader's initial announcement to the galaxy, he tried to stick Piett in front of the reporters to do PR control. Except, this time, Piett pushed back, pointing out that he wasn't a qualified PR employee, and considering the gravity of the situation, it made more sense to hire one, which Vader did. Luke was quite proud of Piett for pushing back and not taking on work he wasn't qualified to do just because Vader liked him.

"That's a them problem." Luke replied coolly, turning to face himself in the mirror. He looked every inch the Imperial Prince. For once, wearing a black and silver tunic with a matching one-shoulder half-cape, he thought he actually looked the part of Darth Vader's son–or as much as he possibly could. Which was exactly the point, considering he would be announcing his true identity during the coronation. He was grateful Leia had agreed to help him with his speech, because every time he attempted to write it, he couldn't stop imagining bad reactions and it gave him quite a bit of anxiety.

"To add to that," Leia continued, "Obi-Wan and Vader are actually on speaking terms, which is...an experience, let me tell you, and somehow Vader agreed not to force me to admit to the galaxy that I'm...that I'm your twin so that I can be the representative between him and the newly formed Senate without any issues...which he also immediately reinstated."

Luke couldn't help but smile. "Don't forget he let you blow up the Second Death star that the late Emperor was working on."

Leia made a face. "I feel like he could have mentioned that sooner, like as a trade for you when you were with us."

"Kidnapped."

"Whatever."

"At the time he wasn't ready to play his hand against the Emperor, and handing over an unfinished super weapon would definitely be a big red flag that he was about to commit treason. Besides, the thing didn't even work...but I can see why you'd feel that way. At least you got to blow it up."

"I got to blow up the first one, too...though I guess it was nice not to have people trying to shoot me down while I was doing it, and it was evacuated."

"I'm just glad you didn't get hurt." He took a deep breath and turned away from the mirror. "Well. This is it."

Leia nodded. "This is it...I can't believe it, but here we are. You don't think Vader will change his mind and restart this whole conflict, do you?"

"No. I don't." He told her for the thousandth time. He was glad that she'd signed up for a therapist–his poor sister had so much trauma and trust issues after everything that had happened to her, she deserved the peace and ability to process and work through everything with someone qualified. He knew Vader hoped that one day she'd want a relationship with him, but he had been working with Vader to accept that she might never want that, even with therapy of her own. Still, involving her in the new democratic government without revealing her familial identity (and also blowing up a super weapon for good catharsis) was a pretty good start to a new beginning for them.